Our leaders, they were told that good planets are hard to find, dont blow it, but they blew our Earth anyways and now they want to fix it up in big big summits, just like the proverbial village fella who fixed the moon up long ago.
Story goes like this. A villager went to get water from the well at night. When he looked down in the well, he saw the moon’s reflection in the water. Thinking that the moon had fallen from the sky, he ran to get a rope with a big hook on it. He pitched it into the well so hard that the hook snagged on a rock.
The fella gave a huge tug and the hook came free, flying up and out of the well. It knocked the guy right over. As he fell, he noticed the moon in the sky. Standing up, he said, “It’s true that I strained and struggled, but thank God, I got the moon back in its place.”
Similarly, our world leaders are trying to tug the Earth out of the well of despoilment. Earth is God’s property and living here in accordance with God’s ways or natural ways wouldn’t have created all this mess. But we, especially our leaders think that they are the controllers of nature and the universe and if they want they can blow it and if they want, they can set it right. It is all theirs and it is under their absolute control.
This foolish arrogance will cost us dearly. Now the latest attempt to “tug the moon out” is being made at Copenhagen in December 2009. Leaders of over a hundred nations have confirmed their participation. Known as ‘Climate Summit’, this gathering has been organized by United Nations.
The leaders would try to cut the carbon emission and save the planet, of course without creating a fundamental change in the life style and consciousness. But that would only mean , ‘resolutions, dissolutions, revolutions… and no solutions’.
We are not alone in thinking like this. James Hansen, a leading U.S. NASA scientist who helped alert the world to dangers of global warming, told the Guardian newspaper that the planet would be better off if the forthcoming Copenhagen climate change talks ended in collapse. As per him, any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would be better for future generations if we were to start again from scratch. Hansen is strongly opposed to carbon market schemes, in which permits to pollute are bought and sold, seen by the European Union and other governments as the most efficient way to cut emissions and move to a new clean energy economy.
Hansen adds, “I would rather it not happen if people accept that as being the right track because it’s a disaster track, Tackling climate change does not allow room for the compromises that govern the world of politics. This is analogous to the issue of slavery faced by Abraham Lincoln or the issue of Nazism faced by Winston Churchill. On those kind of issues you cannot compromise. You can’t say let’s reduce slavery, let’s find a compromise and reduce it 50 percent or reduce it 40 percent.”
Therefore solution lies in making a fundamental shift in the way we think or creating a change of consciousness or heart or as suggested by Hansen, ‘starting from scratch’. All our actions flow from our consciousness or the way we think, feel and will. As told by Einstein, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
Believe it or not, that consciousness, which is lacking, is Krishna consciousness and is found aplenty in Srila Prabhupada’s books. Therefore reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books (BBT.info) tantamounts to changing the world’s consciousness and thus saving it.
A young aspirant was walking with a senior, seasoned master in the garden one day. Feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he asked the master for some advice. The master walked up to a rosebush and handed the young aspirant a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals. The young aspirant looked in disbelief at the master and tried to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the will of God for his life and activities. But because of his great respect for the master, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact… It wasn’t long before he realized how impossible this was to do. Noticing the young man’s inability to unfold the rosebud without tearing it, the master began to recite the following poem…
It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God’s design;
But I cannot unfold the petals,
With these clumsy hands of mine.
The secret of unfolding flowers,
Is not known to such as I.
God opens this flower so sweetly,
Then in my hands they die.
If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God’s design,
Then how can I have the wisdom,
To unfold this life of mine?
So I’ll trust in God for leading,
Each moment of my day.
I will look to God for His guidance,
Each step of the way.
The pathway that lies before me,
Only God knows.
I’ll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.
———-
tam eva saranam gaccha
sarva-bhavena bharata
tat-prasadat param santim
sthanam prapsyasi sasvatam
O scion of Bharata, surrender unto Him utterly. By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode. (Bhagavad-gita 18.62)
“Therefore we shall fully surrender to Krsna. As Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, marobi rakhobi yo iccha tohara: “Now I surrender. Now if you want to maintain me, that is all right, and if You want to kill me, that is also all right.” This is surrender. It is not business, “If You maintain me, then I surrender. If You kill me, then I do not.”
~Srila Prabhupada (Morning Walk, May 2, 1974, Bombay)
A man in Colorado, US, tried to steal an ATM by hauling it away with a stolen truck.
The plan didn’t work. The attempted theft of the outdoor ATM in Boulder set off an alarm early morning. When police arrived they found the ATM on its side about 15 feet from its foundation outside a Chase Bank. No money had been taken.
Surveillance photos showed a man hooking the ATM’s chain to the back of a U-Haul truck. The truck, which had been reported as stolen, was discovered a short distance away later that day.
Instead of stealing money from the ATM, the thief in question tried to steal the ATM itself. Similar is our story.
This world is an undisputed property of God because it existed before we entered here and will continue to exist after our exit. We humans are trying to haul it away from its lawful owner, God. Instead of stealing resources of the world, we are trying to haul away the World itself. We are denying the hand of God by manufacturing philosophies like Darwinism and Big Bang and in the name of nationalism, we are trying to carve out our share of the loot. Humanity is depriving other living beings their due share of natural resources.
Srila Prabhupada explains this in a conversation, “Tena tyaktena bhunjitha: [Isopanisad mantra 1] everything belongs to God. Just like the father has got many sons and the father is the proprietor of the house. He gives one son, “This is your room,” the other son, “This is your room.” So the obedient son is satisfied what the father allows to him. Others, those who are not obedient, they want to disturb other brother that “This room also belongs to me.” That creates chaos and confusion in the world. The United Nations, they have created a society for unity of the nations, but actually that is not unity. That is another way of encroaching upon others’ property. Therefore there is no peace, unless they accept God is the Supreme proprietor. And we must be satisfied with the allotment God has given to us. Then there is no trouble. But the trouble is that we are not satisfied with the allotment given to us. That allotment can be understood by language or similar culture. So why one should encroach upon others’ property which is allotted by God? That creates disturbance. So this so-called modern civilized man, first of all they create disturbances, and then they want to make some adjustment.”
Modern man is squandering rare natural resources, which are meant to be shared by all living beings and whole humanity, to fuel his insatiable greed in the form of rampant consumerism.
By stealing from God we become subject to apprehension by His police force, which is known as material nature. As soon as we use the property of God to gratify our own senses, nature will inflict miseries upon us. People are not peaceful because if we steal something from someone else, we cannot expect peace. Nor can we ever really expect to enjoy that stolen property, because we will always be anxious about being caught.
This global loot has set the burglar alarms ringing, only if we are willing to listen. Climatic change, 2012, food crisis, financial meltdowns etc. are some of the unpleasant tintinnabulation of the very same alarm.
After 40 years of first Moon mission by America, still mired in controversy, India finally wakes up and wants to send a manned mission to Moon in “next 5 to 10 years”. India will do whatever the West does, no matter how idiotic, how senseless or how absurd it is.
While millions are underfed and everyday over a hundred farmers commit suicide, India wants to blow billions on a Moon mission, just to catchup with the West. Instead of copying West, India should take a look at its own heritage which is immense and timeless and which can be the light beacon for a misguided world. What is on Moon has already been discovered by great sages and elaborately mentioned in Vedic literatures.
Srila Prabhupada quoted a saying to explain this point, “apana dhana vilaya diya bhiksa mange parer dvare – India, after squandering her own wealth, is begging at others’ doors” Of course things are improving and India’s global image has undergone a change of late.
We can quote here another lecture by Srila Prabhupada given in New York in 1966 to further illustrate this point,
“In a bengali proverb, there is a very nice comparison like this, that ‘bara bara ghora gela rasatal, benta ghora bole kata jala’. That means… You know. The animals, they can swim over the river. So there was a big, overflowing river. So at that time there were no boats and ships, so everyone had to cross river either by small boats or by swimming. Generally the animals were allowed to swim over and men, they took small boats… Now, there was very good current and so many horses were swept away by the current. And one lean and thin horse came. He is asking, “Let me know how much water there is?”
The things that West is becoming fedup with are being eagerly grabbed by India.
Blind copying is not good. copying should be done Intelligently and for good things. Prabhupada tells an interesting story from colonial India on copying blindly:
“A clerk was making a fair book from the rough book. So he went to the toilet room, and he was jumping into the air and leaping around the room. So all of a sudden his British boss came in.
“What are you doing here?”
“Sir, I am trying to capture one fly.”
“And why?”
“I am making the fair copy of the book, but in the original book there is a fly smashed. So I have to paste one fly.”
Similar to the story above, Indian media is blindly imitating the western shows.
North America has television shows like ‘Jerry Springer’, ‘Jenny Jones’, ‘Ricki Lake’ and ‘Montel Williams’. These programs feature guests telling detailed stories of their deviant behaviour, such as mothers sleeping with their daughter’s boyfriend, kids who curse and threaten their parents, parents who teach their kids how to shoplift and incest stories at times. It seems as though acceptance or rejection of their deviant behavior is measured by the applause of a degraded audience. Deviancy and immorality are not new in human history. What’s new is the willingness of people to put bizarre lifestyles on display to millions of strangers. Even worse is the relative absence of social sanction. Years ago, people would have been personally ashamed if others knew about their corrupt lifestyles. They’d try to hide it rather than go on national television or radio to broadcast it.
Now countries like India are copying these American TV programs. India has an immensely popular version called ‘sach ka samana’.
Srila Prabhupada called this a ‘new crow’ phenomenon. Indians are behaving like ‘new crows’. When crows eat garbage, after a while they are full. But if a new crow arrives, he becomes especially eager.
Why India should copy everything from West. India has unfathomable treasure of Vedic knowledge which is freely available in its own backyard.
Look at the following news by AFP which came out recently.
Dutch museum says ‘moon rock’ worthless wood
THE HAGUE (AFP) – A treasured piece of moon rock showcased in a key Amsterdam museum is nothing but petrified wood, museum authorities said of a gift made to a former Dutch prime minister by the US envoy.
The exhibit at the Rijksmuseum, originally gifted to Willem Drees in 1969 by then US ambassador William Middendorf as a souvenir of a pathbreaking trip by three US astronauts on July 20, 1969.
“When we received it, we insured it for 100,000 florins or 50,000 euros in today’s money,” said Xandra van Gelder, the editor-in-chief of the museum’s internal magazine.
But she told AFP that it was “hardly worth 50 euros,” adding that museum authorities had been alerted by space and other experts. This was confirmed by independent studies on the object, which is roughly the size of a matchbox.
The US space agency NASA gifted pieces of the alleged moon rock to several countries.
The Rijksmuseum, one of the world’s top museums, is better known for its vast collection of paintings by Rembrandt.
Srila Prabhupada, in the Rathayatra parade of San Francisco, 1969, gave his opinion on this whole Moon thing :
“Perhaps you saw in the San Francisco Chronicle that when I landed at San Francisco airport a reporter asked me my opinion of the landing of your American people on the moon. I asked him whether I should give my frank opinion. He said, “Yes.” So I replied that it is “simply a waste of time.” If you actually want to transfer yourself from this planet to another planet, then you must follow the principles of the Bhagavad Gita. In the Bhagavad Gita you will find a nice verse which says that there are innumerable planets, not only in this one universe, but there are innumerable universes also. In each of these universes there are millions and trillions of planets, and each planet has a different atmosphere. So even if you go to the moon, you will not be happy there, because everywhere in the material universes the four principles of material conditioning are always present. They are birth, death, old age and disease.
But Krishna says that, if one goes back to My Supreme Planet, which is called Goloka Vrindaban, he will never have to come back to this miserable condition of life. This Krishna consciousness movement is to take you to the highest state of eternal bliss and knowledge. It is not a sentimental movement, but is the practical means of perfect spiritual realization. If within this life you practice Krishna consciousness, then you will very easily be able to go to Goloka Vrindaban and have your blissful life, eternal and full of knowledge. You should start this process today. Simply chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. I request you to follow this car of Lord Jagannath, and make progress in your life to Goloka Vrindaban, instead of wasting your time for the moon planet.”
———-
ya esa sodasa-kalah puruso bhagavan manomayo ‘nnamayo ‘mrtamayo deva-pitr-manusya-bhuta-pasu-paksi-sarisrpa-virudham pranapy ayana-silatvat sarvamaya iti varnayanti.
Because the moon is full of all potentialities, it represents the influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The moon is the predominating deity of everyone’s mind, and therefore the moon-god is called Manomaya. He is also called Annamaya because he gives potency to all herbs and plants, and he is called Amrtamaya because he is the source of life for all living entities. The moon pleases the demigods, pitas, human beings, animals, birds, reptiles, trees, plants and all other living entities. Everyone is satisfied by the presence of the moon. Therefore the moon is also called Sarvamaya [all-pervading].(SB 5.22.10)
