How Free Are We?

The Vedic contribution to one of the central debates in Western philosophy.

Introduction

Sam Surya goes to his city’s orphanage one day and makes a large donation. Elsewhere in town, Andy Andhakara robs a bank. What led these two to make such drastically different choices? Was it their own volition, or the force of some other factor? In other words, were their actions predetermined, or did Sam and Andy have free will?

These questions concern one of the pivotal debates in Western philosophy. Are human beings destined to follow a set course? Are we like children on an amusement park ride lets them steer right and left but inevitably takes them along a fixed track? Or are we free to desire and do as we like, our lives a blank slate upon which we may write anything and everything?

In this article we’ll take a brief look at how Western philosophy has addressed the problem of determinism versus free will, and then suggest how the Vedic literature can offer additional insight into this most elusive yet important issue.

Before we begin, let’s be clear about the term will. From a philosophical perspective, it is a nuanced concept that has undergone shifts in meaning over the years. Nevertheless, for all practical purposes it can be taken as synonymous with “action.” Hence the debate over determinism versus free will is essentially a quest to identify the cause of human behavior. Keeping this in mind should help keep you from getting lost in what might otherwise become a hazy jungle of abstract philosophical jargon.

Strict Determinism

One perspective on this debate is to say that Sam Surya was destined to donate and Andy Andhakara was destined to steal, and neither ever really had a say in the matter. This is the theory known as strict determinism. It holds that all human actions are the direct results of a sequence of causes and effects such that they are predetermined and can unfold in one and only one way. Thus, we do not actually play any part in determining our actions. Rather, they are caused by something beyond us. Western philosophers have generally been loath to embrace this view, and with good reason: strict determinism is contrary to both common experience and the norms of civilization. (The doctrine of the predestination of souls, espoused by St. Augustine in the fifth century and championed by the leaders of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, is one major exception.) Far from feeling forced into every action we take, we instinctively feel we can make choices in our lives. Therefore, the thought that we have no control whatsoever over what we do is repulsive. And the laws that govern society have meaning only if citizens can decide to follow them or not. For example, we would perhaps support punishing Andy Andhakara to send a message to the community that stealing is bad and others should not follow his example. But if citizens don’t have the power to decide to steal or not, then what’s the use of sending such a message? Therefore, strict determinism can be rejected as counterintuitive and highly impractical.

Categorical Free Will

Having rejected this extreme, let’s test out the other. As strict determinism tells us that Sam and Andy each had to act in a particular way, the opposite perspective tells us they could have acted in absolutely any way. This is the theory known as categorical free will. It holds that human actions are in theory completely unconstrained and can unfold in an infinite number of ways. Our behavior is not the preset product of any grand universal scheme, but is fluid and flexible. It essentially has no cause, for that would limit its course.

Unlike the theory of strict determinism, which has had few adherents among Western philosophers, the theory of categorical free will has been embraced by many, including the French philosopher Rene Descartes in the early seventeenth century and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the late eighteenth century. Indeed, it is a welcome relief from the stifling rigidity of determinism, and it resonates with Western notions of liberty and independence. But as other philosophers have pointed out (including those named in the next section), it goes too far. They argue that a phenomenon either has a cause (or causes) or is completely random; there is no third option. Therefore to say that human actions have no cause is to say that they are random. But observation of the world around us shows that this is clearly not the case. We don’t see mothers hugging their dirty laundry and throwing their babies into the washing machine. Rather, in place of such inexplicable chaos (the logical consequence of this theory) we observe order and meaning in human behavior. Hence, categorical free will must also be rejected as illogical and unrealistic.

Soft Determinism

So while strict determinism leaves us with no room to breathe, it turns out categorical free will opens the door far too wide. Neither theory allows for us to have a conscious influence on our actions. What of the middle ground, something between these two extremes? Such a perspective would allow Sam and Andy to cause their actions in some way that reconciles determinism and free will. Human behavior could then be understood as neither capricious nor automatically enacted irrespective of individual wishes.

Countless persons have endorsed some such compromise—including the English philosophers Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill—and it more or less represents the consensus of contemporary Western philosophy. Among these, the mid–eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher David Hume made what is arguably the chief presentation. His theory has been referred to as soft determinism because it takes strict determinism and alters it in a way that allows for personal freedom and moral accountability. He starts with the notion that every human action has a cause that determines how it will unfold. If this cause is something external to the individual, he refers to the resultant action as involuntary. If this cause is an internal desire of the individual, he refers to the resultant action as voluntary. Whereas in strict determinism all actions are caused by external forces and are therefore what Hume would call involuntary, his soft determinism allows for both external and internal causes. Indeed, he emphasizes the latter by explaining that human beings will always act according to their strongest internal desire unless forcibly constrained by some external factor.

Hume concludes by deeming such voluntary action “free” and therefore liable to moral scrutiny. Thus, under Hume’s theory, Sam’s donation is considered to be causally determined by his desire to donate, and yet is also considered free because it is done willingly. Andy’s act of robbery is caused by his desire to acquire money, but he remains morally culpable because he was not forced to act against his wishes.

Although with Hume’s soft determinism we finally have a theory that connects individuals with their behavior, whether it does so in a way that gives them actual freedom is questionable. Granting that it avoids the oppressive impersonalism of strict determinism and the chaos of categorical free will, does it actually bestow on humans the power of conscious choice? Critics have said no. They have noted that although under Hume’s theory individuals act voluntarily, they do not act freely. This is because the internal desires that cause their actions are not under their conscious control. For example, Sam voluntarily acts in accordance with his desire to give charity (and so feels like he is acting freely), but where does this desire come from? Did he choose to have the kind of personality that is inclined to give?

No. We could either trace its development through his experiences, education, and parenting, or resign ourselves to a simple, “He was born that way.” In either case, we must acknowledge that the very factors that resulted in Sam’s wanting to help out the orphanage are clearly not subject to his conscious control. Rather, his desire is the deterministic product of his background, and it compels him to act accordingly. He is not free to act otherwise. Thus, we are not justified in calling Sam’s and Andy’s respective actions free, and praising or censuring them accordingly. In fact, soft determinism ultimately leads us to the same dead end as strict determinism, albeit with a little more scenery on the way.

Although strict determinism and categorical free will proved easy to dismiss (both in this article and in the annals of Western philosophy), you will likely agree that soft determinism seemed more promising. But it still left us short of what we are searching for: a viable explanation of the cause of human action. Certainly the answer does lie in some sort of synthesis of determinism and free will, but Western philosophy can take us no further in this direction. We therefore now consider the philosophy of ancient India. Within the Vedic scriptures we find a perspective that genuinely reconciles determinism and free will in a way that makes sense to our heads and is agreeable to our hearts.

The Soul’s Free Will

We begin by reviewing the deterministic side of the equation. Krishna explains in the Bhagavad-gita that all living beings have eternal spiritual forms of which the physical bodies we see are only temporary coverings. The root cause of this encasement is known in Sanskrit as ahankara. Though this term is usually translated as false ego, it literally means “I am the doer.” Because we are made of spirit, not matter, we have no ability to independently manipulate matter, and to think we do is the ultimate binding delusion. Far from being a controller, by inhabiting a physical body we come under the control of nature, because the body, being matter, acts according to the laws of nature. The real agent behind the movements of the material world is the energy of God in the form of the three material principles, or modes: maintenance (goodness), creation (passion), and destruction (ignorance). Krishna sums up this whole dynamic by observing, “The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.” Thus, our freedom does not lie in the tangible realm of physical matter.

To some people the implication of such evidence (see Sidebar for another example) is that free will is simply illusory and that enlightenment involves accepting that we are the powerless pawns of a deterministic world. Historically, Western philosophers have even been led to clump the Vedic worldview together with other Eastern philosophies and dismiss them all under the condescending label of “Asiatic fatalism.” But this is only half the Vedic equation. Equally compelling (and arguably even more important) is the Vedic evidence of freedom and the power of conscious choice.

For example, the Vedic literature contains a plethora of rules, regulations, and rituals. Many prominent Vaishnava philosophers have used the same logic we cited earlier in defeating strict determinism to claim that such scriptural prescriptions (and their associated rewards and punishments) can have meaning only if the living entity has some degree of factual independence. Indeed, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead has so dexterously formulated and applied the laws of material nature governing punishment and reward for human behavior that the living being is discouraged from sin and encouraged toward goodness without suffering any significant interference with his free will as an eternal soul.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.24.14, Purport by Prabhupada’s disciples)

It is important to note here, however, that as the mind is considered material in the Vedic understanding, it is subject to the same rigid control that was attributed to the body above. So just as the free will of the living being cannot extend to the actions of the physical body and senses, so too it cannot extend to the actions of the mind or intelligence. Thus, the free will Prabhupada speaks of must be restricted to the domain of the spirit soul proper, and it must be the actions of this soul that merit the various punishments and rewards he speaks of. But how does the soul act? Prabhupada explains that it is through desire. Not only that, he goes one step further to reveal that the desire whether “to surrender to God or not is the essential expression of our free will.”

And there, at last, is our answer and the Vedic resolution of the problem of determinism versus free will. As human beings, our freedom is limited to desiring to come closer to God or to move farther away from him. Material nature, under the supervision of God, takes care of the rest. According to our past desires, we are provided at birth with a suitable body through which the modes of material nature help us perform actions appropriate to those desires. Within the constraints of this body, which range from our mental disposition to the karmic results due to us while in it, we have the opportunity to form new desires. These desires may take many forms, but they will always be reducible to one of two broad categories: desires to be closer to God, or desires to be farther away from Him. Our new desires then create karmic reactions that in turn determine our next body.

No Deterministic Dead End

This Vedic understanding of free will thus saves us from the dead end that soft determinism led us to. We can trace the manifold desires that cause a person to act back from the upbringing of his present life to his nature at birth, to the desires of his previous lives, and, underlying it all, to his progressive desire to surrender to or rebel against God. Freedom reigns at this final, primary level, while determinism dominates all subsequent links in the chain. We could thus call the Vedic model a sort of binary free will.

For example, Sam Surya, in his previous birth, must have had godly desires (e.g., selfless desires to forego pleasures for a higher purpose). As a result, he was probably born with an innate generosity and received good training from his parents and early teachers, both of which allowed him to progress towards God. Andy Andhakara, on the other hand, must have had ungodly desires (e.g., selfish desires that focused on his own well-being at the cost of others), which led him to be born in a degraded situation favorable for expressing and acting upon such desires. The key to understanding how this works is in realizing that karma applies on a subtle, as well as a gross, level. Good actions don’t just create good circumstances; they also create the desire to do further good actions. And vice versa.

Unlike the blank slate of free will or the fixed track of determinism, this blend of the two might be likened to an interactive movie that lets you make choices at key moments and then unfolds automatically until the next decision. If we make choices favorable to reestablishing our relationship with God, like Sam Surya, we’ll get more and better options of this kind the next time. If we make choices that hamper our connection with God, like Andy Andhakara, the godly options will diminish in scope and quantity. Either way, what happens in between the decision points is the preset product of innumerable past choices.

When we finally evolve to the point where we unreservedly and uninterruptedly desire only to be closer to God, then we break the chain of successive physical bodies and can return to the divine abode. There, having revived our original spiritual bodies, we will be completely independent of the laws of nature that so rigidly control us in this world. Thus we come to the ultimate paradox of free will. When we are at every moment lovingly offering our free will at the feet of God for His pleasure rather than ours, then and only then are we the most free.

By Navin Jani

Introduction

Americans and Western Europeans have had a lock on unsustainable over-consumption for decades. But now developing countries are catching up rapidly, to the detriment of the environment, health, and happiness,according to the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington D.C.-based research organization focuses this year on consumerism run amuck.

Approximately 1.7 billion people worldwide now belong to the “consumer class”—the group of people characterized by diets of highly processed food, desire for bigger houses, more and bigger cars, higher levels of debt, and lifestyles devoted to the accumulation of non-essential goods.

Today nearly half of global consumers reside in developing countries, including 240 million in China and 120 million in India—markets with the most potential for expansion.

“Rising consumption has helped meet basic needs and create jobs,” Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute said in a statement to the press. ”But as we enter a new century, this unprecedented consumer appetite is undermining the natural systems we all depend on, and making it even harder for the world’s poor to meet their basic needs.”

The report addresses the devastating toll on the Earth’s water supplies, natural resources, and ecosystems exacted by a plethora of disposable cameras, plastic garbage bags, and other cheaply made goods with built in product-obsolescence, and cheaply made manufactured goods that lead to a “throw away” mentality.

“Most of the environmental issues we see today can be linked to consumption,” said Gary Gardner, director of research for Worldwatch. “As just one small example, there was a story in the newspaper just the other day saying that 37 percent of species could become extinct due to climate change, which is very directly related to consumption.”

And yet another disturbing trend according the reports from World Bank is that the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption, while the poorest 5% just 1.5%. This stark inequality in consumption is widening the distance between the have’s and have-nots. while the one become exploiters and others exploited or shall we call big munchers and small nibblers.

From Luxuries to Necessities

Globalization is a driving factor in making goods and services previously out of reach in developing countries much more available. Items that at one point in time were considered luxuries—televisions, cell phones, computers, air conditioning—are now viewed as necessities.

China provides a snapshot of changing realities. For years, the streets of China’s major cities were characterized by a virtual sea of people on bicycles, and 25 years ago there were barely any private cars in China. By 2000, 5 million cars moved people and goods; the number is expected to reach 24 million by the end of next year.

In the United States, there are more cars on the road than licensed drivers. Increased reliance on automobiles means more pollution, more traffic, more use of fossil fuels. Cars and other forms of transportation account for nearly 30 percent of world energy use and 95 percent of global oil consumption.

Changing diet, with a growing emphasis on meat, illustrates the environmental and societal toll exacted by unbridled consumption. To provide enough beef, chicken, and pork to meet the demand, the livestock industry has moved to factory farming. Producing eight ounces of beef requires 6,600 gallons (25,000 liters) of water; 95 percent of world soybean crops are consumed by farm animals, and 16 percent of the world’s methane, a destructive greenhouse gas, is produced by belching, flatulent livestock. The enormous quantities of manure produced at factory farms becomes toxic waste rather than fertilizer, and runoff threatens nearby streams, bays, and estuaries.

Chickens at a typical farm are kept in cages with about nine square inches (about 60 square centimeters) of space per bird. To force them to lay more eggs, they are often starved. Chickens slaughtered for meat are first fattened up with hormones, sometimes to the point where their legs can no longer support their weight. Crowded conditions can lead to the rapid spread of disease among the animals. To prevent this, antibiotics are included in their feed. The World Health Organization reports that the widespread use of these drugs in the livestock industry is helping breed antibiotic-resistant microbes, complicating the treatment of disease in both animals and people.

The World Bank has also rethought its policy of funding livestock factory farming. In 2001, a World Bank report concluded “there is a significant danger that the poor are being crowded out, the environment eroded, and global food safety and security threatened.”

Not Much Happier

The increase in prosperity is not making humans happier or healthier, according to several studies. Findings from a survey of life satisfaction in more than 65 countries indicate that income and happiness tend to track well until about $13,000 of annual income per person (in 1995 dollars). After that, additional income appears to produce only modest increments in self-reported happiness.

Increased consumerism evidently comes at a steep price. People are incurring debt and working longer hours to pay for the high-consumption lifestyle, consequently spending less time with family, friends, and community organizations. ”Excess consumption can be counterproductive,” said Gardner. “The irony is that lower levels of consumption can actually cure some of these problems.”

Diets of highly processed food and the sedentary lifestyle that goes with heavy reliance on automobiles have led to a worldwide epidemic of obesity. In the United States, an estimated 65 percent of adults are overweight or obese, and the country has the highest rate of obesity among teenagers in the world. Soaring rates of heart disease and diabetes, surging health care costs, and a lower quality of day-to-day life are the result.

Some aspects of rampant consumerism have resulted in startling anomalies. Worldwatch reports that worldwide annual expenditures for cosmetics total U.S. $18 billion; the estimate for annual expenditures required to eliminate hunger and malnutrition is $19 billion. Expenditures on pet food in the United States and Europe total $17 billion a year; the estimated cost of immunizing every child, providing clean drinking water for all, and achieving universal literacy is $16.3 billion.

There is, of course, no easy solution to the problem. But first and foremost we need to reorient our way of thinking, says Gardner.”The goal is to focus not so much on sacrifice, but on how to provide a higher quality of life using the lowest amount of raw materials,” he said. “We need to change the way we produce goods and the way we consume them.”

How consumerism affects society and the Environment

Consumerism is economically manifested in the chronic purchasing of new goods and services, with little attention to their true need, durability, product origin or the environmental consequences of manufacture and disposal. Consumerism is driven by huge sums spent on advertising designed to create both a desire to follow trends, and the resultant personal self-reward system based on acquisition. Materialism is one of the end results of consumerism.

Consumerism interferes with the workings of society by replacing the normal common-sense desire for an adequate supply of life’s necessities, community life, a stable family and healthy relationships with an artificial ongoing and insatiable quest for things and the money to buy them with little regard for the true utility of what is bought. An intended consequence of this, promoted by those who profit from consumerism, is to accelerate the discarding of the old, either because of lack of durability or a change in fashion.

Landfills swell with cheap discarded products that fail early and cannot be repaired. Products are made psychologically obsolete long before they actually wear out. A generation is growing up without knowing what quality goods are. Friendship, family ties and personal autonomy are only promoted as a vehicle for gift giving and the rationale for the selection of communication services and personal acquisition. Everything becomes mediated through the spending of money on goods and services.

It is an often stated catechism that the economy would improve if people just bought more things, bought more cars and spent more money. Financial resources better spent on Social Capital such as education, nutrition, housing etc. are spent on products of dubious value and little social return. In addition, the purchaser is robbed by the high price of new things, the cost of the credit to buy them, and the less obvious expenses such as, in the case of automobiles, increased registration, insurance, repair and maintenance costs.

We shouldn’t allow this or anything like this happen. Things may be starting to turn around in our favor. But it takes work and time and attention to details and a willingness to try new things for our own and our the next generation’s benefit. There are serious changes ahead. We can control some of these for our benefit or we can just react to them after they have happened.

Simply stated, there’s a lot of money being made and a lot of power being gathered by the people that promote consumerism. You pay for it in gradually limited economic mobility, pollution, threats to your health and a declining standard of living, as measured by the things that really matter.

In addition to the everyday things that you can do, there are concepts that need to be discussed and not just in a trite way. The mantra “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” is pregnant with meaning, and reflects worthwhile goals, but it hardly contains solutions to the real integral problems of the world.

Vedic Observer

Malls have replaced parks, temples and community gatherings for many who no longer even take the trouble to meet their neighbors or care to know their names. People move frequently as though neighborhoods and cities were products to be tried out like brands of deodorant. Consumerism sets each person against themself in an endless quest for the attainment of material things or the imaginary world conjured up and made possible by things yet to be purchased.

Indian ethos have always stood for simple living and high thinking. Lord Krishna recommends in BG 4.22 how one should not endeavor more than required rather focus his endeavors in side in the pursuit of the self. So does Isoupanishad which riterates the need for being contended. There are numerous examples of extravagance in puranas but all of them have a strong undercurrent of renunciation. Take for example the story of Saubhari Muni who created an opulent city filled with human pleasurables and yet he renounced it once and for all. Sage Vasishta could create a opulent palace filled with heavenly pleasures by the dint of his spiritual prowess but he himself lived in his hermitage.

The world will have sustainable and balanced progress only if we recognize that it is not an object of exploitation rather an wonderful boon bestowed by the creator in our care. Then sense will prevail. To conclude in the words of Mahatma Gandhi “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”.

References

1. Startling facts of Consumerism

1. Global Issue of Consumerism

L Narasimha Rao

Introduction

Imagine yourself taking a walk in the heart of a city like New York or Tokyo and looking around at the well developed infrastructure around you. Infrastructure of that magnitude never ceases to amaze us. The tall buildings, monuments (such as statue of liberty) the well planned roads and the underground railway all point to meticulous planning (by the government authorities), amazing engineering skills (Architects and Engineers) and well managed execution (Contractors, Laborers, etc).

Now imagine some one coming up and telling us that all this automatically came up due to some ‘big bang’ or due to some ‘automatic molecular combination” that formed a simple structure and then ‘evolved’ into more and more complex buildings! We would think that such a person is likely to be out of his mind.

And yet, that is exactly what we ourselves seem to think when it comes to explaining the origin of the universe, which is so complex and vast, that millions of such well developed cities would constitute only a fraction of it! We attribute the origin of a well developed city to thoughtful planning, excellent engineering and meticulous execution. However, we tend attribute the creation of the universe to some automatic combination of molecules or some ‘Big Bang’.

The Big Bang Theory:

‘Big Bang’ a scientific theory, developed from observations of the structure of universe and from theoretical considerations. Everybody knows that the theory of big-bang generally refers to the idea that the “universe has expanded from a primordial hot and dense initial condition at some finite time in the past, and continues to expand to this day.”.

In 1924 Edwin Hubble found that the universe is constantly expanding. As the universe is constantly expanding, scientists came to a conclusion that the universe would have started at some time in the past and named it as Big Bang.

Are we made of cosmic dust?

The basis of this theory, as explained scientifically, is that we owe the creation of the universe to the breaking away of the absolute symmetry of the absolute emptiness that existed before the creation began. There is a theory called vacuum genesis, which suggests that the universe began from a single particle arising from an absolute vacuum. A particle so powerful that it gave raise to the cosmic creation. Of course, a particle from nothing is admittedly not very likely. But it is a theory that they still work with, possibly for a lack of anything else.

The premise of the Big Bang Theory is based on the Redshift, the evidence that the universe seems to be expanding. This is when the wavelength of the light from a distant celestial object shifts toward the longer wavelength. This is figured to be caused by the Doppler Effect that the space between the objects giving the light is increasing, caused by an expanding universe. The Vedic version of the universal creation is that it was created by the guidance of the Supreme Being and, indeed, has been steadily expanding. But this does not imply an unnatural Big Bang from which everything appeared. The bottom line is that the Big Bang Theory is founded on a few assumptions that if ever negated or proven wrong will dismiss the whole theory. And, low and behold, it seems that after a closer look into this theory, there are some major flaws that prevent it from being acceptable for everyone.

TomVanFlandern, the space scientist, has presented three major problems found in the Big Bang Theory. One is that the law of conservation of matter and energy is not upheld within this theory. Secondly, this theory offers no calculations of the early ages of the universe that can properly deduce the temperature of the microwave background radiation. Thirdly, though the theory may be able to explain how such substances as helium and deuterium were formed, there are problems in understanding how the nuclei in such substances as lithium, beryllium and boron were created.

Furthermore, the inflation that would have taken place with the Big Bang makes the age of the universe unreasonably small when compared with the estimated ages of the galaxies or globular clusters that are in existence. It also puts a limit on the amount of ordinary matter in the universe, forcing some astronomers to speculate that there must be a large amount of “dark matter” to fill in the spaces. But such dark matter cannot account for the observable superclusters and galaxies, says Anthony Peratt, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Thus, the superclusters are not what would be expected from the Big Bang model.

One last point is that the smooth nature of the background microwave radiation would not be the result of an explosive beginning, which would have produced a less organized and more chaotic or unsmooth result.  As it stands, science still cannot answer the question regarding what started the explosion of the Big Bang. Where was the original substance, or particle? What caused the creation? Even now science is still looking for another theory that can explain how nature would have behaved at the time of the threshold of creation under the extreme conditions during the original explosion of the Big Bang. How would it have happened in a way that caused the original atoms that then changed into forms that paved the way for all of the additional atoms to have developed? Because of these concerns and problems, along with others not mentioned, some scientists now feel that the Big Bang Theory is “thoroughly unsatisfactory” as an explanation of the universe’s origin. Besides, even if there was a Big Bang origin, where did consciousness come from? Why would there now be a bunch of entities running around trying to figure this out and not merely a bunch of dust and molecules drifting through space?

Encyclopedia Britannica admits: “It should be emphasized that no theory of the origin of the solar system has as yet won general acceptance. All involve highly improbable assumptions.”

Vedic Observer

Big Bang has been another theory that at first is applauded as the answer to the questions, yet with time is found to be too faulty, typical of the ever-changing scientific process that starts with one theory and in time gives way to something else. It is even admitted by science that the cause of the creation is “almost supernatural”. So it is still a mystery–why is there anything instead of nothing? But unfortunately it is still the theory found in the schools textbooks.

The formation of universe is best explained by the “Vedas” which is present at the time of universe creation. The “Vedas” are like a manual for universe. It explains the functionality and formation of universe. In science you cannot go outside the creation to find its cause. However, the Vedic creationism does indeed take us to the point before there was anything at all in the cosmic creation. That is the difference. The Vedic version points out that the cause of the creation is indeed outside the universe, just as an architect for a building may be living outside the building, someplace else rather than within it. Science still owes a lot to religion. Science still accepts that we have a “uni-verse”, a single system governed by a single set of laws. This admittedly is based on the religious concept of one God, one creator, and thus one system of laws, and a single source from which everything began. That is what the Vedanta Sutras explain, that the Absolute Truth is “He from whom all else manifests.” So to me, the faults found within the scientific creation theories only lends further credence to a Divine Source for the material manifestation. It also shows that there are many answers that can be found by researching the Vedic version of the Divinely guided creation. And unlike us Human beings, whose imperfections are sometimes very costly (the bridge of the Delhi Metro rail collapsed recently, causing heavy damage, one death and 15 injuries), God’s creations do not have such anomalies (imagine the consequences if God had made a small error while designing the orbits of planets in the solar system - there would have been a collision of planets!)

Quotes from renowned scientists on creation

Many renowned scientists acknowledge the need for an existence of an intelligent creator behind the universe, quite unlike the statements from the Big Bang Theory:-

• “There is a perfect brain behind all the natural physical laws”. – Albert Einstein

• “Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man…” - Albert Einstein

• “It is the perfection of God’s works that they are all done with the greatest simplicity” - Isaac Newton

• Sir Isaac Newton further continues to say that “Can it be by accident that all birds beasts & men have their right side & left side alike shaped (except in their bowels) & just two eyes & no more on either side the face & just two ears on either side the head & a nose with two holes & no more between the eyes & one mouth under the nose & either two four legs or two wings or two arms on the shoulders & two legs on the hips one on either side & no more?. Did blind chance know that there was light & what was its refraction & fit the eyes of all creatures after the most curious manner to make use of it? These & such like considerations always have & ever will prevail with man kind to believe that there is a being who made all things & has all things in his power”.

• “If you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to believe in God” – Lord Kelvin

• The story of Newton and his Atheist Friend: Once Newton engaged a craftsman and had a nice model made of the “Solar System” which would even depict the movement of the planets on the push of a lever. He then called over one of his friends who happened to be an atheist and showed him the model. His friend expressed his appreciation at the craftsmanship and asked whose work it was. Newton promptly replied that the model just ‘came up by itself’. His friend laughed at the answer and when Newton insisted on that answer, the friend remarked that Newton must be kidding. Then Newton pointed out that this was the same explanation that was being given by the scientists (including the friend) for the origin of the ‘actual’ solar system which was much obviously much more complex than this one!

• Newton used this situation to drive home the point that there is an intelligent creator behind everything, and that nothing can come up on its own, due to random molecular combinations or some big bang.

Authored by Giridhari Gopal and Vivek Devarajan
Edited by L Narasimha Rao

Introduction

In recent years attempts have been made to cast a new look at ancient India. For too long the picture has been distorted by myopic colonial readings of India’s prehistory and early history, and more recently by ill-suited Marxist models. One such distortion was the Aryan invasion theory, now definitively on its way out, although its watered-down avatars are still struggling to survive. It will no doubt take some more time—and much more effort on the archaeological front—for a new perspective of the earliest civilization in the North of the subcontinent to take firm shape, but a beginning has been made.
We have a peculiar situation too as regards Southern India, and particularly Tamil Nadu. Take any classic account of Indian history and you will see how little space the South gets in comparison with the North.

The Background

It is a fact that archaeology in the South has so far unearthed little that can compare to findings in the North in terms of ancientness, massiveness or sophistication : the emergence of urban civilization in Tamil Nadu is now fixed at the second or third century BC, about two and a half millennia after the appearance of Indus cities. Moreover, we do not have any fully or largely excavated city or even medium-sized town. All in all, the archaeological record scarcely measures up to what emerges from the Indo-Gangetic plains—which is one reason why awareness of these excavations has hardly reached the general public, even in Tamil Nadu ; it has heard more about the still superficial exploration of submerged Poompuhar than about the painstaking work done in recent decades at dozens of sites.

Political interests fuels the theory

But there is a second reason for this poor awareness : scholars and politicians drawing inspiration from the Dravidian movement launched by E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker (“Periyar”) have very rigid ideas about the ancient history of Tamil Nadu. First, despite all evidence to the contrary, they still insist on the Aryan invasion theory in its most violent version, turning most North Indians and upper-caste Indians into descendants of the invading Aryans who overran the indigenous Dravidians, and Sanskrit into a deadly rival of Tamil. Consequently, they assert that Tamil is more ancient than Sanskrit, and civilization in the South older than in the North. Thus recently, Tamil Nadu’s Education minister decried in the State Assembly those who go “to the extent of saying that Dravidian civilization is part of Hinduism” and declared, “The Dravidian civilization is older than the Aryan.”8 It is not uncommon to hear even good Tamil scholars utter such claims.

Now, it so happens that archaeological findings in Tamil Nadu, though scanty, are nevertheless decisive. Indeed, we now have a broad convergence between literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence.[9] Thus names of cities, kings and chieftains mentioned in Sangam literature have often been confirmed by inscriptions and coins dating back to the second and third centuries BC. Kautilya speaks in his Arthashastra (c. fourth century BC) of the “easily travelled southern land route,” with diamonds, precious stones and pearls from the Pandya country ;[10] two Ashokan rock edicts (II and XIII[11]) respectfully refer to Chola, Pandya and Chera kingdoms as “neighbours,” therefore placing them firmly in the third century BC ; we also have Kharavela’s cave inscription near Bhubaneswar in which the Kalinga king (c. 150 BC) boasts of having broken up a “confederacy of the Dravida countries which had lasted for 113 years.”[12] From all these, it appears that the earliest Tamil kingdoms must have been established around the fourth century BC ; again, archaeological findings date urban developments a century or two later, but this small gap will likely be filled by more extensive excavations. But there’s the rub : beyond the fourth century BC and back to 700 or 1000 BC, all we find is a megalithic period, and going still further back, a neolithic period starting from about the third millennium BC. While those two prehistoric periods are as important as they are enigmatic, they show little sign of a complex culture,[13] and no clear connection with the dawn of urban civilization in the South.

Therefore the good minister’s assertion as to the greater ancientness of the “Dravidian civilization” finds no support on the ground. In order to test his second assertion that that civilization is outside Hinduism, or the common claim that so-called “Dravidian culture” is wholly separate from so-called “Aryan” culture, let us take an unbiased look at the cultural backdrop of early Tamil society and try to make out some of its mainstays. That is what I propose to do briefly, using not only literary evidence, but first, material evidence from archaeological and numismatic sources as regards the dawn of the Sangam age. I may add that I have left out the Buddhist and Jain elements, already sufficiently well known, to concentrate on the Vedic and Puranic ones, which are usually underemphasized. Also, I will not deal here with the origin of South Indian people and languages, or with the nature of the process often called “Aryanization of the South” (I prefer the word “Indianization,” used in this context by an archaeologist[14]). Those complex questions have been debated for decades, and will only reach firm conclusions, I believe, with ampler archaeological evidence.

The Myth of Dravidian Culture

And yet, such statements do not go deep enough, as they still imply a North-South contrast and an unknown Dravidian substratum over which the layer of “Aryan” culture was deposited. This view is only milder than that of the proponents of a “separate” and “secular” Dravidian culture, who insist on a physical and cultural Aryan-Dravidian clash as a result of which the pure “Dravidian” culture got swamped. As we have seen, archaeology, literature and Tamil tradition all fail to come up with the slightest hint of such a conflict. Rather, as far as the eye can see into the past there is every sign of a deep cultural interaction between North and South, which blossomed not through any “imposition” but in a natural and peaceful manner, as everywhere else in the subcontinent and beyond.
As regards an imaginary Dravidian “secularism” (another quite inept word to use in the Indian context), it has been posited by many scholars : Marr,60 Zvelebil[61] and others characterize Sangam poetry as “secular” and “pre-Aryan”[62] after severing its heroic or love themes from its strong spiritual undercurrents, in a feat typical of Western scholarship whose scrutiny always depends more on the magnifying glass than on the wide-angle lens. A far more insightful view comes from the historian M. G. S. Narayanan, who finds in Sangam literature “no trace of another, indigenous, culture other than what may be designated as tribal and primitive.”[63] He concludes :

Vedic culture flourished in Dravidian areas

The Aryan-Dravidian or Aryan-Tamil dichotomy envisaged by some scholars may have to be given up since we are unable to come across anything which could be designated as purely Aryan or purely Dravidian in the character of South India of the Sangam Age. In view of this, the Sangam culture has to be looked upon as expressing in a local idiom all the essential features of classical “Hindu” culture.[64]

Dravidian contribution to Vedic culture

However, it is not as if the Tamil land passively received this culture : in exchange it generously gave elements from its own rich temperament and spirit. In fact, all four Southern States massively added to every genre of Sanskrit literature, not to speak of the signal contributions of a Shankara, a Ramanuja or a Madhwa. In addition to the writing of these medieval scholars there have numerous temples especially in Tamilnadu popularly referred as Divyadesams which as per the local scholars date back to 3000 B.C. The tradition of Srivaishnavism glorified and epitomized in the Divyaprabandha literature of the Alvars have practiced and propagated the worship of various of Vishnu whom the Dravidian chauvinists regard as Aryan God . The existence of Srivaishnavism in itself is the greatest challenge to the prevalent theory of origin of Dravidian culture which regards worship of Vishnu are from Aryan roots.

Origins of Bhakti Movement

More importantly, many scholars suggest that “the bhakti movement began in the Tamil country [and] later spread to North India.”[67] Subbiah, in a profound study, not only challenges the misconceived “secular” portrayal of the Sangam texts, but also the attribution of the Tamil bhakti to a northern origin ; rather, he suggests, it was distinctly a creation of Tamil culture, and Sangam literature “a reflection of the religious culture of the Tamils.”[68].The Bhagavatha Mahatmya of Padma Purana mentions that the Bhakti was born in the Dravida country, had her early growth in the Karnataka and flourished in the Maharashtra. And the Vedic literature is abound with references to Dravida desa especially the Bhagavatha Purana refers more than once about the rivers like Tamaraparini as a sacred river. Matsya Purana also mentions that Matsya Avatara one of the Vishnu’s incarnations as a fish appeared in the Dravida desha when the Dravidian King Satyavrata was ruling.

As regards the fundamental contributions of the South to temple architecture, music, dance and to the spread of Hindu culture to other South Asian countries, they are too well known to be repeated here. Besides, the region played a crucial role in preserving many important Sanskrit texts (a few Vedic recensions, Bhasa’s dramas, the Arthashastra for instance) better than the North was able to do, and even today some of India’s best Vedic scholars are found in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.[69] As Swami Vivekananda put it, “The South had been the repository of Vedic learning.”[70] In other words, what is loosely called Hinduism would not be what it is without the South. To use the proverbial but apt image, the outflow from the Tamil land was a major tributary to the great river of Indian culture.

Conclusion

It should now be crystal clear that anyone claiming a “separate,” “pre-Aryan” or “secular” Dravidian culture has no evidence to show for it, except his own ignorance of archaeology, numismatics and ancient Tamil literature. Not only was there never such a culture, there is in fact no meaning in the word “Dravidian” except either in the old geographical sense or in the modern linguistic sense ; racial and cultural meanings are as unscientific as they are irrational, although some scholars in India remain obstinately rooted in a colonial mindset.
The simple reality is that every region of India has developed according to its own genius, creating in its own bent, but while remaining faithful to the central Indian spirit. The Tamil land was certainly one of the most creative, and we must hope to see more of its generosity once warped notions about its ancient culture are out of the way.

Vedic Observer

The Bhagavatha Mahatmya of the Padma Purana mentions that the Bhakti culture was born in Dravida desha. There is a mention of Dravida only as a historical place not as a Dravidian race which is incongruous invention of British and further developed by some political interests of some section of people to keep a check on the growth of Vedic culture in the south. And the sad part is this prevailing concept have been fossilized in the history text books and whole country is suffering from lack of cultural integrity thereby accelerating the slow death of glorious heritage of the ancient Indians.

The falsehood spread by the Dravidian parties should be refuted and reviewed in the light of the truth and let the truth prevail over the political interests.

References

1. Dravidian Race
2. Vedic roots of early Tamil culture by Michel Danino.

Edited by L Narasimhan Rao

Rediscovery of Dwaraka

Introduction

During the Mahabharata times (5000 years ago, or 3000 BC), Bharat-varsa (India) boasted of several splendid cities and kingdoms. One such important city is Dwaraka - the residence of Lord Krishna. While many other kingdoms described in the epic Mahabharata and related scriptures have been identified and traced, Dwaraka seemed to remain elusive, at least in the archaeological sense. Scholars thus would not accept the glorious heritage of Vedic India, and clung on to dubious theories as the Aryan invasion of India and continued to classify the Vedic literature as mythology. A knife can take life as well as give life. Scientific theories rendering the Vedic civilization, culture and books as myths are now being discovered as engineered frauds. The Aryan invasion tale was specifically engineered to dislodge a generation from naturally accepting a culture and teachings that had continued for millenniums.

In this article, we collect some recent findings from underwater archaeological research initiatives around the coast of present-day Dwaraka.

Puranas - The Historical Record

The ancient city of Dwaraka, situated on the extreme West Coast of Indian territory, occupies an important place in the cultural and religious history of India. The fabulous architectural planning of the Dwaraka temple has attracted tourists from all over the world. The town has association with Lord Krishna, who founded this town by reclaiming 12 yojanas (1 yojana = approx 8 miles) of land from the sea. During its glorious past, Dwaraka was a city of beautiful gardens, deep moats, and several ponds and palaces (Vishnu Purana), but it is believed to have submerged just after the disappearance of Lord Krishna. Dwaraka continues to attract archeologists, historians and scientists besides the devotees of Lord Krishna.
Sri Krishna killed the demon Kamsa (his maternal uncle) and made Ugrasena (His maternal grandfather) the king of Mathura. Enraged, Kamsa’s father-in law, Jarasandha (king of Magadh) together with his friend Kalayavana attacked Mathura 17 times. For the safety of the people, Krishna and the Yadavas decided to move the capital from Mathura to Dwaraka.
Sri Krishna and the Yadavas left Mathura and arrived at the coast of Saurashtra. They decided to build their capital in the coastal region and invoked Visvakarma, the deity of construction. However, Visvakarma said that the task could be completed only if Samudradeva, the lord of the sea, provided some land. Sri Krishna worshipped Samudradeva, who was pleased and gave them land measuring 12 yojanas and henceforth, Visvakarma built Dwaraka, a city in gold.

Submergence of Dwaraka

After Sri Krishna left for His eternal abode and the major Yadava heads were killed in fights amongst themselves, Dwaraka became submerged in the sea. This is the account given by Arjuna in the Mahabharata: The sea, which has been beating against the shores, suddenly broke the boundary that was imposed on it by nature. It rushed into the city, coursing through the beautiful city streets, and covered up everything in the city. I saw the beautiful buildings becoming submerged one by one. In a matter of a few moments, it was all over. The sea had now become as placid as a lake. There was no trace of the city. Dwaraka was just a name; just a memory.

The Historical Dwaraka

The city of Dwaraka has been under investigation by historians since the beginning of the 20th century. The exact location of this port city has been under debate for a long time. Several literary references, especially from the Mahabharata, have been used to suggest its exact location.
Dwaraka is mentioned in the Mahabharata (Mausala Parva) and an appendix to the epic, Harivamsa, refers to the submergence of Dwaraka by the sea. Dwaraka was a city state extending up to Bet Dwaraka (Sankhoddhara) in the north and Okhamadhi in the south. In the east, it extended up to Pindata. The 30 to 40 meter-high hill on the eastern flank of Sankhoddhara may be the Raivataka referred to in the Mahabharata.

Recent Discoveries

Excavations at Dwaraka helped add credence to the legend of Krishna and the Mahabharata war, as well as provide ample evidence of the advanced societies that lived in these areas such as the Harappan settlements.
The Dwarakadhisa Temple prompted the setting up of a Marine Archaeology Unit (MAU) jointly by the National Institute of Oceanography and the Archaeological Survey of India. Under the guidance of Dr. Rao, a great marine archaeologist, a team consisting of expert underwater explorers, trained diver-photographers and archaeologists was formed. The technique of geophysical survey was combined with the use of echo-sounders, mud-penetrators, sub-bottom profilers and underwater metal detectors. This team carried out 12 marine archaeological expeditions between 1983 to 1992 and articles and antiquities recovered were sent to Physical Research Laboratory for dating. By using thermo-luminescence, carbon dating and other modern scientific techniques, the artifacts were found to belong to the period between 15th and 18th BCE. In his great work, The Lost City of Dwaraka, Dr. Rao has given scientific details of these discoveries and artifacts.
Between 1983 to 1990, the well-fortified township of Dwaraka was discovered, extending more than half mile from the shore. The township was built in six sectors along the banks of a river. The foundation of boulders on which the city’s walls were erected proves that the land was reclaimed from the sea. The general layout of the city of Dwaraka described in ancient texts agrees with that of the submerged city discovered by the MAU.

Artefacts

Among the objects unearthed that proved Dwaraka’s connection with the Mahabharata epic was a seal engraved with the image of a three headed animal. The epic mentions such a seal given to the citizens of Dwaraka as a proof of identity when the city was threatened by King Jarasandha of the powerful Magadh kingdom (now Bihar). The foundation of boulders on which the city’s walls were erected proves that the land was reclaimed from the sea about 3,600 years ago. The epic has references to such reclamation activity at Dwaraka. Seven islands mentioned in it were also discovered submerged in the Arabian Sea.
Pottery, which has been established by thermo-luminescence tests to be 3,528 years old and carrying inscriptions in late Indus Valley civilization script, iron stakes and triangular three-holed anchors discovered here find mention in the Mahabharata.

ASI’s view

According to the discoveries, Dwaraka was a prosperous city in ancient times, which was destroyed and reconstructed several times. The work of great excavators like Z.D. Ansari and M.S. Mate allowed chance discovery of temples of the 9th century A.D. and 1st century A.D. buried near the present Dwaraka.
Conclusions arrived at after carrying out these underwater archaeological explorations support and validate the dates arrived at through astronomical calculations. They also prove that the reconstructed city was a prosperous port town, and that it was in existence for about 60-70 years in the 15th century B.C. before being submerged under the sea in the year 1443 B.C.
Read the entire report.

The Pioneer

The discovery of the legendary city of Dwaraka which is said to have been founded by Sri Krishna, is an important landmark in the history of India. It has set at rest the doubts expressed by historians about the historicity of Mahabharata and the very existence of Dwaraka city. It has greatly narrowed the gap of Indian history by establishing the continuity of Indian civilization from the Vedic age to the present day. - S.R. Rao, former adviser to the NIO who is still actively involved in the excavations.
Rao said that if a fraction of the funds spent on land archaeology were made available for underwater archaeology, more light could be shed on Dwaraka, which had much archaeological significance because it was built during the second urbanization that occured in India after the Indus Valley civilization in northwestern India. Dwaraka’s existence disproves the belief held by Western archaeologists that there was no urbanization in the indian subcontinent from the period between 1700 B.C. (Indus Valley) and 550 B.C. (advent of Buddhism). As no information was available about that period, they had labelled it the Dark Period.
The findings in Dwaraka and archeological evidence found compatible with the Mahabharata tradition remove the lingering doubt about the historicity of the Mahabharata. We would say that Krishna definitely existed. - S.R. Rao.

The Vedic Observer

Although the adherents of western, empirical science date Dwaraka to 1443 B.C. or roughly 3,400 years ago, ancient Vedic astronomical texts and present-day practitioners of the Vedic tradition assert that the current epoch of Kali-yuga began in 3102 B.C. Lord Krishna’s disappearance and the subsequent submergence of Dwaraka occured shortly before this date. Therefore, Dwaraka can be no less than 5,000 years old. The current findings are only the tip of the iceberg, and with detailed under-water investigations, we are sure many more artifacts can be found. In fact, as per Dr Rao, “if a fraction of funding that goes for land archaeology can be reserved for under-water exploration especially around Bet Dwaraka, countless invaluable findings await us.”

We hope that the Government that controls ASI and NIO does due diligence in letting the citizens and the world know what treasures existed during Vedic India. The knowledge that India once possessed - architecture, astronomy, ship-building, medicine, mathematics, etc and above all - spiritual wisdom, let it be re-searched through all means and benefit all.

There are numerous evidences of vedic civilization not just in India but all over the World. This concurs with the vedic idea of Universality of Sanatana Dharma or Universal Religion. Watch out for more articles.

Compiled by Anand Yeolekar and L Narasimhan Rao

Bhagavad Gita and Warmongering

Introduction

The timeless transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad-Gita has been the beacon light for humanity for ages. The most successful human civilizations lived by the principles of Bhagavad-Gita and other Vedic scriptures as taught by the qualified learned sages. As things degrade with the passage of time, so has the understanding of the divine message of Bhagavad-Gita. Of late, it has become fashionable to impose one’s own prejudices on Bhagavad-Gita. Mundane scholars and academicians both from India and the west have projected a wrong picture of Bhagavad-Gita through their misinterpreted commentaries, writings, public speeches etc.

Misconceptions about Bhagavad-Gita

The general pattern mundane scholars and academicians have followed in understanding the Bhagavad-gita has been to brush aside the person Krishna to make room for their own concepts and philosophies. The history of the Mahabharata is taken as quaint mythology, and Krishna becomes a poetic device for presenting the ideas of some anonymous genius, or at best He becomes a minor historical personage. But the person Krishna is both the goal and the substance of Bhagavad-gita, so far as the Gita speaks of itself.

The Bhagavad-gita should be seen from the pespective of the speaker, Lord Krishna, not one’s prejudices just as the theme of a book is heard from the author. The Bhagavad-gita then becomes wholly consistent and comprehensible.

War Mongering

Ironically, we also hear from the west a diametrically opposite criticism voiced at the Gita: no longer of passivity or apathy, but of warmongering! Much to our shock and anguish, Wendy Doniger, Indologist and professor of History of religion at the University of Chicago recently said The Bhagavad-Gita is not as nice a book as some Americans think. Throughout the Mahabharata Krishna goads human beings into all sorts of murderous and self-destructive behaviors such as war. I am a pacifist (someone who believes that violence is wrong and refuses to fight in wars). I don’t believe in good wars [1].

The above statement by the Indologist and professor of Religious studies only exhibits the ignorance of the professor regarding the confidential message of Bhagavad-Gita. This is just one instance. There are many, including some so-called scholars who have misunderstood the Bhagavad-Gita to varying degrees and are promoting their misconceptions to the innocent public. Of course, many western thinkers, from Emerson to Aldous Huxley have shown a better understanding of the Lord’s song. But let us face the professor’s statement and examine its validity. Apart from its despairing tone all too common with the western indologists accustomed to judging Indian civilization according to their own standards, it does not raise a valid problem. And indeed certain Jain scriptures, for instance, have criticized Sri Krishna on much the same ground. Not too far are some Indian counterparts trained in western education.

Is war and killing always bad? Then well, if it is, it is not India that ought to be condemned but the west with its blood-stained record of Crusades and genocides of countless Pagan people, its endless history of wars and conquests, its two world wars and recent bombing campaigns. Indeed where has pacifism been practiced in the post Christian west? By contrast, we have no record of any military conquest by India of other civilizations, no Indian genocides of other people to impose a religion or a political domination. So why lay this unjust blame on the innocent rather than on the guilty?

Need for the War

Dhritirastra and Pandu were brothers born in the Kuru dynasty, descending from King Bharata, a former ruler of the earth, from whom the name Mahabharata derives. Because Dhritirastra , the elder brother, was born blind, the throne that otherwise would have been his was passed down to the younger brother, Pandu.
When Pandu died at an early age, his five children came under the care of Dhritirastra, who in effect became, for the time being, the king. Thus the sons of Dhritirastra and those of Pandu grew up in the same royal household. Both were trained in the military arts by the expert Drona and counseled by the revered “grandfather” of the clan, Bhishma. Yet the sons of Dhritirastra , especially the eldest, Duryodhana, hated and envied the Pandavas. And the blind and weak-minded Dhritirastra wanted his own sons, not those of Pandu, to inherit the kingdom.
Thus Duryodhana, with Dhritirastra ’s consent, plotted to kill the young sons of Pandu, and it was only by the careful protection of their uncle Vidura and their cousin Lord Krishna that the Pandavas escaped the many attempts against their lives.
Now, Lord Krishna was not an ordinary man but the Supreme Godhead Himself, who had descended to earth and was playing the role of a prince in a contemporary dynasty. So both as a relative and as the eternal upholder of religion, Krishna favored the righteous sons of Pandu and protected them.
Ultimately, however, the clever Duryodhana challenged the Pandavas to a gambling match. In the course of that fateful tournament, Duryodhana and his brothers took possession of Draupadi, the chaste and devoted wife of the Pandavas, and insultingly tried to strip her naked before the entire assembly of princes and kings. Krishna’s divine intervention saved her, but the gambling, which was rigged, cheated the Pandavas of their kingdom and forced them into thirteen years of exile.
Upon returning from exile, the Pandavas rightfully requested their kingdom from Duryodhana, who bluntly refused to yield it. Duty bound as princes to serve in public administration, the five Pandavas reduced their request to a mere five villages. But Duryodhana arrogantly replied that he wouldn’t spare them enough land into which to drive a pin. Throughout all this, the Pandavas had been consistently tolerant and forbearing. But now war seemed inevitable.
Nonetheless, as the princes of the world divided, some siding with the sons of Dhritirastra, others with the Pandavas , Krishna Himself took the role of messenger for the sons of Pandu and went to the court of Pandavas to plead for peace. When His pleas were refused, war was now certain.

Therefore, Bhagavad-Gita is not a book of political diplomacy encouraging warmongering. When the Bhagavad-Gita was spoken by Lord Krishna to Arjuna about 5000 years ago, battle was accidentally a context in which this knowledge had to be given. In fact, if we study the Bhagavad-Gita thoroughly, we will not find any war strategy. If professor Doniger is accusing Bhagavad-Gita of warmongering, it is obvious that the professor has not gone through the contents of the Gita thoroughly.

The proper way to approach Bhagavad-Gita

As any subject matter has a way to approach it, so has the Bhagavad-Gita. One can never understand the mystery of Bhagavad-Gita by a mere academic and challenging approach. The right way to approach Bhagavad-Gita is mentioned by Lord Krishna, the speaker thus
tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya
upadekshyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darshinah
“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.” Bhagavad-gita 4.34

So, to understand Bhagavad-Gita as it is, we must approach a bonafide spiritual master coming in disciplic succession, serve him and inquire from him. Those who try to study the Gita on their own without surrendering to a qualified preceptor will never be able to enter into the mystery of Bhagavad-Gita even by studying it for centuries.

Because the modern day scholars and academicians try to understand the Gita on their own without approaching a spiritual master, they see the Bhagavad-Gita from their own perspectives and prejudices and spread the same concocted misunderstanding around. Therefore, those who want to understand Bhagavad-Gita should approach a bonafide spiritual master and study it under his guidance.

The teachings of Bhagavad-Gita

The Bhagavad-Gita was spoken by Sri Krishna to Arjuna in response to Arjuna’s request to Lord Krishna to enlighten him about his dharma (religious principles and duty) when he was in a state of confusion whether to fight his cousins on the battlefield of Kurukshetra BG-2.7. Arjuna argued that it is irreligious and unnecessary violence against innocent warriors to engage in the scheduled ghastly war. But the speaker of Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna simply dismisses all the apparently religious and genuine arguments of Arjuna as mere weakness of heart and nothing to do with real dharma.

Vedic Observer

In conclusion, we invite the misguided professors to give up their academic approach to Bhagavad-Gita and learn the transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad-Gita from the devotees of Lord Krishna.

References

1. Philadelphia Inquirer

Compiled by Madhur Gauranga Das

Abstract

Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers — people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain? Meditate.

More

That’s the finding from a group of researchers at UCLA who used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of people who meditate. In a study published in the journal NeuroImage and currently available online (by subscription), the researchers report that certain regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger than in a similar control group.

Specifically, meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus — all regions known for regulating emotions.

“We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior,” said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. “The observed differences in brain anatomy might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities.”

Research has confirmed the beneficial aspects of meditation. In addition to having better focus and control over their emotions, many people who meditate regularly have reduced levels of stress and bolstered immune systems. But less is known about the link between meditation and brain structure.

In the study, Luders and her colleagues examined 44 people — 22 control subjects and 22 who had practiced various forms of meditation, including Zazen, Samatha and Vipassana, among others. The amount of time they had practiced ranged from five to 46 years, with an average of 24 years.

More than half of all the meditators said that deep concentration was an essential part of their practice, and most meditated between 10 and 90 minutes every day.

The researchers used a high-resolution, three-dimensional form of MRI and two different approaches to measure differences in brain structure. One approach automatically divides the brain into several regions of interest, allowing researchers to compare the size of certain brain structures. The other segments the brain into different tissue types, allowing researchers to compare the amount of gray matter within specific regions of the brain.

The researchers found significantly larger cerebral measurements in meditators compared with controls, including larger volumes of the right hippocampus and increased gray matter in the right orbito-frontal cortex, the right thalamus and the left inferior temporal lobe. There were no regions where controls had significantly larger volumes or more gray matter than meditators.

Because these areas of the brain are closely linked to emotion, Luders said, “these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators’ the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way.”

What’s not known, she said, and will require further study, are what the specific correlates are on a microscopic level — that is, whether it’s an increased number of neurons, the larger size of the neurons or a particular “wiring” pattern meditators may develop that other people don’t.

Because this was not a longitudinal study — which would have tracked meditators from the time they began meditating onward — it’s possible that the meditators already had more regional gray matter and volume in specific areas; that may have attracted them to meditation in the first place, Luders said.

However, she also noted that numerous previous studies have pointed to the brain’s remarkable plasticity and how environmental enrichment has been shown to change brain structure.

Vedic Observer

The sages of vedic schools have evolved a very higly refined and advanced science of meditation better known as yoga sastra. The astanga system of yoga has always been an integral part of the vedic spiritual practices. It had acquired an status of a science with clearly established methodology of practice and consequent mental and physical powers that enables the yogi to manipulate the mind and matter. Unfortunately it is hardly practical in this age because of the limited mental and physical faculties of the human beings in the contemproary age is hardly proficient to the very high level of precision and self control that goes with it.

Vegetarianism and Cow Protection

People are generally unaware of the importance of Cow Protection. Cows produce, in large quantities, the miracle food, milk. Milk is produced from the blood of the cow, however she is happy to give her blood transformed in a peaceful, non-violent way in the form of milk.

The cow is so merciful she is freely giving us her milk which contains all the vitamins, proteins and other nutrients found in flesh. If people drink milk there is absolutely no need for animal killing and no possibility of their diets being deficient in any way. One can survive simply by drinking milk. Milk is a complete food.

Protect Cows

Many of the problems we are now facing, including violence and wars, are a direct result of the massive cow killing now going on everywhere. We don’t connect it. It is karma. When we do something violent to another living entity that violence will come back on us in the future. It’s just like bouncing a ball on the ground… it will bounce back up again. Scientists can relate to the forces and natural principles at work in the bouncing ball but they cannot yet see the same forces acting on a more subtle level. But karma is the same law that causes the ball to bounce back up… it works with our actions as well as with balls!

Of course animals are less intelligent than people. They can’t defend themselves against us. But that doesn’t mean they have no rights. They are born into this world just like you and me and they have a right to live here also.

People Apathy

People just don’t think about it. Even when we are young, our mother always lovingly served us steak and potatoes and encouraged us to dine heartily on the carcass so we could “grow up big and strong.” And the TV adds and the billboards daily reinforce the conditioning that it’s “perfectly normal” to kill animals for food. So most never question it; they don’t make the connection between the seemingly innocent hamburger on their plate and the horror of the slaughterhouse. “Out of sight, out of mind.”

But the fact is, to satisfy our corrupted appetites, billions of animals are unnecessarily and brutally butchered every year. And year after year the inhumanity continues to be overlooked, and because of this our society is becoming more and more callous…and cruel.

Is it right that animals, fully sentient beings, are made to suffer simply because we “like the taste?” Has selfishness overcome our reason? We’ve got blood on our hands. It’s no wonder there is so much violence amongst the people of our society when they exhibit so much violence towards animals. “What goes around comes around.”

The Nectar of Immortality

Milk is compared to nectar, which one can drink to become immortal. Of course, simply drinking milk will not make one immortal, but it can increase the duration of one’s life. In modern civilisation milk is not thought of as being important, therefore people are not living very long.

Although in this age anyone can live up to one hundred years, the duration of life is reduced because people do not drink large quantities of milk. Instead of drinking milk, they prefer to slaughter an animal and eat it’s flesh.

The cow should be protected, milk should be drawn from the cows, and this milk should be prepared in various ways. One should take ample milk, and thus one can prolong one’s life and develop the finer tissues of the brain.

The Cow is Our Mother

The Vedic Scriptures refer to the cow as our mother When we stop taking milk from our mother the cow gladly takes over the role of supplying milk. For this reason the cow is our mother.

It is natures special arrangement that the cow provides milk to give nourishment to civilised people. The barbarians take blood by cutting the throat of a poor innocent animal, while civilised people drink milk which contains all of the nutritious qualities of meat without the necessity of violence.

We are now killing millions of our mothers every year in such a brutal way in enormous slaughterhouses. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated that in 1984 229,249,000 cattle and calves were killed for meat production. This cow-killing is the most sinful activity and we are suffering in many ways as a result of the enormous burden of bad karma it generates.

The Misery of Cow-Killing

Ample food grains can be produced through agricultural enterprises, profuse milk, yogurt and ghee can be arranged through cow protection and abundant honey can be obtained if the forests are protected. Instead of a simple lifestyle modern civilisation is busy killing the cows that are the source of yogurt, milk and ghee; they are cutting down all the trees that supply honey and they are opening factories to manufacture nuts, bolts, automobiles and wine instead of engaging in agriculture. This is creating so many problems in the world

How can the people be happy? They must suffer from all the misery of materialism. Their bodies become wrinkled and gradually deteriorate until they become almost like dwarfs, and a bad odour emanates from them because of unclean perspiration resulting from eating all kinds of nasty things. This is not human civilisation.

Living Cows are an Economic Asset

It is quite clear that a living cow yields society more food than a dead one - in the form of a continuing supply of milk, cheese, butter, yogurt and other high-protein foods.

In 1971 Stewart Odend’hal of the University of Missouri conducted a detailed study of cows in Bengal and found that far from depriving humans of food. they ate only inedible remains of harvested crops (rice hulls, tops of sugarcane, etc.) and grass. “Basically”, he said, “the cattle convert items of little direct human value into products of immediate utility.” This should put to rest the myth that people are starving in India because they will not kill their cows. Interestingly enough, India seems to have surmounted her food problems, which have always had more to do with occasional severe drought or political upheaval than with sacred cows. A panel of experts at the Agency for International Development, in a statement cited in the United States Congressional Record for December 2nd. l980. concluded “India produces enough to feed all its people.”

If allowed to live, cows produce High quality, protein rich foods in amounts that stagger the imagination. It is abundantly clear that cows (living ones) are one of mankind’s, most valuable food resources.

Movements to save seals, dolphins and whales from slaughter are flourishing — so why shouldn’t there be a movement to save the cows?

Environmental Damage

Another price we pay for meat eating is degradation of the environment. The heavily contaminated run-off from thousands of slaughterhouses and feedlots is a major source of water pollution. In their book “Population, Resources and Environment”, Paul and Anne Ehrlich found that to grow one pound of wheat requires only 60 pounds of water, whereas production of a pound of meat requires anywhere from 2,500 to 6,000 pounds of water.

In 1973 the New York Post revealed that one large chicken slaughtering plant in America was found to be using 100 million gallons of water daily. The same volume would supply a city of 25,000 people!

Land Usage, Meat and War

A study published in “Plant Foods for Human Nutrition” reveals that an acre of beans or peas produces ten times more protein than an acre of pasture set aside for meat production.

Economic facts like this were known to the ancient Greeks In Plato’s Republic the great Greek philosopher Socrates recommended a vegetarian diet because it would allow a country to make the most intelligent use of its agricultural resources. He warned that if people began eating animals, there would be need for more pasturing land. “And the country which was enough to support the original inhabitants will be too small now, and not enough?”, he asked of Glaucon, who replied that this was indeed true “And so we shall go to war, Glaucon, shall we not?” To which Glaucon replied, “Most certainly.”

Nutrition Without Meat

Many times the mention of vegetarianism elicits the predictable reaction, “What about protein?” The ideas that meat has a monopoly on protein and that large amounts of protein are required for energy and strength are both myths.

Of the twenty-two amino acids, all but eight can be synthesised by the body itself, and these eight “essential amino acids” exist in abundance in nonflesh foods. Dairy products, grains, beans and nuts are all concentrated sources of protein. Cheese, peanuts and lentils, for instance, contain more protein per gram than hamburger, pork or porterhouse steak.

The primary energy source for the body is carbohydrates. Only as a last resort is the body’s protein utilised for energy production. Too much protein intake actually reduces the body’s energy capacity. In a series of comparative endurance tests conducted by Dr. Irving Flsher of Yale, vegetarians performed twice as well as meat-eaters. Numerous other studies have shown that a proper vegetarian diet provides more nutritional energy than meat. A study by Dr I. Iotekyo and V. Kilpani at Brussles University showed that vegetarians were able to perform physical tasks two to three times longer than meat-eaters before exhaustion and were recovered from fatigue in one fifth the time needed by the meat-eaters.

Health and Meat Eating

The human body cannot deal with excessive animal fats in the diet. As early as 1961, the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that ninety to ninety-seven percent of heart disease, the cause of more than half of the deaths in the United States, could be prevented by a vegetarian diet.

Many studies have established the relationship between colon cancer and meat eating. One reason for the incidence of cancer Is the high-fat, low-fiber content of the meat-centred diet. The result is a slow transit time through the colon, allowing toxic wastes to do their damage. Meat, while being digested, is known to generate steroid metabolites possessing carcinogenic properties.

Chemicals and Diseases in Meat

Numerous potentially hazardous chemicals, of which consumers are generally unaware, are present m meat and meat products. In their book, “Poisons In Your Body”, Garry and Steven Null give an inside look at the production techniques used by corporately owned animal producers , “The animals are kept alive and fattened by continuous administration of tranquillisers, horrnones, antibiotics and 2,700 other drugs,” they write, “the process starts even before birth and continues long after death. Although these drugs will still be present in the meat when you eat it, the law does not require that they be listed on the package.”

Because of the filthy, overcrowded conditions forced upon animals by the livestock industry, vast amounts of antibiotics must be used, but such rampant use of antibiotics naturally creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are passed on to those who eat the meat. The US FDA estimate that penicillin and tetracycline save the meat industry $1.9 billion a year giving them sufficient reason to overlook the potential health hazards. In addition to dangerous chemicals, meat often carries diseases from the animals themselves.

Crammed together in unclean conditions, force-fed and inhumanely treated, animals destined for slaughter contract many more diseases than they ordinarily would. Meat inspectors attempt to filter out unacceptable meats, but because of pressures from industry and lack of sufficient time for examination, much of what passes is far less wholesome than the meat purchaser realizes.

The Hidden Cost of Meat

According to information compiled by the United States Department of Agriculture, over ninety percent of all the grain produced in America is used for feeding livestock — cows. pigs, lambs and chickens — that wind up on dinner tables

The process of using grain to produce meat is incredibly wasteful. Information from the USDA’s Economic Research Service shows that only one pound of beef is produced for every sixteen pounds of grain consumed.

In his book “Proteins: Their Chemistry and Politics,” Dr. Aaron Altshul notes that, “In terms of calorie units per acre, a diet of grains, vegetables and beans will support twenty times more people than a diet of meat.

If the earth’s arable land were used primarily for the production of vegetarian foods, the planet could easily support a population of twenty billion and more.

In a report submitted to the United Nations World Food Conference (Rome, 1974), Rene Durmont, an agricultural economist at France’s National Agricultural Institute, made this judgement , “The over consumption of meat by the rich means hunger for the poor.”

Category:Contemporary Issues

Contemproary view

It is fashionable in modern secular societies to regard sacred literature as the mythological musings of undeveloped people. Schools teach that with our current understanding of physics, medicine, psychology, democracy, and so on, we have little use for such writings except as literary art. Those who take scripture literally are pegged with pejorative terms such as fundamentalists.” It may be stylish to borrow ideas from the Vedic scriptures—yoga, meditation, mantra chanting. But living by the laws of scripture is seen as outmoded and simplistic.

To get the spiritual benefit of chanting Krishna’s names, however, requires a reverence for Krishna in all His forms, including His scriptures. Krishna appeared on earth in His original form about five thousand years ago. After He departed to His eternal abode, His “literary incarnation,” Vyasadeva, compiled the cream of Vedic scripture, Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupada wrote that reading this scripture is identical to seeing Krishna in person. Because the words of the Bhagavatam describe Krishna, they are spiritually identical to Him. If we blaspheme the Bhagavatam, other Vedic books, or literature in pursuance of the Vedic version, we offend the holy name, greatly impeding our progress in chanting.

What do we mean by “Vedic literature”? Unlike modern scholars, Srila Prabhupada did not use the term Vedic to denote only a particular period in the history of India. Following the previous spiritual masters in his line, he justifiably used the term to apply to all the traditional sacred books of India. And “literature in pursuance of the Vedic version” refers to any books that, like the Vedas, direct us toward a proper understanding of our relationship with God.

We avoid this offense against Krishna’s holy name if we accept the concept of scripture in general, revere authentic scriptures of traditions other than our own, respect but avoid scriptures that teach valid yet lesser religious practice, and reject pseudo scripture that opposes love of God.

We also avoid this offense by worshiping Krishna with our intelligence through careful study and application of sacred literature. Such study infuses us with both eagerness and direction for attaining devotional service to the Lord. We take our happiness from exploring each aspect of the Vedic scriptures we read. And we scrupulously adhere to the obvious meanings and applications consistent with both the texts as a whole and the examples of liberated souls.

A Culture of Enlightenment

One reason people reject the very concept of sacred writing is that the word scripture to them conjures up the ghosts of societies that forbade smiling on the Sabbath, or declared that the way to perfection was a system of intricate ritualistic procedures that few could perform and even fewer understand. Besides, scriptures contain fantastic stories of miracles and supernatural happenings that modern science claims it discredited long ago. And aren’t scriptures the product of imperfect persons?

The reality is that when correctly understood and applied, genuine scripture acts like a guidebook and instruction manual for human life and the cosmos. It is the procedure brochure for the enterprise of the material creation. From scripture, coupled with oral tradition, we learn of methods of spiritual elevation, including the chanting of the holy name. From scripture we learn of the lives of past saints, sages, and incarnations of Krishna. In fact, the stories of scripture, whether in written or oral form, are the basis for the transmission and foundation of a culture of enlightenment.

Making Sense of the Fantastic

Certainly it is true that many stories in sacred writings seem fantastic to our scientific world. But many current technological wonders seemed fictional and implausible only a few decades ago. It is not, therefore, implausible that former societies could have had abilities and expertise unavailable today. For example, ancient architecture in Peru is virtually impossible to re-create using modern methods. The view that technology has always progressed and could never have been greater than it is today may be inaccurate. Indeed, even recent history indicates that much knowledge existed in ancient Greece, was lost to Europe in the Middle Ages, and then gradually resurfaced. It is reasonable and logical, then, to assume that what is commonplace today, such as television and the Internet, may be lost and forgotten in the future, only to resurface later.

Additionally, even today there is much strong empirical evidence for the existence of the supernatural. But because current science can’t explain the evidence, it is usually suppressed.

Also, the Vedas—with their information about spirit and subtle matter—provide a world view that makes the seemingly impossible easy to accept. For example, once you understand that spirit, or life, is independent of matter, it’s easy to believe that living beings can live anywhere in the universe and do all kinds of amazing things.

Levels of Instruction

A valid complaint about scripture for the spiritually minded is that much of it focuses on ritual and material gain. Krishna validates that sentiment when He tells His friend Arjuna that those who have practiced yoga in previous lives are above most scriptural rituals. The sad truth, however, is that few people are interested in genuine spiritual realization. Therefore, Krishna and His great devotees give instructions and examples in scripture for all types of people. There are different scriptures for various classes of people with diverse inclinations and desires. And there may be various levels and kinds of instruction in the same scriptural canon.

Sometimes the Lord, His agent, or His son may teach eternal truths at a lower level or in an obscured way according to time, place, or circumstance. Scriptures that arise from such teachings may teach less than pure, unmotivated devotion to the Lord, but they serve the function of gradually bringing people to the pinnacle of realization. Knowing that perfection is generally achieved over many lifetimes, one absorbed in chanting the mantra of the ultimate truth supports and encourages those at various levels.

Bona fide scripture, by definition, comes directly from God or from souls liberated from the imperfections and cheating of common persons. The unadulterated truth can flow through a person free from selfish desires and linked with God, just as the view of the world outside can pass through a clear window.

A Role for Discrimination

Still, one shouldn’t accept just any writing as sacred simply because it claims to be so. Part of the offense of blaspheming scripture is to accept a philosophy contrary to serving the personal form of the Lord with devotion. Also, if a “religious” system claims that other genuine methods and scriptures are sinful, it should be abandoned as small-minded sectarianism. In addition, we should reject any system or philosophy that denies the soul, the Personality of Godhead, the process of developing love for God, or the goal of individual loving union with Him. Therefore, chanting Hare Krishna while holding a monistic attitude—thinking that the ultimate reality is simply energy and light—is part of this offense to the holy name.

A devotee of Krishna should depend only on traditions that expound bhakti—loving devotion to the person Krishna. Offering respect from a distance, one should avoid scripture that promotes yogic powers, good works for heavenly rewards, or salvation devoid of bhakti, what to speak of lower forms of worship aimed at power gained through propitiating ghostly or demonic beings.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Harinama Cintamani lists nine essential principles of krishna-bhakti. We can identify bhakti scriptures as those that promote these nine principles:

(1) There is one Supreme Lord, Krishna. (2) He is the possessor of all energies. (3) Krishna is the fountainhead of transcendental relationships and is situated in His own spiritual world, where He eternally gives joy to all living beings. (4) Living beings are particles of the Lord, unlimited in number, infinitesimal in size, and conscious. (5) Some living beings have been bound in material universes from time beyond memory, attracted by illusory pleasure. (6) Some living beings are eternally liberated and engaged in worshiping Krishna; they reside with Him as associates in the spiritual sky and experience love for Him. (7) Krishna exists with His energies—material, spiritual, and the living beings—in a state of simultaneous identity and differentiation, permeating all yet remaining aloof. (8) The process for the living being to realize Krishna is nine-fold: hearing about Krishna, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping, praying, acting as a servant, being the Lord’s friend, and surrendering everything. (9) The ultimate goal of a living being is pure bhakti—unmotivated love for Krishna, which Krishna awakens in a soul out of His mercy.

If one follows the most pure scriptures, rejects assorted worldly traditions masquerading as sacred, and respects genuine scripture that’s at a lower level, there still must be care in scriptural study. Even an eternal tradition of untainted written or oral revelation can become skewed through imaginative interpretation and usage. To respect scripture, we understand it using the most clear and direct meaning possible, studying the practical precedents of past and present pure devotees of Krishna. We also approach scripture through the direction of a guru, who gives specific guidance for what is relevant to our present circumstance. Misinterpretation or misapplication of scripture can be more dangerous than denying it altogether. A wolf disguised as a sheep is far more dangerous than an obvious wolf.

We Need Scripture

With so many considerations and confusions about scripture, wouldn’t it be better to simply chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, and forget scripture completely? It is true that chanting alone can bring us to perfection. But it must be offenseless chanting, which requires a reverential attitude toward genuine sacred writings.

Oh, but how much pleasure and solace there is in scripture! We can gain much joy and confidence from reading the Bhagavad-gita, the words of Krishna Himself. And we can find similar succor in works of contemporary writers—devotees who take the principles Krishna elucidated and apply them to familiar situations.

Of course, relish and delight are not our only motives for reading sacred writings. We need scripture. To ascertain truth without scripture, we have little choice but to rely on our own sensual and mental faculties and those of others. These alone can give us only partial, relative knowledge. Our senses are imperfect, even when enhanced with sophisticated instruments. We make mistakes from habit, carelessness, or unconscious bias. We tend to cheat—even to cheat ourselves. And when we identify the body as the self, we are living in a general illusion. Therefore, axiomatic truths—the starting point for logical and sensory conclusions—must come from a source free of defects if we want to base our actions on perfect knowledge.

When our foundational knowledge comes from the Absolute Truth, then chanting Krishna’s holy name will quickly propel us on the path to Him. Hearing from scripture about the beauty of Krishna’s form and the superb activities of the spiritual world will inspire us to chant with intense desire for His loving service. Pleased with our desire, Krishna will cleanse us with a downpour of His mercy, and our progress will be swift indeed.

By Urmila Devi Dasi

Vedic Festivals have a Purpose

Another fun holiday

The festive bonfire; the smearing of dyes; the spraying of colored water; the joyful faces of all these memories flash through any Indian mind, when reminded of Holi, one of the most important of all Indian festivals. Indeed,festivals are an integral and endearing part of Indian culture. They break the monotony of life, bring everyone together in joyful reunion and strengthen bonds of affection in the community. In traditional Vedic culture, festivals served another important purpose, a purpose that has been all but forgotten nowadays. Festivals were primarily meant to bring humanity closer to divinity; they served as occasions for people to put aside their worldly preoccupations and focus on the Lord and His glorious deeds. Without knowing this spiritual purpose, people nowadays get external fun through festivals and miss the internal enrichment that they offer.

History of Holi

The festival of Holi, celebrated on the last day of the bright fortnight
of the month of Phalgun, offers an excellent opportunity to regain what we have missed for long. Let’s start with the bonfire.

Bonfire

The history of the bonfire dates back to millennia, when the demon king, Hiranyakashipu ruled and terrorized the universe, considered God, Vishnu, and His devotees to be his arch enemy. When the demon saw that his own son, Prahlada, had become devotee of Vishnu, he decided to kill Prahlada. But Lord Vishnu protected Prahlada during all the assassination attempts. In despair, Hiranyakashipu ordered his sister, Holika, who had been blessed with immunity from fire,to take Prahlada into fire and burn him to death. She complied, but the result was the opposite of what the demon had hoped. Prahlada came out of the fire,unscathed, being protected by Lord Vishnu, whereas Holika was reduced to ashes; she had overlooked the fact that her blessing guaranteed protection from fire only when she entered it alone. The burning of Holika is commemorated by the bonfire and by the name Holi. The significance of this historical narrative is immense. Prahlada signifies our godly, serving, selfless nature; Holika, the ungodly, exploitative,selfish tendency that covers our original nature. When gold is placed in fire, the impurities melt away and the purified gold emerges, shining brighter. Similarly,the purifying Holi bonfire signifies the burning away of our superficial, lower tendency and the re-emergence of our essential, higher nature.When our pure nature re-emerges, we realize our identity as spiritual beings, as souls, who are sac-cid-ananda, eternal, enlightened and ecstatic.Realizing our identity as the beloved children of the infallible Lord, we become free from fear and full of joy.This enriching realization does not come just by lighting a fire. Prahlada emerged triumphant from the fire by dint of his unflinching devotion to the Lord. Similarly, we will emerge successful through all the fire-like trials and tribulations of life by developing unflinching devotion. Just as Prahlada developed devotion by learning chanting of the Lord’s holy names from his devotee-guru Narada Muni, we too can develop devotion by learning chanting from a contemporary devotee-guru.

The Festival of colors

Rangapanchami, generally celebrated the day after Holi,also has deep spiritual significance. Lord Sri Krishna originally celebrated this festival with His supreme devotees, the gopis, the cowherd damsels of Vrindavana. During a loving exchange, Krishna and the gopis spontaneously smeared each other with dyes and sprayed colored water on each other. This affectionate reciprocation is not at all like ordinary boy-girl affairs.Because Krishna is not an ordinary boy; He is the Supreme Godhead playing the role of a youth to perform lila (divine play) with His devotees. And the gopis are not ordinary girls; they are highly evolved yogis who had performed great austerities in their past lives to have the opportunity for an intimate relationship with God. Due to the superlatively scared nature of these lilas, these lilas are never to be imitated. Traditionally, devotees used to celebrate Holi by smearing and spraying the deity forms of Radha-Krishna with dyes and colored water. Then, devotees would respectfully accept the remnants of those colors as prasada (mercy) and gracefully smear and spray them on each other. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, the God-centered essence of the festival was forgotten. Consequently, a pure, spiritually-uplifting festival has now sadly become an occasion for sensuous, even licentious, revelry. But the glory of our culture is still there for us to reclaim if we imbibe the profound significance of our cultural festivals.

Durga Puja

Here is another one on Durga Puja

Chaitanya Charana Dasa.