Monday, September 27th, 2010

A Call of Alarm

Toronto, Ontario

Somewhere between morning and evening walks today I received a call from someone from Vancouver who was on some level of distress. I asked, “How can I help you?”

“I’m concerned about something that’s happening on facebook. People are talking about atheism; they are promoting it. They are also making fun about eating babies. They are joking about it. There is this person who’s a popular atheist and people are practically worshipping him as if he’s God.”

When the caller made this last point I thought, “I guess they are not hard core , defying the very meaning of atheism.” But going back to the caller’s concern I agreed that there is a growing popularity of this extremism. It is a scary situation. On the one hand you have religious zealots blowing up Buddha statues (referring to Taliban) and on the other hand a class of people who are sold out to extremist practices. The safest zone to be in is to be an advocate of the Divine Intelligence, give credit where He’s due and appreciate that great power above us and take a humble demeanour.

There are different genres of atheists. A general description is detailed in chapter sixteen of the Bhagavad-gita. I also expressed to the person calling that devotees of Krishna run a weekly chanting session at a campus in Pennsylvania where the president of the Athiest Society is the most enthusiastic participant in mantra meditation and brings her entire flock of members to that happening.

The type of fanatics the caller describes are of concern and it convinces me that there are divisible dynamics occurring in the world today, perhaps an ugly polarization.

“Keep offering your friendship to people. Show kindness and when they are receptive to you present the mantra of deliverance,” I suggested. Once you have the taste of that, debates on existence of a creator versus not will not be an issue.

The caller became somewhat appeased and expressed a realization about the usage of facebook. “It actually encourages impersonalism. I sometimes spend hours and get dissatisfied.”

“That’s right,” I thought.

“I’m going to spend less time at facebook,” was the remark.

“I think it’s a good idea,” I said.

12 KM