Hare Krsna-
Below are two pictures of my wife making altar candles from old altar candles. I started buying these store candles some years ago, then the company changed things around by making their candles smaller in size and they burnt only half the time, some wax was always left over, and the price for them, of course, went up.
So she decided to start making out own, which now cost us nothing to make, and burn twice as long on Krsna’s altar. This is called using what you have on hand and not wasting anything, and getting a better result. !! Srila Prabhupada once told us that if we couldn’t make something ourselves,then the Vedic system was you could not use it. In other words, there were no factories in vedic times and people just knew how to do things themselves. This is totally the opposite of what we have today. There are hellish factories everywhere, and nobody knows how to do anything practical anymore.
People today want some machine or computer to do everything for them instead, which results in total dependence on a machine to open your car door, click on your room lights, watch your house for you when you are gone, and even drive your car for you, or even park it for you ! And they are thinking– this is wonderful !! Thank God for technology. Now we don’t have to do anything we don’t want to, but can use a machine to do all our work for us instead while we waste our valuable human form of life pursuing sense enjoyable nothings.
So below the pictures I have arranged a few statements by our Acarya Srila Prabhupada, who is trying to help us understand the error or our modern ways. It is stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam, that in this age people are lazy, misguided, unfortunate, and always full of anxiety. Hardly the picture painted of an upwardly mobile person, would you agree?? When one takes responsibility for ones thoughts and actions, understanding that this human form of life is so very rare and should be utilized only for self realization, then all other actions for so called modern amenities are just a huge waste of time energy and resources, and the natural conclusion has to be that one should instead live more simply, and utilize his or her brain towards that higher end. And towards that “end” or Krsna Consciousness,. to live as simply as possible, taking only the minimum of resources to maintain body and soul together, then Krsna or God will be pleased with this purposeful endeavor on our parts.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, planet mother earth will also be very grateful to us all.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
►740524r2.rom Conversations … Yes, naturally. If this man is fed up with this industry, he can go back to village and produce his own food. But he is attached to this industrial activity because he is thinking that “We are getting more money for wine and woman and meat. Let me enjoy.” That is the perfect, imp… But if he chants Hare Krsna maha-mantra, hisconsciousness will be purified and he will be made not interested this kind of work. He will go back to village andproduce food.
►740525mw.rom Conversations Prabhupada: Yes. (break) …encouraging in our society to take to agriculture to support this center. I am purchasing land in Vrndavana and Mayapura to become self-sufficient. Whatever production you make, you be satisfied. Little vegetable, little grain and little milk. That is sufficient.
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►740525mw.rom Conversations Prabhupada: Yes, that was Gandhi’s philosophy, village organization. These people, they are attracting villagers to work in the factory, and they are exploiting them…. our philosophy. Make your life successful. By becoming Krsna conscious, you become free from all these troubles of material condition. This is our education. Don’t be after these motorcars, television, and all nonsense things, sporting, wine, women. Don’t be after these. Simply eat sufficiently, keep yourhealth nicely, chant Hare Krsna, realize Krsna, and go back to home This is our philosophy…
►740527mw.rom Conversations Prabhupada: Yes, it will go on, but when they will see that your ideal community is better than city life, people will take to it. Param drstva nivartate. When one gets a better standard of life, naturally he will give up the lower standard of life.
740602mw.gen Conversations 364211/530501 Prabhupada: Wasteful, yes. Therefore I say they have no brain. All, they are rascals. Rascal leaders. A little labor in agriculture willbe sufficient to produce the family’s food stock for the whole year. You can stock. You work only three months, and you get sufficient foodfor your whole family.And less nine months, you chant Hare Krsna. But these rascals will not do that. They will work hard like ass simply for eating. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti. They will not accept easy life.
►740619rc.ger Conversations Prabhupada: My idea is that all our centers should be self-supported. We do not like that idea that for your support you have to go 100 miles to get your bread. That is a very dangerous drawback. You produce your food locally and then support yourself.
►750401mw.may Conversations … don’t distribute. You live only, till the ground and take yourfood. Where is the question of distribution? Whatever you can till, you take so much land. God has enough land. Why do you possess more? One acre of land is sufficient for producing your food. Why do you take more?
►760912rc.vrn Conversations If he simply becomes little sober that “I want to eat, I have to sleep, I want some sense enjoyment and defense. So if I can get easily in the village, why shall I go three hundred miles away? Just keep in mind the psychology. So that simple life willbe possible if one is bhakta. Bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra syat. Only by devotion. Not by otherwise.
►760916rc.vrn Conversations Prabhupada: Otherwise, within the village you can get everything. Village economy. Everything very cheap. And as soon as they got these transport facilities, the local men, they could not eat, and these lazy rascals, they are getting everything. Big, big cities like Calcutta, Bombay, they (have) millions of population. They are not producing anything. The producer is different man. They are simply artificially cheating them by paper money and they …
►761102rc.vrn ConversationsThe first principle of life is eating. They do not know how to eat. We are teaching them how to eat. They simply challenge, that’s… When men are uncivilized, they do not how to growfood, they kill animals in the jungle and eat. When they are civilized, they know how to grow food now and the nice food grains, fruit, flowers,
760814rc.bom Prabhupada: :So people are being trained up to become mad, pramattah. And do anything, bring money.This is the modern civilization. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma. : Yes, this is modern civilization. Big man, big rich man means bring money some way or other. This is big man. This is Kali-yuga. Because if you have got money, you have got respect, you have got honor, you are recognized. So therefore they are after money.Bring money, that’s all right. When I shall get money, I may have done black money, force money, this money, nobody will remember it. Bas. This is modern civilization. Bring money and enjoy sense. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma. What for it is, struggle so much working
►761102rc.vrn Conversations Prabhupada: No, we don’t care for Indians and Europeans. We care for Krsna, that’s all. I didn’t care for anyone. I simply care … s protection, that’s all. That is wanted. Guru-krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija. We want two favours. One from guru, one from Krsna. That’s all. We don’t want anyone’s favour.
Aug 3 1974 Vrndavana
That is actually fact, actually fact, that if one wants to live independently... In Calcutta I have seen. Even poor class vaiśyas, and in the morning they’ll take some ḍāl, bag of ḍāl, and go door to door. Ḍāl is required everywhere. So in morning he makes ḍāl business, and in evening he takes one canister of kerosene oil. So in the evening everyone will require. Still you’ll find in India, they… Nobody was seeking for employment. A little, whatever he has got, selling some ground nuts or that peanuts. Something he’s doing. After all, Kṛṣṇa is giving maintenance to everyone. It is a mistake to think that “This man is giving me maintenance.” No. Śāstra says, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. It is confidence in Kṛṣṇa, that “Kṛṣṇa has given me life, Kṛṣṇa has sent me here. So He’ll give me my maintenance. So according to my capacity, let me do something, and through that source, Kṛṣṇa’s maintenance will come.” Just like we are maintaining so many people in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So what business we are doing? But we are confident that Kṛṣṇa will send us our maintenance. That confidence required. A śūdra means he becomes disturbed. He becomes disturbed. “Oh, I have no employment. How shall I eat? Where shall I go? Where shall I live?” He has no faith in Kṛṣṇa. The brāhmaṇa has got full faith. The kṣatriya has got little less faith, the vaiśya, little less faith, and the śūdra has no faith. This is the difference.
So your question was that how we can know a śūdra? That because everyone is now faithless and everyone is seeking after employment. Therefore… We may discuss in so many ways. Because people have become śūdra, therefore the capitalists are exploiting them. If everyone denies to be, serve, then these so-called industries will fail. Immediately. That is Gandhi’s proposal. “Noncooperate with the British government, and it will wind up.” And actually so happened. Because people are now śūdras, they depend for their bread to others, the others exploit them: “Come here. You work and I shall give you bread.” They do not believe any more, “O God, give us our daily bread.” They think that “This, our master give us daily bread.” That is śūdra. Śūdra means one who is dependent on others. Paricaryātmakaṁ kāryaṁ śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam. This is the description, definition of śūdra. And vaiśya: kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg. 18.44]. The vaiśya is doing the kṛṣi, agriculture. Why he should depend on…? Take some land from the government. You produce your food. Where is the difficulty? Keep some cows. You get milk. Vaiśya-karma svabhāva… Go-rakṣya. If you have got excess, then make trade. Why you should depend on others?
But they do not know. They want that “I shall go at ten o’clock in the office, and I shall do nothing. Simply I shall take the pen and make like this and take my salary.” That’s all. Cheating. This is going on. Therefore the whole system is polluted. Nobody’s doing his duty.
BG 7.15 Purport-
Most often, those who work very hard day and night to clear the burden of self-created duties say that they have no time to hear of the immortality of the living being. To such mūḍhas, material gains, which are destructible, are life’s all in all—despite the fact that the mūḍhas enjoy only a very small fraction of the fruit of labor. Sometimes they spend sleepless days and nights for fruitive gain, and although they may have ulcers or indigestion, they are satisfied with practically no food; they are simply absorbed in working hard day and night for the benefit of illusory masters. Ignorant of their real master, the foolish workers waste their valuable time serving mammon.