Building a Healthy Society
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · GBC College · 2023
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Opening prayers and invocations
Krishna Karuna Sindho, Dinabandhu jagat, gopesha gopikakanta, radakantha namost te Taptakanchanagorangi Rade Vrindavaneshwari Vishabanu sutevi pranami Hari Prichakalpataru Bescha, Kripasindu Bevacha, Vatitanebyh,
Vaishnavyamonamaha, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabunitananda, Sri Dvaithara, Srivasadora Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ramahare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Yantah pravi mama vachamam prasupam sandjivaya takila shakti daraksw Anjamatva Gadm, Pranana Mobate, Puru Shatuam, Swastu Vishwasia Calah, Prasidha Tam, Dani Du Budani Shiv So
again, I will be addressing completely different audience. And uh please pretend that you are this audience and I will pretend that I believe you can see if we can switch up our phones.
Namav Vishnu Padaya Krishna Prashtaya Bhutale Srimati Bhaktividanta Swami Tinamini Namaste Sraswati Devi Gauravan So the students of GBC College.
I was asked to give uh a lecture on the topic of building healthy society or healthy community.
I guess the reason why I was asked to speak on this topic is because I am doing this series of discourses on this topic for those people who consider themselves my followers or disciples specifically.
And uh there are two reasons why I feel a little uncomfortable uh giving this lecture. One is that uh it's more or less uh material in making.
I'm not hundred percent comfortable uh and uh I'm just working on this topic because it's a very important topic for our whole society. And the second reason is that it's such a huge topic.
It's a very difficult topic about social engineering. Basically, by speaking about this to the leaders, we are calling for them to become social engineers.
And to consciously form uh our little society into something which could be called healthy society. And uh naturally within this one hour or one hour and a few minutes, I can only scratch the whole topic.
Modern social evils and health problems
So it will be introduction to the topic if uh If the administration of this college wants me to elaborate on it then we should make some separate arrangement and maybe Maybe speak uh in more details about uh this particular topic.
We are living in a very unhealthy society. The society is sick, and the most important sign of the sickness of the society is that it really generates people who are not healthy physically.
We know that diseases are becoming younger and younger and younger. If before diabetes was like you know the disease of an old age, now people sometimes in their 30s or even 20s get this disease.
And this is just one example. Another problem of the modern society is that the people in the modern society they become progressively more disturbed in their minds.
The mental health is a big problem in the society, psychiatric health, and it's basically becoming an epidemic in the whole society. And there is also so many other social evils in the modern time.
The divorce rate is outrageous. And you know crime, uh drugs, addictions of different kinds. This is all proliferating, which should be expected in Kali Yuga.
So therefore, to create a society which would protect people from all these social evils, and we are very vulnerable, we are very much dependent on the big society, because we are very closely connected.
It's not a luxury, it's a need of the day. And actually, most of the people, when they join, I will speak about this a little later.
When they join some religious society or some spiritual society, one of their main motivation is to find some healthy society. Society where they can feel comfortable, they can feel sure, they can feel that their children are protected from all the social evil, so on and so forth.
So there is definitely a need, but at the same time there is a confusion, a lot of confusion, because it's such a difficult topic.
You know, how to build a society, how to do it within this rampant modern civilization with all its evils. And of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda himself said that 50% of my work is not complete.
And ever since he mentioned this, and by 50% of his work he means to establish varnashram system, to establish the healthy social interactions and social environment in which practice of spiritual life would be just natural. Not something artificial, not something very difficult, but something which is a natural outcome of being in the society.
So since Srila Prabhupada mentioned this, this sort of uh topic uh uh remains uh uh a puzzle for most of the leaders. And very few are embarking to do something.
And of course, a very beautiful example of success in this regard, this new Vṛndāvana community in Hungary, which Sivarama Maharaj engineered.
But he once confided to me, he said: if people knew how much sweat and blood should be invested into building this society, Nobody would do it. So he himself admits that it is indeed very difficult.
It's a very difficult uh uh undertaking and uh uh we should not take it lightly.
Creating healthy communities in cities
So I will just speak what uh uh why it is so necessary, and uh will give you a few hints of what should be done, what should be the beginning, in my humble opinion.
And of course, the main gist of my presentation is that we should not wait till some rural communities are self sufficient rural communities are established before we try to embark this task.
Usually people think, and this is in my opinion, is a very big misunderstanding.
They think that varṇāśrama or healthy society is only possible when we're living in isolated community and we are trying to be self-sufficient, we are trying to lead a very natural life, and then naturally some social development in this environment will take place which will manifest uh some version of varṇāśrama system, varṇāśrama social system.
I humbly suggest that if we wait till the rural communities are established, it may be too late.
Because first of all the preaching movement we're mostly in the cities and people who live in the cities they're not really used to live in a village environment. They're not used to grow their own food. In fact, they hate it.
They would rather go to a supermarket to get some packed vegetables. And there are so many other reasons. Of course, we should speak about rural communities. We should try to establish them.
This is not to undermine the importance of these projects. But it's to emphasize that we should not wait till the rural communities are established.
We can actually try to do something to create uh healthy pockets of the social structures within our little communities in the cities. And if we understand the need, then we can then we can try to do it.
So that's a little introduction for the beginning of this important topic. And just a few words about evolution of Śrīla Prabhupāda sort initially. He was speaking about varṇāśrama from the beginning.
Even though varṇāśrama may seem a very foreign, you know, varṇāśrama system in the Western world is called caste system.
Even though it has nothing to do with the caste and caste is just a Portuguese word which was misapplied or mistranslated, varna was translated as a caste.
But in the beginning, when Śrīla Prabhupāda was talking about varṇāśrama, establishing need of varṇāśrama, importance of varṇāśrama, he mostly meant people outside of ISKCON.
He said, oh, Vaiṣṇavas don't need, all Vaiṣṇavas are eka varna. They all belong to the highest varna. They are on the level of brāhmaṇas, and for Vaiṣṇavas there is no need.
But then gradually, gradually, especially by the end of his sojourn on the earth, he was more and more emphasizing the need within his own.
So I will read a little excerpt from his conversation which is very clear, it's a famous quote which is quoted in this regard. Hari-śauri Prabhu says, where will we introduce the varṇāśrama system then?
Prabhupāda said, in our society, among our members. Hari-śauri: But then if everybody is being raised to the brāhmaṇical platform Śrīla Prabhupāda: Not everybody. Varṇī's understanding.
Varṇāśrama, not everyone is a brāhmaṇa. Hari-śauri: But in our society, practically everyone is being raised to that platform. So then one might ask, what is Śrīla Prabhupāda?
That is, everybody is being raised, but they are falling down. So Prabhupāda said that, you know, even though the idea of Vaiṣṇava culture is higher, not everyone can sustain on this high level of consciousness.
And therefore, proper social system is necessary because this proper social system is something like, how do you call this, when a gymnast in a circus is walking on a string? Try—ah, safety net, yeah.
So varṇāśrama and the proper social organization is something like a safety net. Yes, you are on this very high platform, it means that there is every chance that you fall down.
But don't fall down on the ground because it will be very painful. Just at least keep yourself on this safety net.
Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda in this conversation in 1977 in Mayapur he says everybody is being crazed, but they're falling down. down, so yeah. Uh uh I wanted to first say that uh uh
in my opinion there are four uh reasons why to think that we should establish Varnashrama only in the rural communities is a mistake.
First reason anyway, majority of people will still remain in the cities, no matter what we try. Only a rare minority of people will be able to move to rural communities and live there.
No matter how much we emphasize it, we definitely should emphasize more, but reality will remain.
Most of the people of course, now IT engineers, they can do it in village too, but they still prefer it because it's more comfortable and everyone is spoiled by this uh comforts, so-called comforts of uh city life.
Second reason is that of course there will always be devotees in the cities because they need to preach. And you know they're enthusiastic to preach and to spread this.
And if people, the third reason is that if people remain in the cities, and devotees will always remain in the cities. These people they need spiritual support from the healthy society.
The main reason why we should be very clear about establishing this task in front of us is that even people in the city they need healthy spiritual interactions. They need support to develop spiritually.
If there is no support from the society, it will be very difficult to practice spiritual life. And then the fourth reason is that Varnashama is not only a social structure.
Usually we think about Varnashama as the social structure which is made of this varna and āśrama building blocks. It's a certain social structure in our mind.
But varnashima is not a s not only a social structure, it's a social culture. We may not be able to build the proper Varnashima social structure in the cities, but it but we definitely can and should establish the proper social culture in our little communities.
And it's uh there is a big difference. I will not dwell on this. But I think that's important to have the proper understanding.
Reasons people join religious societies
For nasuma is not only a structural element but it is uh also a cultural notion, cultural understanding. So, and uh besides that the sociologists they say that uh there are four main reasons why people join any religion.
And out of these four reasons, three have something to do with the healthy society. The first reason is of course, people need some meaning and purpose in life.
They're seeking for meaning and purpose in life, and that's why they're coming to any religious movement. Not only ISCON but any other religious movement.
Second reason, immediately the second reason because it reinforces social unity and stability.
People want to live in a stable society, in a unified society, they're sick and tired of this disunity, all these conflicts which are rampant in a modern society, all these contradictory forces which are fighting with each other, in-house fighting, and so on and so forth.
So that's the second reason already is social unity is stability, need for this, need to be in this stable social environment.
The third reason is greater psychological and physical well being because being in the religious society or religious environment provides people with more stable mental makeup and more stable psychological and physical, yeah. Makes the environment more healthy in these two areas.
And that's exactly how Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura actually defines varṇa. We'll we'll come to this very uh soon. And then uh the fourth reason is very interesting uh because
Because people are motivated to work for positive social change. Many people see the problems off modern society of the outside world when they see them motivated to contribute to the health of the society.h so
uh in one way or another, out of these four reasons, four uh three are can are connected with the uh health of the social organization.
And that's why uh basically leaders they they should uh really be clear that this is their task, their main task. And uh it's also interesting.
The sociologists who study religions they say that any religious organization or community when people come together and form a micro social they have five basic common moral foundations.
Sometimes atheist people or people from the outside they say all religions are differ all religions are different, they speak about different things, you know, everyone has their own ideas. But actually, it's not like this.
All religions, as far as the basic principles are concerned, uh they agree with these basic principles. And that's what the sociologists say. They say: first principle: no harm.
You know, those people who follow religion, they try to be harmless, they try not to inflict uh pain to other living entities. Second is play fairly. So it's more just society.
Society where there is no rampant injustice. Third, be loyal to the group. Any religious group will speak and preach about loyalty, about the need of loyalty. You join here, stick here.
Don't look here, don't look there, be here. Which is also good. You know, this is uh this is actually loyalty, it is a very great quality of a human being. Respect authority.
Every religious group will stress and emphasize this point. Which is also good because this is what is being denied in the outside society, and therefore the whole society is in the chaos. There is no simple respect to the authority structure and live purely.
So again, these five basic moral principles common to any religious group is actually a good reason for people to join religious society.
Society in passion versus goodness
Because they want stability, they want to be in an environment where everyone is just, not harmful, not evil, uh authorities are respected and where people live uh purely. Ah now we come to the healthy society to the principles.
These five things is actually a very good foundation, a very good start. But I will go into more specific details of what it means in our case. What is varṇāśrama in reality and how to do this, where to start.
So first, of all, the very first notion here is that Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in Bhagavad-gītā in the 14th chapter where speaks where he speaks about the guṇas. Therefore, the whole material world is more or less in the mode of passion, rajo-guṇa. Modern civilization is considered to be advanced in the standard of the mode of passion.
Formerly, the advanced condition was considered to be in the modeness. So that's the key. Why all these evils, social evils, are so common in the outside society? Because the mode passion is considered to be advanced.
You know, the mode of passion is considered to be the criteria of progress. If you are passionate, it means you're good.
If you achieve something, if you're rich, if you're famous, if you are, you know, if you have uh one million followers uh in your social networks, that's the success. That's the criteria of success.
That's the success of human life. Get it, get it, get it, get it. So, and you know therefore the uh societies are also defined or measured according to the advancement from the point of view of the mode of passion.
Who is more progressive society? Whether it's more cars, is it really a sign of progress?
You know they pollute they pollute environment and they, you know, they just unnecessarily go here and there and uh they create cities which are becoming more and more hellish, uh, where there's no normal human being can live.
You know, but still, you know, it's the sign of advancement.
You know, the whole world is just going to hell, but you know, because people value these things, the mode of passion is valuable, mode of goodness is not valuable, it's not fashionable.
It's something which is not really valued in the society.
So, and therefore, because in the modern society the mod of passion is being emphasized and stressed, then the competition in the modern society becomes stronger and stronger and stronger.
You know, it's a very competitive society. You have to really, you know, work hard.
You have to and and therefore, because the competition, the spirit of competition, rivalry is becoming more and more uh the society becoming more and more aggressive.
People accumulate this aggression within themselves because mode of passion means aggression. I want to be the first. I want to be the best. And as a result of it, what we see, the increase of envy within the society.
Mode of passion breeds envy. People becoming more and more envious, more and more aggressive towards each other.
The social interaction becomes very aggressive because of this competition. uh and uh and the society m becomes more and more impossible thing t to live in.
Uh whereas uh uh the qualities of the mode of goodness are different. They are completely different than the qualities of mode of passion, and uh mode of goodness uh promotes cooperation as opposed to competition.
So not the spirit of competition is being valued and promoted in the society, but the spirit of cooperation and you know you don't have to be the first one. You can be very happy in the society without being the first, the best, and this and that.
So Prabhupada says these two keywords: mode of passion and mode of goodness. basically, healthy society is the society which is based on the principles of goodness of sattva-guṇa.
And therefore, it's more stable. Therefore, it's a more pleasant place to live in. Therefore, it actually creates happiness because the modeness creates happiness.
And the mode of passion creates ultimately depression. It creates first agitation, disturbance in the mind, and then stress, which is again a sign of unhealthy society.
And then at the end, it breeds depression and ultimately you know suicides and all kinds of other mental problems which is a result of us being in this unhealthy uh social environment. So I want to tell a story.
It's a very interesting story because, as I said, any leader in a spiritual organization has to be the social engineer and has to really consciously try to create a society which is healthy by all standards, by the standards of sattva-guṇa, which is not so easy.
But the main role, and this will be vividly illustrated by this story, the main role is the role of the leader.
First of all, you know, you cannot expect to build a healthy society unless you are yourself is an example of a healthy wholesome person.
Role of leaders in setting standards
So, because the society depends on the leader, the personal religion. So the little story in this regard, beautiful, I love this story. There was a little state, little kingdom in India, Bikaner.
And the young king became uh the young prince became the king. And he ruled for a few years, five, six years in the Bikaner.
But then he started thinking: Am I doing everything right or maybe there is something wrong. So he was very conscientious and therefore he called the elderly people in the city in his kingdom.
He respected them, he placed them in the nice seats, and then after giving them due respect, he said, You all very old. And you've been through you were living under the rule of my grandfather.
You were living under the rule of my father, and now for some time, for five years or so, you've been living under my rule. Can you please tell me who was better? Who was ruling better?
And uh and you know he and I he said I I want your sincere answer. Please don't flatter me, please tell me what you think. So the elderly people who came, they became a little confused.
They're not used to this kind of inquiries. And they sat quietly, and ultimately, and the oldest out of them he spoke out.
He said, Your majesty, I'm much older than you, but I'm not on the position to judge neither you nor your father nor your grandfather because you're king.
And you know I'm just an ordinary citizen. I respect you all. So I will not answer the question which you asked directly. But I'm the position of judge myself.
So I will tell you a little story from my life, and then you judge who is better. Your grandfather, your father, or yourself?
He said, I was very young, I was something 20-year-old boy, and I was very strong and had great fighting spirit. So once I was traveling at night through the forest and I heard a loud cry.
One woman was crying very loudly in the wilderness.
So I took off from my pass and very soon I saw a lady who was sitting there completely alone. And when she saw me, she became very frantic and afraid, and she wanted to run away.
And I told her, Please don't leave this place, I will not inflict any harm to you. Please tell me why you're crying, what happened to you? I actually want to help you. I will not do anything bad to you.
So somehow or other she got pacified and she told me her story that she was passing through the forest to the way from her home to the home of her husband. And she was decorated in beautiful golden ornaments and there were jewels all over her body.
She was from vaiśya family, from the merchant family, apparently very rich. Anyway, some robbers uh attacked the cart in which she was following, and all the guards were killed or ran away.
And they took over all the riches which were there with them, but she somehow or other escaped.
So she told him, I'm completely lost, I don't know the way home, back home because it was far away, and I don't know the place of my husband. So you know I don't know what to do. I'm alone here.
And uh this elderly man he says, I yeah, I told her, please tell me uh where your husband lives, what is the you know, village and uh what is the family, and she gave me the name of the village and the name of the husband and I happened to know the family.
So I took her, I brought her to the house of her husband and in-laws, and she was so grateful.
And she said to the uh to her in-laws how I saved her, and they wanted to give me some money, but I said no, no, I will not take this money. I'm just doing it because I cannot do otherwise.
So they they really wanted to give me a lot of money, but I refused. He said that was during your grandfather's rule. Some years passed, your grandfather died, your father became the ruler.
And at that time my business uh went bad and I lost my money. And at this moment of time, a thought came to my mind: was I stupid? Why didn't I take money? I have to take money, you know. It would be good.
Such huge money. They wanted to give me. Oh, this was such a mistake, and I was regretting so miserably. So then some time passed and uh and my uh yeah I became old my wife died and
uh uh uh and then uh you know I I became I I'm living now alone and you became the king.
And at that moment somehow or other I started thinking, was I stupid, you know, I didn't take this beautiful ornaments, I didn't take money, I could drop her.
But moreover, I could take this beautiful young girl to my home and she would be living with me as a wife, you know. I was so stupid. So, anyway, I'm not in the position to judge you.
I'm in a position to judge myself, and you can judge who is better by thinking by by saying you know by judging my way of thinking.
So basically he said when your grandfather was there, this thought would not even come to my mind. But then your father came and then you came and you see the deterioration of the thought.
So that's very important because we are living in the society and we're united, and the leader is very important because he sets the example. He's, you know, emanating vibes around him.
And therefore, of course, if we want a healthy society, the main you know the main condition is that we ourselves should be exemplary. We should really try to live an exemplary life.
Interrelation between varnasrama and devotional service
So having said this, I will uh go more closely to the topic. Yeah, about the healthy society or uh the relationship between uh Vaishnava society and varṇāśrama-dharma.
So, in one sense, and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, I will give a few quotes from Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura where he explains how varṇāśrama is necessary.
Because before Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, all the vaiṣṇava Ācāryas used to be united on this topic. They say varṇāśrama is not essential for vaiṣṇavas. Why? Because of two reasons.
The first reason is that Hierarchical social structure and vars varṇāśrama is definitely a very hierarchical social structure. Breeds pride.
People being in this hierarchical structure, they become proud because I'm higher than you, and I am even higher than you. And they used to look down and you know, and we all know.
And the foundation of bhakti is that everyone is equal. Equal in a sense that all the souls are equal, there is nobody who is inherently higher.
Of course, in regard to the spiritual development, the people are not equal, but from the spiritual point of view, from the ontological point of view, everyone is equal.
And therefore varṇāśrama in one sense is not very productive to practice bhakti and another reason why varṇāśrama contradicts bhakti is that Varnashama duties are very time-consuming.
You know, if you try to follow all the minute rules of varṇāśrama, or you will be completely lost. There are so many rules.
I remember long ago, many years ago, I brought a very traditional Indian person into our ashram to Moscow where young and enthusiastic aspiring devotees were distributing books day and night.
It was very difficult for him to be in this environment.
He was, I mean, because he had to do so many different things, and the The most difficult for him was because he was, according to varṇa's system, he was supposed to pass urine in a squat position. And the Western facilities are not really adjusted well for this squat position for men.
And he had such a hard time, and you know. And the devotees also had a very hard time with him. It was a very incompatible situation.
He was trying to do all these rituals, you know, to remain pure, ritualistically pure according to our varṇa principles. Therefore, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says two reasons. Why?
One reason is that it uh breeds pride uh within people and another one it's it's too complicated, too time consuming, uh energy consuming.
But at the same time, uh at the same time, Bhaktivinoda says that varṇāśrama system is very much necessary. Why? Because he says if we properly place it.
My main gist will be uh what is the interrelation between the proper social engineering process and bhakti? How they are interrelated and interdependent in one sense.
He says, what is varṇāśrama? This is very important to understand the essence of this social culture. Because in our society, as in every society, there is a division.
Some people say that varṇāśrama is all in all, it's most necessary. You know, we should try to do it. We all know there are these conservative people. Everywhere there are liberals and conservatives.
So conservatives they say: oh, only varṇāśrama, varṇāśrama is more important than they emphasize it again and again and again and basically neglect bhakti. And there are liberals in our societies.
So liberals uh the democratic party in our society. They say varṇāśrama is not necessary. Only Bhakti.
Bhakti varṇāśrama is just nonsense, it's is just, you know, it's outdated, it's not necessary or and they ridicule those people who try to follow varnishama. And those people who try to follow varnasama they ridiculed the liberals in the society.
Once there was a discussion, pizza or samosa. Liberals they are for pizza, and you know, traditionalists they are for samosa. Anyway, so uh there is this uh conflict which is there.
And of course the truth is somewhere in between, it's in the middle of these two extremes. And that's exactly what I want to say. What is this middle pass? What is this middle understanding? Why Varnasham is necessary?
How to follow it, and at the same time not to neglect Bhakti or not to neglect Varnashama, how they are interrelated. So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, what is varṇāśrama?
Varnashama is a very structured society which regulates life by a lot of rules, but all these rules are boiled down to four areas.
The following of the rules of Varnashima, and we should understand clearly why there are so many rules and regulations in the Varnashima system. Because Varnashima wants to provide physical health to people.
Many rules of far nasoma are there to make sure that people are physically fit and healthy. Like you know, many rules like vegetarianism, the proper diet, and so on and so forth.
Of course, I don't mean uh you know modern uh Indian diet where you know you have the main vegetable in modern Indian diet is chili. Which is not necessarily very healthy.
But first why varnasm is necessary to make sure that people are healthy. Second, reason uh to provide mental health.
As I said, the evils of the outside society is because uh it breeds people who are physically not healthy and mentally not healthy.
Third reason or third rule, third category of the rules of Varnashima is the rules of social interaction and most prominently, the rules of creating family, family structure.
Because healthy social structure means healthy families. Healthy interactions within the family, the proper engineering of how to enter into family life, so on and so forth.
And the so the fourth area, so varnashama is to provide physical health, mental health, uh social health, or social stability, as Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says.
And then the fourth one is to give uh the ABC of spiritual knowledge. So all the rules of varṇāśrama they fall under these four categories. Varṇāśrama doesn't go very far as far as the spirituality is concerned,
but every member of the healthy society has to at least understand some basic that there is a reincarnation, that we don't die when the body dies, the soul remains, and so on and so forth. So that's uh that's what it is.
And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says therefore varṇāśrama is necessary. Because to practice bhakti do you need healthy body to practice bhakti? Yes of course.
You know if if you are sick physically you are you you are not able to perform devotional service. And therefore, varṇāśrama regulates drinking. How much you should drink.
You know, in our Vedas, there is a special formula according to your weight.
It's just modern health, quote unquote specialists or experts, they say everyone should drink two liters of water, or three liters of water, or sometimes six liters of water, or whatever.
Āyurveda says, no, it's absurd. It depends on your weight, on your structure, on your constitution. There is a very complicated formula which exactly says: if you drink too much water, it's not good.
If you drink too little water, it's not good.
So varṇāśrama regulates your drinking, eating, sleeping, exercise. What you should do for sickness, what you should do to cure your body. This is all rules for the body, and this is a part of varṇāśrama.
Because healthy society means healthy members of society, healthy people, not people who have heart attack in in when they are 30 years of age and then stroke when they're forty.
And you know sometimes uh modern people they proudly say that uh the uh the people live longer now than before. Actually people don't live longer now. People die longer now. That's the difference.
You know, at one point they start dying, and it's a very prolonged and miserable period of life. They don't live longer, they die longer.
So, the rules of varṇāśrama system, there is, you know, it's it's important to follow these rules. Then the rules for the mental health.
As Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, if the person does not follow mental rules, the mental rules, his power of realization or understanding of reality, concentration, imagination, contemplation, and judgment will be weak and will not properly function.
Basically, you need a very healthy mind to have this very important functions, and without these functions you will not be able to execute bhakti to perform devotional service. He said if people don't follow these rules to provide a healthy mind, there will be no advancement in art and sciences, and moreover, one will not be able to take the mind from material thoughts and direct it towards thoughts of God.
So if the mind is unhealthy, the one uh sign of unhealthy mind that it's addicted, it's too much absorbed in material in matter. It cannot think about God or about some elevated subject matters.
And ultimately, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, as a result, the mind will be dominated by sinful thoughts and atheistic attitude. Finally, man will become no better than beast. So that's the rules for the mind.
You know, it's very important to keep the mind strong and healthy and pure. And then he says about social rules. The rules for social stability. Very interesting. He says basically social stability means stable families.
And for that he said such concepts as mutual brotherhood, well brothers, avoiding lying, and uh earning livelihood by honest means, speaking the truth and avoiding lying are established.
So he lists very basic rules of morality which should be followed in Varnashama system. Mutual brotherhood, helping others in difficulty, earning a livelihood by honest means, speaking the truth and avoiding lying.
So, and because we all want stable society, that's the foundation of stable society. Don't speak lies. Help each other. Uh if somebody is in need, help.
Leave everything aside, help somebody, uh, he will help you or she will help you when uh you need it. And understand that we all are interconnected. And uh, you know, and uh be honest when it comes to earning livelihood.
So and then you of course the rules m ABC of spiritual life are necessary to provide better next life to provide bätter karma so that people would not make some klci things which will actually be very bad for them.
So he says very interestingly.
It was previously stated that this is the quote that the purport of our varṇāśrama-dharma is to maintain the body, develop the mind, perform good works for society, and learn spiritual topics.
Again, this is the four pillars, the four essential things of varṇāśrama. And who will deny that this is necessary. Always the goal of developing pure bhakti.
If we do this, having this main goal in mind, that my goal is to develop bhakti, then varṇāśrama is good. In that man is bound by a material body he must follow varṇāśrama rule. There's something wrong in English here.
Anyway, if somebody is bound by material body, he must follow the varṇāśrama rules. That cannot be denied, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says.
For without the development of body, mind, society, and spirit, man's life becomes degraded. The rules of varṇāśrama are suitable for this purpose and therefore they should be followed.
However, varṇāśrama is not the final goal. With the assistance of varṇāśrama-dharma, a person should cultivate bhakti, it is also necessary to follow the rules of varṇāśrama in the cultivation of bhakti. So but
if there is a contradiction, I I will sin my life is running out. If there is a contradiction, uh he says,
but following the rules of varṇāśrama, which are time-consuming, a person may not have time left to cultivate bhakti. Furthermore, where there is some conflict in principle, what should be done?
He says, first, it should be said that without taking proper care of body, mindset, society, he repeats it again and again and again. Society and spirit, the person cannot perform more elevated activities of bhakti.
How How can the seed of devotion face awaken in the heart if a person dies prematurely, his body is not healthy, develops mental problems, and never learns anything about the spirit.
If a person gives up the rules of varṇāśrama and acts as he pleases, his physical and mental actions will be like those of a madman. He will be engaged in the worst of sins, no sign of bhakti will be visible.
So in any case, you know bhakti is the goal, varṇāśrama is the means, but it's an important means which we should understand. So and he says this, I will not dwell into this.
He repeats again and again and again that varṇāśrama is not the final goal. So the middle pass is that varṇāśrama is necessary, it's not the final goal.
Don't substitute bhakti for varṇāśrama and don't try to neglect varṇāśrama unless you have some attachment to this body and to social interactions and so on and so forth. So that's why it's very important.
Now you know I will go into some improvisation here.
Basically, what I want to say is that we should understand the most important, most essential principles of our varnashrama and as leaders of this society try to establish society in such a way that these things are valued within the society.
You know, we know very well how to encourage people to be passionate. Every January we club and cheer and congratulate those who distributed more books. We know how to encourage people to be competitive in the society.
But we should also understand that there are very basic principles of our national system or healthy society and we should think how to encourage people, how to reward people who follow these principles.
And I will list a few of these principles. Again, as I said in the beginning, it may not be a complete list, but in my humble opinion, if these principles are not followed in the society,
how they could be established is another question. But they could and should be established. So unless we clearly understand, first we should clearly understand what are these principles, what it means in practice
to follow these principles, what it means that the society follows these principles, and then finally, find the means and ways to establish this.
Establishing brahminical principles in community
So I will list a few things. Again, it may not be a complete list, but uh it's something very important. Śrīla Prabhupāda always, while he was speaking about varnashrama system, he says it's a brahminical system.
What does it mean? Majority of people in varnashrama system are who? Śūdras. In any society, śūdras, worker class, is the majority. Why do we call varnashrama a brahminical system? What does it mean?
Brāhmaṇas are, you know, tiny, tiny in numbers. In any society, people with brahminical qualities will be very less. Why? What does it mean that it's a brahminical system? It means that everyone. is different.
They live according to their nature. They try to develop their nature. But everyone respects Brahminical principles. Everyone respects Brahminical qualities and moreover, everyone is trying To maximize sattva-guṇa.
What is happening in the modern society?
Everyone has different nature and because the emphasis of sattva-guṇa is not really uh there in the society, then everyone by following his or her nature is going lower and lower and lower in the guṇas.
You know you may be śūdra, but you should be śūdra in sattva-guṇa. You may be kṣatriya, but you should follow the basic principles of sattva-guṇa. You may be vaiśya, but the principles of sattva-guṇa is a must.
And you should value and uh and and understand this. And uh you know valuing this means valuing Brahminical principles and valuing people who embody these Brahminical principles.
You know, if somebody is very, you know, has all these qualities, he should be respected in the society. Not everyone can be like him or her. Not everyone should be like him or her.
But everyone should respect those people who have these qualities.
Because I've been in ISKCON societies, in ISKCON communities where people were just mocking at those people who study śāstra. It was not the value in the society. I was once was challenged.
I was giving a lecture and I was speaking how important it is for vaiṣṇavas to hear. And then, you know, one agitated listener
of my lecture raised a hand and said, "What are we practicing? Are we practicing śravaṇa-yoga or are we practicing bhakti-yoga?"
And and his stupid way of contrasting this was that bhakti means you know you do something practical, and śravaṇa means you are just you know useless brāhmaṇa.
So, what I basically want to say is that brāhmaṇical society means that brāhmaṇical values are established. And everyone no matter who he is, he really respects
those people who have brāhmaṇical qualities, and moreover, he himself tries to establish his life on a very strong footing of sattva-guṇa.
Even though the inclination, the nature you have says that if you have a certain nature, you have you will have cravings for the things which have the similar nature.
You know, if you're a tamo-guṇa person, uh if tamo-guṇa is very prominent within your mind, you will have cravings for tamo-guṇa.
Cravings for tāmasika food, cravings for tāmasika interactions, cravings for everything tāmasika. So, you know, uh first of all, we should
again and again and again speak as a leader, and of course, ourselves lead the life which is sāttvika. And in this way avoid sins, and in this way establish the purity. So that Brāhmaṇical values should be established in the society.
And uh very important value of anyway, we should, I don't know. I I just Anyway, maybe uh maybe it's like this. Maybe I finish here. And the rest uh I will speak when we interact.
So I I just gave a little introduction to the whole thing and because my time is over now, uh we can just start from where I left here and uh to speak about more practical details which anyway will require more interaction.
So that's will be the recorded part and then the rest will be some interaction with just there. Okay? Okay, thank you. Hare Krishna. Thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda-ki jaya.