Srimad Bhaagavatam -- The Solution To All Problems!

Dear All,

This article was motivated by a mail conversation I had with an atheist and a social reformer. Let us call him Mr. Friend. I clearly could see how it is very very difficult for a person caught up in such a combination of ideologies to understand Krishna Consciousness. A passionate person who bases his actions and convictions on just the visible bodily miseries of the underprivileged section of the society is so much engrossed in those visions in his mind, that for him that is the only reality. Such people just cannot understand that there is a higher reality which controls this visible reality. I discussed this with H. G. Ramananda Prabhu and he told me that some people just cannot understand the “paro dharma” (Supreme Religion – Bhaagavat Dharma) that the devotees follow.

I have so many thoughts on this issue that I had a tough time organizing them all and presenting them as lucidly as I could. I have been thinking about this for the past 2-3 days. I will present the thoughts point wise and as far as possible one thought will lead to another. But many thoughts are also interrelated so a totally sequential approach wont be possible. Lets see how this unfurls.

Before going ahead let me tell you that in this article we will see how the Bhaagavatam and the life of the pure devotees erase all confusions from our minds :-)

A. Concern for all living entities

As devotees, we are surely concerned about the welfare of the underprivileged class of society. In fact we are concerned about the welfare of all the classes of society – animal or human or plant and so on. Note that we are not the ones who just speak big things and do nothing. In fact I have not seen plans into actions anywhere as fast as in ISKCON. I have already written a few articles on ISKCON’s contribution to the society in the way the general mass of people like to see – i.e. providing for the bodily necessities. Here : http://thebandwagonofmoltengold.blogspot.com/2007/03/putting-iskcon-in-perspective.html

B. The deserving get the deserved

When I told this to Mr. Friend, I got a very surprising response. He said something to the effect that helping people in this way (providing free meals, eye camps etc.) is wrong! Can you believe this coming from a social reformer? Well, to be fair, he also told why he was saying this. He said that by such help, the underprivileged become dependent on the helpers. Instead he said one should empower the underprivileged by giving them the basic necessities as a right rather than as mercy or compassion. Hmmmm…..

Here we can see how there are conflicts of ideologies even amongst the social workers! Some say we should provide help, some say we should instead empower them by making them aware of their rights! I was going to reply to him about this but then realized that Mr Friend is not going to accept the fact of existence of God and all my answers are going to make no sense to him. So I told him this much and closed the discussion.

However, as devotees, we know that who has right on what is decided by the Lord and everyone gets what he/she deserves.

C. Material solution versus Spiritual Solution

Let me mention here that Mr. Friend was getting very touchy about the plight of the garbage workers. Apparently there is a documentary on this topic and seeing it Mr. Friend and his friends have been inspired to do their thing! To empower the garbage workers by making them aware of their rights. They will then demand them and therefore escape their hellish existence and stop the negligence that the authorities show towards them. This seems to be their plan.

On this I have a few thoughts…

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This is a typical “union making” mentality. One can see it in the Hindi movies of 2-3 decades ago. “Hamari Maange Poori Karo”. And then Amitabh Bachchan will fight for their cause and he will be friends with the son of the owner and the struggle between the haves and the have nots.

The problem with this approach is that it is trying to empower the have nots (making them aware of their rights) and inciting them to confront the haves. But how can one expect a lasting peace in such a scenario? If suppose after a battle (legal or otherwise), the garbage workers get their rights, how long will this situation stay? There will always be animosity between the two parties, isn’t it?

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And the second and more important problem is that this kind of agitation will at best make the garbage workers into a better class of garbage workers! That is the goal of all this struggle. There is no higher goal. That is what they will lose their sleep for. This is symptomatic of the material existence and of the material way of solving things.

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Instead, consider the spiritual solution. “Isavasyam idam savam…” Isopanishad, text one. Everything belongs to the Lord, and one should take only as much as is his quota and not encroach upon the others’ quota knowing well to whom it belongs. Wont this totally solve the problem of one class of people exploiting the other? Then why not try to implement it? And for that we need to approach both the haves and the have nots.

Ours is a complete solution. It is not a one-sided one. We also care for the garbage workers, but our way of solving the problem is based on the timeless wisdom and knowledge, not on animal philosophy of fighting like dogs and cats. Our solution is not based on the philosophy of “profit for one at the cost of another”, but on “eternal benefit for both by service to the Lord”.

D. Srimad Bhaagavatam to the rescue!

While I was churning these thoughts in my mind, I resumed hearing the Bhaagavatam from where I had stopped the previous day. And by divine arrangement the following verses I heard or read (I don’t remember which of the two):

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http://vedabase.net/sb/4/29/en

SB 4.29.36-37: The real interest of the living entity is to get out of the nescience that causes him to endure repeated birth and death. The only remedy is to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead through His representative. Unless one renders devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, one cannot possibly become completely detached from this material world, nor can he possibly manifest real knowledge.

SB 4.29.38: O best of kings, one who is faithful, who is always hearing the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always engaged in the culture of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and in hearing of the Lord's activities, very soon becomes eligible to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face.

SB 4.29.39-40: My dear King, in the place where pure devotees live, following the rules and regulations and thus purely conscious and engaged with great eagerness in hearing and chanting the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in that place if one gets a chance to hear their constant flow of nectar, which is exactly like the waves of a river, one will forget the necessities of life — namely hunger and thirst — and become immune to all kinds of fear, lamentation and illusion.

SB 4.29.41: Because the conditioned soul is always disturbed by the bodily necessities such as hunger and thirst, he has very little time to cultivate attachment to hearing the nectarean words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead

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The third verse above was like a strong beam of sunlight piercing through the clouds of thoughts that were floating around in my mind. It scattered all these thoughts away and once again I could see clearly things as they are. I read that while hearing the constant flow of nectar of the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one forgets the necessities of life – namely hunger and thirst. And if one forgets the bodily necessities, where is the question of poverty? As they say, one whose needs are least is the richest. The devotees of the Lord do not require anything of this world. They are fully satisfied by hearing the nectarean glories of the Lord! Therefore, why not instead of fighting for bodily necessities, aim towards reducing them and thus become happy? Is this not a better solution? Why not change oneself to be aloof from bodily miseries instead of trying to change the whole world around? Which is more feasible?

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The last verse above gave the reason why such a reduction in bodily necessities is essential. It is not only for being able to be aloof from the bodily miseries. But because if one is too much disturbed by the bodily necessities, he/she has very little time to cultivate attachment to hearing the nectarean words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is actually the main reason. But the Bhaagavat Dharma is such that while addressing the main point, it addressees all other points as well!

E. Proof of the existence of the soul which is aloof and different from the body

Ofcourse, reducing the bodily necessities is not just a theoretical proposal. The great devotees have shown it by their examples. This proves the existence of the indivisual as a soul which is totally aloof and different from the body. And the way these great souls reached such aloofness from the body is by unalloyed devotional service to the Lord. Therefore, keeping all these facts in mind, no one can deny the truth behind the existence of soul and God.

F. Devotional service to the Lord is the solution to all problems

Thus devotional service to the Lord is definitely the solution to all kinds of bodily and mental problems of this world. Those not taking to it have only themselves to blame.

G. Poverty? Or Spiritual Opulence?

I recently heard from Amol Katkar Prabhu something he heard from a recorded lecture by H. H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj. That the devotees that time in New Vrindavan (West Virginia, USA) used to have nothing to eat and so they cooked the leaves of the trees in the jungles and ate them. Now.. what can I say more about this…

But one can think about this. Does it mean that the devotees were poverty stricken? Yes, from a material viewpoint. But an emphatic NO from a spiritual one. These devotees were taking all these bodily troubles for the spiritual purpose of following the instructions of their spiritual master and of serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They were the (and still are) the most spiritually (that is in reality) opulent people in the whole creation.

Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.