Material existence – Linear progress or cyclic process? Diksha Mataji (Gita Daily)

1610
Published on Jul 25, 2013

Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 08, Text 19

Our mainstream culture makes us believe that life at the material level is linearly progressive and so we can make things better materially. This belief is so deeply ingrained in our culture that we hardly ever scrutinize or even notice it.

However, this belief is not reflected in the course of nature. Widespread in nature are demonstrations of not linear progress, but cyclic process. Within each generation, trees grow and shed leaves in cycles. From one generation to another, life forms repeat the same cycles: creation, growth, maintenance, reproduction, deterioration and destruction. Overhead, the planets move about in cycles. The phases of the moon are cyclic, as are the alteration of seasons. Even our units of time are cyclic. The Bhagavad-gita (8.19) underscores that such cyclic changes of repeated creation, maintenance and destruction are an inherent, invariable feature of material existence.

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