Dear All,
What is better? A hundred years of abject poverty? Living on the streets or in the slums, being kicked around by the affluent, cheated off the basic necessities of life due to the greedy mentality of the others, getting no medical attention, with family members dying of hunger or cold, with no assurance of the next meal, a life full of darkness, hopelessness, and despair… Or, a life with all the basic bodily necessities fulfilled, a little bit left over for some modest luxury, kids going to school, nothing grand but a nice social acceptance, nothing enviable but a little self esteem, a life of dignity and with at least a little something to look forward to.
The answer is quite obvious, isn’t it. A life of dignity is undoubtedly better than a life of despair. Then why not help those whose lives are in despair and help them lead a life of dignity. Nothing stupendous, but at least better than hellish. Lets therefore do some social work! So they say…
Now consider another even simpler question. Which is better? A miserable hellish life of a hundred years followed by an eternity of unbridled pure bliss. Or, a hundred years of a life of dignity followed by another hundred years of a life with no guarantee of any lasting happiness and a certainty of many miseries followed by another hundred years of a life with no guarantee of happiness and a certainty of many miseries … and so on for eternity.
Again, the answer is obvious. A hundred years of hellish life is not too much of a price to pay for an eternity of sublime unlimitedly blissful life. So then, why do pro social work people pose the same following question again and again – Why are you talking about spirituality if they don’t even have food to eat and clothes of wear and a roof to sleep under? As if these were the more basic needs of the self than is spirituality. No! The most basic need of the self is spirituality. Because self means spirit and not body! Then why do they ask this question? Out of ignorance. Ignorance. Ignorance of the Truth.
The person who helps the soul but not the body is clearly better than the one who helps the body and not the soul. That is quite clear from the above discussion. So this is the principle. Now coming to practicality. And this doesn’t mean diluting the principle as many end up doing under this pretext. Practicality should refer to the day-to-day hands on process that will take one progressively closer to attaining the principle in actuality.
They ask – how can an empty stomach take to spirituality? A spiritually advanced person can surely do without much food because he has gone so much away from the bodily concept of his identity, but surely a spiritually bankrupt hungry person can never think that spirituality is more important than food. Agreed. But then, we are not advocating that one must not feed the hungry, but that it is not enough at all, if you see the bigger picture. Don’t they see that we are also aware of this question and we also understand this point? But just because of that we do not throw spirituality out of the window! Do they think that those who are propagating Krishna Consciousness are so dumb that they cannot understand this simpe point which even the most foolish person can understand?
So what is our program? Give everyone eternal blissful life and not just a hundred years of mediocre life with an uncertain eternity not taken into consideration. How? Educate everybody indiscriminately, and especially the leaders of the society – present as well as the potential future ones – about the Truth. And thus, by empowering them with the strength of knowledge mobilize the influential to influence others in a way such that everyone gets an eternal blissful life after their present more or less miserable life of a hundred years. Is it very difficult to understand that if the influential are illuminated by and convinced about the spiritual Truth, they will do more real social welfare work than those who are working towards the same goal (of social welfare) but in the darkness of ignorance? Can action in ignorance ever produce the same results consistently that are produced by action in knowledge? Is there any doubt as to which results will be more favorable?
And therefore, we have to preach. Preach! Preach! And drive away this deadly sinister darkness of ignorance by the torchlight of divine knowledge, the knowledge of the Absolute Truth.
Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.
The answer is quite obvious, isn’t it. A life of dignity is undoubtedly better than a life of despair. Then why not help those whose lives are in despair and help them lead a life of dignity. Nothing stupendous, but at least better than hellish. Lets therefore do some social work! So they say…
Now consider another even simpler question. Which is better? A miserable hellish life of a hundred years followed by an eternity of unbridled pure bliss. Or, a hundred years of a life of dignity followed by another hundred years of a life with no guarantee of any lasting happiness and a certainty of many miseries followed by another hundred years of a life with no guarantee of happiness and a certainty of many miseries … and so on for eternity.
Again, the answer is obvious. A hundred years of hellish life is not too much of a price to pay for an eternity of sublime unlimitedly blissful life. So then, why do pro social work people pose the same following question again and again – Why are you talking about spirituality if they don’t even have food to eat and clothes of wear and a roof to sleep under? As if these were the more basic needs of the self than is spirituality. No! The most basic need of the self is spirituality. Because self means spirit and not body! Then why do they ask this question? Out of ignorance. Ignorance. Ignorance of the Truth.
The person who helps the soul but not the body is clearly better than the one who helps the body and not the soul. That is quite clear from the above discussion. So this is the principle. Now coming to practicality. And this doesn’t mean diluting the principle as many end up doing under this pretext. Practicality should refer to the day-to-day hands on process that will take one progressively closer to attaining the principle in actuality.
They ask – how can an empty stomach take to spirituality? A spiritually advanced person can surely do without much food because he has gone so much away from the bodily concept of his identity, but surely a spiritually bankrupt hungry person can never think that spirituality is more important than food. Agreed. But then, we are not advocating that one must not feed the hungry, but that it is not enough at all, if you see the bigger picture. Don’t they see that we are also aware of this question and we also understand this point? But just because of that we do not throw spirituality out of the window! Do they think that those who are propagating Krishna Consciousness are so dumb that they cannot understand this simpe point which even the most foolish person can understand?
So what is our program? Give everyone eternal blissful life and not just a hundred years of mediocre life with an uncertain eternity not taken into consideration. How? Educate everybody indiscriminately, and especially the leaders of the society – present as well as the potential future ones – about the Truth. And thus, by empowering them with the strength of knowledge mobilize the influential to influence others in a way such that everyone gets an eternal blissful life after their present more or less miserable life of a hundred years. Is it very difficult to understand that if the influential are illuminated by and convinced about the spiritual Truth, they will do more real social welfare work than those who are working towards the same goal (of social welfare) but in the darkness of ignorance? Can action in ignorance ever produce the same results consistently that are produced by action in knowledge? Is there any doubt as to which results will be more favorable?
And therefore, we have to preach. Preach! Preach! And drive away this deadly sinister darkness of ignorance by the torchlight of divine knowledge, the knowledge of the Absolute Truth.
Yours in the service of Krishna,
Abhijit.
1 comment:
Dear Abhijit,
I am very proud of you, to say the least. This question strikes a chord with me also every time. It is easy for everyone to see that we are all children of the same God. We are all here because of some deviation from our eternal Father a long time ago. Now two children are trying to help other fellow children. One is trying to provide some food and clothing. Another one is trying desperately to somehow or other resolve the difference of opinion between the father and children so that they can be united very soon and live happily in the father’s estate ever after. Now which son is doing the right thing? Whose job is harder? Its easy to feed others and feel proud that I have done some so called social work. Its hard to push on with teaching of spiritual science in a dark age where everyone is simply bodily conscious.
For us, the all important question is: who will Krishna be more pleased with?
If someone feeds other people, is he actually feeding them? Does he produce the grains? The rains? There is only one person who is feeding everyone since time immemorial. Nityo nityanam chetana chetananam eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman. He is the Supreme eternal among all eternals, the Supreme conscious one among all conscious living entities, the one self sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone’s desires since time immemorial.
If you feed someone today, will he not be hungry tomorrow? If you teach him how to make a livelihood, can you guarantee he will not be an animal in his next birth? Just teach him to chant Krishna, worship Krishna and follow Krishna’s instructions, and you have solved his problem forever. Lord Krishna promises in the BhagavadGita that to someone who is constantly engaged in His service, he preserves what he has and carries what he lacks. If your heart is full of love, what else will you want!
Lets us push on Krishna consciousness movement with all our heart and soul.
Regards,
Amol
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