I am frequently bombarded with a host of questions when I disclose that I am an aspiring devotee, believing in principles of Vaishnavism and more recently ,ISKCON. People at large and especially the so- called educated sections of society, discard religion as a mere superstition and call spiritual seekers fanatists. I do agree to the point that, in todays world religion has more or less become business and a remarkable source of easy money. But that doesnt mean there is no true religion. The contemporary thinkers vehemently argue that religion is not the solution to the world's problems- rather religion itself is part of the problem. Society oppose young men and women spending time in temples, listening to discourses or chanting- instead people want them to be out on roads, cleaning garbages ( a job kept to be done on Gandhi Jayanti by college students) feeding masses, rehabilitating orphans, widows or elderly; to mention a few. People want councelling and de-addiction centers, schools and colleges, dispensaries and hospitals. Now let us look into these matter more deeply.
I would recall a remarkable quote- If one asks you food, do not just give him food, rather teach him a job so that he may never have to beg again. This is a point to ponder upon. No matter how zealously you try to fill in a broken pot, unless you mend the broken part, the water would just flow out. And that is what preaching is based upon. For hundreds of centuries,social reformers and well wishers have tried the traditional methods of social service. They fed the poor, clothed the deprived and healed the sick. They taught the illiterate to read and gave shelter to orphans and destitute. After all these, world is still swarming with more orphans, criminals and sick. That is why we have to examine, where the mistake is. Inspite of all good intentions and wonderful work, what is it that we are missing out? There has to be an important lead that we are constantly ignoring.
Now, we would explore the causes of the above mentioned problems. What is the cause of poverty, criminality or abandon? What makes children orphans; women unchaste; and elderly homeless? When we identify these underlying causes we can find a solution to them- Identifying them is the sealing of the broken pot which is our world! There is a saying- A man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest. And we have to agree, its true. That is what Vaishnavism teaches us- to live a simple life. Get up early, cleanse your body with water and mind with prayers, eat vegetarian food,and give respect to those worthy of it. Do not intoxicate - donot drink, smoke or engage in any other addictive substance abuse. Do not gamble. Do not have illicit sex. It is as simple as that. Vaishnavism is not a herculean task to take up- it doesnt ask you to abandon your duties and to meditate on snowcapped mountains or caves; it doesnt ask you to torture your body through continous fasting and austerities- Nothing tedious! We just ask you to follow the basic 4 regulative principles- and that is precisely what we preach.
If we look carefully enough we can see that if these four regulative principles are followed- automatically all other social causes are addressed. Like for example- Let us consider one by one- Vegetarianism. We preach to young and old alike to take a vegetarian life style. I would enumerate its benefits. Anyone who has passed 8th grade would know about the food chain. Food chain works this way precisely- 10% of energy from that last component is transferred to the next.
For example: Sun- grass-goat-Man. Grass recieves solar energy and 10% of it is transferred to usable energy by the grass. Now goat eats this grass- which can again take 10 % of whatever energy the grass has- which is just 1% of initial energy spend. Then comes the man- who can take further 10% of whatever energy the goat has- which is just 0.1% of solar energy. If we skip the goat and take the plant food directly- we get 10 times increase of energy intake. Instead of having large ranches to grow cattles that are then slaughtered for human consumption, grow cereals and fruits there. This will permanently address the food shortage problem. Another aspect in food chain is bio-magnification; which is the geometric progression of harmful substances' concentration in each successive level of food chain. Lower we are in food chain, lesser is the amount of poisonous substance we recieve in our system. Recent studies have very well proved that most of the diseases in todays world is either due to life style problems or are psychosomatic disorders( which means diseases starting from disturbed mind). Opting for a Vaishnav lifestyle will correct these complaints automatically and permanently. May I politely point out that Vegetarianism is not just propogated by Vaishnavism- but is also very clearly mentioned in bible as well. Let me quote from bible '' God said-'I give You every seed-bearing plant on the face of whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'' Genesis 1.29
For a long time it was advocated that animal proteins are an integral part of meal plan to have a healthy body. But research studies have disowned this argument with enough substantiation.For example people using plant protein lose less calcium from the bones. According to an article in 2002 July 15 edition of Time magazine, consuming more plant food reduces risk for many diseases including heart disease, obesity, cancers to name a few. The conclusion is that by adopting a vegetarian life style we can have lesser sick people and almost no hungry ones- which is a major concern of all the social workers since time immemorial.
Now, let us examine the importance of being away from intoxication. Why do people resort to intoxication- either for fun or to escape from the realities of life and sometimes to prove that one is ''cool''. Intoxication results in higher rate of criminality, accidents, immoral behaviour and heightened tendency of aggression in general. When one is intoxicated, it makes one lose control of oneself- our response time increases and we experience hallucinations or illusions. Moreover it increases domestic violence, chances of marital problems and anxiety in family , not to mention the loss of money. The preachers of ISKCON convince young people not to be addicted to these. Devotees realise that no matter how many de-addiction centres are opened, unless the source is sealed - all the endeavour is wasted. That is precisely why we spend so much of time, energy and money on preaching. We are more concerned about not having another person fall into these death traps- when that arrangement is made , then it is intelligent to open de-addiction centres to rescue those who are already in it. We urge people to realise their value, we tell them that they have a special life and a sacred mission. Life is not to be wasted away. We make them realise the worth of their life. We ask them to seek happiness within- and not in the outside world. Isnt that a more lasting solution than opening countless de-addiction and councelling centers?
People lose their lives savings by engaging in speculative games and gambling. Moreover gambling is a game where the driving force is laziness and lethargy- one wants to make money without doing any work. We preach against it. Believe in yourself and in the Absolute power. Do what you are supposed to do and leave the rest to Lord. Do not do empty speculations. We want to protect the masses from this camouflaged criminal, which is gambling. Gambling bring people to streets, make them homeless and sometimes even mad. People go insane on realising that just one wrong step has cost them their lifetime earning. People become disillusioned and aggressive - and hence we preach against it.
Now comes the last,but very important principle- No illicit sex. Unregulated sexuality is a major cause of disintegration of human society. It gives rise to orphans, prostitutes and diseases. It makes the society sick. Man comes down to the status of beasts- all he want is instant gratification of his carnal pleasures. Women become unchaste and families are shattered. Children are borne of unknown parentage. These children spend their childhood in ridicule and shame, which later results in making them criminals. AIDS has become one of the prime focus of the entire medical faculty. It makes me gape in disbelief to see that what they advocate is ''safe sex''. They are dispensing condoms freely- and here in America, high school restrooms have condoms for free. Many places in India have condom vending machines - in parks, bus stations and railway stations!!!! Are we humans, animals- to have such an unregulated sex life? I see scores of social workers working in NGO's, convincing people to use condoms and also distributing them for free. Is this intelligence? Is this the solution? The solution is to awaken the consciousness of masses- to make them realise the importance of being faithful to one's spouse, to convince the importance of being celibate until marriage. That alone can address this problem PERMANENTLY. So by preaching against illicit sex, devotess find solution to the problems of orphanage and destitute homes. We find a lasting way to put halt to the growing epidemic of sexual diseases. We decrease the chances for marital conflicts due to cheating and consequently help in making a healthy society. Simply dressing up the wounds forever can't really help- we have to permanently heal them and thats what preachers are trying to achieve. And the good part is - by these small changes in our lives we can find solution to most social problems.As Thoreau said-I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.
So the bottom line is- preacher is also a social worker and more importantly, he is a social worker not only for today, but for all times to come. He is helping heal a sick society today and also making a healthy one for future. He looks at life with deeper foresight and try to mend it in the prescribed ways of authentic knowledge. Since the conventional social work has not established anything lasting - why not try this time tested one?
H.G Gauranga Prabhu once gave a very interesting example. Some students were doing experiment to find out the gravitational constant''g'''. All of them were getting various values and one student was particularly adamant to do the experiment without any mistakes. After being convinced that he has done a very worthy experiment in a meticulous way - he addressed the class to approve his finding. Proudly he proclaimed- ''the value of ''g'' is 10.8 and this is ultimate''. All his classmates just laughed at him and dismissed his new finding- convinced that Newton has proved it to be 9.8 and He is the authority in gravitational studies. Students knew their senses are imperfect, their instruments are imperfect and the error factor creeping in is so high, to let the found value to be considered absolute. The same principle works in spirituality and life in general too. Our senses are imperfect- so is our intellect and mental faculty- but we have realisations and directions from a Higher authority which has been proved right, time and again- that is what we should follow. And that is what preachers are trying to do. Preachers try to impart the knowledge locked in the vedic wisdom. Vaishnav teaching are so profoundly simple that one may easily overlook their elegance. Let us not fall prey to that, let us determinedly bring them upon in our daily life and reform the world around. All preachers are social workers, but all social workers are not essentially preachers.
''To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.'' Benjamin Disraeli.
We are all ignorant, we all are empty vessels- but thats a good thing- since it means we have ample scope to learn and fill. If we submissively try to learn the wisdom of great teachers of past , coupled with God's grace - we need nothing more to perfect our life. If all those who came to understand the importance of preaching, preached- the world has ample to hope for- a happy, healthy and peaceful tommorrow!
