How does Krishna consciousness practically solve the world’s problems like violence, poverty and drug abuse?

Transcript

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thank you so how do the teachings of Krishna consciousness solve the practical problems that the world is facing poverty, drug abuse, violence actually if you look at these problems they ultimately originate in a problem in consciousness now why is there violence? there can be multiple reasons but foundationally it comes from anger when people are unable to reign in their anger then they resort to violence and the Bhagavad Gita explains that anger is one of the results of spiritual bankruptcy when people are spiritually enriched then they do not succumb to anger because they have inner fulfillment when do we become angry? when we feel that we are going to lose something which is extremely dear to us and there is no way to protect it except through violent action then we become angry but when we have spiritual enrichment within us then we do not feel so insecure because of external issues and that’s why violence can be checked, it can be substantially decreased if anger can be checked anger can be checked through spiritual enrichment similarly if you look at poverty poverty is a heartbreaking problem in today’s society but if you look at the statistics of the World Health Organization there are 800 million people who are starving but there are 1000 million, 1 billion people who are actually obese so the problem in the world is not just a shortage of food there are more people who are suffering because of excessive eating than because of inadequate eating so the problem is not just poverty or hunger or malnutrition the problem is a lack of self-mastery and the resulting greed the resulting imbalance the excessive utilization of one’s resources by some people with the scarcity of resources for others so how will this problem be solved this problem is solved only when people become more spiritual so then they get greater inner fulfillment and they do not need so much external gratification for their own pleasure so similarly drug abuse especially if you look at ISKCON’s history ISKCON has a proven track record of transforming people who were drug addicts or who were drug users at the very least and helping them become free from that, how does that happen ultimately all of us need happiness all of us need fulfillment and depending on our culture, depending on our level of awareness and the level of consciousness we seek happiness in different ways so if we learn to find happiness through spiritual means then we don’t have to look for happiness through chemical means so chemical we seek happiness in chemicals in various ways through drugs or it may through smoking, it may be through drinking, alcoholism these are various ways ultimately we are seeking for pleasure but the highest pleasure is the pleasure of love so when we connect with the supreme being God who is supremely loving and through that connection with him, a loving connection we experience a higher happiness then the drives for lower happiness become weak and eventually they die out so just as when there is a dirty water in river the way to remove the dirty water is to inject pure water or to purify the water and once the water is purified then the dirt in it automatically goes away so just as if there is a weak foundation to a building then whatever is constructed above that will collapse no matter how artistically and magnificently it is constructed so actually our spirituality is like our foundation and the spiritual foundation is weak then whatever arrangements we make at a material level for solving problems they will not offer sustainable solutions we do need the problems are grave of violence, of drug abuse, of poverty they are grave problems and we need at a national level, at a social level at a administrative level, we need measures to deal with these problems but those problems those alone will not be enough along with them we need to go to the root, the root is that there is a problem in the consciousness as long as people seek gratification through exploitation instead of through contribution as long as people consciousness are low level of consciousness is low and they seek pleasure through selfishness pleasure rather than selflessness we will not be able to solve these problems foundationally so what the Krishna consciousness movement is presenting is not just its own philosophy yes there is a philosophy there is profound wisdom but essentially it is a methodology for raising one’s own consciousness Prabhupada would often call Krishna consciousness as a spiritual science why? because in science there is repeatability there is repeatability, if you take this medicine this disease will get cured similarly the drug addiction the anger, the uncontrolled lust the untrammeled greed these are problems which are at the psychological level and if one chants the names of god then one will be able to overcome these problems and one will rise to a higher level of consciousness, find happiness in higher things and thereby there will be a solution to the problems of the world at a foundational level thank you thank you very much