September 11, 2001. One of the darkest days in the history of the modern world

1. ..
September
11, 2001.
One of the
darkest
days in the
history of
the
modern
world

2. Martin Luther King, Jr,
stated in his From Strength
to Love, "The means by
which we live have
outdistanced the ends for
which we live. Our scientific
power has outrun our
spiritual power. We have
guided missiles and
misguided men.
" Little did he know how
prophetic his words would be
in a literal sense several
decades later.

3. A COMFORTABLE STATE OF MISERY
In the modern times, we
have achieved
considerable ability to
manipulate our external
environment with the help
of science and technology.

4. Technological gadgets
have helped make life
comfortable and easy
to a large extent,
relieving us of many of
the discomforts and
inconveniences
associated with a
traditional way of life.
The ads go so far as to
claim that the world is
now at your fingertips.

5. Yet have all these comforts made us
more peaceful or happy?

6. The World Health
Organization
(WHO) has
declared that
mental disease will
be the greatest
health challenge of
this century

7. People of the past hardly ever
complained of stress or depression,
but these have become almost
synonymous with a modern way of
life..

9. Worldwide addictions are
on the rise. WHO statistics
indicate that tobacco alone
kills nearly 10,000 people
worldwide every day. There
are around 1.1 billion
smokers in the world
(about one-third of the
global population aged 15
and over).
.

10. By 2020 it is predicted that
tobacco use will cause over
12% of all deaths globally.
This is more deaths
worldwide than HIV,
tuberculosis, maternal
mortality, motor vehicle
accidents, suicide and
homicide combined. And
smoking is a relatively mild
form of addiction as
compared to alcoholism
and drug abuse

11. With the rapid rise in
promiscuity in modern times,
the family, the basis of a
steady and sustainable
society, is breaking apart. A
survey showed that two out
of three marriages in the US
end in divorce within three
years of marriage.

12. with the children of today's
disturbed, ruptured and
addicted generation being
the leaders of tomorrow,
the future of the world is
quite frightening to even
contemplate upon.
The school massacres in
Littleton and other places in
US give us a glimpse of
things to come.

13. So despite the bluff and the
bravado of the comfortable
life, most modern people find
themselves in mental distress.
They thus live in a
comfortable state of misery.
And the tragic irony is that
most of this misery is self-
inflicted.
For example, no one needs to
smoke to survive but still
people smoke and bring
disease and suffering upon
themselves.

14. What is the cause of this
unfortunate, indeed tragic,
state of affairs - guided
missiles and misguided
men?

15. THEENEMIESWITHIN
An analysis of the current
world scenario from the
Vedic perspective provides
thought-provoking insights.
The Vedic texts explain that
within the human psyche are
six formidable forces which
misguide a person constantly
and impel him to self-
destructive behavioral
patterns.

16. These are lust, anger, greed,
pride, envy and illusion.
Among these, lust, greed and
anger are the most dangerous
and are declared in the
Bhagavad-gita to be "the
three gates to hell". Let us see
how these relate to the
problems plaguing the
present-day world.

17. It is the source of all
kinds of sexual drives.
While regulated sex is
necessary for
procreation, lust tends to
create uncontrollable
sexual urges within a
person.
lust

18. While modern media - and
practically the entire
modern society - portrays
passionate lust as a
gateway to unlimited
bodily pleasures, such a
conception is in reality
short-lived and
treacherous; it is
individually frustrating
and socially disastrous

19. Enamored by erotic
fantasies, a person tries
to enjoy in newer ways
and with newer partners.
But each successive
experience leaves him
increasingly disappointed
- and craving for more.

20. For the highest pleasure
the body can offer is
heartbreakingly brief.
Frustrated in his quest
for erotic enjoyment,
such a person turns in
despair to perverted
sources of pleasure like
smoking, drinking and drug
abuse.

21. Greed:
Greed makes one
crave for far more
than what one needs.
A person victimized
by greed does not
find satisfaction no
matter how much he
accumulates. At the
same time, his greed
forces him to exploit
others and strip
them of even their
basic needs in order
to achieve his selfish
ends.

22.  During a morning walk through a slum area, Srila Prabhupada
noticed some stout people jogging along the road. He
poignantly commented that in the huts people did not get
enough to eat, while the wealthy tended to overeat and were
therefore forced to jog to decrease their weight.

23. Consider the following UNICEF
statistics about the world hunger
problem:

24. Hunger kills a
person every 3.6
seconds and over 15
million children
every year . To
satisfy the world's
sanitation and food
requirements would
cost only US$13
billion- what the
people of the
United States and
the European Union
spend on perfume
each year.

25. anger
o Anger arises when
one's lusty desires
are frustrated. Anger
leads to all forms of
violence ranging
from petty quarrels
to world wars.
o The modern media
with its vivid
depiction of violence
portrays anger as a
heroic quality. This is
a major cause of the
spiraling rates of
violent criminality in
modern societies.
.

26. o While most people recognize
that in real life anger is not a
desirable emotion, they savor
the violent scenes in the
movies. And then strangely
enough they wonder why they
themselves, in fits of anger,
speak such words and do such
deeds which break the hearts
of their loved ones and which
they themselves bitterly regret
later.
 Anger thus destroys
relationships and ruins lives