purnat purnam udacyate
purnasya purnam adaya
purnam evavasisyate (- Isopanisad. Invocation)
He is “perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes.” He has taken care of everybody’s requirement and provided with sufficient resources to meet them. If everybody takes their just share the precarious balance in the nature is perfectly maintained. As a loving father He has taken care of everybody and we are expected to take just our share. He is the only proprietor of everything, but when we guided by our greed and lust overstep our quota the nature representing Krsna’s energy wreaks its vengeance to set it right.
isavasyam idam sarvamyat kinca jagatyam jagat
tena tyaktena bhunjitha
ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam (- Isopanisad. Mantra1)
[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]
Every creation big or small is there for a purpose and is helpful in maintaining the precarious balance in nature. Our greed and desire to lord has wreaked havoc and made us face different complications like extinction of species. There are hardly any butterflies and insects to help pollination in the cities. Even in India, out of hundreds of breeds of cows we are now left with just 33 breeds! Global waste – We are living surrounded by rising debris of waste. Even developed countries like UK live in a mountain of waste of over 400 million tonnes, with household waste continuing to grow at a rate of 3 percent per annum. What a stinking economic development! India too is fighting tough to save the sacred rivers like Gangaji, Yamunaji etc from getting choked. No wonder the countries have formed Global Waste Management Symposium to unsuccessfully
fight the battle against nature. Then there is threat of global warming – the glaciers are melting, there is a stark rise in the temperature, ozone layer is depleting slowly; global draught – almost all the continents are living under the threat of severe draught, soil has lost its fertility, rivers have shrunk to a thin ribbon from their old majestic gushing; global starvation – even the countries that used to be the feeding bowl to the world because of their proud agri-based economy have now taken to an industrial structure and in the process from once being proud food supplier to the world have now fallen to the state of depending on others for meeting even their basic requirements. Humanity needs food to live, the civilization of nuts and bolts is meaningless. Global terrorism has reached dangerously critical proportions. Natural calamities are further exacerbating the already grave situation. We have seen tsunami, earth quakes, draught, flood, Katrina, manifestation of unheard of diseases devouring countless lives. There is a threat from outside and even from within. Is it not an indication of the worsening times? Such developments reinforce the fragility and ephemerality of this material world – the grotesqueness of His fury in the face of our disobedience.
The price that we have paid for this economic development has outrun its viability. This plastic civilization is not as strong and as resilient as we were led to believe. Its vulnerability is showing. A hand has no value if it is not connected to the body. Similarly, if man’s actions are not dovetailed to His wishes, our existence is meaningless. We turn atam-hanah- killer of the soul and we have only dark hellish planets waiting for us. After suffering through 84,00,000 bodies, we have got this body. It is the only form that has developed intelligence and consciousness, therefore more responsibility. Cats and dogs do not have responsibility but we have vedic injunctions to guide us and make the most of this precious opportunity of going back to Godhead. Sadly, we are using the same intelligence to further enslave ourselves to the senses. Challenging His authority, the scientists are foolishly trying to prove their supremacy over His creation by introducing genetically modified seeds, cloning of farm animals for consumption, cloud seeding, hybrid seeds, hybrid animals, using chemical fertilizers abandoning the traditional method of farming, or industrialization. This new era of so called “knowledge economy” is fallacious.
Andham tamah pravisanti
Ye ‘vidyam upasate
Tato bhuya iva ate tamo
Ya u vidyayam ratah (- Isopanisad. Mantra9)
"Those who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so called knowledge.” We are sitting atop a time bomb, which is bound to explode. And perched there, we are foolishly devising ways of pampering our senses and ego without bothering to solve the basic problem and understand the higher purpose of human life. And we call this age as that of “knowledge explosion.” What an irony!
prayenalpayusah sabhya
kalav asmin yuge janah
mandah sumanda-matayo
manda-bhagya hy upadrutah [SB, 1:1:10]
No wonder, we do not even know what intelligence and happiness is. Absence of misery is happiness for us. Throughout our lives, deluded we chase the elusive happiness without bothering to refer to the scriptures which are treasure-house of all knowledge - “manda-bhagya”.
Economic development has proved to be an Icarian flight for us; the wax wings have now begun melting. Icarus is destined to fall and die. More our wants are, the more complicated our lives are, requiring set up of more industries, more production to meet our needs, more pollution not only of environment but also of consciousness. Attacked by all kinds of miseries, where do we go? Even those who wish to practice bhakti find it difficult, the ambience is demoniac. What do we do? Still we have hope. Merciful Srila Prabhupada
has given us solution for every problem - Simple living and high thinking- simple axiom but holds solution to all our miseries.
This world has lost its glory
Let us write a brand new story now
Let us like an obedient child return to His lap following His instructions in a varnasrama set up, with simple life and utilize our precious time and life in serving Him, His mercy will follow.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
No comments:
Post a Comment