New vs old generation

Quite often, we hear phrases such as -

"Our ancestors - the older generations were liberal in their thoughts - But now ---"

Interestingly, every generation has thought the same way. 

They all thought that the old, ancient times were better than now - that the older generations had more love and cooperation among them. They respected and supported each other without being envious and jealous. 

But if we read history, we learn that jealousy is a part of human nature. 

                    Humans are competitive by nature.

We find many stories of envy and bitterness between some highly learned and devoted disciples of great Gurus - or even between the great sages & Gurus themselves.

Here is one such instance from the Story of the great sage Adi Shankracharya, the chief exponent of ‘Advaita’ (Non-dualism) philosophy, who imparted the illusionary nature of the universe and taught to live beyond the body.

One day, Adi Shankracharya asked Sureshvar - one of his four senior disciples - to write a commentary - on one of his works. 

The other three disciples - Padamapad, Totak, and Hastamalik became jealous - thinking that they were not less intelligent. 

They even questioned their Guru - why he had not chosen any of the other three? 

Adi Shankracharya said - If I cannot find consensus among just four of you, then how are we to spread Vedic thought all over India in one voice? 

"Our ancestors were liberal in their thoughts" - he said.

They were not jealous - that is how Vedas were written and preserved. 

But now I see it may not".

So, you see - Even Adi Shankracharya in his time thought that older times were better.

Then Shankracharya explained to them that experience is higher than knowledge. 

That is the reason he chose Sureshvar.

The disciples said they were not jealous. 

They also sincerely want to spread the message of their Guru, the Truth, enthusiastically.

Shankracharya, The Guru, said, you all have different talents. 

Go and spread the Gyana in your own ways but without envying others and becoming a hurdle in their way.

There are several other similar stories about disputes between great ancient Hindu sages such as Vashisht Muni and Vishvamitra – 

disputes and rivalries between brothers and families of Sikh Gurus.

There were disagreements and fights for the leadership - immediately after the passing of Prophet Mohammad in Islamic history etc.

History shows that conflicts, jealousy, and rivalries exist everywhere - in business, politics, kingdoms, or corporations – or even within families.

It proves that envy is a natural human trait - regardless of time - ancient or modern.

The older times were much better - is a common and perhaps most favorite phrase of the middle generation – that has seen some good-old part of the previous times but lives among the new generation - and cannot cope with it.

But simply talking about the old times and praising them will not change anything. 

We can not blame everything on people being jealous and competitive.

There must be something else that was different in those days. 

We need to learn from history and find out what was better in those days and why?

 

Finding the reasons - why those times were better - is the most crucial thing if we want to bring any changes for the betterment.

                                             " Rajan Sachdeva "