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Episode details

Radio 4,2 mins

Jasvir Singh - 20/03/2023

Thought for the Day

Available for over a year

Good morning. Presidents Putin and Trump have something more to share than simply, in the former US President’s words, a 'very good relationship'. Both are now under the threat of arrest. The International Criminal Courts have issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the illegal removal of children from Ukraine. Meanwhile, US prosecutors have been looking at a possible indictment of Mr Trump over alleged hush money paid to a former adult film star. When those who make our laws are accused of breaking them, it’s always unsettling. Even a seemingly small infraction like breaking the speed limit can make it feel like we’re experiencing an epidemic of lawlessness amongst the powerful, but people have felt like this for centuries if not millennia. Within the religions of India, there is the concept of Kalyug, an era of particular discord and strife. It’s when moral order has been replaced by selfishness and deceit, and unfairness prevails in society. Kalyug is the last of the eras in the great cycle of time, and the religions teach it will eventually be followed by the age of truth. We might be waiting a while though, as Kalyug is said to last for 432,000 years. The Sikh scriptures consider what it means to be living in this unjust age. The 2nd Sikh Guru sets out the sometimes topsy-turvy nature of this era: The trouble-maker is called a leader, and the liar is seated with honour. The Guru goes on to say that those who centre their lives around the Divine will recognise the perversions of justice in the time of Kalyug; What we see isn’t necessarily what we get. We need to go beyond positions and titles if we want to truly understand who or what we are dealing with. The question of how to live in the age of Kalyug is one that the Gurus explored again and again within the scriptures. In the end the answer is a surprisingly simple one, and is summarised in the words of the 5th Guru: The pains and sufferings of the Dark Age of Kalyug are eradicated when the One Name abides within the mind Sikhs are taught that it’s by remembering the name of the Divine, the Almighty, that we can respond to and overcome the challenges of the present world. By calling to mind the Creator, we’re reminded of the beauty of Their creation, the need to protect everyone and everything within it, and the importance of building just conditions in society. When the rulers of the day aren’t doing that, it’s for others to take the lead and hold them to account, even if that means taking the world’s most powerful men to Court.

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