Sri Guru Karuna Sindhu

ISKCON Delhi Temple- an overview

Barasana Parirama

Life in the Womb

by Satsvarupa das Goswami

CERTAIN PSYCHOLOGISTS and folklorists imagine that the womb was a very nice place a comfortable, warm home where food .and shelter were provided without our effort. Some even say that throughout our adult lives, we unconsciously desire to return to that protection and security, "floating undisturbed in the warm, dark, quiet world of unparalleled intimacy with the beloved mother." By the scientific method of hearing from Vedic literature, however, we get the actual account of a human being's conception, his pre-natal condition, and his birth. Contrary to what our psychologists and folklorists have imagined, life in the womb is among the most painful and miserable of human experiences.

The Srimad-Bhagavatam, a 5,000-year-old spiritual classic containing the essence of Vedic knowledge, gives the following vivid description of the living entity's experience from the point of conception to the time of birth: "Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord (Sri Krsna) and according to the results of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter the womb of a woman through the particle of a man's semina to assume a particular kind of body. On the first night, the semina and ovum mix, and on the fifth night the mixture ferments into a bubble. On the tenth night it develops into a form like a plum, and after that it gradually turns into a lump of flesh. In the course of a month, a head is formed, and at the end of two months, hands, feet and other limbs take shape. By the end of three months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bones and skin appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the body, namely, the eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth and anus. Within four months from the date of conception, the seven essential ingredients of the body (lymph, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semina) come into existence. At the end of five months, hunger and thirst make themselves felt, and at the end of six months the fetus begins to move in the abdomen on the right side if the child is a male and on the left side if female."

Painful Confinement

The actual experience of the fetus, however, cannot be known by mere medical observation. For this information we must go to the Vedic scriptures, which give us direct knowledge of events beyond our normal experience. The Bhagavatam continues, "Deriving its nutrition from the food and drink taken by the mother, the fetus grows and remains in that abominable residence of stool and urine, which is a breeding place for all kinds of worms. Bitten again and again all over his body by these hungry worms in the abdomen itself, the child suffers terrible agony because of his tenderness. He thus becomes unconscious moment after moment. When the mother eats bitter, pungent foods or food that is too salty or too sour, the body of the child incessantly suffers pains that are almost intolerable. Placed within the amnion and covered outside by the intestines, the child remains lying on the side of the abdomen, his head turned toward his belly and his back and neck arched like a bow." An adult would be unable to endure such a difficult confinement. The child's pain is beyond our conception, but because his consciousness is yet undeveloped, he is able to tolerate it.

As adults, we have forgotten all this suffering and absorbed ourselves in trying to become happy in material life. Life in the womb may seem remote; no one has ever .told us before about its actual nature, and it has not concerned us. Writing on this topic, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada comments, "It is an unfortunate civilization in which these matters are not plainly discussed to make people understand the precarious condition of material existence."

Astounding Remembrance. At the end of seven months in the womb, the child remains just like a bird in a cage unable to move freely and suffering without relief. At that time, if the soul is fortunate, he gains one astounding facility: he can remember all the troubles of his past one hundred lives. The vision of his wasted attempts to be happy makes him grieve wretchedly. While in the womb, the living being realizes that he has unnecessarily entered the material world. In this frightful condition, he prays with folded hands, appealing to the Lord, who has put him there.

Sometimes a woman in labor promises herself that she will never again become pregnant and suffer such severe pain. Or a man on the operating table may promise himself that he will act in such a way as to never again become diseased and undergo surgery. Similarly, the child, deeply repentant, prays to the Lord that he will never again commit sinful activities and be forced into another womb. He prays as follows: "I take shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appears in His various eternal forms. I, the pure soul, appearing now to be bound by my activities, am lying in the womb of my mother by the arrangement of the Lord's illusory energy. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Him, who is also here with me, but who is unaffected and changeless. He is unlimited, but He is perceived in the repentant heart."

Repentant Prayer

The child in the womb, praying out of bewilderment and repentance, realizes he is not independent or supreme. He seeks shelter from the Supreme Lord, perceiving that the Lord in his heart is the supreme master and that he is subordinate. By the grace of God, the child in the womb can understand his actual relationship with the Supreme Lord, and he realizes that he has been reduced to his abominable condition because of his forgetfulness of God. He wants to get out, but he understands that he can do so only by the mercy of the Supreme Lord, and thus he asks for the Lord's blessings.

After nine months, however, the child in the womb makes an extraordinary request to the Lord: "Although I am living in a terrible condition, still I do not wish to depart from my mother's abdomen to fall again into the blind well of materialistic life." The child foresees that the trauma of birth will destroy his clear knowledge of the miseries of material life and his remembrance of Lord Krsna. If he forgets the ordeal in the womb and again assumes the false position of an enjoyer, it would be better for him never to be born. Although bitten and burned and surrounded by blood and urine, at least in the womb he is able to remember Krsna. The thought of his future miseries makes him reluctant to take birth, but of course he cannot possibly live in the womb much longer. While he thus extols the Lord, the wind that helps parturition propels him forth with his face turned downward. Pushed down suddenly by the wind, the child comes out with great trouble, breathless and deprived of his memory due to severe agony. He cries piteously, having lost his superior knowledge in the ordeal of birth.

We should not take lightly this account of life in the womb. One may say, "I cannot remember such pain in the womb. I am not suffering now, so why worry? Besides, I don't care." According to this way of thinking, ignorance is bliss. But it is only a temporary illusion of bliss. Although we now have no idea of the suffering in the womb, by reading such scriptures as the Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad-gita, we can understand the terrible condition there and learn how to act in such a way that we will not suffer again. We learn from the Bhagavad-gita that, as individual souls, we are never created, but are eternal, fragmental parts of the Supreme Lord. By misusing our small independence, we desire to be supreme and are thus cast into the material world. Then we wander, according to our material desires, from body to body in each of the different species, until we finally evolve to the human form of life. All this happens under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. As Sri Krsna states in the Bhagavad-gita (18.61), "I am seated in everyone's heart, and I direct the wanderings of all living beings." If, upon reaching the human form of life, we do not utilize the opportunity for self-realization, we will again be forced to enter a womb and undergo repeated tortures there. We should therefore thoughtfully reflect, "What can we do to avoid such miseries?"

True Identity

Repeated acceptance of material life is due to forgetting our true identity as eternal loving servants of the Supreme Lord,

Krsna. Therefore reviving our relationship with Krsna is crucial because that is the only means for the soul to escape the cycle of repeated birth and death. The primary method for doing this is chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, an incarnation of Krsna who appeared five hundred years ago in Bengal, India, recommended that everyone take up this Great Chant for Deliverance to awaken his dormant Krsna consciousness. We should also follow the instructions given by Lord Krsna in Bhagavad-gita (9.27-28): "All that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me. In this way you will be freed from all reactions to good and evil deeds, and by this principle of renunication, you will be liberated and come to Me." By chanting Hare Krsna and acting in this way, the conditioned soul cleanses his mind of the false notion that he can enjoy this material world separate from Krsna. He gradually becomes completely surrendered to the Supreme Lord, and at the end of life liberation from the miseries of repeated birth and death is assured. Krsna not only speaks the Bhagavad-gita for our guidance. He also manifests Himself internally as the Supersoul within our hearts and externally as the spiritual master to instruct us how to avoid the repeated miseries of material existence. If one is anxious to get out of the material entanglement, Krsna will direct him from within the heart how to approach a genuine spiritual master. By following the instructions of a spiritual master, one can perfect devotional service and be transferred to the spiritual world, which is completely free from birth and death.

We are all eternal spirit souls, but death and rebirth are great dangers for us as long as we remain in conditioned, material existence. We must pray to the Lord, as did the child in the womb, to realize our eternal relationship with Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But we should not wait until it is too late. Preparing for the next life is a proposal for thoughtful human beings, a proposal we are meant to act on by following spiritual authorities while we are still healthy in this lifetime.

Overruling the Supreme Court

According to the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, only in the last twelve weeks of pregnancy does the growing fetus have a right to live despite the mother's wish to abort him. This decision supports the claim of those who favor abortion that killing a human embryo after a few weeks or months is not murder because , human life has not yet developed. They say that not until a full six months after conception does the fetus become "viable," or able to sustain itself outside the womb. Until that time, the embryo is supposedly nothing but a lump of flesh, and is therefore "abortable."

According to Vedic wisdom however, the right to life is determined by laws that even the Supreme Court cannot overrule. It is the law of karma, working under the direct supervision of the Supreme Lord, that determines when an individual spirit soul will be placed in a human womb. Thus to deny a spirit soul a human birth due him by the laws of karma is to defy the will of God in a most heinous fashion.

The Vedas tell us that anyone who prevents a spirit soul from entering the mother's womb by contraception, or who destroys a developing fetus, is subject to severe punishment after death. In the case of abortion, both the person performing the abortion and those sanctioning it are forced at the time of death to enter wombs where they themselves become victims of the same 'vicious act. Thus those who are anxious to enjoy sexual pleasure, yet wish to avoid the responsibility of having children, should soberly consider the severe consequences of contraception and abortion, which are grave transgressions of the laws of nature. Unlike the edicts of the Supreme Court, there is no escaping their strict enforcement.

Courtsey: BTG (Sept 1, 1975)

Nature’s IQ

by Isvara Krsna Dasa

Can the study of mysterious animal instinncts and beahviour provide the key to the origin of life

Having been brought up in a city, Budapest, I first learned about nature from books and films. For a long time, books about

the living world fascinated me stories by ornithologists, accounts by naturalists about their expeditions, presentations by researchers of animal behavior. My favorite authors were Gerald Durell and David Attenborough. I would never have thought that investigating the most hidden subjects of nature would become my profession.

My parents’ familiarity with science helped make biology my favorite subject in elementary and secondary school. My mother worked as a chemist, and my father was a doctor. Thinking in terms of science came naturally in our family with three children.

In high school biology class I couldn’t escape dissection of animal specimens. I was sorry and morally repelled to see the earthworm crucified with pins and the disembowelled frog or prepared birds that seemed much more attractive seen intact than with their guts visible.

My interest turned to the social sciences, and I went to the university to study cultural anthropology, which analyzes and compares past and present civilizations.

In Hungary, where I lived, my first university years coincided with the change of the political system. Communism was out, and suddenly I realized that the world can be seen from various aspects and man is free to choose the worldview he wants. This freedom was promising but also frightening because of the heavy implications of choice. Therefore the structure and thinking of other societies became important for me not only from a scientific point of view but also existentially, as relevant for my own life.

During this period I got acquainted with the wisdom of India’s Vedic scriptures from the books of Srila Prabhupada, an Indian teacher representing an unbroken tradition. After a few small books on reincarnation, I read Bhagavad-gita and acquired an overview of its philosophy: Every living being (including plants and animals) is an eternal soul who, somehow or other, got entangled in the material world and now wanders from one kind of body to another, accepting various body forms. When souls get a human body, they are awarded the chance to wake up to their original pure consciousness and, by acting properly, can go back to the spiritual world at the end of life to reconnect with God.

At first I thought this too good to be true. At the same time, however, the coherence of the reasoning, the concept of nonviolence, and the option that life may have a higher purpose fascinated me. After scientific materialism, imbibed in the education system of Socialism, this was very attractive, but at the same time quite unusual and hard to believe.

I got into an ideological crisis. My system of thinking, acquired in my childhood and deemed beyond doubt, was undermined. At the same time, it was still strong enough to prevent me from accepting another ideology.

I especially had problems with one question: Where had the kingdoms of animals and plants I so much admired come from? According to my childhood books and schooling, life had emerged through chance chemical processes and the species evolved from common ancestors over millions of years. But according to the several-thousandyear- old Vedic texts I was starting to respect, the body plans of plants and animals have existed on our planet since the beginning of time.

I also got hold of some publications that raised scientific counterarguments against the theory of evolution. I was surprised to discover a whole array of arguments and started to ponder that evolution theory might, after all, not be an undeniable fact. Perhaps it was just one possible interpretation of nature one that had been spoonfed to me. I was curious to find the truth. And I thought that without finding an answer to the question of origins, I could not make a wellfounded decision about the purpose of my own life.

Back to the Bookshelf

I reread my animal books and noticed that origins were treated with remarkable superficiality. Whatever phenomenon the authors spoke about, they used expressions like “evolved,” “emerged,” “was modified,” “adapted,” etc., but they never went into the details of how these things happened.

I thought I could get more detailed information from biological journals, but found, to my dismay, that the descriptions, though worded more scientifically, were based on an unproven preconception. This reinforced my suspicion that my schooling was misleading and that evolutionism was but a linguistic construction, a mythic explanation of the world from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To borrow an expression from the humanities, it was a “narrative,” a story invented by people in a certain age and told to the others.

Rereading the books, I was taken by the wonder of the inborn instincts many animal species demonstrate. To gather more information for deciding on the question of origins, I chose to study this subject in detail. Animal behavior is the subject of the scientific discipline of ethology. Being a cultural anthropologist by training, and also interested in nonhuman cultures, I dubbed myself a “cultural zoologist” (maybe the only one on planet Earth).

Let’s look at some questions that arise in connection with instinctive animal behavior.

It is not at all surprising that insects behave like insects, birds like birds, and mammals like mammals. They execute most of their intricate behavior in a predetermined, instinctive manner. But how do they know when and how they should act? Where did the intelligence manifested in nature come from?

To explain the origin of behavioral patterns, evolutionists point to gradual modifications of simpler behaviors. But is the current view necessarily the correct one? Is it based on detailed, plausible deduction? Or could there be an alternative, better explanation? Is it possible that our world reflects in many ways a supernatural intelligence that applied its own infinitely ingenious solutions to create the living world?

 Nature’s Thermostat

Many animal behavioral patterns do not merely consist of one single phase, but involve a range of behavioral steps that must always be present to achieve successful action. This represents a serious, if not lethal, threat against the Darwinian theory.

The East Australian mallee fowl (Leipoa ocellata) hatches its eggs in an unusual way. First, with their strong legs mallee fowl parents dig a hole fifteen feet wide and three feet deep. During winter, they gather twigs and leaves from within a radius of fifty-five yards and amass them in the hole. When the material has gotten thoroughly soaked in the rain, they cover the whole thing with a layer of sandy earth twenty inches thick. This is how the mallee builds its craterlike nest, which towers nearly five feet high.

The mallee fowl hen lays her eggs on rotting leaves in the egg chamber within the nest mound, and then the male buries the egg chamber. Starting in the spring, for three to four months the hen comes once a week to lay one egg each time, then leaves the nest. During the long nine-month period of hatching, the cock takes care of the right incubation temperature.

Most species of birds hatch their eggs with the warmth of their own body. This case is totally different. The eggs of mallee fowl hatch by the warmth of the hill, as the rotting plant matter piled up inside generates heat that hatches the eggs. From time to time the male sticks his bill into the hill to check the temperature of the soil. He is able to measure the temperature most probably with his tongue or oral cavity. He maintains the temperature of the mound functioning as an incubator at 93.2° Fahrenheit (34° centigrade) with incredible precision. He allows a maximum fluctuation of 1.8° (1° centigrade) inside the mound, even though daily and yearly temperatures vary considerably in that region.

If the eggs are in danger of overheating, he assiduously removes a layer of sand from the top of the hill to emit extra heat. Alternatively, to protect the mound from excessive sunshine, he scratches more soil onto the mound. When the outside temperature turns colder, he removes the upper layers of the hill during the day so that the sun shines right on the middle of the nest. But in the evening he covers it again to retain the heat.

Nestlings hatch at different times and break the eggshell with their strong legs. Miraculously, they do not suffocate inside the mound but, keeping their bill and eyes tightly shut, dig themselves out of the hill. They struggle hard for five to ten minutes to make their way upwards a few centimeters, then they rest for about an hour and start again. It might take them two to fifteen hours to get to the surface. After getting out, they take a deep breath and open their eyes. Afterwards, they waddle or roll down the hatching mound and rush into the surrounding scrubland. They never meet their parents and learn from no one how to build a mound or how to maintain its temperature. Still, when they come of age, they behave exactly as their parents did.

Beyond Hen-Witted Explanations

The mallee fowl belongs to the family of incubator birds (Megapodiidae). All the bird species belonging to this taxonomic family are well known for using an external heat source to hatch their eggs. Evolutionary science journals assume that this hatching method evolved in small steps from the traditional “sitting on the eggs” hatching. Nevertheless, they are unable to give any kind of detailed and convincing theoretical explanation for this gradual evolvement, which would be in line with the principles of their theory.

To understand more deeply why evolutionary theory does not stand its ground regarding the origin of the mallee fowl’s hatching strategy, let us take into consideration what is needed for the successful hatching of the nestlings.

From the hen’s point of view:

• Coming back regularly and laying the eggs on the appropriate spot.

From the cock’s point of view:

• Knowledge about the material and structure of the hill.

• Building of the hatching mound.

• Specific organ to check the temperature of the soil.

• Sophisticated instinct to ensure a constant temperature inside the hatching mound.

From the chicks’ point of view:

• Appropriate instinctive behavior

 about what to do after hatching.

• Adequate anatomical build to have the strength to dig themselves out from the mound and to survive on their own.
• Instinctive behavioral patterns from their birth on, making them capable for breeding and nurturing.

Just think it over. Would it be possible to omit any of these elements and still have the eggs hatched? Surely not, because all these particular anatomical characteristics and instinctive behavioral programs are needed at the very same time, so that the following generations of birds can come into existence. This is why one cannot draw a line of progressive development consisting of numerous gradual little changes leading from the “heating with body” to the “mound builder” system. By the time the eggs are laid and hid in the ground, all the other elements (physical characteristics and instincts of the mallee fowl) should be present; otherwise the temperature of the eggs would not be maintained and the embryos inside would perish.

Thus the mallee fowl’s method of hatching is an irreducible system, as the process works only if each jigsaw-puzzle piece of the behavioral chain is in its proper place. The simultaneous emergence of so many coordinated elements without conscious control merely by undirected chance mutation is utterly impossible.

Therefore the origin of the mallee fowl is a riddle with only one solution: This bird, with all its anatomical features and instinctive behavior, was devised by a higher intelligence. Moreover, the “sitting on the eggs” and the “moundbuilding” incubation techniques most likely manifested at the same time as parts of a comprehensive superior plan.

A More Reliable Answer

The mallee fowl is but one of the many examples in our book Nature’s IQ, written in cooperation with my bioengineer friend Bhagavat-priya Dasa. It describes a hundred examples of unusual animal instincts of unexplained origin (www.naturesiq.com).

Here are some more exciting questions:

How did the archerfish get the idea of spitting beyond the water level, and how did its special mouth weapon (capable of shooting down insects with water) develop? What kind of evolutionary advantage would the ability to spit small quantities a short distance have represented for many, many generations?

How can a small fish (the cleaner wrasse) stay alive when swimming voluntarily into the mouth of a predatory fish (the coral grouper)?

How do the migrating birds know when and in what direction they should leave?

What special mating habits contradict Darwinian evolution?

What are the strategies of animal parents in raising their offspring, and why is it likely that these come from a higher intelligence rather than from chance genetic changes?

Animal behavior patterns pose logical riddles that can hardly be solved without postulating the involvement of intelligent design. It seems reasonable, then, to consider the standpoint of the ancient scriptures.

According to the philosophy of the Vedic scriptures, living beings in this world are made of three components. In all cases, the source of life and consciousness in any living body is an eternal individual spiritual spark. A subtle physical body, in which the mental activities of the living entity take place, covers the living being. It seems that the instincts of a given species are also coded into this subtle material body, and they are substantially constant. The visible biological body covers the subtle body. The variegated forms of life and the appropriate behavioral patterns ultimately come from an infinitely intelligent and ingenious being, who is present in the hearts of all living things as Supersoul.

I have learned to identify the misleading ideological prejudices in science books and to handle them with the appropriate reservation. And nowadays, when I read about nature, I often feel that from behind the lines, Someone is winking at me.

 Courtsey:BTG(Nov.1,2009)

Hope Against Hope

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Asha, Pashai, Satai, Baddha, Kama, Krodha, Parayana,

Ihante, Kamabhogartham, Anyaena, Artha, Sanchayan.

(Bg. 16.12).

Translation

The atheists, who accumulate wealth unlawfully for the matter of sense gratification, are bound up by hundreds of thousands hopes against hope by network of it.

Purport

In our issue of Back to Godhead Vol III part VIII dated 20/6/56, we had to discuss something about nationalism of pure consciousness. Sometime we meet gentlemen of up-to-date taste and try to make them interested in the matter of "Back to Godhead." Unfortunately we meet 80% men of atheistic views and they say very frankly that they have not only no interest in such theistic subject but also they condemn the attempt to bring back people in general to the path of 'Back to Godhead.'

According to these gentlemen, economic conditions of the Indian people deteriorated on account of their too much faith in God and the sooner they forget everything about Godhead, it is better for them. But we cannot agree with this atheistic conclusion of such up-to-date gentlemen devoid of the sense of Godhead.

India was never so much dependant on the occupation of service than they are now. With the advancement of Godless materialistic education, the Indian people at the present moment are more dependant on service than anything else. There was report in the press that during the year ending in 1955, applicants for services in the employment exchange of Delhi only-were recorded to the extent of 120,000. Out of these applicants only 15,000 men were provided with some suitable services but others were disappointed or still remained unemployed. The number of unemployed is increasing daily particularly in the educated section. Whenever there is some vacancy in some important or nonimportant posts, there are thousands of applications to fill it. More than 80 p.c. of the population are not provided with the bare necessities of life and what to speak of other amenities. Some of the well posted Government servants or some of the fortunate businessmen may feel themselves happy but 90 percent of their brother citizens do not know how to meet the both ends together and therefore the economic condition is definitely not satisfactory. This economic deterioration of the mass of people is not only visible in India but it is also so and so all over the world. The planning commission in India of course making various plans to improve the economic conditions of the Indian people but we may take lessons from other country where the planning commissions have finished their duties. We must be frank enough to admit that the economic conditions of general mass of people have not improved.

Recently when Mr. Truman was in London, he admitted very frankly that independence means comfortable life for everyone. At least that is the expectation of all common men which is never to be fulfilled. When the World War II was going on, one compounder enquired whether the Japanese were coming in India. The purpose of the enquiry was that if the Japanese came in India, the country will be independant. The compounder was met again after 1947 and he was asked how he has improved his comfortable life. The compounder with much regret replied that he has not improved his lot in the least after independence; on the contrary, the family expenditure has increased so much that it has become almost incompatible with his economic condition. On the whole the story was nobody's life has become more comfortable after independence as it ought to have been according to Mr. Truman. According to Mr. Truman, if a section of a nation live very comfortably in the material sense and feel thereby false happiness without caring for his brother haves-not-it must be called an illusion only. That is not independence ever in the opinion of Mr. Truman the retired President of U.S.A.

The economic condition of the people cannot be improved by such godless adventures. In our article 'Grow more food' published in the issue of VI part of 'Back to Godhead'; we have brought to the notice of our readers that there are five causes to effect a particular action. And the most important cause is called the 'Daiva' or the unseen hand of the agent of Godhead. However efficient may be the other causes such as the place, the worker, the attempt and the instrument-without the favourable help of the 'Divine' cause nothing can be effected very satisfactorily. The S.R.C. catastrophe which is still going on in the cities of Gujarat was never expected by the leaders of the country but it has come to take place by the 'Divine' cause beyond the reach of efficient statesmen.

Atheist Ravana did not believe in the 'Divine' cause and firmly believed in his own capacity. He was a declared enemy of Shri Ramchandra the Personality of Godhead and on his own strength he thought it wise to construct a staircase for everyone's use and to approach the kingdom of heaven without the necessary qualifications.

The present generation of materialistic thought is direct descendant of Ravana because all of them think in terms of Ravana's staircase leading to the kingdom of heaven. Such people completely ignore the superior strength of the Daivi cause. We may again use the example of the S.R.C. report in this connection. The report was prepared with great care by the eminent and most erudite personalities for the good of all Provinces and the particular staircase, leading to the heaven of provincial or linguistic amity, was constructed at a cost of many lacs of rupees. Unfortunately the 'Daivi' cause was unknown to the reporting gentlemen which did not favour the cause and as such the resultant violence is still going on at Ahmedabad and other parts of the country at the cost of many lives and considerable loss of national wealth. They are all due to godless thought without any care for the unseen hand of the Supreme.

Such thinking men are surely bound up by such hundreds and thousands of thoughts all produced by unsatiable lust. And in the absence of such lust being fulfilled satisfactorily to the parties concerned they are followed by anger, rupture, insanity, violence, loss of intelligence and at last destruction of everything.

The different groups of atheist thinkers have different kinds of plans in the brain and they are exhibited in different patterns of godlessness. One set of atheistic nation thinks on it in a different way and all of them clash at a point of overlapping circles caused by the 'Daivi' way. This is so because none of these thoughts of different groups is beyond the range of direct perception of the material sense without any spiritual knowledge. Therefore the quality of such different thought is always the same but the varieties are presented in multi-colourful attraction for the foolish mass of people. We have already discussed this point at length in our article 'All Compact in Thought.'

The mass of people are themselves blind to see everything in their true perspective and they are now made to follow similar blind leaders under various political arrangement. They are made to follow either of the above multi-colourful ideals sure to be failure in the long run and therefore they are made to hope against hope in a practical way.

There are many hope against hope parties and whenever there is failure of the sense gratificatory processes the different parties are put into violent dangers. This dangerous position of each one of the parties leads them to fight one with another and at the end one of the parties become victim of another for the sake of a false ideology unknown to the people. The communal flare up of this iron-age is now an ordinary occurrence, due to godless advancement of material learning. The poor followers and innocent passersby are however suffer to such roads to heaven ideologies and it is so because the mass of people are gradually being driven to the hopeless condition of a godless civilization which has no information of a spiritual status of life and they are now kept on darkness in the bewildered state of sense gratification.

Such persons therefore who seek happiness in the chain of hope against hope by sense gratification try to accumulate wealth by unlawful means. In impure consciousness without the knowledge of the proprietorship right of the Supreme Lord-everything is accumulated unlawfully because everything that we have all belongs to the Supreme Lord. This unlawful accumulation of wealth is effected not only in black market but also in the open daylight by unlawful means. Even the so-called Sannyasins accumulate money by collecting donation from the public unlawfully to create a personal property for sense gratification forgetting the proprietorship right of the Supreme Lord.

The word black-market has come to stay now on account of the blackmailing attempt of other staunch sense-gratifiers. Persuaded by such strong sense of sense-gratificatory propensity of black-marketing habit, it is now experienced that even the millionaires do sometimes commit criminal misappropriation of others' money. When a poor man commits criminal misappropriation, we can understand the poverty driven propensity of the poor man but when we see that a millionaire merchant or high administrator or a holy Sannyasi(?) is committing such criminal offenses, we can understand the strong directive of sense-gratification attitude caused by godless civilization. Such unlawful sense-gratificatory process continues to act as hope against hope and they are never satisfied either by force or by law. A godless civilization can accelerate this process of hope against hope for sense-gratification but this atmosphere of animalism will never bring in the desired peace.

(Courtsey:BTG Pioneer Year)

Let Everyone Be Happy

Mayank Goel, CESP, JNU.

mayankgoel90@gmail.com

Our world is highly progressive in nature. Today, we have moved into an era where we have broken all the previous benchmarks established in the different spheres of life. Comparing present with our past, we can surely assert that the level of technology, modern facilities, machines, medicines, etc. is completely unprecedented. Every moment we are kind of augmenting our skills to innovate new things and techniques to do our activities. But, the world in general is experiencing massive increase in diseases, severe health problems, depression, mental breakdowns, physical inactivity, dilution of relations, rapes, murders, death, etc. People are dying young. In last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide (WHO). Over 450 million people suffer from a mental health problem or mental illness (National Institute of Mental Health, Office for national statistics mental health in children, mental health foundation, mind, rethink, London School of Economics). These things are happening in our vicinity that sometimes raise questions regarding the relation, if any, between the two perceived events.

Humans by nature are inquisitive to know ever since the dawn of life. Given the fact that we have imbibed higher intelligence in the evolution process, we try to manipulate our resources to overpower or control the material nature instead of surrendering to the material conditions like animals. This urge has been driving the development of our human society in the field of action where we work to change and create an artificial environment around us suitable to our comforts. To decipher upon the extent of our success, we must take care of two things. First, we should think whether we have been actually successful in overpowering nature or is it an illusion that makes us believe so or the situations have further worsened? What is it really? Secondly, we want to control the nature because we want to become independent as dependency is the cause of misery. In short, we do not want miseries inflicted upon us by nature in the form of Tsunamis, floods, famines, earthquakes, scorching heat, excessive cold, etc. We want to liberate ourselves of all sufferings and wish to live happily. So have we succeeded in it?

 All these technological developments and modern science are helping us to delay our sufferings only to be caused in a much intensified manner. (This is intact with the overall capitalist system in which growth is technology-led which does nothing but delays the crisis to be caused at some later date.) These advancements do give us pleasure and happiness by easing our life style but they are highly momentary and temporary. It is a cyclical process. More urge to enjoy gives more sufferings and more sufferings compel us to degrade our source of pleasure  and eventually we tend to locate our happy moments in small and petty things. Is this true development?

The true development is one where pleasure increases and the source of happiness is elevated in each cycle of development. This development is a boon for human civilisation as it is directed in the right direction. This leads us to the path of universal peace and harmony. Today, people are seeking pleasure in killing animals, boozing, hangovers, smoking, gambling, illicit sex and all kinds of commercialised conspicuous consumption. This is not the right development as it is animalistic in nature which has taken away humanity from our lives.

All these problems are the reflections from the mirror of ignorance. Thus, one of the best solutions is to promote the right knowledge. We need to understand why do societies develop or what is the driving force behind these material and technological developments. The essence of all our activities is to enjoy and become happy. Developments are no exception and they occur essentially to improve the well-being, standards of living, comfort levels, etc. in order to increase the state of happiness.

This is a point to ponder whether we have actually increased our happy state or augmented our sufferings. Since all human efforts or actions performed by any living entity, for that matter, is dualistic; characterised with the system of synthesis and antithesis based on our criteria or thesis. Thus, we ourselves create avenues that increase the miseries in the process to enjoy or become happy. When our intensions are not wrong then why the results are always contradictory? What is the nature that makes our actions dualistic? Little understanding of human psyche and human needs can make us aware and acknowledge the direction leading to humanity.

Basically, all humans have three kinds of needs; biological, social, and natural. Biological needs arise out of our body that mainly includes food, clothing, shelter that are mainly material in nature. The reason is that our body being made up of matter comprising five elements; earth, fire, water, air and space; the bodily needs are satisfied through these elements only.

The social needs arise out of the environment or the society in which we survive. These needs vary among humans according to their civilisation and are thus satisfied in the framework of that society. For example, in earlier societies people needed goods to exchange with other goods of consumption while today we need money to possess purchasing power. Social needs also include needs at the abstract level like emotional caring, etc.

The natural needs are difficult to perceive because they are the most subtle of all. These needs arise out of us being the spirit souls. The characteristic feature of soul is eternal, conscious and blissful.

na jayate mriyate va kadacin nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah |

ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire ||BG.2.20||

Thus, our natural needs are to achieve immortality, become fully knowledgeable and always be happy. Humans from time immemorial have this desire to overpower death, inquisitiveness to know and desire to do away with pains and sufferings. These natural needs thus form the base of all our other needs.

Our efforts are dualistic because of this distinction between our bodies and ourselves (spirit souls). Because we are souls, we want to be happy but as we are limited by our bodies we cannot work for the welfare of everyone and hence all our efforts are relative that create both positive and negative effects. Positive on one hand make us happy while the negative increases our miseries.

The modern scientists and technocrats promise to make us happy by increasing our comforts. The biggest advertisement going on is how to become happy immediately and forget about future as it is uncertain. Thus, we are discounting our future pains for temporary pleasures. But, in this world, there is no perfect substitution. We cannot substitute our pain with pleasure. At the best, the pains inherent in the processes can be garbed. We must accept the pains and pleasure as we accept summers and winters because they are bound to come in a cyclical way. As in seasonal changes, we want to maintain the temperature; similarly in changes of situations, we must try to maintain our feelings i.e. try to situate ourselves in equality (Equality is the foremost requirement for real happiness).

jneyah sa nitya-sannyasi yo na dvesti na kanksati |

nirdvandvo hi maha-baho sukham bandhat pramucyate ||BG.5.3||

One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities is known to be always renounced. Such a person, liberated from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, O mighty-armed Arjuna.

However, this material development is characterised by inequality that improves the situation of some at the cost of others. There are very few instances where everyone in general benefits but there also the margins of benefits differ greatly. This creates a divergence in the society between those who possess and those who do not. Thus, the overall process is very unequal. Knowing this, we must try to innovate or develop such a machine which doesn’t discount our sufferings by garbing them but promotes equality to achieve universal peace and harmony. Then, we can claim to live in a happy world and a true human civilisation!