I am increasingly observing that as we progress, many thoughts/ideas become redundant or no longer hold true.
The thought process and people said once and which used to hold value and belief of most people earlier no longer stands true. These tends to create problems as an individual.
But what is the solution? How do we decide which thoughts or talks to give value to and focus and which would hold good for long?
I hope I am able to make sense of what I am trying to say.
Replies
Thanks Prabhu
What is Progress any way? Its just your perception. The Chaitanya Charitamrita says that this Material world is impermenant and so its value systems. However the Spiritual Domain is permanent. As you chant more rounds of the mahamantra you may understand better. Belief Systems, Arguments, Points of View are all due to the clouded consciousness resulting with the contact of Maya. Great Clarity can be obtained through continuously Chanting without offences otherwise these confusions are there to stay. Please dont get me wrong!! Our opinions and thoughts are just a by-product of subtle ego and false pride..they really have no base..
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People like sensual pleasure therefore they naturally go for that. They want the exotic woman the dangerous movie the expensive vehicle the show off cloths and sports. All members of society are exposed to this nowadays.
prabhu in general humans have different goals. They want to succeed in all at the same time; therefore they want to be religious and spiritually enlightened but at the same time they want to eats sweet things drink alcoholic beverage and be famous and loved by their peers.
That being said society as a whole offers them all at the same time, when you want this, you switch television to channel 10 and you hear the message you want to hear. When they feel apiritual they come to websites or local churches and pray for forgiveness and they obtain it in a cultural sense and thta is also generally all they really ask and desire.
Messages are clear, desires and interest driven pursuits are what make goals superfluous. For the average person, since they have such little interest in spirituality, things are not clear, but they know all of football and soccer strategies and team members. By that i mean, that things are clear, we dont want to see them as such.
Eventually the delicious religions of the oast will vanish not because we are irreligiois but because infinite ressources for people which sensual desires makes it auch that they never chose something other to spend their time time doing. In gita such purporta are held by lors krishna. In buddhism they say that the devas cannot meditate because all is easily accessible and theyre enjoying godly delights at all times.etc..
Lord krishna preached to his deluded friend 8000 years ago eho faced such dilemma in front of his own desires for preserving family and dharma. Was society or schools of thought deludedin thise times? Not more than now as far as i know. Men and women are ever the same. Cultures do change, but men and women? Thats static like the monad hahaha
Yes, I can sense what you are trying to convey.
Values of mainstream society change as per time, place and circumstances. Thought leaders define the values and the followers blindly ape them. When the above said 3 factors change, thought leaders again feel need to shift gears i.e they change their values to suit the need of time. It is at this stage that the followers get confused regarding values - which they felt were sacred. The problem is that while the followers are left scratching their heads, the leaders never show such signs. This is because the leaders have an independent way of thinking. They have a well-developed mind. They know what is good for them. That is why they never live their lives on borrowed ideas. They are the trend setters.
So, the solution is to define your own values and stick to them. Only then there will be emotional stability. Now, the problem arises is that how to know which value is right and is worth sticking to for an entire life time ?
The reason behind the volatility in values of mainstream society is that it has never settled on a common set of values. As the mind changes, their values too change. The nature of mind is such that it abhors settling at one place, thought or values. So long as mind is not tamed to follow one idea, it will act like a rebel without a cause and bent the values. The solution is to convince your intelligence regarding a particular idea and impress upon the mind and this will definitely work as the intelligence is the leader and the mind is the follower.
Now, the problem arises that how to convince the intelligence regarding a particular idea. Certainly, the idea should be a source of happiness. People do what gives them everlasting happiness. And what can be better than following the age old Vedic values, which enriches the life of follower and gives him everlasting bliss ? Have Vedic values changed all these years ? That is why it is called as the Sanatan dharma. Constitution of the Indian Republic may change, Memorandum and Articles of Association of a Corporate House may change, Congress or BJP may change its party constitution but eternal principles of Vedas and Puranas will never ever change. That is why ours is a Sanatan Dharma.
So, my dear Haresh Prabhuji, instead of making Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Narayan Murthy or maybe Satya Nadella as our thought leader, why don't we make Prabhupada our thought leader ? Read his books and assimilate the Vedic values only then will the emotional stability come....
Hare Krishna!
Veeral Gandhi
Thanks a lot for the amazing response...
My only question is should one follow the Vedic principles as it is or should we tune it according to the present times, so as to not feel isolated?
Hare krishna prabhu ji...
All glories to srila prabhupada.
u will not be alone 101% , u will be with Krishna and His Devotees.. although in material world u may b not with devotees physically but u will b surely with lord krishna 24x 7 hrs in a week..
so no question of isolation.. even this isolation from society is far better than that material society..
prabhu ji this statement is not on basis on sentiment..
please please chant atleast 16 rounds in a day..
otherwise even after reading and understanding bhagwat geeta, u will b in somewhat fear, unless u follow the prescription given by Geeta .
.
so according to geeta u have to surrender unto krishna.
and if u enquire "how" , u will find only one answer i.e. to chant, chant chant.. attentive chant and devotional service..
and keep in mind that u r surrendered no need to wander for ur questions, everything will b revealed automatically
hare krishna hare krishna
krishna krishna hare hare
hare ram hare ram
ram ram hare hare..
.
plz forgive me if i offend u and anyone
plz forgive me Srila prabhupada if i m failed to deliver ur msg properly
plz forgive me my Lord Krishna if i m showing symptoms of pride in ur love of Mahamantra..
a very fallen soul
Fear of isolation is one of the greatest fears in all human beings. This fear has pros as well as cons. The benefits of having this fear is that we would avoid anti-social acts which may isolate us from the society. This helps in maintaining the law and order in the society. The disadvantage is that one may succumb to peer pressure and may develop ill-habits.
Thus, the desire for social recognition in society is not bad at all but caution should be taken that we don't let these desires cross the ethical limits.
Who defines the ethical limits ? It's the society that defines it. And there is not just one society that we deal with. In fact, there are society within societies. The predominant society is called as the mainstream society as it's values color most of the societies.There are also sub-societies within a society such as society of family relatives, society of techies, societies of devotees, society of entrepreneurs etc. Each society has it's own set of values defined by it's prominent members. The social need of every human being is to feel accepted in all the societies. esp. the mainstream society.
The urge for social acceptance is so forceful that a person may even get ready to relinquish his long etched dear values in order to get social recognition in the mainstream society. He would not realize that in order to gain recognition in many societies, he will have to go on changing his values, which will lead to emotional instability. He would not even realize that it is not humanly possible to keep everyone happy.
So, the best policy, in order to have an emotional stability, is to have a set of values which are aligned to Vedic values. In the previous reply, we talked about the benefits of possessing Vedic values. Inculcating these values in your life may definitely isolate you to some extent with the mainstream degraded society but will help you gain access to a better society of devotees, which is very sublime as compared to the current degraded mainstream society. Thus, this is indeed a good deal as you gain a lot and sacrifice less. In fact, in the long term, you will realize that this sacrifice was worth it as it helped you gain tremendous bliss and emotional stability in life.
Vedic principles never change. However, seers lay down code of conduct (called as Smrities) in every ages to enable the members of society to tune themselves to changing needs and circumstances. These code of conducts can be easily followed. Following these code of conduct helps in the attainment of dharma (righteousness), artha (material resources), Kama (fulfillment of desires) as well as moksha (liberation from births and deaths).
Many sincere devotees of International 'Society' for Krishna Consciousness follow the commands of their Guru and live life in bliss. They don't feel isolated because they feel that they have got much more.
Basically, all you have to do is chant 16 rounds and follow four basic regulative principles. Follow this link :
Four regulative principles