If genetically modified bacteria could clean the polluted Yamuna river, is that technology still bad?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
so question if we could in future develop some technology by which we develop some genetically modified bacteria that say it will clean up the Jamuna river so how should we see such technology which can do good even for devotional causes but then we also have some devotees who from the Gasa and say that even widely accepted technology such as the vaccines we should not use them for our children answer there is Paravidya and Aparavidya Paravidya is spiritual knowledge Aparavidya is material knowledge the primary thrust of the Bhakti tradition is to give us Paravidya as far as Aparavidya is concerned Prabhupada did talk about it Prabhupada talked about say simple living high thinking Prabhupada talked about Varanashram but Prabhupada did not say that Krishna Krishna consciousness cannot be practiced with these things he felt that these could be supportive for practicing Krishna Bhakti Prabhupada himself preferred Ayurveda but emergencies he also had allopathy do some surgical interventions small surgical intervention for him and he did not mandate that devotees have to take Ayurveda only they can take allopathy whatever works basically so I would say even within Bhakti there will be different devotees who will have different attitudes towards the Aparavidya and the Aparavidya whatever way somebody is inspired they can use that so the Aparavidya to the extent it helps in Paravidya that is good so if Ayurveda taking Ayurvedic treatment can help us to become healthy wonderful if somehow allopathy helps us to become healthy wonderful just use it and move on so with respect to some devotees they may make Apara a particular branch of Aparavidya their cause which is good we would like to say if by teaching Ayurveda championing Ayurveda somebody can help people develop broad faith faith in the broad Vedic culture and then help them to come to Bhakti that’s good but if somebody feels that Ayurveda is I don’t want to dabble with all these things so we see that it’s like Krishna Bhakti is at the top of the mountain and various Aparavidya are means of living along the way while we get to the top of the mountain by our conscious choosing to love Krishna there are many Ayurvedic doctors who may be atheistic there are many people who may not take vaccines and they may be just materialistic there may be devotees who take vaccines there may be devotees who give vaccines and they may also be spiritual so depending on one’s past upbringing depending on one’s life experiences depending on one’s own psychological orientation devotees may gravitate towards a particular branch of Aparavidya and they will champion that and for them that may be their devotional service so we respect their view about it but we understand clearly that Aparavidya and Paravidya are different and we come to we practice Krishna Bhakti primarily to focus on the Aparavidya now if we find that our the Aparavidya that we are focusing on that contradicts or that is contradicted by the Aparavidya that somebody else is teaching so it’s championing just keep a distance from respectfully we understand that this is the way I function this is my area of service that is their area of service and if a respectful discussion is possible and we could do it to arrive at some working arrangement but if not just keep a distance and as far as using technology is concerned we see that broadly we can we can see the three gunas sattvarajas and tamas as infusing everything in life so I have a class on internet in the three modes so some people say internet is so much distraction yes it is that but it is not only that there is so much knowledge available over there there is so much there is so much people who you could say almost in a neighborly way selflessly help each other you ask some questions on some discussion forums and people who don’t know each other also give answers so you could say that is that is the expression of the internet where there is violence and sensuality and obsession resulting from all that is tamogoni so just as internet can be in three modes technology can also be in broadly three modes in today’s world science and technology are like the jinn of allah that has come out now there is no way it’s going to go inside that is for sure somebody would say it may happen and who knows krishna can we don’t know what krishna has in store for the future but the way it is presently in the conceivable future we don’t see the technological movement getting reversed or even slowed at least in the mainstream society so now then the technological movement is there we will be a part of it so we for hurting others for simply aggrandizing themselves but there are others who are using it for good so then if we can be a part of the sattvic current within technology that is good sattvic current means through technology one can come to a more through not technology through science and technology if we come to a more eco friendly way of living for example at one level technology is only disrupt in many ways disrupting ecology but through some technological innovations we might be able to come to a eco friendly way of living also why not so if say instead of fossil fuels we use solar energy that is much less polluting that is much more it is technology we are still using cars and machines but it is much more eco friendly so we there are good amount of concerns about genetically modified things and some devotees feel that we are playing with nature we are playing god rather in trying to change things so it will be something which we have to individually decide based on our situation in life maybe consult some senior devotees but consult like minded devotees in the past if somebody has got a heart attack they would die but now we can do defibrillators we can use so many things to try to save the person’s life so are we playing god when we are helping a person who has got a heart attack to restart their heart maybe but in a sense everyone plays god in every situation the parents play god to the child it can you can the word play god has a negative connotation but we can we can the parents act as a creator when they beget a child the parents take care of the child so they are basically acting in the role of god so we can act in the role of god either in a mood of service to him or in a mood of replacing him so if you respect the guru like god so with respect to intervening with nature we with our intelligence learn to balance things as much as possible so that we don’t disrupt things the pandavas when they were in the forest they would hunt animals at one level they are dangerous animals who could disrupt who could disrupt the peace of the villages who could even threaten the sages in the forest so they had to kill them they were using mystical weapons this kind of technology that’s also playing god isn’t it but then that was in the service of god so if we also do it in the service in the mood of service of contribution then developing this kind of technology is good today cancer is a serious disease and there are many devotees across america and australia who are engaged in cutting edge cancer research so that’s great if we can come up with a cure for cancer it can save so many lives so we have to see that the appara vidya that we are working in we see that also as a way in which krishna is acting rather than thinking this is simply some material knowledge we see that krishna is acting through this material knowledge we treat he cures so the potency of medicine also comes from krishna so we could have that integrated vision of devotion where we see krishna can act through that kind of paravidya which is traditional krishna can act through ayurveda and cure many people krishna can act through say cutting-edge scientific research and cure people so it is ultimately if we are in a mood of service to krishna