Today I’m going to fittingly end my recent epigrammatic rampage with a quote from Oscar Wilde. Wilde said something which indicates that life can be all clich?s, a series of sayings, a string of adages, a mountain of witticisms. Wilde is famous for his use of these. He once said: “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” This is partially true, but it depends on who we want to be like. If one lives by the Vedas and their truths are made our own there is nothing but benefit. But we always follow in the footsteps (mahajano yena gatah sa panthah) rather than imitate. There’s a huge difference.

Submitted 26 February 2002 THE PROBLEM of good and evil has plagued us since the beginning of recorded history. Youth, personal beauty, affluence, high intellect, and strength are good; old age, death, poverty, ignorance, and disease are bad. If our senses are pleased, we are happy, and life is good. If our senses are displeased, we are unhappy, and life is bad. No less an authority than the Encyclopedia Britannica states that “in monotheistic religions, evil does not originate within the divinity nor in general within a divine world.” Thus, God is barred from hell, an eternal realm of misery. But a post-modernist philosopher would say that there is a third, more enlightened state. This concept was glimpsed in Shakespeare’s Hamlet where it?s said, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” The Vedas imply that good and evil do exist and that they arise from the same source. But how can an all-good God be the source of evil? Simply put, evil is the backside of God; we can face the sun or our own shadow. A mother sometimes punishes her child out of love. To save her child she may angrily jerk it out of the way of an oncoming car, or punish it for endangering itself when it puts its hand into a flame, or rotating fan. On the macrocosmic scale, mother Durga gives us freedom but also enough rope to hang ourselves. By using her devastating weapons, she teaches us that taking refuge in illusion is ultimately bad for us. In the Eastern tradition, the second aphorism of the Vedanta Sutra asserts that everything – even evil itself – emanates originally from God. This tradition further explains how bad behaviour and the whole material world of suffering stem secondarily from our selfish bodily desires, just to purify us of them. Shrimad Bhagawatam (3.14.27) says that no one in the material world is equal to or greater than Shivji and that his perfect character “is followed by great souls to dismantle their ignorance.” Still, he “remains as if a devil to give salvation to all devotees of the Lord.” Contrary to conventional western thought, it is not bodily comforts or pains that make for good or evil. Rather, perfection is obtained by knowing that pleasing the Supreme Lord is good, and that displeasing Him is bad. It is this standard alone that raises us above the bodily concept of life, into the dimension of the soul, far beyond the interchangeable goods and evils of the world. Service to God is the necessary reference point we need to distinguish good from evil ? for our own good. The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission

Modern books, magazines and films play on the public’s obsession with sex and death. At least, in the so-called developed world, today’s young people- and even old people – are on the constant lookout for these topics in academic discussions, newspapers and books. But this preoccupation can be used for Krishna. Witness the new cover of Krishna Dharma prabhu’s version of Mahabharata, published this year by Torchlight. The cover illustration is a close up of an attractive female face, beautifully decorated, representing Draupadi, for whom, in one sense, a kingdom was fought. In front of this face, in sharp relief, is the hilt and blue steel blade of a sword (representing the Kuruksetra war).

Devotional service is so powerful Krishna is conquered by it. How should we want to conquer Krsna? Not like Pundarika. Krishna can only be conquered if He wants to be, and it is always by love.

“Get your act together” is now a common phrase. The devotional version was stated exquisitely by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in his Will. It’s also a wonderful meditation. It goes like this: “My advice is ‘Do not criticize others and try to rectify yourself.'”

It?s a symptom of the age that people buy water (at least in southern California) more than any other supermarket product. They also buy compressed air in electronic, computer and photo stores/shops.

It’s often thought that “advancement” and innovations in medicine, communications and transportation have made life easier, more comfortable, increased the human life span and in all ways created a heavenly situation in a hellish environment. To a certain extent this is true for some. But most of the six billion people on this planet suffer from poverty, ignorance and disease. But in some ways maybe they’re “happier” than those who have access to consumer goods, higher education and strong economies. If so, this leads one to ask, “what is advancement

Defying the “Small is Beautiful” concept – Schumacher met with Srila Prabhupada in London in 1973 – nanotechnology is forging ahead. In the words of the Founder of Foresight Institute, it will “control the material world.” Interesting how Srila Prabhupada said that a dictionary definition of God was “the Supreme Controller.”

Sometimes devotees think that Krsna will reveal EVERYTHING from within: things such as how to use computers, construction of buildings, cooking, producing books, keeping accounts, making music, and decorating temples. This ignores the principle of “God helps those that help themselves,” or that “man proposes; God disposes.” If we don’t attempt or propose [act] why should Krsna do everything for us. Arjuna had to utilize military science to fight. He had to strain his brain and his muscle to the maximum. In New York on December 22, 1966, Srila Prabhupada said this: “Therefore the common saying is that ‘Man proposes; God disposes.’ Therefore a devotee, he never depends on himself. He never considers himself, ‘I am independent.’ He simply depends on the supreme will of the Lord. That is devotion. ‘If God desires… If Krishna desires…’ Whenever we used to ask our Guru Maharaja something, ‘Is it going to be happened like that?’ some work, he never said, ‘Yes, it is going to happen. Yes, we are going to do it.’ No. ‘Yes, if Krishna desires, it may be.’ He never said like that, positively. ‘If Krishna desires.’ Actually this is the fact. If Krishna desires, God desires, anything wonderful can be done. If He does not desire, however you may try, it will never be done. So just like we are praying to Krishna, if He desires, we’ll have a nice house. If He does not desire, we may remain here. It doesn’t matter. But we shall prosecute our business, Krishna consciousness. There is nothing to stop, in whatever condition we may be. Ahaituky apratihata. Devotional service is, I mean to say, without any impediment, apratihata. Nothing can check it—that is devotional service—in any circumstances. No material circumstances can check your Krishna consciousness. When it is, you are firmly convinced and situated in that position, that is real bhakti-yoga.

Markandeya Rsi was curious to know exactly how Maya worked. He asked the Lord to show him. Almost at once there was a great downpour, and waves began to flood his hermitage. Soon they completely enveloped his home and he entire planet. Long-living Markendeya struggled for eons in giant waves and severe winds, but miraculously stayed afloat and alive for millions of years. Finally, when he thought his exhaustion might spell death, he encountered an island oasis. There, Krsna, as an infant on a huge leaf of a banyan tree, inhaled him into His body. Markendeya saw the entire universe before Krsna exhaled him back out onto the ocean. Shortly thereafter, the waters of devastation subsided entirely, and Markandeya found himself sitting peacefully in his asrama just as when he first asked about Maya. This was the lesson he learned about the Lord’s illusory energy.