Children, the number of religious people in our country is increasing and places of worship are swelling. Yet, corruption and a deterioration of values is becoming rampant in society. Incidents involving violence and sexual harassment of women are on the rise. People ask how we can explain this contradiction.
Not just in India but across the world, there is corruption in one form or another. It is a question of degree. People believe in God but their spiritual knowledge and religious awareness is limited and confined to praying for the fulfilment of desire and to celebrate festivals or customary rituals.
The prevailing worldview—that the goal of life is to make as much money as possible so as to enjoy material comforts—has gained strength today. So, even though the number of believers has increased, we cannot see a corresponding increase in the benefits of devotion in society.
Yet again, we cannot say that belief in God has not brought any positive change in society either. It is because of faith that dharma still prevails in the world. So, there is no point in lamenting over how degraded society has become. Before blaming others, we must turn within, examine ourselves, realize our own defects, and sincerely try to correct them.
Once, there was a poor farmer who used to sell butter to the proprietor of a bakery nearby. After some time, the baker began to suspect that the farmer was giving him less butter than before. He started weighing the butter and saw that there was a significant difference.
He filed a case against the poor farmer, alleging that the farmer had been cheating him. The poor farmer was summoned to court, where the judge ordered the farmer’s weighing scales to be brought before him.
The farmer earnestly said, “Sir, I don’t have a weighing scale or any weights. I buy bread from his bakery. I used to give him as much butter as the bread weighed. If the quantity of butter is less than it used to be, then the baker himself is responsible for it.”
In the olden days in our country, awareness of the spiritual principles was considered to be the most important aspect of life. However, today, material knowledge supersedes spirituality in importance.
Still, there is no point in trying to turn back the clock as such effort will only result in disappointment. What’s important now is to learn how to move forward without allowing what remains of our good culture to be destroyed.
We must not wait for others to improve before reforming ourselves. We must change first. Each one of us must become a role model for others because, knowingly or unknowingly, someone is following our example.
Good and evil start at home. Parents must become role models for their children. Homes and schools must create an environment that is conducive to the inculcation of values. We can then eliminate, to some extent at least, the corruption that exists in all spheres of life and atleast future generations can be freed from its clutches.