The following is an article which appeared in Hindustan Times on Monday, April 8, 2002 Meditations | Mukunda Goswami “POWER IS present, holiness is hereafter” as TS. Eliot said, is a mentality. A common notion holds that God and heaven are things to concern ourselves with after death and that measuring spiritual advancement in today’s world Is irrelevant. We are averse to measuring spiritual growth on the earthly plane. Usually, spirituality is conceived of as something static. We tend to relegate it to heaven, wherein we’ll revel forever atop billowing clouds, complete with celestial music, dancers, angels, gods and goddesses–living a life of endless joy and delight. Despite our conceptions of a happy afterlife, those we took up to as holy, like. rishis and saints, not only in regard to the hereafter but because we also look at them criticially–consciously or inadvertently–are they tolerant, merciful. friendly and peaceful, or are they flawed? Are they genuine or counterfeit? Knowingly or unknowingly, we measure them. The Sreemad Bhagwatam (11.2.42) tells us that the pleasure, nourishment and reduction of hunger that occur when the eat, are analogous to devotion, awareness of God and lack of attraction to matter that takes place when we practice devotion. The intimation is that we measure our spirituality by how much we enjoy acts of devotion, how intensely we feel the presence of God, and how detached we are from this world’s pleasures. Another way to measure spiritual advancement is through assessments made by saintly personalities. According to the teachings of the Mahabharata, the mahajans, or the saintly, hold the secrets to transcendental wisdom, wherein it is written that real “path of progress is that which is traversed by the great acharyas”. Also. the Svetashvatara Upanishad (6.23) asks us to develop absolute faith in a living person as well as in God, asserting that only in this way can we truly understand the transcendental world. On its face, this injunction appears unattractive and counterproductive. How can a human being be perfect? How can we have absolute faith in any human? Is it not ‘human’ to err, and isn’t it true that there is no such thing as a perfect person? At least with otherworldly God, we can have an ideal and we can think of a flawless existence and totally unsullied behaviour. Through the history of great works and genuinely spiritual people, there has always been a master-disciple relationship. Even the Lord himself, when He appeared in person as Vasudev in Mathura, took instructions from Sandipani Muni, His spiritual teacher. Just as this world can be miserable, there can also be heavenly or godly existence in the here and now. By practicing devotion under the guidance of genuinely spiritual people, we can realise perfection. The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission

Srila Prabhupada’s books, lectures and even his conversations and letters are copiously laced with sanskrit slokas, showing that he was uncompromisingly attached to Vedic truths. And yet he also frequently quoted Canakya, and Bengali as well as English proverbs, plus occasional lines from Shakespeare. It was apparent that Srila Prabhupada liked to quote authorities, even if they weren’t Vedic ones, when the message was true to the point he was making.

In his Will Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati refers to the twenty six qualities of a devotee. He writes, “This material nature, which is averse to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is an examination hall. Tolerance, humbleness, appreciation of others, etc., are favourable to develop our devotion to Hari.” The ‘etc.’ refers to the twenty six qualities, emphasized by Srila Prabhupada and written about by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami in his Caitanya Caritamrta (Madhya 22-78.80) as follows: “Devotees are always merciful, humble, truthful, equal to all, faultless, magnanimous, mild and clean. They are without material possessions, and they perform welfare work for everyone. They are peaceful, surrendered to Krsna and desireless. They are indifferent to material acquisitions and are fixed in devotional service. They completely control the six bad qualities-lust, anger, greed and so forth. They eat only as much as required, and they are not inebriated. They are respectful, grave, compassionate and without false prestige. They are friendly, poetic, expert and silent.”

We have often heard that Srila Prabhupada said that even if one percent of the world’s people becomes Krsna conscious, the present world situation would change for the better. Here is one such quote from a lecture delivered in London on 8th of September 1971: “Therefore this Krishna consciousness movement… Even a certain little percentage of people become Krishna conscious, the whole face of the world will change. It is so nice.” (SB7.5.22.30)

We are often accused of being sectarian, largely because of the way we look and the unique lifestyle visible in the temple and harinama chanting parties. But Srila Prabhupada has often emphasized the similarities between faiths and the need for Interfaith dialogue. In the purport to the twenty-fourth text of the twenty-second chapter of the Fourth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, he writes, “When people are mostly under the modes of passion and ignorance, their system of religion will be of the same quality. A devotee, instead of criticizing such systems, will encourage the followers to stick to their principles so that gradually they can come to the platform of religion in goodness. Simply by criticizing them, a devotee’s mind will be agitated. Thus a devotee should tolerate and learn to stop agitation.”

Commentators like Visvanatha Cakravati Thakura say “BhaktaVatsala” is the King of all Krishna’s qualities, due to the fact He is surrendered to and sometimes bewildered by His pure devotees, even though He is omniscient. In the presence of mother Yasoda He cries real tears, and is genuinely afraid of her whipping stick, even though He’s God.

Sometimes it’s been said that karma is so complex that living entities, though intimate friends in this lifetime, are like sticks of wood on the surface of a great body of water, sometimes coming together, then drifting apart forever. This concept is found in a verse in the tenth Canto when Nanda Maharaja pacifies Vasudeva, Krsna’s father about the death of “Yasoda’s female child”: “Many planks and sticks, unable to stay together, are carried away by the force of a river’s waves. Similarly, although we are intimately related with friends and family members, we are unable to stay together because of our varied past deeds and the waves of time.” (5.25)

According to statements by Srila Prabhupada, cloning was possible in prior yugas. He speaks about the phenomena in regards to Sita Devi. Here are the statements that constitute the evidence. “This is described in another Purana, that when Ravana came to kidnap Sita, Sita-devi disappeared from there and she kept a maya form, false form, and Ravana kidnapped her. This is stated in very authoritative scripture.” and “Then, when he was returning, I forget the name of the Purana… Kurma Purana. He got evidences that Sita-devi, when she was supposed to be kidnapped by Ravana, her, a false form was kidnapped, and when Sita-devi was tested, putting her into the fire, she entered into the fire and the maya Sita was burned and the original Sita came out. So it was not possible for Ravana to touch even the lotus feet of mother Sita. But apparently it is externally manifested that Sita was taken away…” (lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.7.43 on 3O Oct.’76 in Vrndavana) We understand that Krsna expands Himself into identical forms, but He’s no ordinary person. Neither is Sita devi, of course, but she’s not the same as the Personality of Godhead.

Restraining forces (against ISKCON for example) will always exist just as there always have been and always will be atheists. Our success is not stomping them out of existence, but ‘handling’ them intelligently. Even on the subtle, intellectual plane, people are trying to undermine Srila Prabhupada and his movement. ISKCON must use intellectualism to counter these attacks.

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 6 August 2003.) MOVIES. WE all know what they are. We’ve been ‘trained’ that way. In 1905 the word ‘movie’ didn’t exist in the English language, and not long afterward came terms like ‘silent films’, ‘talkies’ and then ‘flicks’. Enriching our communications abilities, we’ve learned what ‘the silver screen’is. ‘Bollywood’, ‘celluloid’, ‘Tinseltown’ (Hollywood), ‘feature film’ and ‘TV mini-series’ are part of the English vocabulary. The Bhagavata says that at root we’re transcendental to material existence, which is compared to a dream in relation to the spiritual dimension. Yet we get very affected by dreams. Motion pictures are an illusion of an illusion, and we’re desperate for illusions. Young and old alike eagerly seek reflections, echoes, mirages, and imitations. Those paying handsomely to hear a man bark like a dog are annoyed to hear an actual dog bark, Japanese scientists have produced a robot with mechanical arms, fingers, legs and a TV camera for a head. This device can read and play, with precision, complex organ music requiring all four extremities. Movies are almost irresistible because they support our tendency to revere frivolity. The desire to escape the humdrum and boredom of modern life shows that we’re dissatisfied with reality. We become absorbed in any kind of virtual realm where we can lose ourselves in dreams and epic nightmares. The word movie signifies much more than ‘motion picture’. It represents a pervasive movie-culture, which has a momentously powerful influence on the world. Every day, about one film, budgeted at between USIO and 200 million dollars, is released on the market. If the same amount of energy and money were expended to inform people about the spiritual world, we’d see a dramatic decrease in anxiety and terrorism and an increase in satisfaction with life as it is. Pleasure would come from knowing there is a real and accessible existence free from the sufferings of life. The desire to escape into a make believe world, to be entertained, is like a child’s natural love of candy and games. But as adults we’re supposed to be endowed with the power to distinguish between play-acting and reality. Education is sometimes painful, but it’s necessary. Remaining naive, blindly trusting with the innocence of a child, should never be at the cost of maturation, wisdom and a deeper understanding of our essential and true role in life. The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission.