The Great Fall

The Great Fall

Audio of The Great Fall

“All is clouded by desire, the ever present enemy of the wise, desire in its innumerable forms,
which like a fire cannot find satisfaction.  Desire has found a place in man’s senses and mind and reason.
Through these it blinds the soul, after having over clouded wisdom.”
The Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 3: v 39-40

Whenever we talk of the great ‘fall of man’, we cannot but help talk about this matter of sex.  Man tumbles not so much due to his poor decision making, or lack of valour, or by giving up, but mostly because of his weakness and desires.  Lust and all its tributaries are widespread in our society today.

We live in a ‘sexy’ world!  Sex is so much in ‘our face’, so to speak, that we are becoming numb and de-sensitized to both sex and violence, often media driven.  Sex and violence are hand in glove.  In fact we are hearing more and more about sex being used as a means of violence and violation!  There seems to be so few ‘red lines’ left to cross!  Whatever happened to our virtues of love, care and consideration?  Why don’t we respect the divine spark in each and every soul?

Does no one have any moral backbone anymore?  Bring back Mary Whitehouse!  She was a moral gatekeeper for all of us.  Keeping back the tide of corruption, and quite literally anything that was an assault on our virtues.  Mary was passionate about protecting the minds of the impressionable young.  Few people understood the moral line that she was seeking to protect.  Now, it is like there is a programme of social downgrading and degrading of our conscience and consciousness.  Omg!  What has happened to our world?

Yes, historically we seem to have always had issues around sex and sex-ploitation.  But it is almost as if, and this is the most shocking thing, that we have got used to it!  We seem to have crossed the ‘line.’  What is going on?  Have you noticed the increasing number of sex shows on TV, along with the sex scandals all around the world and the ‘ongoing trade’ of human sex-trafficking.

Of late we have the Australian Parliament; South Korean pop singers; American political sex scandals; in France incest allegations; sexual abuses in the Congo; Catholic Church child abuses cases around the world and in Latin America; Talibans demanding girls above 15 and widows below 45; in Karnataka the ‘sex-for-job’; the Hollywood and political sex scandals etc.  The list is both long and depressing, but let us not forget the scandals of Bollywood, which is not only in the limelight for entertainment but from time to time for ‘slandertainment’.  That is the deliberate destruction of someone’s character via the media.  Needless to say these ones mentioned here are just a drop in the ocean.  There are many more lascivious activities, both the ‘known and unknown’ which are often times deliberately covered up.

Many a great king’s grand kingdom has fallen due to uncontrolled sexual desire, and by an obsession with sex-lust even if it be with their own wife.  According to research, it appears that men seem to be so obsessed with sex that the average male American thinks about sex 19 times a day.  What a waste of energy that is!  And that is not my only point in this article today.

The more one focusses on lust, the further away from enlightenment and wisdom we move.  Lust relates to the first base chakra, the muladhara. Not a first to be proud of here, first simply in the list of chakras as we work up towards the higher chakras.  Our greed, lust, anger, fear, lack and survival issues are all emotions associated with the root chakra.  If our attention is on this chakra all the time, then all that energy becomes blocked.  The energy becomes stuck at the base and we find it difficult to achieve higher levels of consciousness.  Equally we will find it difficult to experience feelings of security.  Self-gratification is not the path to happiness.

“All suffering is caused by ignorance.  People inflict pain on
others in the selfish pursuit of their own happiness or satisfaction.”
Dalai Lama

In meditation our aim is to work upwards through our chakras, so we arrive at the crown chakra, the sahasrara.  Mool means root, and if we are unable to strengthen the base, the foundation, what can we expect from the rest of the chakra system?  When our foundation is built on rocky ground, then how can we expect there to be any stability in our life?  We will always be focused on satisfying our short term desires.

As we focus more on the crown chakra we become fully open to access higher realms of consciousness, to attain profound wisdom, and to achieve a connection to higher guidance.  This means that we will start to experience a life of contentment, inner peace and with some spiritual depth.  Some believe the crown chakra is the umbilical cord to the Divine and opens pathways to all divine experiences.

So back to my point.  A man’s true worth is weighed in not just his ability to master his mind.  Sages, priests and holy men and women who adopt a life of abstinence, are worshipped and respected not because of their ability to give lectures or educational certificates, but because of their purity.  It has been known through-out the ages that there is a power in living a pure life.  Originally this was the power of the Christian priests.  Why were the sages and sannyasis of India considered as holy men?  Precisely because they could control their senses.   Athletes believe in abstinence from sexual relations before important games.  Why? Because it affects the energy levels as well as mental focus of the athlete.

So, what has happened to all the ‘gentle’ men?  Men are looking for power.  But it should not be power over others, but rather power over the self.  In a world that is being taken over by lust so easily, we can see the real test of the man is his ability to stay focussed on himself, his principles, true happiness and fidelity, and living in a life that is not at anyone else’s expense.

There is no glory in a wasted life.  Actually, living a noble life with meaning and purpose is deeply satisfying for the soul, but a life lived with an empty ‘come serve me’ attitude will not bring us happiness.  This is why our world is in the mess it is today, because we have a self-serving attitude, totally based on selfishness.  We will find that this blueprint for living will lead to a happy and fulfilling life.  By being a responsible person and living a life of meaning; being of service to others; embracing the divine; and keeping love and compassion at the heart of our being and actions.

“Where you find the attraction for lust and wealth considerably diminished,
to whatever creed he may belong, know that his inner spirit is awakening.”

Swami Vivekananda

Perhaps we need to go back and remind ourselves of some of the aims set out in the Preamble of the UN Charter from 1945.  What happened to those good intentions?  Why can’t we put the spirit back into these words? We need to breathe life into these words once again?

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED

…to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom…

Preamble of the UN Charter from 1945

We have to stop our complacency about the objectification of women; the violence and abuse inflicted upon children; and the consistent destruction of Nature and our planet.  What happened to all these human rights, especially the rights of women and children?  What has happened to our moral compass?  How can we find that pathway back so we can, at the end of our life say, that we have lived a noble and honourable life?  We want to leave this world with as many blessings as possible.  To be able to happily stand before God… with a heart full of love, an open hand and the book of our life in credit.

It’s Time… to adopt pure thoughts, vision and attitude.  To embrace a life of responsibility and meaning once again.  To live an exemplary life that we would be proud to share with our children.  To fill our account book of the soul with credits and not debits.

© ‘It’s Time…’  by Aruna Ladva, BK Publications London, UK