Recently I was listening to a lecture by noted spiritual leader, he was talking about signs of progress on path of spirituality and he mentioned how life is dream, it is unreal and that you should calm your mind, dissolve the ego, still the thoughts and this determines your evolutionary state…With all due respect to the gentleman, it is because of people like this and their mis-projection of vedic philosophy that the culture is on a downward curve.
If there is no karma, can there be any evolution? All religions across the globe put karma as the common denominator for evolution. Unfortunately, teachers of these religions talk of inner peace sans karma which is a technical impossibility.
Look at the dog on the street, or the cat, how did they come into being? And if there is no rebirth, then what will become of them when they leave the body? (This gentleman when he was leaving the body, he said 'do not miss me, because I am in the wind, I am in the trees, I am in the chirping of the birds..')
In my opinion, it is an easy way out to gather a following, just speak big flowery things. Think about it, if you tell your family that lets go to an animal shelter and feed and nurture the hungry and destitute, will they come or let you also go? But on the other hand, if you tell, let's go for a satsang and we will all sing, dance and eat a sumptuous langar after that, they will happily come…the easy way out.
Let me narrate a story from the Puranas. Devraj Indra, the king of Swarg, was all the time trying to save his crown, give
big-big lectures, and enjoy the pleasures of Swargloka. Once he was challenged to a war by the asurs. When you are into pleasures, your energy declines sporadically…Indra went to battle and was defeated badly and he ran back to Swargloka. There, the devas, his courtesans, come to him and start praising him (he is their king after all and they want to be in his good books) - 'You are so great, such a mighty king, you could have killed him but you spared his life.' Hearing all this, Indra started to gloat again and started believing it to be true. One should always be careful of people who praise and do sweet talk, for that is human weakness, they can mislead you off the path. While these devas were pumping up the ego of Indra, Narad Muni came from somewhere. He said to Indra, 'You fool! The fact is that you are completely incapable to defend yourself and your subjects. What are you gloating about? They are coming here to take away your kingdom and you are sitting and listening to these fools. When they cut off your head, these devas will join them only. Power rules, so better wake up and do your karma.' Sense prevailed over Indra, he went and did tapasya, prepared for battle and when he came back, he reclaimed his throne. The lesson of this story is clear - Beware of those who praise you or show you the easy way. They will always have some hidden agenda.
The problem is, in todays time, majority of spiritual guides are also busy praising people to gain their following. Not a single principle of vedic philosophy is included in any of their sermons or talks. Mughals, Afghans, French, Portugese, British…this is the reason for so many invasions that happened in our country,
because the leaders and gurus instead of prompting people for action, advised them to dissolve the ego, silence the mind…When Mahmud of Ghazni came to plunder the Somnath Temple, no resistance was offered by the locals. They stood on their terraces and cursed the army, no weapons or arms to defend themselves. Ghazni was baffled and he asked one of his generals to enquire, the general informed that the people are saying 'try as you like, you will not be able to harm us, our god will save us.' Thousands were killed after that by the Ghazni army and the temple ransacked.
Evolution is a change - it is not peace of mind or dissolution of the mind, it is a change in your habits, actions and thought process - a change towards aiding creation. You have to wake up and act to bring about this change - feed the hungry, save the weak. It is not going to happen by listening to beautiful lectures. The spiritual leaders themselves are busy amassing wealth and fortunes while sitting, singing and lecturing their followers on dissolving the ego. This is the reason for the decline of vedic culture,
