The 4 yugas as per our traditional beliefs are Kruta, Thretha, Dwapara, & Kaliyuga (these current times).
If one were to pinpoint one major factor which has contributed substantially to a gradual erosion of values over these times I think it would be "Trust".
Let me elaborate: In the first yuga namely the "krutha" an overwhelming majority simply had "trust" ; in themselves, in each other, in the Truism of "I Am Him" paradigm, & that they were just a part of His creation to re-merge one day.
Then came the Thretha: The first signs of diminishing "Trust" in the form of "needing verification" was born. Sugriva actually wanted to verify Lord Rama's power/strength before accepting His friendship.!!!
Afterwards however, the trust was unshake-able. But there were also great examples of "trust" even under severely tempting reasons to abandon it. Vibhishana was amongst a hostile crowd of brothers & kin, but yet chose to surrender in absolute trust unto Ram.
Sita had absolute trust that her husband had a purpose in asking her to undergo "agni pariksha". The characters Ram & Sita being only a romantic version for the public The Lord just let them see that Sita is no different from Him whom no Agni could touch. More profoundly how can the effulgent Universal Self be subject to any change let alone harm?
(I am reminded of NaMo's comments to Arnab Goswami; while telling the latter about his vision etc., his observation was that the intelligentsia will take another 25 years to understand what he was saying, but that's their problem. If the same intelligentsia has a problem with my version of Sita's agni pariksha, that's their problem BTW)
Then came the dwapara yuga. The advent of Free Will & further deterioration of "trust" ; Duryodhan had his kind of negative free will, Yudhister his positive one, The former deceived the latter to a "fixed" game of dice, the latter accepted it, both exercising their free will.
Arjun exercising his free-will in the battle field chose not to fight his kith & kin. Kunti was a rare exception who was so troubled by her free-will that she wanted the Lord to give her a misery galore so that there will be no moment for her to be without the thought of the Lord.
It required the Lord to ultimately remind all through Arjun to rid of "all our free will in Total surrender unto Him". And the moment Arjun did, what happens? He re-members in realization and the beauty is, he still prefers to play the game & go through the motions of the battle saying that he will just abide by what the Lord has asked him to do.....!!
Well now we are in kali yug. In this age of Science, "verification' is the the leitmotif. Cliches like" seeing is believing" "verify first and then only trust" etc., abound. And if & when those rarest instances of "total trust" are witnessed , it is misunderstood as "courage & fearlessness".
Let me explain: A child of say two years is placed on a high pedestal and the parent with open arms beseeches the child to jump. The latter in absolute "trust" that the father/mother will not let it fall, takes a leap. And what is the most heard reaction? Wow, the child has no fear & look how brave it is? ......
Within a very short interval of time,however the verification regime starts; Verification of facts, verification of processes, Verification of theories & validation galore from umpteen self-made gurus etc., all of which are complete U-Turns from Kruta Yuga paradigm..... In the latter there was absolute trust. Today in Kalyug, starting from lack of trust to believing nothing till seen/verified, validated etc kind of mindset is the predominant psyche.
I however still see no major problem with this, till I encounter those very few, who would prefer to "trust" in Him like that 2 year old child on its ever reassuring parents. By and large this trusting set, is -well to my mind- subjected to repeated "tests" by Him; like say imagine if He were to just move away when you jump. And worse, a set of the so called devout and part of a similar group of "intelligentsia" quickly comes in with profound observations about the lack of that factor termed "Complete Trust". This saddens me no end, as I find this kind of a remark as the most obnoxious, similar to an unadulterated piece of "manure".
Alas I belong to the genre which is fascinated by this total trust/saranaagathy mind-set. And when these thoughts (negative?) come to me, I wonder if I should change my path & join this "Verifying & then jump" gang with that chorus "He helps only those who help themselves?"
Perhaps in this age, its only Science that will take us all there to that realization of who we are. Going by the fantastic progress made by science & its offspring Technology I am even tempted to believe this . Discovery of "god" particle is in the realm of possibilities surely.
Am I then doomed either way? Trust Him & get tested, Trust Science & never ever understand with my limited intellect, as to how it works.....?
Jignyaasaa - quest- and accompanying fear factor would never cease I guess.....Is He listening?
Love
Vichu alias Ekalavya
If one were to pinpoint one major factor which has contributed substantially to a gradual erosion of values over these times I think it would be "Trust".
Let me elaborate: In the first yuga namely the "krutha" an overwhelming majority simply had "trust" ; in themselves, in each other, in the Truism of "I Am Him" paradigm, & that they were just a part of His creation to re-merge one day.
Then came the Thretha: The first signs of diminishing "Trust" in the form of "needing verification" was born. Sugriva actually wanted to verify Lord Rama's power/strength before accepting His friendship.!!!
Afterwards however, the trust was unshake-able. But there were also great examples of "trust" even under severely tempting reasons to abandon it. Vibhishana was amongst a hostile crowd of brothers & kin, but yet chose to surrender in absolute trust unto Ram.
Sita had absolute trust that her husband had a purpose in asking her to undergo "agni pariksha". The characters Ram & Sita being only a romantic version for the public The Lord just let them see that Sita is no different from Him whom no Agni could touch. More profoundly how can the effulgent Universal Self be subject to any change let alone harm?
(I am reminded of NaMo's comments to Arnab Goswami; while telling the latter about his vision etc., his observation was that the intelligentsia will take another 25 years to understand what he was saying, but that's their problem. If the same intelligentsia has a problem with my version of Sita's agni pariksha, that's their problem BTW)
Then came the dwapara yuga. The advent of Free Will & further deterioration of "trust" ; Duryodhan had his kind of negative free will, Yudhister his positive one, The former deceived the latter to a "fixed" game of dice, the latter accepted it, both exercising their free will.
Arjun exercising his free-will in the battle field chose not to fight his kith & kin. Kunti was a rare exception who was so troubled by her free-will that she wanted the Lord to give her a misery galore so that there will be no moment for her to be without the thought of the Lord.
It required the Lord to ultimately remind all through Arjun to rid of "all our free will in Total surrender unto Him". And the moment Arjun did, what happens? He re-members in realization and the beauty is, he still prefers to play the game & go through the motions of the battle saying that he will just abide by what the Lord has asked him to do.....!!
Well now we are in kali yug. In this age of Science, "verification' is the the leitmotif. Cliches like" seeing is believing" "verify first and then only trust" etc., abound. And if & when those rarest instances of "total trust" are witnessed , it is misunderstood as "courage & fearlessness".
Let me explain: A child of say two years is placed on a high pedestal and the parent with open arms beseeches the child to jump. The latter in absolute "trust" that the father/mother will not let it fall, takes a leap. And what is the most heard reaction? Wow, the child has no fear & look how brave it is? ......
Within a very short interval of time,however the verification regime starts; Verification of facts, verification of processes, Verification of theories & validation galore from umpteen self-made gurus etc., all of which are complete U-Turns from Kruta Yuga paradigm..... In the latter there was absolute trust. Today in Kalyug, starting from lack of trust to believing nothing till seen/verified, validated etc kind of mindset is the predominant psyche.
I however still see no major problem with this, till I encounter those very few, who would prefer to "trust" in Him like that 2 year old child on its ever reassuring parents. By and large this trusting set, is -well to my mind- subjected to repeated "tests" by Him; like say imagine if He were to just move away when you jump. And worse, a set of the so called devout and part of a similar group of "intelligentsia" quickly comes in with profound observations about the lack of that factor termed "Complete Trust". This saddens me no end, as I find this kind of a remark as the most obnoxious, similar to an unadulterated piece of "manure".
Alas I belong to the genre which is fascinated by this total trust/saranaagathy mind-set. And when these thoughts (negative?) come to me, I wonder if I should change my path & join this "Verifying & then jump" gang with that chorus "He helps only those who help themselves?"
Perhaps in this age, its only Science that will take us all there to that realization of who we are. Going by the fantastic progress made by science & its offspring Technology I am even tempted to believe this . Discovery of "god" particle is in the realm of possibilities surely.
Am I then doomed either way? Trust Him & get tested, Trust Science & never ever understand with my limited intellect, as to how it works.....?
Jignyaasaa - quest- and accompanying fear factor would never cease I guess.....Is He listening?
Love
Vichu alias Ekalavya
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