Once upon a time there flourished a civilization, cut-off from the restof the world by mountains. But as providence would have it, an epidemicdisease purged the entire population in to hereditary blindness.Generations passed, and a new way of life evolved to cope with thischallenge posed by material nature. Life went on without an event untila traveler lost his way in to this ‘Kingdom of the blind’.
From amusement to amazement to sympathy – the traveler andthe residents were swept by the same sequence of emotions. The travelerwas amused at the sight of a completely blind civilization, then amazedat the evolved lifestyle before being submerged in sympathy- thesepeople were missing so much of the variety of life! The residents wereequally amused at the arrival of an alien who ‘felt’ exactly like them.They were amazed when he spoke of the world beyond the valley. But whenhe spoke of things like ‘seeing’, they were sympathetic and consideredthe man crazy. ‘Vision’ had become a concept of the fairy tales, amythological phenomenon!
Just as the valley was disconnected from the outside world,this world is disconnected from the spiritual world. All the scripturesof the world speak of the Kingdom of God. And the world, where wepresently reside in, is described only as a temporary place,characterized by forgetfulness of our connection with that divinerealm. The scriptures provide us with the vision to visualize thespiritual domain and also give us the lifestyle to attain that. Butespecially in the present age, which is called ‘Kali yuga’, theepidemic of irreligion is predominant and people have lost faith in thescriptures. Thus they are spiritually blind. A new lifestyle has nowevolved which bases itself on modern scientific theories like the ‘BigBang’ and the ‘Theory of evolution’.
Srila Prabhupad, when he first reached the shores of theUnited States, wrote a poem “Märkine Bhägavata-dharma”. A stanza fromthat poem reflects the thoughts of the ‘visitor from the spiritualworld’ when he sees a ‘blind’ civilization.
“Most of the population here is covered by the materialmodes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they thinkthemselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no tastefor the transcendental message of Väsudeva. I do not know how they willbe able to understand it.” Srila Prabhupada was feeling sympathetic.
Just as ‘vision’ was a mythology in the valley, manyscriptural concepts seem to be mythological to the people of thisworld– beings with supernatural features and powers, ages whereinpeople had extraordinarily long durations of life, lands of talkinganimals etc. They find these subject matters difficult to understand.The Mahäbhärata therefore says, acintyäù khalu ye bhävä na täàs tarkeëayojayet. (Mahäbhärata, Bhéñma-parva 5.22) ‘How can that which is beyondthe imagination or sensory speculation of mundane creatures beapproached simply by logic?’
Our logic often fails when we apply it to areas we have noexperience in. For example, when a student of Newtonian mechanics triesto solve a problem in the sub-atomic domain, which consists of verysmall particles, he will find his logic failing repeatedly. Newtonianmechanics can deal only with big objects, whereas one needs Quantummechanics to deal with subatomic particles. But he gains faith in thevalidity of the latter when formulae of quantum mechanics are appliedto big objects; the results match with that obtained using Newtonianmechanics.
Similarly we can gain faith in the scriptures when theydeal with subject matters within our experience and then on the basisof that faith, we can ‘see the invisible’.
The Vedas, which were compiled five thousand years ago,provide us with information’s which are relatively recent scientificdiscoveries- Description of the development of the human embryo withinthe womb, Earth consists of seven continents, Earth is round in shape,fire bacteria etc.
Besides, the Bhagavad Gita even deals with the dynamics ofour life within this world- eating habits, working habits, livinghabits, work environment etc. One can practically experience a morepeaceful and happier life when these principles are taken in toconsideration. And the efficacy of the mahamantra, Hare Kishna HareKrishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama HareHare, which is the recommended mantra for this age, is something whichanyone can experience within a short period of regular practice
Therefore unless one takes steps to understand the subjectmatter of the scriptures by practical application, one misses so muchof the ‘variety of life’ due to spiritual blindness.
Hare Krishna !!
Comments
nice!