Editorial
Changes
The calendar has changed. We greet one another with joy, saying that something new has arrived. However, nature remains almost the same. The same sun rises and sets where he can, the same rivers flow, the same wind blows and there is the same cold and heat. But with the change in calendar, some changes can be observed in our lives, for which there is no celebration needed. For instance, observe the changes in some laws in countries like Holland. Each year, on the first of January, there are at least one or two new laws and regulations—for good, for bad. Then there are business people who announce price changes. All these are the usual gifts of the so-called New Year, for which celebrations would be ridiculous.
Laws change, prices change, weather changes routinely, but the human mind does not seem to change. We are still failing Ishvara [we use Ishvara instead of “God”]. Ishvara had hoped that like plants showing their plantness, humans would show their humanness. But we are still unable to prove that we are above animals and are human beings. What is special about human beings is our capacity to think, understand, act sensibly, be rational, subdue our hate and violent natures and control instincts. We fail in this. We all hope and pray that human minds change for the better. But that doesn’t seem to happen. Just look back at the last few years. We have not even wiped our tears over the deaths of Corona virus-infected people, but we faced wars. And then one more, still one more in the offing. We acquire degrees, we display our qualifications and certificates, but we are the same little creatures, limited by our egos and greed.
We never learn lessons from the past. We never give up our inordinate desire for power and its corollaries, hate and greed and also do not upgrade ourselves with the tiimes. We cannot shake off the violent teachings of our teachers. Repeating the same mistakes, beating and getting beaten, yet again thinking and planning to overpower the whole world. All this is not human quality. The purpose of being human is different. Humans are the best of creation–at least we think so. Even Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna remarked that the human individual is not ordinary. Why, he or she can realize the Truth or Ishvara. Such being our innate capabilities, we are so busy with trivialities and mischievous pastimes that whatever change happens to our calendar affects us in no way.
The sum and substance of the problem is immaturity. Most of our problems arise from our immaturity. If our world’s decision-makers were all more mature in thinking, things would perhaps have been different. If citizens of democratic nations, if followers of “kill or convert” forms of religion were mature enough, this world would be different. Maturity brings farsightedness, universality, acceptance and the capacity to relinquish dated notions and ideas, even if those ideas are “religious”. If our ancient guru taught us that we must donate donkeys to long-distance travellers, we should not hold on to that teaching even now. There are new forms of transport. We should not stick on to the camel if we have to live in modern cities. Maturity makes us human. Our humanness is proportional to our maturity.
AI is developing fast and is becoming another challenge to human beings. The same question of immaturity comes there also. When highly qualified immature people handle machines, they may create huge problems.
With this in mind, the prayer of all of us now to Ishvara should be to grant us maturity. Not instinctive living, but life with peaceful understanding. Not living like animals but like gods, seekiing Ishvara or Truth and setting the Divine as our goal. This is what Vedanta teaches us.
May Sri Ramakrishna guide us all towards the supreme Light. This is the eternal prayer of all of us.
Swami Sunirmalananda