A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada - Civilization and Transcendence

Civilization and Transcendence

1: RELIGION WITH NO CONCEPTION OF GOD?

2: PROGRESSING BEYOND "PROGRESS"

3: CONCOCTED RELIGION

4: CASTE SYSTEM CAST OUT

5: ETERNAL TRUTHS VS. EVERYDAY REALITIES

6: THE ULTIMATE KNOWLEDGE

7: GETTING SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE

8: CIVILIZATION MEANS REGULATION

9: CLEANSING THE HEART

10: THE PROCESS OF PURIFICATION

11: "FEEL THE ONENESS" WITH A DIFFERENCE

12: HOW TO LOVE GOD

13: THE WAY TO PEACE

14: RETURN TO REAL LIFE

His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhup da
Replies to a Questionnaire
From Bhavan's Journal
June 28, 1976

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RELIGION WITH NO CONCEPTION OF GOD?

Pua Ka: rla Prabhupda, this questionnaire was sent to you by Bhavan's Journal, a cultural and religious magazine in Bombay. They are questioning various religious and spiritual leaders, trying to get the answers to some of the important questions that are perplexing people today. So there's a list of questions, and the first is this: "Is the influence of religion over the masses on the wane?"

rla Prabhupda: Yes. This is predicted in rmad-Bhgavatam [12.2.1]:

tata cnu-dina dharma
satya auca kam day
klena balin rjan
nakyaty yur bala smti

"In Kali-yuga, this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, there shall be a waning of these qualities: religiosity, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, memory, bodily strength, duration of life, and mercy." These are the human assetsqualities which make a human being distinct from the animals. But these things will decline. There will be almost no mercy, there will be almost no truthfulness, memory will be shortened, duration of life shortened. Similarly, religion will practically vanish. So that means gradually human beings will descend to the platform of animals.

Especially when there is no religion, human beings are simply animals. This any common man can distinguishthat a dog does not understand what religion is. The dog is also a living being, but he's not interested in what is being discussed here about Bhagavad-gt or rmad-Bhgavatam. That is the distinction between man and dog: the animal is not interested. So when human beings are becoming uninterested in religion, then they're becoming animals.

And how can there be happiness or peace in animal society? The big leaders want to keep the citizenry as animals, and at the same time they are striving to make a United Nations. How is it possible? United Animals? Is it possible? Society for United Animals. [ Laughter. ] In the science of logic it is said, "Man is a rational animal." So when rationality is missing, one becomes simply an animal. What is the possibility of being a human being?

In human society, whether you are a Christian or a Muhammadan or a Hindu or a Buddhist, it doesn't matter. But there must be some system of religionthat is human society. And human society without religionanimal society. This is the plain fact. Why are people unhappy now? Because they are neglecting religion.

One gentleman has written me that Marx said, "Religion is the opium of the people." That means the Communists are very adamant against God consciousness because they think that religion has spoiled the whole social atmosphere. Religion might have been misused, but that does not mean that religion should be avoided. Real religion should be taken. Simply because religion has not been properly executed by the so-called priests, that does not mean religion should be rejected. If my eye is giving me some kind of trouble on account of a cataract, that doesn't mean my eye should be plucked out. The cataract should be removed. So that is the idea of the Ka consciousness movementto remove the cataract from people's religious vision.

Generally, modern so-called religious leaders have no conception of God, and yet they are preaching religion. What good is that religion? People are simply being misled. Real religion means God's order: dharma tu skd bhagavat-pratam [SB 6.3.19]. If your religion has no conception of God, where is the question of religion? Still, without any conception of God, they are professing some religion. How long will it go on artificially? It will deteriorate. That ignorance about God has resulted in the present condition.

Religion means the order of God, just as law means the order of the state. Now, if in your social system there is no state, where is the question of the state's order? You will simply manufacture your own order. Today that is going on in the field of religion: there is no conception of God and therefore no following of God's order.

But we devotees of Ka have a clear conception of God. Here is God: Ka. And He's giving orders. We accept those orders. So it is clear religion. But if there is no conception of God, no order of God, then where is the question of religion? Ask someone in some other religious system what their conception of the form of God is. Can anyone tell clearly? Nobody can say. But we shall immediately say,

veu kvaantam aravinda-dalyatka
barhvatasam asitmbudha-sundargam
kandarpa-koi-kamanya-viea-obha
govindam di-purua tam aha bhajmi

"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept at playing on His flute, whose eyes are like petals of a blooming lotus, whose head is bedecked with a peacock's feather, whose figure of beauty is tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and whose unique loveliness charms millions of Cupids." [Brahma-sahit 5.30]

Immediately, description"Here is God." Then there is religion. And if there is no conception of God, where is the question of religion? Bogus. That is why religiosity and the other noble human qualities are declining. People have no conception of God, and therefore there is no understanding of religion. As a result, the whole human civilization is declining. And because it is declining, human beings are becoming more and more like animals.

PROGRESSING BEYOND "PROGRESS"

Pua Ka: Question number two?

rla Prabhupda: Yes.

Pua Ka: "The traditional charge against Hinduism is that it is fatalistic, that it inhibits progress by making people slaves to the belief in the inevitability of what is to happen. How far is this charge true?"

rla Prabhupda: The charge is false. Those who have made that charge do not know what "Hinduism" is. First of all, the Vedic scriptures make no mention of such a thing as "Hinduism." but they do mention santana-dharma, the eternal and universal religion, and also varrama-dharma, the natural organization of human society. That we can find in the Vedic scriptures.

So it is a false charge that the Vedic system inhibits the progress of mankind. What is that "progress"? A dog's jumping is progress? [ L a ughter. ] A dog is running here and there on four legs, and you are running on four wheels. Is that progress?

The Vedic system is this: The human being has a certain amount of energybetter energy than the animals', better consciousnessand that energy should be utilized for spiritual advancement. So the whole Vedic system is meant for spiritual advancement. Human energy is employed in a more exalted direction than to compete with the dog.

Consequently, sometimes those who have no idea of religion notice that the Indian saintly persons are not working hard like dogs. Spiritually uncultured people think the dog race is life. But actual life is spiritual progress. Therefore the rmad-Bhgavatam [1.5.18] says,

tasyaiva heto prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatm upary adha
tal labhyate dukhavad anyata sukha
klena sarvatra gabhra-rahas

The human being should exert his energy for that thing which he did not get in many, many lives. Through many, many lives the soul has been in the forms of dogs or demigods or cats or birds or insects. There are 8,400,000 material forms. So this transmigration is going on, but in every one of these millions of forms, the business is sense gratification. The dog is busy for sense gratification: "Where is food? Where is shelter? Where is a mate? How to defend?" And the man is also doing the same business, in different ways.