Swarajya is not the same as freedom

Swarajya is not the same as freedom

Swa-Rajya means “rule of the Self” it is not merely freedom of the individual, but rule of the higher self or Sva/Swa over the individual. The same prefix as Swadharma, Swaroopa, Swami, Swasthya and so on.

freedom
noun
noun: freedom; noun: freedom from; plural noun: freedoms; plural noun: freedom froms
1. 
the state of not being held prisoner or controlled by somebody else.
2. 
the right or ability to do or say what you want.
3. 
the state of not being affected by something unpleasant.
4. 
the right to use something with nothing to limit you.

The popular English language idea of freedom is narrowly defined in the external context, as fits a world view which is largely materialistic.

Yet this freedom is not free. It always involves a cost, and that freedom has to be protected often at the cost of the freedom of others.

Swa-rajya refers to freedom from one’s limitations and compulsions. It means to walk on the path of the higher self, that is to act in the highest interest of life.

Freedom and liberation are often seen as an exuberant indulgence of the senses, of the mind, or of the whimsies of the mind and body. This is actually an enslavement from the view point of the Indian philosopher. A person who’s free to, say, gamble and drink without social censure, is not anywhere close to freedom, their actions take them closer to ruin and loss of sovereignty. Yet this is what people celebrate on their vacations as freedom. It is the temporary bittersweet escape of the slave who’s resigned themselves to permanent enslavement to their narrow senses and physical compulsions.

The yogi’s Swarajya is to observe restrictions, to limit one’s indulgences, all in the pursuit of access to one’s higher Self. To be free from narrow identities and ignorance of the physical and mundane, and to blossom into the effulgence of the Supreme being.

Swa-Rajya is achieved when one has realized one’s inner divinity and placed the divine in charge of all operations of their life. This can also be extended to a nation, which can also be called, Rama Rajya. In Rama Rajya it is not about one exalted being ruling the land, but for everyone in the land to surrender to the exalted values of Dharma, Satya and Prema held by the being of Rama.

Swasthya similarly is not general health of this body but a composite measure of one’s moral health, the non-narrowness of identity, the capacity to sacrifice and the ability to act as the divine through this body.

Hari Om Tat Sat