Up to the present time, the world has passed through a long series of dramatic evolutionary changes. Starting from the Stone Age, when man did not even know how to make clothes for himself up to the time he was able to invent carts, and later cars, even airplanes. At present, we have arrived at the period of time called the Age of Material Development, which has many good things and many bad things-advantages as well as disadvantages. Developments have included progressing from a muzzle-loading gun to a cannon; from a missile to an atomic or nuclear bomb. For what reason has man strived so hard for such progress? He has done so in order to satisfy his desire for happiness all or most of the time, as well as to make things more convenient and more comfortable. Also, in the past man communicated by way of shouting and heralding; or at most, used a reconnaissance man on horseback to send news. Today, the communication satellites enable us to communicate with one-another worldwide. So, we can see how great man's success in material development has been. Along with such progress, however, there arises also one significant problem: the problem of stress and strain.

Every person wishes for success in whatever he or she is doing. But not everybody achieves this goal. Some succeed; others do not. One is satisfied; another one is not. Subsequently, tension builds up in our mind. When this occurs, there is no other way of release and eventually it ends up with fighting or starting a quarrel with someone, especially with our families, our children or even with our friends and others. It is so easy to regard others as a convenient scapegoat for all ills. Although a few may be able to cope with this, it is unacceptable for most of us. Most cannot relax and the result is conflict and disputes that may end up in quarrels or fighting and eventually on a bigger scale, wars. All because of stress and tension. It is because we are so busy and so eagerly looking for material development that we completely forget our own mind. Without mental awareness and evolution of the mind we are not able to see things clearly and thus we create tensions within ourselves. In the final analysis, we, alone, are the only ones who are capable of redeeming ourselves from such a vicious circle by the process of mind development. This necessitates developing our latent mind power through practicing meditation.