The Solution

Modern education, which teaches how to manipulate and exploit material elements for an increase in sense gratification, is simply creating more and more problems rather than solving the original ones. "There is no need of machines and tools or huge steel plants for creating artificial comforts of life." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.2.37, purport). We have seen the result of this kind of thinking-an environment which is so polluted that it makes life intolerable rather than more comfortable. Rather than wasting time trying to lord it over this material nature, we should engage in finding a solution to the miseries of material life, namely birth, death, disease and old age.

"The miseries of the material world are also indirect reminders of incompatibility with dead matter, and intelligent living entities generally take note of these reminders and side by side engage themselves in the culture of vidya, or transcendental knowledge." (Sri Isopanisad, pg. 56) This transcendental knowledge, as delivered by such literatures as Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, is the way to get out of this dark hole of material life. We are, by nature, eternally blissful and fully cognizant. The transcendental knowledge of Krsna consciousness is the way to revive that consciousness.

The Supreme Absolute Truth is the goal of such transcendental knowledge. Lord Krsna describes in Bhagavad-gita how to acquire this knowledge.

When one is standing in the darkness of ignorance, which hangs like night over this material world, one cannot see in which direction to turn to get out of the darkness. One who is not blinded by the illusory energy can see and can also easily lead us across this ocean of birth and death. This is why the acceptance of a bona fide spiritual master is so essential for understanding which path to take to get out of the material entanglement.

There are undoubtedly many paths which lead in the direction of self-realization. In our present position it is very difficult to see which is the best, but we can get authorized knowledge from the transcendental Vedic literature. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam Sukadeva Gosvami tells King Pariksit:

In all the Vedic scriptures this devotional service to the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna is recommended as the ultimate perfectional state of all existence. Krsna confirms this in Bhagavad-gita:

Just by fixing one's mind on the all-attractive transcendental form of Sri Krsna and engaging in His service, one immediately becomes free from all reactions to past activities and enjoys unlimited happiness, even within this life. Krsna is the reservoir of all pleasure and the only shelter from the pangs of material existence, and by becoming situated in pure Krsna consciousness one can be assured of never taking birth again in this miserable material world.

Purification: this is the only way one can end this material entanglement. In the Vedas there are thousands of sacrifices, rituals and mantras which can be performed to achieve this state of purified consciousness. In Teachings of Lord Caitanya it is said that Lord Caitanya, the highest perfectional figure in Krsna consciousness, quoted the following verse from the Brhan-naradiya Purana in this connection:

In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy [Kali-yuga], the only means of deliverance is to chant the holy name of the Lord. There is no other means of success. (B.N. 38.126)

In this age, just by chanting and hearing the sound vibration of these sixteen words-Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare one can achieve the result of performing all the sacrifices and rituals prescribed in the Vedas for purification. In Teachings of Lord Caitanya it is stated, "To save oneself from the contamination of Kali (the present age) there is no other alternative than these sixteen words."