“Love is the affinity which links and draws together the elements of the world… Love, in fact, is the agent of universal synthesis.” ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
I was in third grade when we moved from one state to another state, both being different from my home state where I was born. You’re probably wondering what’s the big deal in that. Well, it was indeed a big deal – back then.
I come from a country comprising of 25+ states, 22+ languages and nearly 2000 dialects. Even though we share a common and rich cultural heritage and a history dating back to thousands of years, each state has its own distinct language/dialect, cuisine, culture and customs. “Unity in diversity” is a slogan most often used to describe the nation.
I was seven when we moved to this new state and it was like moving to a whole new world where people spoke a different language, had different customs and mannerisms.
It was difficult in the beginning, especially at school – using sign language, struggling to understand what others were saying, and then mumbling words incoherently pretending to answer them back.
Imagine being looked at as if you came from Mars! Classmates made fun of your state, language, your culture, your food, your accent, and what not. And when the textbooks claimed that your state lagged behind in industrial growth, production of rice etc. etc., you wished you could hide under the desk in shame as if it were a moment of personal tragedy.
Pride kept you from sharing your miseries with your parents! Not when they put your younger brother in the same school expecting you, the big sister, to take care of him.
As days rolled into months, it’s not long before you learned to speak the language … time to bully the bullies…grrr!
“So, you think we eat only idli ( a savory cake made out of rice and lentils) and sambar (a lentil soup) for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Do you fill your tummies with rosogolla (a regional sweet delicacy made out of a type of fresh cheese) the whole day?”
It doesn’t end there. A country famous for it’s umpteen deities, religious fervor sneaked into the arguments and fights.
“My god is greater than your god. My god has eight arms while yours has only two.”
“Oh, but mine has four heads while yours has only one.”
“So what, mine is mounted on a tiger, yours has only a little mouse.”
(Note: The umpteen deities represent the various cosmic principles. Heads, arms, mounts, colors, sounds etc used to depict the deities are symbolic of the different qualities and characteristics. Since imagery and visualization are such effective tools for manifestation, ancient seers conjured different ways to help the common man realize his/her divine potential. Sadly, however, the deeper spiritual significance has been lost over centuries and the superficial religious connotation has gained popularity.)
Eventually, peace was made, enemies became friends, lunch boxes were shared (because your mom made such boring food but theirs’ made all that amazing stuff), … and you loved one another as family.
Mind you, all this took time and effort.
How the times have changed since then! Adapting to a different state no longer is a challenge.
Technology flattens the world. With television and cable network, and a proliferation of regional and educational channels, awareness grew. People learned more about their country than they ever did before. Earlier, travel and reading were perhaps the only means, now, you could do that sitting in your living room.
Then came the computer and software boom. Internet, cell phone, home PCs and laptops became common.
Technology has made communication and information sharing faster and easier. Not just a nation, technology has flattened the world bringing cultures and people together like never before. Business travel, tourism, proliferation of airlines etc. indirectly contributed to the flattening.
Then there’s social media, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace…today’s challenge is no longer adapting to a new culture or state but having Facebook friends or Twitter followers spanning across cultures, states and even nations. Numbers count and going global is the trend.
Any surprise that today’s revolutions are driven by the internet, (i)phones and social media?
People’s voice of freedom leads to political upheavals. Talking of revolutions, brings me to the political upheavals storming through the world today. In fact, not just today – let’s go back a hundred years or so. Two world wars, end of colonialism, third world emergence, Gandhi’s non-violence movement, Luther King’s struggle for the advancement of civil rights in US and around the world, end of the cold war, collapse of the Iron Curtain (remember the Berlin Wall?), etc.
It’s the birthright of every individual to enjoy freedom of expression and the right to live…for centuries, rights of people around the world were suppressed by power-hungry rulers and autocrats. Suppression leads to expression sooner or later as history has proven time and again.
Companies forced to go back to basics. The corporate world had it’s good share of ups and downs, upheavals and crisis.
Companies crossed borders, investing multi-nationally, creating job opportunities and spreading wealth across the globe.
Anderson and Enron scandals raised questions on ethics and crooked practices. The sub-prime crisis, a result of greed and avarice, triggered a recession bankrupting major financial giants, leaving many unemployed one fine morning. The BP oil spill, a consequence of negligence and arrogance, endangered the environment, wildlife, habitat, health, livelihoods – impact that might affect generations to come.
All these are proving how interconnected and interdependent we are, that profits caanot be the only goal for businesses.
Economy is truly global. Any event in any part of the world – political, technological, scientific, natural etc. impacts the stock markets performance across the globe. Whether it’s a tsunami or an earthquake in Japan, the sub-prime crisis in the US, people’s revolutions in the Middle-east, our destinies are all inter-twined through the common thread that binds us all – the economy.
Groundbreaking experiments, discoveries and inventions in science. Discovery of the atom and electron, dual nature of electron- particle and a wave, Einstein’s famous E=mc2 stating that energy and matter are the same, nuclear energy, electricity, wind energy, solar power, leaf power, aeroplanes, automobiles, etc; experiments proving plants have consciousness, that human beliefs have impact on the biology of the body, the power of the mind; major leaps in medical science – sophisticated surgeries, organ transplants, stem cell research, vaccines, artificial limbs, etc.
All these are changing the world.
Nature’s fury wreaks havoc, yet brings people together. On the natural front – tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, and other natural calamities are wreaking havoc. There has been widespread devastation, innumerable loss of life and property and heartbreaking tragedy.
Nations and people have come forth offering support in whatever way they can in an outpouring of aid, relief, rescue teams, … and prayers. Innumerable stories of bravery, heroism, kindness, miracle survivors etc. inspire millions across the world as people invoked their higher selves and rose to the occasion.
Environmental awareness on the rise, better late than never! Effects of misuse of technology are being felt, especially, in the food world. Antibiotics, artificial growth hormones, pesticides, genetically modified food sources, packaged and highly processed food are taking their toll. The world is realizing how dangerous it is to interfere in nature’s ways and to treat human bodies, animals and plants as mechanical bodies to be messed up with. Dis-eases of all kinds are on the rise. Rising awareness is driving people towards organic farming, natural and whole food sources, holistic medicine (naturopathy, homeopathy, ayurveda, energy medicine, reiki, pranic treatment etc)
Massive and selfish exploitation of plant, animal and mineral kingdoms has led to depletion of natural resources, ecological imbalance, changing weather conditions with potentially dangerous consequences and other environmental disasters.
Realizing the already happening and potential consequences of our actions in the past decades, governments, corporates, non-profit organizations, communities and individuals across the world are coming together to promote a greener earth.
More and more people seek meaning and purpose of living. Religious fanaticism, killing in the name of religion, religious intolerance, bureaucracy of organized religion have disillusioned people all over the world driving them to seek answers for themselves. People are yearning for balance – a balance between spirituality and materialism.
Spiritual awareness is on the rise. Spiritual leaders, including the Dalai Lama, and scientists from across the world are coming together to discuss and share. Human Unity conferences are being held with interfaith leaders. Spirituality and science – a marriage is on the cards in the years to come.
Spiritual fusion of East and West is happening. Spiritual concepts from the great scriptures, Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, Bible, Koran etc, crystallized, complicated, misinterpreted (for self-aggrandizement) over the years, are being presented afresh in a simple manner for people to understand and follow.
Lessons and universal laws from these sources of ageless and timeless wisdom are being woven into management and business streams, shaping business policies.
Social and cultural landscape is changing. Inter-religious, inter-cultural, inter-racial, inter-national, inter-caste marriages (or unions /partnerships) have become commonplace.
Shackles of male dominance, prevalent for centuries and taken for granted, are being broken surely and steadily, as more and more women are making their presence felt in all spheres and forms of life.
Conventions and age-old rigid rules are being broken by younger generations while the older generations bemoan diminishing authority and respect and degrading values.
More and more people are breaking superficial barriers and peeling layers and layers of false pride, illusion of greatness, fear of dilution of one’s legacy, social hypocrisy etc which bound generations of people.
Conventions, rules, traditions and customs were designed to create order and discipline so people can pursue self-realization, the ultimate goal of being on this planet, in harmony and peace. However, over centuries, the means were given more importance than the goal itself. Bound by the means, humans forgot all about self-realization and their true nature. Basic human principles of love, kindness and at-one-ment were sacrificed in the name of conventions, rules and traditions.
Now, why am I rambling? Now, you are really wondering where I am headed with all this rambling. Please note that the above examples are just a representative sample and not a comprehensive list. The world has been changing at a rapid pace and there have been massive upheavals in all walks of life. The events apparently appear as unconnected, disparate and isolated that it’s sometimes difficult to figure out where we are headed.
But there’s a definite direction, an underlying theme and a subtle goal behind all these global events – synthesis. Let me explain. In spiritual and astrological circles, all these changes are attributed to the transition from the Piscean Age to Aquarius Age (and apparently, this is just one of the many cosmic events taking place right now) with the planet Uranus spearheading the change at a mind-boggling speed.
Bye bye Piscean Age. For nearly the last two thousand years, the world has been driven by materialism, external things, greatness, power, conflict, self-aggrandizement, avarice, greed, domination of masculine (yang) energies, analysis, divisiveness etc – all characteristic of the Piscean Age. Human beings forgot their true nature and consciousness took a major dip. (Please note that not everything is not negative about the Piscean Age.)
Welcome Aquarian Age. We are stepping into the Aquarian Age characterized by spirituality, inner power, expansion of consciousness, goodness, collaboration and sharing, balance of masculine (yang) and feminine (yin) energies (feminine energies will be dominating for some time so the balance can occur), synthesis etc.
Synthesis and At-one-ment. In short, synthesis is the word, also referred to in some circles as at-one-ment – which means that we are all connected, we are all part of one cosmic being – the “we” includes the human, animal, plant and mineral kingdom, and the countless celestial globes and the infinite space – and every thought/action of ours has an impact on the rest of us. And unless we realize this basic tenet of our very existence, self-realization, peace, happiness, abundance, harmony etc. will remain mere concepts and words in books.
But, are we ready for the change? Yes and no. The transition can be compared to a vehicle changing gears. Many of us are not belted and are not ready for the change and are feeling the jerks pretty badly.
We are encountering challenges, obstacles, stumbling blocks, crisis, at all levels – individual, family, community, national and global in the form of crisis, difficult situations and difficult people. Why? Because people have ignored repeated warnings for centuries forcing the universe/mother nature to take drastic measures…lest (hu)mankind destroy itself!
So, what can we do?
Well, basically, shake yourself from slumber, recognize that dawn is breaking and it’s time to wake up, to rise and shine. Flow with the principles of the Aquarian Age…
Collaboration and cooperation is key. Selfish motives are gonna boomerang big time. Collaborate and cooperate whether it’s at home, work or at play.
Group consciousness and group living. Look beyond individual needs. Individual consciousness has to expand to group consciousness – groups being families, teams, communities, organizations, nations, world in that ever increasing order. Say goodbye to personal agendas . Work and live for the greater welfare of life on the planet.
Service with a non-profit motive. Serve others selflessly and with a non-profit motive. Serving human, animal, plant and mineral kingdoms is the fastest way to dissolve negative karma we have accumulated over lifetimes.
Giving, sharing and distribution. Give, give, and give more. Don’t let energies stagnate by stocking up and building barriers – whether it’s love, water, money or resources – energy needs to flow constantly.
The apparent scarcity of resources will disappear when we follow this principle, scarcity is an illusion created by the mind.
Non-judgment is the way. See others through a lens of non-judgment. Everyone is on a journey of growth, change and self-realization. No one is perfect. Judging one another is nothing but a massive energy drainer and a waste of time.
Change is inevitable. If growth has to happen, change is inevitable. Listen to life and be willing to change. Be a change leader.
Love is the greatest synthesizer. Love heals wounds. Love makes the world go round. Love unites and restores. Love is magical. Love is divine. Love your spouse. Love your kids. Love your family. Love thy neighbor. Love the plants and love the animals. Love nature. Let love flow from you and through you.
Following dharma. Pursue the path of righteousness and perform your duties with gratitude, love, and kindness.
Prayers make a HUGE difference. Pray for yourself, pray for others, pray for the world. Pray that any negative energies on the planet be dissolved in the pure light of the divine. Pray that all be blessed with food and shelter and may all kingdoms experience harmony, abundance, peace, joy and love.
“svasti prajabhyam paripalayantham nyayeana margena mahim maheesah
gobrahmanebhya shubamsthu nityam lokah samastha sukhino bhavanthu
om shanti shanti shanti hi”
May all beings live well;
May the governments serve their people righteously;
May the givers and the wise grow in number and live well forever;
May all the beings in all the worlds be happy;
Peace, peace and peace be everywhere!
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