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To become big is easy. “I am a big man, I have something to be proud of.” But to accept that we are nothing in the face of the Absolute, to accept this creed in its true color, is very difficult.
In the following excerpt from Sermons of the Guardian of Devotion Srila Sridhara Maharaja begins to speak about some of the numerous events that make Vasanta-pancami an especially holy day.
The Yamuna River starts out clear as rainwater from a lake and hot spring at the foot of a glacier, 19,200 feet up in the Himalayas. But for much of its 853-mile length, it is now one of the world’s most defiled rivers.
The grace of Nityananda Prabhu will construct a firm foundation for us. If there is a firm foundation, then we may build a great structure over it. If we have faith in Nityananda, then that faith can bear any amount of weight. It won’t betray us.
At the confluence of India’s holiest rivers, two childhood friends meet and share the respective traditions to which they have committed their lives.
I have read some articles lately that are saying basically the same thing. As always, though, I think there needs to be a balance between communications and research through the internet and gathering knowledge through reading and contemplation. The FB phenomenon for devotees is a good example of sharing wisdom and communicating on a more spiritual level while our inner voice hopefully lets us know when we’ve been on line too long and need to take a break.
I do worry about the younger generation who spent way too much time on the computer. My teenage grand-daughter was once ‘multi-tasking’ by being on the computer, watching tv and text messaging her friends. When I insisted on speaking to her on the telephone she said ‘grandma, why don’t you go on line (ms, messenger or something like that) to talk with me?” I reminded her I was already on the phone talking to her and told her to turn everything else off and listen to what I had to say to her. My 22 year old step son is undergoing a deep depression, playing video games for up to 15 hours a day, has quit work and applied for welfare. He is becoming increasingly anti-social because of computer addiction. So, yes, it is a problem for some, a useful tool for others.
I didn’t know the title of his book was “The Shallows…” and already I was composing a comment saying that the main thing the phenomenon of the Internet is bringing out in the open is how really shallow our most cherished personal experiences prove to be when brought out in the open to fall in so many dissossiated ears. And therefore this can trigger a crave for real depth and for meaningful interactions that unfortunately turns out to be nearly pathologic; like an itching that gets worse and worse as one frantically scratches the skin.
This study confirms (in an indirect way) my suspicion that this craving cannot be met at all through this medium but on the contrary, the Internet is such bad news that it can cause our brains to “eventually dissolve”. Lol! I don’t doubt it for a moment.