Prescribed duties must be performed

[Guest guest]

The folllowing are excerpts from the paper "Vaisnavaism and Social

Responsibility" in response to Madhusudani Radha dd's following comment:

 

"The ISKCON women's ministry has requested that the standards established

*by Srila Prabhupada* be *restored*. These don't concern mundane social

positions. They concern *devotional service*."

 

 

2.2 Prescribed Duties Must be Performed

 

Prescribed duties are unavoidable and are never to be renounced. Even a

person who is very advanced in spiritual realization must execute the Vedic

principles, what to speak of those who are in the lower stages of life.

Everyone is expected to abide and be regulated by the scriptural

injunctions given to the different castes and orders of human society. A

man who theoretically understands these rules but does not apply them in

his own life is to be known as the lowest of mankind. Lord Krsna created

the prescribed duties in the form of the four occupational and four

spiritual orders in order to elevate men out of the darkness of animal

life. There is no better engagement than to perform these prescribed duties

according to religious principles for by such action there is no loss or

diminution and a little advancement can save one from the most dangerous

type of fear.

 

It is Krsna's injunction that we perform these duties. If followed

faithfully, without envy, this injunction that commands us to perform our

prescribed duties, frees us from the bondage of fruitive actions. This

injunction is the essence of all Vedic wisdom and is therefore eternally

true without exception. One should have firm faith in this injunction and

should not harbor any envy towards the Lord. If a man is unable to execute

such an order but, nevertheless, maintains firm faith in it, he can still

become liberated from the bondage of karma. A neophyte in Krsna

consciousness may not fully discharge the injunction of the Lord, but if he

is not resentful of this principle and works sincerely without succumbing

to defeat and hopelessness, he is ultimately promoted to the stage of pure

Krsna consciousness.

 

2.2.1 Ordained by Krsna

 

The Lord commands the living entity to perform his prescribed duties

according to his social rank. These duties are therefore unavoidable

because the Lord has specifically ordained them. They are prescribed in the

Vedas that are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krsna prescribes that we divide and organize

society into four varnas and four asramas. Who will reject God's order? To

do so is a sign of madness. Even Krsna acted as a ksatriya according to

these social divisions. Religion means to carry out God's word. Human

civilization must be based on this principle of prescribed duties and must

be accordingly divided. These divisions already exist and simply need to be

coordinated. When humanity classifies itself according to these social

divisions, it eliminates confusion regarding the nature of prescribed

duties.

 

2.2.2 Attainment of Liberation

 

In order to achieve liberation, the duties of our particular body must be

performed. Once liberation is achieved, these duties become completely

spiritual and endure in order to maintain social stability. This constancy

in turn provides a peaceful environment within which people can pursue and

attain their spiritual goals. Performing our prescribed duties, with the

aim of satisfying the senses of the Lord, automatically results in

transcendental understanding. In this way, without any extraneous endeavor

to acquire knowledge, a man achieves complete liberation by the grace of

the Lord.

 

One cannot be elevated to the stage of perfection without following these

Vedic principles. The influence of the qualities acquired due to contact

with the three modes of nature forces us to act helplessly. Prescribed

duties are necessary because they channel the active principle of the soul

towards a gradual purification of physical and psychological affinities.

This essential purification, achieved by living a controlled and regulated

life, promotes detachment within the framework of one's social and

occupational circumstances. These prescribed duties must be followed in

order to rise to the platform of knowledge, for it is by the combination of

knowledge and devotion that one becomes liberated from the clutches of

illusion. When prescribed duties are followed, people automatically

become enlightened.

 

Prescribed duties provide human beings a comfortable life free from

anxiety. They free men from the bondage of good and evil works and while

performing such activities, one is factually liberated. Subsequently, after

further elevation to the transcendental loving service of Krsna, one

attains the kingdom of God. In short, prescribed duties, as sacrificial

offerings to Lord Visnu, fulfill the purpose of material creation.

 

It should be clearly understood that there is no real peace without

adhering to this social principle. Western civilization is so condemned

that people cannot follow this system. They do not know how to live

peacefully. Though India has lost so much of its original Vedic culture,

its interior villages still maintain it and the villagers live very

peacefully. This is real civilization. Krsna has divided society

scientifically, and all the divisions are required. Everyone must be

properly engaged according to this perfect social system.

 

Everyone in the material world possesses impure propensities that must be

cleansed by executing one's prescribed duties. Without doing so a man

should never become a so-called sannyasi who renounces his work and lives

at the cost of others. Likewise a householder who neglects his prescribed

duty cannot be pardoned. Deviation from the performance of prescribed duty

is considered an act of cowardice, a detriment to spiritual life, and

results in fall down and degradation. Also, anyone who deviates from the

prescribed duties of varnasrama dharma by declaring another's duty to be

his own is engaged in a foul and improper activity. Such ignorance is the

cause of all the anomalies in human society.

 

Fearlessness and honesty are the symptoms of a life purified by the

discharge of prescribed duties. Devotional service provides the

determination necessary to discharge these duties. And in turn, when these

duties are performed in Krsna consciousness, devotional service develops

and matures. Unflinching devotional service to Krsna is achieved when He

is worshipped by prescribed duties performed in full consciousness of the

Lord's presence in all living entities.

 

ys. JMd

 

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