We see so much exploitation all around in families, organizations, and the whole of the world. Stronger countries are exploring the weak countries, and the powerful and the rich are exploiting the poor. Whatever systems are developed, there will always be few who will find the ways and means to exploit the systems. Not only will they exploit the systems but they will also justify the exploitation. In fact, I was amazed to see the movie Kalki. The movie appears to be a hyperbole in the first instance where they conceptualize a scenario where a few powerful people have absorbed all the resources of the world including the water and people can kill each other for an apple. They have conceptualized something called complex wherein all the resources are being used for the benefit of a few wealthy people.
When I see people spending crores of rupees on unnecessary ceremonies and functions, while so many are dying hungry, I feel that we have probably also built "Complexes" wherein the super-rich have fun and enjoy. I know that this is a very disputed subject and there may be hundreds of arguments on both sides. However, I am not on the equitable distribution of wealth or equal opportunities. I am on the role of exploitation in the spiritual journey.
What should be the reaction of a person who is moving along the spiritual path, when he undergoes exploitation or witnesses somebody being exploited by the other. Should he not come to the streets to set the situation right? We see many times that we do not get our justified rights because somebody takes them over by using their positions or powers. What should be our response in such situations? Should we fight for our rights or just let them go?
I feel that what matters in the spiritual journey is the connection to the soul. In the state of that connection to the soul, one may realize that his purpose is not to fight the battle against exploitation while somebody else may realize that the purpose of his life is to fight against injustice. However, in either case, both will have a realization of the temporariness of the exploitation because they know very well that both the exploiter and the exploited are the manifestations of the same divine just like the Davavas and Devas. In the battle of Mahabharata, Ved Vyasa, and so many other saints did not participate in the battle since they knew that they had a different role. However, they were neither afraid nor worried about the outcomes since they knew that these are the phases like the crests and thoughts of the waves. Times move like a wave and sometimes the Devas are on the peak and sometimes Danavas and in the process, the entire universe is evolving. There were many who participated in the battle for different interests.
It was Arjuna, who decided to fight the battle but in the process developed conflicts between his duty to fight the battle and the outcomes of fighting the battle against his own kins. He was afraid of criticism by society and the results in the outcomes for the next generations. When we take on the battle against injustice, similar conflicts crop up. Our mind has layers and layers of the unconscious mind, a majority of whom we are not aware of. Sometimes we make a decision to fight injustice but then start developing a fear of something going wrong, the legal battles, death, physical damage, harm to family members, and defamation among other things. In fact, many times, we do not make a decision to fight against exploitation and injustice of these very fears.
This is where Krishna comes to the rescue of Arjuna and in fact of the entire humanity. He says that He is the source of the entire creation and therefore nobody is the doer. The moment we understand the nature of consciousness, we realize that every creation has taken place in the same consciousness and soon going to merge into the same consciousness. In that case, when the same consciousness manifests in the form of a person like us, and we stay aware of that consciousness, we don't see the people around us as exploiter and exploited, rather we see them as ignorant and aware. Any aware person will see the same consciousness in all the beings and an ignorant will be blinded by his Ego and try to exploit others. Conflicts will arise only when there are shades of this blindness in our unconscious mind resulting in fear or hatred of any kind. The moment, we become aware of the core of our unconscious, the first thing that will happen to us is compassion with everybody. Since we have compassion for the aware as well as the ignorant, we will make all the efforts to make the ignorant aware. However, if he is adamant about remaining ignorant and in the process exploiting others, there would be no confusion about fighting the battle, not against the exploiter but against the ignorance. The test of spiritual evolution is that there will always be compassion and the fight is not against the exploiter but the ignorance.
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