Acharya Prashant addresses the question of whether saints like Ramana Maharshi, who focused on inner realization, were disconnected from the country's freedom struggle. He begins by stating that these two paths—inner realization (knowledge) and outer action for freedom (action)—are not really different. The liberation of a country is another name for the liberation of its people, as the country is an organic entity represented by its people. The goal is for the common person to move from a state of bondage to a state of liberation. This freedom is not merely nominal political freedom, as political subjugation is just one aspect of the total bondage a person suffers. He explains that the great freedom fighters, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bhimrao Ambedkar, and Bhagat Singh, never saw their objective as merely changing the political leadership. Their agenda was not limited to driving the British away; there was a lot more to be done. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi's work included programs against the caste system, for village empowerment, communal amity, and cleanliness. This "lot more" was precisely what Ramana Maharshi was already doing through his method of silence and inwardness. Ramana Maharshi was actively contributing to inner freedom, which passively contributes to political freedom. Conversely, the political activists were actively working for political freedom, which potentially contributes to inner freedom. Both were attempting the same thing, just through different means. Acharya Prashant asserts that revolutions that start from within, affecting the very core of a person, are always more successful than those that merely change the political order. He points out that after the "white sahib" left, the "brown sahib" took his place, and Indians remain one of the most psychologically subjugated people in the world. The concern of a saint is that political freedom is of little use if one remains internally a slave to their own ego, tendencies, and conditioning. The worst slavery is being a slave to oneself. While both inner and outer freedom are important and are two sides of the same coin, inner freedom is paramount because the external world is unpredictable, whereas one can be the master of their inner self. Therefore, he concludes there is no real dichotomy between the path of action (Karma) and the path of knowledge (Gyan). Knowledge leads to the right, vigorous action, and a true man of action cannot proceed without realizing the purpose of his actions. Ramana Maharshi was as much a freedom fighter as the most celebrated names in the struggle, contributing to the truest freedom in his own way of silence and inwardness. He was liberating people from within, which is the foundation of all other freedoms.
