The Great Lie

 In the modern culture children are raised with a false conception of life. From the time they are old enough to hold up their heads by themselves, they are placed in front of the TV. Is it a positive thing to raise children with the fundamental lie that everything in the material world ends well? It is probably one of the most clichéd phrases in Hollywood movies  - "everything is going to be OK, baby, I promise, everything is going to be alright."

The truth is that nothing ends well. Everything always goes to pieces, because everything ends in disease, old age, and death.  And in the mean-time, while waiting for the inevitable, something always goes wrong - to one's nearest and dearest, to society and to the rest of the world. So when children are told throughout their whole upbringing, that everything is going to be Ok and end on a happy note, it is one big lie.

People nowadays are just  as misled and confused as in earlier times. Today people are just covered by a different paradigm. Before, people were kept in awe  and reverence by magic tricks and wonders , nowadays people are kept in awe by technology and unconsciousness-philosophy. By unconsciousness-philosophy I refer to the weird phenomenon that the vast majority of the world population believe: that by absorbing oneself in a culture of external mechanical matters  is the way to peace and happiness. In fact, everyone is being told that the present Western surface-culture is the pinnacle of all human knowledge, endeavor and advancement. From the earliest age children are being told that now a days we know, we have discovered the real world, and everything in the past people thought they knew is just superstition and myths.

How is it anything but dogmatic to assume, that everything people knew before, millions of years ago, is merely superstitions and myths, and what we have learned about the world after the industrial revolution is factual knowledge?

That's another basic lie the modern human being is being indoctrinated with in the present consumer-culture, which unfortunately sets the agenda of the world. There has always been a ruling class, which has controlled the broad masses with propaganda. That's visible all the way down through history. Today people are told that what's in the peer-reviewed scientific journals is true, or it is true because a person in a white coat and ugly tie says so on a screen, and it is being backed by mathematic equations and a jargon that nobody comprehends one single syllable of. They talk about atoms and molecules as if it had anything to do with the reality people live in.

The fact is, that no one experiences atoms and molecules. Who cares that everything is but tiny little paticles of matter rotating  around in his brain, if everything is going to hell, or I can't get my desires fulfilled?

If I am in pain and suffering, what do I care what happens on the micro-level? If I'm in the middle of a divorce,  is it then what happens on the micro-plane, I first think of? Or if my child is sick or I've been diagnosed with terminal cancer, am I going to sit and analyze what happens on the atomic level? Is it at all relevant for my psychic well-being whether I know what happens on the micro-level?

Wouldn't it be better to have a program that can teach me the psychic aspects of life? It is on the mental level we experience happiness and distress, and that is why it is possible to control one's happiness and distress by controlling the mind through the Vedic program.

Krishna says:

One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

(Bg. 6.5)

For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy.

(Bg. 6.6)

Maybe I can't get my desires fulfilled, maybe my life is chaos and I don't have any money, and the last thing that kept me going, my girlfriend, just left me. How does that feel? Then I probably think that if I could just fulfill my desires, then I would be happy.

But the fact of the matter is, that there are tons of people in the world who have all their desires fulfilled - the rich, the famous and the beautiful. They have gotten just the partner they always wanted, they have their desired job, the house they always dreamt about, just the right car, the one in the commercials, and just the right kids etc.etc. - but they are also frustrated. They also use drugs and commit suicide. They are also alcoholized. And in stead of worrying about the 300 bucks they don't have for the rent, they worry about 3 million bucks the don't have for a mansion. The worry and an anxiety is exactly the same. The pain and loss is the same. The disease is the same. And death is the same for all human beings no matter their situation or the body they inhabit.

It is the unavoidable experience of becoming sick, growing old and dying we have to learn how to process in our minds. That is not being taught in the modern culture. In stead, we are told, don't think so much about these existential matter, nobody knows for sure, anyway. Better forget about the whole thing. Why waste time thinking about the inevitable?

But it is only by knowledge of one's real center, one's true self, that one can obtain real success in life, and by success I don't mean economical success and social prestige. Real success is to remain satisfied in life regardless of one's social position or bodily features and constitution.

Modern science deals with external, physical forms, but not with internal, psychic forms, and it is this lack of a meaningful inner life, science cannot help us with, and which makes modern people frustrated.

If someone says, 'but I am not frustrated, I don't suffer', then what can I say? They are either lying or too young and inexperienced, or too unintelligent to understand they are suffering - like an animal. Or they have become too empty headed and thoughtless by drugs  and alcohol or by shear coziness with coffee and cake in front of the TV.

In former times it was priests and the sages who were the top class of society. To day that class has been replaced by the business class. Today merchants and industrialists rule the world. Who can deny that the world is run by money?  But the producers of  the consumer goods still need priests  or rather scientists (the new priests) to tell people what to think and believe. And besides, they need them to fabricate military equipment and technology. It should come as a surprise to no-one that the manufacturing of weapons is the biggest industrial enterprise in the world.

Everything that people are indoctrinated into believing has been made into one world-wide ideology, which has only managed to spread globaly due to TV and information technology. The global culture it is called. The only global thing about it is that now Coca-cola, MacDonald's, and Levis have made the whole world into their gigantic, all-pervading market-place. In remote villages in India you can't get pure water, but you can get Coca-cola. And before it used to be the Communists who were the enemy. After the fall of the Berlin Wall that enemy was replaced by Arab, Moslem terrorists.

The truth is that people now a days are not more happy and satisfied than they were before. It is not possible to find real happiness in a technocratic surface-society where everything has been reduced to atomic, unconscious processes.

Dissatisfaction and frustration just increase, and increase in such a society.  And all the while the population is being lied to - the lie that technological together with economical advancement is the solution to all problems. Existential problems are ever escalating in society. For instance, the sales of anti-depressant drugs have shot through the roof in the last few years, but still we are being told that everything can be solved by economical advancement and technology. We are fed an endless stream of movies from Hollywood where scientists and technology take care of all problems. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is no better description of how the psychic plane functions than the one we find in the Bhagavad Gita.  In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna describes nature in relation to the conscious, psychic and physical aspects of nature(the self, the mind and the body, and how they work according to the three modes of nature - goodness, passion, and ignorance.

By the aid of this science one can estimate exactly anyone's mental situation and guide oneself to become a more satisfied and wholesome person. One can use this science  to handle psychic problems in the form of depression, manias, boredom or whatever makes the Western society ripe with suicide and insane crimes.

Anyhow, by the science of self-realization described  by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita one can get a reading on nature, the body, and thoughts and feelings in the mind. The ruling class tells people that they can be happy by sense-gratification, technology and economic advancement, but is not true. Nobody, no matter how much sense-gratification and money they have had access  to in the modernized, technological existence have ever become happy and satisfied; on the contrary, all statistics point to the opposite.

Anyone who so desires can be take help from the Bhagavad Gita to learn how to live a wholesome and satisfying existence. Regardless of one's beliefs, the process works. All one has to do is to apply the program in one's life. Then enlightenment and satisfaction happens automatically.

Here, the analogy of the computer is appropriate. The body is the hardware, the mind is the software, and the self or the soul is the user. The mind is like a software which is meant to interact with material nature in such a way as to minimize suffering and maximize happiness. If one gets to know how to work this software, the beneficial effects on the mind become an empirical fact. It is a direct observable fact that the human mind works best when applied to the Vedic model.

In the present age of Kali, people are very unhappy and frustrated, and that is because they have created a mechanistic, impersonal conception of nature. But not all the wealth, bodily gratification, and power will ever be able to slake our thirst for happiness and satisfaction in life.

Krishna says:

One who is not connected with the Supreme [in Krishna consciousness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace? (Bg. 2.66)

O learned Uddhava, those who fix their consciousness on Me, giving up all material desires, share with Me a happiness that cannot possibly be experienced by those engaged in sense gratification.

--Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14.12

The happiness for which we are all looking can only be obtained by knowing nature and God,  as they are.  Modern man is not being equipped to handle his own psyche. There are no programs for psychic welfare, none that work, anyway, except drugs manufactured by big corporations.  According to the Vedic Version it is our collective psyche that forms the material world. By manipulating one's own psyche one can manipulate matter - subtle matter in the form of thoughts, feelings, will-power, happiness, pain, etc.

We live in a culture dedicated to machines. In a better and more healthy culture, one learns how nature is a result of one's consciousness. That is not done by viewing nature as merely some matter meant for producing consumer-good and military equipment. A culture based on exploiting nature's resources in the interest of business-interests will not have peoples' welfare in sight.

In an ideal society, the ruling powers will be able to keep their citizens happy and satisfied.  A proper state based on God-Consciousness will secure nature's cooperation and in this way make sure that the citizens are not harassed by natural disturbances like catastrophes and horrible diseases.

But when trying to inform a misled world about the eternal Vedic philosophy and knowledge, which has practical solutions to all problems, and which has been passed down by ancient sages since time immemorial, one is dismissed as a fanatic sect-member, or it's being brushed aside as insane conspiracy theories.

But that is just the modern sly  strategy, which by one-sided propaganda maintains the ruling paradigm of the day, and  forces people into thinking in a certain way.  It cannot be denied that there has always been a ruling class of any society that control the masses.

People in the modern culture think they are not being controlled. They think they are enlightened have a say about government. Everything is run by democracy and equality. Yet another lie with which people are being indoctrinated in the consumer-society.

People are as strictly controlled and manipulated as they have always been. Today people are just being brain-washed in a different fashion than before - first and foremost by the mass-media .  in former times people were controlled by religion, in the modern world people are being controlled by politics, and brain-dead TV-entertainment.

Modern people are largely well-educated technocrats, and they have created an entire culture around it. But these well-educated enlightened people are no less manipulated, controlled and exploited than a primitive,  illiterate jungle-dweller. They still follow the masses, going with the flow, as they are being trained to by ungodly forces, who have been given dispensation to rule in the age of Kali. And the only way out of this is genuine God-Consciousness.

And you don't have to take it on my mere say so. The Bhakti-process advocated in the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavat Purana is a scientific process, that work's whether you believe it or not. You can know that Krishna is God with same finality as you can know that two plus two is four. All you have to do is test the process and verify it.

Krishna says:

Now hear, O son of Pritha, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt.  (Bg. 7.1)

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed. (Bg. 9.2)

Service - the eternal engagement

If one wants to gain a core understanding of an object or a subject one must understand the essence of that object or subject. The essence, or the inner inseparable quality of  a thing is in Sanskrit called dharma. Dharma  is the innate property of a thing that makes the thing what it is. In other words dharma is the very principle that gives meaning to a thing. The dharma of salt or the meaning of dharma is to be salt; a stone’s dharma or the meaning of a stone is to be hard; water’s dharma is to be wet, fire’s dharma is light and heat, the dharma of sugar is to be sweet and so on. There is no meaning to fire if it doesn’t burn, and honey is meaningless if it is not sweet. This is all self evident.

One might then ask what is the dharma of a living entity. Or what is the meaning of the soul’s existence? What is it that makes a living entity what it is and that cannot be separated from the living entity? The answer the Vedas give us is service. Service or to serve is the inherent quality that cannot be taken away from the soul. The soul or the particle of consciousness, which is an eternal part of Krishna, is simply meant to serve Krishna. In our conditioned state, where we exist separately from Krishna, this service is expressed in so many other fashions, but the serving tendency inevitably shines through in all circumstances. Vi all have to serve someone or something.

As parents we serve our children, we serve society by paying taxes, we serve the boss at work, we serve our spouses. It can almost be said that service equals love. In any case, service is an integral aspect of love, because without service there is no love. Without service love is just empty or at best fancy talk, that which poets write about. A man might declare his love to a woman, but if he never does anything for her, if he never shows her his love by buying her flowers or nice dresses, what then is the value of his love? And if a woman loves a man she will also be eager to please him in all kinds of ways by cooking his favorite dishes for him etc. In other words, we serve the ones we love. This urge to serve is so strong that even people who have no loved ones to serve, like some old people who have lost all their relatives or some lonely people often get themselves a canary or a little dog they can serve.

They serve the bird by cleaning its cage and feeding it with fresh water and food, or they walk their dog and pick up its droppings in a plastic bag to dispose of later, and sometimes they spend half their pension on veterinary bills. These are all symptoms of the loving service that are always manifested in the living entity. Even in animals we find this service although in lesser degrees. And even in people, who are very selfish, who care for nothing and no one, who claim that they feel absolutely no necessity to serve or care for anyone, we find that they still have to serve. They serve the urges of their bodies, they are forces to it. They have to eat, they have to sleep, they have to mate, there is just no way they can escape serving their bodies. Or they will serve their minds’ demands for name and distinction. In all circumstances everyone is serving.

 When the Vedas speak of dharma in connection with human life, the word in English is often translated with religion, because religion is said to be the essence of human existence. Even an atheist will have some belief system or moral and ethical codes he adheres to. But religion or faith can change. A Christian can change and become an atheist, a Moslem can convert to Hinduism, so religion or faith describes only the temporary dharma we follow as human beings. It doesn’t describe that dharma or service which is eternal.

A better translation of the word dharma is the word duty. Duty is inextricably connected with human life. But we don’t have the same duties. We have different duties according to the body we inhabit. Thus the Vedas describe different types of dharma in terms of our different bodies and their inherent abilities. There are different dharmas for women, for men, for children, for old people and for all the different types of people and social orders.

So there are two forms of dharma or duty  associated with human life. There is the dharma we have in relation to our body and culture and there is the dharma we have as a spirit soul. One is the duty we have to perform as conditioned, embodied souls, and the other is our duty as liberated soul. The first is a temporary duty in relation to our specific body type, which takes on a myriad of forms and the other is our eternal duty as pure souls in relation to Krishna. Here also is a distinction between the duties that are laid down for us by God and the sages through in the holy scriptures like the Vedas or scriptures from other cultures and the duties we fabricate ourselves as is evident in the modern culture. It is clearly stated in the Bhagavad Gita that if one neglects to perform the dharma that are described in the shastra and acts whimsically according to self constructed rules, one cannot expect to be happy either in this life or the next.

“He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.” (Bg. 16.23)

“But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.” (Bg. 4.40)

If one follows the dharma as directed by the Vedas it leads to happiness and welfare in life and one will gradually be promoted to increasingly advanced forms of life on the higher planetary systems. That is, one can become a demigod, a siddha, a sage or any of the other sublime forms in the universal hierarchy. But if one neglects to perform his designated duties as a human being, one will not only create a hellish existence individually and collectively, but if one insists on breaking with the natural balance of life in this way one will gradually sink down to the most abominable life forms.

Thus the essence of all life is service. Generally it can be said that this service is expressed through the performance of our duties, and in relation to our status in life – body, age, position, culture etc. – we have different duties to perform. These duties are ultimately given to us by God, as prescribed in the different religions, with the expressed purpose of allowing us to live in harmony with nature and thus advance in happiness and prosperity. Some people have the idea that the duties given to us by God are a nuisance and a hindrance to our enjoying life, but it is simply irrational to suggest that God wants us to suffer. He wants us to become happy and satisfied and therefore he has given the directions how to do exactly that, and it is obvious to any dispassionate observer that as the modern culture has discarded the rules of God of invented its own rules for becoming happiness, exactly the opposite has occurred – the modern civilization has turned the planet into a dump and everyone without exception is disturbed and miserable to the max. That’s the unavoidable consequences of ignoring the rules and regulations established by God.

But besides the dharma we have to perform as human beings, ie. The different duties we have to perform if we want to live a good life in harmony with nature and all other creatures not only in this life but the next one as well, we also have an eternal dharma, which is constant, and that is our direct service to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Vedas it is said, that the original position of the soul is to be the eternal servant of Krishna. That service to Krishna is performed by the soul in its liberated state after its been freed from the necessity of having to exist in a physical body and it is being expressed by the soul allowing itself to be enjoyed by Krishna. When the living entity no longer have any desires to enjoy selfishly, i.e. when it no longer wishes to enjoy separately from Krishna, he serves Krishna by unconditionally by performing all activities to please Him. By such service the soul expresses its love for Krishna.

Such love is the eternal dharma of the soul and it is totally without hankering and lamentation and it continues forever. This type of love can be experienced even when the soul is still situated in his material body, for such pure devotional service is without any tinge of material properties and is thus not dependent on whether the soul is situated in the material or spiritual world. In fact, when the soul serves Krishna with his body, mind and words he is to be considered liberated even if he is within a material body. So one does not have to wait until leaving his body to serve Krishna purely.

iha yasya harer dasye / karmana manasa gira

nikhilasv apy avasthasu / jivan-muktah sa ucyate

"One who acts to serve Krsna with his body, mind, intelligence and words is a liberated person, even within this material world." (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.187)

The method by which to become engaged in such service that is inherent in the heart of all living entities is to simply invoke it by calling to Krishna for it, and that is done by reciting or meditating on the Hare Krishna mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

By chanting Krishna’s name one engages in the eternal dharma of the soul, and by doing that one’s life becomes sublime regardless of whether one is rich or poor, ugly or handsome, clever or not so clever, it doesn’t matter what material situation one may find oneself in, as soon as one calls for Krishna one is immediately transported to the transcendental plane. This truth can be realized by anyone irrespective of  religious or cultural belongings. It is not even a question of giving up this or that or changing one’s lifestyle, all one needs to do is simply to add Krishna to one’s life, and this is done very easily just be chanting His name. From that everything else will manifest and one will experience that satisfaction for which we are al hankering, and which further more is the topmost goal of life.

The Pillars of Religion

In the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, we learn that the four pillars of  religion are cleanliness, austerity, compassion, and truthfulness.  There is a systematic and well-rounded process to religion, whose  foundation is structured on these four pillars. Religion is not simply  a matter of faith, nor just a system of morals and ethics, although it  is often portrayed as such. It is more than faith, it is a science: in the Bhagavad-gita, Srila Prabhuapda writes that faith without philosophy is sentimental, and philosophy without religion is dry speculation.

As these four pillars are the foundation of religion, the Vedic scriptures  also teach that there are four main sinful activities: illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and meat eating. Why are they "sinful?" Because they each attack and destroy a specific pillar of religion:  cleanliness is destroyed by illicit sex;  austerity by intoxication; compassion by meat-eating; and truthfulness by gambling.

Thus it is clearly seen that modern, contemporary culture is consistently trying to destroy religious principles  by undermining the four pillars of religion. For example, the vast majority of all TV series and movies are  based on the repeated and glorified practice of the four sinful activities mentioned above, which destroy religious principles. There is a constant propaganda going on to normalize and make acceptable illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating, and gambling.

Thus, western culture, which is being hailed as the pinnacle of human development, progress, and knowledge, is actively seeking to destroy the eternal religious principles mentioned in the Vedas. An other sign that contempory culture is thoroughly degraded and guided by atheistic principles  is that in a huge number of movies out of Hollywood, the kissing between men and women, is depicted in minute, graphic detail. According to the Vedic standard that is tantamount to pure pornagraphy.

Now, when mentioned to mainstream people, it is rejected and scoffed at as being backwards and primitive. But one of the most intimate exchanges  between a man and a woman, ie. kissing, is engaged in freely and publicly without any restraint. What does that tell us about the culture that we live in?

Why this observation, at all? Because as devotees, we are trying to emulate the Vedic culture and values. At the same time many of us live in a society, where these values are regarded as primitive and back-wards. In fact, as westerners we have grown up to see the standards of the modern consumer culture as normal and even coveted and glorified.

There is a very real chance of us being contaminated by our surroundings and our cultural heritage. Srila Prabhupada said, that the difference between him and his disciples was that he was afraid of maya, they were not. This is to show how important it is for a devotee to understand how harmful and degraded the modern culture is. Things that according to the Vedic standard are considered extremely sinful are considered completely normal in modern society - cowkilling, publicly kssing, and carassing, scantily clad women and so on.

The global culture is more or less an attempt to make the whole world into a market place of McDonalds and Coca-cola. It is being hailed as the info-age, but when examined closely the info available is more or less a barrage of propaganda to make the population, the brought masses, into good and loyal consumers and usurpers of nature. The goal of life, instead of being knowledge of the self and an end to the problems of life, is now centered around getting an education, then a job that will enable me to spend money.

The goal of life has become to spend money on consumer goods, and the producers of these
goods spend vast amounts of money to convince people to buy their products. Basically the whole world is running on trade. It is a business-culture governed by vaishyas. not by brahmanas, as a proper human culture is meant to be. So Srila Prabhupada ordered us to create a class of brahmins to guide society, and the only way to so that is by preaching Vaishnava.dharma, and that is exactly what ISKCON is doing all over the world.

Krishna says:

Those who are free from false prestige, illusion and false association, who understand the eternal, who are done with material lust, who are freed from the dualities of happiness and distress, and who, unbewildered, know how to surrender unto the Supreme Person attain to that eternal kingdom. (Bg. 15.5)

Big Bang? hahaha :)

By Murari Das

The first problem with the Bing Bang theory and the theory of evolution is that they are both theories, so they should not be accepted as fact...yet.

Second problem is that there is no room for God in either theory, and humans are just the latest in a line of animals, governed by the law of the jungle which is the only REAL law.

There is no right or wrong in a moral sense, only in the sense of whether the species will survive or not. Hitler and Stalin were both social Darwinists, and like any other powerful animal, they did whatever they saw
necessary for the survival of themselves and their people. This is quite acceptable in a jungle. Animals, reptiles and insects are not hauled beforecourts and tribunals to answer for the deaths they cause, it is all quite
natural. A fox that gets into a chicken coop and slaughters ever hen in the place is a problem. If you can catch and kill it, good for you. But the fox is not considered sinful or criminal; it is after all, just an animal

Without God, humans are not fettered by any laws other than what apply to the fox...Do whatever you think you can get away with.

Justice, morals, ethics, compassion, truthfulness, austerity, sacrifice, sympathy, kindness and many more qualities are absent from the jungle and the animal world. They are meaningless in a world that knows nothing of God.

Without God there is no purpose to the world. It is a freak accident caused by random mutations and survival of the fittest. There is no meaning to life and never will be. All life is just chemicals interacting for a short space
of time with other chemicals, and then becoming inert again. What's the big drama in that? Why the desperate urge to survive? Why the fear of dying? Ifwe are our bodies, then we come from the earth and return to the earth. Why the big palaver over 60 - 70 kilos of dirt and water that combine and move around for 70 - 80 years and then stop and return to the earth?

These aspects of Big Bang and evolution are never emphasized because the productivity of the nation would decline rapidly if everyone thought whatever they were doing was pointless. A reduction in productivity means
less money, which means less power and influence for the leaders of the country.

The more God is fazed out of society, the more godlessness (animal life) will increase.

Sex-life and maintaining the family will be the only reasons for life.

Big Bang and evolution, (and the corruption in religion), are root causes for this.

This is the most demeaning, deceitful and despicable nonsense that is being pushed down the throats of an unsuspecting, un-protesting, helpless public.

It makes me sad.

Is life a dream?

In the Vedic philosophy,  the material world is described as a dream.  All of us have had the experience of a dream. While we are in the dream, everything that goes on, seems quite real. We move through the same register of emotions and impressions as when we are awake. In a dream we can experience misery or  enjoyment the same way we do as when awake.

So anyone can testify to the fact that their dreams seem real enough. What, then, is it that makes a dream unreal? Because it ends. When we wake up, we know, oh, it was only a dream. So it is the element of time, that makes a dream unreal. If the dream continued, that would be our reality.  But because it only lasts a few seconds, we know it is a dream. Real existence is continuous.

The funny thing is that life is exactly like that. Life is a dream in the sense that life has a beginning and an end. But because the 60, 80, or 100 years  it lasts feel like a life-time, we say that life is real. But in a cosmic time scale of, say, billions of years, our life-span of 60-80 years are but a few fleeting seconds. Next to a demigod with a lifespan of millions of years, our life would be more or less unreal. Actually, what we experienced a week ago might as well have been a dream. The enjoyment I had a week ago, now, is no more real than had it been something I experienced in a dream.

So in terms of time, the idea that life is illusory like a dream begins to make sense.  The crux is to understand the temporary in relation to the eternal. In contrast to eternal time our current temporary existence will always be fleeting and insubstantial; it will be a short flash - like a dream. Even a long dream like life comes to an end. Our perceived lifespan, however long, is such a miniscule glimpse in the vastness of eternity that it doesn’t even register. The same is true of the computer I am writing on.  In terms of eternity it is illusory.

Even if I left it sitting alone on my desk and never touched it, in due course, it would be demolished by time. It would be broken down into atoms and cease to exist. However long that would take is immaterial. To us a thousand or a million years may seem like a substantial amount of time but from the point of view of, say, Lord Brahma, the first created living being in the universe (who lives for the unfathomable length of time of 311.04 trillion years) surely my computer, the desk my computer sits on, as well as the house that surrounds the desk, cannot be said to exist. Before Lord Brahma even has time to finish his morning ablutions we would have been born and died thousands of times.

That’s why our present existence in a body that changes from childhood to youth to old age, is unreal and dream-like. Our life in this particular body has a beginning and an end, and for that reason it is a dream. Our life is not unreal in the sense that it does not happen. Obviously it does. If I bash my head against a wall it will hurt, and that pain is real enough. So the unreal factor about the body is not that it doesn’t take place but that it ends.

 That’s the real illusion of material life. One may consider his enjoyment in the material world very substantial. What’s wrong with enjoying? What’s wrong with seeking some happiness, one may ask? The answer is that the pleasure of life always  ends. That’s what’s wrong. Such pleasure can never satisfy the self, because the self is eternal and therefore hungers for lasting pleasure.  That's why no amount of bodily and mental gratification can satisfy the self.

Krishna's Gift

Just like you cleanse physical objects with water, you cleanse psychic obejects with sound. The highest cleansing power is the sound of Krishna's name.

That  which covers us and keeps us from realizing our real self, is our mind. The mind consists of thoughts, feelings, discrimination (intelligence), willpower, and false ego. Those are like a screen that covers the pure consciousness of the self. We are all eternal souls - minute particles of Krishna's conscoiusness. Krishna's consciousness consists of eternity, knowledge, and bliss, so we are minute particles of eternity, knowledge, and bliss, But these minute particles of pure consciousness - the soul - are at the moment covered by physical and psychic layers in the form of body and mind.

All souls, regardless of what kind of body they inhabit - whether plants, insects, fish, reptiles, birds, animals, or humans - are minute particles of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. That's whay all living entities always gravitate towards these three conditions - eternity, knowledge, and bliss. All living entities are pleasure seeking, they try to develop knowledge, and they possess the survival instinct.

The sound of Krishna's name will purify the filter of the mind, so that we will connect to our real selves. That means that by chanting Krishna's name we will experience higher forms of knowledge and bliss. That is the prediction.

It has nothing to do with some belief. If it is a scientific process as asserted by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, it will work, whatever is our belief.

It doesn't matter whether you are an Atheist, Buddhis, Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan, or a Republican, or whatever, if you chant the Hare Krishna mantra on a regular basis, you will connect to your real self beyond your thoughts, feelings and false ego, and when you contact your real self, it will be experienced as knowledge and bliss.

The wonderful thing about this religion, is that you do not have to become a Hare Krishna and shave your head and go out on the streets dancing and singing. You can sit right in your own living room and test it.

And what do you have to lose?

Just try to chant the following mantra -

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

... say, 15 minutes a day for a week and see where it takes you.

That's BRAINWASHING, I hear someone yell :)

That's right. Our mind is poluted. It has accumulated so many traumas and misconceptions throughout countless of lives. It needs to be washed. And you wash it by the sound of God's name.

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
iti sodashakam namnam / kali-kalmasa-nashanam
natah parataropayah / sarva-vedesu drishyate

"The above mantra consisting of 16 words and 32 syllables, is the only means by which to protect against the evil influence of this age of Kali. By researching all the Vedas, one will find no more sublime process of religion than to recite the Hare Krishna mantra."

(Kali-santarana Upanishad)

We Want to be God

Today everyone can be a hero or a perfect man. It's the desire to be God that drives us. Not that we literally think we are God, but we regard ourselves as the enjoyers and controllers - that is only God's position. Krishna is the only controller and enjoyer. The soul has fallen down into the material world to imitate Krishna in that capacity.

At the present moment, of course, it is the age of Kali - a time when the physical and mental properties of man and the universal interaction is at a very low level, so most people don't know much. Most people are just mindless consumers going with the flow of society. But internet has saved us. Now evryone can become the hero they want to be.

Actually, Krishna is the only hero, but the soul tries to imitate Him. The natural, eternal position of the soul is to be the passive principle in relation to Krishna - but instead we play the role of active enjoyers. That's how we want to be God. In reality, it is only Krishna who is the most beloved son, the all-loving father, the most dear friend, and the most beautiful lover.

The soul can have 5 basic relationships with Krishna -

1. Shanta rasa is a neutral relationship with God. God is regarded as the original creator and cause of all causes, and the maintainer of everything.

2. Dasya rasa means that you see God as your Lord and master. You are willing to serve Him with your life and soul. Krishna is the most perfect and munificent lord one can have.

3. Sakhya rasa is the stage, where you see Krishna as your best and most intimate friend. Here the soul forgets that Krishna is God. He only regards Krishna as his best most beloved friend.

4. Vatsalya rasa is the parental relationship. Here the soul is Krishna's father or mother. You are God's parent. Krishna is your little kid.

5. In Madhurya rasa the soul only sees Krishna as her most intimate lover. You are God's girlfriend.

All the relationships we have in the material world to partner, children, family, friends, and society are nothing but distorted imitations of the soul's original relationship to God.

But in the material world, I am God.

Now, on internet, I can play God. I kan kill monsters and demons. I can go to war and win honor and power. I can save the maiden from peril, and win her heart - exactly as Krishna does. I can create worlds and lord it over my subjects. In this way, many people spend whole lives in Cyberspace, and act out their desires to play God.

Or if one is too much of a loser to play roles in cyberspace, you can sit in front of the TV, and watch all the heros doing what you would like to do. Accompanied by endless packets of cigarettes, cups of tea, and beer, you follow fiction characters on the screen, doing all the stuff you'd like to do.

Internet and movies and series are nothing but a diversion for the soul's perverted desires to act out as Krishna in His position as the highest controller and enjoyer.

Krishna says:

I am the only enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. Therefore, those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down. (Bg. 9.24)

A World-View Is Subjective

That a group of subjective beings have agreed that modern science is objective, doesn't make it objective.

Where is the proof that science can raise a subjective living entity to objectivity? Surely. by the aid of technology the human race has fabricated so many objects, but the ones regarding the objects are still subjective beings. The human race has not become more wise, existentially now than they were in the stone -ages. Nobody has understood why and how we exist better now than  since the industrial revolution.

Who has determined technological advancement is synonymous  with having understood reality of life? Nothing indicates that modern man is more sane, peaceful, content, satisfied, happy, and balanced than those who came before him.

Krishna offers a process by which He can be realized and made that process of knowledge available to all. Of course, He establishes some conditions. One condition is that to realize the truth about God, you cannot be envious of Him. Another condition is that one cannot approach God with an atheistic mindset. It's all thoroughly explained in the Bhagavad Gita.

If one insists on that God should be available on MY conditions, then, of course, you will never understand God. Is that God's fault? Nope. Krishna has already explained the process by which to contact Him, so it's up to oneself to take advantage of that and engage in the process. That's the truth, and anyone who is truthful will accept it.

How is it rational to believe that all things have come about by itself, without any intelligent direction?  Everything in our purview only exists because of intelligent planning. How does a Mercedes arise, a house, a garden?

Why believe that nature is the only exception to that? Where is the rationality? The construction of a single, organic cell suggests it was designed. To believe that it would arise through some mindless, chemical reactions over long time and trough millions of gradual changes - it just doesn't make rational sense. But this is the explanation that is being pushed down eve4ryone's throat in modern society.

There is no convincing  reason that should propel us to think that all religions are false and without support. Most religion have surely been subjected to distortions and falsities  over time, but the intention of all religions  are the same - to unite a people through a common adherence to a superior set of principles of life.

And the Vedas constitute those higher, superior principles and knowledge of life. It is a direct, observable fact. Also, if there is a God, like logic tells us there is, is it not reasonable to assume He would reveal Himself via the right process, and tell us what He wants with us, and why He has placed on in a world of duality? This is all being explained in the Vedic philosophy and religion.

If one wants to approach te true religion, of course one would have to employ it scientifically with an open mind free from prejudice. One must envestigate the religions and find which one gives the best explanations and answers to the problems of life and God and nature. If you are not willing to do that, one should  not expect to find the true religion.

It's funny, how those who claim to be scientifically oriented are so little scientifically oriented when it comes to religion and God. The myth has been created in modern society, that religion is myth and science is real. But it's just a dogma. No rational reason for it, at all. Famous atheists like Dawkins, don't argue against God. They argue against Christianity.  How silly is  that?... as if Christianity is the only legitimate religion in the world.

Is that a scientific approach to religion and God?

I can understand if one is an agnostic, ie. ignorant about God, but to downright deny the existence of a Supreme being is irrational and signifies a stunted intellect. There is nothing healty  or openminded by being an atheist, and the proof of that is, that at the same rate society throws out its religious  values, at the same rate  the consumer culture becomes destructive and indifferent towards nature and her inhabitants.

Besides, one should note, that whether one calls himself a Christian, Hindu, or Mohammedan, or whatever, one can still be possessed by an atheistic mentality.  It is not the designations we put on ourselves, that determines our identity. Our mindsets and actions, and the knowledge we cultivate, define who we are.

There is a Bengali saying - phalena parichiyate - something is  judged by its result.

 Jesus said, you judge a tree by its fruits. So things are not judged and understood not by their names, but by their effects and influence.

Krishna says:

I am the only enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. Therefore, those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down.  (Bg. 9.24)

Only God Is Objective

It is only an absolute, almighty being that can establish reality as it is. It is not possible for a conditioned living entity to discern.  As the subjective living entities we are, the only thing we can do, is to have an opinion as  to how and why reality came about. Thus, everyone except God is subjective. Only God can be objective. That's just a fact. He is the only one who knows past, present, and future.

What's objective about a group of subjective beings agreeing that whatever is objective? Objective doesn't come about by vote. Modern science, for instance, cannot be objective because it is being conducted by subjective entities, who evaluate everything with their subjective minds. Where and how does objective enter?

Someone may object (pun intended), that I know two plus two is four. That's objective.  Everyone knows the numbers. We learn in school.

The thing is, though, that the only reason we know  two plus two is four, is because someone taught us that. And who taught us? Someone who had  been taught by someone. And he was  taught by someone. Who was  taught by someone etc. It is an irrevocable fact that that the only reason we know that two plus two equals four, is because someone has told  us so.

Imagine having  grown up with a total lack of human stimuli. No one had ever talked to you. What would you know? You would know nothing. The only reason we know anything, what  to speak of 2 plus 2 equals four, anything at all, is because we were told by someone.

So then the inevitable question is, who was the first one? Who said it the first time?

Lets examine the modern, so called scientific explanation. And this is where we again enter subjectivism.

In the theory of evolution according to Darwin, and here it is important to note that this explanation is being propagated,  for the last five decades or so, as a completely sane, rational, scientific explanation on reality. It is what is being taught in all educational institutions in the world.

So lets examine that explanation in more detail ...  first there were some chemicals. Then, by the interaction of those chemicals over LONG time, an amoeba-like creature was  formed. Then this amoeba gradually grew legs and learned to talk.

But, but, but it happened over millions and billions of years and went through millions of transitions, comes the inevitable response. It's not exactly like an amoeba growing legs. That came much later. You see, first the amoeba became a fish, then the fish became a plant . The plant became an insect. The insect became a reptile. The reptile became a bird. The bird became an animal, and the animal became human. Somehow, this bunch of chemicals managed  through millions of intermediate species, to transform itself into a human being. And then the human being learned to talk., and figure out that 2 plus 2 is 4.

So how did these first humans learn to talk? Remember, that the first human who came out of evolution was completely alone. No one to tell him anything. See, how ridiculous that explanation is? How did the first human,  who had just evolved  through millions of transformations in different species, how did this being learn to talk, when there was no one to teach him?

 But, but no one knows how it really happened, comes the response - as if that makes the idea more credible.

Ok, granted. No one knows exactly through which transformations the first human appeared, but it is being suggested that it came about by the evolution of the species, so it is still a valid and pertinent question.

But, but, but, it happened by the law of necessity, says the atheist. There was a necessity, survival of the fittest, and that's how the first human learned  to formulate himself rationally.  And who determines that necessity? Who determines what is right.

That's determined by  subjective beings.

Remember,this is what they want you to believe - originally there was only chemicals, and then these chemicals overcvast spans of time transformed into a human being. It doesn't matter how many transformations this human had to evolve through, the question still remains that how did the first human emerged out of the evolutionary transformation of the species, learn to talk? By necessity? The necessity of knowing that two plus two equals four?. Is that the first thing you would think of if you had just emerged out of the wheel of evolution?

Two plus two is four. The first human is just an animal. No precognition, no pre-collection, no memory of past experience. You start completely from scratch. You are the first human - see how ridiculous that explanation is? But that's what they want you to believe. Somehow the amoeba grew legs and learned to talk.

Note in contrast to that, the logical, coherent, and authentic explanation we are offered in the Vedic tradition. Time is eternal. The human and all other living entities have always existed. And the first human was taught by the Supreme, and that human in turn told his fellow humans. That's the only explanation that makes sense. The explanation of modern science is so silly and improbable. Still, this is what everyone is being taught as fact.

So what's objective about the idea  that everything comes from chemicals? That's right. There is nothing objective about it.

The modern explanation of creation is not only ridiculous, improbable and highly speculative, it is also subjective. Still, it is being taught in all schools as an objective, scientific  fact. It is considered rational and highly probable. See the fun?

And how can you make the whole world believe that? There is only one answer, and  that's the propaganda machine in the form of the media and  education. The media and the education  tell people what to think and believe about what happens in the world.

If you actually examine the theory of evolution intelligently, the probability of life being the way it is right now, by chance, is as good as nil. In other words, it's a silly thing to believe in.

 And this is what the propaganda machine does to the population. It makes it none-thinking and none-reflective. Most people, the vast majority of the population, only think and believe what they are being told by their superiors. They think and believe according to what they have learned from others. So you can only make the whole world believe something wrong and silly through the modern media, the propaganda machine. It's as simple as that.

I saw a video called The Age of Stupid, and it simply confirmed the Vedic version, that there is an original person to tell and define reality for us. And this has always been going one. And it happens again and again in cycles.

See, how this modern linear conception of time makes no sense? The Vedic Version  - that things have always  been going on, makes so much more sense according to the observable reality? It is a more intelligent and perceptive explanation. So why believe in something unintelligent, unless you are one of the broad. mindless masses who just go with the flow?

Funny, huh?

Funny, how it's the Hare Krishnas who were the first to say that NASA didn't go to the Moon.

Now a days, of course, all the indisputable information is available on the net. That info is not from the Hare Krishnas but from mainstream Americans, some of whom are former employees of NASA. But when the first moon-landing was broad-cast in 1969 on TV, AC. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was watching. His disciples were watching it with him, and they were absolutely exuberantly exhilarated by the experience of a US moon-landing. Look, look Prabhupada he is walking on the moon. They eagerly pointed to Armstrong, staggering over the sand in slow motion.

This is not the moon, Prabhupada said in a grave voice.

This revelation was so shocking to his disciples that one of them left the movement. He simply couldn't accept that the US didn't go to the moon. But now, 40 years later, it is clear that they didn't go. It's so obvious. The technology has developed with quantum leaps since then. Naturally, by now, they would have a space station, colonies, and regular trips to and from the moon, exactly as they promised in 1969. At that time they had even sold some tickets for the next flight.

Now it's all public knowledge, but then nobody knew. The Hare Krishnas were the first ones to point out the hoax. Funny, huh?

To know about God and the real meaning of life you definitely have to to approach the Hare Krishnas, but even to know what goes on behind the scenes in the modern, contemporary culture, you need the Hare
Krishnas.

As usual the Vedic version reingns supreme.

Krishna says:

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed. (Bg. 9.2)

The Original Sin

The basic illusion that covers the soul in the material world is that he thinks he's the enjoyer. Factually Krishna is the only enjoyer. The original sin is that we are envious of God's position as the only enjoyer. An objection often heard is, but how can I be envious of someone whom I don't believe exists?

The envy consists of, that we try to take Krishna's position as the enjoyer and controller. In reality everything exists in the spiritual realm  for Krishna's pleasure. Everything on the spiritual plane revolves around Krishna's enjoyment. But Krishna is so kind that He has made this material world, wherein the fallen souls can try and imitate Him as enjoyers and controllers.

Some souls have fallen, because, at one point in eternity, the idea arose in them - how come Krishna is the center of everything here? Why is He the only enjoyer? As soon as that idea manifests in the soul, he falls down to the material world.

The original position of the soul is to be enjoyed by Krishna. But in his deluded, fallen condition, the soul instead tries to enjoy a material body. So that is the original sin - to want to take Krishna's position as the enjoyer and controller. It's like a disease.

Sense-enjoyment or bodily enjoyment is like a narcotic for the soul. And in this connecttion I'd like to welcome you to AS - Anonymous Sense-enjoyers.

Sense-gratification is the adiction of the soul. We often talk about drug addictions. An addiction to heroin, for instance, is almost impossible to conquer. So just like a person is addicted to heroin, so the soul is addicted to sense-gratification.

In AA people get help overcoming their addiction to alcohol. At the first meeting you attend, you are supposed to state your name and recognize that you are an alcoholic. You go, hello, my name is Michael and I am an alcoholic. Hello Michael, the assembly answers.

Similarly, in AS you go, Hare Krishna, my name is Jiva, and I am a sense-enjoyer. Hare Krishna Jiva, the assembled devotees greet you. The addiction the soul has to sense-enjoyment is exactly as severe and as difficult to overcome, as a person's addiction to heroin.

In AA they teach you, that the only way to overcome your addiction alcohol, is to petition a higher power for help. You have to recognize a higher power outside yourself, and get help from that. And this metod works. It is a statistical fact.

In AS we are so fortunate, that by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada we know Who that higher power is, and we know how to contact Him. So by petitioning Krishna by constantly chanting his name loudly in song og quietly in meditation, He will help us overcone our addiction to sense-gratification. And it is a scientific fact that can be investigated and verified by anyone who may so desire.

If we refuse to accept that we are sense-enjoyment-addicts, in fact, if in stead we make it the goal of life, the result will be the disease of repeated birth and death. Some people will object, but life is not a disease. I have a good time in the material world. I don't suffer.

But the point is that all bodily enjoyment invariably ends in suffering sooner or later for the simple reason that the inevitable destination of the body is disease, old age, and death. This would be a depressing realization were it not for the fact that there is a solution - to return back to one's identity as Krishna's soul, meant to be enjoyed by Him. It can seem like a contradiction, but the truth is that if we wish to experience the highest form of happiness, we have to give up the futile attempt to become happy in the material world by bodily gratification and surrender fully to Krishna's enjoyment.

By assisting Krishna in His enjoyment the soul will experience a higher satisfaction than the happiness it can get from matter. And it is only in the human life-form that the option is there for the soul to return back to its original position of eternality, knowledge, and bliss. Eating, sleeping, mating, and defendig, the soul can do in any life-form. Only in the human form of life can it realize its original, eternal position and purpose.

Krishna says:

After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection. (Bg. 8.15)

The Western World - a Civilization of Animals

In the modern Coca-cola culture people are indoctrinated into believing that sense-enjoyment will create happiness for them. Indeed, sense-enjoyment is the only type of happiness the population is educated in.

Lets analyze what bodily and mental happiness is all about. Sex is regarded by most people to be the highest form of joy available in the world. But sex-lust and sex-enjoyment is merely an attempt to escape the suffering it is to be without sex. It's misery to live in forced celibacy. Anyone who has reached puberty can testify to that. Or eating. To eat is considered to be one of life's major enjoyments. But actually to eat is just an attempt to escape the suffering of hunger. People of the western culture don't know what it means to suffer from famine, but it is a great suffering experience by many people of the world.

And that's how it is with most of the enjoyment we seek and experience. Eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, are the four activities that are shared by all living entities. It is four  urges the human has in common with animals, birds, and all other living entities on the planet. In the modern world it has become the foremost goal to fulfill and satisfy these four animalistic urges. They have been made the standard of happiness and enjoyment in life. What do we do together with our loved ones, our family and friends? We eat, sleep, mate, and defend. The entire civilization revolves around these four principles. That is an animal civilization.

A human civilization is running on a whole other different set of principles. As a human one is expected to have a higher standard than the animals. One is expected to have higher goals in life than the mere chasing after basic, animal urges. In the modern Coca-cola culture entire industries have been created to fulfill these four needs. Billions of tons of iron are extracted from the earth to make pots, knives, forks, plates, serviettes, cups, and glasses etc. All of it, just to eat. Then they have more sense in India. They are more civilized. They eat with the fingers from a banana-leaf. In the west it is scoffed at as primitive and back-wards, but actually it shows a higher intelligence. No use for billions of tons of iron to make knives and forks. No dish-washing afterwards. You just throw your banana-leaf on the compost heap and wash your hands. How easy is that?

The fact is that the western civilization is over-consuming nature's ressources. It is a greedy, animalistic culture, which ruins the entire planet.

 Anyway, the happiness that can be obtained by surrendering to Krishna's enjoyment is so far superior to the happiness that one can squeeze out of matter, that sex with the most bautiful women in the world becomes like broken glass in comaprison.
And who is to be blamed for the fact that the modern world runs on animal principles? Atheism. Atheism reduces the human being to nothing more than an animal. But the human life-form is a unique opportunity for the soul to realize his real, eternal indentity. That the soul cannot realize in any other life-form. In other forms of life, the soul is merely busy with eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. The human form of life is a waste of time for the soul if it is not used to to learn how to love Krishna.

The soul can relate to Krishna as his master, his father, his son, his lover, or he can have a neutral relationship with Him. The point being, that Krishna is the only center. He is the beloved of the soul. When we love Krishna, Who is the root of everything, we automatically love all His parts and parcels - all other living entities. It's like watering a tree. One does not benefit the tree by pouring water on every its every leaf and branch. Water is poured on the root. Then the whole tree is nourished. In the same way all lving entities are benefitted, when one loves and serves Krishna - th4e root of all existence.

Krishna says:

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed. (Bg. 9.2)