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[Ran out of time:
Richest man down under, Kerry Packer, Australian media moghul,
sporting enthusiast,
big-time
gambler and philanthropist, died Monday, 26 December 2005.]
The
Daily Telegraph,
December 28, 2005--'I'm
running out of petrol and ready to die'
"He said he was
running out of
petrol. He was going into organ failure last week and he was suffering.
He was ready to die. There were no more rabbits to pull out of the
hat." Australia's richest man passed away peacefully in the arms of his
wife Ros at his home in Bellevue Hill on Monday night.
By Anna
Patty
... As news of the media magnate's
death was announced yesterday by Richard Wilkins on the Today show on
Channel 9, the television network Mr. Packer owned, tributes began
flowing in from politicians, sporting greats and community leaders.
Prime
Minister John Howard described him as "a generous, very philanthropic
person" who was "always concerned about what was right for Australia".
...
"We
should always try to mold the activities of our lives in such a way
that we will constantly remember Vishnu, or Krishna. That is Krishna
consciousness."
Just like in the
temple. Here, every business is in connection with Krishna. Otherwise
what is the difference between this house and the next door? There,
Krishna is not there. And this, just in this door, everything is
Krishna. That is the difference between ordinary house and temple.
Ordinary house, they're also busy in purchasing things from the market,
cooking them and eating very nicely, sufficiently. But according to shastras,
they're eating all sins. Ye pachanty atma-karanat [Bhagavad-gita
3.13]. Bhunjate te agham papam. The... In a temple, same
business is going on—same marketing, same cooking, same eating,
everything is going on—but in relationship with Krishna. Where this
relationship is there, always, Krishna, then every house becomes a
temple. That is required. We are simply setting example that how we can
execute our daily affairs in connection with Krishna. That is our
propaganda. So every grihastha [householder], every house,
where is the difficulty? Everyone can install the Deity. All the family
members can gather together, chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra,
and read shastras, as we are doing in this temple. But the
present tendency is that we have..., they have got sufficient time to
smoke, they have got sufficient time for playing cards, they have
sufficient time for drinking, going to the cinema, going to the sports.
But they have no time for developing Krishna consciousness. This is the
difficulty. As soon as you talk of them, talk to them about Krishna
consciousness, they'll immediately say, "Sir, we have no time." And for
other things, the paraphernalia of Kali-yuga, they have got enough
time. They'll read newspapers, all full of rascal news. "One man has
stolen, one man has kidnapped, one man has stabbed." These news, he'll
very, with great interest he'll read. And as soon as we present Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu,
"Oh, this is not good." This is the position.
Therefore there is a great necessity for pushing on this Krishna
consciousness movement. That is the best welfare activity to the human
society. All of them, they are rascals. Abodha-jata. In the shastra
it is said,
parabhavas tavad abodha-jata. They are being defeated by the
onslaught of material nature. These rascals, they do not know. They are
thinking they have become great leaders, philanthropists, nationalists,
politicians, scientists, philosopher—but they're killing themselves and
others. Na te viduh svartha-gatih hi vishnu. They do not
know how to make progress. Therefore a person who has understood little
value of this Krishna consciousness, he should take this movement very
seriously and distribute to the fallen souls. That is the best work.
That is the best work.
The
Bhaktivedantas