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[Posted
February 26, 2006]
War and More War,
As Far As We Can See
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada |
Without being educated properly, the mass of people are following in the footsteps of the vested interests by exploiting natural reserves, and therefore there is acute competition between individual and individual and nation and nation. There is no control by the trained agent of the Lord. We must look into the defects of modern civilization by comparison here, and should follow in the footsteps of Maharaja Yudhisthira to cleanse man and wipe out anachronisms. |
SB 1.10.4
TEXT 4 TRANSLATION
During the reign of Maharaja Yudhisthira, the clouds showered all the water that people needed, and the earth produced all the necessities of man in profusion. Due to its fatty milk bag and cheerful attitude, the cow used to moisten the grazing ground with milk.
PURPORT
The basic principle of economic development is centered on land and
cows. The necessities of human society are food grains, fruits, milk,
minerals, clothing, wood, etc. One requires all these items to fulfill
the material needs of the body. Certainly one does not require flesh
and fish or iron tools and machinery. During the regime of Maharaja
Yudhisthira, all over the world there were regulated rainfalls.
Rainfalls are not in the control of the human being. The heavenly King
Indradeva is the controller of rains, and he is the servant of the
Lord. When the Lord is obeyed by the king and the people under the
king's administration, there are regulated rains from the horizon, and
these rains are the causes of all varieties of production on the land.
Not only do regulated rains help ample production of grains and fruits,
but when they combine with astronomical influences there is ample
production of valuable stones and pearls. Grains and vegetables can
sumptuously feed a man and animals, and a fatty cow delivers enough
milk to supply a man sumptuously with vigor and vitality. If there is
enough milk, enough grains, enough fruit, enough cotton, enough silk
and enough jewels, then why do the people need cinemas, houses of
prostitution, slaughterhouses, etc.? What is the need of an artificial
luxurious life of cinema, cars, radio, flesh and hotels? Has this
civilization produced anything but quarreling individually and
nationally? Has this civilization enhanced the cause of equality and
fraternity by sending thousands of men into a hellish factory and the
war fields at the whims of a particular man?
It is said here that the cows used to moisten the pasturing land with
milk because their milk bags were fatty and the animals were joyful. Do
they not require, therefore, proper protection for a joyful life by
being fed with a sufficient quantity of grass in the field? Why should
men kill cows for their selfish purposes? Why should man not be
satisfied with grains, fruits and milk, which, combined together, can
produce hundreds and thousands of palatable dishes. Why are there
slaughterhouses all over the world to kill innocent animals? Maharaja
Parikshit, grandson of Maharaja Yudhisthira, while touring his vast
kingdom, saw a black man attempting to kill a cow. The King at once
arrested the butcher and chastised him sufficiently. Should not a king
or executive head protect the lives of the poor animals who are unable
to defend themselves? Is this humanity? Are not the animals of a
country citizens also? Then why are they allowed to be butchered in
organized slaughterhouses? Are these the signs of equality, fraternity
and nonviolence?
Therefore, in contrast with the modern, advanced, civilized form of
government, an autocracy like Maharaja Yudhisthira's is by far superior
to a so-called democracy in which animals are killed and a man less
than an animal is allowed to cast votes for another less-than-animal
man.
We are all creatures of material nature. In the Bhagavad-gita
it is said that the Lord Himself is the seed-giving father and material
nature is the mother of all living beings in all shapes. Thus mother
material nature has enough foodstuff both for animals and for men, by
the grace of the Father Almighty, Sri Krishna. The human being is the
elder brother of all other living beings. He is endowed with
intelligence more powerful than animals for realizing the course of
nature and the indications of the Almighty Father. Human civilizations
should depend on the production of material nature without artificially
attempting economic development to turn the world into a chaos of
artificial greed and power only for the purpose of artificial luxuries
and sense gratification. This is but the life of dogs and hogs.
SB 1.10.5
TEXT 5 TRANSLATION
The rivers, oceans, hills, mountains, forests, creepers and active drugs, in every season, paid their tax quota to the King in profusion.
PURPORT
Since Maharaja Yudhisthira was under the protection of the ajita,
the infallible Lord, as above mentioned, the properties of the Lord,
namely the rivers, oceans, hills, forests, etc., were all pleased, and
they used to supply their respective quota of taxes to the King. The
secret to success is to take refuge under the protection of the Supreme
Lord. Without His sanction, nothing can be possible. To make economic
development by our own endeavors on the strength of tools and machinery
is not all. The sanction of the Supreme Lord must be there, otherwise
despite all instrumental arrangements everything will be unsuccessful.
The ultimate cause of success is the daiva, the Supreme. Kings
like Maharaja Yudhisthira knew perfectly well that the king is the
agent of the Supreme Lord to look after the welfare of the mass of
people. Actually the state belongs to the Supreme Lord. The rivers,
oceans, forests, hills, drugs, etc., are not creations of man. They are
all creations of the Supreme Lord, and the living being is allowed to
make use of the property of the Lord for the service of the Lord.
Today's slogan is that everything is for the people, and therefore the
government is for the people and by the people. But to produce a new
species of humanity at the present moment on the basis of God
consciousness and perfection of human life, the ideology of godly
communism, the world has to again follow in the footsteps of kings like
Maharaja Yudhisthira or Parikshit. There is enough of everything by the
will of the Lord, and we can make proper use of things to live
comfortably without enmity between men, or animal and man or nature.
The control of the Lord is everywhere, and if the Lord is pleased,
every part of nature will be pleased. The river will flow profusely to
fertilize the land; the oceans will supply sufficient quantities of
minerals, pearls and jewels; the forest will supply sufficient wood,
drugs and vegetables, and the seasonal changes will effectively help
produce fruits and flowers in profuse quantity. The artificial way of
living depending on factories and tools can render so-called happiness
only to a limited number at the cost of millions. Since the energy of
the mass of people is engaged in factory production, the natural
products are being hampered, and for this the mass is unhappy. Without
being educated properly, the mass of people are following in the
footsteps of the vested interests by exploiting natural reserves, and
therefore there is acute competition between individual and individual
and nation and nation. There is no control by the trained agent of the
Lord. We must look into the defects of modern civilization by
comparison here, and should follow in the footsteps of Maharaja
Yudhisthira to cleanse man and wipe out anachronisms.
SB 1.10.6
TEXT 6 TRANSLATION
Because of the King's having no enemy, the living beings were not at any time disturbed by mental agonies, diseases, or excessive heat or cold.
PURPORT
To be nonviolent to human beings and to be a killer or enemy of the
poor animals is Satan's philosophy. In this age there is enmity toward
poor animals, and therefore the poor creatures are always anxious. The
reaction of the poor animals is being forced on human society, and
therefore there is always the strain of cold or hot war between men,
individually, collectively or nationally. At the time of Maharaja
Yudhisthira, there were no different nations, although there were
different subordinate states. The whole world was united, and the
supreme head, being a trained king like Yudhisthira, kept all the
inhabitants free from anxiety, diseases and excessive heat and cold.
They were not only economically well-to-do, but also physically fit and
undisturbed by supernatural power, by enmity from other living beings
and by disturbance of bodily and mental agonies. There is a proverb in
Bengali that a bad king spoils the kingdom and a bad housewife spoils
the family. This truth is applicable here also. Because the King was
pious and obedient to the Lord and sages, because he was no one's enemy
and because he was a recognized agent of the Lord and therefore
protected by Him, all the citizens under the King's protection were, so
to speak, directly protected by the Lord and His authorized agents.
Unless one is pious and recognized by the Lord, he cannot make others
happy who are under his care. There is full cooperation between man and
God and man and nature, and this conscious cooperation between man and
God and man and nature, as exemplified by King Yudhisthira, can bring
about happiness, peace and prosperity in the world. The attitude of
exploiting one another, the custom of the day, will only bring misery.