Satsang With Swami Chinmayananda-On World Progress

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When will they end?

For centuries politicians have been arriving and giving us political philosophies. Believing them, successive generations have sacrificed themselves, yet where are we today?

Medical science has progressed over time. Hospitals are built, doctors are trained, yet is there no illness now in the world?

Would you say, therefore, the world has not progressed? If in these known realms there is progress in spite of imperfections, can you say that man has not progressed in spite of prophets and religion?

No doubt the ideal world has not yet been reached, even with valiant contributions of politicians, doctors, scientists and economists. But please consider what our condition would be had these mighty intellectuals not served the world?

In spite of prophets and preceptors, man has not given up lust and has not learned the art of living in tranquil joy. But consider what our condition would have been had these benign influences not taken place in our evolution to present civilization?

How much food is in restaurants and stores? And yet how many die of starvation? The existence of food in the world is no guarantee against people starving. Even when food is in front of us, unless we take it in, it is not going to help us. Even if we take it, unless we have the strength to assimilate and make the essence of the food our own, health is never improved.

The religious masters lay down rules of conduct and explain the greater reality in life. We have to digest these ideas and assimilate them to make them our own. Religion is a subjective science.

In the generations in which many recognized and lived these values, there was more peace and progress. But when as in our times, moral virtues are discarded and religion is shunned on the false and stupid argument of secularism, we find immorality, corruption and faithlessness in all departments of activity.