The Heroes in an Anti-God World

The Heroes in an Anti-God World

There are quite a few charismatic "Guru"s who "educate" people that there is no Supreme Person God. This is ridiculous. It's obvious that God is not a matter of direct perception for almost all in this world. So what additional "education" is there in the "information" that there is no God?

Real positive information is about the Supreme Person God and real education is about the process for perceiving Him - indirectly at first, and directly and eternally eventually.

It needs a certain amount, not just some amount, of humility and lack of self-centeredness to appreciate that there is a Supreme Person God. As soon as one accepts God, the whole focus shifts squarely on Him - His likes and dislikes, His orders, His pastimes, His beauty, His words, and so on. This is impossible for egoists to take; they suffocate if they themselves - their desires, their philosophy, their likes and dislikes, and so on - are not the focus of their consciousness. They are full of themselves; even their kind acts are expressions of their self-righteousness, not a duty towards God.

Such godless people love to hear other godless people speak about sophisticated philosophical ideological social economic and so on ways of godlessness in attractive language. Such Gurus are popular precisely because they don't talk of God or they talk against God.

But what is the use of it all? Discourses are not needed to convince us that there is no God; this conviction is more or less the de facto in this world. Such discourses only act to kill whatever little interest remains in our heart for God. Is that a sign of positive education and progress in knowledge?

The world will never be rid of atheists. And yet there are those few who embrace the deep philosophical, practical, uplifting, enlightening, and liberating wisdom about God. They lead their lives according to scientific logical spiritual practices. We must congratulate and salute those who dedicate their lives to God despite living in a hostile anti-God world.

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Authentic Sprituality vs. Scholarly Presentation: The Truth can be Unpopular

Authentic spirituality, and especially pure devotional service to God, is not about gathering information from scriptures (authentic or dubious), interpreting it in different ways independently, and presenting the various interpretations in an entertaining or scholarly way. This is what many popular personalities in society do. They speak publicly, write books, and so on. Ignorant fools, no matter how academically educated they are, get impressed by such people.

On the contrary, authentic spirituality is about applying unchanging timeless specific principles that are clearly presented in authentic time tested scriptures; principles that are demonstrated time and again by the pure devotees of God in different circumstances of life. These same specific principles are taught carefully and with precision by pure devotees of God as a service to God and compassion for all. They don't feel the need to present something different in order to be popular amongst ignorant fools. Instead they forcefully present the Truth, sometimes going against populist notions, to enlighten ignorant people about their true benefit.

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God is the unconditional G.O.A.T.

God is the unconditional G.O.A.T.

In sports, there is always a debate about who is the G.O.A.T. - greatest of all time. The debate is based on statistics and arguments and counter arguments about the statistics citing the context in which the statistics were achieved by the players. The whole discussion is understood to be relative and subjective.

But a similar approach cannot be used to determine whether God is the G.O.A.T. or not. God is unconditionally the greatest. Everything, absolutely everything, happens by his sanction. There is no authority or power beyond him. Things don't happen to him, he orchestrates them all.

Thus, analyzing Krishna to determine, quantify, and qualify his greatness is an exercise born out of gross ignorance and stupidity. One should instead understand how his unconditional supremacy in all spheres is manifested in all his activities - whether they appear mystical and magnificent or mundane and ordinary.

Krishna's eternal supremacy and his activities like appearance in this world, disappearance from this world, and pastimes wihin this world, are not subject to any interpretations by anyone. The intelligence for such interpretations also comes from Krishna. Everything about Krishna is perfect and complete. We cannot understand this by arguments arising out of our pretty materialistic conceptions. We need to first understand fundamentals of spiriuality as the first step; understanding Krishna is the pinnacle of spiriuality, not a tea time discussion amongst spiritual illiterates.

Krishna is the unconditional G.O.A.T.

The Not-Quite-Guru -- Who doesn't point to Krishna

The Vedic scriptures enjoin that one who has firm faith in both Krishna and Guru (spiritual master), to him all the meaning and purpose of the scriptures become clear. Obviously the Guru here refers to one who talks only about Krishna and how to take shelter of Krishna. 

Unfortunately in India people accept so many men as Guru. But many of these Gurus accept all the adulation for themselves without at all directing their followers to Krishna. In other words they want to take the place of Krishna. This is cheating, because without taking exclusive shelter of Krishna, one cannot attain the goal of human life - stopping the cycle of birth and death and going back to the Kingdom of Krishna. A Guru is good only to the extent he emphasizes in his words and actions taking to pure uninterrupted unmotivated devotional service to Krishna.

In one sense this is unfortunate because it causes many people to fall into the trap of choosing a kindhearted man who does not talk about Krishna as their Guru. From another angle, this phenomenon also helps one clearly identify those who might be spiritual externally, but are actually still materialistic in their outlook to life and in their goals in life. One can identify the nature of a person from whom or what he admires. If one is not training oneself towards exclusive devotion to Krishna, he has not yet internalized the essence of the Vedic scriptures.

The Treasure of the True Gentleman

The way we express our sense of humour reveals the level of our thoughts and state of our consciousness. Thanks to the entertainment industry, many people don't really grow beyond adolescence in their thoughts, consciousness, and aspirations. Need I explain further? Truly, being with true gentlemen is a treasured experience.

A Book of Fresh Air - the remedy to non-stop nonsense

Physical suffocation happens when we are engulfed by stale air lacking enough oxygen. Another kind of suffocation is caused when one is surrounded by people who keep talking about petty day to day things that lack any substance of any kind. Physical suffocation is countered by opening the windows for fresh air to enter, and the other kind of suffocation is countered by opening a book to let high quality thoughts enter our mind. Flowing fresh air drives away the stale air, and rejoicing in high thoughts makes us deaf to non-stop nonsense.

The Vedic Model for Human Behaviour - Scientific, Practical, Joyful, Liberating

The Vedic Model for Human Behaviour - Scientific, Practical, Joyful, Liberating

Many well-meaning philosophers have tried to explain human behaviour in order to alleviate human suffering and enhance human happiness. They came up with models for understanding human behaviour based on some tenets which they tried to prove as being fundamental.

The Vedic scriptures also provide us fundamental tenets and present a model for understanding human behaviour in this world. The fundamental tenet is that we are all spiritual eternal beings currently limited in our ability to experience happiness by the covering of our temporary material bodies. This dynamics of opposites - the soul trying to find lasting happiness in the world of temporariness - is precisely the struggle of humankind.

Even our non-gross abilities like thinking, feeling, willing are conditioned by our contact with this realm of temporariness. For example, the desires of the mind when it sees existence as eternal are different from the desires when it sees existence as temporary.

Thus, based on the Vedic model, the therapy for human suffering is education and practices that reestablish the soul in its original conviction of being an eternal being having only superficial and temporal connection with this material world.

The true Vedic lifestyle has this foundation. It is practical because it understands the current entanglements and inclinations and instincts of the soul conditioned by this temporary world. At the same time it tries to extricate the soul by providing a regulated lifestyle that doesn't let instincts get the better of intelligence. The regulated lifestyle has optimal room for the expression of natural instincts while in the process reducing the inclination for them.

Obviously this lifestyle has to be conducted under the supervision of an expert who understands the extent of material entanglement of each soul and customises the regulation accordingly.

The reasonable man will do well to consider the Vedic model rather than embracing the many models based on observations and experiments merely from this material sphere.

The Courage to be Humble

The Courage to be Humble

It's always inspiring to see people who live a life dedicated to high wisdom principles. However when we see standards so high that they are too hard for us to even conceive, that's when our own values are severely questioned and threatened. And that's when a soul's humility is tested. A humble soul will take this as an indication to dedicate himself to those very high principles that have shaken the very foundation of his life style and belief system. And it takes immense courage to be humble.

Refocus on who You really are

Spiritual life is not just about not being bad to others or even being good to others. It's about disentangling one's consciousness from day to day petty affairs or even from apparently important affairs of this world. And importantly, it is about practicing to enhance one's awareness of who we truly are - the spiritual being, soul, who is eternal. Unless we restrain our eyes, ears, tongue, hands, legs, mind, intelligence, etc., from engaging in mundane subjects, we cannot effectively focus on and practice genuine spiritual life; we will just not get the time, spare energy, and even the intelligence to do so. Since people in general are not even aware of their soul, it's difficult for them to appreciate talks about God, the Supreme Soul.

A Prayer to Mother Ganges

Photo Courtesy: Avatari Chaitanya Dasa

A Prayer to Mother Ganges

Oh, enigmatic one,

Non-different from the Lord,

Even the breeze that you touch,

Purifies one and all.

Oh, dear Mother,

Your touch soft and silken,

Gushing love of your waters,

Comforts your hapless children.

Oh, Goddess Ganga,

Worshippable for every soul,

Accept the lamps of our hearts,

Pray take us to Krishna's abode.

~*~

Spirituality without God is a waste of time

Spirituality without God is popular today. It's a waste of time. Without accepting God as the one Supreme Person, nothing else has any intrinsic meaning. Everything else, no matter whether so-called material or so-called spiritual, is all material because it's all relative truth. An unbiased thoughtful person will definitely come to the conclusion that the Absolute Truth must be the one Supreme Person who is the ultimate source and controller of all that exists. Spirituality is about reviving one's own and helping others revive their eternal, evermore blissful, loving, reciprocal relationship with him.

The Grudge

We all know people who are very intelligent otherwise but who act unreasonably when it comes to certain people whom they have a sour relationship with. For example, we know people who are friendly, helping, charitable, jolly at work but who are grumpy at home with their spouse. Or we know people who are very kind to most, but wont even look at certain individuals. Or we know people who are always appreciating even the little good in others, but always bad mouthing certain individuals who might have loads of great qualities. Thus, we see that reasonableness and logic don't work if they are overridden by the force of grudges.

What's more, since these people are reasonable and nice otherwise, an unsuspecting person might believe in their negative views about the targets of their vice.

And the same is true about atheists; they have a grudge against God and it's history might not be traceable back to it's origin. But the grudge is evident in the way they reason about God's existence or non-existence. Often they jump to conclusions that are not founded on sound logical steps. Often they are bullish about the notion that since something is not perceivable to them, it does not exist. Often they are disrespectful to the subject matter, and condescending and insensitive to it's proponents. They would not behave like this in other situations, but only when it comes to God.

Stay away, lest you get infected.

The End of the Service Culture

Most cultures have a system of service hierarchies. For example, children should serve parents, students should serve teachers, citizens should serve the king, the protected should serve the protector, less educated should serve the more educated, employees should serve the supervisor, maids should serve the house owner, team mates should serve the captain, and of course, the general public should serve the priests, and everyone should serve God. The idea is quite ubiquitous.

In this system of service, everyone found themselves playing all three roles for a large part of their lives, if not always – of a junior, an equal, a superior. For example, at home, a typical family man was a son, a brother, and a father. At the workplace, you might report to someone, have equals, and supervise someone else. Even the head of state used to report to saintly priests, had other heads of states as friends, and ruled over his citizens. The beauty of this system was that everyone was aware of and very particular about their duties in all three roles. It was a system of duties, and not of rights.

However, as the modern civilization becomes more and more self-centered, lazy, and liberal, with the focus on just doing only whatever you wish to do, this system of service is crumbling. This system is founded on the exemplary behavior of the superiors. Those who were traditionally considered superior, no longer set high standards of behavior and sincerity. Influenced by the times, they have become too lazy, physically and mentally, to do the required hard work. “Why should I take the trouble just because I am senior? I should be allowed to do what I like to do.” In other words, “Why should I take my duty seriously? What about my rights?” Thus they are failing in their duties as seniors. As soon as this happens, the system crashes. If those we are supposed to look up to are corrupt, in the broadest sense of the word, then why should we take the trouble to execute our duties seriously?

As soon as the duty element goes away, the ego takes complete control. Then the only reason we do anything is because “it makes me feel good”. And that’s the end of the service culture which is defined by “whatever makes you feel good, because since you are superior, your pleasure is more important than mine.” 

Compassion, Camaraderie, Service

Compassion is for someone suffering or someone who is in a disadvantageous situation. Camaraderie is amongst those who are in similar situations or amongst equals. And service is to someone considered superior or respect worthy, or to some higher authority or ideal.

Compassion and camaraderie are very noble qualities indeed. They are high virtues exhibited by those who can empathize with others, and want to make someone else’s life a little better. But interestingly, neither of these two is service in the sense service is defined above.

Compassion and camaraderie typically don’t need one to consider the recipient as a superior; in fact they are typically done in the mood of helping out a needy person when one is in a superior or equivalent position.

This explains why helping the needy and doing activities together in groups is so popular, while serving superiors is not. Serving needs obedience, it needs one to compromise on one’s own preferences, it needs accepting someone else’s control on one’s life; in short it accepting someone or something else as superior to oneself.

The Identity and the Goal

A genuine spiritualist is never impressed by material accomplishments of anyone. Of course, the spiritualist does not despise or envy material accomplishments, just that they are irrelevant for him. They are just ordinary, no matter how extraordinary they are in the eyes of the general public.

Instead a spiritualist is impressed by genuine spiritual advancement of others. He considers such persons extraordinary irrespective of their material aspects like wealth, education, beauty, fame, power, skills, and so on.

Spiritual advancement means recognizing that the body is temporary and the soul is eternal. Due to the influence of ignorance, the soul identifies with the body and things related with it. Then the soul thinks in terms of I and Mine, even though nothing around him, including his body, is under his control. It thinks that to live the way he wants is the best way of life. Due to the influence of ego, it does not think that there can be higher truths than he can currently perceive by his limited senses. And he is proud of this attitude.

The spiritualist tries to reduce his identification with things related to the body. Of course he continues to do his duties responsibly and maintain affectionate relationships with people of this world, but he cultivates the conviction that he is not of this world of temporariness.

The soul belongs to a realm of eternal bliss and knowledge and to attain that realm is the goal of the genuine spiritualist.

https://www.vedabase.com/en/bg/2/69

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ
tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī
yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni
sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

Translation: 

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

The Happier of the Two; Enjoyment and Satisfaction

Those who think that there is nothing beyond their current lifetime, try to enjoy to the fullest with their senses. They are always striving to make arrangements for enjoying using their senses, because, after all, they believe, there is just one lifetime, live it fully! Eat, drink, enjoy!

On the other hand, those who believe that life is eternal and can perceive the current body as a temporary and troublesome dress for the soul, try to mould their life around spiritual principles. They strive to train their mind to be satisfied with minimum sensual dependencies by engaging it in joyful and satisfying spiritual activities. Note that spiritual activities also engage the senses fully, without being fundamentally dependent on them for enjoyment. Since the senses and body are temporary, what's the point in depending on them direly?

One kind seeks enjoyment, and the other seeks satisfaction. Assuming that both attain what they seek, who will be happier?

https://www.vedabase.com/en/bg/10/9

mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā
bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ
tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

Translation: 

The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.

The Keys of Introspection / The Beginning

One takes interest in things beyond ordinary sense perception only when one realizes that there is no intrinsic value in the unlimited manifestations of the combinations of tangible elements - no value, because they are all temporary.

Only the keys of introspection open the doors to such contemplation. Of course, the journey of enlightenment doesn't end here; there are still many more egoistic barriers to destroy and cross before we accept and harmonize ourselves with the eternal truths. But still, the beginning is always an important milestone, for there is no end before a beginning.

https://www.vedabase.com/en/bg/5/22

ye hi saṁsparśa-jā bhogā
duḥkha-yonaya eva te
ādy-antavantaḥ kaunteya
na teṣu ramate budhaḥ

Translation: 

An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kuntī, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.

The Illusion of Being in Control

Unless we strive for lofty ideals and goals in our lives, that requires a life of one-pointed focus and dedication, controlling the mind and senses does not seem necessary. Moreover, unless we subject our mind and senses to rules and regulations in the form of dos and donts, we remain convinced that our mind and senses are under our control.

Thus, those who think that their mind and senses are under control are pitifully unaware of their powerlessness against their own mind, and even more pitifully unaware of sublime ideals and goals that require one to control the mind by following a disciplined life of rules and regulations.

The Bhagavad Gita repeatedly points out these facts. Following verses are just two examples:

https://www.vedabase.com/en/bg/2/60
The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.

https://www.vedabase.com/en/bg/2/64
But a person free from all attachment and aversion and able to control his senses through regulative principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord.

Happy New Year? (2017)

The new year celebrations all over the world are characterized by heightened sinful activities - unrestricted drinking, cruel meat eating, wanton sexual promiscuity, and so on. The whole world becomes a night club and everyone becomes at least a little bit more sinful. Many people sin for the first time in their life at a new year party thrown by veterans.

Where is the question of a Happy New Year? Sin is the root cause of all misery.

Wishing the whole world a Sinless New Year.

Potence

Which religion you follow is not important. What is important is whether your love for God and faith in his mercy, both apparent and inconceivable, is exhibited in every aspect of your life. That is the essence of true religion. A system of religion is potent to the degree it can take the practitioner to this stage of God consciousness.

https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/1/2/6

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
 yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
 yayātmā suprasīdati

Translation: 

The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.