Everything we do in life is motivated by our desire to feel pleasure. The businessman who works hard does it for the feeling he anticipates he will get from the respect, resources, and adoration afforded by a higher position and salary. The parents who undergo sacrifices raising their children do it because they want to experience a certain form of nurturing love. A friend who opens his heart to another does it to feel emotional relief and intimacy. The drug addict who pierces his vein with a needle does it for bliss. The ascetic meditating in a cave in the Himalayas does it for the same reason.

“The problem is that we do not understand what pleasure actually is. It has the power to both elevate and degrade us.”
We may believe that our actions are motivated by things such as morality, love, instincts, conditioning, or escapism – and they may be – but underneath is the overarching desire to feel some form of pleasure. I use the word ‘pleasure’ here in its broadest sense: physical, emotional, or beyond. Whatever we believe will give us a ‘taste’ of some happiness, breaking us out of the ennui of our daily existence, giving us a sense of transcendence.

Since pleasure, according to many thoughtful philosophers, is the natural state of the soul in the spiritual realm, it is quite natural for the living entity to want to experience more and more of it here, in the physical, material world. The problem we run into, however, is when we do not understand the difference between pleasure which elevates us and pleasure which degrades us.

Look around. Does it seem like we, as the human race on planet Earth, have gotten the idea of pleasure right? Many of us are kind of “burnt out” by everything at this point. There is the economy thing, the politics/ war thing, the dysfunctional family thing, your choice of addictions, the information overwhelm, the pornographic and violence-for-sport media displays, the boredom, the isolation, the “nobody gets me”.

And it is getting worse by the day.

Where is the pleasure we are so much after?

BRAVE NEW WORLD

In his 1932 novel, A Brave New World, Aldous Huxley presents a futuristic world in which everyone is addicted to a state-sanctioned drug called soma. This drug, along with various bio-engineering techniques performed on the populace and the encouragement of promiscuous sex, is taken regularly by the citizens in order to numb out from the varieties of pain experienced in this material world, and to produce a feeling of pleasure. The government’s motive for the dispensation of soma is not an altruistic one, but rather to keep people happily engaged in economic consumption, without being needlessly “distracted” with such things as introspection, existential doubt, and independent thought.
So pleasure in this novel is presented as the ultimate tool for manipulation of the masses, and since we are designed to hanker after it, perhaps the only truly effective one.

At this point of evolution of our modern society, perhaps some might find a drug like soma quite useful. Because the things which we thought would give us some pleasure such as career success, happy family life, material abundance, interesting art and literature, experiencing different cultures, et cetera, are slowly and not so slowly vanishing from our world.

One might have a desire to strive for these things, but in a way, due partially to globalization, industrialization, media, and the general “progress” and exploitation of everything, these pleasures no longer hold the same appeal, nor do they exist in the same way, nor can we really afford them.

We have tried and done everything for pleasure. For example, the counterculture movement of the 1960’s and 70’s declared that sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, which many would consider “pinnacles of pleasure,” were really the way to go as social norms. It was done for some time and perhaps somewhat enjoyed. But in the end it left us as a society, weary, unfulfilled, strung out, diseased, and dysfunction-ridden. The counterculture movement was later replaced by the exorbitant materialistic and career-driven pleasure flavor of the 1980’s. Wall Street would be the next thing.

And so all throughout the history of mankind, did we think that this thing or that would give us the pleasure we hanker after? This search was stacked on top of the ever-present need for eating, sleeping, mating, and having security – in its various forms. Such is our predicament. We are beings created for pleasure, there are pleasures all around, but trying to enjoy them hurts us. What to do?

"It is like a pretty woman with nothing else going for her. She is temporary, ephemeral, shallow; she disappoints us."

THE COME DOWN

Some of us may not necessarily see our comfortable ideas of pleasure as degrading or hurtful, because it is all we have been taught and all we have in some sense. Nor do we necessarily desire an alternative. For some of us, it is “still okay.”

“Yes, I will keep trying until I get it right.”

But for some of us, perhaps the more fortunate ones, it is not okay, and there is something that feels terribly wrong with the things we have tried to glean pleasure from. We can sense its inviting yet evanescent quality; it slips through our fingers as we try to grab it. We are trying to bottle a cloud.

Attempting to enjoy material pleasures degrades and cheats us because we endeavor in a wrong direction. We do not understand our predicament. We inadvertently perpetuate our stuck condition. We do not understand that continuing in this same cycle of attempt and failure keeps us from focusing on what this life is meant for – the realization and pursuit of our spiritual identity.

With just a bit of analysis, one can arrive at a conclusion that there must be more than our current physical/material identity which we can right now easily discern. For example, one can readily state his current nationality, occupation, and year of birth. The engineer from Iowa, born in 1980, can state such facts with certainty. But where was this same engineer in, say, 1976? And where will this engineer from Iowa be upon his physical death? That he cannot say. He must take an explanation that is beyond the grasp of his current senses, one that alludes to a spiritual identity.

A conception of life limited only to a physical identity, the one comprising our few paltry years here on Earth, leads us merely into disease, old age, and ultimately death. This is not an optimistic program nor is it a reasonable summum bonum; it must point to something greater.

A NATURAL HIGH

The Bhagavad Gita states: “Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you…nor in the future shall any of us cease to exist” (2.12). Furthermore, “Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated…” (8.20)

Instead of taking the broader, spiritual view, the pursuance of material pleasures serves to perpetuate the limited, depressing concept. It feeds and nurtures the temporary identity, causing us to take future births within the physical/ material realm through our over-identification with it.

Our misguided pursuit of material pleasures cheats us because instead of giving us the feelings we expect, it gives us incompleteness and even pain. Operat¬ing on a set of assumptions not based on ultimate reality, the promise of such pleasures constantly frustrates us and keeps us busy looking in the wrong places. It is like a pretty woman with nothing else going for her. She is temporary, ephemeral, shallow; she disappoints us.

It does not take a mystical genius to prove any of the above statements. Have you ever tried to enjoy something which later proved extremely painful? Have you ever achieved something you worked hard for, only to realize it is emptiness and futility? Have you ever lost a loved one? Have you ever thought you might be an extra-terrestrial who has accidentally landed on a strange and absurd planet?

In Vedic literatures, we get a clear explanation of what this is all about. The material world in which we currently live is purposefully designed for this process. Like Alice, we fell down a rabbit hole into a place of curious objects which don’t make sense. We are here because at some point of our spiritual evolution we wanted to enjoy separately from our creator, who has very lovingly offered us this facility. We asked for it.

This world is meant for us to exhaust the search for pleasure in it, by trying everything. Then, at some point, after various lives and pursuits, we are meant to stop, scratch our heads, and say, “Wait a minute. This isn’t right.” If you are feeling like you might be at this point of your life now, consider yourself fortunate. Because now the real endeavor can begin, which is the work required to qualify ourselves for reinstatement in real pleasure.

When our current 70 or so years are up, we have the choice of continuing on in the material world with a new body, with the same backdrop of false pleasures which we cannot enjoy, or we can go to a different world, where the pleasure is real and ever-lasting. The bodies we get there do not encounter the awkward and embarrassing conundrums of birth, death, old age, and disease. The pleasure there is substantial and ever-increasing.

Ample descriptions of spiritual worlds exist in Vedic literatures. It is the place where we “fit” and is actually our real home. It is the place we left a long time ago, and to which now we want to return. It is a sigh of relief. Everything we are trying to enjoy here is there also – friends, family, amusements, everything. But there we actually get to enjoy these things and the bonds are eternal.

A NEW APPROACH

Since we are made for pleasure, engage in pleasure we must. However, we must find a different way, a way which promotes our goal of returning to our natural position, and which makes sense to us on a deep level. Bhakti yoga, the science of pleasure which is elevating for the soul, offers us this other way. This yoga is satisfying because it addresses our innate desire for pleasure and offers us a tangible way of feeling it. It feels real because it is based on ultimate reality, which is familiar to our soul. It makes us endeavor in the right direction, joyfully.

We do not have to stop or negate all the things which naturally feel good to us right now. There is no need to turn into raving nihilists or false renunciates. We can start right where we are, tweaking our approach a bit, and performing our actions in consciousness of the ultimate spiritual reality. Simple means for activating our dormant true pleasure potential are available through bhakti yoga. Try it, see for yourself. If you resonate with these words, there is something here for you. There is pleasure, real pleasure in this life as well as in the next.

Because the alternative does not really exist.

According to popular modern Darwinian thinking, the human species as we know it is the result of various chemical combinations undergoing random developments over a very long period of time. These developments have insured our survival ability so far. Survival ability is built into us by nature, like airbags and other devices are built into a car. We are Survivor Machines.

Survivor Machines; that may not sound very inspiring, but what an inspiration that could be for people who compete on a survivor TV show! I once gaped as I watched contestants who were challenged to cross a deep tank, climb a series of thirty foot tall slippery floating triangle shaped obstacles, balance precariously on top and slide down the other side while being pummeled by fire hydrant blasts of water. Those who survived the arduous course most efficiently, defeated their opponents and won a prize.

Certainly the material world is a place where most of us have to tough it out. School, job, family, roof over your head, food in the mouth; all these require sometimes heavy sacrifices. However I don’t think this world was created as a place where optimum survival is the greatest possible achievement of a living being.

Why are Americans so hard-wired for survival these days? Do we secretly harbor fears about having to return to bare necessities due to nuclear devastation or global warming? Is it because for the last hundred years we have widely propagated the belief system of natural selection and survival of the fittest in nearly every science journal and classroom?

Oddly enough, the majority of human beings choose to participate in what could be called “artificial selection.” We choose arbitrary artificial selection for other species as well as our own. A few examples:

A sick seal washes up on a beach and a government subsidized Marine Animal Protection Agency dispatches a vehicle to rescue it, nurse it back to health and return it to the ocean. Millions of hybrid dogs are bred generation after generation until the strain’s original quality is compromised so we can enjoy cute little pets. Ambulances race throughout the city saving people who are on the point of expiring and they are nursed back to health in hospitals for days, weeks, months, and even years. Special Olympics participants are charitably financed to train the handicapped to shoot hoops or swim one hundred meters thoug fate has not provided them with all of the physical or mental attributes that normal athletes are endowed with.

Any layperson can understand that the material body minus consciousness is a dead body, and this consciousness cannot be revived in the body by any means of material administration. Therefore, consciousness is not due to any amount of material combination, but to the eternal spirit soul.

Very unscientific!

Though we have proposed survival of the fittest as a top ranking answer to the mystery of life, we human beings go around trying to save everything we see. We feel deep, complex emotions for our children or for other’s, as when we see a poor child on a hunger campaign poster. Comforting a dying man or coming to the aid of a stranger who is being attacked is certainly not to the advantage of our internal organic chemical survival mechanisms! What is that seemingly unlimited reservoir of human empathy for another that wells up inside of us whether or not it is to our advantage to be moved by such feelings? Moreover, what triggers us Human Survivor Machines to relish art, music, dance, literature, a beautiful sunset or a baseball game?

There is a finer awareness in all of us. Sometimes we notice it. (It is not something which is the subject matter of survivor shows.) It comes from a place where stress is a stranger, where happiness is a given. That finer awareness we experience from time to time is only the dawn of the opportunity to experience the Self. The Human Survivor Machine is actually an external mechanism which is like a suit of armor for the most important feature of our existence: the Spiritual Inherent Quality. Yes, there is spirituality deep in every one of us, and that conscious spiritual spark is never an accident of nature participating in a harsh competition for survival. (Stones and rocks have got us beat by a long shot if tough survival is the bottom line.)

Feelings for another? Love of puppies, seals, babies, Grandmas — It’s all good, because all creatures possess the Spiritual Inherent Quality which is attractive to us.

Certainly the material world is a place where most of us have to tough it out. School, job, family, roof over your head, food in the mouth; all these require sometimes heavy sacrifices. However I don’t think this world was created as a place where optimum survival is the greatest possible achievement of a living being. There is absolutely no question of the Spiritual Inherent Quality needing any material combination of traits to insure its survival.

As SrilaPrabhupada explains in his Bhagavad-gitaAs It Is,

“The very small spiritual spark is the basic principle of the material body, and the influence of such a spiritual spark is spread all over the body as the influence of the active principle of some medicine spreads throughout the body. This current is felt as consciousness, and that is the evidence of the presence of the soul. Any layperson can understand that the material body minus consciousness is a dead body, and this consciousness cannot be revived in the body by any means of material administration. Therefore, consciousness is not due to any amount of material combination, but to the eternal spirit soul.”

The greatest possible achievement of the living being is self-realization, or realizing one’s self as a spiritual portion of the potency of the Supreme Soul. Survival of the species is a less intelligent, primitive miscalculation of what is the authentic struggle. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is teaching us the worthy struggle for the survival of the soul.

In his popular book “Life Comes From Life,” Prabhupada explains, “All living beings possess the required intelligence to execute four principles: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. These four principles exist even in the atom. The only difference with the human being is that they have the extra intelligence with which they can understand God.”

Feelings for another? Love of puppies, seals, babies, Grandmas — It’s all good, because all creatures possess the Spiritual Inherent Quality which is attractive to us. We are not meant for the impersonal slaughterhouse farm factory, weapons manufacturing, abortion clinic “culture”, cut-throat, back-stabbing, get-ahead business enterprises, etc., that have only co`ntributed to the devolution of human spiritual consciousness. This is our unfortunate inheritance, courtesy of modern science.

In his popular book “Life Comes From Life,” Prabhupada explains, “All living beings possess the required intelligence to execute four principles: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. These four principles exist even in the atom. The only difference with the human being is that they have the extra intelligence with which they can understand God.”

Human survivor machines we are not, yet we are brainwashed by scientific atheistic education to think so. Our brains need re-programming.

Since the creation of the physical world, everyone has been yearning to attain a permanent life, but the laws of nature are so cruel that no one has been able to avoid the hand of death. No one wants to die, nor does anyone want to become old or diseased. The law of nature, however, does not allow anyone immunity from old age, disease or death. Nor has the advancement of material knowledge solved these problems. Material science can discover the nuclear bomb to accelerate the process of death, but it cannot discover anything that can protect people from the cruel hands of old age, disease, and death.

Sri Isopanisad instructs us not to make one-sided attempts to win the struggle for existence. Everyone is struggling hard for existence, but the laws of material nature are so hard and fast that they do not allow anyone to surpass them. In order to attain a permanent life, one must be prepared for a spiritual journey.

The process by which one goes back to Godhead is a peculiar branch of knowledge. To become happy in this life and attain a permanent blissful life after leaving this material body, one must study sacred literature, in this case Sri Isopanisad, and obtain transcendental knowledge. The conditioned living being has forgotten his eternal relationship with God and has mistakenly accepted the temporary place of his birth as all in all. We have kindly been delivered the sacred scriptures in India and other scriptures in other countries to remind the forgetful human being that his home is not here in this material world. The living being is a spiritual entity, and he can be happy only by returning to his spiritual home.

Birth and death apply to the outward covering of the spirit soul, the body. Death is compared to the taking off and birth to the putting on of outward garments.

The miseries of this material world serve to indirectly remind us of our incompatibility with dead matter. Intelligent living entities generally take note of these reminders and engage themselves in the culture of transcendental knowledge. Human life is the best opportunity for the culture of spiritual knowledge, and a human being who does not take advantage of this opportunity is unfortunate.

The path of advancement of material knowledge for sense gratification, is the path of repeated birth and death. As he exists spiritually, the living entity has no birth or death. Birth and death apply to the outward covering of the spirit soul, the body. Death is compared to the taking off and birth to the putting on of outward garments. Foolish human beings who are grossly absorbed in the culture of nescience do not mind this cruel process. Enamored with the beauty of the illusory energy, they undergo the same miseries repeatedly and do not learn any lessons from the laws of nature.

Therefore the culture of transcendental knowledge is essential for the human being. Sense enjoyment in the diseased material condition must be restricted as far as possible. Unrestricted sense enjoyment in this bodily condition is the path of ignorance and death. The living entities are not without spiritual senses; every living being in his original, spiritual form has all the senses, which are now materially manifested, being covered by the material body and mind.

The activities of the material senses are perverted reflections of the activities of the original, spiritual senses. In his diseased condition, the spirit soul engages in material activities under the material covering. Real sense enjoyment is possible only when the disease of materialism is removed. In our pure spiritual form, free from all material contamination, real enjoyment of the senses is possible. A patient must regain his health before he can truly enjoy sense pleasure again. Thus the aim of human life should not be to enjoy perverted sense enjoyment but to cure the material disease. Aggravation of the material disease is no sign of knowledge, but a sign of ignorance. For good health, a person should not increase his fever from 105 degrees to 107 degrees but should reduce his temperature to the normal 98.6. That should be the aim of human life. The modern trend of material civilization is to increase the temperature of the feverish material condition. Meanwhile, the foolish politicians are crying that at any moment the world may go to hell. That is the result of the advancement of material knowledge and the neglect of the most important part of life, the culture of spiritual knowledge. Sri Isopanisad herein warns that we must not follow this dangerous path leading to death. On the contrary, we must develop the culture of spiritual knowledge so that we may become completely free from the cruel hands of death.

The modern trend of material civilization is to increase the temperature of the feverish material condition. Meanwhile, the foolish politicians are crying that at any moment the world may go to hell.

This does not mean that all activities for the maintenance of the body should be stopped. There is no question of stopping activities, just as there is no question of wiping out one’s temperature altogether when trying to recover from a disease. “To make the best use of a bad bargain” is the appropriate expression. The culture of spiritual knowledge necessitates the help of the body and mind; therefore maintenance of the body and mind is required if we are to reach our goal. The normal temperature should be maintained at 98.6 degrees, and the great sages and saints of India have attempted to do this by a balanced program of spiritual and material knowledge. They never allow the misuse of human intelligence for diseased sense gratification.

Human activities diseased by a tendency toward sense gratification have been regulated in the Vedas. This system employs religion, economic development, sense gratification, and spiritual liberation, but at the present moment people have no interest in religion or spirituality. They have only one aim in life- sense gratification- and in order to achieve this end they make plans for economic development. Misguided pople think that religion should be maintained if, or, because it contributes to economic development, which is required for sense gratification. Thus, in order to guarantee further sense gratification after death, in heaven, there is some system of religious observance. But this is not the purpose of religion. The path of religion is actually meant for self-realization, and economic development is required just to maintain the body in a sound, healthy condition. One should lead a healthy life with a sound mind just to realize true knowledge, which is the aim of human life. This life is not meant for working hard like an ass or for culturing ignorance for sense gratification.

Five thousand years ago, Sri Isopanisad was studied all over the world. Concealed for centuries in the Sanskrit language of India, this ancient spiritual gem is now revealed in the first authorized English edition ever published. This masterwork of the long forgotten Vedic culture is here presented by the most venerated descendant of the culture, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. Sri Isopanisad is the book to ignite a spiritual revolution in the mind of a modern Westerner. Sri Isopanisad- $1.96 at store.krishna.com.

There is a belief that liberation from material bondage is merging our individuality to become one entity- to essentially become God.

The belief states that because we are spirit souls- qualitatively the same with the Supreme, we are God ourselves.

However, the validity of such thought is questioned. How can God be under the influence of illusory material energy? If God were ever entrapped by His own illusory energy, than that energy would be more powerful than God. And how can this be the case if by very definition God is all-powerful?

As we can see from the scene above, the part clearly is unequal to the whole, and put into context of our own precarious situation- we (living entities) are spirit souls, the same in quality with God, but not in quantity; mere spiritual sparks of the Supreme cosmic fire. Equating the individual self with God, who is the complete whole, is to be confused. We would not equate a thread from a blanket to the blanket itself.

Radhanath Swami

It’s usually the sufferings of this world that serve as an impetus for us to not just theoretically try to understand what is beyond, but to feel the urgent need to do something about it, to realize and experience the essence of the self.

According to the Bhagavad-gita, as well as according to the teachings of Lord Buddha, the source of suffering is in the fact that the body is temporary, that life is temporary, and therefore everything is subjected to birth, old age, disease, and death.

The Vedas explain that there are three types of suffering: Adhyatmika, sufferings of one’s own body and mind; Adi-bhautika, sufferings due to other living beings; and Adi-daivika, sufferings due to natural circumstances like heat or cold, or earthquakes. These sufferings are always there, potentially posing threat to the physical body at any moment.

Analysis

The soul, Krishna explains, is never born and never dies. That source of life within the body, the source of consciousness, is the atma or the soul. The soul is transcendental. In Sanskrit: sat, cit, ananda – the soul is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. That is who we are.

The soul is like the driver of the car, and the body is like the car. We are seeing through our eyes, hearing through our ears, smelling through our nose, tasting through our tongue, touching through our skin, thinking through our brain. But who are we? Are we a brain or a heart or an eye or an ear?

We are the witness – the soul. That is who we are. That soul is by nature full of love and always fulfilled. But when that soul identifies itself with the body and becomes immersed in that state, then the soul has to identify with all of the vulnerabilities and frailties of this body. That is the source of all suffering!

The Purpose

In many ways, the sufferings in this world are blessings because they help us to take life very seriously, if we make that choice, to really understand what is deeper, what is higher than all these temporary pleasures and pains, honor and dishonor, happiness and distress, health and disease, success and failure, birth and death.

The world around us is constituted on the basis of dualities. One brings pleasure, the other one brings pain. To the degree we are attached to something that gives us pleasure, to that same degree we suffer when it is lost. Ultimately, because everything is under the consumption of time, everything will be lost.

So going through these experiences, thoughtful people contemplate, “Is there something higher?” “Is there something deeper?” “Is there something more to life than this?”

All the great saintly teachers and all the great sacred scriptures are leading us in that direction, that “There is something more.” This world is just a temporary place but this world can be a launching pad to help us realize the inner treasures within our own heart.

It’s usually the sufferings of this world that serve as an impetus for us to not just theoretically try to understand what is beyond, but to feel the urgent need to do something about it, to realize and experience the essence of the self.

The Light

In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna tells, dukhalayam asasvatam, that the nature of this world, when we are in ignorance of our true self, is suffering. Potentially there can be suffering at any moment, whoever we are, however wealthy, however educated, however powerful. Disease, people, natural circumstance, etc., they all could create a disaster, create a tragedy. So whatever happiness anyone has in this world, it is so tottering. It is like a drop of water on a lotus leaf – at any moment it could slip away. So where is permanent happiness? Where is freedom from suffering? It exists only on the spiritual platform. And that is what all the great sages have come to tell us.

In the Bible it is said, “Make your treasure not in this world, but make your treasure in the kingdom of God. In this world your treasure will be stolen by thieves, or rusted by the elements, or eaten by moths. But if you make your treasure in the kingdom of God, it will be perfect and infallible.” And then Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within.”

Similarly, Lord Krishna tells in the Bhagavad-gita, “One should find pleasure within”. One should find satisfaction within. One should be enlightened and illuminated from within. The life of such a person is of substantial quality and real intelligence.”

We should seek that eternal reality beyond all the sufferings of this world and thus find real happiness.

The topic of austerity became something of a web sensation, and was named the word of the year by Merriam-Webster online dictionary in 2010 because of the number of web searches this word generated that year. News articles on the Net and elsewhere have brought the idea of forced austerity into the mainstream causing many people to wonder what austerity is, which is likely because they haven’t experienced directly applying it themselves or even heard about it being practiced by others—and certainly not in the spiritual sense of the word.

In fact, as one might expect in a capitalist-dominated world, in popular usage, the word is defined primarily, even solely, in terms of economic policy. According to Wikipedia, “In economics, austerity is a policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided. Austerity policies are often used by governments to reduce their deficit spending while sometimes coupled with increases in taxes to pay back creditors to reduce debt.” In light of this one-sided use of the word, I thought it would be interesting to look at a more spiritual perspective, since it is an important word in Eastern spiritual circles and found throughout the writings of my spiritual teacher, Srila Prabhupada.

In other dictionaries I didn’t find much help in looking up austerity as it was defined as “the quality of state of being austere.” So I had to look up austere to see how the word is generally used. The usual definitions of the word I found in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary don’t give the meaning as used in a Vedic or spiritual sense throughout Srila Prabhupada’s writings. Yet, for comparison sake, here are the meanings I found: 1) a : stern and cold in appearance or manner; b : somber, grave <an austere critic>;  2) : morally strict : ascetic; 3) : markedly simple or unadorned <an austere office> <an austere style of writing>; 4) : giving little or no scope for pleasure <austere diets>.

Does it sound like something you would like to do? Probably not. Who would want to practice voluntary austerity? What about being forced to live an austere life? Could there be any benefit in any type of austere living?

For example, in current economic times, is there any advantage to having to reduce spending or in being thrifty? Or what about losing one’s freedom while being held hostage? Although most people would not pray for either possibility, if we study those who have experienced forced thrift, restricted freedom, or the increased possibility of death, there are surprising benefits which are possible.

In the first case, when spending must be limited or curtailed, many people naturally contemplate what is really of value in their lives. Going against the values of consumerism, a common discovery is that true value in life does not come from possessions or money, but through their family relationships, and facilities like having time and freedom. Those are certainly good realizations. However, in the second case of forced austerity, there can even be more benefit, especially spiritually.

Any circumstance where a person’s life is threatened or their freedom is reduced can have the effect of bringing about deep thought about the purpose of life, its meaning, the pondering of death, and the existence of God. Being in prison is another example of forced austerity. When there is limited external stimulation (or distractions), coupled with the increased possibility of death, existential introspection seems to be a natural consequence. These last effects give us a clue about why voluntary austerity is considered the wealth of the brahmanas or those whose lives are engrossed in spiritual study and practice. Srila Prabhupada taught the idea of simple living and high thinking. We find that by simple or uncomplicated, stress-free living, existential inquisitiveness or “high” spiritual thinking is often fostered.

A Sanskrit word for austerity is tapasya. This word is frequently used in the Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic texts. Penance is often used conjointly or sometimes synonymously with austerity. Tapasya means voluntary acceptance of some material trouble for progress in spiritual life. There are many recommendations for spiritual life given in the Vedas, such as rising early, internal and external cleanliness, giving up the eating of meat and intoxications, fasting on special days, studying Vedic literature, and chanting Vedic hymns and prayers. Such activities may be materially troublesome, yet they are helpful for spiritual advancement, and those interested in such advancement gladly embrace them.

There are three consecutive verses in the Bhagavad-gita which delineate austerity of the body, speech, and the mind. They are considered in the mode, or quality, of goodness, and are thus favorable for the practice of spiritual life. Within these verses favorable practices for a spiritually balanced life are outlined.

“Austerity of the body consists in expressing devotion to Godhead, the brahmanas, the spiritual teacher, and superiors like the father and mother, and in cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy and nonviolence.”

“Austerity of speech consists in speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic literature.”

“Satisfaction, simplicity, gravity, self-control, and purification of one’s existence are the austerities of the mind” [Bhagavad-gita 17.14-16]

Austerity is also one of the qualities attributed to the brahmanas, the traditional Vedic teachers in society:

“Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom, and religiousness — these are the natural qualities by which the brahmanas work.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.42]

And finally, austerity is considered one of the four basic principles of spirituality given in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. They consist of austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness. Although these principles can be considered as corollary factors which support the most important practices of devotional life, they are essential principles which promote a pure lifestyle.

Although sometimes Srila Prabhupada would say that human life is meant for austerity, on the path of devotion, we don’t engage in greatly difficult and austere practices like the traditional yogis do. From our perspective such austerities can make the heart hard, while bhakti is about softening the heart through loving Krishna. Our austerity is the natural austerity which comes in relationship to service to Krishna. For example eating (or honoring) the sanctified vegetarian food, although enjoyable, is also an austerity, as one doesn’t eat food that cannot be offered to Krishna. Alcohol and meat are some of the foods that cannot be offered to Krishna as they are considered impure and polluting. Once we become attracted to Krishna and center our life on his service, many activities fall away that we used to think nothing about doing. Some would call this austere, but for a devotee it becomes a source of joy. Such natural austerities help us fix our minds and hearts on Krishna and make spiritual progress.

This presentation is going to be a bit radical. After all, that is what this publication is all about. We are trying to offer an alternative; I am a member of a community dedicated to sparking a spiritual revolution. Revolution means to revolve, to turn around. Revolutions begin with radical ideas.

It is not that I am trying to be radical. Rather, I am trying to be objective; but while trying to be objective, one can’t help but be radical. That is because so much of the basis for today’s modern world is founded upon ideas and principles which have no solid philosophy and even less common sense. If we think of the world in this way, objective ideas become radical. Please try to read this with an open mind and an open heart. I too am open for criticism. Feel free to express yourself in the Open Mic section. I welcome only constructive criticism though. Please try to be philosophers rather than politicians. Think of what is written here in terms of philosophy, rather than politics or social norms.

Our bodies – all bodies – are made up of different senses. At times we are very happy to have these senses. At other times they become the source of our pain. In different species of life, different senses are prominent. For example, dogs can hear much better than humans. Their hearing organs are the most refined sense that they possess. Similarly, fish have an acute sense of taste. As a matter of fact, that’s how cruel people catch fish; attracting them by taste to the fishing hook. Humans however, have all the senses more or less equally developed; developed to an astonishing degree. The human mind and intellect, for example, are unmatched.

How do these senses give us pleasure and happiness? To the degree that one is developed in one’s sensual, mental, and intellectual sophistication, to that degree one can enjoy beautiful and ever more subtle things such as music, association, literature, philosophy, art, and creativity in many different ways. We can also use our senses to experience gross pleasures like eating and drinking, or having sex. In these ways we can employ our senses and enjoy life.

On the other hand, these senses can also give us a lot of trouble. A friend of mine once pointed out how much pain he experienced by smashing his little toe into a rock. He marveled at the idea that this toe did not add to his pleasure in life – in fact, he was hardly even aware of it – but still, it had the potential to cause him such pain. Similarly, our minds can go out of control and cause great emotional pain far worse than any physical ailment. Sometimes, people even need to be medicated just to get the mind under control so that they can participate in daily activities. Other people cannot control their appetite and become overweight and unhealthy. They suffer physical and emotional torment. Still others are mired in substance or alcohol abuse which exacts a great price upon their health and their relationships. All these problems – and countless more – come from uncontrolled senses. Our senses can certainly bring us great pleasures, and they can help us achieve our highest potential, but we should always remember that they can also cause us great pain.

Often, if you want to understand a thing well, you need to stand a bit away from it, in order to be truly objective. When you take a look at life from a distance, free from the influence of attachment and aversion, what do you see? Start from the beginning. You see yourself being born. Young and ignorant, you’re sucking your thumb and sticking everything you can get your hands on into your mouth. Roaming here and there, first on all fours and then on two feet, you’re learning about life; but you’re still ignorant. You are not very conscious of other living beings and their needs, but you do have this mother and father who seem to do stuff for you. In grade school you start to learn a bit more. You start to interact with the other kids and learn playground stuff like bullying and name calling. Or you’re a nice kid and you learn about sharing. Either way, your childhood is a blur and you can’t wait until you’re big.

Then one day, you become a teenager. Your body starts to change in all sorts of funny ways; your hormones boil up and you stop thinking with your brain and use your genitals instead. All you can think about is sex. In other words you lose the ability to be objective. You can not think dispassionately towards life and life situations because you’re just trying to get laid. By the end of your teenage years, if you are a guy, you’ve knocked up a girl, and if you are a girl, you’ve been impregnated by some guy who said he was in love. Suddenly you find yourself in a whole new world; a world of responsibilities. The picture you had as a teenager of a carefree life, with the whole world waiting for you to conquer, is suddenly gone. It’s shattered into a thousand pieces by the shrill sound of a newborn’s tears. A new reality sets in; one you weren’t expecting at all.

Work. You have to work to maintain your family…unless you want to be a bastard and walk away from the responsibility. Probably you’ll gut it out. Soon you’ll discover that maintaining a family takes a lot of hard work in fields you have never even dreamt about. You’ll spend the next two or three decades struggling to make ends meet. Buying diapers and baby food, making car payments, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the yard, driving the kids to soccer practice, laundry, boring school musicals, and going to work day after day in a job you hate just to make enough money to pay the mortgage on a home that’s worth less than you paid for it. These are all some of the exciting adventures that await you.

Then, one day you’ll wake up and discover that you’re sixty, seventy, eighty years old. All the promise in life is gone. Your body is shriveling up. Things that used to work effortlessly suddenly don’t. You’ve lost most of your hair where you wanted it, and sprouted fresh tufts in places where you didn’t want it, like in your ears. Your body starts to ache all over; you’ll take two dozen pills each day that you keep in a small color coated plastic container so you won’t forget. Your memory isn’t what it used to be – which is a good thing – because you can’t remember all the side effects of the drugs you’re taking. Your whole focus will shift to making yourself comfortable until the inevitable final departure. If you’re especially unlucky your ungrateful children will dump you in a nursing home; otherwise you’ll sit around your home with your spouse, waiting for one of you to pass, leaving the other one utterly alone. What will you have learned? What will you’re life have been for?

This is life when you look at it from a distance. I can already hear you protesting, “My life will be different!” Will it? Due to our inability to dispassionately evaluate life, we simply plug into this biological cycle. Spurred by our hormones, we blindly reproduce, thus creating, in most cases, further cycles of ignorance in the form of our offspring. We take on this immense struggle for the promise of mere biological reproduction – sex – which we use to spice up the weekends; the only time when we aren’t working our ass off.

“We settle for basic biological reproduction: we are ignorant; our hormones boil; we do something stupid; we find ourselves in the bleak world of hard work and maintenance; we get old; and then off we go.”

I know this might sound like a cynical view of the world. I am really not trying to offend anyone. Rather, I’m trying to stimulate thinking. Again, please don’t look at this from the political point of view. Look at it from the philosophical point of view.

We settle for basic biological reproduction: we are ignorant; our hormones boil; we do something stupid; we find ourselves in the bleak world of hard work and maintenance; we get old; and then off we go.

Worldwide statistics show that romance, on average, lasts just about a year. Just long enough for you to do the biological thing called “reproduction” and then face the real world. In other words, romance has a function in the reproductive system, that is, to get you in the game, to get you to bite the hook.

Why settle for something as mediocre as biological reproduction? I am not saying that we should completely do away with biological reproduction, but to settle down just for that is a bit sad. Why can’t we be more productive, more creative with our lives? There is a whole world waiting for us; the whole spiritual creation waiting to be discovered, yet we settle down for the mere biological thing.

For centuries before the modern, industrial, consumer-crazed society, people were doing all kinds of “radical” things like exploring a life of celibacy, as monks and nuns. They reduced their biological life in order to save time for awesome, truly important things such as self-realization and personal development. There is so much more for you besides a life centered upon mere biological reproduction. Don’t let trivial society bring you down to a trivial level. If you are so inclined, you too could be a radical. Pursue spiritual development; become a monk. Why not? Give yourself a brake. Not just a weekend. Take twenty, thirty, forty years or even your whole life. Why not? Express yourself. Be fine, refined; boldly experience life and the limits of the conscious human existence. Interact with the world. Discover your spiritual self. Go on a serious adventure. Why always be mediocre, or even puny, when you can do so much more?

So once more, I ask you to please not misunderstand me. I am not saying that we should do away with biological reproduction. I’m not even saying that everyone should become monks and nuns, although that would be quite blissful too. Rather, we shouldn’t settle down for the mere biological routine. That would show a great lack of imagination and creativity. Often times, many people find themselves living a life of great boredom and monotony, simply because they weren’t aware of an alternative. But there is one. Are you radical enough to accept it?

Do animals have rights? Do animals have souls? What does your faith say about animal consciousness, suffering, sacrifice and stewardship?

Q: Expensive and time-consuming efforts had been made to rescue and rehabilitate animals threatened by the Gulf oil spill. Do animals have rights? Do animals have souls? What does your faith say about animal consciousness, suffering, sacrifice and stewardship? Dr. Paul Waldau, a lecturer in animal law at Harvard Law School , says, “Religion is a major player in the way humans think about other living beings.” What does that mean to you?

We live in a society where more and more of us attempt to consider the effects we have as individuals and as a society on other nations, on other people, on the environment, etc. We increasingly ask ourselves, “Do our actions infringe on others’ rights?” When this questions is directed toward the issue of animals, the answer is an easy one for me: absolutely! In the U.S. alone, we are responsible for the torture and slaughter of more than 25 million animals EVERY SINGLE DAY. While many may be astounded by the numbers and not believe them, others will simply say, “So what?”, “Why should we care?”, or “They are only animals.” However, the reasons to care are many, and I will try to address a few.

Most followers of the Abrahamic religious traditions do not believe that animals have souls. These religious traditions, as well as most cultures, promote the belief that animals are simply here for human benefit. Their followers have been taught and like to believe that humans are the superior species on earth, and that all of nature is simply for our use. We are the only living beings that matter, so we can pretty much do what we want with animals: own them, play with them, kill them, eat them, wear their body parts, destroy their homes and environment, etc. This would not be as easy to do if people actually stopped to consider whether animals have souls.

A good way to begin to deal with this question is to look at what one conceives a soul to be. In the vast majority of religious and philosophical traditions in which there is a belief in a soul, it is understood to be intimately connected with the life force within the body. It is what animates us when we are alive and what leaves the body when we die.

Thus, if an entity is alive, there must be a life force within, and there must be a soul. It would seem, then, that one who believes in the existence of a human soul would have to see the likelihood that animals have souls as well. If not, what makes them alive (they don’t have batteries or keys to wind)? Those who reject this understanding of animals likely do so because it is inconsistent with what they have been taught or choose to believe. If they want to reject it on these grounds, they have the right to, but they do so in spite of a rational conclusion based on accepted characteristics of the soul.

“We are the only living beings that matter, so we can pretty much do what we want with animals: own them, play with them, kill them, eat them, wear their body parts, destroy their homes and environment, etc. This would not be as easy to do if people actually stopped to consider whether animals have souls.”

Actually, when most Americans eat meat, they don’t stop to think about its source, or how the animal, whose body parts they are consuming, was raised, treated, and killed. They don’t stop to think whether animals have souls. Meat eaters, who otherwise care about the consequences of their actions or who argue for the rights of minorities or oppressed groups, tend to create a psychological distance between what they eat and the fact that it came from the body of an animal that was imprisoned most or all of its life, usually suffered tortuous treatment, and was then killed, all to satisfy human taste buds and an addiction to flesh consumption. Meat eaters are typically raised to ignore these contridictions and rarely ever discuss or think about them. To them, meat is “just food”.

Those who want a more peaceful and non-violent world or who support the rights of the oppressed should consider visiting a slaughterhouse for a day or at least watching a video at www.meat.org. Anyone who will take the time to do so will have a much better understanding of how their daily flesh consumption is directly responsible for the extremely inhumane torture of animals that occurs 24/7 all over the country.

The pop star Lady Gaga poses covered in raw meat for the latest issue of Vogue Hommes Japan. I guess this is what some people think animals are for.

Many people have been fooled by the meat industry into thinking they must consume flesh in order to survive or that vegetarians cannot be healthy. People who think this need to open their eyes and minds to a broader understanding of health. There is increasing medical evidence that not only is meat eating unnecessary for health, but that it actually causes many of the health problems Americans face, especially diseases like heart attacks, obesity, cancer, etc. Not only have many sick people turned to vegetarianism for a cure but a significant number of professional athletes have become vegetarian because they found that it helps them to become stronger in a more healthy way. Two of the earliest vegetarian athletes that I learned about growing up were Roger Bannister and John Landy. In 1953 they became the first two humans to officially run a mile in under four minutes. Both attributed their diet to their amazing accomplishments. There have been and continue to be many more athletes who are vegetarian, as well as millions of regular people all over the world, especially in India.

Meat eaters are typically raised to ignore these contridictions and rarely ever discuss or think about them. To them, meat is just food.

The indigenous religions of India (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism) promote a kinship with all life forms that is unique among the world’s major religions. Although not all their adherents follow it, these traditions as a whole take non-violence seriously, and one of the central reasons that most do is the belief that animals have souls. Clearly, when it comes to the treatment of animals, these religions stand out and lead the way. One of the things that first attracted me to Hinduism was Mahatma Gandhi’s views on non-violence and his respect for animals and nature. Although I became a vegetarian awhile before I adopted Hinduism as my chosen way of life, Gandhi was a great influence on me. The more I learned about the tradition, the more I found within it beliefs that resonated with my own evolving feelings and views about the sanctity of life and the evils inherent in most incidents of violence.

I know it is much easier to believe animals have no souls, that they somehow are alive without one, and that their existence is simply to fill our bellies. However, at some point, many of us come to the realization that animals are conscious beings, with desires and fears, aspirations and frustrations. They experience happiness and sadness, comfort and pain. We see this in the pets who live with us and we would be extremely pained if anyone even thought about treating them the way millions of animals are treated every day in America. Yet, most of us pretend that all the other animals we don’t know personally are somehow different. Their lives don’t really matter, the torture they experience doesn’t really matter, their slaughter doesn’t really matter.

“Many of us come to the realization that our pets are conscious beings, with desires and fears, aspirations and frustrations. They experience happiness and sadness, comfort and pain. Yet, most of us pretend that all the other animals we don’t know personally are somehow different.”

I understand and acknowledge that in some climates and places, meat eating, or at least fishing, is necessary for survival, but these places are in the minority, and America is not one of them (except maybe in portions of Alaska).

Nevertheless, I believe that when we eat meat, we perpetuate violence in the world, and we enhance its presence in our lives, either directly or indirectly. The animals whose dead bodies or body parts end up on American plates were, for the most part, raised in an abusive way before they were killed, and far too many of us turn our backs to that reality. We do so because it is simply easier and more comfortable, not because we need meat to survive, or because there is no other food option.

When there is harmony in the world, there is peace. Disharmony leads imbalance, disease, and destruction. The BP oil spill is a product of an approach to nature that reeks of an attitude of destruction and has little or no sense of respect or harmony for nature. This does not mean that we cannot use things in nature for our benefit, and sometimes this includes animals, but that we should do so in a respectful way. As citizens of a country that uses more energy than any other country, we have to share with BP a moral, if not financial, responsibility for what had happened. How many of us who complain about the ongoing environmental degradation have altered our lives to use alternate energy instead?

How many of us drive only alternate energy vehicles, have solar panels on our homes, recycle all our waste, plant trees wherever we can, and stop adding to the massive pollution caused by the livestock industry? Not many. There is an environmental crisis that is apparent today and has therefore gotten most of our attention, but there is a morality crisis that has been going on for a long time in the way we treat Mother Earth and her residents, and very few of us even think about it. While many individual Christians, Jews, and Muslims act in environmentally conscious ways, it is time that Western religions start including in their teachings a genuine and proactive concern for nature and for the other beings that share the Earth with us. They claim to believe that all of creation is from God. It is time they begin to treat these divine creations with the respect they deserve.

I realize that the views I have expressed will likely upset some. I am only expressing my personal beliefs, and I do so with the hope of inspiring a bit more awareness about the non-human beings and other forms of life that are such beautiful and important parts of the natural world. Vegetarianism is great for health, and that is why I first became a vegetarian. However, I remain a vegetarian for ethical reasons. Meat eating and the resulting wholesale slaughter of animals causes more destruction to our environment, our health, and our relationship with the world than any other single cause. More than that, it promotes a careless attitude toward life and a mind set that makes violence more acceptable. I have countless friends and family members who are not vegetarian, and this does not prevent me from having deep respect for many of them. At the same time, I do feel a great sense of sadness for all the suffering that is caused by the food choices of meat eaters. For all those people who consider themselves to be pro-peace or pro-life and who are bothered by all the violence in the world, I would only ask them to look at their dinner plate and reflect for a moment on how much hard work fighting injustice and violence will be offset by the torture, suffering, and rights abuses that occur simply so they can consume a piece of meat.

Vegetarian Trend on the Rise in USA
7.3 Million Americans Are Vegetarians & Additional 22.8 Million Follow a Vegetarian-Inclined Diet
The just-released “Vegetarianism in America” study, published by Vegetarian Times (vegetariantimes.com), shows that 3.2 percent of U.S. adults, or 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian-based diet. Approximately 0.5 percent, or 1 million, of those are vegans, who consume no animal products at all. In addition, 10 percent of U.S., adults, or 22.8 million people, say they largely follow a vegetarian-inclined diet.
-From Vegetariantimes.com

Koreans Killing Dogs for “Hot-Dogs”
Most of you will agree that this is a most unethical scene, but what is the difference between this scene and your modern American slaughterhouse and its killing wholesale of baby calves? Is there such a thing as “ethical-killing” of animals. Why is it that humans can demand rights, and yet strip rights away from animals. Are they not beings with a need for affection and love?

EXCLUSIVENESS is the greatest feature of love. The very idea of recieving exclusive love makes our soul tingle. When love is made exclusive it makes it possible for the lover to love their beloved on the deepest level you can imagine, thus giving the word “love” it’s actual substance. The perfection of all yoga paths is to reach Samadhi; Samadhi means that the mind is always cent-per-cent in concentration on the supreme object of meditation.

Recently, some of my friends came back from Bhakti Fest 2010, which was held in Joshua Tree, CA. I really enjoyed hearing of their experiences. It’s so nice that people are finally coming in contact with many of the spiritual methodologies outlined in the traditional Vedic texts – the same ancient Vedic hymns which shout, “Shanti Shanti Shanti.” It means “Let there be peace for all living beings in the upper, middle, and lower worlds.”

I’m thankful for such an event, which can help lift modern materialistic American culture from the clutches of corporate slavery and the embarrassment of accepting our human existence as nothing more than a soul-less conglomeration of insentient chemicals firing in the brain. This conception we partly gain due to our exposing the same brain to mainstream media outlets and thus gleaning the doctrines of the latest avant-garde atheists of our time.

But, one thing boggles my mind completely!

First of all, it’s well known that Americans as a whole are cursed with the mentality of trying to get satisfaction for the lowest possible price. (Witness the success of fast-food and other similar industries.)

THE REALLY SAD THING TO ME IS….that many of the leaders of our recent bhakti trend teach a very perverted idea of what bhakti-yoga really is.

Unfortunately, because we often carry that same ‘fast-food-America’ mentality into spiritual life, we end up relegating spiritual practice to the category of hobbies and side interests so we can maximize our time for DEVOTION to some very un-spiritual and unnecessary materialistic activities.

Bhakti-yoga is a science like all other yoga paths. Hatha-yoga, for example, is not some whimsical practice where you can throw on a pair of spandex and act like you’re BKS Iyengar himself.

Some will say that bhakti is what you feel inside, it’s all your own opinion and path; no one can tell you what bhakti is for you; it’s you who have to define it, create it all by yourself, without the help of any dogmatic religious priests, books, or disciplinary guidelines.

Well, to that I say, if that’s your philosophy, then that rule should apply in the real world. Could that mentality fly in the real world of action and reaction? We should understand that Bhakti-yoga is an actual science like all other yoga paths. Hatha-yoga, for example, is not some whimsical practice where you can throw on a pair of spandex and act like you’re BKS Iyengar himself. Furthermore, in most states if you want to teach yoga you FIRST must be CERTIFIED. Is it not so?

What happens when you go to a hatha-yoga teacher who is not certified? You may break your back, pull a hamstring, or even worse.

So, you have to know who is qualified to be a teacher of that science. And bhakti-yoga is no less a science than hatha-yoga. In fact, it’s the most advanced science of all the yoga paths. It’s an ancient art, a spiritual craft in a league of its own. There are universal, time-tested, validated, scientific ways to cultivate that devotion within. But before you get there you have to have a basic road map of some kind.

EXACTLY WHO OR WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE DEVOTED TO WHEN YOU PRACTICE BHAKTI-YOGA, THE YOGA OF DEVOTION?

Is it to Shiva, Kali, Krishna, or none of them? Are they symbolic images, real higher living beings, or just mythological symbols we use to access greater aspects of our own self through meditation?

Well, you can begin to see what I mean.

Again, we should know that there are actually very detailed road maps that show the bhakti path, and there are also universities (ashramas), professors (gurus), and textbooks (ancient Sanskrit manuscripts) to guide us on the way.

But again, if you want cheap fast food instead of the real thing, then unfortunately that is what you’re going to end up with: a cheap, watered-down version of the real thing.

I’m not a fighter, I’m a lover, but I will fight for what I love, and it’s gonna be for the truest and purest definition of love.

Now regardless who your teacher is (your guru), or regardless how you are feeling today, we can all agree on one thing. Bhakti is supposed to be the ultimate expression of love of the soul. IT IS CALLED “THE YOGA OF DIVINE LOVE”. Now, I don’t think too many people will disagree with this interpretation of the Sanskrit word bhakti.

All I know is that when I looked up a particular famous Kirtan singer’s webpage and read what his philosophy of life is and what he taught his fans, it clearly said that it is the path of bhakti-yoga. Okay, fair enough. So, when I looked up this one main headliner at the BHAKTI FEST, it stated that though he teaches bhakti-yoga he is also initiated into a sect of Buddhism in India. Furthermore, he claims that his teacher appointed him as the leader of a temple of the Hindu Goddess Durga, and moreover he quotes the Bhagavad-gita, a book containing the teachings of Sri Krishna, in such a way that you would assume he fully abides by it.

Now once again, I don’t hate, but I have a brain and an intellect, and they tell me that many things are amiss in this picture. Let’s see if you agree.

First of all, Orthodox Buddhism teaches “anatma,” which is a philosophy that says we don’t have a soul and that we’re just a mind reincarnating. The goal of this path is to end one’s personal existence by stopping all thought and merging into what is called Nirvana — the big, black, empty void. This is a doctrine completely different from that of Durga worship, which is rooted in the Advaita school of thought. This school teaches that we’re not matter but spirit and that this spirit is undivided, although it appears to be divided into individual persons, whom we see as each other in this world. Then there is the Bhagavad-gita philosophy, which clearly teaches that the Supreme Truth is a Personal God, Krishna, who is the origin of all things material and spiritual, and that the perfection of all yoga systems is to constantly remember Him in devotion through bhakti-yoga. To follow this path properly one should, as Krishna says, “give up all other dharmas, or methods of worship, and take exclusive shelter of Me in devotion.”

The Bhagavad-gita is the main text of the bhakti school, which teaches that God is an individual person, as are we, but that He is in the supreme position as the controller and origin of all that be. In other words, it wouldn’t make sense for someone who truly accepts the Gita’s teachings to take a break from this path and worship Durga or any other god or goddess or object. If you truly accept what the Gita is saying – that Krishna is the origin of all things and that all things are emanating from Him and contained within Him – what would be the point of worshiping any other person or object?

So if you do sometimes worship someone or something else, that proves that underneath all your external public display of heartfelt “bhakti” you don’t really think that Krishna is the supreme goal of meditation. In other words, you don’t really accept as true Krishna’s teachings in the Bhagavad-gita. Right?

How can a person follow all three extremely contradictory spiritual paths simultaneously? This unfortunately sounds to me like a most bogus kind of “bhakti”. It’s like a guy offering “respect” to a priest by touching his foot with one hand while beating him over the head with a shoe held in the other hand! Following the teachings of a voidist path like Buddhism or an impersonal path like advaitism while trying to cultivate devotion to a personal Supreme Truth through a theistic path like bhakti is like trying to start a fire while simultaneously pouring water on it. It just doesn’t work. In other words, there can be no real bhakti potency in such chanting of mantras. It must be a farce.

“If you are married to a person and you tell that person “I love you. My love is completely devoted to you” and then you are constantly calling another person, talking about them, singing to them, how do you think your spouse is going to feel?”

Maybe you think that one who is advanced spiritually can see the divine in all things. But then again, what is your position: is there a soul, or isn’t there one? Do you devote your being to Durga, or do you actually worship Krishna/Vishnu? Which is it? Shouldn’t we want to know?

What is the meaning of a guru’s giving you a name such as Govinda Das if you regularly chant the name of Durga or Kali? It’s as if I’m married to a woman named Patty but I’m always calling Sherry on the phone. Are you really devoted to the person whose name you’re calling out repeatedly? Or do you do so solely for entertainment purposes and recognition?!

Someone may argue that if you love God then do you not love everything and everyone? Sure, but what would be the point of bhakti-yoga practice unless you’re trying to direct all your love and action to watering the root? Unless you’re trying to give it all back to God, the place where it all comes from? And if we can chant any name, then why do I have to go to a yoga studio and try to bend up like a pretzel and look all spiritual, when I can just chant my girlfriend’s name in the back of my Cadillac on Mount Solidad and make profuse amounts of “love” and call it “divine bhakti.”

In other words, what is the actual substance of bhakti that makes it bhakti? We should understand this science and investigate ALL of these different philosophical doctrines. We should continue to go deeper and deeper in the ocean of knowledge of life and reject obvious contradictions and misinterpretations of those doctrines. We should not follow anything blindly. Question Everything; Know for yourself.

Anyways, it’s clear to me that spiritual prostitution exists. And it’s a fact that there are these modern kirtan gurus popping up who will prostitute themselves philosophically to gain access to a greater demographic of consumers, and you should know that they are alive and doing well, very well.

FINAL THOUGHT:

If you are married to a person and you tell that person “I love you. My love is completely devoted to you.” and then you are constantly calling another person, talking about them, singing to them, how do you think your spouse is going to feel?

In conclusion, real love is exclusive. “Love” that is not exclusive is prostitution — it’s not love at all. This kind of “love” is self-serving and cannot truly satisfy the self. If you think that sex with multiple partners is an advanced form of bhakti-yoga, then you’re not even on the spiritual path at all, because the spiritual path means knowing that you are not the body made of flesh and blood but that we should actually endeavor to realize and nourish the eternal spirit within. This is not a criticism of the search for genuine love; it’s just a criticism of the modern materialistic mindset of making the most valuable things in life cheap and simulated.

May all those sincere seekers who wish to experience the true depth of the heart of the bhakti-yoga science find such guidance and shelter in the teachings of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who taught the complete science of bhakti and wrote it all down in numerous books, especially The Nectar of Devotion. (See www.nectarofdevotion.com)

OM TAT SAT

A lot of people in modern America perform spiritual activities. Some go to churches, some go to mosques, and some, being more freelance spiritual types, prefer reading many different spiritual books, going to yoga studios and perhaps drum circles. It’s common for people to add spiritual activities to the routine lifestyle they are already comfortable with.

However, a critical component to spiritual advancement is refraining from certain activities. Often this means not doing things we otherwise might want to do. Spirituality is not a hobby to do in one’s spare time while not bothering to change some of our old habits. Rather, it is the reason we exist.

” In order to change our consciousness for the better, we should resist dong things that are spiritually counterproductive, and sometimes force ourselves to do things we might not want to do, but are essential for spiritual advancement.”

It is not that one goes to church on Sunday, then the rest of the week drinks, smokes, cusses, and generally behaves like a Neanderthal. One is not advised to go to the yoga studio a few times a week, while the rest of the week compulsively giving in to the demands of the tongue and genitals. To make real advancement we have to overhaul our whole life, habits, and habitual ways of thinking.

In order to change our consciousness for the better, we should resist dong things that are spiritually counterproductive, and sometimes force ourselves to do things we might not want to do, but are essential for spiritual advancement. When we practice the do’s and don’ts of our spiritual discipline, our consciousness gets purified. If we do this for long enough, we become habituated to living a purer, more spiritually elevated lifestyle. This is how one makes spiritual advancement.

In the Sanskrit language the word to describe this concept is tapasya, which can be translated as austerity or voluntarily accepting discomfort in order to make spiritual progress. To give you some example of tapasya, the monks at our temple wake up between 3 and 4 in the morning, take a cold shower to purify the mind, and perform 4 hours of meditation and study. We constantly strive to control our thoughts and actions, and have as few possessions as possible. We follow four principles which are no intoxication, no meat eating, celibacy, and no gambling.

Certainly, though, celibacy is not for everyone. For one, there wouldn’t be any people left on the Earth in about 100 years if everyone were celibate monks. But the idea is the more we voluntarily sacrifice for spiritual advancement, the more advancement we make.

In the ancient Vedic culture of India, a person is not considered to be quite on the human platform unless he or she is able to forgo urges for immediate satisfaction in favor of noble, pure, and longer term achievements. Animals don’t think about the consequences of their actions, they just do what feels good in the moment. If a lot of food is put in front of an animal it will gorge itself. If an attractive member of the opposite sex walks by, it will have sex and then leave without considering the welfare of its offspring or the mother. However human beings have certain social responsibilities and if everyone just did whatever feels good in the moment, then society would collapse.

The human body that we as eternal spirit souls currently possess, is meant for self-realization. It is not meant for just eating, sleeping, mating, and defending our territory and mating rights. If we choose to reduce our existence to the bestial platform, then we should not be surprised if in our next life we get an animal body. But if we choose to consider our actions carefully and practice self-control, we can be elevated to higher planes of consciousness.

Excerpt from the Bhagavad-gita

Arjuna said: O Krishna, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is merged in transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how does he walk?

Krishna said: O Arjuna, when one gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.

One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.

In the material world, one who is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising it nor despising it, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in perfect consciousness.

The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.

The senses are so strong and impetuous that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a person of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.

One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a person of steady intelligence.

While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.

From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.
But a person free from all attachment and aversion and able to control his senses through regulative principles of freedom can obtain My mercy completely.

For one thus satisfied in Krishna consciousness, the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such satisfied consciousness, one’s intelligence is soon well established.

One who is not connected with the Supreme can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can carry away one’s intelligence.

Therefore, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence.

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve peace, and not the person who strives to satisfy such desires.

A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego—he alone can attain real peace.

That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a person is not bewildered. If one is thus situated even at the hour of death, one can attain the spiritual abode.

The show is finished, and the equipment is loaded. The van sits before the front door, and I sit inside the van. It is cold and windy on the German shore.

Three guys approach—young, clean cut & straight-edged. They want to do an interview… “I don’t need Krishna,” says the spokesman, with an unforgettable German accent. “I have my own way.”

“That’s cool…” I say. “What ‘way’ is that”?

Lots of hesitation. Lots of stuttering. Lots of eyes darting back and forth between the three of them. Finally the spokesman speaks up: “I believe in my own self. I rely on my own self. I follow only my own self.”

“You believe in your self, rely on your self, and follow yourself. Great… Who is that self”?

More darting eyes and stuttering. Sentences begin, but are consumed by confusion, and silence dominates. They cannot answer.

I ask them, “How can you believe in it, rely on it, and follow it if you don’t even know what it is”?

Silence is spoken in German.

“See, that’s why you do need Krishna consciousness.”

No comment returned.

“The first point is that the self is not the body”.

He sits up straight in the van chair and says, “Yes. I am not the body. I am the collection of the ideals that my brothers and I share in common.”

“These ideals are not the self,” I say. “They’re all impressed upon you from out-side yourself.”

They eventually agree: The self is beyond the body and ideals of the mind. Then I ask, “We know what the self isn’t. But, what is it?”

“The spirit?”

“Yeah. The self is a particle of spirit, a part of the complete spirit. Just like a guitar string is a part of the complete guitar. If you rip off that guitar string and throw it on the sidewalk out here—what value does it have?”

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, not a whole lot,” I say. “It’s useless. But when you connect that string to the complete guitar, tune it up and that—it has so much value, right? It can make music. It can make songs… The string is valuable when it works for the complete guitar; but on its own, sitting on the sidewalk, it’s worthless. The part becomes useless when it’s not connected to the complete unit.”

They nod.

“The self, the individual spirit,” I continued, “is a part of the complete spirit. When the self tries to live separately from the complete self, he or she is like the guitar string rusting on the sidewalk. And  that’s what we’ve done—disconnected ourselves from the Complete. Just like the guitar string, our value is forgotten, our meaning is forgotten. Most of our time is spent trying to fill in the gaps of a hollow life as we loiter on the sidewalk.”

“The real nature of the self,” I enthusiastically continue, “is to serve the complete self, just like the string serves the complete guitar and reaches its highest expression and fulfillment in the process.”

“What do you mean, ‘complete self’?” they ask.

“You know: Krishna. The highest expression of the self is to serve Krishna.”

“Oh.”

“That’s what it really means to ‘follow yourself’..That’s Krishna consciousness”.

They were thoughtful. I was thankful.

Vic DiCara