Scriptures are the real charming prince on the horse back, come to recue us!

 

10 important points from NOI which can solve the current social issues the country is facing for Prime Minister of India.

1. Increasing Depression and Suicide cases- We see that that people have developed zero immunity towards stress. They break easily and the mind get agitated to such an extent that the only solution they find is ending their life. The reason behind the suicide is unbridled senses that agitates the mind every second, and if things don't go according to their way, the frustration builds up and so the stress. Eventually it turns into depression and the easiest way out of it seem as taking away once life. From text 1 from NOI, we know that , mansah vegam, how important it is to control urges of the mind. We can't stop thinking as the nature of mind is to remain active. But we can give it safe avenue of activity by absorbing mind in Krsna Consciousness like studying scriptures, singing and dancing in sankirtans and serving Krsna. These activities will increase our resilience towards stress, depression and suicide and instead breaking due to stress, we will break through the stress.

2. Rape cases and assaults- Sexual offences are the biggest evil being faced by the country today. There numbers are increasing. According to Text 1 Of NOI, jivah vegam udro prasthan vegam. If one is taught to control the urges of their genitals by strictly training them in varna- ashrama system , that sex be allowed only in grastha ashrama, than such kind of training can help eradicating such an evil from the society. Moreover we see that these three tongue, belly and genitals are situated in the straight line as far as body is concerned and bodily demands begin with tongue. If we are able to restrain the demands of tongue to sattvik food and Krsna's prasadam than the urges of belly and genitals will automatically be controlled.

3. Increased number Obesity and life style disorders- I am a doctor and come across these case day in and day out. The fact is that now these cases have started to increase at alarming levels that soon India will become the Diabetic capital of the world. Now these are due to a very unhealthy life style being followed by people today, these night out parties, odd timings of their jobs {night shift in MNC} and binge eating, etc. So from Text 2 of NOI we understand atyahara prayasa ca, when we develop tendency to accumulate more and more of material things like clothes, accessories, so called luxurious life style we have to over endeavour for it. This makes us workaholic, and we skip over the right time to sleep and eat paving our way to these life style disorder. The only way out is simple living and high thinking. We need a dynamic balance for it. And the only way we can set our priorities right is by finding relaxation in something higher than so called insatiable material desires. Krsna Consciousness provides that higher taste. Krsna Consciousness inculcates in us the benefits of simple living and vegetarian diet {Srila Prabhupada used to say some land for cultivation and cows milk is enough for a civilization. Even Mahtma Gandhi used to also say that nature provides everything for one's need but not for one's greed}, attitude of selfless service, hence countering the excessive accumulation and over endeavour principle , moreover it relaxes our mind from all the anxieties which come with this over endeavour. Hence it is the high time to get back to the basics.

4. Wrong Information circulated on Social network- Social networks have become an easy tool in today's world to verbalize our mental chatter. The indiscriminate opinion we have about anything or everything, spreading rumours and participating in gossips everything is being served easily on the platter by social networking. This not only leads to frictions between the people and misrepresentation of data too take place sometimes turning out to be harmful. Like in these corona times, the information without checking it's validity, is so much shared on the whatsapp and other such networks inculcating fear and terror in mind of general populace. Moreover it side lines what ever steps government is taking to fight Corona. From text 2 NOI, we understand that prajalpa, to gossip indiscriminately is injurious. Bhismdaev guides us about good speech, it should be about the glorification of the lord, should be pleasing and truthful. Hence the only way we can curb the tendency of Prajalpa is by replacing it with the standards of Bhismdev, talking Krsna katha. It give us the safe avenue to use our power of speech.

5. Lack of Time Management in Students- We see that students today are always short of time to complete their work and studies and are super busy. This is because they get distracted by various things that modern civilization offer like Television, mobiles, e-games like PUBG, etc. Due to this the scores in their examinations get effected. From NOI text 3, we learn about living a regulative life style, tat tat karma pravartate. In earlier times Indian education was based on gurukul system, where from an early age the student life was very regulated. Seeing the need of time, the system should be re-invested on. And institution like ISKCON provides such regulative life style for students, where they are taught to wake up early in morning followed by a well planned day of learning and spirituality. These institutes even conduct seminars and training programmes to guide in how to inculcate good habits of time management. Hence collaborating with them can really improve the Indian education system as well as improve students over all progress.

6. Drug abuse- The teenagers are most susceptible to drug abuse and is very important matter for the Government to dealt with since it destroys the future of the country. As it is said, 'you are define by your company', hence we can understand that young generation fall prey to wrong company of drug peddlers and ruin their life. From NOI text 4, we can understand that sangat tyagat, satto vritti, how important is to keep a good company and give away the bad company. Hence it is advised for teenagers to have good association like association of devotees who lives a regulated life. They can learn self control and how to fight away the distractions and sense and mind control as it is also said in Bhagvad gita, sangat sanjayate kamah, one's desires and ambitions develop according to company one keeps.

7. Grief Management - Years 2020 and 2021 have brought in it the pandemic which have effected all countries and many have lost their near and dear ones, some have lost their jobs and due to lock-down the businesses have gone down. The clouds of grief have forecasted the sky and it have become unmanageable for people to counter it. The only way one can set free by accepting knowledge about this material world by open mind. From NOI text 4 we are given guhyam akyati pracchati principle. Hence when we approach a spiritual councillor or Guru they enlighten us about the nature of this material world that is dukhalya ashashvatam, never ending place of misery. They guide us right ways of living in this world, that is under shelter of the lotus feet of lord. Like sukdev goswami guided Parakshit maharaj who was destine to die in seven days, like we see in prayers of Kunti devi, that how pandavs suffered their entire life and how they were protected by Krsna every time. We can learn how to develop such relationship with Krsna to combat our grief. More and more we hear about it, more and more one will be able to manage his grief. Hence it becomes mediatory to have spiritual councillors for such Grief management programme.

8. Food Crisis During Covid Lock-down- During lock-down, apart from the disease, people also got effected economically. Poor people, daily wagers and low socio-economic strata didn't have adequate funds to feed themselves. The anxieties about survival and of hunger were alarmingly high. From text 4 of NOI, Bhunkte bhojyate principle, we learn to feed Krsna's prasadam to everyone, that not only is nutritious for the body but also for the mind. ISKCON, not only feeded Krsna's prasadam to many to counter food crisis but with that also helped them to overcome their anxieties. Hence such feeding programmes to be promoted for the overall mental and Physical health of people.

9. Racial Discrimination and Riots- India is country of diverse culture and different religion. And sometimes we find that there is no acceptance of other people culture and practices leading to friction between them and tense situations like riots which lead to lot of destruction and deaths. The only way to counter is creating a society God centric, when we develop vertical relationship with God and understand that everyone too have a vertical relationship with god than our horizontal relationship with them will be stable. Like NOI text 5, krsneti yasta giri tam.... tell us anyone related to Krsna should be respected, even if he just chants the name of krsna once. When we build such God-centric society we will have tolerance and patience for all religious diversities and practice. In real sense we will achieve unity in diversity and it's living example can be seen in ISKCON society how people of different religion and countries dances and prays under one roof. They have a common thread that connects them that is Krsna consciousness.

10. Road Rage- If we talk about statistics many people become victim to road rage and lose their life. People have no patience and they have strong sense of belongingness of material things that even a minor scratch on the car can inflame them into torrents of anger and lead to abusive behaviour and most of the times violence. NOI text 7, syat krsna nama caritadi sitapy avidya, states that the reason for this is that we are in avidya/ ignorance, hence unaware of our true identity hence we stay in ahankar/ false ego, understanding this material body and things belonging to as our whole and sole identity. Therefore lose our cool at every drop of hat, as we consider all this things permanent and forever belonging to us only. It is said we are in state of jaundice and the only way it can be cured is by chanting the holy name and gradually this disease will be destroyed at the root. We see that how spiritual inclined people who are chanting regularly hari naam on the beads develop patience, tolerance, forbearance. They easily forgive and have their anger under control. So if we train everyone as a rule to chant the name of god than such road rage cases will definitely decrease and end up being negligible.