What type of donation is most significant for a
particular environment? What makes a donation most valuable? There is a simple
answer. The most superior donation is that which alleviates the greatest
suffering of man during a particular period. The adversity could be a
draught-requiring drinking water for the thirsty, a famine-needing food for the
starving, a deluge-necessitating a boat for rescuing the stranded or medical
help for people involved in an accident. That is to say, the donation must
supplement the most urgently required resources to mitigate maximum suffering
of the moment.
Today, each one of us is in the vice grip of
"misconstrued values". They are damaging the fabric of personal,
family and social life of entire human race. Man appears to have lost his way
and is wandering in labyrinths of mistaken ideals without any aim or objective
of life. Perspectives have become so much confused, that one finds it difficult
to distinguish between the right and the wrong and often takes unfavourable
action for one's own self. In the epic Mahabharat, there is an episode
about the visit of Kauravas to a newly built palace, in which swimming
pools were designed to appear like spreads of dry floor and vice versa. Walking
through them, the Kaurvas made a fool of themselves. This confusion in
perspective brought to them only misery and ridicule.
Today, it has become desirable to bring in a change
in perspective of mankind, in order to provide man a capacity to differentiate
between the truly beneficial and deceptive detrimental courses of life. Norms
of living must be based on universal brotherhood and equality amongst men.
There should be an equitable sharing of resources. The policy of 'Be happy and
make others happy' must be adopted in life. The basis of social interaction
should be cooperation and sharing of responsibilities. One must not behave with
others in a manner, which is not considered desirable for one's own self. None
should compromise one's integrity under any circumstances. Injustice
should neither be done nor tolerated. Neither should one exhibit one's
superiority of wealth, nor someone be compelled to live in poverty. Modesty and
civility must become essential ingredients of character. None should be allowed
to become indifferent to codes of ethics in behaviour. Nor should one be given
a freedom to exhibit an arrogant defiance to taboos. Let us create a society in
which giving due importance to high ideals, everyone
adopts a modest style of living. Society must create for itself a system, in
which each member of the community is made to agree and abide by moral
obligation and responsibilities.
Today, however, the situation is dismal. The ideology, norms of
social interaction, interpersonal behaviour and aims and objectives of persons
and communities have become more or less counterproductive. Everyone is
impatiently contending the race for one-upmanship. Man is madly busy in filling
personal coffers with things of status, comfort and luxury by resorting to all
possible ways and means. Not only that, paradoxically, he is also having a
false sense of pride in vulgar utilization of all personal acquisitions of
wealth, material and status. Arrogant exhibition of improperly acquired
authority and status is being considered today a sign of personal competence.
Imbibitions of bad habits in thoughts and behaviour are making man increasingly
discontented, restless and apprehensive. The prevalent environment of
dissatisfaction, irritation, exhaustion, and despair is encouraging unending
series of machinations, intrigues, plans and counter-plans of interpersonal
rivalry.
During this century much advancement in science has taken place
along with an increasing dependence on intellectualism. Nevertheless,
misutilization of both have produced an ever-increasing deterioration in the
state of health, poverty and unemployment for the masses. Toxication produced
because of pollution has become the biggest challenge for survival of human
race. Widespread phenomenon of drug-addiction and underhand machinations of
vested interests indicate as though humanity is systematically heading towards
committal of mass suicide. The reason behind this entire chaos and disorder is
only one and can be summed up in just a few words. "Human mind has lost
the sense of direction" (Buddhi Vparyay). This in itself is a
crisis of faith in ethical values. (Astha Sankat). Today, the most
unavoidable requirement of man, which is also proving to be the biggest bane of
human existence is one. People are finding it difficult to adopt the proper
ideology becoming of human race and translate it into action in their life.
This degradation has taken place inadvertently and effortlessly. Water flows
down the slope on its own, but one finds it difficult to lift it upwards.
Modern man is facing an extreme crisis of courage for the right cause. The
prevalent trend of corrupt thinking is easily influencing common man and
insinuating one to adopt one corrupt practice after another, in quick
succession. Corrupt mind has thus become the epicenter of the source of
corruption and problems in the society. Corrupt thoughts emanating from each
individual are spreading all around to pollute their respective spheres of
influence. Just as stomach disorder produces toxins giving rise to numerous
diseases of various types and magnitude, a sandstorm of distorted ideologies
clouds the perspective of man making it difficult to see the truth and reality.
Human endeavor is not an autonomic process of body. Each activity of an
individual is strongly motivated by the person's aspirations, views and
ideologies. It is the mind which governs the body. The body is compelled to act
according to the dictates of mind, which is the central processing unit. A puppet
performs only according to the will of the puppeteer.
In each part of this world, one finds numerous undesirable
problems of many types related to local environment and prevalent customs. It
is a common practice to consider each of these problems in isolation and seek a
contemporary solution thereof suitable for that particular place. However, it
tantamounts to application of a local anesthesia to the wounded part of the
body. There does appear a temporary relief but as soon as the effect of medicament
wanes, the problem reappears with the same intensity. Hence it is desirable
that instead of wasting time in such diversionary tactics, all efforts are
concentrated for bringing about a "Revolution in Ideology" (Vichar
Kranti). Let this revolution be sweeping and powerful like a hurricane.
Though localized cleaning of apartment and streets is also carried out now and
then, an overall cleaning of widespread area becomes possible only by a strong
wind and torrential rains. The proposed revolution is meant to serve this
purpose on a global scale.
Thus instead of diluting our energy by indulgence in varied endeavours
for local treatments, we must choose specific goals and attempt to achieve them
with total involvement and perseverance. To a great extent it can be made
possible by relying on realities based on hard facts and logical
considerations. During the recent centuries two great philosophers have
propagated their doctrines of "Democracy" and "Communism"
so forcefully that two-third of the population of the world came under the
influence of either of these ideologies. The remaining one-third of the world
advocates one system of social organization or the other for vested interests.
When confronted with hard facts, the latter class is also unable to justify its
It was the impact of ideological revolutions which could permanently eradicate
the evil systems of monarchy, feudalism, personalized money lending business,
concept of nobility, slavery and other such undesirable practices, which had
taken deep roots in the society since ages. Today, these customs are in
oblivion and are casually referred to in some odd pages of history. Their
significance and glamour of the bygone era has disappeared for ever.Nonconformity.
The "Revolution of Ideology" (Vichar Kranti) is an unflinching
crusade for resurrection of morality in man and is based on hard facts.
Whenever and wherever such experiments have been carried out forcefully, they
have been rewarded with miraculous results. It is true, that at times, the
influence and outcome of such movements were not as effective as it
should have been. The reasons for it were invariably vested interests and
preconceived notion which the participants found it difficult to discard. -
In the present "Revolution of Ideology", priority has
been accorded to up gradation of character. Modem man has become obsessed with
narrow selfish interests. It has, therefore, become necessary to establish the
conviction that being unit of the society, the interests of the individual lie
in the interests of the society as a whole. Thus man has no alternative to
maintaining an inseparable link with the activities connected with welfare of
mankind. It would, however, necessitate a control and curtailment of personal
greed, attachment and ego. Farsightedness, capable of differentiating, between
propriety and impropriety must be inculcated even at the expense of a total
disregard to age-old customs. An environment should be created in which each
man is compelled to adopt such codes of conduct, in which modesty associated
with mutual goodwill-both being ingredients of dignified human behavior, become
indispensable. Each human endeavor must, therefore, incorporate a fair degree
of cooperation civility and gentlemanliness. In nature stronger species rarely
survive at the cost of weaker ones. On the contrary, generally the competent
and strong beings are found showering their love, affection and cooperation on
the infirm, innocent, submissive individuals. Had it not been true, the female
parent of all species would have been devouring their offsprings and the
biological evolution would have come to an end long ago.
Nowadays counterproductive undesirable factors have polluted
all walks of life including individual's personal habits, society,
administration, business etc. These pollutants are required to be extricated.
The task is formidable and needs commensurate contribution of talents from each
individual. This global war against impropriety would require a plethora of
powerful multifarious armaments. Amongst the intelligentsia, the pen of the
writer and communicability of the orator should become this weaponry.
Substantiated with facts and figures, the oratory of the speaker must be so
forceful and effective so as to enthral each listener and provide enough conviction
and motivation for giving up impropriety. Singers, who have become owned the
world over and are dominating the world of music in the contemporary society,
must come forward and lend their voice to this great crusade. There can be no
better penance for contributions to orgies they are being accused of. This is
also right moment of redemption for the wealthy. In the forthcoming Golden Era
undue possession of personal property is neither going to be tolerated by the
administrative systems nor by the envious compatriots. Be it known, that in
future, the foremost sufferers of the mega revolution will be the affluent
persons, since over- Indulgence in sex, comforts and wants have always been
regarded as the root case of many problems, crises and irregularities of the
society. The possessors of superfluous wealth and property are, therefore,
being warned to donate liberally, in their own interest, for promotion of
contemporary religion.
There are many other systems exerting direct influence on
public opinion. Amongst these, the media holds the prime position. The
profession of acting too has become a symbol of power, guiding trends in
society. They must fall in line. Whosoever has a quality of leadership must not
waste talent in odd ventures for satiating personal wants. Instead, such
persons must join the mainstream of reformist ideologies in the society and
making a strong endeavor like Buddha, Gandhi, Shankar, Dayanand, Vivekanand and
Vinoba, fulfill the dire necessity of providing the right direction to
mankind. In this context, whatever be the status in society, none should
belittle one's personal competence. There is a legend in the scriptures about a
grasshopper who dared to defy the ocean and was helped in the venture by the
great sage Agastya. Thinkers like Karl Marx, Lenin and Russo were
not professors in some university. The courage shown by non-entities like Kabir
and Raidas who fought a lone battle to provide justice for the
downtrodden was exemplary. They worked throughout their life to advance the right
cause. An uneducated farmer took a pledge to sow a thousand mango-trees around
his land and became renowned throughout the country as 'Hazari Kisaan'. Strongly
motivated individuals have tremendous energy. They neither care for resources
nor look for associates and rowing their own boat single-handedly, take many
more across the river. The strongest pillar of foundation on which the
structure of contemporary religion (Yug Dharm) rests is the
"Revolution of Ideology" (Vichar Kranti) which involves extrication
of improprieties from the mind of common man, resulting in incorporation of
codes of conduct based on prudence rather than dogmatic practices. The process
would basically consist of transforming the psyche of the masses. It would,
therefore, be sufficient to stimulate the contemplatory habits of common man so
that he begins to think in the right direction. The faculty of empathy in the
human mind is also required to be shaken out of slumber. A change in
perspective would usher in a change in traditions. The talented persons moving
in any direction of progress would not find any shortage of camp-followers.
The color of glass in the spectacles makes one see objects in
that color. A mirror reflects one's own shape as the voice in an echo. The
shadow of a person moves as a constant companion. In the like manner, whenever,
the developed personality of a person determines to move towards an idealistic
goal, the power inherent in the person reflects back from a multitude and
multiplies a million fold. Such a person never feels a dearth of associates and
resources. Only one action is needed. Enliven your own power of mind,
strengthen it and associating it with excellence push it forward on the rails
of idealism.
-Pt. Sri Ram Sharma Acharya
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