Living in Today’s World beset with Turmoil.

We are living in very uncertain times. 2020 has just begun but the news around the world is not exciting – to say the least 😌

Bush fires in Australia, Revolution in Lebanon, President Trump blowing his trumpet in Iraq, PM Modi doing likewise back home… just to name a few. And the blogging world is filled with personal pain and tragedies- child abuse, sexual abuse, gender discrimination, joblessness, physical abuse, depression and what not.

I am rarely given to negativity and usually shun mass media. But it does effect us all once in a while and I am no exception. Luckily I come out of it quickly.

A couple of months back things weren’t so exciting in my dear country and my dearest friend mentioned blood in her post. I was so disturbed and couldn’t sleep for a few days. While meditating one day I vividly remembered Paramahansa Yogananda telling his close disciples: The world is a joke played by Him on us all; don’t take it so seriously. I laughed out loud and that broke the spell 😊I came out of the negative mood I had fallen into. And remembered my own post : Life is a Reality Show

Politicians are same all over the world. Only degrees vary. And then there are behind the scene manipulators, king makers and power brokers. As it is things aren’t exciting but media makes it worse.

What to do? How do we survive in today’s world filled with so much negativity and turmoil? In one of his talks during Second World War, Paramahansa Yogananda had said, Don’t worry, the world is not going to end. Thank God it didn’t! And it is not going to end even now😊

I recently read an article by President and spiritual head of Self Realisation Fellowship (Yogoda Satsanga Society of India) – Brother Chidananda. SRF is a non-sectarian and non profit organisation set up by Paramahansa Yogananda. Swami Chidanandaji wrote of how to deal with the current world situation. That was very enlightening and am sharing a few excerpts:

… This world of duality has always been and will always be a battle ground between light and darkness; but the assault on God’s eternal truths of goodness and moral values can seem perceptibly higher in our era of near-constant exposure to the barrage of a adharma and negativity that infiltrates our inner and outer environments through the Internet and other mass communication media.

But we need not give in to discouragement about the future. Remember that even as social media can magnify the in-harmonious voice of a single person, thereby affecting countless others far beyond that individual’s immediate circle, so there is equal or greater potential to amplify the influence of truth, beauty, goodness, wisdom, compassion— all heavenly qualities of the soul image of God in every human being. ….

The mass Karma that influences the unfolding drama of world events — in our present era as in all others — is not always understood by limited human intellect. Ultimately, a nation’s leaders are a symptom, not a cause, of the prevailing mix of good and evil in that society, and its mass karma.

While the actions of individual politicians may be of temporary concern, more important in the long term is the need of the masses of individuals to remove the evils of the godlessness, immorality, and adharmic living from their hearts.

If you find yourself too frequently thinking, reading, and talking about what is wrong in the world or in your own life, try to change your focus. Use that time and energy to think good thoughts, to pray, to perform good actions and service and generosity, and to work on becoming a person who exudes kindness, understanding, and cheerfulness. By doing so, you will uplift your own consciousness and that of others…

Aum Amen Ameen Peace

PS: 2020 is a challenging year for all of us, all over the world. Let us hope and pray that our pain, our suffering, which had started with Lunar eclipse on the 10th of January 2020 in Capricorn ♑️ would end on 23rd September 2020, when Rahu leaves Mercury.