THE SILENT MAJORITY

Many years ago, when Swami used to go for drives after morning Darshan, He took 
one day, as He often did, a devotee with Him. At that time, Swami was in 
Brindavan. After a while, this devotee who was sitting in the front next to the 
driver of the car, said to Swami, “Baba, why is there so much Adharma in the 
world?” Swami did not reply and remained silent. The devotee who asked the 
question thought, “There goes my question!” 

After a while, Swami asked the devotee a question. He said, “Tell Me, what is 
the mood like, before I come out for Darshan?” The devotee who was happy Swami 
was talking to him replied, “Swami, there is absolute silence in the Darshan 
hall. Everyone is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baba and is looking in the 
direction from which Swami would make His entry.” Swami said, “Oh, I see,” and 
then remained silent. The devotee riding with Swami was wondering why Swami 
asked him that question. Even as he was wondering, Bhagavan asked yet another 
question; this time it was: “Supposing before Swami came out, a child started 
crying; what would happen then?” The devotee was puzzled by the question, but 
the answer was straightforward. He said, “Swami, everyone would turn to look 
where the sound came from.” Again Swami responded with, “Oh, I see.”

The devotee was wondering why on earth Swami was asking such questions, but 
then he did not appreciate that the Lord does not do anything without a 
purpose. After a pause, Swami said, “You see when many are silent, no one takes 
notice but when one individual cries or makes some noise, all pay attention. It 
is the same with Dharma and Adharma. So many people are doing good work in the 
world but hardly anyone notices that. However, crime and things like that get a 
lot of publicity even though the number of people involved in such activities 
constitute only a minute fraction of the total population. Since there is a lot 
of media attention given to such acts of unrighteousness, the public imagines 
that Dharma is extinct. It is not, as you seem to imagine.” 

 
in Krishna always,

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