Acharyas do not accept a lunatic foreigner speaking like that

krsna · June 2, 2005

THE HISTORY OF AN ANT

Hayagriva: John Dewey believed that religions were basically myths and that experience is of the utmost necessity. He felt that philosophy was superior to religion. So for him the Vedic accounts of Krsna's pastimes would be mythical.

Prabhupada: Krsna is a historical fact. He is not imaginary. The Mahabharata is accepted by all Indian authorities, especially the acharyas who are controlling the spiritual life of India, and they do not accept a lunatic foreigner speaking like that.

Hayagriva: When science began to investigate the phenomenal universe without admitting the proprietorship of God, this brought a breakdown in morality and value. So Dewey attempts to reassemble these shattered values in a philosophical way, but he, like science, attempts to do so without recognizing the proprietorship of an ultimate and supreme being.

Prabhupada: That is another lunacy, because everything has a proprietor. So why this big cosmic manifestation will not have a proprietor? To accept the proprietor is natural and logical. We are standing on the land. We know that there is a government, there is proprietor. And a few yards away where this ocean begins, how we can think that the ocean has no proprietor, no government? How any philosopher and man of logic can believe it?

Hayagriva: Well, he felt that science dealt a death blow to the historical religions as we know them.

Prabhupada: We have repeatedly explained, religion means to accept the laws of God. The whole cosmic manifestation has a date of creation; therefore it is historical. People do not know how long ago this cosmic manifestation was created. It is beyond their conception. Even the mathematical count, millions and trillions will not do, but it has got a history—beyond the calculation of so-called scientists and mathematicians. We are tiny people and have some thousands of years history of this world, but Brahma's history is different. Here everything is relative. My history is different from an ant’s history. History is relative according to the person. These people have no information of greater personalities than us, but we have got information from Vedic literature of the higher planetary system, where the duration and standard of life is different from here. Unless one has got thorough knowledge of the whole universe religion may seem imaginary. But one man’s imagination may be a fact to another. It depends on knowledge. So unfortunately, the so-called scientists and philosophers on this planet are thinking their own terms as factual and other things as mythological. But actually that is not the fact.

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My dear Lord, You are the topmost of all bestowers of all benediction, the oldest and supreme enjoyer amongst all enjoyers. You are the master of all the worlds’ metaphysical philosophy, for You are the supreme cause of all causes, Lord Krsna. You are the greatest of all religious principles, the supreme mind, and You have a brain which is never checked by any condition. Therefore I repeatedly offer my obeisances unto You.

(Lord Shiva- SB 4.24.42)

June 2, 2005

"John Dewey believed that religions were basically myths and that experience is of the utmost necessity. He felt that philosophy was superior to religion. So for him the Vedic accounts of Krsna's pastimes would be mythical. "

Whether the pastimes happenned or not on this Earth, is it not more important to have bhakti ("experience")for Krsna? Sprituality over religion, experience over dogma, bhakti over everything else?

G.

krsna · June 5, 2005

THIS IS THE BEST WELFARE ACTIVITY

Syamasundara: John Dewey says that the world can be made better by man’s efforts, but that perfection is not possible.

Prabhupada: This world is so made that if you perfect it today, tomorrow it deteriorates. Therefore in one sense we cannot make it perfect.

Syamasundara: But you can improve it?

Prabhupada: Improve it. Therefore Krsna says, "Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion-at that time I descend Myself. In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium." In any bad condition it can be improved by Krsna consciousness. Krsna and Krsna consciousness is the same thing. If you are in Krsna consciousness, that means you are living with Krsna. And if you are living with Krsna, then what is your fear? Just like Arjuna, fighting with Krsna by his side, he had no fear. In this material world there is danger at every step, but as soon as he understands Krsna, he immediately becomes eligible to be transfered to the spiritual world.

Syamasundara: So actually, we’re removing people from danger, from evil, by making them Krsna conscious.

Prabhupada: Certainly. This is best welfare activity in the world. What others can do in comparison to this? If I give some charity to a needy man, it will serve for a temporary period, but if you give him Krsna-prema, then immediately he’ll be transferred to the spiritual world.

Syamasundara: The goal of the utilitarians was to achieve what the people desire and require.

Prabhupada: The people desire and require happiness, but they are trying to give happiness temporarily. Purify your existence, and you’ll get perpetual, eternal happiness and bliss. Everyone is working hard for happiness, but how can happiness be attained in a diseased condition? Cure the disease because it is an impediment to happiness. Similarly, the real disease is birth, death, old age and disease. You cure this, then you get real happiness. But if you think that “Although I am dying, I am happy,” that is a fool’s paradise. (Srila Prabhupada discusses John Dewey with Syamasundara Dasa)

O my Lord, You are the only worshipable person, for You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the reservoir of all opulences. Your secure lotus feet are the only source of protection for all Your devotees, whom You satisfy by manifesting Yourself in various forms. O my Lord, You deliver Your devotees from the clutches of material existence. Nondevotees, however, remain entangled in material existence by Your will. Kindly accept me as Your eternal servant. (Lord Shiva- SB 5.17.18)

krsna · June 13, 2005

THE ASPIRATIONS OF THE ATHEISTS AND THEIR PROCESS OF MUNDANE KNOWLEDGE ARE CONSTANTLY BEING BAFFLED

The aspirations of the atheists will be baffled. The karmis, or fruitive laborers, are always hoping for something better to gratify their senses. There is no limit to where they will stop. They are trying to increase their bank balance and are hoping to be happy at a certain point, but that point never comes because they do not know the ultimate point of satiation. Those who are enamored by the attractions of illusory energy cannot understand the ultimate aim of life. They are laboring very hard but that in the end they will only meet with frustration. Unless we are established in Krsna consciousness, all of our activities will be baffled at the end.

This is not the verdict of an ordinary man, but of Sri Krsna Himself. If we are searching for knowledge, we should conduct research to find out whether Krsna is not God. Without any objective, what is the point of thousands of years of speculation? The Supreme Lord is so vast that one cannot reach Him by mental speculation. If we travel at the speed of mind and wind for millions of years, it is not possible to reach the Supreme by speculation. There is not one single instance in which one has arrived at the Supreme Absolute Truth by means of his own mental speculation. Therefore the process of mundane knowledge is bewildering. Through our own endeavor it is not possible to see the sun after it has set. We have to wait until the sun reveals itself in the morning at sunrise. If it is not possible with our limited senses to perceive a material thing like the sun, how is it possible to perceive the nonmaterial? We cannot find out or understand Krsna by our own endeavor. We have to qualify ourselves through Krsna consciousness and wait for Him to reveal Himself.

“To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg. 10.10)

Krsna is within, but due to our material conditioning, we do not realize it. Those who are of the nature of fiends and demons think that this material life is all and that it is the purpose of human life to squeeze out as much pleasure from matter as possible. They try squeezing, but they are constantly baffled. Squeezing material nature is not the process for finding out real pleasure. If we are searching for real pleasure, we have to take to Krsna consciousness. All happiness in the material world has a beginning and an end, but happiness in Krsna is unlimited, and there is no end. In order to get this happiness we simply have to sacrifice a little time and chant Hare Krsna. In former ages, the great sages and demigods used to sacrifice their whole lives for realizing the Supreme, and still they would not attain success. For this age Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given an easy process for God realization. All that is necessary is careful listening. We have to listen to Bhagavad-gita, and we have to chant the names of Krsna and listen to them carefully. We should not be puffed up, falsely thinking that our knowledge is great or that we are very learned. We need only become a little gentle and submissive to hear the messages from Krsna. (Raja Vidya, The King of Knowledge)

Although You are never born, Your appearance and disappearance as an incarnation never cease. You are always free from the material qualities, and You are the shelter of transcendental bliss resembling an ocean. Eternally existing in Your transcendental form, You are the supreme subtle of the most extremely subtle. We therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto You, the Supreme, whose existence is inconceivable. (Lord Brahma- SB 8.6.8)