Why do Civilizations Fall?

We are quite aware of what happened to civilizations of the past. We know that they rose, had a period of ascendancy and then fell. But why did they fall? Scholars have no correct knowledge of those facts. They ascribe them often to some other factors than the true ones.

The real reason for the fall of civilizations, kings, dynastic rulers, and nobles is that luxury, over abundance, and excessive wealth are fatal for the evolution of the brain. One who knows that he has enough to last for generations does not exert himself to conserve his resources as does one who has to meet his urgent needs.

Secondly, one who has over abundant wealth sometimes gives free rein to his own passions, desires, appetites, and the rest, so that he dissipates his energy and falls.

 With this lesson of history before their eyes, the scientists in particular, and the scholars in general, should have known what were the right roles for humanity to adopt relative to the powers and forces discovered by science.

They should have known to what extent we could use the earth's resources for the purpose of human control, considering the fact that the human race is expected to stay on earth for even millons of years more. They should not have depleted the resources of the earth only to satisfy the comforts or ambitions of human beings.

 It is possible in the future that we will have polymaths who have command not only of the sciences, philosophy, and the arts, but of all the languages of the earth. Only since we are not aware of this potential in human beings, and what nature has already provided for the progress of man, we continue to limit our intelligence with what has already happened in the past. Otherwise, the human mind has the capacity to exhibit intelligence and genius a hundred-fold more than what is the case at present.

The human mind can produce prodigies of a kind that would stagger the world. We can have a little insight into this when we study the mathematical prodigies or child prodigies who have command over music, or mathematics, or art, or chess, which is not possible for the experts in those fields.

 Combine a few prodigies together, a prodigy in science, one in mathematics, another in philosophy, and you have the future leaders of mankind. The only way to avert wars and to plant mankind on the real path to progress, progress which includes development of the higher faculties in human beings, it is absolutely necessary to have enlightened human beings as heads of state, leading scientists, scholars, and philosophers. The present day mind, however learned and intelligent it may be, will not be able to meet the needs of the race as the days pass by. He or she will not be able to command the confidence of all the people. We need prodigies who can instill awe and reverence in the minds of the younger generations, and the population as a whole. And the time is coming when those people will appear on the arena of the earth.

It is not a Utopian dream but a stern reality. Humanity has reached a state of evolution where only these prodigies will be able to guide her destiny--to correct the diet, the habits, and the appetites of the people.

 The birds in the air, the animals in the forest, have no medicines to keep themselves in fine condition. Nature has already provided every safeguard for human beings to lead a healthy life. If they were to know what nature demands of them, they would understand why there are diseases, why there are dangerous reptiles, why there are scorpions, why there are flies, why there are bacteria, etc.

 To illustrate this I will tell you a story from the Arabian Nights. Have you ever read the story of Aladdin and the wonderful lamp? After Aladdin had gained control over the genie of the lamp, he became very rich and influential. He became respected everywhere. Finallly the king offered him his daughter in marriage. When the marriage was about to be performed he said to Aladdin, "You must build a palace suited to my daughter."

 The genie executed the order. Overnight a palace was built which glittered in the sun, decorated with jewels, diamonds, and other precious stones. The king came to see the building and went from room to room in the company of Aladdin. Finally, they went up to the highest story where the hall had been built. The king admired the hall and was wonderstruck by seeing the wealth decorating each window. When he saw the unfinished window, he turned to Aladdin and said, "Why is this one left unfinished in this beautiful hall? Have you exhausted all of your diamonds, and pearls, and precious stones?"

 Aladdin said, "Perhaps that might have been the case, and they left it for your majesty to complete."

The King said, "Alright."

 So the next day he ordered his treasury to be opened and the window to be completed by his own artists. For days they worked, and every precious stone in the treasury was exhausted. But the window was still unfinished. Finally Aladdin again called the genie and ordered him to complete that window also.

 This is what nature has done with us. It has provided us with everything in the animal kingdom and in the plant kingdom. Everything is provided, medicines, plants, our clothing, our food, horses to carry us, cows to furnish us with milk, factories for everything we might need. But it has left one window unfinished. And that window is the diseases, the snakes, the reptiles, the flies, the bacteria, etc.

Why? For man to exercise his intellect to complete this one window in order for him to live a happy life. If this unfinished window were not left, man would stagnate. On what would he develop his intelligence? On what would he develop his science?

 You can now compare what he has, what mineral wealth, what plant wealth, what animals, fish, birds, and what wonder and vigor he has in his own body, his health, his brain, his digestion, his comfort. He has everything except one unfinished window, and with all his resources he is not able to complete it.

 This is the plan of nature. It is an all-wise intelligence that has built the world. If there were perfection, there woulld be nothing left for man to evolve. He would stagnate, and in his present state of mind he would even use all the luxuries to degenerate himself. For that reason nature has left a few loopholes for him to plug which he is not able to do.

 Man has himself to blame for his faults because he is not able to understand that this creation and all he sees around is provided for him by nature for his progress, stage by stage, step by step, until he reaches the stature of Godhood and is able to live for perhaps even hundreds of years, with all the blessings that earth can provide.

It is because some people are over-ambitious, too full of greed, too lustful, that they stand in the way of progress of the race as a whole. It is not that nature has denied man opportunities, or placed him in difficulties. He has everything. He has strength of the body, healthy intellect, and all the resources, whether of minerals, plants, or animals, of which he can make himself akin.

But if he is not able to achieve that objective, it is because his own lust and passion, and his own indolence, stand in the way of his reaching the target which nature has prescribed for him.

If there were not these faults, flaws, and lacks, he would just idle away his time and stagnate. Nature wants him to exert himself. By providing all amenities, including computers, we are at present digging our own grave.

 Who has found the still hidden secrets of nature in the human brain? Do we even know what our brain is and how it functions? If we do not know how it functions, how it is repaired, how it is maintained, and if we do not know where the flashes of genius come from, we have no right to say that the the brain is a finished article. We are simply using it without knowing anything about it.

 So it is nature again which has made us perfect and which has allowed us to reach a state of intelligence where great inventions, discoveries, and control of other forces have become possible. This was never possible for the paleolithic or the neolithic man. It is only the modern human being, with a much more evolved brain, who has been able to do it. We take care of ourselves which is our ego. Otherwise the credit goes to the body, to our brain, over which we have no control. How do we claim this credit when we know nothing about our brain? We just eat our food and sleep like every animal. How is the food distributed? How is our body maintained? How are we able to fight diseases? How are we able to keep our brain sane and sound? We know nothing about it. It is done by the body, by some other force.

 It is foolish thing to take credit for a matter over which we have no control. We never created this intelligence. It is given to us. This body is granted to us. So, while we have no control over the body or knowledge of the brain, we are still ready to take credit for any discovery we make.

 It is for this reason that I say in every book I have written that whatever I say is not from me but from a power above and beyond. I am merely the instrument. In that sense we all are instruments of a higher power.

 We have now to see to what extent it is beneficial for us, with all the knowledge of what has happened in the past, with the knowledge of history, with knowledge of the earth's resources, it is for us to see how this or that new invention is beneficial for us and when it can be harmful. We have not to proceed blindly.

 First of all, we should have known that if we cease to exercise our brain we stagnate, and then we fall. Therefore, any instrument or invention, or any aid, which extensively interferes in our own exercise of the brain, or eliminates that exercise, is injurious in the long run.

 Religious scriptures everywhere say there is a tempter who is the devil, or who is Mara, or who is Maya, etc. This tempter is of our own mind when it does not discriminate between what is right and what is wrong, what is beneficial and what is harmful.

The intellect that is not able understand that a weapon has been devised that makes it imperative for humanity to eliminate war is not fit for the 20th Century.

 Man is evolving; the brain is evolving, and we have to cooperate with this evolution. All revelation and religious teaching has come to give us this broad outline of evolution and the way we can cooperate with it. The matter stands explained. Otherwise there is no reason why there should be Revelation except that the God of this almighty universe is particularly interested in the human race and has no other work to do.

Take the volume of a child's marble from the center of the sun, only that tiny amount of matter from the sun, kept two hundred miles from the surface of the earth, would not only destroy all life but would melt mountains and dry up all the oceans. This is the power of the Almighty, and there are more than three hundred billion suns in our galaxy alone. Such a terrific creation could never be possible of itself.

 We know of existence by our mind. If we are not alive, no one can know of any existence. Existence, the word itself, the idea, springs from the mind. There can be no existence without a mind. The very idea comes from the mind.

When we say that it can exist even when we are no more, when there is no mind, we are projecting our mind into the future, it is mind again. It is mind which begets the very idea of existence. This idea of existence is in the mind, I am. Since existence and mind are inseparable, there can be no existence without a mind.

It is the mind which is at the base of all creation. It is intelligence. The universe is intelligence. What you see is intelligence manifesting itself as the universe. This is the crux of the Vedanta and Shiva philosophy.

It is Shiva intelligence, delightful intelligence, which is manifested as the universe or Brahman which is again intelligence manifested as the universe. The ocean, stones, the mountains, ourselves, all is intelligence, all is alive with life.

This creation is not so simple as many of the university professors believe it to be, especially those who are specialists. In Germany, where I visited, they are starting to call them specialized fools. This is what the professors themselves told me, that in the classrooms they are often heckled.

They were talking among themselves and laughing about it. I said to them, "What are you laughing at?" They said now the students are calling their professors specialized fools. The term is deserved because it represents a state of stagnation. What is demanded now is progressive knowledge of the universe. At this time to say that the universe is composed of matter, when they know that even the concept of matter springs fron the mind, is just foolishness. The first thing to explore is the mind before they start exploration of matter. This is the wonder of creation.