Hindustan Times Friday, April 26, 2002 Meditations/ Mukunda Goswami Faith and reason meet in the Gita ONCE UPON a time (namely on September 21, 1995) deities in India, England and other parts of the world were videotaped (and broadcasted) drinking huge quantities of milk. Evidence like this is considered ‘hard proof’ in most law courts. Yet, despite these recorded images, the incidents were scorned in some circles as sleight of hand. Critics sought to expose myths of inexplicable happenings. CNN used the Calcutta Rationalist Society (CRS) as one example of a local organization that suspected fraud. The CRS spokesperson, seen by millions of viewers worldwide, described how porous effigies, with invisible tubes beneath them, ‘explained’ the magic we saw. Hardcore rationalists are prone to denounce all faith claims and spiritual convictions, whether based on ancient teachings or blind and thoughtless. And there are religionists who disdain all technical innovations, such as in-vitro fertilization, stem-cell research, genetic modification, and even medical science. In this way, faith and reason are often seemingly at odds, but the facts even things out. Acceptance of the unknown, the uncharted and the unexplored is at work in every phase of our existence. We have faith in such things as automobiles, or numbering system, and our professors of math and science. Every step we take, every ride in automobile or airplane, each time we cross a bridge – we have faith we won’t fall. In the learning process, that which we hear form parents and teachers is taken as true. But how to believe in that which we do not see, taste, touch, smell or feel? One answer to this questions is to examine what we do every day. We believe that air, electricity, reasoning, the mind, and many other things truly exist, although we know of them only by their symptoms, or by what we have read or been told. There is no empirical proof of their existence. Also, 200 years of intensive global scholarship has yielded no academic censorship as to where the ‘Indo-Aryan homeland’ is located. And so it is with God. Since the time of the Enlightenment, or at least since the mid-1700’s, the human mind, in its most advanced stages, has been considered the crowing achievement of this world .But the source of that mind is all too often ignored. One of the most respected theological discourses in the word, the Bhagavad Gita, takes the form of a dialogue in which the student, Arjuna, is in the end, encouraged by his teacher, Sri Krishna, to make an informed, rational decision. Whatever need there is for basic faith, Bhagavad Gita provides common ground where the rationalist and the rishi can agree. The write is an emritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission)

Hindustan Times Saturday, April 20, 2002 Meditations/ Mukunda Goswami Culture is meant to be embodied by sages BADARAYANI OR Vyasadeva wrote these words, “The body that at first rides high on fierce elephants or chariots adorned with gold and is known by the name “king” is later, by Your invincible power of time, called ‘faeces,’ ‘worms’, or ‘ashes’.” The ABC of spiritual understanding teaches, “We are not these material bodies.” Words to remember when we’re suffering from a toothache, stomach ache or general stress? Yes, but they mean much more than temporary relief from pain or depression. There’s the same timeless philosophy here that makes phrases like Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be,” or Dylan Thomas’ “Death shall have no dominion” so memorable. Christ was an even greater poet than past and present barde. Phrases like “Judge not?”, “Blessed are the meek?”, “Render unto Caesar?”, “By their fruits?” and many other insights are now part of our everyday language. Even in rock music, the philosophy of life and death sometimes surfaces, as in the lyrics to George Harrison’s, “The Art of Dying” ? “There’ll come a time when all of us must leave here as nothing in this life that I’ve been trying can equal or surpass the art of dying.” Addressing a topic as ostensibly morbid as death is not the sole province of the transcendentalist, but is for everyone. Humanity is meant to strive for higher knowledge. Unfortunately, we are suffering from having sold our souls to the pursuit of maximizing material wealth, an end which is spiritually wrong and practically unattainable. So why do we so persistently do this? At the root of our problem is a conviction that we are these bodies, minds and senses, which the shastras repeatedly tell us we are not. Repeatedly, because although the concept is so simple, it is effortlessly forgotten in favour of more immediate and pressing concerns. It’s all well and good to think we know, “I am not this body,’ but realizing such a profound concept on a day-to-day, moment-by-moment basis is quite another thing. For this reason, sages are poets. They stimulate the human intellect by conceptualizing, and phrasing things in such a way that our minds are challenged and our understanding ‘made real’ and deepened. To say a king is intimately nothing more than faeces, ashes or worms is a brilliant way of expressing a fundamental truth about identity. All culture ? music, song, dance, architecture, drama, fine art, fashion, film, cookery, ritual, hospitality, and, of course, poetry ? has a transcendental quality when dedicated to God. The art of devotional service, revealed in Vyasa’s poetry, is the ultimate cultural achievement.

Published 22 January 2002 SAMA DARSHAN is the Sanskrit for ‘equal vision’ as found in Bhagavad Gita 5.18. This important text implores us to look beyond the gigantic inequalities between so-called developed countries and so-called developing countries, and see with equal vision all classes of human beings, animals and plants. According to the Gita, we live in what Pitirim Sorokin, former Chairman of Harvard University’s department of Sociology, called a ‘sensate’ universe, a society that “intensely cultivates scientific knowledge of the physical and biological properties of sensory reality. ” But as human beings, the most intelligent animals on the planet, we have a duty to care for the lower creatures of earth – especially the animals. And of the animals, cows have a special place. They are specifically singled out in the Gita verse beginning with krishi go raksha (18.44), meaning that cows always have to be protected. These domesticated animals have supplied us with milk since time immemorial. Sorokin continues: “Despite its lip service to the values of the Kingdom of God, society cares mainly about the sensory values of wealth, health, bodily comfort, sensual pleasures, and lust for power and fame. Its dominant ethic is invariably utilitarian and hedonistic.” The inevitable result, Sorokin wrote, is the exceptional violence we have experienced in the 20th century. The world’s vastly unequal distribution of energy tells us a lot. It reveals how those who “have,” get controlled by fear and protect themselves. Love-hate relationships tend to develop between the ‘have nations’ and the ‘have-nots.’ The human phenomenon known as envy proceeds from personal to communal to national levels. This, as Sorokin indicates, has generated outbursts of violence, terrorism, wars and mass death. Economic one-world-ness, which demands ethical fair play, has proven to be only a partial answer. What is ‘fair’ to one group of people is ‘unfair’ to another. India, the world’s largest democracy, has to date not been able to take full advantage of the ‘democratisation’ of finance. Vast differences in development of technology and information still remain, despite our desire for a more equitable world. Leaders of all countries can take at least three steps to ease the tensions that have arisen between nation-states. 1. Make mandatory two compulsory fasting days every month. This would save tons of food and improve the general health of the world’s citizenry. 2. Require all their citizens to surrender a calibrated portion of their income for creating a spiritual atmosphere in the particular state. 3. Ban intoxication of all description. These preliminary directives would help everyone take the first steps on the long journey toward peace, prosperity and equality for all. In such an environment global egalitarianism can flourish.

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

For today’s “Thought For the Day”, I would like use one my articles published in the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest english language daily newspapers. Meditations: (printed on 18 May 2002) WHAT’S THE happiest place in the world? According to recent research led by the London School of Economics, the happiest place in the world is, would you believe?, Bangladesh. Interestingly the United States came in at 46th place in this World Happiness Survey, with Britain at the 32nd mark. India came in fifth. Not bad for a land of nearly a billion people with many different races, creeds, and …well… castes. The study reveals how in general happiness is inversely proportional to peaks of economic development. Thus, although the British have twice the amount of money they did 40 years ago, their perceived quality of life has not improved. In fact, it has decreased, the survey tells us. According to one of the researchers. a financial colossus is seducing people all over the world and not meeting their essential personal needs. So, however amazing it may seem, some now prefer TV to food. The Gita confirms that “one whose happiness is within, who is active and rejoices within, is the perfect mystic. Such a person is liberated in the Supreme and ultimately attains the Supreme.” Meditation doesn’t mean other-worldly contemplation, or concentration on a distant future. It means happiness in this life, plain and simple. But, we argue, there’s no thrill to meditation, no zap. There’s no happiness in simply thinking about God and the spiritual world all day. Just what kind of joy is there in so-called inner happiness? Is that not the same kind of escapism that’s been embraced throughout history and that’s even been held responsible for massive violence, all in the name in the name of God? Is that happiness? On the other hand, we know we can be happy with good jobs, lots of money, TV pizza, ice cream, and by seeing our favourite films. How can hundreds of hermetic sages be happy? They see no one for years on end, have little to eat, dress in rags, never watch TV or go to movie theatres. They don’t shop in malls, eat ice cream, or burgers, and they never wear blue jeans, listen to rock, or surf the Net. OK, so how to ‘download’ happiness into our lives? Where do ‘I’ fit in? For starters, let’s read instead of staring at the TV for hours at a stretch. We can spend quality time with spiritual people, instead of with materialists. We can engage in some form of devotional service. Let us find the culture of life instead of what the Pope once called “the culture of death”. The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commssion.

Published 15 January 2002 IN 1825 the Reverend Robert Thomas Malthus predicted that within a century, the world’s population would outstrip its food supply. Fortunately, history has proved Malthus wrong. Similar doomsday theories have arisen, even as recently as 1950, but each has been wrong, although famines, natural and artificial, continue to ravage us (e.g., in Ireland, Russia, India, and Ethiopia) as they have since time immemorial, along with plagues and droughts. While some might attribute famine to karma or nature’s own inequity, one can’t help notice how the US, for example, with five per cent of earth?s population, consumes 24 per cent of its energy (from the Economist Book of Vital World Statistics: 1990). Unequal distribution appears to be the result of unregulated acquisitiveness, capitalism’s “invisible hand” gone berserk. So what is the spiritual dimension to all this? The good news is that there is plenty for everyone. In its invocation, Shri Ishopanishad says that this world and everything in it are perfectly equipped as complete wholes and that whatever is produced of the whole is also complete in itself, even though many complete units emanate from it. Research shows that the world’s six billion people could fit into a land surface the size of France, with each person having a hundred square metres to live in, so there’s no real shortage of space! The same Upanishad asserts that ‘everything animate or inanimate within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord.’ One should, therefore, it says, accept only those things, ‘set aside as one’s quota, and not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.’ Major famines occur from time to time, due ostensibly to lack of rain, political unrest and economic exploitation. But it can be inferred that when we accept a godless existence as reality, food will be restricted. Such are the inexplicable effects of karma and our eternal freedom to turn away from God. These two causes are intertwined. Bhagavad Gita and Shrimad Bhagwatam inform us that yagya or sacrifice is necessary to maintain a healthy supply of food. The 18th chapter, fourth canto, of Shrimad Bhagavatam explains how the earth restricts her agricultural supplies when a yagya ceases and we become hedonistic. So history has proven the philosophical Cassandras of Judgment Day wrong. The earth has enough not only to feed us all but enough to feed ten times its present population – even on a meat-centered diet, according to a recent study by the University of California’s Division of Agricultural Science. If the leaders of our world can recognise the source of our sustenance – then the earth, responding like a mother of many children will feed us all, lovingly and fully.

For today’s “Thought For the Day”, I would like use one my articles published in the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest english language daily newspapers. Printed on 11 May, 2002 FORGIVENESS (KSHAMA and sometimes shanti) and non-violence (ahimsa) – long associated with Gandhi – are core values- There are many instances in history where saintly persons, even though provoked, did not succumb to anger or violence. It is recorded in Vedic literature, that when Daksha, presiding over a sacrifice, first ignored Shivji, the great god did not retaliate, although he was fully capable of doing so. This was an exhibition of great forbearance. Lord Buddha is said to have totally rejected Vedic knowledge – almost itself an act of violence – in order make his teachings of non-violence stick. In his rendering of the Bhagavata, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami writes: “forgiveness is a quality of those who are advancing in spiritual knowledge”. This may he considered the Vedic version of the maxim attributed to Alexander Pope: “To err is human, to forgive divine.” However, according to Vedic injunctions there are six types of dangerous aggressors: (1) a poison giver; (2) one who sets fire to the house, (3) one who attacks with deadly weapons, (4) one who plunders wealth, (5) one who occupies another’s land, and (6) one who kidnaps a wife. And such persons may be killed, with no sin accruing to the executioner. Laws of self-defence allow violence in these circumstances. Further; the Manu-Samhita supports capital punishment, so that in the next life murderers will not have to suffer for their great sins. Although the passive resistance tactics of Gandhi laid the groundwork, it was the more militant campaign led by Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army, which ultimately gained us independence. The protection of citizens’ life and property is a governmental necessity involving violence on many occasions. Yet, it is a law of Mann that one who identifies the doer of heinous acts receives the same karmic punishment as the perpetrator. From the Bhagavata, we read of Maharaj Parikshit saying: “O you, who are in the form of a bull! You know the truth of religion, and you are speaking according to the prineiple that the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator. You are no other than the personality of religion.” This reminds us that the finer intricacies of religious codes do require forgiveness. But to act as a saint when we are not one is ill-advised. So violence, often thought to be decisively ‘un-Hindu’, is sometimes necessary for the protection of our lives, for personal karma, and for a world, where core values can be established and maintained for the good of all.

Printed 8 April 2002 SUPPOSE YOU’RE told a loved one (husband, wife, mother, father or your child) may be in the next room. You’re told that no one is in there for sure, only that he or she MAY BE in there. Next you are asked to toss a live hand grenade into that room. Will you do it? I doubt it. But that’s exactly what medical science it asking us to do when it says that under three months, the embryo may or may not be ‘human’. Destroy now; ask later. Abortion has become a word game: pro-life, pro-choice, anti-abortion, abortion foes, family planning and abortion rights. In our lifetime, we may have to bear neologisms like an anti-fetal league, pro-necrosis union, and anti-choice network. Unfortunately suicide, homicide, infanticide, genocide, and insecticides are reality, but embryocide doesn’t exist in any dictionary. This is further complicated by the notion that pregnancy terminations are part of women’s rights–that each individual has the right to choose whether or not to procreate, before or after coitus. A further complexity is that economics is often cited as a valid reason for abortion. An additional muddle is vitiated traditions which intimate that female offspring will drain a family’s economy, whereas male offspring will impact positively. Whew! Vedic culture’s contribution to this debate is based on transmigration of the soul. This concept asserts that at the moment of conception there is life. As narrated in Mahabharata, Aswathama’s devotion to his father did not make his attempt to destroy the embryonic Parikshit sanction able. Whether we’re killing life or potential life, Vedic culture contends that abortion is wrong and that it’s an ethical issue. It may appear to be a debate between religious law and free enterprise, but in reality the issue is a value-centered, moral dilemma. Mother earth is not overpopulated with humans and will gladly accept and nurture many new ones. If we understand our heritage rightly, there will always be enough to eat (“… I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.” – Bhagavad-Gita 9.22) In the most materialistically successful country in the world, the US, a phenomenon known as post-abortion syndrome (PAS) has plagued psychiatric patients (women who have had abortions) for decades. Due to an increase in abortions, in Europe, France and Germany there is now a need to import thousands of immigrants from Africa and Turkey to populate factories and keep their economies running. Contrary to popular opinion, population experts tell us that if present trends continue, population growth will slow, and by the year 2020 a dangerous and precipitous decline will ensue. (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission)

Published 11 October 2001 RESEARCH SHOWS that the countries with the largest percentage of women in business, government and education are Sweden, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand. But are these truly the marks of “freedom” and even if India comes further down the list, does that mean that its women are less free? The Vedas teach that Krishna has an eternal, equal, female counterpart, Radha, who is the personification of love of God. God is, therefore worshipped in the dual Radha-Krishna form. Throughout history, there have been great women devotees of the Lord, who are honoured and respected. On the spiritual platform, men and women are considered equal, with the same opportunity for spiritual progress through bhakti-yoga. There were, however, different gender roles. In an ideal Vedic society, the economy was household-based and husbands and wives were partners, according to their social status. The economic base of society was primarily agricultural and centered around households. This meant that both men and women would be part of the same economic unit, though with different roles. Generally, men would be involved in ploughing and herding cows, and women would be involved in activities around the household. Kshatriyas would be involved in military and administrative affairs. With time women also became engaged in fighting and ruling but continued to be loyal assistants to their husbands. At the same time they also played a role appropriate to their status as queens, princesses, etc. The wives of brahmins would assist their husbands in the performance of religious rituals and teaching. In each case, the men and women would be partners in a particular activity of their social order, but with different roles in the partnership. In the modern West-influenced society, India has made adjustments. The economy is not totally agricultural or household-based. So Indian citizens might follow the standard patterns of either both husband and wife working at some occupation away from the household, or the husband pursuing a career while the woman stays at home and takes care of the children. But men and women, as in the Vedic society, have equal access to spiritual wisdom. According to tradition and philosophy, women may take the position of the guru, or spiritual master, and this has already taken place. In our society we have seen women occupy positions of importance in the government. But the eternal question remains whether Indian women are freer than ever?

Here’s the piece I submitted to India Hindustan Times newspaper on 30 December 2001: George Harrison’s Appointment With God George Harrison was one of the four Beatles, the 60s music group that changed the world — not only its music, but its culture and its worldview. His death in Los Angeles on 29 November, 2001 was to him the beginning of a journey to God. He was one of the few musical stars to fully embrace the principles of transmigration of the soul, karma and many other elements of Indian philosophy. George Harrison has probably done more than any single popular cultural figure in history to spread Indian culture around the world. He became a dear friend of India. His friendships with Ravi Shankar, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Hare Krishna Movement’s founder Bhaktivedanta Swami became part of his lifelong quest to improve the quality of his life on earth. Some of his songs which contain the essence of Vedic knowledge in their lyrics and which sold hundreds of millions of copies around the world are “All Things Must Pass,” “The Lord Loves the One Who Loves the Lord,” Living in the Material World,” “The Art of Dying,” “Krishna Where Are You?” “My Sweet Lord,” and “Here Comes the Sun.” Lyrics from some of these songs explained it all: “Living in the material world, Got to get out of this place, by the Lord Shri Krishna’s grace, after living in this material world.” Harrison’s disdain for material wealth, fame and stardom was unique among celebrities of his stature. George Harrison’s interviewers remember that he saw God in every blade of grass and in every grain of sand. He believed in transmigration. He saw death not as the end, but “as the same old mob going round and round and round.” He popularised yoga, especially Bhakti-yoga or the rendering of loving devotional service to the Supreme Lord. He included the Hare Krishna mantra in his hit record, “My Sweet Lord,” a song that sold millions of copies and was one of the largest selling records of all time. Thanks in large part to George’s music the Hare Krishna mantra became known in every part of the world. His Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 after that country’s catastrophic floods, spawned a generation of similar concerts, such as “We Are the World” and “Live Aid,” in which rock stars assembled to benefit good causes. His perceptions of a state of being beyond and higher than ordinary consciousness entered into his songs and altered millions of lives. Many times George Harrison said, “Everything else can wait, but the search for god cannot wait, nor can love for one another.” “He left this world as he lived it,” his family said in a statement released publicly, he was “conscious of God, fearless of death and at peace with himself.”