Aptavani-2
265
anything above normal is poison and below normal is poison.
People had become ‘above normal’ and gone to the extreme in
every manner and consequently there was no limit to the evil in
their conduct. The wickedness in people’s conduct today is
much better than that compared to that of the past; their vice is
open and exposed. Today, they openly support naked dancing.
In the past all the vices were covert and hidden. The whole
country had become just like that and that is why we have so
much suffering today. This land has taken a terrible suffering.
Even when a woman becomes a widow, people look
upon her with contempt to no end. Not even uncivilized people
would do so; they would look upon her with compassion that
she has lost her support. People should understand that the poor
woman is suffering because she has no one to depend on.
People should have compassion for her because her happiness
came from her husband. But alas they bombard contempt even
upon a widow. Nowhere else in the world can you find the kind
of contempt they have for the ‘untouchables’. Everywhere there
is nothing but terrible contempt; how can you call this a civilized
country?
When I was young the older folks used to say that the
younger generation has become bad. I in turn would question
them about what their grandparents used to say about them
when they were young. This is a kind of wildness; this wildness
has continued from time immemorial. They claim we should do
exactly as they did. ‘You have to jump into the same well as we
did’, is what they say. You argue with them and tell them there
is no longer any water in that well, there is only large rocks and
snakes and that you will die if you were to jump into it now.
There used to be water in the well before, but they are telling
you to jump in the very same well now. They tell you to fall in
only the Vaishnav’s well or the Jain’s well. For goodness sake,
for how long can we continue to jump into such wells? They
insist that we do the same as they did. For heavens sake, we tell