Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods.
They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree
said, "Someday, I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled
with gold, silver and precious gems and be decorated with intricate
carvings. Everyone would see my beauty."
The second tree said, "Someday, I will be a mighty ship. I will
take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of
the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of
my hull."
Finally, the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and
straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the
hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God
and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of
all time, and people will always remember me."
After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a
group of woodsmen came upon the trees. One came to the first tree
and said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able
to sell the wood to a carpenter," and he began cutting it down. The
tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest. At the second tree, one of the other
woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to
sell it to the shipyard." The a second tree was happy, because he
knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.
When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was
frightened, because it knew that, if it was cut down, its dreams
would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need
anything special from my tree, so I'll take this one," and he cut
it down.
When the first tree arrived at the carpenter's, he was made into a
feed box for animals, placed in a barn and filled with hay. This
was not at all what he had prayed for.
The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His
dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an
end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the
dark.
The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then a
man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth, and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree.
The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but
this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of
this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all
time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the
second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they
were out on the water, a great storm arose, and the tree didn't
think it was strong enough to keep the men safe.
The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said "Peace," and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried
the King of Kings in its boat.
Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried
through the streets, and the crowd mocked the man who was carrying it.
Finally, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to
die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to
realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill
and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been
crucified on it.
The moral of this story is that, when things don't seem to be going
your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place
your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees
got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We
don't always know what God's plans are for us.
We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are
always best.
Keep it moving...pass it on, so it could inspire more people.
Sometimes the heart sees what the eyes can't.
"R.Anantha Subramaniam"
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September 11, 2001. One of the darkest days in the history of the modern
world. A group of misguided men guided a missile in the form of an
airplane into one of the world's tallest buildings and brought it
crashing down, causing the death of thousands of innocent people.
Martin Luther King, Jr, stated in his From Strength to Love, "The means
by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our
scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles
and misguided men." Little did he know how prophetic his words would be
in a literal sense several decades later.
A COMFORTABLE STATE OF MISERY
In the modern times, we have achieved considerable ability to manipulate
our external environment with the help of science and technology.
Technological gadgets have helped make life comfortable and easy to a
large extent, relieving us of many of the discomforts and inconveniences
associated with a traditional way of life. The ads go so far as to claim
that the world is now at your fingertips.
Yet have all these comforts made us more peaceful or happy?
* People of the past hardly ever complained of stress or
depression, but these have become almost synonymous with a modern way of
life. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that mental
disease will be the greatest health challenge of this century.
* With the rapid rise in promiscuity in modern times, the family,
the basis of a steady and sustainable society, is breaking apart. A
survey showed that two out of three marriages in the US end in divorce
within three years of marriage. Marital rupture is traumatic for the
spouses and devastating for their children. Statistics show that
divorced people as well as children of divorced parents are more likely
to succumb to addictions than their married counterparts. Even if they
don't succumb to addictions, the emotional trauma and the resulting
mental stress that comes from ruptured relationships and broken hearts
leave lifelong scars.
* Worldwide addictions are on the rise. WHO statistics indicate
that tobacco alone kills nearly 10,000 people worldwide every day. There
are around 1.1 billion smokers in the world (about one-third of the
global population aged 15 and over). By 2020 it is predicted that
tobacco use will cause over 12% of all deaths globally. This is more
deaths worldwide than HIV, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, motor
vehicle accidents, suicide and homicide combined. And smoking is a
relatively mild form of addiction as compared to alcoholism and drug
abuse.
* And with the children of today's disturbed, ruptured and
addicted generation being the leaders of tomorrow, the future of the
world is quite frightening to even contemplate upon. The school
massacres in Littleton and other places in US give us a glimpse of
things to come.
So despite the bluff and the bravado of the comfortable life, most
modern people find themselves in mental distress. They thus live in a
comfortable state of misery. And the tragic irony is that most of this
misery is self-inflicted. For example, no one needs to smoke to survive
but still people smoke and bring disease and suffering upon themselves.
Thus modern society may have succeeded in guiding missiles but has
failed utterly in guiding human beings. What is the cause of this
unfortunate, indeed tragic, state of affairs - guided missiles and
misguided men?
THE ENEMIES WITHIN
An analysis of the current world scenario from the Vedic perspective
provides thought-provoking insights. The Vedic texts explain that within
the human psyche are six formidable forces which misguide a person
constantly and impel him to self-destructive behavioural patterns. These
are lust, anger, greed, pride, envy and illusion. Among these, lust,
greed and anger are the most dangerous and are declared in the
Bhagavad-gita to be "the three gates to hell". Let us see how these
relate to the problems plaguing the present-day world.
Lust:
It is the source of all kinds of sexual drives. While regulated sex is
necessary for procreation, lust tends to create uncontrollable sexual
urges within a person. While modern media - and practically the entire
modern society - portrays passionate lust as a gateway to unlimited
bodily pleasures, such a conception is in reality short-lived and
treacherous; it is individually frustrating and socially disastrous.
Enamoured by erotic fantasies, a person tries to enjoy in newer ways and
with newer partners. But each successive experience leaves him
increasingly disappointed - and craving for more. For the highest
pleasure the body can offer is heartbreakingly brief. Frustrated in his
quest for erotic enjoyment, such a person turns in despair to perverted
sources of pleasure like smoking, drinking and drug abuse.
As far as the family is concerned, uncontrolled lust in either or both
of the spouses wreaks havoc in the lives of both of them as well as of
their children, as discussed earlier.
Deadly sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like AIDS, which result from
uncontrolled lust, have devastating individual and social consequences,
which need no elaboration.
Greed:
Greed makes one crave for far more than what one needs. A person
victimized by greed does not find satisfaction no matter how much he
accumulates. At the same time, his greed forces him to exploit others
and strip them of even their basic needs in order to achieve his selfish
ends.
During a morning walk through a slum area, Srila Prabhupada noticed some
stout people jogging along the road. He poignantly commented that in the
huts people did not get enough to eat, while the wealthy tended to
overeat and were therefore forced to jog to decrease their weight.
Consider the following UNICEF statistics about the world hunger problem:
* Hunger kills a person every 3.6 seconds and over 15 million
children every year . To satisfy the world's sanitation and food
requirements would cost only US$13 billion- what the people of the
United States and the European Union spend on perfume each year.
* Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion - a majority of humanity
- live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have
assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45
percent of the world's people.
The irony with greed is that the greedy person forces others to die of
starvation and himself ends up dying of anxiety.
Anger:
Anger arises when one's lusty desires are frustrated. Anger leads to all
forms of violence ranging from petty quarrels to world wars. The modern
media with its vivid depiction of violence portrays anger as a heroic
quality. This is a major cause of the spiralling rates of violent
criminality in modern societies. While most people recognize that in
real life anger is not a desirable emotion, they savour the violent
scenes in the movies. And then strangely enough they wonder why they
themselves, in fits of anger, speak such words and do such deeds which
break the hearts of their loved ones and which they themselves bitterly
regret later. Anger thus destroys relationships and ruins lives.
Anger is also a known cause of a large variety of ailments ranging from
high blood pressure to heart attacks.
This brief analysis gives us an idea of how the three internal enemies
lust, greed and anger are the actual cause of a large variety of
problems. The Vedic texts explain that practically every problem,
individual or social, local or global, has its origin in the six
misguiding forces - lust, greed, anger, pride, envy and illusion.
SPIRITUAL TECHNOLOGY
Just as material technology enables us to control the world around us,
spiritual technology helps us to control the world within us. The Vedic
society was oriented to make people expert in spiritual technology so
that they could protect themselves from lust, greed and anger. This was
done through a harmonious combination of education, culture and
devotion.
Education: In Vedic society, education did not mean just learning how to
earn a living. It focused on acquiring spiritual knowledge, which gave
the student a clear vision to see the deadly nature of the internal
enemies. Vedic education also provided the student with the know-how and
the training to fight and conquer these enemies when they attacked.
Overcoming lust, anger and greed did not however mean being condemned to
live a dry life without any desires or ambitions. Vedic education
enabled the student to utilize his desires and talents positively in
pursuance of his enlightened self-interest so as to achieve lasting
happiness.
Culture: Vedic culture was based on the implicit understanding that
human happiness came not by external aggrandizement meant to satisfy
one's lust, anger and greed, but by inner realization that gradually
freed one from these internal enemies. Life in Vedic times was therefore
not a rat race for wealth, but was arranged to enable one to utilize
one's inherent material abilities in satisfying and productive service
to society. Simultaneously the social environment provided abundant
facilities and encouragement for one to develop oneself spiritually and
thus find happiness within oneself.
Devotion: In Vedic society devotion to God was inculcated right from
birth. Due to their firm devotion the people experienced sublime
non-material satisfaction and that gave them inner spiritual strength.
Being content within, they could resist the otherwise irresistible
pushings of lust, greed and anger. (Modern studies in psychology have
also started discovering the power of faith as the best insurance from
self-destructive behavioural patterns) In the Vedic times, genuine
devotion to God did much more than protect people from addictions; it
made them honest, kind, considerate, loving and selfless and thus
facilitated a peaceful and harmonious society.
Let us compare Vedic society with modern society.
Education: Modern education focuses mainly on the development of
intellect (the ability to recollect and manipulate information) rather
than the development of intelligence (the ability to discriminate
between the right and the wrong, the beneficial and the harmful). It
does not emphasize inculcating ethical, moral or spiritual values. Those
educated in this way are able to control the world around them with
material technology but fail miserably in controlling the world within
them as they have no knowledge of spiritual technology. The result is
tragic - a world with guided missiles and misguided men.
Culture: The heroes of modern society are the icons of lust - film stars
with sex appeal, anger - action heroes and greed - successful
businessmen. The modern media with its undisguised promotion of a
consumer culture and the entire society with its emphasis on material
success fuels almost unlimitedly greed within people. Thus modern
culture far from discouraging lust, greed and anger encourages them as
the trappings of success.
Devotion: In the modern times, even those who profess to be believers do
so mostly out of social custom or fear of the unknown. They have very
little scientific understanding of God and are therefore not serious
about their devotion. So when lust, greed and anger attack them, they
can muster very little inner strength to fight with them and
consequently they become easily victimized. This is all the more true
for those who are openly atheistic and materialistic.
Modern society thus gives a free play to its worst enemies - lust, greed
and anger. Is it then a surprise that the modern world is in a state of
chaos?
HEALING A WOUNDED WORLD
An important principle in medicine is to treat the cause of the disease
rather than its symptoms. The world is today plagued by a large variety
of problems - poverty, starvation, violence, disease and pollution, to
name a few. Social welfare workers are trying to deal with these
problems - on a material level. These efforts are only a part of the
solution; they fail to address the underlying cause. The problems
confronting the world are symptoms of the real disease afflicting the
social body - victimization by lust, greed and anger. Intelligent
attempts to heal the world need to therefore tackle this root cause of
the disease. As long as an individual is not freed from slavery to the
internal enemies, he cannot be peaceful or happy. And as long as the
individual is not peaceful and happy, there is no question of a peaceful
or happy world.
ISKCON is among the very few organizations in the world arming people
with spiritual technology to enable them to fight with and conquer the
internal enemies. ISKCON provides education, culture and devotion, which
is based on the Vedic texts and is suitably adapted to the modern times.
This empowers ISKCON devotees to protect themselves from the insidious
influences of lust, greed and anger and live a pure life filled with
peace and joy.
Consider for example the four principal activities of an individual
misguided by lust, anger and greed - intoxication, gambling, illicit sex
and meat eating. Intelligent people can easily recognize the harmful
nature of these activities and can also understand that a world free
from these activities would be a much better place. Most people
unfortunately indulge in these activities either voluntarily with a
bestial relish or involuntarily, being forced by lust, greed and anger.
Serious ISKCON devotees however refrain from these activities as a basic
regulative principle for spiritual advancement. That they are able to do
so in a world that is slave to these activities is itself eloquent
testimony of the protection through wisdom that ISKCON is offering.
ISKCON is of course working at a humanitarian level to mitigate
suffering and distress; it runs the world's largest vegetarian food
relief program - Food for Life. But the highest service that ISKCON
offers to the people of the world is its tireless attempts to provide
them protection from their internal enemies and to enable them to find
peace and happiness within themselves.
The Spiritual Scientist is always at your service in your journey beyond
the realms of material science into the unexplored reaches of the
spiritual dimension of the cosmos.
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