Exits are always crowded!

[ShegavichaRana]

One of my spiritually inclined friends told me that, the constant increase in the population of India, was due to the fact that, India was the Exit leading to the road to Salvation (Moksha), as Exists Are Always Crowded. I found it quite reasonable as our rich cultural heritage, scriptures that teach us everything from mundane to the eternal. The rest of the world has been constantly under the influence of Material contamination, which is increasing further due to the craze of so-called scientic invention and Technological advancement. Both these factors are making our lives more comfortable, but take us away from God. That is why, those who are truly spiritually evolved (wherever they may be) finally take birth in India to realise God. Any comments?

[Streetstraw]

Your theory would go along with BTG Highway Home idea/metaphor, but is God so limited? Is bhakti path so inflexibly mechanical? No bonafide vaisnava families in West? Not good enough? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[theist]

To think people are only becoming liberated from India might miss this point.

 

But from an Earth centric point of view it makes sense, at least in the past. As India still contains the highest number of people interested in gaining liberation and also the texts and teachers that show the way.

 

That is now changing and expanding.

 

I don't find any real merit in the idea that the exits are becoming crowded as the only real exit, the final one, is to be found within each individual being.

 

At first glance I see your idea of crowding the door a little differently then your friend does. To me I see millions crowding around the apparent exit and blocking the exit while not leaving themselves. Just lingering and chatting and obstructing the way with high sounding speculation.

 

Nah, if we really want out Supersoul will clear a path and see us through.

[theist]

I see another type of crowded exit that is not limited to India. We see it in all brands of religion.

 

Religion is meant to be a pathway to a higher consciousness. Something we travel through while receiving education and inspiration in the process.

 

But too often we mistake the particular religion as the end in itself. Becoming somewhat content with the practice we neglect the essence.

 

The religion then becomes congested. Long time lingerers become top heavy with the external form of knowledge and may appear very sage like to new comers. But in truth having failed to drink deep the living waters of bhakti these dry religionists as just old stale crackers piling up in the cupboard.

 

Very few want liberation from the material sphere and many fewer still are they that want to love Krsna.

 

So religions grow, pious deeds accumulate and atrocities are justified. The real exit from birth and death becomes ever more blocked.

 

A few find the inner door wide open though and choose to go through to the other side. This is rarely noticed however, above the din.

[Guest guest]

Does anyone remember that immortal line in Apocalypse Now, where Richard Duvall says, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning".

 

For me, I love the smell of funeral pyres at Swargadwara (the doorway to Heaven), on the beach at Puri, right near Srila Haridas Thakur's samadhi. The Kakatu restaurant next to the crematory sells wonderful ice cream. If you are there, do drop in. Sometimes there is smoke in the street but that is just a part of the fun of it all.

 

-m.

[ShegavichaRana]

The exists are truelly crowded because, everyone wants to LEAVE and not simply chitchat and waste time. A large gathering and only A door, there would be crowd. According to you, there are devotees elsewhere too. I agree to that, but do they have conducive environment for continuing Bhakti? I had been to US, I could not find anything of this sort there. Everything there was connected to Materials as if the Materials was the centre of the lives of people there. Where can a devotee find true Satsang among people who are themselves struggling to understand the true meaning of life?

[Guest guest]

There is a saying in Russia: "Svyatoe mesto pusto ne bivayet" -- a sacred place is never empty. It makes sense that there are so many people and so many places of pilgrimage in India. However, nowadays most people choose to live in big cities that are not excatly sacred places but rather hellish places and the same trend is going on in India.

 

Karuna dasa