That day, the editor of the Allahabad edition of Amrita Bazar Patrika, in deep sorrow, wrote the following in the lead of his editorial:
"The national week has begun. The memories of Jallianwala Bagh and political subjugation no longer trouble us. But our troubles are far from over. In the grand scheme of providence, mankind cannot have any rest. If one kind of trouble passes, another quickly follows. India, though politically free, faces challenges that are no less serious than those experienced under foreign rule..."
On opening the account of India's history of freedom and subjugation, we see through the lens of the scriptures that the total age of the four yugas — Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali — is 4,320,000 solar years. Within this, the age of Kali Yuga is 432,000 years. Kaliyuga began during the reign of King Parīkṣit i.e. around 5,000 years ago. Assuming that during those 5000 years India was under foreign rule for approximately 1,000 years, beginning around the time of Muhammad Ghori (around 1050 CE), even then, by scriptural calculations, the rulers of Bhārata-varṣa have governed the earth, along with its seas, for roughly 3,772,000 years, up to the time of King Parīkṣit. In comparison, the so-called 1,000 years during which India was under foreign rule, for which such grief is felt, is a brief period, and our wise thinkers have neither worried over it excessively nor are they likely to do so. The ancient sages of Bhārata-varṣa understand the true value of political freedom and subjugation and are aware that India's ruling class, up to King Parīkṣit, was able to rule over the earth with the seas, not for just 200 or 500 years but for hundreds of thousands of years, and this ability was not due to political reasons.
The sages of Bhāratavarṣa know that the afflictions we experience in this world cannot be eliminated by political freedom or subjugation. In Bhāratavarṣa, the great national war of the Mahābhārata, which was centered on political freedom and subjugation, was temporary and ended within eighteen days. In that war arena, the understanding of true happiness and suffering of mankind, and how to remove the latter and attain the former has also been answered in the light of Bhagavad Gītā.
What the editor of Amrita Bazar Patrika sorrowfully expressed — that one sorrow is always followed by another — was already discussed in the holy scripture of Gītā long ago, i.e. "daivi hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā." This divine Māyā (illusory potency) of the Supreme Lord is composed of the three guṇas or modes — sattva (goodness), rajas (passion), and tamas (ignorance) — and it is extremely difficult to escape from its grip. In modern language, this divine Māyā can be referred to as nature's law. And this law of nature is so complex that we cannot overcome it merely by writing articles in newspapers or passing resolutions in large assemblies. No matter how much scientific research we undertake to overcome the law of nature, all such endeavors remain subjected to this divine Māyā. Therefore, when we try to overcome it with scientific power, we often end up worsening the situation — like the saying goes "In trying to create the statue of Lord Śiva, they ended up making a monkey." We are now in the atomic age, imagining that science can remove sorrow and bring happiness to the world. Yet, seeing the potential destruction that atomic energy could bring, many Western thinkers are now worried. Some are giving the slogans, “we will use atomic energy for the benefit of the entire world”. However, this too is another puzzle, another illusion created by the divine Māyā. We cannot overcome the covering and throwing powers of divine Māyā. The more we try to conquer this divine Māyā, like the demon Mahiṣāsura, the more this divine Māyā throws us into turmoil making us act in the mode of passion and after binding us to the threefold miseries it throws us under the controllership of the serpent of time. This war between Mahiṣāsura and divine Māyā has been ongoing for ages, and in failing to understand it, we lament that "... in the dispensation of providence mankind cannot have any rest."
All of Mahiṣāsura‘s followers, despite repeatedly facing adversity from the divine Māyā, fail to understand how "mankind can have any rest." The Gītā warns such followers of Mahiṣāsura and provides the way to escape the grip of this divine Māyā in the next line: "māmeva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te" i.e. only those who surrender to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord can be saved from the grip of divine Māyā.
Just like Mahiṣāsura was proficient in knowledge, intelligence, austerities, wealth, birth, and opulences, similarly his modern descendants are not lacking any qualifications in these fields. In order to enjoy the divine Māyā, their ability to generate various ideas, their knowledge, their intelligence, and their penance are not lacking. They are misusing lots of intelligence, austerity, wealth and manpower in the name of scientific research. However, as a result, whatever they invent leads to suffering rather than happiness for the world. This is the effect of the throwing power of divine Māyā and the venom of the serpent of time. As a result of the great misfortunes caused in the world by such bad actions and the grave sins committed by these Māyā-deluded scientists they remain perpetually ignorant. Furthermore, bounded by this ignorance, they fail to surrender to the Supreme Lord.
The Gītā 7.15 states:
na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ।
māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuraṁ bhāvamāśritāḥ ॥
In other words, those who engage in wicked deeds, who are lowest among mankind and are foolish, their knowledge gets stolen by the divine Māyā, and by harboring a demonic disposition they never surrender to the Supreme Lord.
(to be continued in the next part)
