Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the now classic “Autobiography of a Yogi,” lived in America during World War II. He considered that war to be a just war which would also have the effect of accelerating the dissolution of colonialism including, especially, the British rule of India and many other countries.
In the last years of Yogananda’s life (1893-1952) he warned of future world wars. Like so many prophecies there were no details as to specifics or the timing of it. I assume it is a given that intervening events can modify or even wholly redirect prophecies that might have otherwise manifested.
Since his passing there have been key points where the next world war could have been triggered. I think especially of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, just to name one.
I am now 73 years old and never in my life have I seen the potential for the next major war between multiple nations to be so close to happening as today. The post World War II generation of baby boomers like me have lived in a relative bubble of peace and prosperity. Such a prolonged period of relative peace can easily lull an entire generation into complacency.
I see no need to list all the hotspots that surround us from east to west. The kind of sword-rattling that preceded both world wars in the 20th century is being repeated now around the world with threats from well-armed, if rogue, states.
I’ve been re-reading the book, “Indian Summer,” by Alex Von Tunzelmann. It chronicles the history of the independence of India from Britain led by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawalahar Nehru and many others in the first half of the twentieth century. What I find astonishing to recollect is the contrast between the British exit (without a revolution against them) and the horrifying carnage of communal violence. How readily inclined we humans are to prejudice and violence. What stands uppermost in my experience rereading this book is Gandhi’s extremism and stubbornness that seems to have, so ironically, contributed unconsciously to the factionalism. I say this because the unwillingness of present-day factions, politicians and religionists to compromise is again inclining the world towards far greater violence with far more potent weapons than axes and lathi sticks.
America is “famous” for our gun-related violence. Our entertainment is rife with gratuitous violence and sex. Despite millions like you and me who desire peace and respect, there are far more who thrive on passions, judgement, desires, fears and worse.
So, friends, this leads me to what has finally become clear to me: Yogananda’s prediction not just of future wars (which will probably always come and go) but to the spread “like wildfire” of small, intentional communities guided by high ideals and sustainable lifestyles.
The Covid pandemic was a definite nudge to human consciousness, at least in America and perhaps western Europe, towards the value of having a meaningful lifestyle with like-minded friends. But as “necessity is the mother of invention,” I suspect war and conflict will be the overriding propulsion-driving fuel.
It may yet be a few decades, but it is not difficult to imagine the decline in popularity of urban, city living in favor of more natural living. More than popularity, there’s certainly the likelihood that some cities will simply be uninhabitable due to violence, war and disease.
I say none of this to trigger fear but, rather, awareness. I have often thought of those Jews in Germany and surrounding countries in the 1930’s who saw the obvious but believed “it can’t happen here.”
The greatest preparation we can make, however, is not necessarily moving somewhere we imagine to be safer but going within to establish the rock of salvation in God-consciousness and service to God through others. You can just as easily establish intentional community whether residentially or virtually in your association with other like-minded friends and devotees. The spiritual path is one of waking up. Let us wake up both to the world around us and within us. There is no god but God; no good, but God; no-thing, but God. God alone!