The old order changes yielding place to new
It is a universal truth that change is law of nature. It is seen at work anywhere. In physical nature, everything is constantly altering, sometimes by slow degrees which we call evolution and sometimes suddenly which we call a revolution. But it is changing nonetheless. Nothing remains what it has been. Tennyson himself has expressed this law of working and changing the world — There rolls the deep where grew the tree! Earth what changes hast thou seen/ There where the long street roars hath been/The stillness of the central sea. The same law of flux and change is also at work in human nature and human institutions. The modern man differs markedly from his prehistoric ancestors, both physically and mentally. He has developed himself from a nomadic life through the village and agricultural life to the modern living in industrial cities and huge megalopoleis with millions of people and their skyscrapers. Similarly, there has been a revolutionary change in our modes of transportation from bullock carts to rockets and interplanetary travel. These changes in the modes of living have set in a far greater change in our customs and institutions, our economic, political, social, and religious organizations, and even our moral and spiritual beliefs and values. This does not mean that all the rules of old were defective. On the contrary, they were quite effective and useful for the times and purposes for which they were made. They served their purposes and now must giveaway: they must make room for the new ones. If the dead and the decaying are not replaced by the living and vigorous, the rot will set decaying are not replaced by in. Let us illustrate our point by giving examples. Buddhism was very good. But its history shows how the monasteries became the hotbeds of corruption and intrigue, and how they gradually degenerated into Heenayan and Mohayan and finally to the evil practice of Hath Yoga and Aghorepanth. Similarly, Varanashram Dharma and the caste system were very good for the times for which they were made. But now they have outlived their utility and have become stumbling blocks, arresting the development of society. The vested interests and the orthodox resist change with the result that the good systems degenerate and become deadweights, crushing the very people for whose good they were made.
