No one can make you feel inferior without your consent

The ship was sailing towards the main land of India, leaving the torturous Cellular Jail behind , a rising sun welcomed me back towards life as it moved closer to the shore, I survived in between the people who lost their minds by the pains inflicted on all of us, survived because i never ceased to believe that i will go back to Bengal again. I never believed when other's said that we had to die there in the closed cells of Andaman, I kept my trust alive and finally sailed back to the life from a gruesome prison.
- Sachindra Nath Sanyal in' Bandi Jeevan'

The words above from one of the greatest freedom fighter of India signifies the importance of trust and believe in ourselves. If we are prepared from inside to take the challenges which life puts in our ways and if we are not bogged down by what others say then surely we are able to cross all hurdles coming in our way. The fundamental thing which is required to build one's life is a courage to move forward. Those who achieve extra ordinary things in life are the ones who do 'extra' beyond the 'ordinary', they search for a meaning in the life while others pass their lives in search of a living. They listen to others , think on the advice of others and then do what they decide is best for them while there are others who take directions from others as 'Biblic quotes' and lead their lives based on what 'others' feel is good for them, their happiness , their sorrow is based on how others see them.The ordinary ones do not introspect and develop their own perspective but they compete endlessly to feel their worth in other's eyes and if they do not, they fell into the trap of inferiority. Hence inferiority does not always result from your actions but from the viewpoint of others which you let interfere in your own lives.

History is full of examples which show that a man suffers when he accept the sufferings inflicted upon him. Manusmriti ruled that the Shudras who listened to Vedas should be punished with their ears poured with boiling lead, the Woman who sleeps with men other than her husband should be tortured to death and there were more similar rulings which created a false structure in the society to rule the masses. These type of texts shaped the society in such a way that it was accepted as a divine tradition and the people by heart stuck themselves to these beliefs. It was not until Buddhism and Jaininsm came to revive the thinking in society and provided the path of liberation which was free from social structure and traditions. The Buddhist Sanghas opened its door for all the humans and made them realize that it was not the king but they themselves who were forcing the cruel practices on them.Like the ancient Varna System, later on it was the caste system which made the people belief on the hardships they were in, were due to some misdeeds in their earlier births. The British rule used this caste system to divide the India because they knew India cannot unite until and unless the caste system is done away with.

It was the British only, who made the Indians feel that they are to be ruled by the white men because they are the torch bearers of modern civilization.Actually not the British but we ourselves consented for the British Raj by feeling inferior to the British. Great thinkers like Jyotiba Phule, Bheem Rao Ambedkar, Ramaswamy Naykar, Justice Ranade and others always fought against the malpractices of Indian culture, they tried to make India free from Mental slavery which was due to their own consent. Phule once said that our slavery is not due to our economic disparity, our bad health, our bad surroundings, our low wages , our dark skin or our uncivilized tongue but due to the mental slavery which we are doing free of cost for the so called high castes.

Same is the case with female sex in the society, a number of feminists have argued that 'a sex is born but gender is what society makes'. It is the society which makes a woman feel inferior to his male counterpart by highlighting the natural differences. As per the feminist thinkers like 'Rosa Luxemberg' the male - female distinction stands true in the case of a child birth while in all other areas women and men can do the same work, but the society has fooled women to believe that their natural role is of mothers, so they should take the jobs of Nurses and teachers rather than drivers or soldiers. Women's own consent and acceptance of the patriarchy has resulted in their sidelining. This personal inferiority also reflects in the making of nations so the states become an extension of patriarchy. Truly said 'personal is political'.

In case of a nation, which is defined as a group of peoples sharing common beliefs, history, traditions, language, common enemy or geology , we can see the presence of inferiority due to collective consent of the people. 'Che Guevera' in his famous speech described that the current world order which is being heavily shaped by the Hegemony of US is not because US is all powerful , but it is due the validity affixed to it by the small states.. He meant that by refusing a hegemony a small state can prove its own existence and work for its own welfare, which we can now see in the form of a small nation Cuba, which progressed despite the encirclement done by US.

Its not only will which makes someone oppose the forceful notion or follow its own path but it also requires preparation and courage to move in a new direction. It was not until we prepared ourselves to follow the principle of non alignment completely, by ensuring self dependence in the field of agriculture and army. The famous of quote of late president Lal Bahadur Shastri "Jai Jawan Jai Kishan" was envisioned to prepare ourselves for making our presence feel in the world arena. It was only due to our preparation that we developed our consent to refuse America's poor quality wheat grains 'PL48' and shake hands with USSR to make a path for our future dreams. In case of our neighbor China also, it is we who have not given it any room for arm twisting, our opposition to its stapled Visas are evidences that we not going to accept any humiliation in any case.

Based on the discussion above, we can say Inferiority is based on our consent, its not something which is real but it is something which comes out of relativity. It is only due to comparisons that we do in order to judge our position and status with respect to others . The rampant corruption in our country is the best example to describe the effects of inferiority. We give our own consent to be compared with others, we strive hard to deposit more bank balance, a big house, and all the luxuries just to get a good parity with others. We do not realize and introspect that the thing for which we are making unethical decisions are not real but just a part of comparison. Inferiority increases as we increase the comparisons and so increases the imbalances in our mind to achieve more. Great thinkers have always said that "we should strive not to defeat others but win over ourselves".

In some cases we already know that what we are doing is against our own principles but still we accept to achieve more in comparison. For example we know that global warming has affected the earth in a numerous ways, the bleaching of coral reefs, increase in the frequency of floods, droughts, epidemics, increasing temperatures etc are evidences that our environment is degrading continuously. In the RIO summit 1992 we developed some rules to protect our environment and in 1997 we accepted the Kyoto Protocol to reduce our carbon emissions , but are we seriously following them. The answer is negative because to achieve more comfort and luxuries we are increasing our carbon foot prints even after knowing that we have to pay for this in the long term. We are giving consent to our present to ruin our future because we do not want to be called undeveloped. The irony here is that we are following the ideas of development which were propagated by the west, they defined development as increased per capita energy usage and we accepted that. They made us believe that we are poor because we are not industrialized. With our own consent they took away from us the Gandhian ideology of saving ,caring and nurturing and made us also the exploiters of nation . This is not to oppose the development, development is quite necessary but the ways to achieve it should not be exploiting and overusing.

People may also argue that inferiority complex leads people to achieve something but in that case we should understand the difference between healthy competition and inferiority. One who is submerged in inferiority feelings can not compete in a healthy manner which will eventually lead to corruptness of mind. Inferiority as said is a relative outside pressure while a healthy competition evokes progress from inside. When a child is taught and compared to his fellow students then it is meant to develop his capability to live in this world.

In the end we can summarize that it is all in our own hands to shape our lives, no body can dictate an individual or a nation to follow a line if it does not agree. Inferiority is something that comes from outside when we compare ourselves to others. A number of Indian Paralympic champions have proved that in spite of their disabilities and the inferiority put on them by society , they came forward and achieved for themselves and the country. A healthy society needs creative thinking and innovation which according to Dr. Abdul Kalaam comes when we think out of the box and refuse to accept with respect what others dictate is good for us.

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References:

1) Ram Chandra Guha, India After Gandhi & India after Nehru
2) Amartya Sen, Violence and Identity crisis
3) Abdul Kalaam, Forge your future
4) Sachindranath Sanyal, Bandi Jeevan
5) Jyoti Ba Phule, Gulaam Giri
6) Man' s search for meaning, Victor Frankl