(The following article was posted in the “Inner Voice” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 2 August 2004.) Choice can be misused. This is the source of pain and frustration for all beings and the cause of environmental degradation. The more we attempt to exploit the resources of material nature, the more we become entangled in complexities. Exercising intelligent choice is now mostly in the domain of abuse, as what we choose to love is often the source of the problem. We want what seems best; what most satisfies our seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling and tasting. We even justify bowing down to those who promise to bring us the desired results. The Bhagavad-gita reminds us that “one who is able to withdraw the senses from sense objects, as the tortoise withdraws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in perfect consciousness”. Permanent happiness for all depends on a knowledge of, and relationship with, the transcendent God, and not upon a multiplicity of gods or devatas whose satisfaction and pacification is no more than that of a human player in a chess game. When Yudhishir, disguised as Kank, was playing chess (the game originated in India) with Maharja Virat, the latter informed him that the great demigods treat humans like pawns. If we put our faith in such uncaring, gaming beings, our situation is tenuous and desperate. Reciprocation with higher beings is not assured. But with the supreme God, mutual interchange is guaranteed. “As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Partha” – this is the promise in the fourth chapter of the Gita. So let’s simplify our lives. As child Krishna told Nanda, Indra is not absolute in awarding good results to anyone. Even Indra ultimately pays tribute to the Almighty God. (The write is emeritus member of the ISKCON governing body commission)

(This article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times on 18 June 2002.) MODERN SCHOLARSHIP demands discovery from “original” sources, while Vedic scholarship relies more upon knowledge from historical roots (Siddhanta). Both systems have their validity. Practitioners of these two systems tend to conflict, but can converge. Last month, B. G. Matapurkar, a surgeon with the Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi, announced to the All-India Biotech Association that he was “thrilled” to encounter a statement in the Mahabharata indicating that stem-cell research and cloning are nothing new. He informed his audience that the Kauravas “had the technology to grow human fetuses outside the body of a woman — something that is not known to modern science.” Scientific methodology is empirical, often mechanistic, and infers that we know only by direct perception, which includes using instruments. This is the pratyaksha or ascending process of gaining knowledge. But Matapurkar indicates that the ancients knew something we don’t yet know. This implies appreciation of the descending process of acquiring knowledge – a method also known as shabda. It’s popular to trash anything that smacks of pedantry, dogma or authoritarianism. Many customs, and traditions are simply rammed down our throats and are not open to debate. We prefer to deny all such knowledge, and to consider it invalid, untested and highly questionable. Matapurkar, as a medical surgeon, must be dedicated to the ascending model. Yet he seems glad to tell us how things practiced in days of yore may be precursors to knowledge medical science has laboured hard to learn. Indirect though it may be, Matapurkar appears to appreciate the descending method of gaining knowledge. He expressed elation to find something that the ancients knew, and yet we have not learned to replicate. In fact many types of other ‘modern’ phenomena are found in the Mahabharata, including atomic weaponry, outer space travel and medical marvels (physicians healed dangerous warriors’ wounds each night after battle). This leads us to consider the difference between knowledge gathered from ‘original’ sources and that knowledge which dignifies conclusions brought forward from the remote past. The former process essentially involves ascension, and the latter descension (not the astrological variety). But truth be told, both always operate. As Matapurkar found out, ‘realised’ or ancient knowledge is not ignorant or invalid just because it’s come down to us from by-gone eras. (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission)

(The following article was posted in the “Inner Voice” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 17 July 2004.) ANXIETY IS a bummer. When it strikes, some resort to counselling and others to drugs, legal and illegal. Distress is what nobody wants, like garbage in your bedroom. Wished for or not, feelings of quiet desperation, call it depression, descend on us all. When it’s a daily occurrence enduring for all one’s waking hours, something drastic needs to be done. Switching on the tube, shopping, going to the movies, and bingeing on food or alcohol just don’t get it, not long-term anyway. What we do and the people we see most often affect us. Adages like Shaw’s ‘you are what you eat,’ and ‘A man is known by the company he keeps’ reflect this. The jury’s still out on the ‘heredity versus environment’ debate, and genetic engineering will further confuse things. The foundling baby Karna was raised by a charioteer and displayed extraordinary martial skills in later life, but Patty Hearst, daughter of media magnate William Hearst, lived over two decades in prison because of crimes due to an alliance with the Black Panthers. Association, particularly intimate association — chosen or otherwise — rules us, just as ingesting tablets unknowingly alters behaviour and physiology. One can contract malaria or TB by mosquito sting or by breathing a sick patient’s single bacterium. One scant cell can do great harm; disease knows no mercy. The Bhagawat Purana (7.11.35) says symptoms or tena (behaviour) ullimately determine character, and character is what finally determlnes mental state. Hanging out with the rich, successful, popular, sexy set shreds inner peace to bits. If we model ourselves internally and externally on people we respect, maintaining their values, we unconsciously exhibit their qualities, whatever our everyday life and work circumstances. (The writer is emeritus memberoftlrelSKCONgrmuning bodycornmission)

(The following article was posted in the “Inner Voice” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 26 July 2004.) The Church of England wants to be more relevant, according the The Sun, one of the UK’s leading tabloids. An article in the July 20 edition of the tabloid quoted Kelly Hughes of London’s Ministry of Sound as saying, ” Churches needs to be less formal and more music-led”. The Gita has an interesting take on this: “One whose happiness in within, who is active and rejoices within, and whose aim in inward is actually a perfect mystic,” and that such a person is “liberated” (5.24). In the report, the Bishop of London felt clubbing offered a sense of belonging and was a mystical experience. Young people want to explore the realm of the unknown. In this sense, they strive to enter the province of mystics and be liberated. Perhaps the church has been influenced by the half-million Hindus living in that country. Singing, dancing, and colorful festivals are part of Hindu lifestyle. The church is increasingly concerned about loosing its influence among the young. It hopes to reinvent itself so as to be more meaningful to those who could determine its future. Maybe it’s time Henry VIII’s creation turned East. Music, dance, drama and succulent snacks continue to hold sway over today’s youth. Clubbing and recreational drug use usually involves going out, being with friends and risk taking. Being bored is not where it is. Maybe that’s how the Bishop sees it. A genuine spiritual twist to peace and happiness; achievable by being with friends, facing exciting challenges, and singing and dancing? Perhaps English Christianity can discover that religion is dynamic and joyful, not lugubrious. Maybe the Bishop’s on to something. Perhaps the world’s largest faith can borrow a leaf from Hinduism, now number three in the religion charts. (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON governing body commission)

(This article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times on 8 June 2002.) IN BHAGAVAD-GITA, Krishna promises Arjuna: (Ye Yatha Mam Prapadyante, Tams Tathaiva Bhajamy Aham, Mama Vartmanuvartante, Manushyah Partha Saravasha) that He will award him if, he surrenders. Yet we tend to think that saintliness is a kind of blissful detachment, an advanced kind of mystical merging into oneness with the universe and everything in it. There is no personhood involved, only an ethereal unity with Brahman and renunciation of things of this world. It’s habitual among western theologians, even in the Vatican, to consider Vedanta only as Advaita or oneness. But the world’s leading religious thinkers are now beginning to realise that there is such a thing as Dvaita Vedanta, or dualism, within Eastern philosophy. Modern psychologists tend to look askance at codependency. But let’s face it – we simply don’t experience happiness without some form of dependency. Knowingly or unknowingly we depend on response. Without reciprocation life is lonely and desolate. It has been said that love of God is the thread that connects all religions. But love requires knowledge of the loved one. There is much talk of love of God, but what does it mean? A lover always has a beloved and vice-versa. Nobody likes the ‘silent treatment’ at home. Similarly, spirituality is not about silence. It is not a hackneyed affair. You can’t really love the sky or air as your ultimate adorable object. Solitude and sanyass are generally not spiritually advisable for denizens of our planet. At least in this age of quarrel, our breed requires exchange in order to achieve fulfilment. In order for genuine affection to take place, knowledge of the lovable other is needed. An image has to become fixed in mind – a face, a voice, a picture, a garment at the very least some kind of reminder *of the person*. In other words, love requires lovable features, not lofty concepts, ethereal entities, or other vagaries, devoid of attributes. This kind of ‘love’ is primitive, undeveloped and usually self deluding. Unless there is substantive activity going both ways, love is merely a tired platitude without any substance — wishful thinking. In fact, love is another word for happiness and wholeness, but without features, it simply cannot exist. Those who meditate do so upon a personality, either a family member, or a loved one or the Supreme person. In the case of the latter, *all* loving feelings are included. It once was said by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, that one who becomes a lover of Krishna becomes “a lover of everyone in the universe.” (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Go-verning Body commission)

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 31 December 2002.) ONE OF the Dalai Lama’s ‘Instructions for Life’ in the new millennium is to’take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk’. It’s a fine line between risk and foolhardiness, rushing in where angels fear to tread, and all that. Unfortunately, I am of the American variety of humankind, a species that has a lot to be ashamed of. Thankfully however, I’m an ardent student of Indian philosophy and love the spirituality o? her culture. Many think I’m as Hindu as it gets. As a western Hare Krishna devotee who has travelled the world and lived long in India, I’m aware of how India, Hinduism and passive resistance are often lumped together. But Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON’s founder, uniquely established Vedic culture and spirituality all over the world: in America, Russia and the CIS, Africa, the Middle and Far East, Australasia, and Europe. Why does an element of pride sometimes surface when Indian citizens see non-Asians in sadhu dress? Partly it’s the nature of our hybrid world. Hinduism is no longer restricted to India, any more than Indians themselves. No longer are guru-disciple relationships confined to a banyan tree on the outskirts of a village. Instead we face unlimited challenges in realising the teachings of the sages. Today a guru accepts that disciples’ successes extend beyond attentively hearing the truth. Gurus must know how to facilitate their students’ retaining, cultivating and living what they have learned, wherever they make their homes and whatever their situation. Srila Prabhupada’s risk-taking is what drew people toward him, and gave birth to ISKCON as a global organisation. He embraced concepts such as atma and bhagavan. Some say he ‘walked through fire’ to establish his society. Why? Well, he lived alone in Brindaban for several years, then at 69 crossed the Atlantic on a steamer, endured heart attacks, the taunting of uncivilised people, the loneliness and chill of New York winters, non-stop world travel at an advanced age, and the foolishness of many disciples. His story is told in varied biographies, but all agree that no one took greater risks for God than he. He was joyfully sober, though, and never gambled with his spiritual life. We can’t be sure what will happen to the world – economic collapse, nuclear war, earthquakes. But one thing is certain: the soul will survive. And one thing is true: we are not alone. (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON governing body commission)

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 20 January 2003.) HANDSOME YALE-graduate Nathan Hale was hanged in 1776, aged 21. He died without trial at the hands of the British army, shortly after his capture as a spy, during the American War for Independence. Just before dying, he is reputed to have said, “I regret that 1 have but one life to give for my country”. Riotous blood of the new homeland throbbed in Hales veins. As a keen nationalist he ached to make the supreme sacrifice of his life more than once — for America. He is thought of as a hero, and to this day all US schoolchildren learn about his unusual zeal. He knew nothing of the soul or transmigration. In the Bhagavata, Shri Krishna advises the sages that identifying with one’s land of birth (bhauma-ijyadhih) is dangerous. A lot of blood has been spilt in the quest for political, economic, and intellectual power, all of which can manifest as extreme nationalism. If religious loyalties enter the mix, then this noxious brew fuels deadly rioting and warfare. The Crusades are Generally known as religious wars, although some historical theorists are convinced that money and power were the basis of the 200-year-long conflict between Christian and Islamic interests. Shri Krishna advises Arjuna to abandon all forms of religion (dharma) in favour of surrender to God. (Gita 18-66) This suggests that love of God is attainable through any faith that denominationalism — in and of itself — is incomplete, and that no one faith has all the answers. When religion fuses with nationalism, it’s certainly time to ask questions about what God’s love means for the world. The wise know that identifying oneself as a servant of God, ultimately to obtain love of God, is the ‘consummation devoutly to be wished’. This consciousness is available through regular practice of any faith with devotion, including Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, or Christianity. In this context, reciprocation with the Supreme Being brings deep peace. Relinquishing race, religion, occupation, nationality, gender, and the vast panoply of earthly identities and pleasures can be psychological suicide. Shri Krishna wants to raise us to the spiritual level, but not at the cost of immature renunciation, and rejection of life itself. Headlines grab our attention, but God is found in the smallprint of loving kindness. The writer is member of ISKCON governing body.

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest english language daily newspapers, on 3 February 2003.) SCIENCE HAS more monopoly on taste than McDonalds. Only knowledge burgeoning from the non-Vedic viewpoint satisfies. So the existence of God cannot be proven. Or can it? Many scientists say no, but others, like Patrick Glynn, say yes. Glynn, a Harvard Ph.D, former nuclear physicist who worked for the US Defense Department, is a scientist who feels that out-of-body events are indications that what we don’t see may still exist. His popular book, “God the Evidence”, purports to prove God exists. Many instances o? out-of-body experiences have been recorded by surgeons. Such doctors claim proof that unconscious, totally sedated patients, could, on awakening, recall exact readings of instruments. These dials were well outside each patient’s angle of vision ? which usually constituted little more than the operation theatre’s ceiling. Of course their eyes were closed hence they couldn’t seen anything. They remember floating above their bodies and noticing all that went on. Doctors say these instances are “proof” that life is distinct from the body. Indirectly, this indicates the presence of the soul or atma (which, according to Random House Webster’s and the OED, is now an English word ? hurrah!) Such notions aren’t necessarily consistent with spiritual knowledge. We’re informed that believers and non-believers will eternally exist (Bhagavad Gita, 16.6). In the year 1601, Sir Francis Bacon wrote nature had to be “hounded in her wanderings” and “made a slave”. The aim of the scientist, thought Bacon, was “to torture nature’s secrets from her.” Some transcendentalists fear that science professes to be the exclusive and irrefutable path to truth, bound by the commandment “thou shalt think only materialistically.” It has been construed by sages that the Gita is a combination of devotion and science. In other words, religion without philosophy is often blind fanaticism. We’d like to think that Adam and Isaac (Newton) both held the same apple, but few scientists would agree. However, some, including Albert Einstein, have felt that the unknown features of science constitute God. They believe that the yet-to-be-discovered aspects of nature and the “reason” for the shape and colour of certain crystals, fauna, flora, and other material constituents, are all God’s handiwork. One hopes that by scrutinising study of the Gita that material scientists may come to know how we can communicate with the spiritual world of God. (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON governing body commission.)

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest english language daily newspapers, on 27 January 2003.) CLONING A human being is not a fanciful future hope, or a Hollywood sci-fi production. It’s already occurred, according to some. Others say it’s happening now, while still others assert that it’s about to happen. Such claims have caused worry amongst government leaders, ethicists, religionists and many scientists. Will we treat clones as relatives, friends, prot?g?s, or slaves? Who wants to clone and why? For the aspiring transcendentalist the question to wrestle with is not who or why, but “What about the soul?” Maverick geneticists think the human clone is identical in every respect to its propagator. The new identity includes the ineffable soul or atma, so would a human clone have a unique soul, or the same one as its originator? Some think they can replay their lives. Exceedingly in love with themselves and wantonly attached to their beliefs, or suffocatingly possessive of their families, they see cloning as the logical way to replicate a chosen identity again and again, downloading into immortality This is one reason why sober religionists, high-ranking politicians, theologians, and some scientists fear cloning humans. The `euphoria’ of a perfect race (eugenics) and prospects of big money for those who clone, are of concern to all. The Vedas define each soul as unique, just as fingerprints, voiceprints, snowflakes or leaves never possess precisely matching patterns. With uniqueness comes purpose and enjoyment. Without it, we can become conformist robots; regimented automatons in thought and deed. The Gita informs us that denying individuality is a ‘troublesome path’ or Gaith Dukham (12.5). Identical twins are clone-like, yet they have distinct personalities. Individuality ? whether in the spiritual world or in the medical laboratory ? is hard to eliminate. The example of saints past and present reveals how God interacts with all through diversity. There is no lack of personality in great souls, but their character is imbued with love of God and all His creation. Worship of the Supreme Individual, and ongoing reciprocation with Him brings deep satisfaction and responsible understanding of the purpose of human life. The Gita’s reminder that ‘never was there a time when we did not exist’ (2.12) can be considered the ultimate argument for eternal individuality. Clone or no clone, the individual soul will always persist. As parts and parcels of a loving God our minute independence has cosmic influence. Tomorrow’s designer clones will be no exception.

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language daily newspapers, on 6 January 2003.) ‘FORWARD COMMAND Post,’ ‘Burnout 2: Point of Impact’, and ‘Grand Auto Theft’, are amongst the most popular video games in the world. In them are numerous acts of gratuitous violence, such as killing policemen, spectacular car crashes and gory murders. Having sex with prostitutes is another ‘entertaining’ feature. Such behaviour is ‘taught’ to any five-year-old exposed to these games. They thrill to the action, and for many of the young it spells freedom of expression. And yet this is not far removed from the sadism enacted by former ‘TV star’, the inimitable Freddie Kruger. You may say that not all video games are violent. Well, that’s true. But, a simple survey of available statistics shows that games incorporating brutality and destruction are by far the most popular. A game is a game, but we have to question why the most popular ones include kids killing cops and bashing prostitutes to death? To my mind it confirms that we live in a society desensitised to human suffering – in the name of God, community or whatever. The end rarely justifies the means. The Gita informs us that if we become overly attached to wanting anything, and if that desire goes unfulfilled, this is what leads to anger. And when anger overtakes us, our memories fog up, our hearts harden, and we cease to function rationally. It is at this point that we can commit unnecessarily violent acts, and this is one reason why society needs police protection. Violence is only permissible, say the wise, in extreme and exceptional circumstances, as when one’s life is seriously threatened. Many young people have lots of energy, but their high spirits and aggressive tendencies can be channelled in a positive way through activities like football, running, wrestling, cricket and weight-lifting. Video games, like just about anything involving advanced technology, can be used for good purposes. A knife can be used therapeutically by a surgeon or viciously by a homicidal maniac. If violence must be there, it can be used to show that goodwill ultimately triumph over evil – in all cases. Beyond Star Wars? Maybe. If you’d want to write the script, I’d love to see it! The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON governing body commission.