“A sacred place will be taken to consist of no more than a reservoir of water located at a distance, and beauty will be thought to depend on one’s hairstyle. Filling the belly will become the goal of life, and one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful. He who can maintain a family will be regarded as an expert man, and the principles of religion will be observed only for the sake of reputation.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 12.2.6)

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दूरे वार्ययनं तीर्थं लावण्यं केशधारणम्
उदरंभरता स्वार्थ: सत्यत्वे धार्ष्ट्यमेव हि
दाक्ष्यं कुटुम्बभरणं यशोऽर्थे धर्मसेवनम्

dūre vāry-ayanaṁ tīrthaṁ
lāvaṇyaṁ keśa-dhāraṇam
udaraṁ-bharatā svārthaḥ
satyatve dhārṣṭyam eva hi
dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇaṁ
yaśo ’rthe dharma-sevanam

1. Vegetarian

“Why didn’t you take any chicken? It’s really good, and since this is a buffet, you can take as much as you want. Are you observing a vow for Lent or something? Oh wait, you have turned vegetarian. I forgot. That is terrible. I never previously took you for a sucker. That is not going to make any difference, I hope you know. There is nothing wrong with eating meat. Stop trying to be cool. I know that you want to stand out, but give it up, already. God gave us dominion over the animals for a reason. We are allowed to eat them. Don’t give me one of those sob stories equating the cow to some innocent mother. Meanwhile, did you hear about those people in that one town? They are killing cats and dogs and eating them. They should be locked up for life, if you ask me. Such atrocities should not be allowed to stand. These are sick people, I tell you.”

2. Arranged marriages

“Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you did not meet your spouse until the day of the wedding? How did that work? You volunteered for this? You are telling me that generations in your family followed this same practice? That is so weird. The participants must have been so miserable. I bet there was no love in the household. Oh, you are telling me the love was stronger than anything a person can imagine? I highly doubt that. Forced relationships never work out. Not that I’ve ever been in one. I am going through a tough time right now, after the most recent breakup.”

3. Worshiping of idols

“Can you stop with the make-believe, please? You are not a child. You should stop playing with dolls. You are telling me that this statue in the corner of your room upstairs suddenly hears you? Really? Does it speak back? Does it actually consume that food you present before it? I understand that life is difficult, but that is no excuse for being duped into this new age stuff. Get your head out of the clouds.”

4. Chanting supposedly empowered mantras

“You repeat this mantra on a daily basis? You are asking for more service to God? Why do you need to ask? Just serve. I don’t think there is anything special in sound. It is not like I can get a glass of water by saying the word ‘water’ over and over. You are never going to find God that way. There is no need to find Him, either. Just sign up for the religion you inherited, show up to the house of worship on a regular basis, and you will stay off the condemned list. It’s as simple as that. No need to keep repeating those weird Sanskrit words. I am pretty sure those names are demonic in origin, too.”

5. Reincarnation

“You think we have lived before? How come you can’t remember those lives, then? Don’t bring this up in our house of worship or they will ban you. I am serious. There is no in-depth discussion tolerated on such topics. There are no deep-dive conversations about where we were prior to birth. Such use of the brain is strictly forbidden. This is the only life we get, alright? Better to enjoy it to the fullest. Yeah, so we only got one childhood and now it is over. What is your point?”

…

Two people are in the midst of a friendly conversation. These two have known each other for a long time, and so there is trust established. There is a track record of confidentiality, especially when discussing sensitive subjects. On this particular day, the one friend has become fed up with what he sees as a declining standard within society at large. The negative characterization applies to all aspects of life, but in particular areas subject to debate.

“Just what is this world coming to? Do you see what people are debating nowadays? No sane person would ever dream this would turn into an issue. But it has. There are real life consequences. In the realm of college sports, you have teams forfeiting games because they are afraid of getting pummeled due to the participants allowed on the other side.

“Of course, we all had to endure the nonsense of the last four years. I swear, these people will go along with anything, no matter how ridiculous. Whatever the leaders advise, they will not question it. I am telling you that if the scientific class or the so-called experts advised people to start eating their children, it would quickly become widely adopted.

“Suddenly, those who thought the idea preposterous would become the oddballs. They would be tagged with derogatory terms, such as ‘child lover’ or ‘anti-science.’ It would be the issue to debate on television. ‘Should children be eaten or not? Tune in tonight, as we will have our expert panel weigh in on the subject.’

“How did we get here? Is it possible to stem the tide? How can there be any hope for civilization if people are this lacking in common sense? It is like they intentionally shut off their brains.”

Consider the same degradation, but extended across centuries. It is with this backdrop that we begin to understand why practices otherwise rooted in intelligence tend to stand out today. For example, so many of the customs, rituals, and institutions from Vedic culture are anathema today to those pursuing the highest goal of satisfaction of the senses.

But consider the view from the other side. Someone from the past would be aghast at the practice of intentionally rounding up innocent animals like cows to be slaughtered for food. Consuming animal flesh is not something new, but there usually should be a need. Even the tiger or lion only takes what it needs. It does not develop a scheme to kill as much as possible, without any controls or limits.

Thousands of years ago, Shrimad Bhagavatam predicted the decline. This sacred text of the Vedic tradition gives hints as to the future degradation. That prediction is already playing out. Religion is all but a formality now, and to rise to the top of an existence in illusion is the highest objective. Those who chase after such rewards are highly esteemed, while those voluntarily imposing regulation, yama and niyama, are the oddballs.

Avoiding animal flesh is now out of the ordinary. The wise person has to provide justification for worshiping the deity. An attempted explanation is in comparing to numbers in their digit and written forms. The Supreme Lord is always nirguna, but this impersonal side is difficult to comprehend. The written out version of the number removes ambiguity, and so the deity is the mercy of the Almighty upon us, to help facilitate our natural tendency to worship.

A wise person has to quote from Bhagavad-gita in order to get the point across about reincarnation. Those living in ages past never considered using such a term, but even in the popular religions of the day there is scant study of the individual as spirit soul. That true identity is both beginningless and endless. This means that only the body is changing, and so the individual is always the same throughout those changes.

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

The bad news is that the degradation is set to continue. The general landscape will only get worse. The good news is that a mantra can save. There is tremendous potency in transcendental sound. This was known to people living thousands of years ago, and though it may not be as well known today, the potency remains. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, following in the line of teachers descending from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the most munificent avatara of the Supreme Lord, says that mankind can be rescued through the greatest of all sounds, the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

In Closing:

Only through degradation caused,
That mention of truths paused.

Reincarnation as weird to stand,
Knowledge of soul not to command.

Marriages through astrology assisted,
From killing cows society desisted.

Despite the rapid spiral down,
Rescue in holy name found.

Categories: the five

Tags: dailyprompt, dharma, marriage, poem, poems, poetry, vegetarian