Le Cow Quote Du Jour # 97

[Guest guest]

Disciple: Srila Prabhupada, once you said, "The tractor -- this is the cause

of all the trouble. It took all the young men's farm work. It forced them to

go into the city and become entangled in sensuality." You said people had to

leave the country and the simple life of goodness and God consciousness. And

so they went to the city and got caught up in the anxious life, the mode of

passion.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. In the city people must naturally fall into the mode

of passion: constant anxiety due to needless lusting and striving. In the

city we are surrounded by all sorts of artificial things for agitating our

mind and senses. And naturally, when we have this facility we become lusty.

We take to this passionate mode and become filled with anxiety.

Disciple: The country is more peaceful. It's easier to think of spiritual

life.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. There is less disease. Everything is less

brain-taxing. In the country the pangs of this material world are less. So

you can arrange your life for real profit. Spiritual profit. Realize God;

become Krsna conscious. And if you have got a temple in your home or near

your home, you have a very happy life. You work just a little -- just for

your food -- in the spring a month and a half or so for planting, in the

fall a month and a half for harvesting. And in your remaining time you

become culturally enriched. You engage all your talents and energies for

realizing God. Krsna consciousness. This is ideal life.

You see the minute fibers on this flower? No other manufacturing process in

this world can do this -- such small fibers. And how brilliant is the color!

If you study only one flower, you will become God conscious.

There is a mechanism that we call "nature." And from it is coming everything

we see around us. Now, how is it that this mechanism is so perfect? And who

is it that has devised this mechanism?

Disciple: Once in London you said, "People do not know that flowers are

painted. Krsna paints them with thoughts."

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. Most people think that by itself, unconnected with a

painter, this flower has become beautiful. This is foolishness. "Nature has

done it." Whose nature? Everything is being done by the natural mechanism of

Krsna. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate: [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport] the

Lord is orchestrating everything by His innumerable, inconceivable energies.

Anyway, learn to love this natural mode of life, life in a wide-open space.

Produce your own grain. Produce your own milk. Save time. Chant Hare Krsna.

Glorify the Lord's holy names. At life's end, go back to the spiritual world

to live forever. Plain living, high thinking -- ideal life.

Modern, artificial "necessities of life" may seem to increase your so-called

comfort, but if you forget life's real aim, your so-called advancement of

technology is suicidal. We want to stop this suicidal policy.

People today are extremely attached to this so-called advancement. Therefore

when Lord Caitanya appeared five hundred years ago, He gave a simple

formula: chant Hare Krsna. Even in your technological factory, you can

chant. You go on pushing and pulling with your machine, and chant, "Hare

Krsna, Hare Krsna." You can devote yourself to God. What is the wrong there?

Disciple: The leaders know that once a person starts chanting God's names,

in time he'll lose his taste for this anxious life of technology.

Srila Prabhupada: That is natural.

Disciple: So the leaders know you are sowing the seeds of their destruction.

Srila Prabhupada: Where is the "destruction"? Rather, it is construction:

devote yourself to God, and live forever. This is the proper path. Follow

it. You will live forever.

By our method, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti: [bg. 4.9] after leaving your

present material body, you don't get any more material bodies. You regain

your spiritual body and go back to the spiritual world. And without this

spiritual realization, tatha dehantara-praptih: [bg. 2.13] when you leave

your present material body, you'll have to accept another material body.

So consider the two methods of living. Which is better? The "advanced"

method -- accepting more material bodies, or our "old-fashioned" method --

accepting no more material bodies. Which is better?

 

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