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Unfortunately for us, Man, claiming
himself to be a rational being who claims that he can
think for himself, goes about doing exactly the opposite
resulting in chaos and disharmony. Instead of being
of benefit to other humans, he becomes a bane to them.
Now let us view the kind of scenario
that we expect to see in the XXI Century. We have been
reading books and articles lately on the modern age
- the XXI Century. Authors and contributors have written
on the various aspects of this millennium.
And all of them, or at least most
of them, are heralding this millennium as an era of
material prosperity - an era of materialism. Thus the
most important pursuit in the next millennium seems
t be the pursuit of the three Ps - Pursuit of Pleasure,
Profit and Power.
Much action, much movement has been
prophesised; but in what direction? There is no great
ideal or purpose except material gain. Living a life
of adhocism, day to day, hour to hour without any great
ideal or purpose. That is all. Such a civilization is
a dangerous civilisation. The powerful Roman civilisation
itself got destroyed when the people resorted to crass
materialism without any great ideal - without far sight
and foresight.
Bill Gates, the messiah of the new
generation in his book 'The Road ahead' has glorified
this millennium as a beginning of another great journey.
He glorifies this era and says very optimistically that
this revolution-the Information Technology revolution-will
touch even more lives and will take all further. But,
brethren in spite of all this bravado there is one significant
passage in this book which I want to highlight. In this
couched passage he says:
"As with all major changes, the
benefits of the information Society in the next century
will carry costs. There will be dislocation in some
business sectors that will create a need for worker
restraining. The availability of virtually free communications
and computing will alter the relationships of nations
and of socio-economic groups within nations."
He further says that new concerns regarding
issues of equity, individual privacy, commercial confidentiality
and national security will become a focal point. He
also says that economic upheaval will create wholesale
unemployment especially among older workers. Entire
professions and industries will perish.
Noel Tyll in his book 'Predictions
for a New Millennium' says: "The portrait is inescapably
one of the painful use of force in the name of radical
doctrine; wars of the spirit as well as the breakdown
of spiritual order."
In India, the period of time is broken
up in terms of YUGA. According to this, we are now in
the KALIYUGA. The scriptures tell us that: "In
Kaliyuga all will be dishonest. Charity and sacrifices
will be only for a name. People will be short lived
and the stature of the people also will diminish. Beastly
type of men will be in the increase. Taste and smell
will vanish. The yield of milk from cows will decrease.
Flowers and fruits will become less. Rains will be in
and out of season. There will be murder of people everywhere.
Righteous persons will decrease and sinners will increase."
Overall, quite a depressing scene indeed!
Mankind seems to have no hope; seems to be the worst
of time. But yet, however grim and difficult the situation
appears to be, it is certainly not devoid of solutions.
One such solution goes by the name
of 'Freemasonry' of which we are all an integral part.
As one spiritual leader writes: "When
a society feels stifled and strangled by too much logic
and rationalism; when materialism begins to cross a
people's sensitivity they turn to God and spirituality."
And this is why Freemasonry in this
scenario of the XXI Century will find a fertile soil
to grow to great heights. The field will be fertile
for good souls to think more of Godhead and turn to
the practice of the principles and tenets of Freemasonry
to escape, or shall we say, isolate their souls from
the general chaos and from the influence of materialism.
Freemasonry, it appears, will be a panacea to the ills
of the XXI Century. While the qualities of love, respect,
reverence, truth, discipline, charity, kindness, compassion,
honesty and contentment will become more and more alien
to the large section of humanity, it will, however,
unite the minority, the righteous lot, who profess these
qualities under the name and form of Freemasonry.
However chaotic Society may become,
there will always be exceptions. Such exceptions will
be oasis in the world of chaos and disorder. One such
oasis will be Freemasonry. The more outrageous the outer
world, the stronger will be the need for an organisation
like Freemasonry.
What we presume to be a chaotic state
of the Society in the XXI Century can be perceived as
opportunities for Freemasonry. So long as the concept
of Freemasonry is strong, be it in a handful of men,
Society will gain from it and there can be no threat
to it. Let us remember that no external threats can
thwart a righteous cause. As Shakespeare says through
Julius Ceaser:
"There is no terror, Cassius,
in your threats, For I am armed to strong in honesty
That they pass by me as the idle wind, Which I respect
not."
Freemasonry by its own admission, cannot
on any grounds disown or deny its responsibility to
Society. It too must have a positive role to play and
must benefit not only the individual as a member but
also the society at large.
And when Freemasonry plays its true
role, converts more and more men to believe in its concept
of the Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man, the
Universalism of World Society will get closer and closer
to reality.
And once this happens, Freemasonry
would have done its bit in transforming world society
from a state of chaos to a state of tranquility.
Let me conclude with a small story.
Aman died and reached heaven. But what
he saw there was quite different from what he had expected.
The place was looking just like a wreck, a ruin. There
was written 'Paradise' but the word had faded; it was
perhaps millions of years since somebody had written
it. And it was dirty all over. And he saw people there
just dry bones. They were skeletons full of dust on
them.
He asked some people there, "I
want to inquire about a few great people, whether they
are here - Gautam Buddha, Socrates, Pythogoras, Heraclitus,
Mahavira, Lao Tzu. Where are they?" The people
said, "Never heard of them."
The whole place looked as if the rains
had not come for centuries. Everything was dry, nothing
was green. There were no flowers nor foliage. He had
never seen such a place. He thought to himself, "My
God, if this is paradise, God save us! This is a dangerous
place."
He then inquired whether there was
train going to hell. They said, "It is about to
leave, run and catch it". He went on the train
to see what hell was like. He thought, if this was the
situation in heaven, what would be the situation in
hell! But as he went closer, the breeze was becoming
cooler, fragrant. And when he reached hell he saw beautiful
people - men, women, children. He thought to himself,
"My God, there seems to be something wrong. This
place should be paradise, everybody looks so happy."
He got down and asked somebody, "Have
you heard about Socrates, Gautam Buddha, a Pythogoras,
Heraclelus... ?"
They said, "Those are the people
who have changed the place. This place used to be so
rotten, but since those persons came here, they have
changed the whole place. Now everything is green, an
oasis. There is love, there is song, there is music.
Wait for the night, when everybody dances, sings; right
now everybody is working in the fields. Look at that
man - he's Socrates working in the field."
My brothers this is what will happen
to society when we as Freemasons will toil to convey
with conviction, our belief in the Fatherhood of God
and Brotherhood of man. A desert will become a valley
of flowers.
Thank you.
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