Excerpt from Bhagavatam- Politicians, citizens and civilization

The leaders of the state no longer protect the people, but plunder the citizenry through excessive taxation. Political leadership falls into the hands of unprincipled rogues, criminals and terrorists, who use their power to exploit the people. Entire populations are enslaved and put to death. The world teems with fanatics, extremists and spiritual artists, who win huge followings among a people completely dazed by hedonism, as well as by cultural and moral relativism. 
The saints and sages of ancient India describe the people of this age as greedy, ill-behaved, and merciless. Civilization lacks any kind of divine guidance. It is the age of spiritual darkness, violence and hypocrisy( Excerpt from SB).

Hippies and the Hare krishna movement

The hippies were used to taking drugs and staying high. But Hare krishna movement founder, Srila Prabhupada taught them that the high of the drug comes down the next morning but Krishna consciousness could sustain them forever.

Prabhupada helped them with kirtans, invited them to lectures and soon they became followers of the Vedic culture. Many became full-time volunteers for the institution.
Just as ISKCON found ardent devotees like George Harrison back in The Beatles’ heyday, it continues to attract followers across the world even today.

What is Krishna conscious movement ?

The Hare Krishna movement,(Krishna conscious movement) a  Gaudiya Vaishnavism sect of hinduism  was started in the 16th century by Sri Chaitanya  Mahaprabhu of Bengal (1486-1533). He emphasized the worship of Krishna and believed that chanting the names of God was so powerful that in addition to one's own meditation on them, they should also be chanted in the streets for the benefit of all.

Swami Prabhupada brought the movement — called the International Society of Krishna Consciousness — to the U.S. in 1966. 

When it spread to England, it gained publicity, Since then, ISKCON has established more than 800 centers all over the world and has millions of followers.

Key to the spread of Gaudiya Vaishnava theology in the Western world were Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's extensive writings and translations. These works are now available in more than seventy languages and serve as great philosophical masterpiece worldwide.

Vedic way of life and sustainability

The greatest barrier to an ecologically balanced environment is a materialistic world-view that assumes the individual as a biochemical machine operating without a soul. 

Isha Upanisad, a popular Vedic text, says that everything in the universe both animate and inanimate  is controlled and owned by Lord. Therefore, one should only accept those things that are necessary to make a living, and not be greedy about possessing more than required.

The over consumptive behavior and  of humans is the sole core cause of degradation, destruction and extinction of species. 

Environment conscious people and researchers are struggling to decode the humanity’s complex relationship with nature and about ways of making it sustainable.

Krishna in Gita by teaches the nature of the soul. A  person should act selflessly being in  knowledge that he or she is soul, not the body. Gita gives instructions on the soul, suggesting to make a  simple living with detachment from the world, not exploitation of it and performance of actions, based on one’s identity as soul, from a higher perspective. One of the important goal of yoga is to control selfish desires, and in so doing, to see all beings, including every animals and plants, as equal souls.

Spiritual communism

 

Modern communism originally sprouted from the idea to change humanity for better based on equality and honest distribution of goods.

But the consequences of modern communism couldn't work as it was based on man made ideas of what's good and evil. Srimad-Bhagavatam gives ideas on  filling  this need in human society.



The ideals of spiritual communism, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam are based more or less on the oneness of the  of the entire energy of living beings not only human society. 
It begins, therefore, with the aphorism of Vedānta philosophy janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1) to establish the ideal of a common cause.

The art of not trying ( Effortless living)

We as a beings  are not fully independent. Our actions of feeling, willing and thinking are not completely independent in itself. The nature or unseen force is driving us to do actions innately without our knowledge at most circumstances . 

The philosophy of effortless living or the art of not trying  comes here into action where we don't go against the circumstances that affect us . Instead we try to let it happen.

Covid, Karma and Bhagavad Gita

 The corona pandemic can be seen in another way from a more higher dharmic perspective. Dharma states that each one of has a purpose and there is  a reason on why we exists? There is a optimal path for each one of us that is specifically designed for our soul which aligns with the cosmic order. But when number of us has moved away from our path , nature reacts to restore the balance in the cosmic order. Does this corona pandemic  imply vengeance  and wrath upon  the human society? No, It simply demands change from us. But can't this be done in less harsh way ? The truth is transformation only happens when we are challenged. Superficial understanding does not lead to core transformation.

We can see that the corona pandemic has caused  catastrophic scenes all around the world since more than a year. Each one of us are facing different challenges , some are realizing the value of life due to fear of death, while others are having immense financial difficulties, anxiety and many other difficulties. But , these challenges are designed to bring us back to our true purpose, to reflect on what is more important , make us more spiritual conscious.

Although the spread of corona virus is a global event, each one of us are bound to face it according to our individual karma. Karma is anything we do that produces results. Karmic activity sets context of our life over  which we have no control and  dharmic activity is the  correct way to navigate through these context, it is the best path to walk given the circumstances and to grow spiritually too. 

People are destined to die through any means be it virus, old age or other diseases, So , instead being  anxious, Gita teaches us to  contemplate on; What is actually death? Why we die although none of us wish to die? Can’t we become deathless? Why we get diseased although none of us like to get diseases? Why are we getting old day by day although none of us like old age? Who are we actually? How do we get out of this  temporary , miserable world ? Anyone who truly contemplates and seeks to understand is assured of realization of the reality of  our existence and death.

Krishna says ; That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.  The body we have is made of matter and is destined to get diseased, become old and die out one day. And the good news is we as a soul are eternal, deathless. Living entity keeps on changing bodies and getting new births. What we have to endeavor for; is to be out of birth, disease, old age, death cycle.

 

 

Theory of everything and Bhagavada Gita

 

The theory of everything is that which  would explain everything in the universe, from quantum particles to spiral galaxies or a hypothetical framework explaining all known physical phenomena in the universe which researchers have  searched for such a model ever since the development of quantum mechanics and Albert Einstein's Theory of relativity.

But we can take this simply, as that which explains the cause of all causes or give answers to all of our Whys? 

We may be inclined to think that Theory of everything solely is the subject matter of modern physics and  quantum mechanics. To our dismay, we are less known and exposed to the profundity of Gita where Krishna explains the concept and nature of absolute reality, time and space, the nature  and origin of self and matter. Krishna speaks about the supreme cause of all causes and the purpose of creation.

Literature like Bhagavatam goes further as well, describing in detail the stages of creation, the age and dimensions of the universe, the purpose of the creation, and the origin of the material elements. It is  with much additional information and scientifically sound principles, such as the interrelatedness of space and time, cosmic events ranging over billions of years, and different time measurements on different planets. These points should evoke interest in any inquisitive person to take up the study of the Bhagavatam. It not only proclaims  how it is created but also why it is created.

Modern science is mute on this  aspect, but the Bhagavad has the answer. The ultimate goal of the Gita's teaching is to not only give us the knowledge about the reality of universe but to take us from this temporary material existence limited by space and time to the spiritual realm, where we live our spiritual existence eternally. For this self contemplation and realization is essential and the spiritual injunction from the self realized soul is required as stated in Gita.

Goal, Success, Happiness and Bhagavad Gita

 

Setting goals, which is important to achieve success and happiness; without knowing who we are is an incomplete and incompetent approach. That is why we can see a lot of example in todays' world ; despite achieving huge success , wealth and fame that one has desired , one is not equipped with happiness. 

Gita  remind us that it is futile to think that material advancement will reform our life. The real happiness is in being self-satisfied and in controlling and tolerating the countless demands of mind and senses. We today want instant gratification and is ready to do anything and everything to get what we want. What we need to understand is that happiness and material opulence is not synonymous. 

Gita tells that we are eternal spiritual beings beyond body, senses and mind. Since our identity is not material but spiritual, worldly things can’t bring the soul happiness. The soul requires a spiritual atmosphere to realize their completeness and fulfillment. The above, is one of the central  teachings of Bhagavad Gita.

Only when we know who we are then we can know our purpose, set true goals and achieve success and happiness.

Our ultimate goal should be to seek answers to; the ultimate cause of the creation, our position in the cosmos and what is our ultimate duty to perform. When one seeks answer to these question , one is sure to be exposed to the source of eternal happiness and success.

Individuality (The real self) and Bhagavad Gita

 

We often believe that we can express our individuality, the real us by acquiring particular looks, personality, knowledge, achievement , wealth and other such material things. But do these define who we are?

We are undermining ourselves when we let these things define our notion of expressing our individuality.

The Bhagavad-Gita, teach us that this individuality is present on three different levels: 

 1. The physical appearance of a person 2. The subtle level- mind, intelligence and ego

 3.spiritual level -spiritual identity of a soul 

Gita tells us that our actual individuality is spiritual, not material. Our material individuality is due to internal impressions and external compulsions which are not real. This material individuality obscures the real me, the soul. As souls, we are all individuals with our own unique forms and our unique relationships with the supreme truth. Our true individuality is equipped with eternality, full- bliss and knowledge( Sat-cit-ananda).

To uncover our true individuality, we need to practice on the path that connects us to the supreme truth, which is all- pure. We will be then directed to higher taste and interest discarding the lower. When this happens our individuality thus expressed will be a noble one. Centering our individuality on our spirituality doesn’t lead to rejecting our material side but  to harmonizing our material side with our spiritual essence and purpose.

Question may arise , doesn't  the standardization of activities in spiritual path suppress and destroy our individuality? The Vedic teachings says that the  standardization only  destroys the coverings that block our actual individuality.

Agricultural and forest business ideas

Here, I have made a small endeavor to compile  practicable and attainable business ideas in Nepal in the agricultural and forest related sector. The list is in no particular order. 

Livestock Feed Manufacturing Company

Reduced grazing resources due to land occupation and land degradation makes livestock increasingly dependent on other feed like concentrates and vitamins. Grain feed used in developing countries increases by 3 per cent per annum. Rs.15.12 billion of money was spent on food industries, animal fodder category recently according to Department of customs. 

Herb Growing and Processing

Herbs like basil, parsley and mint can make for great agriculture products. So you can grow it at your home or farm and sell it.

Vegetable Farming and selling

You can also plant a variety of different vegetables and harvest them to sell or make into different products in market.

Fruit Growing

Or you could grow and harvest various types of fruit to sell or make into other fruit based products.

Field Crop Farming

Soybeans, cloves and other types of crops require a fair amount of field space to grow. But if you have the land, you can harvest specific crops to sell to food producers.

Flower  and plant Nursery

You can also start your own nursery where you grow and sell different types of plants to consumers or businesses.

Dairy products selling

If you have the space and the ability to care for cows or other dairy animals, you could start your own, where you produce milk, cheese and similar products.

Bee Frame and bee selling

Beekeeping is an activity that can lead to a variety of different product-based business ventures.

Honey Production

For example, you can harvest honey from beehives and sell it to consumers or processors.

Food Delivery

If you grow or process food items, you can also build a business around delivering fresh food items to local consumers who want to buy local products.

Bulk Foodstuff Wholesaling

You could also harvest food that can be sold in bulk, like rice or corn product, that you can sell wholesale to food production companies.

Weed Killer Production

Or you could start a B2B business that produces weed killer specifically for farmers or other agricultural businesses.

Fruit Canning

If you grow or process fruit, you can can it to sell to consumers or food companies.

Jam Production

Or you could process various fruits even further to make into canned jam or jelly products.

Juice Production

Juice is another popular fruit based product that you could potentially make and sell at farmers’ markets or other venues.

Florist Business

You could even start a florist business where you grow your own flowers to use in different products and arrangements.

Spice Production

There are also plenty of different plants you can grow that will allow you to create various spices that you can process and sell.

Nut Processing

Or you could grow peanuts or similar products that you can package and sell.

Organic Gardening

You could also specialize in organic gardening practices so you can market your products to health and eco-conscious consumers.

Sustainable Farm Consulting

Or you could even offer your expertise to other farmers or agriculture businesses that want to utilize sustainable methods as a consultant.

Agricultural Equipment Rental

If you have the capital to purchase farming or agriculture equipment, you could start a business where you rent or lease that equipment out to farmers.

Vermi-compost and worm Farming

Compost can be a useful tool for other fellow agriculturists. So you can make compost to sell to farmers and gardeners by starting your own worm farm with red wigglers earthworm. This sort of product has tremendous potential and demand is ever increasing.

Tree Seed Supply

You could also harvest seeds from different trees and sell them to people who want to plant new ones.

Oil Production

There are also various types of plants that you can use to produce oil for cooking or other purposes. So you can process that oil process to sell.

Potted Plant Sales

Or you could grow different types of plants and then sell them in pots to gardeners or consumers looking for houseplants.

Pet Food Production

You could also use a variety of different crops and food products to create pet food that you can sell to consumers.

Planting Service

If you don’t have your own farm but still want to build a business centered around planting crops, you could start your own planting service and work with other farmers or growers in your area.

Farm Sitting

Or you could build a business by providing farm sitting services where you take care of people’s farm or land while they travel.

Agro-tourism and Homestay

You could also offer a whole touristic type of experience at your farm where people can come, visit and maybe even stay.

Vertical Farming

Online fruit Selling 

Mobile cold store vehicles

Vegetarian Restaurant and organic restaurant franchise

Lemon Farming 

Educational Farming visits

Modern Self help and Ancient Vedic Wisdom

 

We all have seen the modern self-help industry with a lot of splendid content blooming the most in this age of social media and the internet. Most of us are definitely actively involved in consuming self- improvement content  or reading trending books. We have learned something from each one of the content and  the self-help gurus that we have come across.I too have learned a lot.

But what we should be aware of is that there are  a lot of exaggerations, false content, overly optimistic, unrealistic and contradictory statements.It has a lot of limitations for bringing out  internal change and queries that we are not convinced about.

For any true internal revolution I believe everyone should give a fair try for learning ancient vedic wisdom as I found out it  to be more richer and nobler.It was imparted by such masters who lived the way they preached unlike todays’ modern gurus who are opposite of what they preach.

Ancient vedic wisdom  is above doubt because it was not a commercialized wisdom, it  is more concise and precise.It teaches us not only how to live but to leave the world also.It may sound pessimistic but it is  far better than those that sound optimistic but cannot help deal with the really big  problems of life like  disease,ageing and death.

So it’s really worth trying them out.To explore I recommend “Bhagavad Gita As It Is”  by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada as a starter! 

Free Will, Fate and Bhagavad Gita

Are all of our actions and thoughts up to us? Or, are they determined by forces over which we have no control?  Some believe that we are free to think and act while others argue that we are not in control of what we do.

The philosophical question of fate versus free will is very ancient and is still on.

One argument for determinism (fate) is a metaphysical argument with aphorism “Every event must have a cause”.Yet, others argue in favor of free will. There are certain things that make sense only when we are free, our feelings of regret and guilt make no sense if our lives are strictly deterministic.

 Amidst the debate of free will and determinism, there is philosophy from Bhagavad Gita, which harmonizes the fate-and-free-will controversy. This may be astonishing for many of us as it embraces the idea of karma. According to the general popular notion of the law of karma, all human actions are the result of some previous action, which vividly shows the deterministic concept and we may wonder how free will has a place in it. 

As a/c to Gita, our destiny in this  world is determined by a combination of our limited free will,the three modes of  nature(goodness, passion and ignorance) and previous karma.We are destined to face certain situations in this life and in those situations, we have a certain amount of freedom to choose how we want to react and accept consequences either good or bad.

Our freedom is like that of cattle bound by a rope on a circular field who has the privilege to

choose the grass to eat within that perimeter. This can be simplified as, our free will in this

the world is limited only to choices within the modes of nature(goodness, passion and ignorance) . The cattle have choices, but at all times, it is bound by rope and is still in that circular field. Like that rope, the three modes of nature bind to have limited choices only.

Modernized yoga

 What do you think when you hear the word Yoga?Maybe stretching and bends. This is what it is growing to be limited to. 

We can see yoga is slowly losing its essence in the process of making it fit for modern purposes. Originally , yoga was  a spiritual practice to know the self and an important part of the guru- shishya parampara of imparting transcendental knowledge. The purpose of yoga is to connect to the higher self, to know our ultimate goal, the ultimate reality as stated by many religious teachers. 

But now  the aim of yoga is in limelight  as it is being highly commercialized all around the world. The westernized, modernized form of yoga with postures for making body fit is only one of the eight components of the ancient practice.

Somewhere I read, there were times in America , when people used to be confused between Yoga and Yogurt. Now, the Modern Yoga industry is a multi-billion dollar industry valued at more than  $80 billion worldwide.

Free Will, Fate and Bhagavad Gita

Are all of our actions and thoughts up to us? Or, are they determined by forces over which we have no control?  Some believe that we are free to think and act while others argue that we are not in control of what we do and have no free will.

The philosophical question of fate versus free will is very ancient and is still on. Most of us may be inclined to think we are free; we can make our life as we want and certainly achieve our ambitious goals. We find it hard to accept that we are not the captain of our ship as it might be against our instinct, morality and our existence itself. Many theories, along with their various supporting arguments, exist in favor of both free will and determinism. Here in this article, we will have a look at the concept of free will and determinism and how they fit in Bhagavad Gita philosophy.

Starting with determinism, it is that idea which says everything that happens is determined because of the conditions that preceded it. Many philosophers are satisfied that we live in a deterministic world, and that we could not possibly have free will in the sense that we normally think we do. One argument for determinism is a metaphysical argument with aphorism “Every event must have a cause”. Another, strong argument in favor of determinism seems to come from modern science  because the discoveries in the fields of psychology, physiology, and pharmacology indicate that we may be able to predict all aspects of life of a child before he lives it , through the examination of his biological and psychological characteristics and further findings  regarding human motivation and  human attitudes makes a strong favor case for determinism.

Yet, others argue in favor of free will. There are certain things that make sense only when we are free, our feelings of regret and guilt make no sense if our lives are strictly deterministic. Murder and other evil crimes are no longer immoral and regret for things we have done becomes ridiculous, for what is the use of regret and guilt if evil acts cannot be avoided at all and this also raises further legal and ethical questions.

Amidst the debate of free will and determinism, there is philosophy from Bhagavad Gita, which harmonizes the fate-and-free-will controversy. This may be astonishing for many of us as it embraces the idea of karma. According to the general popular notion of the law of karma, all human actions are the result of some previous action, which vividly shows the deterministic concept and we may wonder how free will has a place in it. We definitely can get our understanding of the integration of fate and free will from the Bhagavad Gita. The first relevant message in Gita says that we are not our material bodies rather eternal spirit souls. This taken into consideration, we can go on to understand the extent to which we are determined or have free will. Bhagavad Gita says as living entities are all part and parcel of the original and supreme spiritual independent person, God and we are qualitatively of the same nature as God but in minute ways having minute independence, free will. Although we have free will, still, because of our minuteness, our position is to be controlled by God. Our minute free will is to choose between staying under Krishna’s control in the spiritual world, or coming to the material world.

Nature conditions us to forget our original position and nature. This condition is called, maya, illusion and this illusion makes us try seeking happiness and enjoyment in this world. Gita further tells us that we cannot control the material energy of God and our body being material are subjected to the laws of nature and we are free only to desire according to our conceptions of material enjoyment and the material nature fulfills such desires. The misidentification of the body as the real self makes us foolishly think of ourselves as the doer of activities which in reality are the activities carried out by three modes of material nature.

Our freedom is like that of cattle bound by a rope on a circular field who has the privilege to choose the grass to eat within that perimeter. This can be simplified as our free will in this material world is limited only to choices within the modes of nature. The cattle have choices, but at all times, it is bound by rope and is still in that circular field. Like that rope, the three modes of nature restrict our original free will and we have limited choices only.

Our destiny in this material world is determined by a combination of our limited free will and the three modes of material nature as according to our previous karma, we are destined to face certain situations in this life an in those situations, we have a certain amount of freedom to choose how we want to react and accept consequences either good or bad.

Conditioning by the modes of nature is so strong that we tend to make the same choices again and again and this supports determinists in being able to gather so much scientific data in support of their theory. Furthermore, we can understand that in spite of the law of karma, ethical and legal judgments, our feelings of guilt and regret seem relevant, as we have some limited choice to react in a moral or immoral way to the various situations, we encounter due to our past karma.

The Bhagavad Gita gives us a message that we needn’t necessarily remain here as it isn’t our natural position to be here in the first place, the use of our limited free will in this world is of relatively little significance and we can be free by properly understanding our position and reality of this world. 

Modern Science - A fanatical religion?

Is modern science only the  path to know things as it is? Many people these days are starting to believe so which  indicates  that it can be another fanatical religion.

It is important to not be brainwashed to believe that modern science only has the legitimate right and genuity to supremacy for knowing the reality and truth.

Technological invention like internet,  communication, transportation have added proof that the science base of these technologies is to be revered but the approach through which the modern science works gives us only a little of reality. It is mute on many aspects and problems of life and world.What is truly interesting is that a lot of people have a closed minded view about science and they super-impose their baseless  notion in their favor without trying to go deeper.