Recently I saw a campaign poster of a prominent political party “ Together we can do more”. The next day I noticed it had been vandalized ( or rather revised), currently, the billboard reads “ Together we can do more….. CRIME”. This got me thinking of things I trust more than the government. A black mamba with a “cuddle me” sign. Nigerian tap water, an email from the European lottery congratulating me on becoming a billionaire (please supply us banking details) and finally a prostate exam by Captain Hook. I reside in a country where pizza gets to our door faster than the police. Politicians and their policies offer a temporary solution ( sometimes ) to permeant problems. It's not all their fault though, trouble is they promise liberty when they themselves soak in the bubble bath of mundane decadence. What’s needed is not simply a change of congress, but an evolution of consciousness. For as long as the world is perceived through the lens of polluted consciousness it does not matter whether we vote for Donald Trump or Donald Duck.” One can’t solve a problem on the level it was created” ( Einstein).
In June of 1099 Jerusalem was under siege by Crusaders from the West. After forty days they breached the citadel’s defenses and slaughtered most of Her Muslim citizens. The survivors were forced to carry the dead to unmarked graves and set the corpses ablaze. Thus began two centuries of conflict between the West and the Middle East. 1187 saw the unification of Muslim forces by the rise to power of Turkish Sultan Nur-al-Din, Saladin as he is known in the West. Saladin’s actions upon recapturing Jerusalem are intriguing. He issued stern orders to his soldiers to not harm unarmed Christians, women, and children. He reinforced guards at Christian places of worship and proclaimed that the defeated people would be welcome to Jerusalem on pilgrimage whenever they liked. Saladin was a remarkably fierce adversary yet what sets him apart from the men of his era is an extra something he possessed in his character. Saladin’s secret to success as a soldier and a saint is the simplicity and stability of the heart. He gazed through eyes of compassion upon friends and foes alike, stemming from the fact that he was a deeply spiritual man. Nelson Mandela said, “ Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished”. In the light of non-material knowledge, the spirit of humanity shines forth and we see one another for who we are in truth, children of God.
Society has been deluded into thinking that economic development offers immunity from suffering. Alas, we perpetuate a culture centered on pampering our material appetite whilst starving the Atma or soul. Sometimes less is more, less possessions equal more tranquility. Advancement in human society should be based on God-realization and not gold realization or else we run the risk of being possessed by our possessions. A focus on spiritual revival results in an imperishable improvement of society. Via God-consciousness everyone performs their duties well and as such mutualistic as apposed to parasitic relationships are fostered. Through spiritual knowledge and practices, the mind becomes purified. Thus when the senses bring in information, the mind picks from the field of information that is important to it. This information is interrupted by the intelligence via the facility of rational reasoning creating various options. It is our mind that decides which option we will act upon. The intelligence simply generates alternatives. So we may say we are a sophisticated society but a society is only as intelligent as the improvement of the mind. Thus one may have well-informed individuals making abominable decisions because when the mind is contaminated, carnage ensues. What happens is that we find ingenious ways of concocting uncultured behaviors. If the environment is spiritually surcharged then the mind becomes purified and selects among the variables available spiritually sound alternatives. In a corrupt environment, the mind becomes degraded and the entire system falls apart. When the government is directed by saintly persons and the revealed scriptures then righteous standards are set and enforced ensuring spiritual revival. Via this process material opulence is naturally improved as this is based on sustainable and eternal knowledge coupled with love, trust, dignity, and mutual respect. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, "Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate, only love can do that”. The practice of spirituality helps one to unveil the light of our concealed condition. What is that you may ask? We are Atma ( spirit soul) and our natural condition is to love God and all that is connected to Him. In truth there is no freedom in this world outside of spirituality, for even a bird is caged to the sky.
Dear leaders, sentient beings are not pawns to be used and abused. When one sees through eyes laced with devotion the heart softens. Then something mystical and magical transpires, all of a sudden people transform from possessions to personalities. Help us be driven not by the mechanism of materialism any longer. We, your citizens are not robots, we have come not of the ancestry of androids, void of feelings, forced to be sheep led to the slaughter by the satanic shepherds of a demonic world. Plunder our minds, hearts, and dreams no more. Together we can build a congress of elevated consciousness where love reigns supreme. Freedom is to be unattached to wealth, pride and status. As a result, we as a people become emancipated from the shackles of our unbridled senses, culminating in the everlasting liberty of the Atma. Prabhupada said,” To have a brotherhood of man there must be fatherhood of God.” This is the formulae for the real united nations, which can be achieved only by voting for the ANC ( Atma’s Natural Condition ). When humanity learns to see through the eyes of God we will have the vision to elevate the world. This is achieved through small miracles. One word, one step then one day, one love.
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