Enlightenment and Debt

Before going to Satyaloka there was about 6 months of intense preparation. Somewhere in this blog is a list of the sadhanas (spiritual practices) that we adhered to. The monk that had come to help us prepare told me to also please be sure that I was out of debt. Material debt attacks personal power. It can be a great hindrence to spiritual development and liberation. Consider versions of the Lord's Prayer. "Forgive us our debts."

Just as the microcosm impact the macrocosm, the macrocosm deeply impacts the microcosm. There is personal karma, village karma, national karma and so on. If you think the debt of your country is not affecting your own spiritual development, think again. How are you separate? National debt can be a huge obstacle to transformation and enlightenment.

Take for example the United States. The federal government has not had a budget for over 2 years. Have you been able to adhere to your own household budget due to rising costs?

Consider for a moment that it took 42 presidents 224 years to run up $1 trillion dollars in foreign held dept. In the three some years that the current president has been in office the federal debt has increased by over 4 trillion dollars. This is more than the total national debt accumulated by all the United States Presidents in USA history from George Washington to George Bush combined.

During this short time, statics say the federal government has borrowed an additional $35,000+ for every American household. That is close to $45k for every full time private sector worker. In 986 days following the 2008 election, the debt increased at an average rate of over 4 and a quarter billion a day.

Do you ever stop to consider how this will impact your children and their children and their children and so on-the sins (karma) of the fathers?

"Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt." Herbert Hoover


Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/herbert_hoover.html#ixzz1nVOMTlfN

To see the USA national debt real time visit http://www.usdebtclock.org/.

To see a global comparison on how your country measures up click on the title of this post or visit http://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock.

Be aware that among the obstacles to transformation and enlightenment, large material and karmic debt are among the largest and most formidable.