THE PROGRESS OF THE ASSES

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The Progress of the AssesSrila Prabhupada. Everyone is

suffering here in the material world, and scientific improvement means that

the scientists are creating a situation of further suffering.

That's all. They are not making improvements. Bhaktivinoda

Thakura[6] confirms this by saying, mohajanamiya, anitya samsare, jivake

karaye gadha: "By so-called scientific improvements, the

scientist has become an ass." Moreover, he is becoming a better and better ass,

and nothing more. Suppose that by working very hard like an ass, a

person builds a skyscraper. He may engage in a lifelong labor for this,

but ultimately he must die. He cannot stay; he will be kicked out

of his skyscraper, because material life is impermanent. Scientists are

constantly doing research, and if you ask them what they are doing,

they say, "Oh, it is for the next generation, for the future."

But I say, "What about you? What about your skyscraper? If in your next life you

are going to be a tree, what will you do with your next generation

then?" But he is an ass. He does not know that he is going to stand

before his skyscraper for ten thousand years. And what about the next

generation? If there is no petrol, what will the next generation do? And how

will the next generation help him if he is going to be a cat, a dog or

a tree?

The scientists--and everyone

else--should endeavor to achieve freedom from the repetition of birth

and death. But instead, everyone is becoming more and more entangled in

the cycle of birth and death. Bhave 'smin klisyamananam

avidya-kama-karmabhih. This is a quotation from Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.8.35). Here in

one line the whole material existence is explained. This is

literature. This one line is worth thousands of years of research work.

It explains how the living entity is taking birth in this world, where

he comes from, where he is going, what his activities should be, and

many other essential things. The words bhave 'smin klisyamananam refer to the struggle for existence. Why does this struggle exist? Because of

avidya, ignorance. And what is the nature of that ignorance?

Kama-karmabhih, being forced to work simply for the senses, or in other words, entanglement in material sense gratification.

Student. So, is it true that modern

scientific research increases the demands of the body because the scientist is ultimately working to gratify his senses? Srila Prabhupada. Yes.

 

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