Perils of Samsara.

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

There is a saying of Thakur, "Live in the samsara if you like but don't let the samsara live within you." If we don't follow this dictum, one of the favourite of Revered Swami Ranganathanandaji too, we fall prey to what is called "stress". Our education today does not teach us how to live, it is a mere bread earning education. And the result ? Read for yourself;

 

 

The World Bank’s World Development Report 1993 publishes startling statistics on the global burden on mental disorders. It is estimated that 8 percent of the global burden of disability and morbidity in the world is due to mental and neurological disorders. Adding behaviour-related illnesses, the figure rises to 42 percent. and WHO estimates that at any one time, as many as one in four of the world's population suffer from different forms of mental, behavioural and neurological disorders, including affective disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, epilepsy, dementias, mental retardation, schizophrenia and stress-related disorders.

“All predictions are that the future will bring an exponential increase in mental problems."

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Therefore we should try our best to remain detached in the midst of intense work, as advised by Swamiji. We are here only to realise God, through any one or all of the four yogas. If we forget that and become involved in the world we will end up as a statistic for WHO to warn people with.

Recently I also read a report that said that the "shopping sprees and running after gadgets civilisation" of ours is a symptom of deep rooted dissatisfaction and an emptiness that the population has fallen a prey to. Emptiness even while surrounded by riches. This should remind us of another saying of Thakur, "The goal of life is God realisation, not running after money. Money can only provide us with external objects, it cannot lead us to God."

Regards, Jagannath.