- Caste
Varna and Ashrama were like the warp and woof of cloth - one cannot stand without the other.
If Varna divided society, Ashrama united members of different castes who were all the same evolutionary level.
It removed the caste-stigma, while preserving the healthy features.
- Fear
When not worrying about the past, you are worried about the distant future.
"A famine may come and I may not have food to eat" - you create the famine now and suffer.
Fear of disease creates it.
Fear of death kills you several times a day.
- Growth
Life means growth - nothing truly lives which does not grow. Man does not live or grow necessarily because he seems to become fat or lean! Even a balloon "grows big" when inflated, and thin when deflated. Growth is of the soul-evolution.
In an article entitled: "The Age of Change: Scientific and Religious", Harlan T. Stetson says in "Science of Mind", September 1962:
"Considering the very rapid strides in scientific progress and the re-adaptation resulting in consequence, what serious attempt has been made by the organised church to adapt itself to the new demands placed upon it?"
We agree that it is possible to re-interpret religion in terms of the day, as the author demands. But it is an extremely delicate operation. It is dangerous to talk of adaptation! If religion becomes irreligious because that is the popular demand - and thus adapts itself, it might survive - but in what form? As a carcass, not as a living fount of inspiration. I would rather admire the massive rock-temples of South India which say: "This generation may not believe. I shall stand on my own ground so that I can serve the next." We should not compromise in the least on fundamentals, but hold our fort and allow mankind time to discover and recover from the perversity of its tastes.
- Problems
Where there is a problem, have a frank discussion with those concerned and decide the best remedy.
When there is no peace of mind, whatever be the cause and whosoever is at fault, cease all argument.
- Fear
Only if we have a guilty conscience, need we have fear in our heart.
If you are depending upon yourself and not upon God, then there will also be fear.