Om Bhur Bhuva Svaha

A New Era

What's the Atheistic Explanation?


----but, but, but there is no magic involved in creating life. It's all a natural process. If you ask me what exactly is that natural process, I have no idea, I just call it a natural process to make it sound like it's science, to fool creationists into thinking, that I know what I'm talking about.

These poor religious fanatics, they need some magical, invisible pixie sitting in the sky, to explain nature, but me? Forget it, I don't need magic to explain nature, because it's all a naturall process.

You see, first there was a point...  I call the point a singularity to make it sound less ridiculous, I fabulate it's a point of all mass, space, and time, so no need to worry about what was outside the point, because there was nothing outside the point - no space, no time, no mass, no condencity, no nothing, you understand? There was only the point, and from that point a universe came out, just like that, for no apparent reason, it just happened, see? No magic involved... it's all a natural process, and as we all know natural processes are very scientic.

I won't get into what happened with the natural processes after the universe popped into existence - how life evolved out of chemicals and then transmuted from an amoeba into a talking human being. Don't worry yourself about all these annoying details, all you have to understand is that it's completely natural and scientific.... and that it happened over long, long time. That's all you have to know.

Also, don't worry yourself that noone with a brain actually believes the world created itself out of a bunch of chemicals, don't worry that the most prominent and brainy scientists on the planet support the idea of ID - Intelligent Design, simply because it makes more sense.

That's totally inconsequential. All you have to know, is that it's all completely natural. It doesn't matter you have no clue what it means or entails. You simply have to repeat it like a mantra, just try it - natural process, natural process, natural natural process process, no magic, no magic, magic magic no no... see how good it makes you feel?

"A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question." - Fred Hoyle, astrophysicist 

Saved

What is God made of?

A question a thoughtful person might ask is, what is God made of? The Vedic version teaches us that God is made of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. Note how ingenious this definition of God is. As usual the Vedic version reigns supreme.

Brahma, god of creation, says:

Krishna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.

=> Brahma-samhita, 5.1

It also makes perfect sense that eternity, knowledge and bliss is the substance of God. We can test it on ourselves. As souls, ie. atomic fragments of God, we consist of the same spiritual substance as God, and this fact should be somehow measurable. It's like, by examining one drop of the ocean one gets an understanding of the entire ocean. The very fact that all living entities instinctively gravitate towards
these three factors, indicates that this is our natural state. All living entities seek eternity, knowledge, and bliss. We all have the distinct experience that these three are the prime moving factors of our core existence.

We are all pleasure seeking. We all try to learn something. And we all try to preserve our being. Some people say - I don't seek eternity. It must become boring in eternity. But we all seek eternity in the sense that we try to preserve our being. The survival instinct together with the mating instinct are the strongest instincts in all living entities.

Besides, boredom is a factor of material existence, As souls on the spiritual plane we will never get bored playing with Krishna. Who would not want to be eternally young and blissful? Does anyone want his or her happiness to end, because it's just so boring being happy? The only reason one would want his existence to end is if it's miserable.

In reality we are happy all the time. Only in our delusion of bodily  existence is happiness constantly interrupted by suffering. Who wants bliss to end? Who sits in a real happy frame of mind, and thinks - gee, I wish this happiness would end... nobody does that. Thus it is a direct observable fact that all living entities gravitate towards eternity, knowledge and bliss, exactly as predicted in the Vedic version.


By connecting with our real identities as souls we become re-situated in God's substance of eternity, knowledge and bliss. By connecting with our real selves we connect with eternity, knowledge and bliss.The method to do so is to invoke the name of God and petition Him. This is done in this age by chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra.

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

"This mantra, consisting of 16 words and 32 syllables, is the only means against evil in this age. After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a method of religion more sublime for this age than the chanting of Hare Krsna."

--- Kali-santarana Upanishad

Realm of Maya

Beauty of the East

ASTANGA YOGA  AND KUNDALINI RISING

The path of the classical yoga system described in the Vedic tradition is long and severe. This system is called astanga yoga, or the eightfold yoga system, and was conceived by the ancient sage, Patanjali. It is a scientific, psychic method to gradually raise the consciousness to higher levels of awareness, culminating in Samadhi, which is the stage where the self, realizing its own true nature, leaves its mortal shell and enters its liberated state. The eight progressive steps of the astanga yoga system are called yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi, and in the following I will loosely describe each one, and then contrast it to bhakti-yoga.

The first two principles, yama and niyama, are the do’s and the don’ts, and they are applicable not only in yoga but in all conditions of life, for regardless of whether one aims at success in material or spiritual life the key-word is renunciation. No one can have their wishes fulfilled or reach their life’s goal without being to some degree renounced. Our practical lives confirm this. I remember as a child I had a friend who would save up his pocket money. Instead of spending it all on sweets and cinema trips, like the rest of us would invariably do, he would hold back and eventually had saved up enough money to buy a stereo equipment. I was most impressed by this. As far as I was concerned it was an almost unfathomable feat, because I could never save my money. I always spent everything I had at once.

Later in life this same friend went on to make a successful career and become a doctor. While his friends were out partying and having fun, he would remain at home to study and prepare for exams. I realized then, that if one wants to obtain success in the long run, he will have to renounce many short-term pleasures. To work towards a better position in adult life one has to forego many of the immediate pleasures one is often pushed to pursue in youthful life. In other words, one has to be renounced. One has to be able to control one’s senses. Without sense control there is no possibility of success neither in material nor spiritual life.

To control the senses is the preliminary aim of any genuine yoga system, and in  astanga yoga this is accomplished in a very diligent and systematic way. Yama, the first step, refers to the things one should avoid that would hinder attainment of the goal. Niyama, the second step, refers to the beneficial undertakings one has to undergo to reach the higher goal, Niyama, which constitutes the positive things to be done like daily meditations, rituals, and exercise, contributes to attaining the ultimate goal of yoga, which is union with the Supreme. And yama is the things one must avoid as unbeneficial for one’s advancement on the path of yoga. Illicit sex, TV, movies, intoxication, and certain foodstuffs like meat, fish and eggs, pollute the consciousness and distract the attention away from the self and places it instead on the bodily demands and other externals.

One of the crucial things that a yogi must avoid at all costs in astanga yoga is sex. It is not possible to advance in this system unless one practices complete abstinence. In ordinary mundane life pleasures are mostly pursued outside of ourselves. We search for happiness in the body or mind by connecting the senses with objects outside of ourselves like things or other bodies, or we seek mental gratification in the form of name, fame, distinction, and power. The astanga yoga system, however, gives entrance to the deeper pleasures that lies within the soul. But before one can access this hidden pleasure one has to restrain the senses from their engagement in the external world. In other words, in the yoga system, the happiness sought after is not the happiness that arises from sense gratification. Sense gratification is not considered genuine happiness, because it invariably leads to suffering.

ye hi samsparsa-ja bhoga

duhkha-yonaya eva te

ady-antavantah kaunteya

na tesu ramate budhah

“An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.”

(Bg 5.22)

This brings us to the next and third step – asana, also known to most westerners as Hatha-yoga. This is the discipline that prepares the body to remain in different postures for long periods of time. The side-effects of this discipline is a healthy and a slim body, but the real purpose is to gradually train up the body to enable it to remain in the same position for hours or days and eventually even months and years. Before one can sit in the lotus position for hours and days without shifting and being uncomfortable, there is for instance no possibility of a successful rising of the kundalini. The concept of kundalini we will come back to later, as it is an integral part of the astanga yoga system.

After the yogi has trained the body to master the asanas or the hatha-yoga system, which will take years and years of practice, he will begin to work on his breathing. This next step is called pranayama. The aim of pranayama is, simply speaking, to gradually lower the breathing cycle. It is said in the Vedic tradition that the life span of all living entities is measured out in number of breaths. By lowering the breathing cycle the yogi can, according to how accomplished he becomes in this discipline, prolong his life span significantly with years or even decades or centuries. This is necessary as it takes a long time to become adept in the different disciplines of the astanga yoga system.

There is a story in the Srimad Bhagavatam of a kshatriya prince named Dhruva Maharaja who went to the forest and took to this practice in order to meet Vishnu. He was practicing yoga very determinedly minimizing his food intake, so that at one point he was eating only leaves. Then he was standing on one leg and practicing pranayama, gradually lowering his breathing cycle to the point of inhaling and exhaling only once in 6 months. To ordinary folks this may seem fantastic, but considering that Maha-Vishnu is breathing in and out once, as He is exhaling and then inhaling all the universes, over a period of 311.04 trillion years (which is the total lifespan of the universe), it is an insignificant span of time. As always Krishna reigns supreme and shows the way, even in pranayama. If a yogi should ever become proud of his ability to maintain his breathing cycle at extremely long spans of time, he may refer to Maha-vishnu’s  breathing cycle of 311.04 trillion years, and have his pride curbed.

The aim of pranayama, however, is not to prolong one’s lifespan. The real aim is to be able to sit in trance and meditate, first on the life airs and chakras, then on the inner self and finally on the Supersoul within the heart. By gradually extending the breathing cycle one can subdue the actions of the body and mind. When the mind becomes still one can turn it from being engaged in the external world to being focused within. We all know the expression, take a deep breath, to calm the mind. It actually works. After the yogi has mastered his breathing by being able to offer the outgoing breath into the incoming, he is ready to proceed to the next step in the astanga yoga process called pratyahara – the stage where the senses are being withdrawn from all external engagements. What happens at that point is that the awareness of the self, who is usually observing the physical world through the senses, is being diverted to the inner world of the mind. The senses which are absorbed in the objects and relationships of the physical world are being forced to retract and instead focus on the inner, psychic world. The world of the mind is very fine and subtle. Some people call it the astral plane. In pratyahara the consciousness of the self goes from being absorbed in the external physical plane to being absorbed in the internal psychic plane. Transcendental to or above both these planes is the plane of pure consciousness, and it is towards that the yogi is striving.

Through further hard practice, when the yogi is able to maintain the focus of his consciousness on the inner world of the mind, he progresses to the state of dharana. This is the state where the senses have been completely withdrawn from the physical world and is totally fixed on the inner, subtle world of the mind. On this platform all sensual engagements have ceased, and one is only perceiving the mind. There is no more any sound, touch, form, taste or smell. Any awareness of the external world has ceased to exist. When one can maintain this state of inner focus it is called dharana. It is not until one reaches the dharana state, ie. Is able to maintain complete inner focus and has ceased all awareness of the external world, that dhyana, or meditation arises. In the modern world we use the word meditation cheaply to describe almost any kind of mental state. Some people even think that to just sit down and relax and let the mind wander is meditation, or if they are a little more advanced they think that focusing on a flame or a ring on the wall for five minutes is meditation, but we should note that in the classical yoga system described in the Vedic tradition meditation does not take place before one is able to completely cease all external sensual engagements and focus the consciousness on the self. Then and only then can one progress to the state of dhyana or meditation.

Now the yogi begins to meditate. It is then that he discovers his soul. The soul is the real observer within, and now the soul finally observes its own self as an illuminating particle of consciousness. The yogi now understands that this is his real self, and further more, besides himself situated in his heart, he sees the Supersoul, Sri Krishna Who lives in the heart of all living entities. Sometimes due to insufficient knowledge or pride the yogi will mistake the Supersoul for his own self, thus thinking that he, the yogi, is the Supreme self. If he makes that mistake he will not reach Vaikuntha but will go no further than impersonal Brahman. Thus when the yogi discovers God in his heart he can either maintain a humble position and surrender to Him, or he can reach any goal he desires within his mind up to liberation from the material world. This is the final test of the yogi – he can either become a god, or merge with Brahman, or he can become God’s servant. What ever he chooses at that point he will attain. This state is called Samadhi, the final goal of his meditation. It is then the yogi is ready to leave his body. Some people call this the rising of the kundalini. At this point the yogi with violent force pushes his soul out through the top of his cranium, and whatever his consciousness is fixed on at precisely that moment, that is where the soul will go. The energy that is released at this point is so immense that the body combusts into fire.

It is not until one has reached the state of  Samadhi, in which the consciosness is totally withdrawn from the external world, that one can begin to raise the kundalini. What happens is that the yogi pushes the life-airs up from the mula-chakra, the lowest chakra, gradually up through the other chakras of the body until it reaches the heart chakra. Here the soul is picked up from its seat there and is pushed further up to the top chakra at the top of ones head. This pushing of the life-airs, the prana, up through the different chakras of the body is what constitutes a kundalini rising. As the kundalini is rising the pressure inside the body becomes so great that the yogi now must use the asana and pranayama techniques he practiced and learned at an earlier stage to block all holes in body lest the soul should escape through any one of them. In the Vedas the body has been called the city of nine gates. There are nine holes in the body – anus, genital, two nostrils, two ear holes, and two eyes. Already at the asana step the yogi learns to block all these holes from within as he raises the kundalini.

As we can see, this type of yoga is very hard to practice in the modern age. One can only imagine what could happen if this is practiced in an apartment in the city. One might very well burn down the whole apartment. Therefore the yogis of yore would go to the forest to practice astanga yoga and leave their bodies. We learn from the Srimad Bhagavatam that when King Dhritarastha went to the forest to leave his body in this way, he started a whole forest fire. It was into this fire that his wife Gandhari and the mother of the Pandavas, queen Kunti, entered together to gain release from their mortal bodies.

Contrary to this severe practice, which is not recommended for the people of Kali-yuga, we find the simple sublime method of chanting the Hare Krishna maha mantra, which will yield exactly the same if not greater results, and which can be practiced anywhere, even in an apartment down town. In fact, a person can benefit more from chanting the holy names of the Lord sitting in an inner city apartment than he can gain from sitting in the Himalayas practicing astanga yoga for 100.000 years, which was the general lifespan of people in satya-yuga, when this practice was the norm. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that all results that can be obtained from practicing any kind of yoga or dharma automatically befall one who practices bhakti-yoga.

vedesu yajnesu tapahsu caiva

danesu yat punya-phalam pradistam

atyeti tat sarvam idam viditva

yogi param sthanam upaiti cadyam

“A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing sacrifices, undergoing austerities, giving charity or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities. Simply by performing devotional service, he attains all these, and at the end he reaches the supreme eternal abode.” (Bg 8.28)

It is further stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam that the results of the astanga yoga process practiced millions of years ago in satya-yuga can very easily be obtained in this present age of Kali simply by chanting the hole names of Krishna:

krte yad dhyayato visnum

tretayam yajato makhaih

dvapare paricaryayam

kalau tad dhari-kirtanat

“Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Visnu, in Treta-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvapara-yuga by serving the Lord's lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra.”  (SB 12.3.52)

In this present age of Kali people are simply too disturbed to sit down and practice the ancient yoga system. Maybe a few yogis can still go into the Himalyas and sit in seclusion in a mountain cave and practice this system, but for the people in general it is not possible, nor are there any qualified teachers who can guide a serious student in this yoga process. The fundamental difference between the astanga yoga system and the bhakti-yoga system is that in the first, the yogi is trying to elevate himself by his own mental and intellectual endeavors. In bhakti-yoga we ask Krishna to pick us up and carry us back to Him. Srila Prabhupada has likened it to the cat and monkey. The baby monkey holds on to its mother by its own strength. When the female monkey jumps around from tree to tree it happens quite often that her baby looses its grip and falls to the ground. The baby kitten, on the other hand, is carried to safety by its mother, depending solely on her strength. In the same way, the bhakti-yogi depends solely on Krishna. He knows very well he is powerless without the mercy of Krishna. The astanga yogi is struggling to cross over the materiel ocean of suffering by his own powers, and even then he is not guaranteed success.  But someone who surrenders to Krishna can very easily cross over nescience.

daivi hy esa guna-mayi

mama maya duratyaya

mam eva ye prapadyante

mayam etam taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” (Bg 7.14)

Krishna helps His devotee to reach the final goal, and that it infinitely more easy and secure than manipulating the life airs and chakras of the body to press out the soul of the top of the head at the final moment.

No Magic Needed

----but, but, but there is no magic involved in creating life. It's all a natural process. If you ask me what exactly is that natural process, I have no idea, I just call it a natural process to make it sound like it's science, to fool creationists into thinking, that I know what I'm talking about.

These poor religious fanatics, they need some magical, invisible pixie sitting in the sky, to explain nature, but me? Forget it, I don't need magic to explain nature, because it's all a naturall process.

You see, first there was a point...  I call the point a singularity to make it sound less ridiculous, I fabulate it's a point of all mass, space, and time, so no need to worry about what was outside the point, because there was nothing outside the point - no space, no time, no mass, no condencity, no nothing, you understand? There was only the point, and from that point a universe came out, just like that, for no apparent reason, it just happened, see? No magic involved... it's all a natural process, and as we all know natural processes are very scientific.

I won't get into what happened with the natural processes after the universe popped into existence - how life evolved out of chemicals and then transmuted from an amoeba into a talking human being. Don't worry yourself about all these annoying details, all you have to understand is that it's completely natural and scientific.... and that it happened over long, long time. That's all you have to know.

Also, don't worry yourself that noone with a brain actually believes the world created itself out of a bunch of chemicals, don't worry that the most prominent and brainy scientists on the planet support the idea of ID - Intelligent Design, simply because it makes more sense.

That's totally inconsequential. All you have to know, is that it's all completely natural. It doesn't matter you have no clue what it means or entails. You simply have to repeat it like a mantra, just try it - natural process, natural process, natural natural process process, no magic, no magic, magic magic no no... see how good it makes you feel?

"A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question." - Fred Hoyle, astrophysicist 

Something doesn't become factual because it says so in some scripture or because someone believes it. But something becomes factual by being eternal, transmitted knowledge descended in an intact disciplic succession - knowledge that can be investigated and confirmed by the proper method.

In the Vedic tradition there are 3 reference points to secure that the theology is right - guru, sadhu and shastra - ie. the spiritual master, the tradition and the scriptures. For something to be factual these 3 must correspond. Besides that, the Vedic Version offers a scientific process by which one can investigate the philosophy and have it confirmed.

In the modern natural science the object of study is matter and nothing else. One observes and studies matter in its endless variations and interactions. In the spiritual science one has consciousness as the object of study - one studies the influence of matter on the consciosness and the mind. So in the spiritual science consciousness is the object of investigation. One does not limit one's studies to that which is outside of oneself.

That's why the spiritual science is superior to material science. Material science is not sufficient to describe and understand the reality we live in.

And why is this so? Because none of the natural sciences have anything sensible to say about our conscious experience of the world. They only tell us about matter, they say nothing about our experience of matter. And it is our conscious awareness of the world which is the most fundamental aspect of the reality we live in.

Only the spiritual science can help us understand the self and its relation to the world and God. Therefore Krishna says:

Of all creations I am the beginning and the end and also the middle, O Arjuna. Of all sciences I am the spiritual science of the self, and among logicians I am the conclusive truth. (Bg 10.33)

Some people claim they don't need God to tell them what is right or wrong.
But if not God, we then have society, the law, family, parents, tradition, culture etc., to tell us the difference between right and wrong. Or we have our own minds to tell what we can or cannot do, but again that is based on what we have learned from others.

So it is merely a question of who we choose as our authority. Everyone has learned what is right or wrong by the culture they grew up in. Otherwise how do we know what's what?

Some claim they themselves can decide that, it's something you can feel, they say. But if one is one's own authority it's the same as no authority.
If it is merely up to the mind to tell us what is right or wrong, then anything can be right or wrong. Then it doesn't matter what we do, because we can always justify it in our own minds. And how can we be sure, what the mind tells us is right? How do we decide if what our feelings tell us is right? I mean, what if some psycho feels the impulse to attack people in the mall with a base-ball bat, is it then ok? If we are our own authority, it must be quite alright, right?

The real fact of the matter is that we wouldn't even know that 2 plus 2 is 4 if someone hadn't taught us, and they wouldn't know if someone hadn't taught them and so on. Mathematics is not something one speculates into being. It's something we learn from others as we grow up. We wouldn't know much of anything if someone hadn't taught us. Animals don't know that 2 plus 2 is 4 and they also couldn't care less.

So in the same way that we know 2 plus 2 is 4, ie. by learning it from someone who knows, we can also know who God is and the meaning and purpose of all things - by learning from those who know. And who knows God and the meaning of all things? The sages of the Vedic culture know these things, and their knowledge has been transmitted down through the ages via the disciplic succession. It's as simple as that.

Krishna says:

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.
(Bg. 4.34)

Having obtained real knowledge from a self-realized soul, you will never fall again into such illusion, for by this knowledge you will see that all living beings are but part of the Supreme, or, in other words, that they are Mine. (Bg. 4.35)

Even if you are considered to be the most sinful of all sinners, when you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge you will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries. (Bg. 4.36)

As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities. (Bg. 4.37)

In this world, there is nothing so sublime and pure as transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge is the mature fruit of all mysticism. And one who has become accomplished in the practice of devotional service enjoys this knowledge within himself in due course of time. (Bg. 4.38)

A faithful man who is dedicated to transcendental knowledge and who subdues his senses is eligible to achieve such knowledge, and having achieved it he quickly attains the supreme spiritual peace. (Bg. 4.39)

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)

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)