Gita study Mumbai 2012- 03.9-13 Understanding the principles and mechanism of yajna

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So that was the first section of the chapter we talked about how Karma Yoga is better for Arjuna than Gyan Yoga so we will discuss the second section the second section is Arjuna if you can’t practise Karma Yoga then practise Karmakand if you are not qualified for Karma Yoga then practise Karmakand so here you see in the previous section which we discussed yesterday Krishna has not said that Karma Yoga itself is higher than Gyan Yoga what he has said is Karma Yoga is preferable for you to Gyan Yoga for you it is better he has still kept the idea that Gyan Yoga is higher but Karma Yoga is better there will be a similar discussion in the fifth chapter where Karma Yoga and Gyan Yoga are once again different and there Krishna will take the discussion deeper so here now Krishna will as I told you take a spiral first you talk about Karma Yoga is better than Gyan Yoga you are talking about Gyan Yoga but Karma Yoga is better you think Karma Yoga is better and say that what about Karmakand so that’s what we will start discussing now in this course so 3.9 is in one sense the verse which describes the culmination of the process of Karma Yoga but it describes it in a non specific way Yajna Yajna Upanishad Yajna refers to Vishnu but that is not a direct reference to Vishnu it is a direct reference to Vishnu but what Krishna is saying over there culmination of Karma Yoga is to actually do everything for the purpose of for the pleasure of some higher beings so one of Arjuna’s principles was that I will bound you by simple reactions Krishna is saying Arjuna yes you will be bound in all situations except when you act for the purpose so indirect implication is that Arjuna even if you are being inactive even in the case of being inactive you are actually active so because you are active in the sense that your mind is active you talk about Karma Yoga so because your mind will be active even the mind’s actions are within the purview of Karma and they will bring reactions because the only way to be free from reactions is by acting for the purpose of action that is the only way to be free the previous verse told Arjuna that Niyatantur Karma Karma is because that is how you will be able to maintain your body and if you remember I discussed that yesterday I discussed three reasons why Krishna was given by Arjuna should fight so now here in this verse Krishna is talking about fourth reason avoid Karmic bondage so by acting alone by acting for the purpose of Krishna you will avoid Karmic bondage now how Karmic bondage will be avoided it is not analytically described over here but it is unequivocally asserted this is a very unanalytical statement in terms of its impact Loka Gyaatha Karmano Anyatra Anyatra means otherwise Loka Gyaatha in this word Karma Bandhana everyone will know by Karma therefore for the purpose of Yajna do it now what exactly is Yajna as we discussed earlier that words have different breadths of meaning sometimes the word can have a narrow meaning can have very broad meaning do you remember any words we discussed with different breadths of meaning Uddi Uddi Uddiya similar preaching we also discussed before the word Veda Veda can literally mean the four Vedas it can mean the various body of knowledge it can mean all knowledge so words have different breadth of meaning so the word Yajna also has different breadth of meaning so generally speaking generally speaking the word Yajna literally means to fire means fire sacrifice so sacrifice is in which normal meaning is narrow meaning that is what people think about that is Sankhya Kriya fire sacrifice put some amruti in it and then we have to perform the sacrifice now Shri Rampal explains that sacrifice means to deny the interest of the senses that is the broader meaning what is the broader meaning to deny the interests of the senses now how does the fire sacrifice deny the interests of the senses see some meaning is broad and the narrow meaning should also be included so in the fire sacrifice so for example the amruti Ghee is offered now Ghee is so expensive just put it in fire reduce my interest what a waste of money atleast if you don’t want to give it to me I will eat it why waste ghee like that Ghee is considered to be a very rich food and eating ghee is considered to be a sign of opportunity to deny the interests of the senses means that what I could use for my enjoyment I don’t use it for my enjoyment similarly the grains might be offered or silk might be offered various items might be offered so the purpose of this is at one level to deny the interests of the senses what is good for us or what is pleasurable for us we say no I don’t want but is it just getting wasted no it’s not getting wasted yajna is the mouth of our Vishnu I wrote earlier that devanam avamo agri devanam paramo vishnu avano agri talanta sarvadevata so actually agni is the means by which agni is the lowest among all the gods and vishnu is the highest so lowest means agni is the medium through which we can connect with all the other gods, that’s why agni is most accessible to us and that’s why agni is called as the lowest it’s not in terms of power so agni is the mouth through which what we offer goes to be punished so when we say deny the interests of the senses that doesn’t mean waste the sense objects, it means what we could use for our sense gratification we use it for Krishna’s sake so Shri Prabhupada generally used the word yajna in the broad sense there are places in the Bhagavatam also where the yajna is used in the narrow sense now if you see the narrow sense will not make much sense in this context yajna means karma now Arjuna uses karma, he’s a king, he’s a fighter he’s an administrator he’s a family man now all those are obviously not going to be fire sacrifices all those are not going to be fire sacrifices so then this verse if it is going to be taken literally apart from yajna everything that a person does is going to cause bondage it is 24 hours for a thousand years or whatever time it was in this month throughout his life so that obviously doesn’t work Krishna is talking about something broader so it means all the activities that we do should be done in the mood of sacrifice these activities give you pleasure but I do them for Krishna’s sake I do them for satisfaction satisfaction of a higher being here who is that? we should hear it till now but that is sacrifice in fact the word sacrifice its roots it comes from the greek sacra that means to make sacred sacrifice is that which makes something sacred so when you offer something to the lord that makes it sacred that is the only way for a sacrifice now after this Krishna starts talking about the system of yajna so in one sense how is the flow going the culmination of karma yoga was described here in 3.9 but after that because the principle of yajna at the highest level satisfies the law but when people cannot practise that directly then there is a system of garbage through which they perform yajnas which are ultimately meant for Vishnu but they are not directly meant for Vishnu they are meant for Devata so Krishna starts describing the system yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna yajna So this is the fulfiller of the desires Krishna is taking a specific to a very universal level of decision-making.
The system of yajna which I have accompanied with you, this is co-existence with the creation. As soon as the creation is there, along with that comes the yajna. So praja-sushma, sushma means creation.
So as soon as people are created, along with them, sahajan, yajna is also created. And tvaaja-praja, meaning, so that being who created, now the acharyas differ over here. Some acharyas say it refers to Vishnu, others say it refers to Brahma.
That doesn’t matter. So ultimately, it’s the knowledge of Vishnu. So Brahma is the secondary creator, and Vishnu is the primary creator.
It depends on whom it refers. But the point is, that creator, he instructed. What he instructed is, perform this yajna and through this, you’ll learn.
So in the universe, there’s a whole system of cosmic cooperation. And this cosmic cooperation is essential for the purpose of the harmonious living of all people. Now, how are the, now we understand that we are dependent on the universe.
Do we understand that? At least what we understand is that we depend on nature. We depend on nature, so maybe a few years ago, 8-10 years ago, in Nature Magazine, they had a, in Science Magazine, they had a article called Humanity’s Bill to Nature. Humanity’s Bill to Nature.
So what they said is that if we human beings had to, they said that if we had to pay, if all of us had to pay our bill to nature, then it would be an astronomical amount. So they said, researchers of the magazine, Science, Nature Magazine, in 1997, not here, there, straight out, they said that the researchers from University of Maryland presented the world with a bill to nature for about 16 trillion to about 54 trillion US dollars per annum for the natural resources and raw materials that humanity takes from nature. Food, water, air, lumber, rock, metals, well, all kinds of things.
And if we had to pay our bill to the sun, then Dr. Edwin Terzinger, he calculated that if we just took 5 cents per kilowatt hour for the energy provided by sun every day over the state of Oklahoma, it’s one state in America, that cost would be $60 billion per day. So, 60 billion per day. These are far beyond, the amounts are so staggering.
They are far beyond the budget of any country. In this country, the world would pay. So what, of course, this article was not going beyond nature to God, but it was basically meant to raise eco-awareness.
That is, we are so dependent on nature. So I, when in Maharashtra government, I tried to have artificial brains in India. So they had, I’ve done cloud series by the way, that time I had written this article.
Artificial brains, imaginary brains, real brains. So the idea was, what was, when they’re trying to, they’re saying that actually sometimes we’re tantalising the way nature rocks human beings. When there are clouds in the sky, but the clouds don’t rain.
There are some places and some situations when it’s so dry, but there are no clouds in the sky. So what can we do? So when they say artificial brains, nobody has developed a technology to make clouds. To actually evaporate water from the sun and make clouds, that would require so much more money and energy that just transporting water from elsewhere is a hundred times cheaper than that.
So they can’t do that. But all that they say when they’re in artificial brains, there are clouds that naturally form. And the clouds are naturally formed, somehow they’re in the sky, but they’re not pouring the water on me.
So in America, there have been many famous cloud property rights disputes. What does it mean, cloud property rights dispute? That means, let’s say there are two states, and a cloud is there near the border of one state. And the way the wind is blowing, the cloud will go to the other state.
But this state wants a rain. So what they do is, they do cloud seeding. Cloud seeding means that according to scientists, they have found that if certain chemicals are injected in the clouds, basically the water is in a vaporous state in the clouds.
So if certain chemicals are injected, then the cloud condenses, and then rain comes. So by the natural process, the clouds will condense in a particular place. But they do cloud seeding.
Cloud seeding means, they’ll send aeroplanes by the side of the clouds. That’s what they try to do in India also, Maharashtra. So they send aeroplanes, and then there are the scientists and the politicians, and both of them are doing some sort of small toy guns or something like that, with which they shoot these chemicals into the clouds.
And then what happens? The hygroscopic chemicals, they’re called. When they are shot into the clouds, then the rain starts, the clouds start condensing, and the rain starts coming. So this is the border of two states, and the cloud is over here.
And the wind is going this way. The cloud will cross over the boundary and go to the other side. So what happens? This state says that we want rain.
So they send planes and then do cloud seeding. And the other state has a vote case. This cloud is going to come to us.
Why did you intervene? So, for decades they were trying, there are various signals called whether artificial climate modification. They’ve been trying for many years. And eventually, they found, this company that was there in America, they found that it is not economically viable.
Because the problem is, that even if we successfully seed a cloud, we can’t control which direction the wind will be. And we can’t control the position from where the cloud will be seeded. So, if the rain just falls on a pavement or somewhere, then it just gets drained.
Even a normal cloud is there, Caucasus cloud is there, Caucasus cloud. Actually, one cloud will be seeded, it will be so much rain. So who will control where the rain will fall? Only if it falls in our water body.
Then it will go around and decide, rather just go into draining, go into groundwater, which is not easy to use. So, after trying this for many years, they just ran into a problem. And that company was going to go bankrupt.
And that company came to the Indian politicians and they said that, this technology has been used in America. Develop India and start using this technology. So that technology was rejected in America, the Indian government took it as, we are progressing, we are cutting this technology.
But actually, they had not cut any edge, they had only cut the budget. Isn’t it? So then they adopted it and what happened was, it just brought a few centimetres of work of rain in a small area, nothing happened. Crores of interest went out.
So, this is the modern way of looking at everything, just as a mechanism. As a mechanism. So from the atheistic point of view, people will say that, why do you bring Indira into the picture? Actually, if the heat of the sun evaporates, the water, then along with dust particles, go all the way to the human body, forms a cloud, the cloud is moving.
Why can’t this happen? Where do you bring God into the picture? Yes, there is no need for God, if you just look at the mechanism. See, there is a question of how, and there is a question of why. How things happen and why things happen, that will be pretty interesting.
So, how can we explain by science? Why can’t we explain by science? So, okay, why means what? Why at all there should be this complex system of cloud formation and rain showering? There is no answer for that. Similarly, as I said, okay, and the rains are forming, why does the cloud, when it is at a particular place at a particular time, and not another place at another time. And now they can go into analysis and say, okay, this environment condition is like this over here, but it was like that over there.
But why it was like that? Go back to the root causal, ultimately science has to throw up its hand and say, it’s chance. It’s chance. Chance is just a code word for ignorance.
Chance is a code word for ignorance. See, there are certain situations where chance is an acceptable explanation. And there are certain situations where chance is an unacceptable explanation.
When is chance an acceptable explanation? When we know that there is a pattern of probabilities and a particular event is a particular probability, then chance is a reasonable explanation. For example, if somebody throws up an axe, and it is at a height of 6, you will win all the money. He throws the axe and it falls 6. Now why did it fall 6? He said by chance.
We know that the probability of chance is 1 out of 6. So by chance, the percentage was 1 out of 6 and 100 divided by 6 is around 16.6 or whatever. And it came out to be like that. But suppose, there is a bridge across a river and one day the bridges collapse.
And the government decides, why did the bridge collapse? And the structure is by chance. This is the outrageous, scandalous explanation. Because there is no process involving a pattern of probabilities.
In this situation, chance is just a foreword for ignorance. I will explain this. So chance is an explanation.
It is acceptable when there is a process with a probability level process, well-defined process, with a known probability of certain pattern or certain results. And among them, one doesn’t occur. If I throw a dice, I know it’s a process.
And there are 6 possible results in that process. One of them occurs, then chance is an acceptable explanation. But if unacceptable, when there is no well-defined process, there is no known probability, and there is no prediction of the result.
That means, if somebody says, okay, the river just exploded into the hole, so was the stream, and here everything came. Then what is the probability that it will happen? If you say, okay, somebody says, one out of a billion, billion, billion, people talk about it, okay. Is it possible that so many occurrences can be increased? No.
You can repeat the big time. Therefore, it’s not acceptable. It’s a little technical.
I think the basic example of dice, if you give, we take the example of dice and take the example of which collapsed. That will make it clear. The technical words will make it unclear, in fact, rather than making it clear.
So, science can explain how. It can’t explain why. It can explain mechanism.
It can’t explain purpose. Mechanism, not purpose. How, not why.
So, yes, how things occur, we can explain. Why things occur, we cannot explain. Now, what is the basic understanding? There may be a particular process by which things happen.
But that process is supervised by a suggestive being, and that being is Indra. So, now, the researchers have done some research, and they have found that if in the Rig Veda, there are certain Agnyas that are described, these Agnyas will be used. So, they have found that if the specific ingredients that are mentioned in the particular Rig Veda scriptures are used, then they can burn, give out a smoke, which contains hydroscopic elements.
That means that the same thing that modern science is doing, the same thing is done in the Rig Veda. What is done? There are clouds, and we ignite fire, and through the fire, when the smoke goes up, that creates hydroscopic elements, and that causes this. Now, what is the difference between the approach of the seers and of modern science? The idea is, we don’t think that actually the smoke is causing the risk.
We understand that this has been the way that it is satisfied with the environment, and then he arranges for the risk. Now, everything that happens in the material world, will always have some material cause and effect. But the question is, is the material cause and effect complete? The material cause and effect is itself a valid explanation, but not a complete explanation.
What is the difference between a valid and a complete explanation? It’s like, I’m going into a little deep analysis, this is important for us to understand. So, there is a, for example, if somebody says, how a car moves, so if I’m a person observing from outside a house, the opening of a garage, and then the car comes up, and the car starts moving. If I observe the car, how a car moves, so if the car moves for the reason, it will be providing me, or because they are connected to the axle.
Okay, fine. Then, there is a, why is the car moving? Why is the axle causing the keys to move? Oh, because there was an ignition. There was a spark in the ignition, and the engine started up.
Okay, but why was there a spark in the ignition? Because the key was in the vertical position. The key moved to the horizontal position. Now, if I go by the explanatory chain, this is a correct analysis.
It’s a valid analysis. But if I say the car moves because the key moved from the vertical to the horizontal position, is it a complete explanation? It’s a valid explanation, but it’s not a complete explanation. Why the car moved is, because the person who was the owner of the car decided to go for a drive.
And when we enter, we move the key from the vertical to the horizontal position. So, whenever anything happens in the virtual world, there will be a material chain of cause and effect that we can trace out. And that is a valid trace.
But that is not a complete trace. Similarly, if I say that when I get angry, I shake my fist. That is fine.
Now I can trace out. So, I can trace out the chain of cause and effect. Backward, backward.
And I find, okay, when I saw something externally, then that stimulated certain neurones in my brain. And when the neurones got stimulated, certain synapses were formed in the brain. And because of the synapses, I hold my hand.
Now, this whole chain, you can say is correct. But it doesn’t complete the emotion of anger. I felt angry, that’s why I hold my hand like that.
So, scientific explanation is valid, but it is not true. So, we agree that there might be some hydroscopic chemicals, which may cause some rage. But that is not a complete explanation.
These are valid explanations as far as it goes. So, the understanding is that when we look at neurones, we satisfy a label. So, one way is to forcibly try to extract from nature gifts.
That is, if the clouds have water, and I go and forcibly inject some chemicals and try to take the water out of them. The other is that one satisfies the law, he is the master of mother nature, by being religious. And then, naturally, mother nature will give out the gifts, whether they be rains or crops or whatever else.
So, the one way is like a child, when an infant wants milk, the infant appeals to the mother. And the mother gives her breast milk, and the infant tries to catch the mother and force the mother to try to extract the breast milk from her. And they do that.
And that’s not the right way to do it. So, the point is that the system of Jyotiyana is a system of cosmic cooperation. And when we satisfy the labels, then they provide the gifts.
So, that’s how it works. So, what modern scientists recognise is that we are dependent on nature. But they think that actually nature is not conscious.
Nature just has her mechanisms. And we need to harmonise ourselves with the mechanisms of nature. So, there is both this environmental movement that is there now.
It’s quite a popular influential movement in the West. And in India also. We have to take care of nature.
We have to live in harmony with nature. It’s true. But they think that nature is dead.
And their idea is that nature has certain mechanisms and we are disrupting those mechanisms. Yes, there are certain mechanisms. But beyond that, there are concerns.
And it is not that we are disrupting the mechanisms. We are displeasing the concerns. There is belief in Devata.
There is belief in Supreme Lord. And that’s why the supplies are limited. Any questions about this? So, by this, if you perform Jyotiyana like this, whatever you need will be provided.
So, Prabhupada quotes this beautiful verse in the Bhagavad Gita. How the Lord is the pati of everyone. And he is basically, the relevance of this verse is Jyotiyana.
He is the Lord of the Jyotiyanas. The ultimate Lord of the Jyotiyanas. So then, Prabhupada in this purport will again and again form the point that actually speaking, in this age, the Jyotiyana has to be performed in Sankirtan.
So, now when Prabhupada is talking about Sankirtan Yajna, what is he doing? Now, the narrow meaning of the word Yajna was fire sacrifice. The broad meaning is the principle of sacrifice in the interest of our senses. Now, are these in the specific way in which we sacrifice our senses, sacrifice in the interest of our senses, in Kanyuga, will be by following the yoga dharma.
So, what is the sacrifice that we are doing in Sankirtan Yajna? Sacrifice is not of fire, not of ghee or grains or something. Sacrifice is of Consciousness. We are trying to offer our Consciousness to Krishna.
Some people may not just our idiosyncratic idea that this is also Yajna. Actually, the idea is that ultimately, the purpose of all that is not to sacrifice some goods, ultimately to offer our heart to Krishna. Some people, do you know what it does? It means that we should offer our Consciousness to Krishna.
Our Consciousness will mean that we can offer our heart to Krishna. The idea of the Vedic culture is that we should sacrifice ultimately we have to offer our heart to Krishna. If I can’t offer my heart to Krishna, then I offer that which is in my heart.
What does that mean? Actually, I should love Krishna. But if I can’t love Krishna, I love money. Money is in my heart.
I offer money to Krishna. That is the idea. What will happen? We are creating a place in our heart.
Either I offer my heart or I offer that which is in my heart. If I offer my heart, then Krishna takes a full place in my heart. If I can’t offer my heart, then I offer that which is in my heart.
Whatever I am offering, I am creating a place in Krishna’s heart. Generally speaking, wherever our heart is, that is where we put our consciousness. For example, if there is a cricket match, one person is a cricket lover, he will be in his classroom, but his consciousness is what is happening, what will be happening.
His consciousness is there because where his heart is, there is consciousness. Similarly, if a person posses consciousness in a particular place, the heart comes at that place. In Sankirtan Yajna, we are offering our consciousness to Krishna.
That is how we are offering our heart to Krishna. Prabhupada was proposing repeatedly saying that if the Sankirtan Yajna is recommended, then the Yajna can be performed. Now, Yajna does produce the necessities of life.
As we will decide later, we will talk about the rays which are produced by Yajna. We will talk about this Sankirtan Yajna producing rays at that time. Devan Bhavetanena Devan Bhavetanena Te Deva Bhavayantuyah Te Deva Bhavayantuyah Parasparan Bhavayantah Parasparan Bhavayantah Any questions? Yeah.
So, Devan, you satisfy Devata and they will satisfy you. Now, some people have this idea that they have the idea that actually if we don’t do the Yajnas, Devatas will starve to death. It’s an absurd idea.
Now, there is some spiritual symbolism like that. When Hiranyakashipu tells his associates to devastate the Yajnas, he says if the Yajnas are devastated, then the Devatas will become weak. And then he can attack and kill them.
So, he may end up in his statements, he may say that actually if the Devatas starve to death, we don’t do Yajnas. He may say something like that. But you have to understand that just because the statement is in the scripture, that does not necessarily mean that it is an absolute claim.
Hiranyakashipu is speaking inside his followers to break the Yajnas. The Devatas are not dependent on earth for their talents. It’s not that they get food from it.
If you look at other incidents in the scriptures, when Parvati sees that there is no place, there is no allocation of the share of sacrifice for Lord Shiva, she is not concerned, oh my husband is starved to death. She feels his disrespect. When the food goes over to the Pooja, the Prajapati stops the Yajna of Indra.
Indra says, I am starved to death. All the Indras feel a dishonour. So, Yajnas are ways in which Devatas are honoured.
It’s not that they are dependent on food. When they come and accept the offerings, Ramayana describes that when a Yajna is performed, if the Yajna is performed properly, Devatas will come and accept the offering. But on many occasions, they will accept the offerings invisibly.
And only the Brahmins can detect if Devatas have come and accepted the offering. In some cases, Devatas will accept the offerings visibly. And if Devatas accept the offerings visibly, then it is considered that the Yajna was exceptionally successful.
In the Bhaktasamudrasindhu, Srila Prabhupada is paraphrasing Rupa Goswami. He says that people may ask why don’t Devatas go to heaven? Shashi is telling Indra that basically the incident is that the Apsaras in heaven are saying that let this Krishna’s pastimes end quickly and then Buddha will come. Then he will stop all Yajnas.
And when the Yajnas will stop, then our husband will not go away to attend Yajna ceremonies and they will stay with us. It’s an interesting thread of logic. But the idea is Prabhupada could discuss this point that actually why are the Devas not coming for the Yajna sacrifices now? This is because after Buddha had the Yajna stopped, after that the Brahmins also lost qualifications to do Yajnas properly.
And that is not recommended to perform Yajnas. And therefore, the Devas don’t come because the people are unqualified. People can’t do Yajnas properly.
So the idea is that the Devas don’t care to come here. It’s not essential for them. But what is the system of cooperation? Actually, when we satisfy the Devas, they satisfy us.
And that is how Yajnas are not. It’s more a system of offering mutual respects. We offer respect to the Devas.
Otherwise, if I say that the Swarga Loka is dependent on earth for food, it’s like saying that America is dependent on Somalia for its food. It’s absurd. It cannot be balanced.
But the idea is when we offer our respects, what is happening is at least we are acknowledging there is a higher authority. We recognise ultimately the authority of the Supreme. And if I say by this Shreya Parama you attain the ultimate long-term benefit by this.
So Prabhupada talks about how the arrangements for nature are made by arrangements for our reciprocal are made by Niji. They are not made by human beings. Krishna Durga Nivo Deva Krishna Durga Nivo Deva Dasyante Yajna Bhavitaha Dasyante Yajna Bhavitaha Vedatana Pradavidhyo Vedatana Pradavidhyo So when we satisfy the Devatas then they will provide otherwise if we take what is given we will be thieves.
So we will be thieves. So I wrote an article about after tsunami had occurred that I said how do we know that somebody is getting karmic reactions. Karmic reactions can come in three ways.
Adhyatmik, Adhiyavati Adhyatmik. So I did a comparison of the Adhyatmik, Adhiyavati Adhyatmik klesha in the 20th century as compared to 19th century. And if we look at Adhyatmik klesha according to old statistics the number of natural disasters that have happened in the last 50 years the ferocity is increasing and increasing more and more.
Ferocity as well as frequency is increasing much more. This is one way in which we can see that nature is offering us the karmic reactions. So now Krishna is telling the world you may not enjoy but the enjoyment is keeping staying at Evasaha.
Sometime I saw how does this system actually work. Sometimes you already said okay we need to get on kirtan that’s why rains have come. Now this is valid but it is quite simplistic.
It is not invalid, it is simplistic. So people say that okay there is a famine over there. Go and do kirtan.
Let us see if the rains come. Now are we ready to go and do that? Krishna Prabhupada does go there in Hyderabad where he did the kirtans and then Prabhupada said that some politician or somebody said that there is no rains. So Prabhupada does go there.
But Prabhupada did not make the mission of responding to the war and started doing kirtans over there to get rains. You have to understand the system. What is the system? The system is that people have to follow the laws of God.
Unless people follow the laws of God just performing yajna is not enough. If you have universal government, when will people get facilities for the universal government? So certainly you have to pay the taxes. Taxes are like yajnas.
When we do yajna it is like paying the taxes. But along with paying the taxes there are the basic laws of the government. They also have a law.
Those are like the more regulated systems. Because citizens to access facilities from the state certainly has to pay taxes. But paying taxes, even more foundational and fundamental than that is following the rules of the state.
If people don’t follow the rule of the government then will the government provide even registration of taxes? Paying taxes once more is a law. Apart from paying taxes, there are other rules of maintaining basic civil codes, basic morality, basic honesty, whatever. There are other rules of the government which have to be followed.
If they don’t follow the law, then the government will cut all the supplies. So it’s not that just a one-off, people will produce yajnas. It will produce.
But we are not trying to subvert the system which Krishna has created. The system that Krishna has created is that when humans live in harmony with God, then the necessities of life are provided by God through yajna. So therefore, the idea is that pupils may produce yajnas.
It is not just that one-off pupils will do that. The pupils represent that people are living in God consciousness. So what we are trying to do is that we are trying to share God consciousness and make people God conscious.
So people obey the laws of God and people also do yajnas. Otherwise, if we start saying that Kirtan is so very stupid, then sometimes flowers come. People will say, you know, too much people.
Stop it now. Isn’t it? So if we use simplistic arguments, we can be embarrassed sometimes. We shouldn’t have such a naive conception.
There is a stupid system of God in the world. Although at one level, the act of chanting and answering is very simple, but with a profound philosophy created, and if we make simplistic statements, then we misrepresent the profound philosophy of God. So Krishna is saying, stay in the yajnas.
These people are thieves. Take the goods from nature without returning it to nature. So our modern society is slightly of thieves.
So now, some people say that, okay, people are thieves and why are people still prosperous? To say that America is very rich, we are quite prosperous, isn’t it? So there are several answers to this. First is that, we should not just have a short-term vision of prosperity. Ravana was defying the law, and Nityananda was so prosperous that he was full of gold.
So, it is not like Nityananda was prosperous in the short term. How long did that Ravana’s vignas last? Temporary phases of prosperity are possible by defiance of the laws of God. We can’t ultimately defy the laws of God, but there are temporary phases of prosperity possible.
Several points in this answer. So, how best prosperous? First is, temporary phases are possible. More important is, prosperity is not just utile abundance.
Utile prosperity is satisfaction. Aren’t we satisfied in the rest? Remember, I showed earlier the American paradox that depression is higher, suicide is higher, divorce is higher, crime rate is higher, business population is higher, as compared to 50 years ago also. So, it is not just material independence.
It is holistic satisfaction, and that is not permanent. So, beyond this, also, if we look at it, we should not just think, again, there are higher circumstances. There are still used people there.
There are used people there, and they are worshipping God in their own ways. So, if the worship of God is performed, then that is fine. There is also this concept of mass karma.
Mass karma means that if people are over-simplified in many ways, then they also will be anxious. So, third point is, some religious performances still happen. Beyond that, there is a concept of mass karma.
Mass karma means that all of us have to get our own individual karmic reactions. But suppose, a group of 50 people die in a hair crash. We understand that everyone of them had their own karma, but their karmic composition is such that all of them would die at this particular time.
It is not all of them had the same bad karma. Similar quantity of bad karma they had done, by which they had to get the reaction of death at this particular time. Although, their specific karmas might have been different.
So, similarly, nations also had bad karmas. For example, other than Japan. Japan was earthquake-prone.
So, all of us in this earthquake-prone nature is symptomatic of karmic reactions. So, that means, now who did the bad karma? Is it the people who are presently born or people who are past born? Both. Both.
Similarly, actually, if you look at American history, till the time Civil War came to America in 1930, America was quite religious. As I told earlier, Protestants went from Europe to America and they built America as a religious nation. In God we believe.
So, religion was quite a common part of America till 1920s. It went on for a while also. But gradually, it went on to become America.
And even now, there is a substantial number of people, but in some institutions. So, we don’t have a narrow understanding, again, specifically the rituals that I talked about earlier. It’s a principle.
Principle is that you should satisfy God. So, those people who were religious in the past, and they, by their religious dharma, by their religious actions, they do some actions, which are good only. And that will carry on by generations.
That means, how it works is that if the if a king is very worthless, if you look at many times, a king is very worthless, the king is very flourishing in freedom by doing proper dharma and everything. Then when the king’s successor is there, his son will become the next king, he will inherit a flourishing kingdom. So, now, is he inheriting a flourishing kingdom because of his own good karma or because of his father’s good karma? It’s both.
His father’s good karma arranged that the land flourishes. And by his own karma, it was there he was born again. So, like that, by the past good karma of the people who were in the kingdom, the land is prosperous.
And those souls who were born there, they had some good karma that’s why they were born there. He says that all of you Americans, you have wealth, many of you have beauty, you are individual. All this is a result of the past people.
Don’t bitter it up. Don’t waste your life. So, now, from one point of view, we can say that if you want the next generation to benefit, come in the age.
But, the important point is that even in a richer age, somebody can be born poor and somebody can be born wealthy. Somebody can be born intelligent. Somebody can be born dumb.
So, that variety is also because of karmic reactions. So, that is the mass karma that also is there. But, the karmic reactions will catch up.
And it’s a big, complex economic thing. I won’t talk about it now. But America has the world’s greatest debt.
America has the world’s greatest debt. America has the world’s greatest debt. And it’s a confusing system of economies that the country with the greatest debtor is considered to be the richest country in the world.
So, that economy boom that is there is probably the last of the economy. That’s how it temporarily fizzles. Sometimes, without any possibility also.
So, that’s one last point. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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