Good Old Times

Where did the good old times go? The things we were used to no longer exist and to find a replacement for the old becomes very tough. This is our way of exasperation and frustration, which makes us say that we miss the good old days or the stuff we were so accustomed to.
Getting acclimatized to the new methods or gadgets, systems or people is very tough for the uninitiated. You will find this phenomenon whenever you buy the newer phones or computers, whose technology differs.
Though it becomes relatively easier to navigate the new devices or systems but for some people it appears like climbing Mount Impossible.
When we graduated to push button phones from the old analog pieces and later to cellphones. The cellphones too have undergone numerous changes right from the push button type to swipe screens and now it may appear to graduate to voice prompt or some other. Similarly, when we moved on from the age old hard keyed Remington typewriters to the IBM Selectric to desktops to laptops. Now it’s the age of tablets and palm held devices. I am afraid to call them by some specific name since their evolution has become too dynamic for gadgets or words. No one is sure what the next generation device looks like.
Automobiles have undergone such varied changes that are too visible and at other times invisible to anyone. From bullock carts to horse buggies to T- Fords to Volkswagen Beetle to driverless cars. Now the leap maybe to flying cars or whatever. There has been such a big change that the old cranking types of cars to self peddled vehicles look like the Flintstone’s buggy. So the whole world is changing. But human behavior is regressing every single day.
Look at the be-headings or the terrorist bomb attacks. Kidnapping and extortion. Sea piracy to petty thievery. Rapes to murders and wars to political blackmails. Every little thing is pointing towards deterioration in this world.
Pinpointed and specific knowledge has grown but worldly knowledge has not. Children have learnt to handle sophisticated toys and gadgets but their manners are atrocious. So everything has altered, except one.
The one that hasn’t undergone any change or alteration is the Self and the knowledge of the Self. The methods of reaching the Self are the same. Purifying your mind and body. Reading, cogitating on spiritual texts. Meeting your spiritual Master and learning under Him. Having complete faith in Him and surrendering to Him.
He teaches hand holding you to go through various stages like dispassion, detachment and discrimination. He takes away your deadly tendencies or vasanas. He guides you and motivates you towards reaching the state of enlightenment. In all of the above nothing has changed. The methods and teachings are the same. The single pointed devotion and love for the divine is the same. You still couldn’t see the divine then, neither can now. There were skeptics and nonbelievers then even now they are there. There was the search for truth then, even it is there now.
So run after the One which cannot change, nor alter. Nothing can disturb it and no one can understand it. It is pure and effulgent with its own powers. Seek out that alone and consider the rest changeable world as delusion alone. She is
Maya or the illusory power of God!

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