Category:Modern Times
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda characterizes modern times as a period of significant spiritual decline and material degradation masquerading as progress. While modern people are proud of their "wealth," Śrīla Prabhupāda points out the stark contrast between the gold airplanes and utensils of the Vedic past and the base aluminum and plastic of today. This poverty is mirrored in the social and spiritual spheres: the caste system has degraded into birthright claims, authorized protection from the government has vanished, and society is overrun by "pretenders" and pseudo-incarnations. Unauthorized practices, such as women accepting sannyāsa, have emerged, and the population has become varṇa-saṅkara (unregulated), comparable to hippies. Ultimately, it is a "risky civilization" where people live like cats and dogs, facing the grave danger of losing their human status in the next life.
- Material Poverty: Modern times are marked by the use of plastic and aluminum instead of the gold prevalent in Dhruva Mahārāja's era.
- Spiritual Pretenders: The number of pseudo-incarnations and unauthorized spiritual societies has increased considerably.
- Social Collapse: The true varṇāśrama system is lost; people claim caste by birth, and the government no longer protects spiritual dharma.
- Risky Existence: Without knowledge of the goal of life, there is no guarantee of a future human body; people live and die like animals.
- Unauthorized Changes: Modern societies introduce concoctions like giving sannyāsa to women, which has no Vedic sanction.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Spiritual Decline in Modern Times.
Pages in category "Modern Times"
The following 17 pages are in this category, out of 17 total.
A
- A great devotee of God in modern times, Sri Narottama dasa Thakura, has sung like this: "To visit holy places of pilgrimage is another bewilderment of the mind because devotional service to the Lord at any place is the last word in spiritual perfection."
- A woman is not supposed to take sannyasa. So-called spiritual societies concocted in modern times give sannyasa even to women, although there is no sanction in the Vedic literature for a woman's accepting sannyasa
I
- In Bhagavad-gita (BG 1.40) it is said, strisu dustasu varsneya jayate varna-sankarah: if the women are polluted, there will be varna-sankara population. In modern terms, the varna-sankara are the hippies, who do not follow any regulative injunctions
- In modern time, either Hindus, Muslim or Christian, because in these places there is no teaching of philosophy, therefore they are closing, either mosque or temple or church. They will close
- In modern times the number of such pretenders has increased considerably, and it has become a problem for the pure devotees of the Lord to save the masses of people from the unholy propaganda of these pretenders and pseudo incarnations
- In modern times, girls and ladies have ornaments made of plastic instead of gold, and plastic utensils are used instead of golden ones, yet people are very proud of their material wealth
- In modern times, since the protection of the government or the king has been withdrawn, social order has practically collapsed
- In modern times, the Krsna consciousness movement is trying to introduce the right principles of management for human society, but unfortunately the governments of Kali-yuga do not properly support the Hare Krsna movement
- In modern times, there are legislative assemblies whose members are authorized to make laws for the welfare of the state
T
- The king, or in modern times the government, should act as the guardian of the citizens by teaching them the proper goal of life
- The word yajna indicates Lord Visnu. We should work only for His satisfaction. In modern times (Kali-yuga), however, people have forgotten Visnu altogether, and they conduct their activities for sense gratification
- There is no guarantee that he'll get human body. Therefore it is very risky civilization at the modern time. They do not know what is the goal of life. Simply like cats and dogs they are eating, sleeping, having sex life and dying. That's all