Today in Kerala, the most literate society in India, where I currently spend most of my time, the condition of women with regard to freedom is truly pathetic. Their evil condition is exceeded only by the sheer unawareness of some of the most educated women that I know. I am reminded of the familiar story of the emaciated country dog struggling for food and choosing freedom, and letting go of the good life of the city dog noticing the mark of the collar used to chain him. I am aware of quite a few African American families in the USA continuing to stay in slavery even after the emancipation proclamation in 1863 because of the insecurity, uncertainty, and hardships they were unwilling to face. I know of women who after years of physical violence and psychological trauma file a case as a last resort, and are pressured even by their families to withdraw the case through blackmail, punitive measures, and other physical and psychological threats. Even the police officer who might register such a case is accused of colluding with the abused victim, insinuating that he and the victim have some possible sexual connection. A 17-year old girl was killed by her father in St. Louis, USA, a few years ago for falling in love with a non-Muslim boy. We are all familiar with the honor killings that take place in India and some Middle Eastern countries. I know Catholic teachers in Catholic schools in USA would not speak their mind out for fear of losing their job. I do not want to single out Catholics. This is also the case with other religions. Freedom is very fragile indeed. Why freedom is stressed so much? Because freedom is inextricably tied to holiness.

             All martyrs are truly martyrs of freedom; martyrs of religions are considered to be saints. If we want to have a holy world, we need to have a free world. Holiness is directly correlated to freedom. I must also note here that the whole concept of religious vows, especially obedience, is in question. There is certainly a place for religious commitment. We need to re-instate our world in the pristine freedom that God has given. We need to deprogram ourselves in every area where freedom is a captive of rituals, dogmas, belief systems. Religions can help people become holy only if they are willing to thoroughly purge themselves of out-dated and unhealthy practices, rituals, dogmas, and beliefs that diminish God-given freedom. Once we can arrive at the necessary attributes of an ideal being, holiness naturally flows.

             In sum: an emotionally healthy person is oriented, has bright affect, good insight and judgment, is able to enjoy work and life, have fun, develop and maintain good (not exploitative) relationships, and problem-solve, has good decision-making skills and a good attitude toward life, has a high level of energy, and is flexible enough to adapt to new situations and to compromise without sacrificing one's values, and has good coping skills in stressful situations.

Monopoly on Holiness

            We learn about holiness from sacred scriptures, seers and sages, their writings and discourses, the lives of holy men and women, their speculations, meditations, reflections, and intuitions. The special pearls of wisdom have to be discovered in the thick forest of theories, hair-splitting distinctions, and intellectual gymnastics. These special persons made acquiring holiness their main task, and went about it with enthusiasm, passion, and undivided attention. They devoted their entire energy to it, and got immersed in it with single purpose. Yet they can only provide some guidance or glimpses about the infinite and basically unknowable Supreme Being or God who is solely our object of faith. Acquiring holiness, as mentioned before, is not a difficult task. Nobody has monopoly on holiness. We have to digest what is available from the treasury of human heritage. We still have to grope in the darkness with fear and trembling. In this groping some have a better vision or lead than others. That is all. We are all essentially like the four blind men of India experiencing the elephant in four distinct ways and quarrelling about it as Buddha said. Holiness is not the preserve of a few. All have access to it without any mediation, legislated, ritualistic intervention, or special arrangement. Nobody is authorized to dole it out to the privileged few or to those chosen at someone's whim. A just God does not choose anyone for special privilege or holiness. The special elect of God is a self-perpetuating myth to claim special status or benefits; it is foreign to true spirituality and holiness. Before putting down some simple and clear criteria that anyone can use to live a holy life and acquire holiness, let me examine the requirements of a realized, therefore holy, person in Hinduism and Christianity.

At the risk of oversimplification of a very complex construct, let me highlight some important concepts for those who do not have time or inclination to go into volumes of writings and interpretations. The Supreme Being or the Totality of Consciousness or the Cosmic Whole (Para Brahma or Nirguna Brahma) that is not amenable to any predication or description becomes God (Saguna Brahma or Iswaran) that can be given various attributes such as Omnipotent (sarvashaktan), Omniscient, (sarvajnani), All-Pervading (sarvavyapi). Iswaran further splits, so to speak, into Purusha (Supreme Man or Param Purush) and Prakriti (nature) which further differentiate into man (purusha) and woman (stree). Iswaran stays whole in all splits, forms, or differentiations. Now a man or woman comes into this world as different combinations of satwam (pure being), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia, laziness, or foolishness). Again there are five basic elements of sky (aakasham), air (vayu), fire (agni), water (jalam), earth (bhoomi) which themselves contain all the other basic elements in different proportions. A man or woman is made up of the five basic elements and the tree basic qualities in different proportions and combinations. We also have births and rebirths that involve praraptam (What already started), sanchitam (what is already stored), and aagami (what is on the way) according to the law of karma. Due to all these very intricate (of course, speculative) permutations and combinations, obstacles coming from previous births (janmanthara papam) happen. As a result, forgetting (vismruti) of reality leading to illusion (maya) caused by tamas takes place. On the other hand satwam creates smruti (remembrance) of what one real is. Brahma vismruti, that is forgetting that I am Brahman (aham brahmasmi) is the greatest obstacle/sin. It is prajnaaparadh (the grievous wrong done to wisdom or insight). Here wisdom is the essence of knowledge becoming real as a result of filtering through day-to-day experience. In sum, the illusion (maya) is created by ignorance (avidya) that needs to be removed by knowledge (vidya), nay insightful wisdom (prajna), to arrive at liberation or emancipation (kaivalyam or mukti or siddhi).