Ascending process of knowledge is imperfect and always changing

Scientists are working hard trying to define life on this planet and elsewhere. Constantly, there are reports on planets "conducive" for life. The scientific world is rife with speculation regarding this. I have seen numerous numbers thrown out stating "earth" like planets in the solar system and that these planets support life. In fact...the movie "Avatar" is based on this romantic idea of advanced life forms in other planets.

This type of mental speculation with mathematical probabilities is the process of "ascending" knowledge. According to this process, knowledge starts from the self- the individual. The scientists use their fertile brain to propose theories and hunt evidence to prove them. This ascending process of knowledge is imperfect because human beings (self) are unimaginably limited in their ability to gather knowledge. This imperfection is visible with glaring effects when we simply evaluate the world around us. The amount of environmental degradation, famine, poverty, cancer etc is a direct result of advancement in science and technology. Why did the scientists when they were busy inventing factories, cars, and oil drilling wells not think of its side-effects? The negative outcomes overtly outweigh the positives and I have just scratched the surface in regards to negative outcomes versus positive. The scientists have to admit that they let the global community down in the past 250 odd years.

This, in my opinion, shows the failure of our educational system which is built on the philosophy of "ascending" process of knowledge gathering. Therefore, our knowledge will never be perfect and constantly in flux. In contrast, descending knowledge from a "pure" source is considered perfect free from human defects. Such a source is KRISHNA.

According to Krishna, life exists everywhere under all circumstances. Below is a conversation by Srila Prabhupada indicating the same.

Recorded on April 18, 1973, in cheviot Hills Park, Los Angeles.

Srila Prabhupada is accompanied by Dr. Thoudam Damodara Singh, Karandhara dasa adhikari, Brahmananda Svami and other students.

Life on Other Planets

Srila Prabhupada. Even on the sun and moon there are living entities. What is the opinion of the scientists?

Dr. Singh. They say there is no life there.

Srila Prabhupada. That is nonsense. There is life there.

Dr. Singh. They say that there is no life on the moon because they did not find any there.

Srila Prabhupada. Why do they believe that? The moon planet is covered with dust, but within that dust the living entities can live. Every atmosphere is suitable for life--any atmosphere. Therefore the Vedas[1] describe the living entities as sarva-gatah, which means "existing in all circumstances." The living entity is not material. Although encaged in a material body, he is not material. But when we speak of different atmospheres, we refer to different material conditions.

Karandhara. They say that the moon's atmosphere is unsuitable for life, but all they can legitimately say is that it is unsuitable for life as they know it.

Srila Prabhupada. The Vedas say that the living entity has no connection with material things. He cannot be burned, cut, dried up or moistened. This is discussed in Bhagavad-gita.[2]

Dr. Singh. Scientists extend their knowledge about life on this planet, thinking that it must apply to life on other planets also.

Srila Prabhupada. Yes. They are thinking foremost of their own selves. They are thinking limitedly, in terms of their own circumstances. This is what we call "Dr. Frog's philosophy. [Laughter.]

Karandhara. The basis of what they call "scientific integrity" is that they talk only about what they can directly experience.

Srila Prabhupada. You may talk about your experience, and I may talk about my experience. But why should I accept your experience? You may be a fool, so why should I also become a fool? You may be a frog, but suppose I am a whale. Why should I take your well as all in all? You have your method of acquiring scientific knowledge, and I have mine.

Dr. Singh. Because the scientists haven't detected any water on the surface of the moon, they've concluded that no life could survive there.

Srila Prabhupada. They haven't seen the whole surface of the moon. Suppose someone were to come here from another planet, drop into the Arabian Desert and then return home. Could he come to a complete conclusion about the nature of the whole earth? His knowledge would not be complete.

Karandhara. They have a device that senses water. They say they've had it orbit the moon, and they've concluded that the moon has no water and therefore no life.

Srila Prabhupada. Even if, as on the sun, there is apparently no water, still there are living entities there. How does a cactus grow in the desert, apparently without water?

Karandhara. It gets water from the atmosphere.

Srila Prabhupada. Yes, because the atmosphere contains all the elements needed to sustain life: earth, water, fire, air and ether. In anything material, all these elements are present. For example, in my body there is water, although you cannot see it. Similarly, you don't see fire in my body, yet my body is warm. Where does this warmth come from? You don't see any fire. Do you see any fire burning in my body? Then where does the warmth come from? What is the answer?

Now...Prabhupada as astute as he is makes perfect sense in his common sense logic. Yet the scientists cannot deny his questions. To prove Prabhupada is correct in that scientists know very little through their ascending process of knowledge gathering and that life can exist in all circumstances has been seen as valid by a group of scientists who have discovered a germ that thrives on arsenic. According to the scientists...this germ redefines the definition of life. Vedic science has been saying this all along for more than 5000 years that life is ubiquitous and yet modern thinking man is stubborn to ignore such perfect knowledge coming down from a perfect source.

Please read the full article here

In conclusion, the ascending process of learning is imperfect, incomplete and unsafe to trust. Modern scientists therefore are imperfect, incomplete and unsafe to trust. This post is one evidence but there are numerous in this regard.

If you have faith in a "perfect" person Krishna, then the knowledge descending from Him is also perfect. According to Him, the goal of life is not to search after life forms or build skyscrapers or conduct harmonic notes for pleasure. The goal of life is to understand the root cause of all suffering and put a stop that root. The root cause of all suffering is repetitive birth and death. The way to stop this is by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.

Please chant Hare Krishna

Hare Krishna

Search for the Truth

Do not try to discover the nature of truth by the exercise of your imagination. Do not endeavor to attain the truth through experience of this world. Do not manufacture truth in order to satisfy your erring inclinations, or hastily accept anything for the reason it satisfies such inclinations. Do not regard as truth anything that has been "built up" or has the support of a majority of people like yourself, nor as truth anything that is rejected by the overwhelming majority. According to the scriptures there will be found hardly one in a crore of human beings who really worships the truth. What is proclaimed by the united voices of all the people of this world as truth may turn out to be false. Therefore, cease to confront the truth in a challenging mood. The truth is not brought into existence by such arrogance. One has to approach the truth in the spirit of absolute submission. It is necessary to listen to truth. Truth is self revealing, and only when it is pleased to reveal itself can its actual nature be known to us, and not otherwise.

- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Takur

Surfing

Prabhupada: This morning we were talking about the sufferers, what is called? The sea suffers?

Devotees: Surfers.

Prabhupada: Surfer, yes. (devotees laugh) Surfer. I call "sufferer." "Sea-sufferer." (laughter) Sea-surfer, it is practical because we are creating a situation by which we shall become a fish. Yes. Contamination. Just like if you purposely contaminate some disease you must suffer from that disease. Karanam guna-sango 'sya sad-asad janma-yoniSu [Bg. 13.22], in the Bhagavad-gita. Why there are different varieties of life? What is the reason? That reason means karanam. Krsna says in the Bhagavad..., karanam guna-sango 'sya sad-asad janma-yonisu. Prakrteh kriyamanani prakrti-stho 'pi purusah bhujjante tad-gunan. So the reason is as we are infecting. The nature's law is so perfect that you infect something, some disease, some contamination, then you must suffer. This is nature's law, automatically going on. Karanam guna-sango 'sya.

- Srila Prabhupada May 8 1976 Honolulu

Orcas, or killer whales, positioned themselves prominently and made it clear they were the real experts -- and that no mere human on a surfboard was going to deny them whatever waves they wanted. "They knew what they were doing," Michael Cunningham, a Northern Advocate photographer and witness, told the newspaper. "They looked like they'd done it before."

- Michael Cunningham (Surfer and Professional Photographer) November 13 2010 New Zealand

Sincere devotee versus insincere devotee

A symptom of spiritual advancement is we really want to help others rather than others wanting to help us. It is easy to criticize and easy to find faults. Anybody can do that. You don’t have to be sincere to do that but you have to be very sincere to see whatever opportunity there is to solve the problem. We may see some problems; I don’t want to associate, what am I getting out of it? I am not enlivened. Forget about your enlivenment, more important is how can you enliven others. If you earnestly and sincerely desire to help others then God will empower you to do higher and bigger things in this world. When the devotees are unified in a common spirit to glorify Krishna and serve their Guru and fulfill his desires then there is no power on earth that can impede the progress of this movement. Maya creates disunity. Unity means every single individual must take it his life’s responsibility to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. There are million reasons to not want to associate. There are million faults you can find. But all is necessary is one reason to associate - To serve Guru - To fulfill the desires of Krishna. This is the great sacrifice.

There are so many personality conflicts; there are so many people we don’t like; there are so many things we don’t like; there are so many people who don’t care about me but the question is not how many people care about me but the question is how much I care about them. Saint Francis said seek not to take but to give; seek not to be consoled but to console. We have to give up our selfishness. The tendency is to feel sorry for ourselves but we should learn to feel sorry for others. Why don’t we feel sorry for others and help them rather than feel sorry for us and expect everyone to help us. That is the difference between a sincere devotee and insincere devotee. Every one of us has the capacity to be sincere and hear from the proper sources and accept and follow. That’s all. It takes any fool on the street to find fault in others any fool in the street can talk about his own glories but it takes a great man to see whatever little good quality is in another and not worry about whatever faults may be there.

- H.H.Radhanath Swami

Yet another study linking red meat with cancer

Red and processed meats have been linked to an increase in colorectal cancer and now a possible link has been noted to esophageal and stomach cancers according to a new study by US researchers. Amanda J. Cross, PhD., from the National Cancer Institute, and colleagues have published their findings in the latest issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Please read the whole story here.

Hare Krishna

"Coffee talk" Krishna

Many times, I have seen that people are forthcoming in discussions about Krishna. They acknowledge His Supremacy so on and so forth. But when it comes to accepting Krishna into their day-to-day world, they start to push back. In other words, people in general like to keep discussions on Krishna or God at a coffee-table level. Lets have a cup of tea and perhaps discuss albeit intensely on the "reality" of Krishna. Once the tea cup empties so is my energy to discuss. Krishna says in the Gita that as one approaches me accordingly I return. In other words, if we want to keep Krishna at a distant just at the coffee table, then Krishna kindly reciprocates our gesture. He will not be a real person but simply a symbolic representation of "a truth" among the many. He will not appeal to us in a manner that will invoke within us a desire to seek Him in truth. A desire strong enough to change my world to fit Krishna's world. My world which consists of career, family life, entertainment, friendship, civic responsibilities etc will not accommodate the world of Krishna. We will see and think that because both worlds are clashing at some point, let me give up Krishna on the grounds of "impracticality" to continue mine.

This very idea that Krishna is a topic for philosophy and scholarly debate only but otherwise not is the reason we cannot attain the favor of Krishna in a real way. Who in their right minds will reject such a favor coming down from a sublime source? A source that is filled with unlimited happiness and freedom. The very ideologies we are desperately trying to achieve in this temporary relative world. For such unfortunate souls who limit Krishna to "coffee talk" will never understand the proximity of Krishna and the happiness one can derive. The reasons can be various for our "coffee-talk" tendency such as laziness, fear of change, just don't like to accommodate Krishna in my life that personally, no faith that Krishna will make any difference, not want to give up my position for Krishna or can be a combination of the above.

I guess when we are fed up searching after happiness and freedom in this world is when we will get rid of the inertia and intentionally try to change our world to fit in Krishna. When this happens, we will see how Krishna Consciousness is simply not philosophy and scholarly but that Krishna is a real person who has unlimited possibilities. Possibilities that can give us unlimited energy to serve Him in different capacities according to our eternal nature. The eagerness to understand Krishna in truth as a Supreme person is directly proportional to our eagerness to give up our conditional inertia.

The choice is ours - to keep Krishna at arms length always (coffee talk Krishna) or open our hearts to actually let Him in and experience a relationship with Him. When we allow Him into our hearts in a real way adjusting the existing furniture, Krishna is no more a symbolic icon of a culture or past with no practical meaning to my life but becomes a real person with feelings.

Hare Krishna

One eternal Instruction

Chanting the Names of God is the recommended process for uninterrupted happiness in this age of quarrel and hypocrisy. Yet we face barriers to even start chanting or sustain chanting. Embedded within the concept of chanting is the concept of change. In order to embrace chanting as an eternal principle in our lives, we have to be ready to change the way we think, feel and desire.

Chanting cannot sustain and grow into pure vibration without a constant desire to change the way we perceive people, and its concomitant life incidents. Therefore our first step to chanting is to cultivate a mood of internal reflection based on the instructions of pure self-realized masters and the Vedas such as Bhagavad Gita. Unless we aspire to understand, digest and practically apply the words of a pure master under all trying circumstances, chanting Hare Krishna will simply be an esoteric concept or at best a facet of my religious formality.

Therefore, Mahaprabhu says, to chant without cessation requires humility of heart, tolerance of mind and universal respect, all this, without even a tiny tinge of selfishness. Universal humility, tolerance and respect can be invoked within our hearts only if we open ourselves to it and constantly correct our wrongs internally and externally and strive on changing my selfish approach towards people, and life incidents under all circumstances.

As we strive for constant internal change from selfish desires to selfless desires, our desire to chant and associate with Krishna through His names will only continue and increase.

Chanting is not another religious formality.
Chanting is my life
Chanting is my soul

I will go to any lengths to chant the Names of Sri Krishna and glorify Him in that process. This should be my prayer and my desire. This is the one eternal divine instruction reverberating within the heart of all pure masters and all pure words.

Aspire to change
Aspire to chant

Chant Hare Krishna

Hare Krishna