Today marks the completion of 75 years of independence for India. Such a glorious day for all of us. I have read through the books about how India was pre-independence. I could only speculate what every Indian must have felt when we got freedom. I had a conversation with my mentor last week about the concept of freedom. 

I asked him, "What does freedom mean to you?"

I had a massive realization from our conversation that I want to share with you all. Namaste and welcome to 'A piece of my learnings.'

    When I asked him the question, he replied with another question.
He asked me, "Chinmay, have you ever been to a circus? Have you seen the elephant perform?"

I said, "Yes! I have been to a circus in my childhood!"

    He further asked, "Have you noticed that the elephants are tied merely by a rope? Yet, they act on the whims of their trainers. Why do you think that is? Can the mighty elephant not free himself from that rope?"

I had never thought this way. I pondered over it for some time.

Looking at the expression on my face, he said, "Don't worry. I will tell you. You must know how these elephants are caught to know the answer to that question."

    He continued, "The hunters never catch big elephants. They have so much destructive power that they can kill any hunter. Instead, they go for the baby elephants. They dig a hole big enough for a baby elephant to fall. Then after starving it for several days in the pit, they pull it out using a chain, and it is taken to the circus. Initially, intending to be free again, the baby elephant tries a lot to escape from the chain. Since the chain is strong and the baby elephant is weak due to starvation, it cannot escape from it. No matter how much the baby elephant tries, it only ends up hurting him. After several days of escape attempts, the baby elephant finally gives up. He accepts that it is impossible to escape from here. If he does not attempt an escape and behave the way the trainers want him to, maybe, he will get food and survive. Since the baby elephant has given up on escaping, the trainers replace the chain with a rope. The elephant grows stronger. But he is conditioned to think there is no escape as long as he is tied."

Then my mentor said, "To answer your question, the freedom for me is the freedom from the years of conditioning."

    I had a realization hearing that. Human beings possess the power of thinking and logical reasoning. Since we live in groups, we are subjected to different conditioning since childhood. For a country to experience freedom, every person in a country has to be free. But free from what? Free from anything holding them back from achieving their dreams.

The two elements required to be free are - Dreams and Actions. 

    If you have a dream and are constantly taking action towards it, you will never realize when you will surpass your expectations and become free.

    There is no right time for the older and stronger elephant to rekindle his dream of walking free and take action towards it. The day he could realize that he can be free and attempt it, the chances of the elephant walking free grows drastically. 

    Today, I want you all to think about your childhood dream. Is it still relevant and important to you? Do not think about the fact if it is achievable or not. Just take the first step towards your dream. If we all do it, I am sure we will be as free as we can be.

What does freedom mean to you? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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