modern / material / godless

In this material world the auspicious and inauspicious are simply mental concoctions because such things exist only due to association with the material world. This is called illusion or atma-maya. We think ourselves created by material nature exactly as we think ourselves experiencing so many things in a dream. The spirit soul is, however, always transcendental. There is no question of becoming materially covered. This covering is simply something like a hallucination or a dream. In Bhagavad-gita it is also said, saṅgat sanjayate kamah (Bg. 2.62). Simply by association we create artificial material necessities. Dhyayato visayan pumsah saṅgas tesupajayate (Bg. 2.62). When we forget our real constitutional position and wish to enjoy the material resources, our material desires manifest, and we associate with varieties of material enjoyment. As soon as the concoctions of material enjoyment are there, because of our association we create a sort of lust or eagerness to enjoy them, and when that false enjoyment does not actually make us happy, we create another illusion known as anger, and by the manifestation of anger, the illusion becomes stronger. When we are illusioned in this way, forgetfulness of our relationship with Krsna follows, and by thus losing Krsna consciousness, our real intelligence is defeated. In this way we become entangled in this material world. In Bhagavad-gita it is said: (More...)

In the material world everyone is interested in money and sense gratification. The only objective is to earn as much money as possible and utilize it for satisfaction of the senses. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami thus described the activities of the materialistic persons: (More...)

This is a typical example of materialistic persons. At night they waste their time by sleeping more than six hours or by wasting time in sex indulgence. This is their occupation at night, and in the morning they go to their office or business place just to earn money. As soon as there is some money, they become busy in purchasing things for their children and others. Such persons are never interested in understanding the values of life-what is God, what is the individual soul, what is its relationship with God, etc. Things are degraded to such an extent that those who are supposed to be religious are also at the present moment only interested in sense gratification. The number of materialistic persons in this age of Kali has increased more than in any other age; therefore persons who are interested in going back home, back to Godhead, should not only engage in the service of realized souls but should give up the company of materialistic persons whose only aim is to earn money and employ it in sense gratification. They should also not accept the objectives of materialistic persons, namely money and sense gratification. Therefore it is stated: bhakti-parasyanubhavam viraktir anyatha syat. To advance in devotional service one should be uninterested in the materialistic way of life. That which is the subject matter of satisfaction for the devotees is of no interest to the nondevotees. (More...)

Foolish persons accept the difficult path of karma-kanda for the sake of sense enjoyment, and those who are too much attached to sense enjoyment are called mudhas (rascals). It is very difficult for a mudha to understand the ultimate goal of life. In the propagation of the Krsna consciousness movement, we actually see that many people are not attracted because they are mudhas engaged in fruitive activity. It is said: upadeso hi murkhanam prakopaya na santaye (Hitopadesa). If good instructions are given to a foolish rascal, he simply becomes angry and turns against the instructions instead of taking advantage of them. Because Narada Muni knew this very well, he indirectly instructed the King by giving him the history of his entire life. In order to wear a gold or diamond nose pin or earring, one has to pierce the ear or nose. Such pain endured for the sake of sense gratification is endured on the path of karma-kanda, the path of fruitive activity. If one wishes to enjoy something in the future, he has to endure trouble in the present. If one wants to become a millionaire in the future and enjoy his riches, he has to work very hard at the present moment in order to accumulate money. This is karma-kandiya. Those who are too much attached to such a path undergo the risk anyway. Narada Muni wanted to show King Pracinabarhisat how one undergoes great troubles and miseries in order to engage in fruitive activity. A person who is very much attached to material activity is called visayi. A visayi is an enjoyer of visaya, which means eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Narada Muni is indirectly indicating through the story of King Puranjana that eating, sleeping, mating and defending are troublesome and risky. (More...)

The living entity, separated from the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, tries to enjoy this material world. He is given a chance to enjoy it in a particular type of body, beginning with the body of a Brahma down to that of the microbe. From the Vedic history of creation we can understand that the first living creature was Lord Brahma, who created the seven great sages and other prajapatis to increase the universal population. Thus every living entity, according to karma, his past desires and activities, gets a particular type of body, from that of Brahma to that of a microbe or germ in stool. Due to long association with a particular type of material body and also due to the grace of Kalakanya and her maya, one becomes overly attached to a material body, although it is the abode of pain. Even if one tries to separate a worm from stool, the worm will be unwilling to leave. It will return to the stool. Similarly, a hog generally lives in a very filthy state, eating stool, but if one tries to separate it from its condition and give it a nice place, the hog will be unwilling. In this way if we study each and every living entity, we will find that he will defy offers of a more comfortable position. Although King Puranjana was attacked from all sides, he was nonetheless unwilling to leave the city. In other words, the living entity-whatever his condition-does not want to give up the body. But he will be forced to give it up because, after all, this material body cannot exist forever. (More...)

Therefore I say that the Christian, they're also Vaisnava; the Muslim, they're also Vaisnava, very lower stage, because they're offering prayer. Yad-vandanam. They offer prayer: "O God, give us our daily bread." They do not know very much, but the beginning is there. Beginning is there, because they have approached... Catur-vidha bhajanti mam sukrtino 'rjuna. That going to the church or going to the mosque, that is also pious activities. One day they'll come out pure Vaisnava. One day. But that beginning is good. But atheism-"Don't go to church. Don't go to temple. Don't go to mosque"-this propaganda is very, very dangerous to the human society. Something do. Try to understand. That education, that a child is sent to school, let him learn simply A-B-C-D-it doesn't matter-so one day, if he's interested, he may become very good scholar. But to give up religion altogether, secular, simply open factory, bolts and nuts, and work hard and drink and take meat... What is this civilization? What is this civilization? Therefore we are suffering. Again bhava. (More...)

So this is going on. Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham [Bg 4.11]. And they are worshiping also different types of deities. Sri-aisvarya-prajepsavah. Generally, in the material world they are after sri, sri, meaning beauty; aisvarya, opulence, money; sriyah, aisvarya, and praja, children, or good generation, dynasty, family. They want to create family. In the Western world there is "lord" family. In this, mean, our Eastern, there are many big, big families. So sri-aisvarya-prajepsavah. The materialistic, they are after this. They want to see very beautiful woman in the family, the man's wife, his son's wife, his grandson's wife, very beautifully dressed, ornamented. Sri. That is called sri, beauty. And they must have money to enjoy. Sriyah aisvarya, and praja. So they are after the worshiping of demigods. But those who are intelligent, those who know that this sri-aisvarya-praja, they are temporary... But these men, they do not see it although they know it is temporary. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said, pasyann api na pasyati. Pramatto tesam nidhanam pasyann api na pasyati. He knows that "These things will be destroyed. This will not exist," but still, he is after them, sri-aisvarya-prajepsavah. (More...)

Dehapatya. Apatya means children, family, and deha means this body. Deha apatya. Kalatra, kalatra means wife. Dehapatya-kalatradisu atma-sainyesu. He is struggling for existence and thinking that "My wife, my children, my relative, my friend, my countrymen-they are my soldiers. They will give me protection whenever I am in danger." Dehapatya-kalatradisu atma-sainyesu asatsu api. But he knows also that they will not stay. Asatsu api. But still, they are depending on them. So tesam pramatto nidhanam pasyann api na pasyati. This is our position. (More...)

So this position is going on, beginning from one date of creation, millennium, and goes up to the end, kalpanta. The asuric determination is kalpanta. Up to the end of the creation they have no sense that "Again I am going to..., in the oblivion. Again I am to remain for millions of years in darkness. Then again there will be creation. And again I shall get body." And in one millennium we are changing so many bodies. This is our problem. But there is no education; there is no knowledge. But we find this education, this knowledge, from Vedic literature. Therefore Krsna comes Himself, He teaches Himself Bhagavad-gita personally, and He asks, mudha, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg 18.66]. But still we are so dull, we cannot take His words, take His instruction, and bhutva bhutva praliyate [Bg 8.19], and going on, one after another, birth and death. This is going on. (More...)

Material life means everyone is trying to become victorious in the struggle of existence without God consciousness. That is our material disease. krsna-bhuliya jiva bhoga vancha kare [Prema-vivarta]. We may revolt. That independence we have got, little independence, and we can misuse it, that "Why shall I serve Krsna? Let me serve myself." "Let me serve myself" means "Let me serve my different propensities-kama, krodha, lobha, moha, matsarya," like that. My independence means "I will not serve God; I will serve my lusty desires." You cannot become independent. This is a concoction only, that "I will not serve Krsna." But you have to serve. What is that? "Then I serve my lusty desires." Indriya-trpti, indriya-trpti. Yad indriya-pritaye. Simply to satisfy... Krsna consciousness means there is no such thing as indriya-trpti, or sense gratification. Everything for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord: hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate [Cc Madhya 19.170]. Hrsika means the indriya, or the senses. That is stated here also, manasas cendriyanam ca bhutanam mahatam api, that different types of indriya for sense gratification, we develop. This is the creation, every one of us developing, and it is become complicated with so many other desires. Each life is full of desires. Therefore in the Guru-stotra in the morning we recite, ar na koriho mane asa. Is it not? What is that? (More...)

As far as material necessities are concerned, the human civilization at the present moment is very much advanced in living comfortably, but still we are not happy because we are missing the point.

As far as material necessities are concerned, the human civilization at the present moment is very much advanced in living comfortably, but still we are not happy because we are missing the point. The material comforts of life alone are not sufficient to make us happy. The vivid example is America: the richest nation of the world, having all facilities for material comfort, is producing a class of men completely confused and frustrated in life. I am appealing herewith to such confused men to learn the art of devotional service as directed in The Nectar of Devotion, and I am sure that the fire of material existence burning within their hearts will be immediately extinguished. The root cause of our dissatisfaction is that our dormant loving propensity has not been fulfilled despite our great advancement in the materialistic way of life. The Nectar of Devotion will give us practical hints how we can live in this material world perfectly engaged in devotional service and thus fulfill all our desires in this life and the next. The Nectar of Devotion is not presented to condemn any way of materialistic life, but the attempt is to give information to religionists, philosophers and people in general how to love Krsna. One may live without material discomfiture, but at the same time he should learn the art of loving Krsna. At the present moment we are inventing so many ways to utilize our propensity to love, but factually we are missing the real point, Krsna. We are watering all parts of the tree but missing the tree's root. We are trying to keep our body fit by all means, but we are neglecting to supply foodstuffs to the stomach. Missing Krsna means missing one's self also. Real self-realization and realization of Krsna go together simultaneously. For example, seeing oneself in the morning means seeing the sunrise also; without seeing the sunshine no one can see himself. Similarly, unless one has realized Krsna there is no question of self-realization. (More...)

The materialistic advancement of civilization is called "the civilization of the demons," which ultimately ends in wars and scarcity.

For this reason the enlightened person should endeavor only for the minimum necessities of life while in the world of names. He should be intelligently fixed and never endeavor for unwanted things, being competent to perceive practically that all such endeavors are merely laboring hard for nothing. (More...)

The Bhagavata-dharma or the cult of Srimad-Bhagavatam is perfectly distinct from the way of fruitive activities, which are considered by the devotees to be merely a waste of time. The whole universe, or for that matter all material existence, is moving on as jagat, simply for planning business to make one's position very comfortable or secure, although everyone sees that this existence is neither comfortable nor secure, nor can it ever become comfortable or secure at any stage of development. Those who are captivated by the illusory advancement of material civilization (following the way of phantasmagoria) are certainly madmen. The whole material creation is a jugglery of names only; in fact, it is nothing but a bewildering creation of matters like earth, water and fire. The buildings, furniture, cars, bungalows, mills, factories, industries, peace, war or even the highest perfection of material science, namely the atomic energy and electronics, are all simply bewildering names of material elements with their concomitant reactions of the three modes. Since the devotee of the Lord knows them perfectly well, he is not interested in creating unwanted things for a situation which is not at all reality, but simply names of no more significance than the babble of sea waves. The great kings, leaders and soldiers fight with one another in order to perpetuate their names in history. They are forgotten in due course of time, and they make place for another era in history. But the devotee realizes how much history and historical persons are useless products of flickering time. The fruitive worker aspires after a big fortune in the matter of wealth, woman and worldly adoration, but those who are fixed in perfect reality are not at all interested in such false things. For them it is all a waste of time. Since every second of human life is important, an enlightened man should be very careful to utilize time very cautiously. One second of human life wasted in the vain research of planning happiness in the material world can never be replaced, even by spending millions of coins of gold. Therefore, the transcendentalist desiring freedom from the clutches of maya, or the illusory activities of life, is warned herewith not to be captivated by the external features of fruitive actors. Human life is never meant for sense gratification, but for self-realization. Srimad-Bhagavatam instructs us solely on this subject from the very beginning to the end. Human life is simply meant for self-realization. The civilization which aims at this utmost perfection never indulges in creating unwanted things, and such a perfectional civilization prepares men only to accept the bare necessities of life or to follow the principle of the best use of a bad bargain. Our material bodies and our lives in that connection are bad bargains because the living entity is actually spirit, and spiritual advancement of the living entity is absolutely necessary. Human life is intended for the realization of this important factor, and one should act accordingly, accepting only the bare necessities of life and depending more on God's gift without diversion of human energy for any other purpose, such as being mad for material enjoyment. Such materialistic advancement of civilization is called "the civilization of the demons," which ultimately ends in wars and scarcity. The transcendentalist is specifically warned herewith to be fixed in mind, so that even if there is difficulty in plain living and high thinking he will not budge even an inch from his stark determination. For a transcendentalist, it is a suicidal policy to be intimately in touch with the sense-gratifiers of the world, because such a policy will frustrate the ultimate gain of life. Sukadeva Gosvami met Maharaja Pariksit when the latter felt a necessity for such a meeting. It is the duty of a transcendentalist to help persons who desire real salvation and to support the cause of salvation. One might note that Sukadeva Gosvami never met Maharaja Pariksit while he was ruling as a great king. For a transcendentalist, the mode of activities is explained in the next sloka. (More...)