Search:
Bhakti List Archives

Re: "the best is yet to come"

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mohan Sagar • December 5, 1999 


A few informal thoughts in response to:

----- Original Message -----
From: sampath kumar 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 1999 2:17 AM
Subject: "the best is yet to come"


> Thus, on the eve of the new millennium all the world's
> governments, scientists, economists, technologists and
> businessmen seem to be full of hope for the future.
> They are all saying, "THE BEST FOR MANKIND IS YET TO
> COME!".
>
> In stark contrast to the above, religious and
> spiritual leaders everywhere are saying the exact
> opposite. They are saying that the glorious days of
> mankind were all in the distant past.
>
> There seems to be a serious schism in basic outlook
> here, isn't it? Science seems essentially "forward
> looking" while Religion seems forever
> "backward-looking"?
>
> To Religion the past is much more glorious than the
> present. So, does religion have a future?
>
> To Science & Technology, the present affords more hope
> than the past. So, perhaps Science & Technology has a
> glorious future?
>
> What do members think?
>

I cannot recall the exact words, or the poet who said them, but I
seem to recall reading something to the effect that man learns
about life by looking backward, but lives it looking forward.  I
see religion, and particularly vEdic religion, as not so much a
pining for a past long gone, but a means of connection to time
tested empirical truths that were developed and perfected over
the ages; truths that are as true today as they were when they
were first formulated (or in the case of vEda, realized).  So,
the goal of connecting to the past, at least when it comes to
religion, is to utilize the lessons and wisdom of the past to
determine ways to live properly in the present, and make strides
towards a good future.

>From this wisdom of the ages, the vEdas, another interesting
revelation about time can be brought out.  For a bhAgavatha or
prapanna, time really should not have much meaning.  This is
because he/she should be aware at all times of the sEshi-sEsha
Relationship between the jiva and Perumal, a relationship which
both Tamizh and Sanskrit vEdam emphatically state is Eternal and
Unchanging.  So, it really doesn't matter what yugam we are
living in, what era it is, or even what millenium it is, because
no matter where we are, or when we are, Perumal is always with
us.  I would like to think that in practice, such a truth is very
much in line with the optimism of Science and Technology
(although it really doesn't have to be to make me believe in it).
By connecting ourselves with the Lord, His Compassion for us, and
our subservience to Him, we should begin to look at the world
with a certain sense of Compassion, because, after all, it is one
His many gifts to us.  And wouldn't we naturally want to cherish
such a gift, nurture it, and make it a better place for those who
share it with us?


dAsAnu dAsan,

Mohan