People are practising different faiths according to their religion. Still there is immorality, dishonesty and chaos in the society. A materialistic outlook needs to be seriously contemplated upon. A greater awareness has to be inculcated among the masses about the irreversible aspect of old age, disease and death, so that impulses and material cravings of the people are transformed into the desire for salvation.
In spite of so many religious sects and cults in India, why is there so much of immorality and dishonesty? A spiritual person is aggrieved to witness the present scenario of the world. Though, spirituality and religion belong to each other, however, they begin to part company as soon as religion degenerates into ritualism and obscurantism. The goal of spirituality is social and personal transformation.
We think of religion, but before that we should think about faith, and prior to that we should have activity. It is known as passion in the language of work ethics (Karma Sastra) and emotion in the language of psychology. No one in the world can sustain himself without activity. As long as an impulse continues to be pronounced and dominant, religion and faith cannot be thought of. Impulse remains activated as long as delusion is predominant.
Even though delusion may be profound, destiny rules sometimes clouding the delusion and a change takes place, that is, impulse is transformed into the desire for salvation. The activity has to be there. The force of activity governs the whole life, whether in the form of desire for salvation or the mere activity of materialism. As long as life is there, some kind of activity will continue. The absence of activity will happen only when you leave this body. Perhaps nobody wants to be lazy; everybody wants to be active, vibrant and vigorous.
Man has been suffering from physical, mental and emotional distress since time immemorial. Buddhism and Jainism explained the doctrine of sadism. On being asked, "what is agony?" they said, "the fourfold agonies of life are birth, old age, disease and death." Everybody becomes old, faces some sort of sickness and dies one day. Life has already happened and death is going to happen. Old age and disease exist in between. In the wake of realisation of agonies due to old age, disease and death, the impulse transforms into desire for liberation (salvation). Therefore, the more the maturity gained out of the fourfold miseries of life, the more the desire for salvation intensifies accordingly.
The Samkhya philosophy elucidates three kinds of agonies, namely physical, mental and spiritual. When man is distressed by these three agonies then delusion is shattered and the desire for salvation grows in him. A new will is born, which could never come up owing to the intense gravity of the prevailing delusion. The sooner the delusion is shaken it will generate a new will for liberation. When the delusion is shattered then the outlook towards life changes, transforming man.
As long as the delusion is not shattered, the craving for salvation does not crop up. Our thrust should be to awaken the will for liberation (salvation). Man gets addicted to liquor and cannot abandon it. He definitely cannot give up any bad habit unless the will to fight the evil crops up in him. On developing a genuine desire from within, he will be able to give up the vice.
The question of changing conduct is not so difficult as compared to changing one's outlook. When one's outlook is changed, the conduct is ameliorated on its own, so we have to strive to change our outlook. When our outlook and heart change simultaneously, then the whole world is changed. The adage is,' "As you see, so is the world" (sansara).