Freedom of speech is more about restraint
An honouring of speech is the foundation of India's spiritual and meditation traditions since ancient times. The Sanskrit language is often regarded as the most refined language in the world.
The Vedas call speech "Vak", the Word Goddess, and describe it as the power of universal consciousness manifesting from the cosmic sound Om. The Vedas teach us to move from human speech rooted in the ego to Divine speech that recognises the same Self in all beings.
Speech at the higher level is a power of mantra and the meditative mind, not simply a mass of data or information, much less assertion and argument. India's dharmic traditions reverberate with this mantric power born of the silent mind. Today people are chanting Sanskrit mantras throughout the world, reflecting their influence.
Yet while Vedic mantras of peace and awareness are being taught worldwide, India's JNU students learn Leftist slogans of hate and destruction.
The debate over free speech
India has inherited the discussion from the Western world over "freedom of speech". The main concern of this debate is determining which statements should be allowed in public discourse, particularly at a political level.
Some think that there should be no limits on freedom of speech as perhaps our most important human right, no matter how offensive that speech might be. However, this debate hides a deeper issue as to the role of speech and education overall.
True education is not about freedom of speech to say what we want, but about elevating our speech to a higher level of awareness and insight. True freedom is not the ability to say anything that we like, true freedom is rooted in self-control, in which we are no longer the slaves of desires or emotions.
This free speech debate is alien to traditional Indian culture. India's traditional approach to learning, like its culture, was pluralistic, not monolithic. There was always an open tradition of debate, but based upon seeking a higher truth through self-discipline and meditation - not merely shouting political slogans or blindly promoting a belief or ideology.
Violent speech, regardless of any legal issues involved, is a violation of the principle of ahimsa and gives rise to more overt forms of violence, having dire karmic consequences for both the individual and society.
Such elevated forms of speech as literature and philosophy are what true education is about. Mathematics is a special form of knowledge-oriented speech and each science has its own special type of discourse. This does not mean that our speech cannot be critical or that we cannot protest, but education should make us more aware of the consequences of what we say and how we say it.
Modern information and media wars
The media age has turned speech into a powerful weapon and made the information war, the dominant battle of the age. Television media does not simply report the news but tries to fabricate it as propaganda in order to promote specific political agendas, including to influence or to subvert the electoral process. Academia does not always ask students to be more refined in their expression, but instead promotes rudeness and aggression, turning students into intellectual foot soldiers in a political guerilla warfare, with words as their bullets and bombs.
Freedom of speech has its place, no doubt, but without raising our level of discourse to impart a deeper knowledge such freedom may only create more division and conflict. Of course, a higher usage of speech cannot be enforced upon anyone, but certainly should be encouraged, particularly for institutions of higher education to be worthy of their names.
Traditional learning in India has always begun with mantras to Saraswati Devi. There is a profound meaning behind this practise that we should remember. We may honour this sacred power of speech in different ways, but we should remember that speech is not our personal possession to use or abuse as we like, but a Divine gift to respect and to share. Then what we say will have a more enlightening effect upon the world.