Брахма Кумарис - Establishment and Development of New World Culture

Establishment and Development of New World Culture

Paper presented by B.K. Sudha Rani Gupta, Director, Brahma Kumaris, Moscow, Russia at the International Scientific-Social Conference "Prospects for Conservation and Development of Unitary Planetary Civilisation" Moscow, Russia 26-31 May 2002 The UNESCO Programme "Culture of peace and non-violence"

Our society, as it is today, is the result of interplay of almost uncountable factors and forces that have been at play over a long period of time. No doubt, from the point of view of many sciences and technology, it is an appreciably developed society. But inspite of all this, the world today is full of sufferings of various kinds. People in the affluent or developed countries have their own problems. They live under the constant threat of a nuclear war. The environment is highly polluted. Their focus on high technology and new tech has made their life artificial, mechanical and highly dependant on gadgets which are replaced rapidly by more sophisticated ones. The society suffers from the effects of commercialism, high competition and the accompanying tensions, leading to stress– related diseases and addictions. The condition of under– developed and developing countries is still sadder indeed. Millions of people are living below the poverty line. There are people among them, who cannot even afford a coffin for their dead relative. So there is no question of theirs taking the benefits of Scientific, Technological, Green or any other revolution. Millions of people on the globe suffer because of the ravages of war, famine or drought and the number of refugees and orphans tell the sad tale of unjust world order.

Hence, it can be said that the present world-order is characterized by such socio-economic and political systems that are based not on the relationship of mutual understanding, love and cooperation but on competition, rivalry, antagonism and opposition and therefore generate an atmosphere of tension and widen the area of conflict, poverty, hunger and disease.

Sign of Hope

However, there is a clearly visible sign of hope for mankind. Sensible people in all countries are keen for a change in the world order. More and more people have begin to take interest in the subject of values and God. Many realize that mankind is one whole and a way must be found out to usher in a better world, a new world culture.

Model or picture of a Better World or New World Culture

To be able to establish and develop New World Culture there is a need to draw a picture of it in our minds and then begin to work in that direction. Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University has a beautiful vision of New World Culture and is working in this direction since more than six decades. All would agree that the best world order would be one which does not give rise to any kind of tension, wars or threats of war. It would be a world without fear or suspicion, feeling of enmity or insecurity. It will be a world of love, unity, amity, freedom, integrity, dignity, peace, prosperity and abundance, where all enjoy there rights and naturally do their duties without requiring any forced law.

Socio-economic and political system in that world would be such which give the feeling of one large family of mankind where everyone will have more than just enough.

The power of science and spirituality will go hand in hand and therefore science will be used to make life easy and comfortable but it will not give rise to air, water or noise pollution nor will it bring devastation of natural habitats nor it will be used for destructive purposes or for the benefit of only a few.

Art and culture will be free from obscenity, vulgarity, violence and such elements which create disharmony in the society. Art will not be just for the sake of art but it will be noble and angelic in nature, which will give happiness and joy to self and everyone too.

The education would be benign mix of arts, culture, sports and creative pursuits providing opportunities for full growth and all round development of children and youth.

Honesty and excellence will be the motto of business.

All the members of the family – men and women, young and old – at micro or macro level would have a healthy body and healthy mind with a feeling of self-respect and respect for all others.

The life style of people would be based on practical wisdom and would reflect high social and cultural values and refineness of character and wisdom.

Above is drawn the picture of a New World Order, where people will have better conditions of living than we have at present.

However, some may think that the concept of such a world is a mere myth and out of our reach. But, it would be wrong to think like this. What is required is a change in human perceptions, attitudes and thinking. And above all, what is needed is cooperation of all.

In this context, I would like to quote the statement which is in the charter of UNESCO. It is that "Wars are born in the minds of men and it is in the minds of men that defences of peace have to be built up". This is very true. We have to free our minds from all kinds of negative feelings, attitudes and thinking. We have to learn a new way of thinking in order to create a new world. Our old, negative ways of thinking will not liberate us from our problems but will, instead, create more problems.

And to bring a change in our way of thinking, we need to bring a change in some of our beliefs. We need to unlearn some wrong beliefs and learn new knowledge.

Unlearning of wrong beliefs and learning of New Knowledge

Presently, there are prevalent certain wrong beliefs which have led us to this kind of a negative culture, negative life-styles and negative attitudes.

One of these wrong beliefs is that war is an essential nature of man and that man, by nature, is selfish. If this is the final and perfect truth, why and how then we have built human society? It could be built because man is social by nature that is he wishes to live together with other human beings and for that reason, he is inclined to cooperate, co-exist, make adjustment and give up some of his selfishness. So we must give up the false belief that we, by nature, are aggressive, greedy and selfish. No. We have love also and we are prepared to live with others and make sacrifices of our selfish interests in the interest of all because we understand that there is some kind of essential symbiosis to life and that man can not live alone.
Secondly, there is this wrong belief that present-day society is highly advanced. Yes, in some respects, our society can be called advanced but it, in any case, can not be called an advanced stage of civilization and higher stage of culture. For if it has been so, then why is all this disharmony, conflict, terror and horror? There is in fact, a great need of moral lessons to be learnt which will bring back that higher state of culture which is mentioned in world-wide ancient literature, folklore and tradition.
Another wrong view that is prevalent today is that there has always been disharmony in the world and there was absolutely no time in the history of mankind when there was total harmony. No. History itself tells that there was a time in the past when there were less and less war. It also implies that there was also the earliest era which was free from all kinds of conflicts, wars, disharmony. This era is remembered in different cultures by different names: Garden of Eden, Garden of Allah, Paradise, Heaven, Golden Age, Satyuga, the Age of Truth and Righteousness and so on.

Also, we find that the environmental pollution has been taking more and more serious form because of large-scale industrialization, increase in number of vehicles and many other reasons.

Thus, there must have been a time when the world-population was small, the environment was clean, there were no wars and people lived in amity and peace. This is what is called Golden Age of Humanity. It is this new world which we wish to usher in again.

However, there is also a need to discover the basic cause of fall of mankind leading to the present scenario and then to find the remedy. To make our society healthy in all respects, it is not enough just to know the definition of Holistic Health, and to know the symptoms of disease. But it is highly important to know the cause of these symptoms because just by treating the symptoms, the patient won’t get cured. It is the cause which has to be treated.

So, the analysis of the problems in the present-day world show that they originate mainly from five factors.

Five factors responsible for all sufferings:

The first factor is man’s lack of self-control, control over his libido. This is what is responsible for the problems of eve-teasing, rapes, abductions. Obscenity in art, literature, films, cultural shows, immoral behaviour in public and private life, prostitution, promiscuity, pornography etc. are all due to man’s vulgar sex-impulses. Even many cases of divorces, family break-ups and estrangement of relationship between husband and wife are due to this factor. The problem of over population which, in turn, causes so many other problems is also due to this first enemy of mankind.
Anger is another factor which has led to great social turmoil. Extremism, terrorism and violence of all kinds are all offshoots of anger. The armament race, the huge expenditure on military hardware, the communal riots, the agitations that lead to destruction of public and national property – all these and many other kinds of crime are due to anger and hatred.
Greed, lust for money or obsession for possessions is the third factor which is the cause of economic exploitation, economic disparity, smuggling, hoarding, black-marketing, corruption, over-charging, bribery, economic injustice and poverty.
Much of favoritism, nepotism, extreme form of nationalism etc are due to the fourth factor called Attachment to one’s near– and– dear relatives where there is no space for the concern of well-being of others. (Attachment should not be confused with love).
Pride is the fifth factor that leads to confrontation, divisiveness, domination by some few people, disrespectful behaviour towards others and it leads to rivalry, hatred, leg– pulling, revengeful attitude and the like.

Further, deep thought, will however reveal that these five factors are the result of degeneration of love or it may be called Perverted love.

Love is the inherent quality of every human soul but when it exists in its pure form as in Golden Age then there are no problems. In fact, pure love is the basis of the family, polity, economy and culture of the society in Golden Age. When love gets degenerated ie when it is directed towards one’s body, body’s gender, the bodies of relationships or towards material objects, wealth, then this gives rise to all kinds of negative traits leading to all kinds of problems.

Remedy

Analysis shows that all the problems of the world are born either through the absence of love which in other words can be called selfishness or from the debased form of love such as

sexlust,
greed,
attachment,

or from the emotions that arise from non fulfillment of these four and are called

jealousy,
hatred,
anger etc,

or from the fulfillment of these negative forms of love and emotions such as

pride.

Hence, remedy for getting rid of all problems lies in the purification of love. This is what is called self-purification or self-change.

New Knowledge for the New World

However, how to do it? For this, there is a need of New Knowledge – Knowledge of our real identity and real identity of others. Since childhood, we have been listening the motto of world brotherhood or Universal brotherhood. However, no one has ever explained as to how there can be world brotherhood if there is no common Fatherhood. It is the spiritual education which gives the understanding and the realization that each one of us is a conscient being, different from this material body. This conscient being is called soul. Hence all of us are souls, whose original nature is peace, purity, love, joy and happiness. We, as soul, are the children of God, who is One for all, the Supreme Father of all and is most Merciful, Peaceful, Loveful, Blissful and Knowledgeful. So, when we stabilize ourselves in this consciousness "I am a soul, a conscient point of light and might, pure, peaceful and loveful, a child of God, the Supreme Father, who is unlimited in His qualities and that all others are also souls, my brothers and in bodies, my sisters and brothers," we awaken our hidden quality of love for all based on soul consciousness. The link of our mind and intellect with God, who is Supreme Source of all virtues and powers enables us to get these virtues and spiritual powers from Him as inheritance, as a result of which all negative traits begin to leave the soul. When the inner harmony in my mind is restored, then only the Universal harmony will also be restored. Then only a new world order will dawn or in other words, the world will return back to its pristine purity and beauty. There is need to be aware of the following motto: "When I change, the world will change." The button for remote control also lies in my hands. Let me not wait for others to change, let me take the torch in my hand and show others the path.

Thank you for your attention and best wishes for the success of the Conference.