Set an Example for Population Control Effort

Our ancestors feared sterility, but there is no evidence that they were upset with excessive fertility. Now with the population problem so serious everywhere in the world, nobody seems to know how to handle it. So, as an appeal to show a path for tackling the problem, I completed the classic chant from BruhadaraNyakOpanishad mentioned in Section 1 by adding a 4th line to it as follows:

asatO mA sadgamaya
tamasO mA jyotirgamaya
mrutyO mAmrutaM gamaya
adhika saMtAnO mA mita saMtAnah gamaya.

The meaning of the fourth line is

From excessive fertility lead us to limited fertility.

It is important to control the population not only in countries like China, India, but also in USA, the rest of Americas, Europe, and in fact all over the world. It will be a great help if you can follow the Grow Fewer Children motto in your own family and set an example for others. In this respect, let me mention an item that appeared in the news in the year 2000. The British Prime Minister and his wife had their fourth child at that time. There is a Sanskrit proverb

yadhA rAjA tadhA prajA (a king's subjects follow the example that he sets).

It is not my intention to criticize this couple personally, but I want to use them to illustrate a point I want to make, for which I offer my apologies. I believe that they have not set a good example. If people in highly visible public positions set good examples themselves, it will be easier to make the general public realize the seriousness of the problem. Personally, I myself had a vasectomy after our second child was born.