Gita 03.12 – Secular humanism makes humans honest thieves

Thank you Bhagavad Gita 3.12 Ishtan bhogan Ishtan bhogan desired bhoga whatever we need, whatever we desire whatever is dear to us himo deva the devatas they will provide yajna bhavitaha being satisfied by our performance of yajna tayir dattan apradaya yaibhyo tayir dattan what we obtain from them apradaya yaibhyo if we do not offer our part if we do not give sacrifices to them yobhum te if one enjoys jai person is a jai person is a thief so what exactly is Krishna telling in this verse jai is a strong word steal jai is principle of yoga who is a thief here Krishna is telling that one who takes the universal resources without acknowledging the arrangers of those resources such a person is a thief now consider a situation where a group of people have lost their way in a forest and then they suddenly find a palace and in that palace they enter there doesn't seem to be anyone around and they see an abandoned food supply and they start taking it and sitting on the easy chair turning on the televisions surfing the net, feasting on the food and having a jolly good time and then now obviously that palace doesn't exist by itself by chance and certainly the palace would not be stocked with necessities and luxuries by chance so it's only natural that they should enquire where have those necessities come, where have those supplies come from now if they don't enquire and later on the owner comes and says you have to pay a bill no, why should we pay, you are not here we didn't see you whether I was physically present or not whether you saw me or not that is immaterial, you entered into my house and you are taking my supplies without even thanking me, without even taking my permission, without even acknowledging me, so that is definitely culpable similarly when we come into this world, this world has so many resources within it we need air we need light, we need heat, we need water, we need food and these are pre-provided in nature, we may have to endeavor a little bit to get those things but actually it is not our endeavor that produces those needs the endeavor is primarily to get the needs to us it is not to make the need themselves, there is a difference between making and getting our endeavors don't make the necessities it is not that by our endeavor we create the mechanisms by which grains grow, it is not that by our endeavor we create the seeds from which grains will grow the mechanism is already there in nature the seeds have come from the previous yield and we basically use whatever is present in nature the mechanisms and the resources and we put them together in a particular process and by which we get the results so so just like if there are raw materials there in a kitchen in the palace and the guests come and cook a big feast so they may take credit for having cooked the feast but they cannot take credit for having for owning the palace or possessing the resources that were there in the palace similarly in this world we cannot claim that the things of this world belong to us if somebody has to start if somebody says that I am going to make anything then the person will have to start first of all by creating the atoms and the molecules which make up the various elements which make up the various chemicals which make up ultimately the substances that we use so that's an nobody can start from scratch and in that sense nobody is the maker of things we are only the acquirer of things so we our endeavor is to acquire and to modify it is not to make things and just as a person who makes things in somebody else's palace has to acknowledge and offer some proper compensation I have used your resources then I will pay you this I am using your kitchen, I am using your food ingredients so I will pay you this similar now similarly we when we use the resources of nature nature does not exist by itself nature is the consort of the lord and the lord has created a system of universal governance in which different gods, different devatas have been assigned different departmental responsibilities so it is important for us to know that we have our responsibilities which we need to complete otherwise we will become thieves now even if this party of picnickers who have come into the palace even if they equitably distribute the food that they cook we are 10 of us and there are 5 apples in the fridge so let us each take half of so even if they equitably distribute the food now at one level they are not giving into greed and eating more than their share is good but at another level the fact remains that the apples were not there to distribute whether they distributed them equally or unequally so honesty among thieves is still theory not honesty because the property does not belong to them honesty among thieves means those who have robbed something then if they divided honestly that honesty is not as important as the theory is in the broader perspective so similarly even if we decide that in this world we will live equitably we will live equitably still that is not an adequate arrangement for living in this world because we have to live not just equitably among each by equitably or harmoniously among each other we have to live harmoniously with the one who has provided us everything in this world unfortunately in today's world the ethos of secular humanism is extremely prominent and dominant and secular humanism essentially exiles god and religion and enthrones man humanity as the centerpiece in the purpose of creation purpose of existence they don't use the word creation so the secular humanistic outlook is misleading and it reduces humans to robbers because they are not acknowledging the role that the lord of nature and the lord of nature have played in providing the necessities and the luxuries by which everyone including the secular humanists are able to continue living by studying gita wisdom and understanding the profound philosophy that is there which actually makes far greater sense of the world than does the secular humanistic outlook which doesn't even consider which actually doesn't seriously ponder the question where things have come from it simply focuses on taking things as they are and utilizing those things so using those things for one's own personal purposes and that is very much from the point of any jurisprudence, any law it is going somewhere and taking the possessions that lie over there without acknowledging the owner that is thievery, that is what Krishna is saying stay naive the way to avoid being such thieves is in a culture that was in the time of Bhagavad Gita there were specific yajnas to be performed for the demigods te deva bhavayantu we have to satisfy the devatas also but in Kali Yuga that is impractical those kind of sacrifices, that's why the sacrifice of the chanting of the holy names, yajnanam japa yajnosmi that is recommended by which we can avoid becoming thieves and we can stay harmoniously harmoniously in the universe in harmony with the.