It is a very sad and base affair that on this once paradise-like planet, people have ever enslaved their own kind. It is also revolting that we have and still consider our own kind as inferior to us. What is more disgusting is that the attitude of exploitation and domination still exists in many forms. Sometimes it is more than blatant.

It is in the nature of the mind to dominate, control and exploit others. In fact, this is a major characteristic of the ego. We can transcend it only by awareness of the inner functioning of the mind. However, we are very much unconscious. Therefore the main concern of education should be to raise awareness. Slavery has done much harm to social and individual consciousness. It has created the spirit of revolt, hatred, rebellion and revolution in millions of minds. People have been not only exploited but also suppressed, and these same people have later on become time bombs.

The very structure of society encourages slavery. Unconscious people are easily manipulated and human society is made of a great majority of such people. However, some are more unconscious, others less. Those who are less unconscious take advantage, exploit, manipulate and enslave others. Actual society is governed by so-called religious people, politicians, capitalists, businessmen and rich people.

Religious leaders create guilt and fear, and impose morality; they classify people as being sinners, base and imperfect. People therefore become slaves of morality. They are neither wise nor virtuous; their practice of morality is nothing but the suppression of their instincts and desires because of fear. All this greatly impacts on the mind of people. They are not allowed to revolt, think, doubt and seek. In brief, religion as it is and so-called leaders do not allow people to become free thinkers and thus fail to go beyond mind. That is the ultimate freedom - going beyond the mind.

Politicians, on the other hand, exploit people for their own selfish ends. If anything good happens to a country, the credit should not go only to them but to all those who work for it, for it is workers who make any country progress. Throughout world history, there have been only a few politicians, such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, who have really served their country. Unfortunately, most politicians are opportunists. If they do not directly enslave people, they participate with the capitalists in doing so. What really concern them are power, name, fame, prestige and money and they would do anything for those things. Working for the welfare of those at the bottom of the social ladder and expecting the collaboration and full support of those at the top is not compatible in the present capitalist system. It is anti-politics.

All politicians are potentate. People's life depends on politicians, thus in a sense the former are their slaves. They can pass, amend and repeal laws to suit their selfish motives. What can the people do? In some countries, they revolt. It is always those who are at the lower rungs of the ladder who bear the hardship of precarious chronic situations.

There is also the fear of society and of God. There are innumerable do's and don'ts. Due to morality, orthodoxy and religious slavery, people can't even celebrate life and above all accept themselves as they are. A really free individual should even be free to make mistakes, provided he is ready to learn from past mistakes and blunders. However, in our society, people who make blunders or express their shortcomings or evil directly or indirectly, are rejected though everyone conceals the greatest evil within.

The greatest human achievement is freedom. That is why most religions have used words like liberation, salvation, mukti, moksha and so on. What is enlightenment, Samadhi, Nirvana or Tao if not the ultimate freedom from the great ignorance of which almost every human being is a slave! If man could wisely use his superficial liberty, he could attain the ultimate freedom. What do I mean by superficial liberty? Simply being relatively free to live one's life in the way one pleases. Even a prisoner can attain to that freedom. What is needed is a thorough understanding of the way the mind functions.

Today we have created such a society that does not leave us much time for ourselves. Human life has become secondary; it is the production of goods and material progress that has priority. We hardly have any time to realise that we are bond slaves in so many ways. We need much time so that we can put ourselves first - this is of paramount importance for the great liberation.

We are slaves of so many systems: religious, political, social, economic, but above all, we are slaves of our own mind, senses and emotions, which we call heart. A great work needs to be done so that we can attain our freedom. Only with such a freedom, we shall become virtuous, experience and spread love, have inner peace, bliss and celebrate life. How can a slave experience all this?