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by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
On the 16th of February 1957 a meeting was held
at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to discuss the above subject matter.
Distinguished gentlemen from different categories spoke on the
subject, but practically nobody could give us a definite direction
as to what actually the matter was that was troubling the whole
situation.
This feeling of pinching in the existence of
our life is a good sign for progress. It is an urge for enquiry what
is the wrong in the world that gives us trouble? This trouble is not
a new thing but it is a matter of permanent settlement in all the
days of life, but it may be felt at different times in different
colour. The troubles are in varieties in relation with our mind and
body, in relation with our dealings with other living beings and in
relation with natural phenomenons.
The present pinching trouble of our political
leaders in the matter of Kashmir affairs is a trouble in relation
with our other friendly nations. Kashmir is a part of India, not
only at present but it is so from a time immemorial but the Kashmir
problem has arisen as a matter of course because the world is so
created that must there exist some sort of trouble, may be it is in
relation with the body or other living beings or the natural
phenomenon.
These troubles are like the forest fire. Fire
takes place in the dense forest without any attempt by any living
being. Nobody in the forest do want such fire, but it takes place
without any demand. When there is fire, the living beings in the
forest are put into trouble and sometimes it so happens that most of
the forest creatures die in that havoc. There is no fire brigade in
the forest or on the top of a forest mountain and there is no hope
for of extinguishing the fire by any human attempt. It takes by the
natural laws, and it is extinguished by natural laws also, that is,
when there is torrent of rains in the forest. That is the natural
law and these laws are so rigid and stern that no human brain,
however it may be powerful, can solve these problems of natural
laws.
An intelligent person, who has actually
developed some finer qualities of human consciousness, can
understand that every law is made by an intelligent brain and behind
every law there is the lawmaker who makes the law. So for all these
natural laws, there is the Supreme Lawmaker, who is the Absolute
Personality of Godhead. In the 'Bhagwat Gita' we have, therefore,
information that natural laws are so stringent that they cannot be
overcome by anybody. But whoever surrenders unto the Supreme Lord
can overcome them.
The King is the lawmaker and if he likes he can
forgive a lawbreaker by special prerogative of the King - by the
'King's mercy,' but the King can do no wrong even if he sometimes
breaks the law. That is, an experience of a common man in the
phenomenal world and the same thing is applicable in the matter of
Supreme laws also.
The natural laws are like police actions by the
agents of Godhead. Men, who are too much captivated by the glamour
of material beauty and tries to enjoy it falsely without
acknowledgement of its Creator, are called demons. The stringent
natural laws are meant for the criminals but not for the
law-abiders. Therefore, the perfect answer to the question 'What is
the matter with the world?' is that Men have become demons by
breaking laws of God, and therefore they are being punished by the
police action of material nature. That is the verdict of all
scriptures and that is our day-to-day life's experience.
In the 'BHAGWAT GITA' a vivid description of
the law-breaker demoniac men are given in the 16th chapter and such
men are punished by the laws of God - are also maintained.
Human civilizations are conducted in two ways.
One type of civilization can make every human being as much
qualified as God is. And the other type of civilization can make
every man no less than a jungle beast and thereby making this world
unfit for human habitation.
A human being is called a rational animal. When
rationality is destroyed, the human being is left an ordinary
animal. The difference between a human being and an animal is based
on the strength of human being's being above the animal
propensities. The animal part of a human being necessarily require
food to eat, shelter to live in, protection from fear and
gratification of senses. These four principles of life are common
both to the man and the animals. But there is another thing which is
specially meant for the human being. This is God-consciousness. This
God-consciousness is conspicuous by absence in the animal life,
while in the human life this God-consciousness is in dormant stage
even in the society of the aborigines. This God-consciousness
develops in different grades of human civilization in terms of
particular place, time and persons. This God-consciousness is called
Religion or Culture of Life without which no civilization can stand.
The present day civilization is trying to avoid
this God-consciousness of human life by artificial method of
material science and forcible atheism. It is learnt from reliable
sources that in an atheistic state, the village people were called
in a meeting and were asked to pray in the Church for daily bread.
The innocent villagers prayed in the Church for daily bread, and
when the prayer was over the state officers asked them whether
breads were supplied. The village men replied that there was no
bread. The atheist politicians asked them again to pray for bread
from them (the statesmen) and bread was at once supplied. And by
this method the innocent villagers were made victims of propaganda
by atheistic politicians with the result that all the villagers
became gradually faithless in God, because wrongly they accepted
that the bread was supplied by the politicians and not by God.
The poor victims of such propaganda did not
understand that the breads supplied by the politicians were not made
by the father of the politicians but actually they were sent by God.
No politician can manufacture bread without wheat. No wheat is
produced without sun rays or rains from the sky. No rains are
possible without obedience to God. No atheist can live and decry God
without eating bread.
And therefore whoever eats bread without
acknowledging in gratitude of his indebtedness to God is certainly a
demon and for such demons the stringent natural laws are meant for
punishment. A time is nearing when there will be no wheat paddy in
the field and no politician will be able to make a quick supply of
bread. The food problem is already acute.
The atheistic civilization is to be troubled
more and more with the progress of materialism. We have such
foretellings in the pages of Srimad Bhagwat. The more the people are
turning to the atheistic, the more things of disturbing elements do
appear before us. And that is the thing which matters at present.
This is a wrong type of civilization.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta
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