Live in peace, not in pieces

There seems to be no parallel in the memory of man to the fear and anxiety, neurosis and tragic projection of calamity that permeates the nation, the world, every household and every human mind today.Fear takes many forms from climate change to a supernovae , to a mass destruction of the human race by a pandemic or a nuclear explosion!! Why have we come to live in constant fear of a projected experience? Is life a constant helpless trembling or something that spreads love, joy, and warms hearts with sunlit hopes? There are situational projections that cause anxiety. No water after 20 years, plastics to choke plant life in 50 years, gaps in the ionosphere will burn out life, the Corona virus is an WMD, will cause global carnage. Etc. Then there is a personal variety, insecurity, child’s admission to nursery, son’s admission to the university, marriage of young offspring, grades in exams, health and even stocks falling!! The list is endless. These die-offs may or may not take place, but we are already living them before they happen! Ironically the numbers reporting chronic anxiety are many fold more in affluent countries. In all this have we ever given a thought to the ancient Upanishadic wisdom, which questions, that does all that we worry about even EXIST? Is ‘our’ perception of happenings reliable? If yes, then why is everyone’s perception different? Have we thought of what empowers this perception which materialises this world for us? Without that power the world does not exist for us! Our science- obsessed intellects and ‘sense- dependent’ observations shudder when questioned about the very existence of this world. Can we verify as true all that comes to us filtered through our various mind and intellect equipment’s that we call ‘knowledge’? Isn’t pure consciousness the unquestioned governor of all experience, including all science? ‘Who’ is the ‘knower’ of our physical reality?
Prarthna Saran, President Chinmaya Mission Delhi.