r/IndianPhilosophy

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I had sung our National Anthem for almost fifteen years of my life as a daily routine. But when I sat with it a few days ago, I realized that many of the words that lived in my memory were hollow, and the rest were merely repeated without understanding.

My journey towards the Anthem itself is beautiful.

A few days earlier, I had watched Acharya Prashant’s session on Poem 34 of Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. There, I discovered the depth and subtlety of Tagore’s writing. It immediately struck me: how do I know Rabindranath Tagore at all? And at once, the answer appeared before me: our National Anthem.

This beautiful coincidence brought me back to the Anthem during this week of patriotism.

As I began exploring its meanings and translations, I discovered how beautifully the poet expresses the people of the nation and the unity that exists amidst immense diversity. Beginning from Punjab, moving along Sindh, accompanied by Gujarat and Maharashtra, Tagore draws a circle that embraces us all as a nation, as a shared identity. He reaches Bengal, and then speaks through the language of nature itself: the Vindhyas, the Himalayas, the Yamuna, and the Ganga.

But one question struck me deeply and stayed with me for days:

Who is the one being addressed here?

The poet calls Him Adhinayak (Leader) and Bhagya Vidhata (the Dispenser of Destiny) in the opening lines, and Mangaldayak (the Auspicious One) in the closing verses. Every Indian wakes in His name, prays to Him, and sings His glory:

Jaya he, Jaya he, Jaya he.

I was curious, but also restless.

This uncertainty kept pinching me. Something that I had sung all my life, something that formed a part of my identity, and yet, when I tried to understand it, I could not even identify the central entity to whom it was addressed.

I wanted to wrap it in a familiar face.

"Is it the nation?"

"No, it cannot be, because the poet explicitly says that this is the Bhagya Vidhata of Bharat. It seems to point beyond Bharat itself."

Then came another interpretation: "perhaps it is Chetna (Consciousness), the collective consciousness of Indians. Perhaps it is the Ātman or Brahman of Vedanta."

High-sounding words, certainly.

But even these turned out to be borrowed concepts that I had gathered from various interpretations. The moment I questioned them deeply, I found myself blank again.

"Who is this "tav" then?"

A few discussions with AP Mirror, and the question itself began to dissolve.

I realized that I was trying to cage that which the poet had deliberately left open. Something within me is deeply afraid of uncertainty and wants to cover it with familiar and secure names.

And this revealed to me the beauty of the poet, and perhaps the beauty of the nation itself.

Tagore bows before that which he leaves unnamed.

Something deliberately left open, left free from rotten words and rigid definitions. Like a finger pointing towards that which lies beyond words.

What else is freedom?

What else is liberation?

What else is independence?

And perhaps that is why the Indian nation recognized the importance of these words and adopted them as its National Anthem.

I am beginning to understand what India stands for.

At its roots lie Self-knowledge and Vedanta. And perhaps these roots find expression in our very structures, whether in the National Anthem or in the spirit behind our Constitution.

So, what is Independence Day for me?

Not merely a historical event that freed us from foreign rule, but the very spirit of freedom itself; the call of consciousness that is destined to soar into the open sky.

And I feel grateful to belong to a land where the inquiry into consciousness has reached such profound heights.

I salute the spirit of independence. 🇮🇳 🫡

I am curious to know who else have overlooked the deep message within our National Anthem. How do we see INDIA as? What is INDIA for us?