We live in an age when a graveyard is called a ‘memorial park.’ An earplug is a ‘noise filter,’ and a bar of soap a ‘skin cleansing system.’ ‘Bottom line’ is another phrase that’s come to mean a final conclusion or summary statement. And look out for those ‘crash friendly’ SUVs (sports utility vehicles). When we take advantage of shastric evidence, linguistic morphing can be superseded by wisdom. The technology of spiritual progress guarantees our human crafts are guided — in every respect — toward their natural harbour, on the most protected route.

Often we see that people sincerely interested in spiritual life appreciate Krsna consciousness because it is the genuine (unadulterated, pure) article. Nonetheless, Srila Prabhupada has warned us that sincere people are sometimes seduced by frauds. Thus he has written, “Even though it is sometimes found that one may be interested in spiritual advancement, he is most likely to accept a bogus method of spiritual life, being misguided by so many pretenders.” (SB 4.25.39/purport)

One of Ksirodakasayee Visnu’s sons, while a student at Oxford, wrote to Srila Prabhupada asking what was wrong with mental speculation. Srila Prabhupada wrote back that when Krsna says, “I am the taste of water” we should try to understand HOW Krsna is the taste of water, and that that is REAL mental speculation. The specific reference reads as follows: “As for the difference between mental speculation and philosophical speculation, we take it that everything is known by the psychological action of the mind, so that philosophical speculation is the same as mental speculation if it is merely the random or haphazard activity of the brain to understand everything and making theories, “if’s” and ‘maybe’s.” But if philosophical speculation is directed by Sastra and Guru, and if the goal of such philosophical attempts is to achieve Visnu, then that philosophical speculation is not mental speculation. It is just like this: Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that “I am the taste of water.” Philosophical speculation in the accepted sense then means to try to understand, under the direction of Sastra and Guru, just how Krishna is the taste of water. The points of Bhagavad-gita, though they are simple and complete, can be understood from unlimited angles of vision. So our philosophy is not dry, like mental speculation. The proper function of the brain or psychological activity is to understand everything through Krsna’s perspective or point-of-view, and so there is no limit to that understanding because Krsna is unlimited, and even though it can be said that the devotee who knows Krsna, he knows everything (15th Chapter), still, the philosophical process never stops and the devotee continues to increase his knowledge even though he knows everything. Try to understand this point….” (letter dated 21 January 1972).

On the 12th of June, 1968, Srila Prabhupada nicely explained the word ‘sannyasa’ by breaking the word into sanskrit syllables: “This is Sanskrit word, sat-nyasa. This is sannyasa. Sat means the Supreme, the Absolute Truth. And nyasa means renounced. One who has renounced everything for the service of the Supreme, he is called a sannyasa. Sannyasa does not mean a particular type of dress or particular type of beard. Sannyasa means you can become a sannyasi even with your, this coat-pant. It doesn’t matter, provided you have dedicated your life for the service of God. That is called sannyasa.

The story is about a person who scales to the high Himalayas to visit a bearded holy man in a cave. The climber asks, “How can I become a millionaire?” The sage replies, “If I knew the answer to that, you think I’d be living here?” This parable’s ostensible message is that renouncers are all misfits and ne’r-do-wells. They inhabit remote retreats because they can’t make it in the ‘real world’. In short, they’re losers. And buried within is yet another theme: holy people should not possess anything of this world. Their wisdom thrives on isolation. The stereotypical rishi or saint has to remain aloof, even geographically, from all things physical.

(This article was posted in the ?Meditations? column of the Hindustan Times on 23 November 2002.) THERE IS no entirely ?free act.? Everything we do is conditioned by circumstances before and after birth: culture, education, genetic make-up and karmic laws. True or false? The term baddha or ?bound-up? echoes throughout Vedic literature. It?s often seen in conjunction with nitya, and frequently refers to eternally illusioned or ?conditioned? souls. But what is this ?conditioning? and what is a ?conditioned soul?? Something enables us to enjoy many things, including life itself. But perhaps there is something unusual or wrong with this enjoyment. If so, what is it? Is there something so subtle, so undetectable, so invisibly below the ping of consciousness, that we cannot perceive its existence? Let?s call it conditioning. For example, if we look at hair conditioning and air conditioning carefully we see that no matter how hair or air is treated, the molecules and atoms- remain unchanged. Altered like this, however, the substances become un-fresh, abnormal and unnatural. They seem quite different. Here?s the rub. The soul is by nature pure, blissful, unchangeable, and eternal, or so the Gita would have it (2.20). So how can the pure soul be affected by impure material nature? If the soul is essentially untainted, how can a worldly atmosphere recast it? As soon as a soul is ?embodied,? it becomes attached to its surroundings, particularly the body it inhabits. For this reason, dogs bark, cats meow, and cows moo. Human beings crave fighting, loving, the arts, eating, sex, drugs, children, wealth, and intellectual prowess. But mostly we work hard to gratify our senses. In today?s world where wants are defined as needs, and needs become ?rights,? the right to have what you want can be addictive. So only accepting what we really need requires discrimination and steady awareness of another dimension. Shastras and great sages posit that ?happier? universes become more real, more enjoyable as we become more abstemious. Though not inversely proportional to material enjoyment, spiritual bliss embraces a certain degree of renunciation. So, how can we be ?in the world? but not ?of it?? Voluntary austerity is not as horrendous as it sounds. We practice it every day by avoiding gluttony, drunkenness, sexual surfeit, and every other kind of excess. Meditation fine-tunes us beyond passion, beyond peace, to joyous association with the soul. Meditation can become our lifework. The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission

For one engaged in pure devotional service, such as core ISKCON activities, or being in the true spirit of core ISKCON activities, there is no need to engage in other forms of ritual, penance, meditation, or `spiritual strivings.’ A nice verse and purport in Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam explains this nicely: It is in the 2nd Canto, Seventh Chapter. The text is number forty-eight. This is Srila Prabhupada’s translation: “In such a transcendental state there is no need of artificial control of the mind, mental speculation, or meditation, as performed by the jnanis and yogis. One gives up such processes, as the heavenly King, Indra, forgoes the trouble to dig a well.” And this is his purport: “King Indra of heaven is the controlling deity or demigod for arranging clouds supplying rains in the universe, and as such he does not have to take the trouble to dig a well for his personal water supply. For him, digging a well for a water supply is simply ludicrous. Similarly, those who are factually engaged in the loving service of the Lord have attained the ultimate goal of life, and for them, there is no need for mental speculation to find out the true nature of God or His activities. Nor do such devotees have to meditate upon the imaginary or real identity of the Lord. Because they are factually engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, the Lord’s pure devotees have already achieved the results of mental speculation and meditation. The real perfection of life is, therefore, to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.”

Thought to be enemies, science and religion are creeping closer together. For 146 years science has not produced “Darwin’s missing link.” Serious students of anthropology as well as biology students are beginning to doubt Darwin’s theory. IDT (intelligent design theory) is becoming increasingly prominent.

Ultimately everything is Krishna, even maya, who performs the thankless task of keeping conditioned souls imprisoned (and attached to) the material world. Our attachments are intimated in Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 10.41: “Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.” Purport – “Any glorious or beautiful existence should be understood to be but a fragmental manifestation of Krsna’s opulence, whether it be in the spiritual or material world. Anything extraordinarily opulent should be considered to represent Krsna’s opulence.”

Because Hanumanji is portrayed on the banner of Arjuna, it is understood that Arjuna meditated on him during the battle, even though Lord Krishna Himself is his chariot driver and tactical advisor in the battle of Kuruksetra. This underscores the importance of sadhu in the three-way check and balances system known as ‘guru, sastra and sadhu. Lord Krishna in this case is the guru and Hanuman or Vajrangaji represents the sadhus. In the introduction to the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada writes in the Introduction to the Srimad Bhagavatam: “Arjuna was also a Vaisnava devotee of Lord Krsna, and he fought valiantly for the satisfaction of the Lord. Similarly, Vajrangaji, or Hanuman, was also a devotee of Lord Rama, and he gave lessons to the non-devotee party of Ravana.” In London on 17 July 1973 he said this during a lecture on the Bhagavad-gita 1.20, “Just like nowadays also, every nation has different types of flags, so Arjuna also had his flag….Dhvajah means the flag. The flag was on the top of his chariot. And it was marked with Hanuman, Vajrangaji….Hanuman, who fought for Lord Ramacandra…. He is fighting for Krsna. So he is also following the footsteps of Vajrangaji.”