In the spiritual line of disciplic succession from Sri Brahmaji who was first transcendental student of the Vedas down to my spiritual master [Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada] as above mentioned, the Vedic culture is aimed at reestablishing the eternal relation of living entity with the Absolute Truth, of Whom the living entities are but parts & parcels.
Forgetfulness of that eternal relation is called maya or illusion. This illusory energy of Godhead is conducted under three modes of nature under the name of mundane goodness, passion and ignorance. The whole material world is the creation of the external illusory energy of Godhead and the living entities who forget the eternal relation with Godhead are so to say entrapped by maya to undergo a conditional life under the modes of nature.
Out of eighty four lakhs [8,400,000] of varieties or species of life there are only four lakhs [400,000] varieties of human being. Out of these varieties of human being those who can acquire the the qualities of goodness out of the three modes of nature, can also realize the proper self which is not the product of material world.
The Vedic culture determines the standard of social upliftment in terms of the degree of self-realization and as such the social division was estimated accordingly in terms of goodness (intelligence and higher learning), passion (martial spirit to lord it over the world), passion-cum-ignorance (the spirit of productivity) and ignorance (the spirit of passive acceptance of being controlled by the laws of material nature).
According to Vedic scriptures the present age is called Kali-yuga and almost all human beings are now degraded to the standard of the mode of ignorance and therefore the greater number of population are subjected to the pangs of the threefold miseries of material existence in the most horrible manner.
In such rabid condition of human being the panacea is "Krishna sankirtana'' recommended in all scriptures. By this process, the forgetfulness of human being of his eternal relation with Godhead, is removed altogether.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as confirmed incarnation of Sri Krishna the Personality of Godhead inaugurated this sankirtana movement and He reclaimed all conditioned souls from all ranks of life even from animal kingdom for being re-instated in the transcendental relation and activities of loving service to the Absolute Truth. Thakura Haridasa who happened to appear in the family of a Mohammedan was one of His principle associates and His transcendental movement embraced all varieties of people beginning from the most erudite scholar brahmanas to the one who came in the family of yavana & candala.
The specialty of His movement was that the fallen candala did not remain a candala after his initiation but he was made to rise up to the status of Vaisnava which is far above the status ofbrahmana and other orders of life.
That is the process of social upliftment. And we follow the footprints of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates who were all kind enough to raise the social status of every one concerned irrespective of birth and occupation.
Such process is not only transcendental to all sorts of mundane speculation, but is very simple and innocent. The principle is a sort of curing a disease not only by administering proper medicine but also by supplying proper diet at the same time.
The medicine is administered through submissive aural channel as "Hari Sankirtana'' which means
(1) To sing "Bhajan'' songs glorifying the Almighty and His Pastimes.
(2) To preach the teachings of Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavata, Ramayana, life of such saints as Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Tulsidas etc.
(3) To establish the philosophy of devotional life as against fruitful action or dry speculation of empiric philosophy and meet the opposite elements with all logical weapons. i.e the medicine of "Hari Sankirtana'' is administered by threefold action, namely by (a) melodious songs (b) by propaganda through press and (c) by propaganda on platforms.
The diet portion of the transcendental treatment consists in the distribution of prasadam. i.e. in all gatherings the audience should not only be sustained by melodious musical performances ofBhajan Sangat or by religious or theistic discourses but they must be given some sort of remnants of food-stuff offered to God, as recommended in Bhagavad-gita.
By this process of medical treatment people become gradually free from the following four kinds of addictions of sins namely—
(1) Illegitimate connection with women.
(2) Habit of animal killing.
(3) Addiction to intoxication habits
(4) Lure of gambling.
The conditioned human beings are enwrapped in the above four special ___ due to the influence of Kali-yuga and by the transcendental treatment of Hari Sankirtana the mirror of the heart of human being becomes cleansed of all the above mentioned dusts. As soon as the dusts are removed the human being is able to visualize a clear conception of his real self and thereby he becomes free from the miseries pertaining to the body & mind, pertaining to the other living being and pertaining to the onslaughts of nature.
As followers of Bhagavad-gita we are firmly convinced that the onslaught of nature which is constantly being inflicted upon human society is a sort of police action by the laws of the Almighty and as soon as we surrender unto the Divine Will of the Almighty we not only become Mahatmas & saints but also the attack of unkind Nature is vanquished at once. That is the teaching of Bhagavad-gita and that is the demonstrative preaching of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The real life begins when we are freed from the clutches of Maya which is nothing but a bewildered conception of materialistic life. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu changed the face of it spiritually.
In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that the common folk follows the leading men of society. At the present moment of democratic age the Government of the State is conducted by the leading men of society. As such it is a good sign that the Government has taken up this work of social upliftment as a right measure at a right time. And in order to give the scheme a right direction the government may take authoritative hints from the scriptures like Bhagavad-gita.
It is a common saying that example is better than precepts. The example of the leading men in the right direction will very soon be followed by the common men.
Mahatma Gandhi set the example at his fag-end of life and his daily prayer meetings in the midst of gravest political occupation must be taken note of. So also in the Bhagavad-gita. The Arjuna in the gravest moment of warfare learnt the teachings of Bhagavad-gita & he changed his personal opinion in the manner of the fighting.
So the present process of human thinking for material gains only has to be changed by an organized preaching work of Bhagavad-gita as done by Lord Caitanya not only for the benefit the people of India but also for all people in the world. Lord Caitanya's way of preaching is ___ but a practical demonstration of the way of Bhagavad-gita. No amount of dry speculation by easy chair empiric philosophers will be able to implement the teachings of Bhagavad-gita unless we adopt the practical ways of Lord Caitanya as above mentioned.
(Excerpt from a letter written by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to R. Prakash: Dated June 22nd 1951)
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