Mankind has been making large scale advancements in all fields of life and we revel in the idea that we have progressed a lot. We boast of our achievements in the field of technology and science; we claim to have made human life safer and healthier — there have been advancements made in the field of medicine and surgery.
Large scale industrialization has transformed the face of economies; there are billionaires — newer and still newer and younger faces in the line are showing up everyday.
Militarily, the more sophisticated and more deadly your stock of armaments, the stronger and more powerful would you be and of course, less vulnerable. Nations are going in for a hot race to equip themselves with the deadliest of weapons.
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The sudden spurt in computerization has completely changed the face of the world. What was not and could not be thought of a quarter of a century ago is now anybody’s game. Every office, every circle, even every home is fitted with the latest computer devices No doubt all this has given to common daily life so much of convenience and comfort.
Hybrid crops in the field of agriculture, recent and even more recent researches in the field of agriculture and horticulture, are giving to farmers something of that variety and value which perhaps their forefathers never ever could dream of.
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Urbanization is calling the shots and the rural population is getting more and more city minded — there is more money and more enjoyments that constantly keep on calling the man from the villages to the towns. That is, at least, the scenario in our country — India.
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So with all this we have begun to call ourselves as fast ‘progressing’.
No doubt not only in our own country but worldwide, life has become more comfortable, and more congenial. But why do people still run to seek relief to the ‘Ashrams’, to meditation centers; seek ‘Gurus’ to guide them. What ails them; what puzzles them; what disturbs them that inspire of their coffers all full of the yellow metal — gold — they still seek something that ever eludes them. This is a paradox of life that demands an in-depth study.
‘Man does not live by bread alone’ — even though that bread be iced with the entire creamy layer. There still remains something wanting, something that keeps him tossing in his otherwise cozy bed. The mind is still not at rest; it still is not at peace. The more one has, the more he wants and desires are the devil that plays foul with the mind.
The mind is the centre of all thought and action. The motor nerves and the sensory nerves keep on laving their seek do not permit it to be at rest. Even the richest in wealth are unable to enjoy the full fruits of their wealth. They go round consulting the psychiatrist, the counselors, even sometimes even the astrologers.
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in Chaddha has to have a private ward reserved for him in a nursing home and would be carried in a wheel chair as and when he arrives in India. Satnam Shah, the recent discovery in field of espionage and drug smuggling has to be kept for a constant medical check up.
We hear a Youngman of a big business — house shooting himself down with his own revolver. America is one of the richest nations of the world and Americans are the most in number craving for peace at a ‘meditation centre’ in India or taking refuge for mental peace in some ‘ashram’ established by an Indian ‘Yogi’ in their own country.
What use is then all this progress? — Is that what we call progress? A ploughman furrowing his fields in the inhospitable fields and sweating out all his life; eating a few breads with a piece of onion and salt as his lunch and drinking a jug of water thereafter, may have just a hovel like thatched hut as his house, but feels at rest and gets a sound sleep at night.
Progress, thus lies not in all one’s acquisitions, in all one’s wealth; in all one’s possessions. Physical well being does form a very important part of man’s life, and Physical comforts and fulfillment of physical needs is a necessity. But that alone is not what the be-all is and end-all of life.
Progress without peace is hardly a Progress; this progress is like going up a step on the ‘adder and sliding back two in the process. All progress is vain if there is no contentment.
Body, mind and soul — this is the complete being and all these three need to be nourished, nurtured and normalised — that society, that nation, alone can claim the real fruits and pleasures of progress which combines and correlates all these three — one to the other. Contentment is the seed of all peace and peace is the path to progress.