End of the world
All prophesies about the end of the world beginning with the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Biblical or the Indian floods have been falsified. Upanishads declare that since Satya, the Prime Existence, the undifferentiated Brahman becomes differentiated as Essence (nama) and Form (roopa), there is no such thing as Creation and Destruction, Cause and the Effect both concealed within, before becoming manifestwithin the range of perception, neither beginning nor end,only the Forms becoming transformed through combination and transmutation according to Rta, the Cosmic Law and Dharma, the principles of righteousness designed and formatted according the people, places and periods.
The causes that lead to the collapse of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Sumerian civilizations are not well documented though the effects are graphically described. Both the Causes and the Effects are well documented regarding the Biblical and Indian civilizations, attributing primarily to the decline of the Essence, the ethical, moral, social, cultural and religious values followed by the destruction of the Forms. Therefore, while the Biblical and Indian temporal and spiritual civilizations thrive and prospered, renewed and re-established by resurgent Prophets, the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Sumerian, in the absence of such renewal and re-establishment, the Essence, the ethical, moral values and social, cultural and religious institutions disappeared from the face of the earth, leaving only the shell of the Form as reminder of the once glorious age of their resplendence.
Therefore, recent assurances by National Geographic Society and NASA, reflecting the observations of the western world, anesthetized by scientific and technological advancement of the Form to the exclusion of the Essence within that Form need notinstill undue confidence in people. What one should be concerned is not the imminent end of the world, the Form which is neither probable nor possible, but the accelerating corruption, degeneration, decay and destruction of the Essence the ethical, moral standards and the cultural and religious values of the present generation.
Pure Science has never been inimical to the ethical, moral, cultural and religious values and every one appreciates and acclaims the strident advances in scientific and technological fields and the enhancement of the quality of temporal lives, whether in the use of complicated nuclear energy or simple computer technology or even in simple mobile phone. The globalization of the sources of Knowledge and the free and unrestrained access to technology to every one with true and well founded on Cosmic Law and Dharma, have become boon in the hands of the enlightened and have become menace and weapons of mass destruction and mayhem of the spiritual ethical, moral, cultural and religious values of the people, of what was held as dear to human progress and advancement, leaving much to be lamented.
Sri Aurobindo pointed out that the wise ancient vedic seers realizing access to Knowledge and Wisdom and misuse in the hands of the unenlightened people would result in perverse, perhaps dangerous and misuse and sure to become threat to well-being of the world preferred to guard and restrict the use to those who are qualified to know and understand the implications of the powers contained therein. Therefore while providing effective but imperfect form of temporal for of worship for the unenlightened people preserved the sacredness and secrecy of self-Knowledge and Wisdom clothed in language, words, images, symbols and metaphors giving a spiritual sense for the enlightened ones.
The modern world while justifiably concerned by the prospects of global warming and ecological imbalance created thereby seems to be addressing the problem in typical manner of western mind which deals with the effects if the problems rather than the causes. Concerned with excessive dependence what is visible than the invisible, feeding the senses rather than energizing the spirit within, satiation of the senses rather than satisfaction of the spirit, crass commercialization of the life styles, greed and acquisitiveness there appears no concerted attempts being made to address to the yawning void of Wisdom, accelerated by decline in ethical, moral standards and the cultural and religious values of the people. If science and technology is not harnessed truly and well founded on ethical, moral standards or to the cultural and religious values, then they are likely to be further misused to harm each and every element in Creation. That is the danger which the world faces and not the end of the world.
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