Varnasrama Perspective on Sense Control

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna dasi October 12, 1999

 

I had to get an annual physical exam and blood test yesterday. My son

keeps teasing me about a cholesterol warning I got from my doctor last

time. He has turned into the butter-and-ghee police, "That's not for you,

Mom - too much butter. Well, I don't think your doctor would want you to

be eating those pakoras - better give them to me." So, I wanted to "pass

my test" so to speak, to get him off my case.

 

Now, there are two approaches to passing the test. One way is to cut back

on the fat that I eat. The other approach is to get more exercise. (The

two-mile hike to the hospital is one way to get exercise. :-)) What I have

done is to combine both approaches. Tomorrow, I'll find out how well I

did when I get the results from the doctor.

 

Anyway, while I was hiking out to the hospital for the lab work yesterday,

I was thinking about the discussion we've been having about maintaining

the regulative principles. It occurred to me that we had only considered

solving it from one approach - which is using will-power to cut back, just

like with the diet approach to controlling cholesterol.

 

But there is also another important approach which should be considered in

this discussion, and that is the proper varna engagement approach. While

the analogy to controlling cholesterol by exercise is not exact, I think

it's close enough to make the point.

 

In particular, one quote from Srila Prabhupada went through my mind:

 

*********************

 

The point is to be engaged in doing something for Krishna, never mind what

is that job, but being so engaged in doing something very much satisfying

to the devotee that he remains always enthusiastic. He will automatically

follow the regulative principles because they are part of his occupational

duty--by applying them practically as his occupational duty, he realises

the happy result of regulative principles.

 

Letter to Karandhara

Bombay 22 Dec 72

 

***********************

 

Again, this is not precisely the same thing, but it comes very close

because it says that following the regulative principles is much easier

when we are satisfied in our occupational duty. Krsna advised Arjuna not

to become a renounced monk, begging for a living because he would not be

satisfied in his occupational duty - he needed a way that would better

engage his energy, or else his senses would just take over, and he would

fall down from the spiritual platform: "What will repression accomplish?"

(Bg 3.33) Rather than artificial renunciation, better to be engaged in the

appropriate occupational duty.

 

Then we come close to what Prabhupada is saying here, "He will follow the

regulative principles because they are part of his occupational duty."

Instead of artificial repression, the control comes by proper engagement.

 

So let's see how the varnasrama village envisioned by Srila Prabhupada

would facilitate devotees in their efforts to maintain the regulative

principles. Let's look at vaisyas.

 

Prabhupada wants devotees to be given some kind of aptitude testing to see

what would be the most appropriate occupation for them. Let's say that

the results come out that this young man would be best suited to work as a

vaisya. - How should he be trained? Prabbhupada says that in a

varnasrama college he should be trained in cow protection and how to plow

and produce food. [March 1974 varnasrama walks]

 

But in our present situation, what happens? In the first place, there is

no testing, and there is no varna guidance from a guru or teacher. So the

young man may have the nature of a vaisya, but if he joins ISKCON, he is

immediately trained as a brahmana. He's initially trained as a

brahmacari. Once he "falls down" from the brahmacari asrama - and gets

married, he's expected to take up some money-making vaisya business. But

that business is not cow protection and plowing. It's sitting in an

office or traveling around to different commercial spots, selling things.

 

But, wait a minute. What is the nature of the vaisya supposed to be:

Influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance. He needs something that

will move him toward the mode of goodness to help his spiritual

development progress nicely.

 

How does Prabhupada's suggestion use his nature? The vaisya candidate is

trained in cow protection and agriculture ("not that rascal business").

If he's in the mode of passion and ignorance, great! He's going to need

all that passion to do the hard work he has to do all day, and he'll find

it helpful if his brain does not require too much intellectual stimulation

all day long. That way he can be happy and praise Krsna just to be

working out in nature all day long. And what about the cow? The cow

happens to be in the mode of goodness, and by spending a good part of the

day associating with the cow and the bull, he becomes elevated to the mode

of goodness. (As Lord Caitanya testified to the astrologer [Adi 17.111].)

At the end of a hard day of work, the prospect of illicit sex becomes much

less of an attraction - he just wants to take prasadam and collapse into

bed. Besides this, there is the very important factor that he is feeling

deep satisfaction in being facilitated to perform his service of farming

and cow protection as an offering to his spiritual master and Krsna.

 

Now, let's set Prabhupada's suggested prescription for the vaisya aside

for a moment. How do we really engage someone who we say is a vaisya.

He's got to drive all over the place. He's got to convince people to buy

things they don't really need. He's got to compete with other sellers.

He also has to be in the mode of passion. But unlike the act of farming,

using the mode of passion like that doesn't really create the same kind of

physical and psychic satisfaction as hard farm work. You can even see it

in his body. The farmer is muscled, the salesman is flabby. Unlike the

farmer who falls into bed exhausted, but satisfied after a hard day of

work, our businessman feels exhausted but unsatisfied at the end of his

day of work. He's still in the mode of passion and ignorance. He needs

some sympathy. Come here, wifey, I've had a hard day today, etc.

 

And where is the connection with the cow that would have neutralized a lot

of this energy of passion and ignorance? Completely missing.

 

So, the point is, whereas Srila Prabhupada's prescription for the training

and occupational duty of a vaisya will actually assist him in following

the regulative principles, the occupations for the vaisya in our current

socio-economic environment do nothing of the kind - rather, by being

bombarded with lusty ads, lusty music, etc., all day long in the course of

doing business, his senses become a jangled mess of even more passion and

ignorance, so that when he reaches the end of the day, it becomes more

difficult instead of easy to follow the regulative principles. Basically,

we've been mostly discussing following the vow of no illicit sex, but also

all the regulative principles become challenged by this type of lifestyle.

 

The other footnote to this is that to artificially maintain him as a

brahmana obviously does no good because he has to much physical energy for

it - it drives him nuts. It's good that Krsna has given him a lot of

energy, because our society actually needs it - but when it can't be

engaged in a way that gives him spiritual - and even physical -

satisfaction then it become a problem for him and everyone around him.

And when I say physically satisfying, any sexual component is a small part

of it. For one who has a lot of energy, to be engaged doing demanding

physical labor in an occupation that you love - especially when you are

doing it for Krsna - is very physically satisfying, even exhilarating.

 

So, correct varna training and appropriate varna engagement are very

important factors for us to keep in mind when we are thinking of how to

maintain the regulative principles. In closing, let's look again at

Prabhupada's instruction:

 

*********************

 

The point is to be engaged in doing something for Krishna, never mind what

is that job, but being so engaged in doing something very much satisfying

to the devotee that he remains always enthusiastic. He will automatically

follow the regulative principles because they are part of his occupational

duty--by applying them practically as his occupational duty, he realises

the happy result of regulative principles.

 

Letter to Karandhara

Bombay 22 Dec 72

 

***********************

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

[Guest guest]

"COM: Hare Krsna dasi (Brunswick, Maine - USA)" wrote:

 

> [Text 2696619 from COM]

>

> Hare Krsna dasi October 12, 1999

>

> I had to get an annual physical exam and blood test yesterday. My son

> keeps teasing me about a cholesterol warning I got from my doctor last

> time. He has turned into the butter-and-ghee police, "That's not for you,

> Mom - too much butter. Well, I don't think your doctor would want you to

> be eating those pakoras - better give them to me." So, I wanted to "pass

> my test" so to speak, to get him off my case.

 

Did you check for Lipoprotein (a)? Much more relevant than total cholesterol

count, which is close to meaningless.

 

If your HDL count is 60 or over, your LDL count is almost irrelevant,

especially if your Lp(a) is low.