Editorial
Need for a New World
If you look at the world around you, you don’t feel so encouraged at all. They have invented so many things to keep you strong, healthy and happy, and also to make life easier. But these “things” appear to be in the showroom inside glass cases. There are middlemen. These middlemen, in the form of insurance, government policies, etc block those magnificent things from reaching you without much effort, expenditure, and struggle.
A century ago you would die if you even had as much as diarrhea. Now they have discovered remedies for almost all ailments. But there comes insurance. Insurance, like every other benefit, is an industry. It is a vicious circle. Because all have insurance, medical companies and hospitals charge more than necessary. Because hospitals and medical companies charge more than necessary, insurance premium increases. Compulsory insurance brings quite a lot of money annually to insurance companies and government. You may calculate. Yet there are no adequate number of doctors nor huisartsen praktijks. Treatment too is challenging and medicines are quite unavailable. Further, there is no concept of “essential services”. If something happens to you on Saturday, a Sunday or on a holiday, no treatment. You must go to “emergency” where they charge double for everything.
Coming to other amenities which science has provided us so far, governmental policies define if we can use them easily or not. Now the governmental policy in Europe is war. After the virus, they could have waited for some more time for the economy to pick up. Despite having the horrible memories of World War II, another war, killings, destruction of buildings and infrastructure, and refugees. All governments are busy supplying arms, ammunition, money, aid to the war. From whose money? Your tax money. And much is spent towards “refugees” and migrants.
It’s very cold. Just think of heating your house without worries. You cannot. Everything is beyond reach–gas, electricity. In so-called “poor and over-populated” countries like India, the situation is reverse. India is hot. So whether poor or rich, all run fans or air-conditioners constantly. Here, the government itself asks you to bathe only for five minutes, not to use gas for heating and so on. Millions are spent on futile war but the same cannot be channelized for the well-being of your citizens. Thus, including simple food items, everything is expensive. One more sword dangling constantly on our heads is carbon. You can’t light a bulb, and they will say you are “contributing to global warming”. 75% water, 10% desert and only 15% land for humans. But not just humans. There are trees also. Yet it is announced that humans are contributing towards global warming.
We had problems before scientific discoveries. We did not know how to live, how to be healthy, how to treat ailments, how to protect from cold and heat, how to travel fast. Now we know everything. But we are bound.
So a new world is needed for us to live in peace. Why should we live in misery, worry and stress all our lives? Why should we live with gadgets of comfort all around but nothing being accessible? The right to life is the fundamental right for all human beings.
What is the solution given by Vedanta? Vedanta says that the world will continue to remain so. You must grow perpendicularly instead of making horizontal adjustments. How, just hold on to God. Hold on to Divine Mother.
Swami Sunirmalananda