This year has been filled with uncertainty, anger, violence, and even death. There is racial tension in our societies. People use their power unjustly- powers that were given to them to help others, have been used for harm. There are peaceful protests sullied by further acts of violence and destruction that diminish their cause. Natural Disasters. Disease. This year, we must all be looking around and asking ourselves- What is going on here?
Our Vedic scriptures describe this time as the age of quarrel and hypocrisy, or The Kali Yuga. It is a time dominated by misconceptions of us vs. them, white vs. black, abused and abuser, and of confusion, hatred and divisiveness.
What can be done in the face of such divisiveness and suffering? Our Vaishnava philosophy invites us to recognize that we are not black, white, or brown, or even people in a way. All of us are spiritual beings, sons and daughters of the Divine. As is every living being we encounter. Though we may see artificial differences, we are all of the same substance in reality:
विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि ।शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिता: समदर्शिन: ॥ १८ ॥
The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]. – Bhagavad Gita 5.18
Our exploitation of each other arises from our forgetfulness of this deeper connection to our common source; caused by our materialistic desires and complicated by blind and unfounded fear of “the other”.Our first step in understanding the world as it is today, is understanding ourselves. In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains that we are not our bodies. We are each a spirit soul, and our bodies are like a dress worn by the soul temporarily. Not only are we a spirit soul, but that soul is a part and parcel of The Supreme Lord- of the same quality. The picture shows this idea, the spirit of The Supreme resides in us all. Knowing this, we can begin to stop seeing our spiritual brothers and sisters as “the other”, and work together to address this ignorance, injustice, poverty, and violence.Next, we must all root out the culture of violence that pervades our society. The statistics are clear—killing, violence and abuse are an increasingly dominant aspect of American culture. We must speak out against violence and the perpetrators of violence. We have to lead by example, and call for the protection of all human beings, and Mother Earth herself, and all her children: human or not.Last, we must recognize that we are not the proprietors of this Earth. Our planet is not here for us to claim, exploit, or to fight war over. The entire world is a gift of God. Our bodies—whatever their form or color—are gifts of God. We should use the short time we have in this life to seek spiritual solutions to the myriad crises we face, and not blindly seek material objects for selfish gain.
