Yep, Vedic India, still lame and the west is still blind

[Guest guest]

On 25 Nov 1999, Madhava Gosh wrote:

 

> > We're working on it, really. For artha and kama, the west is good, for

> > dharma and moksha, India is good.

>

> Why thank you. Maybe there is hope after all.

 

 

Gosh Prabhu' perhaps you could do me a favor and check the Vedabase for Srila

Prabhupada's comments about India being lame and America being blind? I cannot

seem to find the references in my notes of my readings of Prabhupada's books

at the moment but I think they are quite relevant to the present discussion.

 

It was something along the line of: India is lame and cannot get anywhere

progressively and America is blind and can only walk into the ditch. And that

India should mount the shoulders of America to be its eyes and take advantage

of Americas strengths to progress.

 

Working together, seeing the positives in others, sounds nice.

 

Thanks,

 

Janesh

[Guest guest]

>

>

> Gosh Prabhu' perhaps you could do me a favor and check the Vedabase for Srila

> Prabhupada's comments about India being lame and America being blind? I

cannot

> seem to find the references in my notes of my readings of Prabhupada's books

> at the moment but I think they are quite relevant to the present discussion.

 

In this verse the word laksita-laksanam indicates that the human body attained

in

Bharata-varsa is very auspicious. Vedic culture is full of knowledge, and a

person

born in India can fully take advantage of Vedic cultural knowledge and the

cultural system known as varnasrama-dharma. Even at the present time, as we

travel

all over the world, we see that in some countries human beings have many

material

facilities but no facilities for spiritual advancement. We find everywhere the

defects of one-sided facilities and a lack of full facilities. A blind man can

walk but not see, and a lame man cannot walk but can see. Andha-pangu-nyaya.

The

blind man may take the lame man over his shoulder, and as he walks the lame man

may give him directions. Thus combined they may work, but individually neither

the

blind man nor the lame man can walk successfully. Similarly, this human form of

life is meant for the advancement of spiritual life and for keeping the

material

necessities in order. Especially in the Western countries there are ample

facilities for material comforts, but no one has any idea of spiritual

advancement. Many are hankering after spiritual advancement, but many cheaters

come, take advantage of their money, bluff them and go away. Fortunately the

Krsna

consciousness movement is there to give all facilities for both material and

spiritual advancement. In this way people in the Western countries may take

advantage of this movement. In India any man in the villages, unaffected by the

industrial cities of India, can still live in any condition and make spiritual

advancement. The body has been called the city of nine gates, and these nine

gates

include two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, a genital and a rectum.

When

the nine gates are clean and working properly, it is to be understood that the

body is healthy. In India these nine gates are kept clean by the villagers who

rise early in the morning, bathe in the well or rivers, go to the temples to

attend mangala-arati, chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and take prasada. In

this

way one can take advantage of all the facilities of human life. We are

gradually

introducing this system in different centers in our Society in the Western

countries. One who takes advantage of it becomes more and more enlightened in

spiritual life. At the present moment, India may be compared to the lame man

and

the Western countries to the blind man. For the past two thousand years India

has

been subjugated by the rule of foreigners, and the legs of progress have been

broken. In the Western countries the eyes of the people have become blind due

to

the dazzling glitter of material opulence. The blind man of the Western

countries

and the lame man of India should combine together in this Krsna consciousness

movement. Then the lame man of India can walk with the help of the Westerner,

and

the blind Westerner can see with the help of the lame man. In short, the

material

advancement of the Western countries and the spiritual assets of India should

combine for the elevation of all human society.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 4.25.13