THE LAWS OF NATURE:

Man prides himself on being a creature of reason,above the lowly beasts.Yet it seems that when he applies his reason to unlocking the secrets of nature for his benefit,he sinks deeper and deeper into a quagmire of intractable problems.
Modern agribusiness produces a dizzying variety and abundance of food at the supermarket,but also results in the death of the family farm,the pollution of ground water,the loss of precious topsoil,and many other problems.
It is clear we're missing something in our attempts to harness the laws of nature for our own purposes.What is that "something"?
Everything in this creation is owned and controlled by the Lord.One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself,which are set aside as his quota,and one should not accept other things,knowing well to whom they belong.
In nature we see this principle at work.Nature's arrangement,set up by the Lord,maintains the birds and beasts: the elephant eats his fifty kilos per day,the ant his few grains.If man doesn't interfere,the natural balance sustains all creatures.
The vedic literature declares that the Supreme Lord owns and controls the entire creation.Not a blade of grass moves without His sanction.He is the complete whole.Then what is our position?
Again we find the answer in the vedic literature.
Our natural,constitutional role is to serve God.He is the Supreme enjoyer,and we are meant to take part in His enjoyment through service to Him,not by trying to enjoy separately.He is omnipotent and thus completely independent.Our minute independence is a tiny reflection of His total independence.It is our misuse of that minute independence and our attempt to enjoy separate from Him that have resulted in our current predicament.
According to the vedic wisdom,we are not bodies but rather spirit souls-minute particles of consciousness dwelling within the body and animating it.The body is a machine that allows the spirit soul to act and to experience sensations and thoughts within the Lord's material nature.
When we understand our true identity as spiritual beings,part and parcel of the Supreme spirit,God,we understand that we are meant to serve Him just as the hand or foot serves the whole body.
The vedic literature explains that human activity,when devoid of service to the Lord,is governed by a subtle law known as the law of action and reaction,as it pertains to what we do in this world and the enjoyment or suffering we experience as a result.If I cause pain to another living being,then as surely as the wheel of life turns,I will be forced to suffer similar pain.And if I bring happiness to another,a like pleasure awaits me.
At every second,with every breath,our activities in this material world causes enjoyment and suffering.To facilitate these endless actions and reactions,there has to be more than just one life.There has to be reincarnation.
The vedic literature makes reincarnation of the soul a central feature in its explanation of human destiny.And the logic is obvious when we consider a simple question like the following: Why is one child born to wealthy parents in the United States,while another is born to starving peasants in Kenya?.Only the doctrine of reincarnation-reward and punishment carried over many lifetimes-answers this question easily.
The Supreme personality of Godhead is "perfect and complete".Part of the Lord's complete arrangement for this material world is His process of creation,maintenance,and destruction.
Every living being in this material world has a fixed schedule of six changes: birth,growth,maintenance,the production of by-products,diminution,and destruction.This is the law of material nature.
A flower is born as a bud.It grows,remains fresh for two or three days,produces a seed,gradually withers,and then is finished.You cannot stop this by your so-called material science.To try to do so is ignorance.
Sometimes people foolishly think that by scientific advancement man will become immortal.This is nonsense.You cannot stop the material laws.
Material nature consists of three modes,the modes of goodness,passion,and ignorance.By your own efforts you cannot get out of this bondage.
Every living entity in this world is struggling very hard to maintain himself and survive.This is called hard struggle for existence.
When a horse works very hard,foam comes out of its mouth.Similarly,when we are tired from working very hard,our tongue may become dry and some foam forms in our mouth.
Everyone is working very hard for sense gratification so much so that foam is coming from their mouth.In spite of all our efforts,we remain bound up by the ropes of material modes of nature.
In material life,one is always in a blazing fire of fear,since no one knows what will happen next,(Death).
All our hopes and plans for happiness and security in this world are ended by death!

~Reference: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

DATING AND ENGAGEMENT AS SOCIALIZATION FOR MARRIAGE:

Dating is an aim inhibited courtship,i.e.courtship without aim in which both the dating pairs and their parents clearly understand that there is nothing serious in the relationship.
Dating is a playful interaction and not playing for keeps.Going steady is when a dating pair starts taking each other seriously as candidates for marriage.
Although it is possible to have many reshuffles of going steady but people go steady with each other on the grounds that they have identified each other as possible candidates for marriage.
These two processes are considered to be socialization processes for marriage because during dating and going steady there is a tendency to exhibit empathetic accuracy towards each other in the same way that married couples do.Because of this,some girls have been exploited sexually during dating because of empathetic accuracy.
Premarital sex has got different effects on the couples,in women it increases the desire to get married but in men,it reduces the desire to get married.
Engagement is the stage of courtship when couples are allowed to simulate marital roles,but its also a stage when parents still have a say over that relationship.For some couples,engagement symbolizes a point of no return meaning that they are for sure getting married but engagement is not marriage.
Engagement can easily be terminated without the complications that usually accompany marital break up.
During engagement,the couples usually engage in self disclosure.They also tend to take up the roles that they anticipate to play in case they get married.This is the time when people put trial in marriage.One key factor in engagement is that all other competing relationships must be relinquished.
A real indicator of engagement is that there are no competing relationships.During engagement also,the couple harmonize their relationship with family meaning that there are no friends who are personal.
Engagement serves a number of purposes;
1). To study each other's background and establish compatibility as well as point of departure.
2). Engagement provides an opportunity for planning for marriage.
3). It also provides a chance to simulate marital roles and establish points of agreement with each other.
4). Engagement provides an opportunity to align the relationship with in laws and friends.
5). It is also the period when the couples try to address the challenges of sex.
Most couples who are engaged have reported in engaging in sexual intercourse before marriage although this has got a number of effects;
In most cases where divorce has been experienced,there has been a positive correlation with frequency of premarital sex.The more frequent premarital sex between couples,the higher chances of divorce due to poor marital adjustment.
The period of engagement has also a relationship to the stability of marriage.
Couples who have cohabited before tend to have the reduced desire for marriage.
>Common sense and science are two different things,Beauty and money can never make marriage.
What leads to missed opportunities is our refusal to let go.Learn from the failures and allowing ourselves to heal and move on.If a relationship can't work,let it go!