mürkhäyatranapüjyantedhänyaàyatrasusaïcitam
dampatyoùkalahonasty tatraçréùsvayamägatäù
The goddess of fortune personally comes to that place where fools are not worshiped, where grains are carefully stocked, and where there are no quarrels between husband and wife.
One cannot be happy and prosperous if he worships and follows fools. In the modern world many people follow as role models movie, music and sport stars. Most of these celebrities have no clue of the purpose of human life and propagate that having fun through the animalistic activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending is all and all. One cannot make real progress in human life following in the footsteps of such uneducated persons.
Material and spiritual success are not possible when we waste our resources and talents. Since everything ultimately belongs to God we should be very careful in using His energies properly. We depend for our survival on water, air, sunshine, and all other natural resources. A human being must be conscious of the fact that all foodstuffs, namely grains, vegetables, fruit, milk, etc.—the prime necessities of life—are supplied by God, and such foodstuffs cannot be manufactured by any scientist or materialist in a laboratory or factory established by human effort. If we misusenature’s resources (at present 17 percent of the world’s population is consuming80 percent of the resources) then, naturally there will be scarcity and the condition on our planet will gradually become desperate. According to thecomprehensive assessment of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), “The continued poverty of the majority of the planet’s inhabitants and excessive consumption by the minority are the two major causes of environmental degradation. The present course is unsustainable and postponing action is no longer an option.”The UN report, “Global Environment Outlook 2000” asked that industrialized nations cut their recourse consumption by tenfold, so that developing countries could have their chance at nature’s limited recourses.
Already in 1992 over sixteen hundred leading scientists, including most of the living Nobel laureates, jointly issued a document, “Warning to Humanity”. They declared that, “human beings and the natural world are on a collision course…that may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know.”
Millions of people in the First World do realize that humanity’s relationship with nature is dreadful. In England, 42 percent of the people surveyed by the Daily Telegraph said that they would part with all the benefits of modern science and technology to regain a natural way of life in a world free of pollution.
Sad but true, in spite of all such wholesome sentiments the current human society has become a geophysical force – that is, the effects of our technological advancement have altered the fundamental systems of the planet.
In the light of all these facts one may wonder why we, moderns, have charitably enlarged ourselves – why it is we have a sense of superiority over anyone and anything in the past? This dogma of progress has dominated Western thinking for the past two hundred years. Our embracing this concept has led to the unshakable faith that – in spite of some problems – the modern world has been a much better place to live in than anything preceding it.
Statistic contradicts this dream. They expose the twentieth century as the most violent century in known human history. Three times more people died in wars of the twentieth century than in the entire history of warfare between A.D. 1 and 1899.
If we misuse planet’s natural recourses we will end up in catastrophe. Similarly, if we misuse the talents we have, our intelligence, beauty, strength, money, etc., for our own egoistic sense indulgence, the result will be frustration and gradual loss of our opulence. If we want to develop our talents and to multiply our wealth, we should use them in service of God and the humanity. Then we will be both happy and affluent.
