Editorial
Is the World in a Terrible State now?
The common perception now is that the world is going down and down. People feel that we are living in bad times. Seeing the negativity, the way evil people are dominating every important corner of life and the way good people are being “imprisoned” and punished, it’s now a common perception that the world was never so low as it is now.
Not exactly. We have seen several wars in this century itself, which brought hell on earth.
Evil and Good, both have their houses on this earth. This is a two-faced world where both good and evil live and thrive. Both act according to their nature. Evil cannot be obliterated, nor can Good be made the owner of this earth any time. Evil rises its head, creates confusion, distress, sorrow and suffering. However, it has to subside, get punished or die out for the time being. Good also rises, shows its influence and spreads peace, but cannot conquer the entire earth. At no time can we expect absolute good or absolute evil on this planet. There is, however, a caveat. Though only Good is never possible on this earth, the power and rule of Good can be the maximum at any given time. Good can rule the earth in that way. And the desire, ambition, struggle and goal of all should be towards Good and making Good the sole administrator and owner of this Earth.
We have to remember a few things: If God is all Good, why evil then? As elders inform us, if there is only Good, we cannot understand its value. Second. If God is all Good, how can evil be there in this world or in living beings? This is the Semitic concept of God and reality. According to Sanatana Dharma or Vedanta, Good and Evil are relative. Ishvara is neither Good nor Evil. He is beyond both. Further, Evil is just a superficial envelope or cover on the Atman or Soul, which is Goodness Itself. However much a person may be “bad”, it is all superficial because no evil can touch the Atman.
Even though this world is a mixture of good and evil, it is the goal of all to make it absolutely Good. Nothing is impossible. But why does evil thrive? The reason is the complete confidence of evil people in their evil ways but lack of confidence of good people in their path of goodness. Seeing evil thriving, good people feel: “What if I am good and noble? I remain poor and weak. The evil one is rich, happy and super powerful.” Not so. Good alone is power. Evil is weakness. Evil is like a strong wave in the ocean. It rises and falls. It is like a tempest. It blows and destroys and subsides. But Good has the power and can dominate over Evil. Evil is weak, and so Good can through goodness overpower evil.
Finally, are we in a very low period of human history. May not be. We do not know complete history, and history repeats itself. If evil tries to conquer the world through evil means, which is never possible, Good can strengthen itself through good means. Prayer, worship, service, meditation, mass awakening towards good deeds are all good means. An evil person can lie, cheat, use his weapons and so on to conquer. Seeing all this, a good person may feel that his methods like prayer are useless. Not so at all.
Evil is just a shadow, a false covering on the Light of Truth.
May Sri Ramakrishna, Mother and Swamiji bless us all.
Swami Sunirmalananda