rivers of gold and oceans of ignorance

[Guest guest]

By the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the rivers on some

planets produce gold on their banks. The poor inhabitants of this earth,

because of their incomplete knowledge, are captivated by a so-called

bhagavan who can produce a small quantity of gold. However, it is understood

that in a higher planetary system in this material world, the mud on the

banks of the Jambu-nadi mixes with jambu juice, reacts with the sunshine in

the air, and automatically produces huge quantities of gold. Thus the men

and women are decorated there by various golden ornaments, and they look

very nice. Unfortunately, on earth there is such a scarcity of gold that the

governments of the world try to keep it in reserve and issue paper currency.

Because that currency is not backed up by gold, the paper they distribute as

money is worthless, but nevertheless the people on earth are very proud of

material advancement. In modern times, girls and ladies have ornaments made

of plastic instead of gold, and plastic utensils are used instead of golden

ones, yet people are very proud of their material wealth. Therefore the

people of this age are described as mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy

upadrutah (SB 1.1.10). In other words, they are extremely bad and slow to

understand the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They have

been described as sumanda-matayah because their conceptions are so crippled

that they accept a bluffer who produces a little gold to be God. Because

they have no gold in their possession, they are actually poverty-stricken,

and therefore they are considered unfortunate.

 

SB 5.16.20-21 ppt.