More than a Name

[theist]

 

MORE THAN A NAME

 

Q. You say that I am not this material body but I feel as though I am. You have given me scriptural quotes but I can't take it on faith like that.

 

Aja. Well nobody is asking for your blind faith. Use your intelligence and logically consider the matter.

 

Q. In what way?

 

Aja. Well there are different angles. Let's try one.

 

We have been conditioned from birth to consider the body as the self and those things connected to

the body as mine or part of the self. When we first emerge from the womb right off our parents slap a name on us. "His name is John." And this gets reinforced hundreds of times everyday throughout your life But you existed before your parents named you. So you must be different from the name. It seems obvious but seldom is seen or understood. If you ask most people who they are they will answer with their name "I am John." This is illusion.

 

Further you can change your name, but afterwards you remain the same being, the same self, just with a different name or label.

 

In a similar way all the other labels or conceptions of our self that are imposed upon us from the outer world are temporary and false. You were once called a baby, then a child, now a young man, soon a middle aged man and then old and finally others will refer to you as a dead man. All these labels according to the relative perceptions of others viewing you externally and none of which is a true description of the 'I' or self.

 

This is all nonsense, all illusion. We should not let ourselves be defined by our relationship to the outer "world of names"which is just composed of flickering images and conceptions, but rather by our own realization of inner reality.

 

Like the sun, the self is self-effulgent, self-revealing.

 

 

 

[krsna]

Srila Prabhupada's reflections on his own family members with the passing of time:

 

"Where have my affectionate Father and mother gone now?

And where are all my elders and other relatives,

Who were my own folk?

Who will give me news of them now?

I ask you - tell me who?

All that is left of this so-called family

Is a list of their names.

 

As the froth upon the sea water

Arises for a moment and then subsides,

The play of maya's worldly illusion

Is exactly like that.

 

No one is actually a mother or father,

A family member or relative.

Everyone is just like foam on the sea water,

Remaining in view for only a few moments.

But all of us are actually relatives,

O brothers, on the platform of pure spirit soul.

These eternal relationships are not tinged

With the temporary delusions of maya.

 

The Supreme Lord is Himself

The ultimate soul of everyone.

In their eternal relationship to Him,

Everyone in the universe is equal."

 

[srila Prabhupada, Vrindavan Bhajan, circa 1958]

 

[theist]

SB 2.2.6: Thus being fixed, one must render service unto the Supersoul situated in one's own heart by His omnipotency. Because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternal and unlimited, He is the ultimate goal of life, and by worshiping Him one can end the cause of the conditioned state of existence.

 

SB 2.2.7: Who else but the gross materialists will neglect such transcendental thought and take to the nonpermanent names only, seeing the mass of people fallen in the river of suffering as the consequence of accruing the result of their own work?

 

 

[krsna]

 

 

Recorded on May 15, 1973, in Cheviot Hills Park, Los Angeles

Srila Prabhupada is accompanied by Dr. Singh and other students.

The Illusion of Progress

Srila Prabhupada. How long can science cheat people? One hundred years, two hundred years? They cannot cheat them for all time.

 

Dr. Singh. Cheating has been going on since time immemorial, so perhaps they think they can continue forever.

 

Srila Prabhupada. Not since time immemorial! Science has been cheating people for only the past two or three hundred years, not before that.

 

Dr. Singh. Oh, really?

 

Srila Prabhupada. Yes, for the last two hundred years they have been preaching that life comes from matter--not for thousands of years. And the cheating will be finished in another fifty years.

 

Dr. Singh. Yes, now there is a so-called anti-intellectual movement. People are rebelling against science and modern progress.

 

Srila Prabhupada. And what is that science? It is not science! It is ignorance. Ignorance is passing for science, and irreligion is passing for religion. But this cheating cannot go on for long, because some people are becoming intelligent.

 

Dr. Singh. In Newsweek, one of the largest magazines in the United States, there was an article about the degradation of Christianity. The article included a cartoon picturing the devil causing earthquakes. There was recently a very large earthquake in South America that killed many thousands of people. The cartoon attributed such things to the devil, and right next to him it showed Richard Nixon presenting himself as a follower of Christ but bombing Southeast Asia. In this cartoon, the devil turned to Richard Nixon and said, "It's hell keeping up with Christians."

 

Srila Prabhupada. Yes, people will criticize in that way. People are becoming advanced. How long can they be cheated by so-called science and so-called religion? If Mr. Nixon loves his countrymen, why does he not love his country's cows? They are also born in the same land, and they have the same right to live. Why are they killed? "Thou shalt not kill." But the animals are being killed. That is imperfection. Krsna embraces both the cows and Radharani.[18] That is perfection. Krsna even talks with the birds. One day on the bank of the Yamuna River, He was talking with a bird, because He speaks even in the languages of the birds. An old lady saw this and was struck with wonder: "Oh, He is talking with a bird!"

 

Dr. Singh. You mean He was actually talking the way the birds talk?

 

Srila Prabhupada. Yes. One of Krsna's qualities described in the Vedas is that He can speak any language. He is the father of all living beings, and the father can understand the language of his children.

Krsna is the supreme enjoyer. Actually, except for those who are Krsna conscious, no one can have any real knowledge, nor can anyone enjoy. One simply suffers, but he thinks the suffering is enjoyment. This is called maya, or illusion. In America people work hard day and night, and they think, "I am enjoying." This is maya. A conditioned soul cannot enjoy anything; he simply suffers, but he thinks he is enjoying.

Therefore, in Srimad-Bhagavatam the conditioned soul is likened to the camel. The camel is very fond of eating thorny twigs that cut his tongue. While he is eating them, blood issues from his tongue and mixes with the thorny twigs. They become a little tasty, and he is thinking, "Oh, these twigs are very nice." That is called maya. Maya means "that which is not." Ma means "not," and ya means "this." So maya means "not this." That is the explanation of maya, or illusion. The scientists are in maya because they think they are improving things and becoming happy. But this world, along with everything in it, will eventually be finished because it is maya; it is not what we think it is. As Srimad-Bhagavatam explains, the materialists are thinking they are becoming victorious, but they are actually being defeated.