Soul Feast
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Kochi · 2024
Chapters
Speaker background across political systems
Vishnu Padaya Krishna Prashtaya Bhutale Srimati Bhaktividanta Swami Dinnami Namaste Saraswati Devi, Gauravani Pracharini, Nirvisha Sunyavadi Paschatyadesha Krishna Karunasindhodina Bandhu Jagatpate Gopesha Gopikakanta Radakantana mostute Taptakanchana Gorangi Radhavindavaneshwari Vishabanu Suti Devi Pramamami Hari Priya Sri Krishna Chaitanya Pravunitananda Shadvait Hara sivasadi Gaura Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hari Hari Ramahari Rama Rama Rama Hari Hari Yanda Pradish Mamavajamprasuktum Sanjae Vayata kila shakti daraswadamna anyamsha hasticharnas ravanat vagadim pranandam Bhagavathi Purusha dubjam.
Okay, Hare Krishna. Very happy to be with all of you tonight. And as you heard, I'm coming from uh The Soviet Union. Half of my life I spent there under the communist rule.
Then for some time for eight years I moved to Sweden and lived in Sweden. And then I returned to Russia, which has become by that time a very capitalistic country. So I experienced different political systems personally.
And perhaps that's the reason why I was asked to speak on the topic of spiritual communism, which is especially relevant here in Kerala, where the government is communist.
So I will speak with some uh level of authority because I have, as I said, personal experience of different political systems and their pluses and minuses.
So I will briefly give the overview of the existing political systems. For us to be very clear that they are not solving the most important problems.
The problems which we are facing in the earth globally are to a greater extent because of the confusion which people have about the proper social organization.
And we have to be very clear that if nothing changes drastically, the humanity doesn't have much time to live. The situation is very grim.
And partially the reason for this situation, or greatly to a greater extent, the reason the cause behind this seriousness of the crisis, the global crisis which is there, is because social organization is not actually sustainable.
We have the social organization in different countries uh which is which has very serious problems and these problems tend to perpetuate itself. They are exaggerating themselves and finally there is no solution.
But what is most important for us to understand that the solution is there.
We have the model, social model, which is presented in ancient Vedic scriptures and which has been existing in Vedic society in ancient India for centuries, for thousands of years.
And that's the only solution which is possible for humanity to survive. There was a great British uh historian, Arthur Toynbee, and he said that
uh You know that the humanity by by studying the history of human race, he said that uh the only future which humanity may have is that they will adopt the Vedic way of life.
The way which was propounded by the founders of Vedic culture. And that's what I'm going to speak about. And my main message is that let's understand the problems and let's let's try to give the solution to these problems.
The solution is there, we have to take it seriously.
Overview of modern political and economic models
And to take it seriously, we have to very clearly understand that the existing proposed solutions are not solutions in reality.
So, as I said, if we study very carefully, we can see three, four different social models in the modern world.
One is, of course, capitalistic model, which is very prominent in USA, and it definitely has a lot of advantages.
And of course, India now more or less trying to follow the same suit, the same way, trying to uh adopt these capitalistic values.
Then we have communists, the opposite of this, which was created by the fathers of communism, Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, as the reply to the problems of capitalism.
I'm always very surprised when I see traveling in Kerala, you know, Karl Marx and Engels and Hammer and Sickle. I feel like I am back to Soviet Union, you know, some fifty years ago.
Nowadays you don't see this hammer and sickle in Russia anymore, and you hardly hear about Karl Marx and Engels, but Kerala is still trying to find a solution in this recipe.
So we have the capitalistic model, we have the model of the communism and we have the uh you know Northern European model which was very prevalent and is still very prevalent in Sweden, some sort of social state with social security, with a lot of social guarantees and everything else, which is there.
And you know, for variety's sake, we have uh Chinese model of social uh architecture, which is communistic in essence uh but has some elements of capitalism. So we have some uh hybrid models and two pure models: the capitalistic and uh uh communistic model which was there.
And uh oh okay. And uh now of course, we more or less witnessing the whole world is witnessing the elections in America.
And the elections in America is about this, whether the Trump will win and then the capitalism will establish itself on the firm grounds or Kamala Harris will win.
And of course all Indians they uh they are fans of Kamala Haris, uh, because she has some Indian origin.
Economic inequalities and flaws in capitalism
But uh what I want to say is that uh there are big, big inherent problems in all these systems.
If we take capitalism with all the advantages which it has, with supposed progress which it brings, advancement of human civilization, this and that, you know, what we see.
The inherent problem of capitalism is that the difference between very rich people and very poor people, the gap between these two classes of society becomes wider and wider and wider.
Some people become filthy rich and they enjoy all kinds of enjoyment, and other people become very, very poor, they hardly can meet their ends uh they hardly can make their uh ends meet.
You know, they hardly can uh do something to survive.
And you know always when there is this rampant capitalism, the problem is that all these rich corporations become the real rulers. They become the power stations of the society and ultimately they corrupt everything.
The system becomes corrupt. We can see like this big pharma in America or in the Western world, it basically destroys the human health.
They bribe politicians, they bribe all governmental institutions and they push their products. Even though their products are very harmful for the society.
You know what happened in the world because of capitalism, at one point, you know, people started adding lead into the fuel. And for years, for you know, for many, many years, I don't know how many 30 years, uh, forty years, all this fuel was with lead, even though lead is very poisonous.
Moreover, lead is not only poisonous, lead brings down the intellectual capacity of people. Because of inhaling these poisonous fumes of the cars, people become dull.
And the harm which was inflicted to the health of the society is immense. But why it was there?
Just because of some advantages, just because of some market advantages, just because uh it had something uh to do with their profits. You know, what we have in capitalistic system only money is the value.
And those who have money, they have power. And those who have power, they corrupt everything. People become corrupt because of this and ultimately the government becomes the uh you know the servants of this corrupt system.
And uh takes the uh decisions which are harmful for everyone. That's what's going on under the capitalistic rule.
And the government every now and then what happens under the every now and then the free market which is supposedly now and then the free market which is supposedly the hallmark of capitalism becomes completely destroyed by capitalism itself.
Because the big corporations, monopolies, they take over the free market.
And because they take over the free market, all the middle class people and uh you know the people who are trying to come up, they cannot do anything because everything is being controlled by these big corporations.
And it destroys middle class, it destroys people, and ultimately you have very rich people and very poor people.
And government has to intervene into this, government has to take all kinds of regulations, you know, this anti-monopoly law, this and that, so many different uh agencies which are trying to control this rampant capitalism.
But it's not possible to control because ultimately what is being uh in control is money. Everything else is under the control of money.
Everything else is, you know, by bribery and uh uh this you can uh you can buy everything. So there is this capitalism and there is this government which is trying to control everything,
and the government uh the government institution becomes more and more bureaucratic. There are more and more bureaucrats, as we see in India, who are trying to control everything.
And all these capitalists, they bribe these bureaucrats and poor people, you know, they're just, you know, they're suffering in the slums.
Failures and inefficiencies of communist states
So that's the inherent completely incorrigible problem of capitalism. And no matter how much you try to control the capitalism system, it will not work, it just fail.
Now there is the communist system which is the complete opposite and the communists say there is no property. So basically the main holy cow of capitalism is money. The private property.
And if people have private property, private property is sacred for the capitalistic system. So the communists come and they come as a reaction.
They say this is wrong, the system is it stinks, uh, it's unjust, uh, it makes some people very poor, some people very rich, rich people enjoy everything, poor people cannot even take their daily meal regularly.
So they come and they say, What's the problem? The problem is private property. Let's confiscate all the private property. Let's make everyone without any property and then everything will become heaven.
You know, I lived in this heaven for 30 plus years of my life. This is a very hungry heaven. This is the heaven when nothing is there.
You know, if you don't believe me, you can go to North Korea, which is still a very heavenly place, and then everyone becomes very poor. Why? Because there is no free market.
And because there is no free market, uh nobody is allowed to have anything, and because nobody is allowed to have anything, you know, the government is trying to regulate everything which you produce.
You know, the government has to have this very difficult rule to produce everything people need and they produce some useless things which nobody needs,
and uh the whole society becomes very very you know totally impoverished. Everyone is basically poor, and that's what happened when the communist rule, but the real communist rule.
You know, you cannot you can say anything about communist Russia, but uh at least in the beginning there were real people who really believed in communism, that this is the solution. What was the solution?
The solution was that and the country uh has become very backward. The whole society has become very backward, and there was no incentive, there was no real enthusiasm for people to produce anything.
Because anyway, whether you produce or don't produce, you don't have anything. So better I become lazy and you know at that time I I remember this time.
No matter who you are, you may be professor in the highest university, or you may be the complete śūdra working somewhere in a factory, and everyone would get the same salary.
Greed in capitalism and envy in communism
And only communist bureaucrats, they have some perks and privileges, and they would get special supply channels, and they enjoyed, everyone else suffered under them. And ultimately it was not a solution because again, nobody was equal.
So if we take these two systems, the first system ignites or increases the greed in human nature. Everyone becomes greedy.
You know, there is this very famous story about one, the most rich person in the world. I don't remember his name.
Probably nobody remembers his name now because all these rich people they're not worth of remembering them. But he was the most rich person in the world.
He was in the forbes everywhere else in the uh book uh in his book of records. Uh so just before, just one day before his death, a reporter came to him and asked him, please can you explain your motto, your slogan.
What is the most important in your life? And he said, it's very simple. There's only one word. More. You know, here he is, the richest person in the world, his greed is not satisfied. He wants more.
Because this is the nature of greed. You can never satisfy greed. No matter how much you have, you will always want more. Because ultimately the heart is empty.
The heart of these people, because it's empty, it always sucks in. It always tries to get more and more and more, and it never satisfies, no matter how much you have, you will always want more.
And therefore, under the capitalist system, everyone is poor. Poor, they are poor because they are poor, and rich are poor because they want more. Because they still not satisfied.
They still think that they need more, and they still think that they their condition is not proper. So, but communist system, on the contrary, it ignites or increases envy.
You know, and this is again a very dark side of human nature. Greed you cannot satisfy, envy you cannot satisfy. If you live under the real communism, uh you're lucky because in Kerala there is no real communism.
There is only uh government which has named themselves as communistic. But uh uh if if you happen to live there, you will see all the people who are supposedly equal.
But if somebody has little more than them, they have immense, very bitter envy and jealousy towards somebody who has more than them.
You know, that's always if somebody if somebody is a little more intelligent, if somebody is little more beautiful, if somebody is little more, you know, this is the complete violation of the main value, of the main virtue of communist system is that you become not equal.
And because nobody is equal. Nobody is equal. There is no two completely similar person in this world, you know, this supposed forced upon people equality doesn't really work.
And people only become envious if somebody becomes little famous, if somebody becomes little rich, if somebody becomes uh little intelligent or little uh educated.
Ultimately, these both systems they increase the base human nature instead of improving the human nature. Karl Marx saw that when we make people
without any property, when the property will not belong to people, or ultimately he wanted that the property would belong to everyone, but you know, the property which belonged to everyone ultimately belonged to nobody.
You know, uh I I've seen it. Russia was in such a you know such a chaos because nobody really you know considered anything which m that this belongs to him.
Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that proprietorship makes sense into gold. This is a very important thing, you know. We have to feel that something belongs to me, then we will really work for it.
But if nothing belongs to me, uh why should I work uh why should I improve? Why should I advance?
Disincentives in Northern European social states
Why should I progress if uh it doesn't give me any benefits or any uh advantages. So this both systems don't work.
We have hybrid system, socialistic system, which is there in northern Europe and Denmark and Sweden, in Norway to a certain extent. And this system is worse. Because it combines the problems of both systems.
In one sense, it's capitalistic, in another sense, it's kommunistic. And you know the if people don't want to work, they will not work. The social state will provide them with that.
And this system only breeds very lazy people. People become completely indifferent, they don't have any stimulus
to live, and all the people who want to do something, who are doing something, who are productive people, who are really doing something good for the society, they are punished by the government and all their money are taken away and given to the lazy people.
You know, I remember when I was living in Sweden there was a joke. It was not a joke, it was a real thing. You know, in Sweden, in the socialistic uh society, there is this progressive tax system.
The more you earn, the bigger becomes the tax which is imposed upon you to the government. And after some time, people it becomes non- profitable for them to earn more.
Because if you earn more you have to give more and you uh ultimately have more when you earn less. So that's the paradox.
And the joke which was there, there was at that time, some time ago, not when I was living, a very great writer in Sweden, Astrid Lindgren. She wrote beautiful books and she was famous all over the world.
Her books were translated all over the world to many, many languages. So at one point she earned a lot of money, you know, enormous amount of money, few millions of dollars or whatever it is.
So when they calculated tax to uh this income, which this poor old lady, uh not so poor but old lady earned by her hard work. When they calculated the tax, the tax was more than she earned.
So she had to pay a little extra to the state for the scene that she was so successful. You know, that's the completely absurd system because in this system, if you are successful, you are punished by the government.
And if you're not successful, you're rewarded by the government. It's a completely backward system which uh which ultimately is very futile and doesn't really work. And you know, people are not happy there.
You know, this so-called social states, the suicide rate in the social states is one of the highest. Because people see no meaning in life. You know, they they don't have any meaning. Why should I live?
You know, whether I live or not, it doesn't make any difference. So that's the three main systems which we have and they all have uh very big problems. Uh the one system, capitalistic system, destroys free market.
It's ultimately not free. Capitalism doesn't give freedom, it's not about freedom. It ultimately destroys, it's about money. It's about earning more and more and more, trying to satiate insatiable greed.
It totally destroys money. It totally destroys free market. And then we have a communist system which completely destroys the impetus to do something in the people.
Which completely destroys the you know very natural human propensity to take care of something which belongs to them. You know, we work, this is our nature.
Our nature is to take care, to take nice care about something which belongs to us. And if you deprive people of private property, they don't care. They become completely careless, lazy.
And in both systems, the crime is rampant. You know, capitalism creates crime uh as a social evil because people become poor. Communism also creates crime.
Still there is th this social evil is not being solved and ultimately the society becomes backward uh due to these problems like we have in North Korea.
It's a completely backward country where everyone is poor, the only you know few people are enjoying all the benefits of them being the uh most equal among uh everyone equals.
So it's uh uh th this whole thing is just impasse. It's a completely uh the this is the problem which you know which cannot be solved by the existing solutions.
You know, we have Chinese model, which is slightly different, it's a communist model, but the power is somewhat distributed, it's It's not so concentrated on the top. So it may not be so corrupt. It's quite...
Quite an advantageous model. But still, it doesn't solve the main problems of the society because ultimately people create more and more problems.
You know, this ecological problem which is there, this complete rivalry which is there.
Vedic model for addressing internal impurities
You know and the most important thing is that the human nature is not being improved by being in this society. The glory of the Vedic system, Vedic social system, is that it's about people, how to improve people.
And people can only be happy when they have pure heart. It's not possible to be happy if your heart is impure. And impurities are six according to the Vedic scriptures.
It's kama, which is lust, it's Kroda, which is anger, it's Loba, which is greed, it's moha, which is illusion, it's Mada, which is pride, and ultimately it's matsaria, envy, jealousy.
You know, when your heart is polluted by these things, you cannot be happy. And all these systems increase the pollution.
They increase the pollution of the environment in a very natural way, but the increase of the environmental pollution is only due to the increase of the internal pollution
because their hearts are polluted, because their consciousness is polluted, because they don't have the real proper value system. And because there is no value system, ultimately they create
all the solutions to the problems which they created themselves and the solutions are worse than the problems. You know, I I gave the example, this is my favorite example, of uh modern allopathic medicine.
It's supposed to uh give uh the solution to all the problems, uh, you know, all the drugs, you know, whatever disease you have will create a drug against this disease, and these drugs will work very nicely and they will kill this disease.
But they will create, by the way, you know, a host of other diseases. But don't worry, we will make drugs for these other diseases as well. But they will create even more diseases, no problem.
You know, you pay money and uh the diseases will increase, increase, and increase.
You know, well, one of our sannyāsīs in his con, uh Prahlānanda Swami, he said that uh my uh his aunt was a millionaire lady. And he said that she started using this allopathic medicine, and this allopathic medicine solved some problem, created more problem, uh she had to go to hospital, she had to go more, more, more, more, it was increased.
Ultimately, when she died, uh her uh medical care bills were a few million dollars more than her property. So it's just crazy.
You know, you create the solutions, but because you create the solutions with a polluted mind, The solution is not a solution but more pollution. You know, that's what is going on.
Resolving social issues through Isha Upanishad
Instead of solution, you get more pollution and pollution increases incrementally until everything is destroyed by this polluted human consciousness.
So after painting this grim picture of modern society, I have to explain this real solution. And we have to really clearly understand the beauty of the solution given in the Vedic scriptures.
How beautifully and how exactly all the problems are tackled and addressed by a seemingly very simple solution which is given in one verse of Īśa Upaniṣad. Just one first verse of Īśa Upaniṣad by which Īśa Upaniṣad is named Isha Vasyamidam Sarvam Yatkin Chid Jagatyam Jagat Tenatyaktena Bunjidaha Magridhakasya Svidanam, the whole problems of modern society are being solved, the problem is that nobody takes it seriously.
So let's consider what's the solution. The solution is genius, really genius, because it really takes care about the free market. Free market is included into the Vedic solution. It takes care about the private property.
Private property is included in the Vedic solution. But at the same time it takes care about the greed in the heart of the people, trying to solve this problem or solving this problem in a very beautiful way.
And ultimately, it completely eradicates the envy, which is the most serious and most difficult problem of everyone of us living in this world.
So the solution which is given by Íśopaniṣad and other Vedic scriptures is very simple. The solution is based on the very crystal clear understanding of the law of karma.
Unless you put under the foundation of the society, law of karma, you will never be able to solve the problems. The solution of all the problems of humanity is the understanding of law of karma.
Because ultimately the law of karma is the only law. You know, if you don't accept the law of karma, you will have to create artificial laws.
And all these people uh in the parliaments they you know they uh create one law after another and uh the problem only increase.
But the only law which we have to understand is the law of karma, it basically means whatever you do will come back to you.
Whatever you do now will come back to you in the future, and if you give something away to other people, it will come back to you in an increased manner. The law of karma solves the problem of the society,
because first of all, in this verse it is said, kasya svid dhanam, to whom everything belongs? Who is the real proprietor of everything? God, Isha. Isha Vasya Medam Sarvam, this world which we see belongs to Him.
Nothing belongs to me. You know, nobody is capable of taking everything which He has with him. The only thing which we will take with us is our good karma or bad karma. That's the only thing which belongs to us, really.
Everything else doesn't belong to us. There is this beautiful legend, legend about Alexander the Great. You know, he was the great conqueror of the world, he conquered half of the world.
And And when he was dying, he was only hardly 30 years old, he was very young. When he was dying in one of his war expeditions, and he understood very clearly that he is going to die very soon.
He said when you do the funeral ceremony for me, you please put me into my coffin or whatever it was, with my hands like this. And they asked him, Why do you want your hands to be like this?
Usually, when you put somebody dead, you put your hands here. And he said, so that everyone would see that my hands are empty, that I couldn't take anything with me, that I am the richest person in the world.
I, you know, I the whole world belongs to me, or half of the world belongs to me.
Principle of custodianship and law of karma
I didn't take anything with me. I'm going as I came in this world. So the Vedic solution is very, very beautiful.
The Vedic solution tells you: you know, everything belongs to God, but you are the custodian of God's property. You have the duty, sacred duty, to take care of God's property.
Whatever is given to you ultimately belongs to God, but for the time being, you have to show God how careful you are with His property.
As much as the uh you know clerk in a bank, if he he is dealing with a lot of money, but if he proves that he is dealing very diligently with money of others, he will be promoted.
In the same way, if the property which is given to us by God for the time being, for a few years which were still here, if we take care of it nicely, if we try to increase this property, and at the same time having in mind that this property doesn't belong to me, that I have to use this property for the betterment of the society.
If at the same time we are giving in charity, we are helping other people who are in need, then you don't need increased taxes. You know, if you understand this law of karma, the more you get, the more you have to give.
And if you give more, you will get more, and you will enjoy more, and the whole society will enjoy. The more you get, the more you will give.
If you understand this, there is no need to increase taxes because everyone is just giving.
Because giving becomes the virtue and the selfishness works in our benefit. Those people who know the law of karma, who understand the dynamics of law of karma, they give. Why do they give? Because of the selfish motives.
Their selfishness makes them unselfish and purifies their heart. They give because they know that it will bring them more, but while giving they experience happiness and they know they, see the result of their giving,
and because while giving they see the benefits, they become benefited, and everyone else become benefited. There is a beautiful Subhashata which I read today. I don't remember it by heart, but it's a beautiful Subhashtra.
The Subhashata goes like this. When you see a beggar who is going griham griham from house to house and begging? Don't think that he goes from house to house because he wants to get something from you.
Because he is yachate, because he is really asking you something. He is going from house to house to teach you something. What is the teaching of the beggar? The teaching of the beggar is very important.
Don't become like me by not giving. Remain like you by giving. That's the teaching of the beggar. Don't become beggar like me. If you don't give, you will become like me. You want to become like me? No.
Please look at me and don't become like me. Remain as you are. Remain in your position by giving. Because this is the law of karma. According to the law of karma, you will get whatever you give.
You know it it's it's completely strict and very sure. Law. Become generous, take care of others, and in this way you will solve the problems of the society.
In this way you have the free society with proprietorship, which is proper proprietorship, but at the same time you don't have all these problems. Problems which are created.
And in the meantime, by establishing this in a very beautiful way, you purify your heart.
By being in this social environment which is healthy, according which where people are functioning according to this universal law of karma, the universal law of effect.
By being the member of this society where everyone understands the intricacies of the law of karma, you purify your heart.
Satisfying the soul by overcoming envy
And because you purify your heart, you experience happiness. Like this program is called soul feast. You know, the body should have feast every now and then.
Onam is not, you know, long ago was there. Everyone had nice South Indian feast on banana leaves Yes, body needs some feasting, but the soul also needs to satisfy its hunger. And the hunger of the soul is love.
The love is the the soul is hungry for love. -> The soul is hungry for love. And you can only experience love if your heart is pure.
If your heart is impure, if the greed, lust, and envy is there in the heart, especially envy. Envy is the worst enemy of love. When the envy is there, it's complete opposite of love.
And love will never attend to your heart, will never be there in the heart -> And love will never enter your heart, will never be there in the heart until and unless envy is there. -> unless envy is removed.
So therefore, the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very clearly says there.
Paramoni Ramad Saranam Satam, to experience God, you have to become -> Paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ, to experience God, you have to become free from envy, free from rivalry. And how you become free from rivalry?
By understanding this very simple dictum of the first verse of Ishapanishad -> By understanding this very simple dictum of the first verse of Īśopaniṣad Magrid Ha kasya svidhanam ishavasivedam sarvam -> mā gṛdh kasya svid dhanam īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam uh Jagatyam jagat tenatena bun gitaha. -> yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ Please enjoy, bun gita ha. -> Please enjoy, bhuñjīthāḥ. Please enjoy whatever is given to you by God.
Every one of us has our share and we have to be satisfied with the share which we get. We don't have to be envious.
If somebody has the bigger share, it just means that he behaved in a better way in his previous life. And therefore, he got the better share. And don't be envious to him.
Be happy with whatever is given to you by God because he gave everything which you need.
There is one more beautiful Subhashutta, uh, and I will quote this Subhashta -> There is one more beautiful subhāṣita, uh, and I will quote this subhāṣita and will finish my uh talk because I am already talking too much.
And this beautiful Subashata from Hita Padesh says that the one -> And this beautiful subhāṣita from Hitopadeśa says that the one who made swan white, parrot green and peacock multicolored will take care of you too.
Don't worry. You know, we can see different different different varieties in the society.
Somebody is white, somebody is green, somebody is multicolored, somebody is rich, somebody is more, somebody is intelligent, somebody is not so intelligent. Somebody is beautiful, somebody is not beautiful.
But the one who made us the way we are will take care of us, don't worry. You know, he will provide us with whatever we need in our life,
and if we properly use whatever is provided to us by God, if we really take care of it nicely, then all the problems of our life and of everyone else who is around us will be solved.
So let's be convinced that there is only one solution, and this solution is to understand that there is law of karma, and the law of karma tells you: work hard in this life.
Earn whatever you're supposed to earn, but share it with others. Don't be greedy.
Share whatever is given to you in a very generous way with other people, and God will be pleased with you, and by being pleased with you, you will obtain whatever you need, and ultimately happiness in your life.
And of course, the whole International Society for Krishna Consciousness is about this, it's about sharing. We don't have to only share our money, we also have to share our knowledge.
You know, you medical professionals and you're generously sharing your knowledge. And that's also very satisfying.
And we have to share our knowledge, we have to share you know the positive emotions which we have so much things which we can share. And here we are sharing this very great knowledge uh which is actually your property.
And I'm here. I have to come from communist Russia to tell you that communism doesn't work. Just take your Vedic scriptures, open Śrī Īśopaniṣad, read the first verse and become happy. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna.
Protecting dharma in contemporary society
Okay. So it's time for questions and uh I would request whoever is asking the questions to please introduce themselves your name profession and then please you can ask your question. We're like a real live uh session here.
So can anyone please raise your hands and the mic is yours. Nobody wants to introduce themselves. The very statement in Gita are the Dharma Ratschidhi Vikshitha.
Now karma when we talk about I suppose it is also includes the law of karma. Yes.
So no you can see in the world whether it is due to Kalyuga or whatever it is, it's a lot of onslaught on anything, but is the sanatana dharma or whatever is what Samy has just explained.
There are attacks on the very idea. There are attacks on ISKCON temples. There are attacks on all Hindu temples, whether it is in Bangladesh or in USA. Now under such a setting, what is that?
Because as I understand that Krishna did not tell Arjuna to for ahimsa, not he keep the leap to fight. At last he says, you do what your conscience relates you to, don't go with the being selfish. Whatever.
But now what is it that we can say because the basic problem
with these, uh, sanatana dharma is that they are not organized and they don't have any common reason to get organized unlike a capital city or a company where there is a definite organizational setup, but there is an aim for everybody to do something.
So what is that we can really do in in this state is an individual and as also as a collective. Thank you very much. That's that's a very important question. If dharma protects somebody who protects Dharma,
then how that we can see in our society that those people who follow Dharma sometimes suffer. And sometimes Dharmic people they have so many problems.
Definitely I I I'm not capable of giving the complete answer to this very important question, but I can share something which can shed some light in this regard. You very aptly gave the example of Arjuna.
Krishna says that dharma, you know, that protecting Dharma basically means to fight. Krishna doesn't say, Arjuna, give up your fighting; Krishna says you fight. And unfortunately, the decline of Dharma took place
when people misinterpret, uh, uh, ahimsa, uh, as the main dharma and uh, starting basically misusing ahimsa principle.
As is very clear from Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna is not preaching ahimsa. He doesn't say to Arjuna, don't kill. And he doesn't say to him, kill.
He says to him, Do your duty, do it selflessly, do it with the pure heart. Remember about me. Mam anusmara yudhya ca, you please remember about me and you fight. So what was missing at one point in a dharma?
First of all, you know, there was this dharmasya glānir, the decline of dharma.
And one of the essential elements of the decline of Dharma was the was that people they uh they forgot that Dharma has to be protected with the weapons in hand. You know, by this uh sentimental understanding of Ahimsa.
Dharma has to be protected, and for that we need very strong people who are real kshatrias, real passionate people, and we need of course uh knowledgeable people who can guide them in their attempts to to protect Dharma.
So when these two classes of society, which are foundational for any prosperous society, the knowledgeable and completely selfless brāhmaṇas or people who have guardians of knowledge. And Kshatrias who are very valiant and very courageous, but at the same time obedient to the dictims of the higher knowledge.
When these two higher classes of society become corrupt, when the brāhmaṇas become selfish and try to extract money from people by different means, by different empty rituals and everything else.
And when the kshatrias become Become unruly when they basically reject the power of knowledge over them by accepting uh the limitations which the selfless Brahmanas would place upon them, upon their rule, then everything becomes corrupt.
And we have to protect Dharma for that we need to protect, to really protect Dharma, we need these two categories of people.
Those people who are only interested in pursuit of knowledge, and for the sake of knowledge they are ready to sacrifice everything, and those people who are who know Dharma, under the guidance of this knowledgeable people and try to protect Dharma by the methods which are suitable for this.
By you know by restricting adharmic elements, sinful immoral people who are violating Dharma. That's the problem of the modern society, and you know, we don't really know how to protect Dharma in a real sense.
But my humble suggestion is that when we know how to protect Dharma, when this proper balance of protecting dharma will be there, then the protection provided by Dharma will also be in place.
So Dharma Rakshati Rakshitaha it's a it's a true statement. But we have to really understand uh more deeply how to implement this statement, how to really protect Dharma.
Countering attacks on Sanatana Dharma with knowledge
I don't know if I at this point. Hare Kashama, my name is Uh Smart Gustave. See this new-age Arjuna saying the rejected understanding more and we are not having this attitude of negation.
And you know that Sanatana is attacked by different parts of the world and they are targeting now the latest thesis attack with the Purumba, that philosophy of Indian culture.
So now their activity is changed against the Kurumba, the code of Indian culture. So what is your one message to the new Asianas? Attacks on Dharma were always there.
In Satya Yuga, there were Asuras who were attacking Dharma in Trata Yuga we see Rakshasas Ravana was attacking Dharma, in Dwapara Yuga, you know, core of us in the same family where Dharmic people and Adharmic people.
And of course, in Kali Yuga, Adharma is completely rampant.
So the message for all those people who want to become like Arjuna, we have to first understand what is real Dharma, what is Sanatana Dharma, what is the eternal dharma of the soul.
Because Sanatana Dharma is called Sanatana since it is talking about the eternal realities, reality of the soul, reality of God, and reality of eternal relationship between the soul and God.
So my first message is try to understand what is Sanatana Dharma in reality. Not because sometimes people speak about Sanatana Dharma and they somewhat misrepresent uh Sanatana Dharma to a certain extent.
So first we have to be very clear, and of course, Bhagavad-gītā is the basis of understanding Sanātana Dharma.
And the second, by equipping yourself with understanding what is real dharma, what is real Sanatana Dharma, fight for dharma and spread this dharma.
You know, then the dharmic people will always be there, especially in Kali Yuga, but how we can fight against them in Kali Yuga just by spreading knowledge. Just by giving people the proper knowledge.
And by giving people proper knowledge, we can see how Sanatan Dharma, you know, I'm coming from the atheistic country, the country which was proud that there is hardly any religious people there.
In the 1990s when the Soviet Union fell, there was hardly any religious person. You know, but now we have uh you know tens of thousands of devotees of Lord Krishna in this country. Why?
Because of the spreading of this message of Bhagavad-gītā.
Why did I become devotee of Krishna? Because I read Bhagavad-gītā. Not because I wanted to become Hindu. I didn't know what Hindu is. Not because I wanted to have this nice cloth. I like this cloth now, but if somebody would tell me this forty years back, I would be horrified.
You know, if somebody would tell me that you will go in this clothes, I would be very surprised to say the least. So, my reason, my rationale was not this. My rationale was very simple.
I read Bhagavad-gītā and I was impressed. Because I could see that here's the truth.
You know, I could feel, I didn't understand Bhagavad-gītā. To be honest with you, after first reading Bhagavad-gītā, I didn't understand anything, but I feel it's true. There is some deeper truth in it.
So the only way to fight against Adharma, you know, you cannot now fight against Adharma with the weapons in hand. You know, you will be put under the bars very soon if you try to do it.
But there is a way of fighting against this dharma, which is fighting Sanatana Dharma right now. That's the spread of knowledge. And there is a lot of innocent people who are ready to accept this. They just don't know.
They are looking for the solutions. They want to have solutions. And uh if you have the solution and don't give them the solution, you are guilty of actually destroying Sanatharma.
So uh by uh inadvertently kind of helping a dharma to fight with Sanatana Dharma. So uh uh Sanatana Dharma is powerful enough to fight for uh itself. Uh Dharma Rakshati Rakshitaha if we help to spread this message.
Understanding karma and delayed cosmic justice
So that'sokan Swami our gratitude to have listened to your speech. Following the line of what Rivat had told you and what I listened from you.
Uh the paradox of uh good things happening to black people that we see every day here. And black people cannot be nullified by us or by good people because of their coming balance that is there.
So the coming balance is still there. Like for example if I take up somebody who is polluting the Tripoli Ladu, he might get away with it.
For all the things we die, we are furious, he tried to get it to legal idea a few years people will forget it that's what we see so isn't that the paradox of karma because it continues beyond our life
to cases which we don't know of the past or the future. It might be the truth, but we are not aware. So doesn't that produce a little dissatisfaction and frustration that in this life we are not able to do.
Why is dharma not being there to help us in this situation? Swami, you just told us that dharma will establish itself, but we don't see it. Sorry if I'm uh No no no it's it's a good question. It's a good question.
First of all, it's not that we don't see it. We can see very clearly in many many instances how, when people violate the rules of dharma, they are being punished right away.
You know, if people commit serious crimes or if people do some bad immoral activities. Even in this life, you know, their family life becomes destroyed.
If somebody becomes unchaste, you know, sooner or later, especially now with all these mobile phones, the wife, the you know, mobile phone or something like this.
You know, we can see it again and again and again how the law of karma works. You do something wrong, and you get bad consequences of this. You smoke, you get cancer. Lung cancer or whatever.
You drink, you get cirrhosis of liver. You know, so many cause and effect uh uh instances we can see how how karma works. Uh we cannot see everything, that's true, but at the same
time we see, you know, if somebody does something wrong which is against dharma, and what is dharma? Dharma is something which helps you to sustain your life.
If you do something which is unsustainable, if you lead the way of life which is unsustainable: if you drink alcohol, if you do some other, you know, intoxications, if you, you know, indulge in illicit sex life and everything else, you know, you get the reactions of this, because it's unsustainable.
In the same way, we have to make just projection that most subtle things which may not be punished immediately still will get punishment. So all those people who polluted Tirupati laddus, they will get punished.
There is no doubt about it. Whether we will see it or not is not so important.
You know, we'll try to do something. You know, you have to try to do something, you have to really try to do justice but if they get away with it okay no problem. It's it's actually their problem, it's not our problem.
You know, why do we have to see everything? We don't see so many things. You know, but we have to be intellectually convinced that the law of karma works and we see how it works right now.
And yes, sometimes we don't see, it's fine. You know, sooner or later it will work. Because, you know, the foundation of the law of karma is that we're all connected. We are living in a system which is interconnected.
There's so much, you know, interconnection in this system. So whatever you do will have a reaction from the same system. So we don't have to worry about, you know.
And sometimes it takes time, you know, because the scriptures are comparing karma with the tree, you know, you put plant the seed into the ground, but it takes time before the seed will bring the fruit.
You know, you cannot expect that the moment you put the seed in the ground, you know, the seed phut. You know, the fruit is there.
You know, the seed has to sprout, and then the tree has to grow, and then bloom, and then the fruit will be there. So it takes time. Uh, in a normal consequence.
You know, z even, uh, you know, your medical doctor, you know, you drink, uh, a little bit and you know liver is okay, no problem.
You drink a little more is okay, but then you drink for uh 30 years and the liver is completely destroyed by this activity. But you don't see it immediately.
but you know, being a doctor, you have no doubts that it's in the process of being destroyed. And it will be destroyed ultimately. It will have a bad effect on the health.
So in the same way, you know, some things may take some time, but sooner or later, if the seed is there, the fruit will also be there.
Attaining liberation through purifying the heart
Thank you. Uh, my name is Dharma. I am coming from Anantum. So basically my question is very simple. I'm not so much, uh, I am very pleasant about the scriptural thing, but I just, my question is very simple.
How do I take liberation, or rather moksha? And what is the right—it's, it's very simple question. Moksha is supposed to be the highest achievement of a human being.
So the highest achievement cannot be very simple by definition. You know, dharma is simple, moksha is not so simple. But anyway,, uh, you know, there are different answers to this question.
Everyone is trying to answer this question and everyone is trying to give different solutions or different recipes.
If you go to yogi in Himalaya, somewhere in a cave, he said, just sit down next to me and I will teach you how to obtain moksha.
If you go to a brāhmaṇa in Benaris, in Gaya, he will tell you do this yagya, I will teach you how to obtain moksha. So there are different solutions to this uh problem.
But let's not just take it by the face value and let's understand why it is so difficult for us to obtain moksha. We don't obtain moksha because we don't want. The answer is very simple. Theoretically we want.
It would be good if I obtained moksha, but at the same time we cherish our attachments to this world. We really like the way we are and we only want to improve it a little bit.
And sometimes when we are in some, you know, funeral ceremony or we are on a deathbed or we are very sick, we think, oh no, this life stinks, I want moksha.
You know, those people who want moksha, they will obtain moksha, no doubt about it. If your desire to obtain liberation is very strong, you will seek for it and you will ultimately find the solution for it.
But what is the what is the solution which is given in the scriptures? The solution is very, very profound. You know, to obtain moksha you have to purify your heart.
The attachments which you have in this life is the result of impurities of the heart. And unless your heart is pure, you cannot obtain moksha. So to obtain moksha you have to purify the heart.
To purify the heart, you have to be really determined to do it. Because, you know, we want moksha, but we don't want to purify the heart. We don't want to give up attachments. We want the best of two worlds.
We want to obtain moksha and at the same time we don't want to lose anything here. It doesn't work like this.
You know, so the first condition, the first and foremost condition to obtain liberation from the sufferings of this world is to really get the sincere desire. I do want it. Not just, you know, it would not be good to have it. That doesn't work.
You know, I really want to find the solution to all the problems of life. And the main problem of life is death. That's the main problem. How to obtain the solution for this? That's only moksha, moksha or mukti.
So according to us, uh the liberation can be obtained very easily. While chanting the name of God. Because the name of God is independently powerful.
By chanting the name of God, Hare Krishna Mantra, which is there in this poster. By chanting the name of God, you invoke his presence.
And because he is the most pure, he is the purest of all, your heart will be automatically purified. You know, normally people to give up their attachments, they have to really work hard.
You know, you go to Yogi and he will say you you have to give up everything, you have to give up your family life, this and that. You know, we don't say y you have to give up your family life. No need.
No need to give up family life. No need to give up, you know, simple pleasures and joys of life. It's fine. Just chant the name of God, gradually, gradually, the heart will become purified in a very natural way.
And when the heart is pure in a natural way, in a very natural way, the love will come in the heart, and when the love comes, then you will be next to the Lord. It's a next natural process.
So there are artificial processes to obtain moksha. And the artificial processes they are very difficult. They are very you hard and very painful in a sense.
But there is a natural way which is recommended for us, we're not very strong people of this age. And for us the only way is to chant the holy name.
And therefore it is said, Harernamahnama Harennameva Kevalam. In this kalo, in this H of Kali, Nasty Eva Gatiranyata. There is no other way. Hare Nama Hare Nama. Three times it is said. And uh it is repeated three times.
Hare nama, harer nama, harare nama nama eva kewalam, because uh uh what they want to say that uh the karma, the rituals don't work in Kali Yuga. There is nobody who can perform rituals uh yagy uh perfectly.
Yoga doesn't work in Kali Yuga. You know, hardly anyone can really follow the strict discipline of yoga. And you know meditation doesn't work in Kali Yuga.
You know, meditation five minutes after lunch, uh it's not meditation, it's called nap. So by this meditation you cannot obtain mokṣa.
So harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam, only holy name, only holy name, only holy name. You know, other processes don't work. So but this is a very simple and uh natural process.
By uh changing you purify your heart, by purifying your heart, attachments will go away, and when attachments go away, the desire to obtain God will come there.
Role of desires and association in future births
And that's the real dharma of the age.
I'm Deepa, I'm a clinical psychologist. I'm not very particular about attaining moksha but I think in this birth there are certain uh talents or skills like singing which I cannot do and I really wish in the next birth I would like to do that. Is there any way we can work towards that?
Whatever you want in this life, if you sincerely want, you will be provided with the opportunities to obtain it. There is no doubt about it. Because our life is guided by by the desires.
And desires are obtained by associations. So when you associate with people you naturally obtain some desires to become like them.
So definitely uh no problem. You will obtain all the talents and abilities, especially if you uh also chant the name of God.
And for that you don't need uh singing talent, you know, you can do it with your own present abilities, no problem.
But in reality, you know, we have to be we have to understand uh this is the foundation of the law of karma. You know, we have desires and desire they determine our future. So we have to be very careful about the desires.
We have to really develop good desires, and the good desires we can only develop by associating with good people. And therefore, the most important element of Vedic culture is sādhu-saṅga or satsaṅga.
Why Vedic scriptures again and again stress the need of satsang? Because by satsangha you develop good desires. And by good desires you develop everything else good, you know.
And by Satsanga the bad desires will uh naturally go away. So just be in good association and uh you know. And you know, you will obtain good desires and good desires will be fulfilled for sure.
And your name is Anjali, right? Yeah. So you know you do this like this because that's Anjali.
Cultivating sincere emotion and surrender in prayer
And uh and And for sure it will be granted to you. Yes. I have a very—it might be sound naive to you, but what is the right way to pray? Do we pray to the Lord for something or we just leave all the problems to Him well?
Pray. Like we immediately pray for, for example, health of our loved ones. Do we pray for that or we just leave it? We surrender, right? See, we can only pray sincerely according to the condition of our heart.
You know, if I tell you don't pray for anyone, just you know, surrender completely. If you're not in the stage where you're ready to surrender completely, you know, your prayer will not be sincere.
So ultimately we have to surrender. But uh, surrender is not a decision; surrender is a process, uh, and it's a gradual process which takes some time. So we try to pray as purely as we can.
But at the same time there is no harm if we invest our prayers with some emotions, if something is really urgent within our hearts, some desire, there's no harm.
Therefore, it is said in the second canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma udara-dhīḥ / tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena yajeta puruṣaṃ param. Moksha Kamu Dharadih, Tivrena Bhakti Yogi Naya Jeta Purusham Param.
Whether you have all desires or don't have any desires, it's only God who can fulfill all desires. So, what is more important, uh it's not that important for what you pray.
What is more important is to pray with the feeling. If you invest your emotions into prayer, then this you know emotional or uh you know real feeling prayers prayers with the feeling will purify your heart very quickly.
But as if you are just, you know, yeah, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, nah, it's not going to purify your heart. So that's the art to invest emotions into your prayer.
And uh, and if for that you need to pray for the health of your near and dear one, no problem.
Navigating moral confusion in the age of Kali
Krishna will be happy to do it because he will feel the sincerity of your approach and he will help you. Now I don't know. But I got some doubts. I want to clear it. Please.
When Rama was when evil people are bad people are there they are uh separately uh asaras were different and these people are everybody you can Rama Raja was very peaceful and thoughtful, nothing was there. Okay.
When Krishna's period came, these uh Suras also was giving Enamita. Karamik, Kamsa, and Chichwala and everybody is there.
And in between, one uh other thing is that when Krishna's video, that is vowalty to everything with that. Even Pujatabas Savaring, his own people, why he was being considered a converted that he is supreme and burnabara.
Why in his time this was the power and everything, why who getafts? Why he was suffering like that? Then Mathaw does not get a lot who was suffering kind of. Sudama. And poverty was a time pressure side and he was turned up.
And nowadays, what happens is our aswarasaur, you can distinguish in this period. We ourselves sometimes every nice and sometimes sometimes I will be divine.
I don't know how differently that people don't we cannot see each other. Like this good fella, that fellow is Kali Yoga is the age of confusion. Everyone is confused in Kali Yuga. Yeah, previously everything was very clear.
In Satya Yuga, the demons and Suras and Asuras they were living in different planets. In Treta Yuga during Rama's time they were living in different territories in the same planet.
In Krishna's time and Dwapara Yuga, they started living in the same family. You know, Duryodhana and Pandavas were cousin brothers. They were living in the same family.
And in Kali Yuga, Suras and Asuras live in the same heart. That's the problem. So that's how it is. It was very clear, everything was very clear in Satya Yuga, everything is completely mixed in Kali Yuga.
Everything is confused in Kali Yuga. Therefore, Kali Yuga is a difficult time to be. And you know sufferings are there according to karma, you know, Krishna. Uh yeah I I I don't have to go into details of Sudama story.
Some somebody says that he ate some chickpeas and didn't share it with Krishna while he was a student. But in any case, Sudama didn't feel that he is poor because his heart was full with love and Krishna gave him the full measure of the riches.
But the real question is what to do, what we are supposed to do when our heart is confused. When the demonic and divine tendencies are there very closely you know enmeshed uh uh entangled within our own heart.
So the only solution for this is uh you know uh and uh because Kali Yuga is such a confused age uh It's an age of propaganda.
You know, if you see the TV or see the advertisement or whatever, everyone is trying to say I'm right, this is right thing to this is dharma, this is a good thing to do.
And you know, you hear it, the more you hear it, the more confused you become. So therefore, it's very important in the age of Kali, in this age, in their age, to go to the real sources of dharma.
You know, and Bhagavad-gītā is undisputedly a real source of dharma. And to try to study the real source of dharma under the guidance of somebody who proved himself to be very pure.
That's why Śrīla Prabhupāda he called his Bhagavad-gītā, his edition, his uh explanation of Bhagavad-gītā, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. And he says there are so many editions of Bhagavad-gītā.
But they try to impose upon us some different ideas which are not there in the original Bhagavad-gītā.
So we have to go to the root, to the source, and we have to take the guidance of somebody uh who proved by his life uh that he is he is pure, that he is uh unselfish, that he is totally selfless.
You know, why do we follow Srila Prabhupada? Why do we adore him so much? Because we see how 100% pure he was. You know, he sacrificed his whole life for the betterment of humanity.
And there are unfortunately so many modern gurus who are, you know, who preach nice things, but you know, unfortunately either after fame or money or some other things, you know.
So you know to to remain pure in Kali Yuga uh you really try to work hard to find somebody who is completely selfless and who is preaching the real message of the original Vedas. That's what I would say. That's the recipe.
Try to Try to see not to be fooled because again in Kali Yuga it's so easy to be fooled. So easy to be fooled. The whole world is working to just fool us by different means. All this machinery of propaganda is just, you know, completely bewildering people.
Dynamics of karmic relationships across lives
It's the age of propaganda. Maharaj, my name is Raven James, and working with Ryan. So my question is like prominent is said that our permanent relationship And uh so what about the people we met in this life or the
meaning like we have father, mother, so the we we they answered us, they love us and we have some sort of an attachment. Suddenly some some of them passes away. Or if I die.
So whether the relation with any other living entity is provided or by a bit. So that is my question. No, if the attachment is very strong, it will one way or another manifest in other life.
If uh you know we are not born to particular people in a particular family without a reason. There is a cause behind it.
And usually people who have attachment, they uh they again meet each other and sometimes they recognize each other.
Even I had an interesting encounter with one lady who was in a regression, in a past life regression, and she saw she's she's very I mean she's serious lady. She's from America herself, but she has from ma rather rich background, so she's not somebody sentimental or whatever.
So I tend to believe her, and I know her. I know her life a little bit.
And she told me that in regression she saw some of your past lives in one of her past lives, she saw herself, it was long ago, and she was in Egypt, in ancient Egypt, and her husband was also there, and they were uh both male, uh as far as I remember, and uh there was some war, and her husband, I think, protected her in the previous life and sacrificed his life.
And she explained to me details of the story, how she saw it, and how she very grateful. And they have a very close relationship with her husband.
And I immediately asked her, you know, how did you know that this is your husband? Because uh obviously he had different form and you know, even even she she had different gender and whatever.
She said, No, it's very simple. Uh by looking at his eyes, I recognize that it's my husband in my previous in my present life.
You know, because by looking in the eyes, you can see it's written in Upaniṣad that by looking in the eyes, you can see the soul. The soul is reflected in the eyes.
So she said, I could recognize him, and you know, I could understand why in this life our attachment is so strong and why I'm so grateful to him. And you know, she told me, and actually her husband told me how he met her.
He said, I saw her for the first time in my life, and I immediately knew she will be my wife for the rest of my life. And it happened.
So, you know, how is it possible? You see person for the first time in your life, you recognize something and immediately the bond is formed. How it could be formed, it could only be formed because it was already there.
So, and that was confirmed after that. So if the bond is strong, it will continue one way or another and uh somehow or other, you know, the attachment will be will manifest in this life.
But if you really want to bring happiness to your near and dear ones, then become the devotee, and by becoming devotee, you will bring happiness to them and liberation for them and for yourself.
Inspiring spiritual practice in younger generations
Several generations of people become liberated of somebody who becomes real? Can you keep your microphone a little further I'm taking classes from uh high school students, that is an age group of 17, 18, like that.
The problem is that in my class, I have 16 students in my class from different religion, Hindu, Christian and Muslim.
The problem is that uh all Muslim students are going um finding, most of the Christian students won't have tell you, but most of the Hindu students are not going to be okay. And they are not even praying at home. I mean most of the students have not to uh they are not believing in some of what we are discussing here, okay. so could you please tell me how we can solve the problem.
Because I think in different classes, we are having four classes, that is commerce, science, being for class further.
But they never go, most of the students are not going to temple and they are not even praying at home. And when the childhood, I think at the from the age of five to six we were doing uh japa, Rama like that, Krishna, Krishna, Govinda, Nārāyaṇa like that, to seven, and from eighth standard always, from high school always, they are not doing anything at all.
And then I don't know, but what do you happens in I think in Hindu community. My son is 18 years old. He's also not uh I think very temple and he's not playing at all.
But his friends, friends, different religion that always there I think some Muslim students are uh praying five times in a day. Five prayer, okay. Then Christian students will their uh like cats are class lately.
But uh Hindus uh Hindu students that is I don't know that the that's I must be okay. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very sad situation. Uh I don't know if I have solution to this problem.
If I had a solution probably Narendra Modi would be very happy with me but uh but uh I can say something in this regard I remember long ago, it was in the year two thousand. Uh uh I was in some Sadhu Samelon in Rishikesh.
Uh and there was a Hindu organization uh the Hindu delegation being formed to go to America to UN Millennium Religious Dialogue or something like this.
And I was there and so many sadhus are there from different uh groups uh and uh in a break, uh one uh sadho approached me and he said, I'm a sadhu myself and I have a Sanskrit school and I have uh 400 students I am I am teaching Sanskrit to these 400 students in Rajasthan.
He said, yes, I am a teacher, I know Sanskrit, I teach, but I could not make my own sons to wear dhoti.
He said, Your Śrīla Prabhupāda is so great, he made Americans to wear dhoti instead of jeans. My own sons are wearing jeans and he made Americans to be dhoti. So and he was just saying by glorifying Śrīla Prabhupāda.
So why did I tell you uh by answering the question? Um you know what is the difference between average Hindu and average Muslim person.
I would say that average Muslim person is more dedicated to his religion than the average Hindu person.
And because children don't see how his own parents are practicing it properly, you know, they become also little cynical or indifferent to this religion.
Why Śrīla Prabhupāda could influence hippies in America in the 60s and 70s because he was he himself 100% was practicing what he was preaching. And they saw his example and they saw the result of his own practice.
They saw how happy he is, how balanced he is, how magnanimous he is, how kind he is, kind-hearted he is.
So I think the main problem which should be solved is that there's not many living examples of real people who are practicing Sanatana Dharma and who not only practice Sanatana Dharma but uh they practice it very sincerely, but they also have experience of how beneficial it is.
I see in the families where parents are really, really devoted to their practice. Children also naturally follow their footsteps. So the main thing is the pre not precept, the main thing is the example.
If they see the good example and if they see you know and the more you follow yourself, the more you have the ability to influence other to follow your footsteps.
There is a you know famous story about one you know, uh mother who came to a sādhu and mother said, you know, can you tell my son not to eat sugar? Because he's eating too much sweets and it's not good, you know, it's not good for his health. And I know, but I tell him all the time he doesn't listen to me. And you tell him.
And the Sadhu said, You please come with your son in one week. And then I will tell the son to stop eating sugar.
And the mother came in one week with the son, and the sādhu looked at the son and said, You please don't eat sugar. And the son listened to him.
It came, you know, deep in the heart, and uh since then he's uh stopped eating too much sugar. And the mother came the next day and said, Thank you very much. Here's my present. But uh I have one question.
Why you didn't tell uh why you told me to come in one week? And he said, because I I myself was eating sugar. So I stopped eating sugar for one week and then I could tell him to stop eating sugar.
Otherwise, if I told him by eating sugar myself, my words would not have power. So I think that's that's that's the solution for the problem which you so beautifully described and which is so important.
You know they have to see more examples, more vivid and proper examples of kind-hearted people who practice Hindu Dharma. And that's a tragedy which we see. And we have to do something