Just as we aspiring transcendentalists should, and do have, goals and visions of what lies ahead, great materialists also glimpse the future. In Divine Nature,” Drutakarma prabhu refers to the scientist, Francis Bacon: “In the seventeenth century, Bacon listed in ‘The New Atlantis’ some of the inventions he could foresee: ‘The prolongation of life … means to convey sound in trunks and pipes in strange lines and distances … flying in the air … ships and boats for going under water..instruments of destruction as of war and poison… engines of war, stronger and more violent, exceeding our greatest cannons.'”

(The following article was posted in the “Meditations” column of the Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest english language daily newspapers, on 3 February 2003.) SCIENCE HAS more monopoly on taste than McDonalds. Only knowledge burgeoning from the non-Vedic viewpoint satisfies. So the existence of God cannot be proven. Or can it? Many scientists say no, but others, like Patrick Glynn, say yes. Glynn, a Harvard Ph.D, former nuclear physicist who worked for the US Defense Department, is a scientist who feels that out-of-body events are indications that what we don’t see may still exist. His popular book, “God the Evidence”, purports to prove God exists. Many instances o? out-of-body experiences have been recorded by surgeons. Such doctors claim proof that unconscious, totally sedated patients, could, on awakening, recall exact readings of instruments. These dials were well outside each patient’s angle of vision ? which usually constituted little more than the operation theatre’s ceiling. Of course their eyes were closed hence they couldn’t seen anything. They remember floating above their bodies and noticing all that went on. Doctors say these instances are “proof” that life is distinct from the body. Indirectly, this indicates the presence of the soul or atma (which, according to Random House Webster’s and the OED, is now an English word ? hurrah!) Such notions aren’t necessarily consistent with spiritual knowledge. We’re informed that believers and non-believers will eternally exist (Bhagavad Gita, 16.6). In the year 1601, Sir Francis Bacon wrote nature had to be “hounded in her wanderings” and “made a slave”. The aim of the scientist, thought Bacon, was “to torture nature’s secrets from her.” Some transcendentalists fear that science professes to be the exclusive and irrefutable path to truth, bound by the commandment “thou shalt think only materialistically.” It has been construed by sages that the Gita is a combination of devotion and science. In other words, religion without philosophy is often blind fanaticism. We’d like to think that Adam and Isaac (Newton) both held the same apple, but few scientists would agree. However, some, including Albert Einstein, have felt that the unknown features of science constitute God. They believe that the yet-to-be-discovered aspects of nature and the “reason” for the shape and colour of certain crystals, fauna, flora, and other material constituents, are all God’s handiwork. One hopes that by scrutinising study of the Gita that material scientists may come to know how we can communicate with the spiritual world of God. (The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON governing body commission.)

Before reciting the Gayatri mantra, Srila Prabhupada has advised sannyasis to chant the following mantra from Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.57, which is part of the song sung by the Avanta Brahmana: “I shall cross over the insurmountable ocean of nescience by being firmly fixed in the service of the lotus feet of Krsna. This was approved by the previous acaryas, who were fixed in firm devotion to the Lord, Paramatma, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” This mantra indicates that there is NOTHING in the material world worth being attached to, unless of course, it is part of Krishna Himself. SB 4.29.55 “When one is not attached to anything, but at the same time accepts everything in relation to Krsna, one is rightly situated above possessiveness.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.255) SB 7.14.7 purport: “One who rejects anything without knowledge of its relationship to Krsna is incomplete in his renunciation.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.256)

In Srimad Bhagavatam we find this verse (11.7.41). “Although a self-realized soul may live in various material bodies while in this world, experiencing their various qualities and functions, he is never entangled, just as the wind which carries various aromas does not actually mix with them.” The avadhuta brahmana also related this truth to the inquiring Maharaja Yadu.

In many instances Srila Prabhupada wrote or spoke of the benefit of visiting holy places of pilgrimage. In the Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Goswami writes, “Out of these sixty-four items, five items-namely worshiping the Deity, hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam, associating among the devotees, sankirtana, and living in Mathura-are very important. In many other place, he explains that chanting the holy names of Krishna, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, is the most purifying thing to do.

In the Bhagavad Gita it is stated that according to our surrender, Krsna awards us accordingly (4.11) Srila Prabhupada confirms this in his purport to text 38, chapter 24, Canto 8 of Srimad Bhagavatam. He writes, “That which is revealed to one who fully surrenders is different from what is revealed to one who surrenders partially. Everyone naturally surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, either directly or indirectly. The conditioned soul surrenders to the laws of nature in material existence, but when one fully surrenders to the Lord, material nature does not act upon him. Such a fully surrendered soul is favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly.”

In the purport to BGAII, 4.1, Srila Prabhupada writes “Human life is meant for cultivation of spiritual knowledge, in eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the executive heads of all states and all planets are obliged to impart this lesson to the citizens by education, CULTURE (my emphasis) and devotion.”

Then in a room conversation on July 10, 1976, New York, this exchange too place: “Hari-sauri: This opening comment in this magazine is very good, it says, “What is surprising about the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is not its CONQUEST (emphasis mine) of the West, the USA in particular. The CULTURAL (emphasis mine) impact of this institution, borne on the shoulders of Westerners in the main, has already reached amazing proportions in India. Prabhupada: That is my policy.”

Excerpt from Srimad Bhagavatam Preface in Canto 1: There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Srimad Bhagavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society.

Krsna is said to be an expert judge of time, place and circumstance. “To prevent an outbreak of jealousy among the gopis, Krsna gave the costly crest jewel collected from the demon Sankacuda to His elder brother. Balarama understood Krsna’s intention to present the prize to Radhika, so He later sent the jewel to Her through different intermediates.” (The Art of Chanting Hare Krishna, by Mahanidhi Swami, page 258).

Hollywood, the celluloid curse, has the world by the scrotum. Along with the Internet, blue jeans, ice cream, pizza, shopping malls, TV, Disney ‘fun’ and “cool” brands of consumer goods, it has created a global “fashion” that keeps the denizens of kali shackled in a perpetual state of maya.

Addressing the bewildering thicket of fakes that sincere seekers often encounter, we can quote Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati from his will: “To be cheated by those who mislead people in the name of Hari katha, has become a sort of religion of this age.”