Mahabharata, Vana parva p. 13. Prahlada M. explains forgiveness. One day Bali approached Prahlada and asked, “Which is actually meritorious, forgiveness or the use of strength?

Prahlada: Neither forgiveness nor the use of prowess is meritorious in all situations. If one were to always forgive, then his servants, dependents, enemies, and even strangers would disrespect him. When one always forgives, then mean-minded servants gradually steal away all of his wealth and fail to respond to his commands.

On the other hand, one who simply punishes and never forgives, soon finds himself to be bereft of all friends. Indeed, everyone comes to hate such an unforgiving person, and when there is the slightest opportunity, they do something to harm him. Therefore, the conclusion is that prowess and forgiveness should be exhibited at the proper times.

My dear Bali, the following persons should be forgiven: one who has done nice service in the past, even if guilty of a grave fault; one who offends simply due to ignorance or folly; one who is a first time offender; one who has committed some wrong against his will; and in addition, other offenders may sometimes be forgiven just to create a good public image.

The following persons should not be forgiven: one who has knowingly offended and yet claims to be innocent, even if his offense is slight; and, a second offender, no matter how small his crime.

                                                                        Mahabharata, Vana parva

Questions and Answers with Sesa das

A. Why do you think couples have children?

I suppose there are many reasons, and often no reason, i.e. conception without forethought. The most important reason for me was to increase a feeling of family enjoyment. I like children, always have, and felt that marriage offered me the opportunity to have a family of my own. Children I could raise to be good people and with whom I could intimately interact.

To a lesser degree, thought of the influence my children could have in their community or the world if I did a good job raising them, was a motivating factor.

I guess these feelings comes down to a sense of accomplishment or completion in my life.

B. Do you think all couples should have children?  Why or why not?

Following on my previous answer, I think it depends on what the couple is trying to accomplish in their lives. However, I object to a financial analysis approach to the question of having children. If you can offer the love and guidance required to raise children, then why not, financial considerations should not matter. One may have enough money but no time or proper sense of what children need.

I would like to mention that since most or many children are conceived without forethought, the question of whether a couple should have children or not may be moot. I think that there must be forethought, and if there is forethought, more likely than not, there will be good reasons for a couple to have children. Those reasons will run from the personal security of the parents to perpetuating the human race. I would hesitate to place a value judgment on any particular reason a couple settles on for having children.

Do you think parents should give freedom of choice to their children?

Yes and no. Certainly as growing boy my parents did not give me complete freedom and choice. I remember how my father made me quit the bastketball team when I was in 7^th grade. I have not done so well during the first part of the school year and so I had to quit the team. Maybe he could see that I wasn’t about to be the next NBA draftee or maybe he had other plans for me in terms of education, but he did not give me that choice and today I appreciate it.

On the other hand, when I was older my father did give me choice and freedom. As I think back on it now, at the time he gave me my choice I was actually doing something with my life which greatly satisfied him. My father was a career military officer, and I was a student at the prestigious military college, the United States Military Academy at West Point. I decided I wanted to leave the college. I know it was hard for him but he gave his approval. Today I can say I also appreciated this freedom.

I never asked her why she did it. Nobody did. It was one of those things the family just didn’t talk about. Although she was born and raised in a devout Protestant family, in her early 20’s my aunt converted to Catholicism.

Why? Perhaps it was the personal tragedy of losing the baby she carried in her womb. But, the why still persists. Certainly she received the sympathy and religious comfort of her family during her time of crisis. Perhaps that crisis inspired her to seek, even demand, more from her faith.

Of all the family members the burden of breaking this silence, of asking why, most pointedly falls to me because I too converted. I joined the Hare Krishna Movement. The family never really inquired from me either. Maybe that was good because I can’t honestly say that at the time of my conversion I knew exactly why I was doing it. I only knew the time was right and I was compelled to act. My conversion wasn’t born of personal strife, but I was definitely searching for a more meaningful existence.

Although the reaction of my family to the religious conversions in its midst may have been one of surprised silence, religious conversion is not something so unique. History is replete with the conversion of kings and common men, and the consequent effects on civilizations and ways of life.

Religious scholars, sociologists, and psychologist have postulated various theories to explain religious conversion including social and cultural influences (i.e. gimme shelter), individualism (i.e. I gotta do what I gotta do), assimilation (i.e. can I hang with you guys), institutional (i.e. they told me to do it), and political influences (i.e. might makes right).

However, when I try to understand the why of my aunt’s conversion, or even my own conversion, such theories remain simply theories. Both my aunt and I had good family, society, friendship, and love. Still we were wanting. These theories may be intellectually sound, but they don’t touch the heart, and my personal experience has taught me that touching the heart is the essential component of religious conversion. 

Psychologist William James, one of the earliest modern scholars to study religious conversion, shows some understanding of what is a more meaningful existence in his 1902 book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. Describing the experience of religious conversion He writes, “to be converted, to be regenerated to receive grace, to experience religion, to gain an assurance, are so many phrases which denote the process, gradual or sudden, by which a self hitherto divided, and consciously wrong, inferior, and unhappy, becomes united and consciously right, superior, and happy, in consequence of its firmer hold upon religious realities.” 

Fulfillment, religious conversion is about spiritual fulfillment. The special thing about spiritual fulfillment is that it can be achieved from a place of emptiness as in the case of my aunt, as well as from a place relative fullness as in my case.

Super-mundane emotional fulfillment, this is the special gift of Lord Caitanya as described in this sixth verse of Sri Sri Siksastaka.

“O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs of my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name?”

Everyone is anxious emotional fulfillment. Look at Prince Charles, he has had everything a man could want, except for the emotional fulfillment he now seeks by wedding Camilla. Unfortunately, that relationship, as is true for all relationships in this mundane world, will come to an end. But Lord Caitanya is offering emotional fulfillment that will never end. Fulfillment of the soul in relation to the God.

Although, all religions conceive that all living beings are eternally connected with God, exactly how to realize that fact, to live that fact, is not always clearly and succinctly stated. In the first five verses of the Sri Sri Siksastaka Lord Caitanya clearly and succinctly explains how to realize our relationship with God. This sixth verse describes the fruit of the process. This fruit is the more meaningful existence I was looking for.

Wanting more, needing more is not the detriment of the soul. Rather, it is an indication of our eternal relationship with God. As described in the Isopanisad, God is purnam, complete by nature, while the living beings are incomplete. Living beings must find their completeness by linking with the complete. This is spiritual fulfillment, and the height of this spiritual fulfillment, our personal relationship with God, is expressed in the emotional outpouring described by Lord Caitanya in this sixth verse of Sri Sri Siksastaka.

It has been thirty plus years since my conversion and I have much to do in developing my relationship with God, yet I can say I no longer am plagued by the why of my decision. Perhaps its time for me to break the family silence and talk to my aunt. We probably have many common experiences to share. Maybe we can even heal some family wounds and bring everyone a little closer to love of God.

Sesa das

VAISHNAVA                                                                       MATERIALIST

He reasons ill who tells that Vaishnavas die                  DEATH! Close your porthole

When thou art living still in sound.                                   For I am free!

The Vaishnavas die to live and living try                        And now everybody

To spread the hold life around!                                        Worship me!

                                                Thakura Bhaktivinode                                                       Hiranyakasipu

              Uh-oh, there’s trouble in the laboratory. Those starched lily-white lab coats may project a prime and proper picture of scientists, but those bad boys are all fight on the inside. They rumble big time.

            Milk is the latest hot topic. What’s at stake? Our money and our health, in that order, are two things that come quickly to mind.

            The March issue of the premier medical journal Pediatrics features a study conducted by researchers of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine that debunks the idea that regularly drinking milk helps growing children develop stronger bones. “Under scientific scrutiny, the support for the milk myth crumbles,”(read – don’t waste your money) said Amy Joy Lanou, the group’s nutrition director.

The National Diary Council immediately retorted by calling the study an “opinion piece”(read – not science), and here is where it gets nasty, written by “an animal rights organization that has only 5 percent physician membership”(read – they’re radicals).

            This is advancement of civilization? Human beings were profitably drinking milk long before Louis Pasteur started scientifically heating up with milk in the 1860’s. Now, nearly 150 years later these vanguards of modern civilization are still fighting over spilt milk.  

            Well, perhaps I’m too harsh. After all, modern civilization is primarily focused on corporeal and corporate profits, and the scientists are leading where we want to go, right? So why not let them duel, best scientist wins? Unfortunately, neither side can promise us that this body, healthy or unhealthy, will live forever, or that we will have enough money to satisfy our bodily demands.

            “Something old, something new,” this old saying provides much needed guidance. Taking something from the profitable use of milk in ancient civilizations perhaps we can mold something that holds the promise for our future that modern scientists cannot guarantee.

            The ancient Vedic civilization focused on spiritual advancement as the purpose of human life. Their life-style was centered on God consciousness, as opposed to materialism, and is captured in the phrase, simple living and high thinking.  

            How did milk aid that civilization achieve its objectives? Milk was useful as a  bridge between our bodily existence and spiritual consciousness.

Robert E. Svoboda, a chemistry graduate from the University of Oklahoma, and the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda (the Vedic science of medicine) and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India, writes, “Milk helps to integrate the consciousness. Other animal protein is derived from flesh and drags the consciousness down into the flesh, discouraging that breaking free of early restraints which is required for spiritual advancement. Plant protein is sometimes insufficient to ground the consciousness firmly enough in the physical body. Milk is the one food that combines the uplifting essences of plants with the firm groundedness of animals.”

            According to the Ayurveda, all foods have medicinal benefits. Milk is particularly noted for its anabolic or tissue building properties, both in terms of new and rejuvenative tissue growth.  

            The Founder of the Hare Krishna Movement, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes, “If we really want to cultivate the human spirit in society we must have first-class intelligent men to guide the society, and to develop the finer tissues of our brains we must assimilate vitamin values from milk. Devotees worship Lord Sri Krishna by addressing Him as the well-wisher of the brahmanas and the cows. The most intelligent class of men, who have perfectly attained knowledge in spiritual values, are called the brahmanas. No society can improve in transcendental knowledge without the guidance of such first-class men, and no brain can assimilate the subtle form of knowledge without fine brain tissues. For such important brain tissues we require a sufficient quantity of milk and milk preparations. Ultimately, we need to protect the cow to derive the highest benefit from this important animal. The protection of cows, therefore, is not merely a religious sentiment but a means to secure the highest benefit for human society.”

            This is advancement of civilization.   

            Niika Quistgard of Inside Ayurveda Journal has written a very comprehensive article entitled “Milk: To Drink or Not to Drink.” I highly recommend it. Her article contains two sections I specifically recommend to the scientists at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and the National Diary Council:

1. An Experiment  

Drinking milk cold is not advisable, as milk is already cool and heavy in nature. Before drinking, boil milk briefly in a non-aluminum vessel until it produces a foamy head, then cool to warm or room temperature. It is best to do this over a heat source, not in the microwave oven.

2. Some Advice

Milk is effective in calming pitta when intensity and aggression call out to be soothed.

            So, come on fellas, get together over a nice cup of hot milk and work out your differences in a civilized manner.

Punditji

            Here’s something I bet you didn’t know. Pascual Huerta, a 54-year-old Mexican stone mason, used to walk 38 miles to work each day! Gotcha, didn’t I?

Last week my family visited the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum in St. Augustine, FL. The museum boasts itself as presenting “more than 800 bizarre and unusual artifacts” as well as intriguing information such as Pascual Huerta daily grind. Being anxious to hear the impressions of the museum goers, I lingered in the gift shop where visitors were conveniently deposited as they exited the exhibits. Believe it or not, this is where I had my most bizarre experience of the day. Not one person uttered the question, Why!

You’d think that, after being subject to a two hour multi-media barrage of previously unknown information and cultural items from around the world, at least one person would ask an obvious question like, “I wonder why that man walked 38 miles to work each day,” or “I wonder why that indigenous culture has such strange rituals associated with…whatever.” Nope, not even as much as one such expression on the face of a visitor to Mr. Ripley’s museum.      

This is the difference between spiritual life and material life. Spiritual life begins when we ask the question, Why. Why am I here in this world? Why is there suffering?

Actually, there is no shortage of bizarre and unusual happenings in this world. If your own life is not sufficient evidence, then just turn on your television or pick up a daily newspaper. No need to visit Ripley’s museum. The question is, what are we doing about it? Unfortunately most are so glazed over that we now accept the bizarre and unusual without question.

This was not the case for the great sages and leaders of the past, or, even for Mr. Ripley himself. Although I doubt he asked the question why, at least he recognized these things as unusual and collected them. However, the great sages of leaders of the past went further. They were much more observant of life’s natural thought provoking experiences.

Thousands of years ago the great Vedic King of the Mahabharata Maharaja Yudhisthira was once asked, “What’s the most unusual thing?” His grave response was, “The most unusual thing is that every day a man sees that others around him are dying, yet he thinks he will never die himself.”  

The implications of Maharaja Yudhisthira’s question run quite deep. We are meant to learn lessons from our experiences and the experiences of others. Those lessons serve us not only in this life, but they prepare us for death. Preparation for death implies an existence for the soul beyond the death of this body. Living our lives in preparation for life beyond this body is the essence of spiritual life while we are in this body.

Material life is to turn a blind eye to the mysteries that perplex us.

                                                            Punditji

            It all begins quite innocently. Of course, that’s usually the case. People come together. They have needs. Availability and practicality dictate the development of social and economic systems. As society grows, first culture, then civilizations develop. This is the upside. The downside sequence begins when innocence gives way to exploitation, followed by scarcity of resources, blame and retaliation.    

            A reporter in England once asked Mahatma Gandhi, “Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of Western civilization?” His sarcastic reply, “I think it would be a very good idea.” Apparently the New York Times agrees with the Mahatma that Western Civilization is in the downside sequence. In a December 27, 2006 Editorial, Meat and the Planet, the newspaper forecasts the ominous results of choices made by Western Civilization:

            “There are no easy trade-offs when it comes to global warming — such

as cutting back on cattle to make room for cars. The human passion

for meat is certainly not about to end anytime soon. As “Livestock’s Long Shadow” makes clear, our health and the health of the planet depend on pushing livestock production in more sustainable directions.”

            Is the pot calling the kettle black?! Yep, there’s no doubt in my mind that Western Civilization is in the downside sequence. Consider what’s happening here. While the New York Times recognizes that exploitation has resulted in scarcity, ignoring its own exploitation of trees, this daily newspaper blames the meat industry.  Deforestation and global warming are unquestionably linked, as are newspapers and trees.

            Dr. Bruce G. Marcot, a Reseach Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, has estimated that 754.4 newspapers are made from a single tree.[1] “Within a few months, the tree that took four centuries to grow was transformed into newspapers, read by commuters on afternoon trains, and then tossed away.”[2]

            So why not tout recycling instead of bashing other industries? Because a scarcity mentality have overcome Western Civilization. Irresponsible exploitation of God-given natural resources leads to scarcity, and scarcity requires a scapegoat.

            If Western Civilization is to remain “a very good idea,” there must be a new voice added to the environmental debate, the fresh voice of spirituality. 

            The ancient Upanishads speak to themes of conservation of energy and proper use of God’s gifts to man:

The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance. Invocation, Sri Isopanisad

Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong. Mantra 1, Sri Isopanisad

One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man. Mantra 2, Sri Isopanisad

The fresh voice of spirituality speaks of recognizing God’s relationship with us as described in these verses from the Upanishads, and practically leading our lives in appreciation of and devotion to Him. Such responsible use of natural resources results in abundance as opposed to scarcity.

            His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes in his commentary on the Vedic scripture Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto1, Chapter 8, Verse 40:

Human prosperity flourishes by natural gifts and not by gigantic industrial enterprises. The gigantic industrial enterprises are products of a godless civilization, and they cause the destruction of the noble aims of human life. The more we go on increasing such troublesome industries to squeeze out the vital energy of the human being, the more there will be unrest and dissatisfaction of the people in general, although a few only can live lavishly by exploitation. The natural gifts such as grains and vegetables, fruits, rivers, the hills of jewels and minerals, and the seas full of pearls are supplied by the order of the Supreme, and as He desires, material nature produces them in abundance or restricts them at times. The natural law is that the human being may take advantage of these godly gifts by nature and satisfactorily flourish on them without being captivated by the exploitative motive of lording it over material nature. The more we attempt to exploit material nature according to our whims of enjoyment, the more we shall become entrapped by the reaction of such exploitative attempts. If we have sufficient grains, fruits, vegetables and herbs, then what is the necessity of running a slaughterhouse and killing poor animals? A man need not kill an animal if he has sufficient grains and vegetables to eat. The flow of river waters fertilizes the fields, and there is more than what we need. Minerals are produced in the hills, and the jewels in the ocean. If the human civilization has sufficient grains, minerals, jewels, water, milk, etc., then why should it hanker after terrible industrial enterprises at the cost of the labor of some unfortunate men? But all these natural gifts are dependent on the mercy of the Lord. What we need, therefore, is to be obedient to the laws of the Lord and achieve the perfection of human life by devotional service.

This abundance mentality is the real answer to the downside sequence currently prevalent in Western Civilization.

                                                                        Punditji