High Pressure Propaganda.

The materialist, however, considers immediate sensual pleasure the all-in-all, and so for him there is no question of pleasure beyond satisfying his senses and mind. He is concerned not with how to give up the pleasure of the material world, but with how to get as much of it as possible. Because the major civilizations of the present world are materialistic, their mighty propaganda machinery urges us to enjoy our senses fully for as long as we live. Immense moneymaking industries stimulate us to work hard for more and more pleasure. Life has in fact become so complicated that people in all occupations demand higher wages to purchase things they don't even need. Drive downtown in any city in America, and you'll see billboards left and right, most advertising liquor and cigarettes and the rest generally advertising cars, airlines, ice cream or whatever else through implications of sexual pleasure. Thus one is constantly pressured to think, "If I buy this, it will increase my sexual enjoyment." But amid the all-out drive for pleasure through sense gratification, are people really becoming more happy?

In the Sanskrit Vedic literature there is a verse spoken by a saintly king named Rsabha, saying that the entire "work hard for pleasure" syndrome is an illusion. Rsabha was giving advice to his sons at the time of his retirement. "My dear sons," he said, "there is no reason to labor hard for sensual pleasure while in this human form of life, for such pleasure is available even to the stool-eating hogs. Rather, in this life you should undergo penances to purify your existence, and as a result you will be able to enjoy unlimited transcendental bliss."

Sensual pleasures will come automatically to each of us, according to our species and our destiny. These pleasures, Rsabha says, are "available even to the stool-eating hogs." Certainly the hog takes pleasure in eating, sleeping and sex. And the hog enjoys in its own way, without needing to build educational institutes, read advertisements, purchase goods or work hard in factories. Moreover, Rsabha says, even if one does work very hard for sensual happiness, he cannot increase the enjoyment for which he is destined. If one earns millions of dollars, that doesn't mean that he can eat more than a poor man. Nor by becoming wealthy or influential can he have more sex than a monkey, who enjoys dozens of mates. We work hard in a technologically advanced culture so that we can sleep on big spring-cushioned mattresses. But a dog sleeps just as soundly in the alley, and the dog also mates without complication whenever it has the urge. Therefore, just as pleasure comes automatically to the animals and just as miseries like those of disease come to us without being sought, so pleasure for our senses will also come automatically, without our having to work day and night for it.