They often compare this with countries like China and Japan, where people are perceived as following their cultural traditions more rigorously and preserving them through strong social discipline. According to this view, today’s generation is more distant from traditional customs than previous generations. Interestingly, this concern is most often expressed by people in their 30s and 40s.
I am not sure about China and Japan of today. There is a general decline in culture everywhere and it is not without its purpose. The causes may be different, foremost of all being a pervading Western view of life and the instant gratification it brings. An insatiable vital hunger has been awakened, hunger for food, dress, pleasure of all kinds, sex, as the wave of vital world has swooped upon earth.
However, the human soul cannot be satisfied with it for long. The search for alternate ways of life has already begun and slowly man’s mind is turning towards higher things. However, we should not make the mistake of thinking that the old forms of culture will return, especially forms such as respecting the elders, visiting regularly to the temple and the church, institutions of marraige etc. These old forms, useful though they were, had been misused for a few centuries, and the mighty forces of Rudra have destroyed them so that Truth can once more manifest in its original Glory and Splendour as it did to our forefathers in the Age of Truth. This is inevitable and its first signs are already being seen in children of today, at least in quite a few. Yes, much will be washed away in the transition of time, like Daksha Prajapati’s yagya and its rules. But what will emerge and remain out of the fire of the sacrifice will be a new body of the New Creation on a truer and more stable basis. The destruction is as much part of God’s Lila as the first dawn of the New Creation if we look in that direction.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
