Srila Prabhupada commenting on hedonism, cheating and the Vedic culture of India.

June 4, 2003

Advancement of civilization means, the so-called civilization, material civ…, means how much you are able to gratify your senses. That is civilization. How much you are given facilities to gratify your senses. This is the modern idea, hedonism. More eat, more drink—eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy. Sense gratification.

This is not only new. Formerly the Carvaka Muni, he also advocated, rnam krtva ghrtam pibet. In India, they want to eat very nice foodstuff prepared from ghee. So he advised that rnam krtva ghrtam pibet: if you have no money, then beg, borrow, or steal, get ghee and eat very nice. Rnam krtva, the word is… Suppose one has no money, then how to get money? Either cheat somebody, beg, or beg. But begging for grhastha is not very good thing, but sometimes they do so. Beg, borrow, or promising, "Give me now money, I shall pay you." And when credit is lost, then steal, pickpocket. This is as theory.

Similarly, Carvaka Muni, rnam krtva ghrtam pibet, never mind. "No, I will have to pay.No, that we shall see later on, never mind.No, I will be sinful, I will have to pay next life." This is within the blood of every Indian that if I cheat you or if I take some money from you without your benefit, without repayment, then I will have to suffer. Still in India they believe this.

There are some incidences that a man, father took some loan from some gentleman and his father died, and his son came to pay the money to the creditor: "Sir, my father took so much money from you. Now my father died without payment. So I have got money, you kindly take it." He says, "Let me see my book whether your father took it." So he said, "All right, consult." So after consulting the books, he said, "I don't find any item that I gave loan to your father.No, sir, I know, my father said at the time of death that 'I owe so much money to that gentleman, I could not pay; you pay it.'" So the trouble was the man says "I don't find any debit to your father's name. How can I take your money?" And he is insisting, "Yes, my father took money from you, kindly take."

This was India. This was India. They knew that "I cannot cheat you." Karmi, in the karma-kanda, if I cheat you, then I will have to pay you four times this life or next life. That is the law of karma. Therefore, we are collecting money, we should not cheat. Every paisa should be spent for Krsna; otherwise we shall be liable to pay. If we use one farthing for our sense gratification, then we will have to pay for it. This is the law of karma. The charity is given, why? Why charity is given to the brahmana? Nowadays they have manufactured charity to the daridra-narayana, poor man, ganja smoker, bidi smoker. But in the sastra, it is not. Sastra says tasmin deha, those who are devotee, those who are brahmana, they should be given, he should be given, he should accept. Why? Because if a brahmana takes some money from you, if a Vaisnava takes money from you, he everything will employ in the service of the Lord. This is utilization.