A Call to Visionary Obedience ! Diksha Mataji (Gita Daily)

Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 13, Text 05

The idea of obeying someone often seems repellant to the contemporary mind: “I can think for myself; why should I obey anyone?” This repulsion to obedience seems all the more justified in the religious field where terrorists, in the name of obeying scripture, attack innocent people. But in fairness to religion, the secular field has also seen fanatics like Hitler’s Nazis or Stalin’s Communists who, in the name of obeying the ideology of their leaders, have killed innocent people in millions. So the actual problem is not religion or even obedience, but blind obedience — be it of religious or secular dogmas.

Why do some people become blind followers? One reason is that they want to avoid the responsibility of thinking about and choosing their own actions. Some such intellectually irresponsible people seek the easy way out by following faithful-seeming religious zealots who, though swearing by an ancient book, interpret it to suit their own purposes. Other intellectually responsible people obey secular leaders who promise that their godless ideologies will solve all problems.