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Pragyavatar - The man making phenomena

Ours is an age of superficial excellence and progress, but as soon the cover is removed, we find a spectacle of degeneration and decay. Progress achieved in science education and in the realm of economic development is undoubtedly astonishing. This should have resulted in adequate opportunity to the all to be happy, progressive, prosperous and cultured. What has happened is quite just the opposite. Aggressiveness arising out of notions of “survival of the fittest” and narrow selfishness seems to be the order of the day since utter baseness has permeated man’s character, conduct and view point. Ideals appropriate to human dignity have been ignored or forgotten and instead parochialism, covetousness, self-aggrandizement and craze for luxury have taken over the value-system. Where greed, infatuation and pride were shunned and frowned upon as vices, they are now being acquired as virtues. If the social value-system has changed for the worse so dramatically, the consequences too, have been far from happy. Surprisingly we have power and progress on the one hand and prospects of total destruction on the other. However, on cool consideration there is nothing surprising that perverted thinking and wicked conduct coupled with power of science and wealth would ultimately lead to self-destruction.

The utter degeneration that has set in the social order indicates that the end is near at hand. Disability and disease seem to afflict everybody and the health of the masses has been ruined. Death seems to be the only relief to people suffering countless miseries.

Greed, intemperate living and extravagant spending, selfishness, lethargy, exhibitionism and numerous social evils carried forward from the past have cast an unbearable financial burden on all and sundry. Widespread shortages have given rise to corruption of various shades. Criminality seems to be taking over normal modes of conduct. Mere absence of aggressiveness may now mean stealthy exploitation by hook or by crook, but even then the yawning gap of unsatisfied demands is driving people to greater depths of dissatisfaction.

The family institution signifying security, happiness, love and co-operation is under tremendous pulls and pressures. Each member is now seeking to fend for himself. The family today seems no different from a lodging house or a jail where people somehow live together. After all even sheep are also kept in an enclosure. Uncontrolled procreation and craze for luxury place unimaginable pressures on everyone’s time, money and labour. Uncontrolled spending similarly generates expensive habits further raising demands all around. The family institution which once stood for happiness and contentment is today driven with discord and pettiness. The unprincipled norms of conduct in the world of business and commerce and the corruption rampant in our daily existence have broken the back of our social order today. Every one is aware of the havoc played by known malpractices and social evils but no one seems prepared to come forward and oppose them. Unless the profitable aspects of social evils are given up the harmful aspects are unlikely to wither away. One can’t be a reformer at the time of his daughter’s wedding to avoid paying for her dowry and a traditionalist for his son’s wedding to merrily accept dowry. Such double standard will not do.

In the national and international sphere population explosion class conflict, craze for consumer goods and diplomatic intrigues have created such an atmosphere of discord that each is suspicious of the other. Narrow mindedness and parochialism based on language, region, community and class are being used as pretexts by unscrupulous elements to make capital on the one hand and wrought destruction of the innocent on the other. Unity of purpose, equality, justice and fair play and concern for long-term interests of society, the country and the world have also been forgotten. In such a prevailing state of affairs it is almost impossible to find solutions to the various problems facing us and further still who would do it? The law courts, police and jails can play a limited role in keeping society or an even keel. Even the arms of law are able to bring to book a few culprits in a thousand. Those who are sent to jail return as confirmed criminals. It is this very state of affairs that produce civil strife, regional conflicts and world wars.

The world has seen two major global wars in this century and saber-rattling of the third can be heard, holding forth grim prospects of total annihilation of the civilized world. The mounting individual and social degeneration has poisoned the whole atmosphere and nature too is taking its toll to set right imbalances in nature caused by the foolhardiness of man.

Scientific and economic progress have conferred on us environmental pollution, food pollution and radiation hazards to such an extent that generations may suffocate and be born disabled. Numerous natural calamities may visit us to melt the polar ice-cap causing sea-level to rise and inundate large inhabited areas of the world, further initiating the ICE AGE letting loose cataclysmic events as to destroy our planet. These grim prospects are no longer imaginary and like the ostrich we will be ignoring the coming dangers at our own peril. Those who are discerning are, indeed, deeply concerned at the gathering storms and are at a loss to find a solution, realising fully well that the very survival of the human race is at stake.

In such extremely critical situations, the Almighty, the Creator of this Universe provides measures which restore balance and which signify His supremacy. These measures consist of opportunities open to men and women to rise to the occasion and acquire status of the gods by devising means of overcoming the enveloping crisis and leading the world out of it. Man is the prince of creation and therefore has special responsibility which if he ignores, he is taken to task. This is precisely what is happening in the world today. Whenever man has taken the world downhill to depths of degradation and has created a crisis of confidence, the Creator has pulled him up and has assumed responsibility just before total destruction. This has happened a number of times in the past too. On such occasions evil and the evil-doers are destroyed, the good are given protection and a fresh lease of life, and the Creator keeps His word to save the world. Man heedlessly has been set into motion as a result of cumulative misdeeds of man, things go out of his hand and the Creator alone who is responsible for maintaining and controlling this world can then save it by reversing these trends.

The time has now come for the Creator to intervene and set into motion a titanic movement to check and reverse the degeneration which has set in everywhere and bring about a total revolution. In the past too the Creator incarnated according to the needs of the times. Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Gandhi reversed the various undesirable trends of their times and launched appropriate mass movements for this purpose. The demon of cynicism is today poised to devour the humanist ideals of civilizant on and is in fact, mocking at them with impunity. These demoniac forces can now be overcome only by the Creator Himself who has incarnated as Gayatri, (Gayatri Mantra- Om bhoor bhuvah swah tatsavitur varenyam bhargo devasya dheemahi dhiyo yo nah prachodayat) the mantra of goodsense manifesting in the form of Vichar Kranti, revolution in thought and Pragya Abhiyan, the man-making mission. This man-making phenomenon is Pragyavatar, described as Nishkalank, the blemishless in the Puranas. Only Pragya, far-sighted good sense can be blemishless in this world.

Avatar or incarnation is a mighty movement which works through enlightened souls who pick up courage to come forward and face the crisis. Just as the mountain peaks herald the sunrise and the cock announces day-break so do the enlightened souls choose to become vehicles of Divine will and come forward to show their mettle. Hanuman, Angad, Arjun, Bheema and later on Buddha, Gandhi and others fulfilled precisely this roll during their times and gained credit for their successes, though, in fact they were mere instruments in the hands of the Almighty. Even dust when it is blown by a hurricane touches new heights, so those who lend their weight to such mighty movements stand to gain ultimately.

The dark night of human misery promises to come to an end giving way to a new dawn of human excellence and happiness the Pragya Yug, the enlightened age. The period up to 200 A.D. promises to be one of turbulence and vicissitude signifying death of the degenerate world order without which the new cannot be born.

The burnt of ushering the Pragya Yug, the enlightened age is going to fall on the Pragya Parijans, the minions of the Pragya Abhiyan, the parivrajaks and Gandhi’s satyagrahis to enable appearance of divinity in man and peace on earth, the dream of Pragya Abhiyan.

On first appearance getting involved in such troublesome ventures may not appear worthwhile, but in fact it is an entirely profitable one. Vinoba, Nehru, Patel, Rajgopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Zakir Hussain, and other associates of Gandhi gave up much less than what they ultimately gained. Hanuman, Vibhishan, Sugreeva all got much more than what they lost. It is at times of crisis that the measure of a man is made and those who, seeing the drift of the tide, pick up courage in both their hands come forward and lead the rest out of the morass. Those who are left behind on such occasions have, later on, plenty of time to regret their folly in not lending their ears to the inner call. Those who are shy, timid and lazy are losers even in normal times, but when they see that the brave ones have reaped abnormal bins, their regret is manifold.

The members of the man-making mission or a family, Pragya Parivar which is, in fact, made up of such enlightened persons who have resolved to offer their might for social reconstruction. They have now to come forward without hesitation and assume command of this mighty movement of Pragyavatar, the man-making-phenomena, and give solace to countless people who are looking upto them for guidance. They will have to persuade some and cajole others to come out of their shell in this hour of human crisis. Time lost now to make amends will never be regained and neither will lost opportunity be recovered. Yug Dharma, the duty of the hour is to shake up people out of their stupor and put sense into their heads, lest calamity befalls the entire human race. Petty excuses for inactivity must be shunned now. In times of plague, famine, earthquakes and floods we give up our daily chores and rush to join relief operations to assuage the stricken and help the needy. At times of such emergencies we do not count our losses but put in our best to provide succour to the largest number of suffering people. Social recognition and self-satisfaction are our only rewards on such occasions but we should not forget the ostracism and mortification which we would have to suffer if we neglected to come forward in support of the common cause. Initial set backs and sacrifices may appear inconvenient and unnecessary at such time but the ultimate good justifies them, just as even the seed must decay and suffer in the beginning to germinate though all that is forgotten when it blossoms into a full grown tree.

Those of the Pragya parijans who are still waiting and watching should cast aside their doubts and offer their best in the service of the Pragyavatar. We should curb our extravagant ways and aspire to love frugally, training of dependants to stand on their own legs. This will be a positive step in developing each one of us into a more dynamic instrument of service, a skilled craftsman to hammer out and chisel a new social order.