Guidance, Volume 3

Is Religion the Cause of National Downfall?

In the modern world, there is a class of people whose strong belief is that "religion is the main cause of the nation's downfall; especially Vaishnavism that arose in the gentle body of sentimental Bengal and engulfed the nation with mostly feminine and slave mentality."

Many of us cannot altogether overlook these modern rationalists' argument and conception as it cannot be denied that what we imagine to be religion does in various ways cause degradation of the nation. Even if we set aside the prevailing national views on the world, these arguments of the rationalists cannot be avoided with all the direct proof of it that we can see in the stories and incidents of the nowadays society. In fact, when a man is possessed by religious fanaticism, there arises so much farce and pretence. Under the cover of religious madness, there is so much decadent frenzy in the society. Once the burden of religious magic falls on one's shoulders, it throws the immediate duties of the society into a turmoil and turns the person into an imaginary supreme ruler.

There are many evident examples of it. Once, there was a very educated man, an only child in his family, who had fallen into the clutches of one sadhuma (a saintly lady of unknown background, engaged in some new-age practice) and lost his mind and all common sense—without a second thought giving up his coveted successful career, taking with him only his clothes and bare necessities, he became a bondslave to an uneducated con woman from a different culture who could cleverly use words and emotions to trick and take advantage of people. Another time, one respectable woman, a virtuous housewife, got swayed by the magic of some so-called sadhu of God knows what origin and lost all interest in her service at home. A few days later, having got that only son, the apple of his parents' eye, that 'sadhuma' vanished; and the respectable housewife tarnished the respect of her family and started following the bogus sadhu becoming a religious fanatic. As part of the display of her saintliness, 'sadhuma' could read one's mind, otherwise she could use magic to turn one into a blind religious fanatic; in other words, she knew that she could just show several movements, gestures or capture people's minds with the jugglery of words in such a way they would easily fall into her trap. As for the sadhu's display, he knew some magic by which he could in one second spread the scent of roses and sandalwood in the entire house; or he could capture the minds of virtuous housewives or sensualists by creating a spell that would produce cuckoos' melodious singing and create a forged version of Gokula with all sorts of amorous sports exhibited within it—he was indifferent to women and riches, but he would pretend to have attained the savikalpa(?) and nirvikalpa(?) perfections [various stages of samadhi] by an artificial display of his yogic powers or the gravity of his meditation and ideas.

Hearing and seeing all this, a certain class of people become enraged at a mere hint of the name of religion. When they observe any degradation or problem in the society or in the country, then, as a Bengali proverb goes, "Yata dos Nanda Ghos—whatever the fault, just blame Nanda Ghos." Just as a cow whose shed has burnt down is terrified when it sees red clouds at sunset, people put the burden of blame on the shoulders of religion—because people cheat and deceive others in the name of religion, everyone thinks that religion is bad. This conception has become deeply rooted. When people see fanatic imitation in the behaviour and practice of religious followers, they become hostile towards the true and genuine religion as well. These people were so anxious to satisfy their senses that they fell prey to the 'sadhuma', they became charmed by the magic of the bogus sadhu, and they lost all interest in their mother, father, wife, country and nation—at the same time, Sri Chaitanyadev or the followers of His devotional line were prosecuted for this. The decision is up to us.

We hear that one widely famous historian wrote, "Chaitanya was the cause of Orissa's downfall." Kapilendra of the Suryavansha dynasty and his son Purushottam were very powerful and mighty kings of Odisha. They expanded the borders of their kingdom—it began from the southern bank of the Ganga and stretched all the way until the north bank of the Krishna River. Purushottam extended the border until Kanchi (Kanchipuram) in the north and advanced until Vijayanagara in Rajasthan. Some historians say that Purushottam Dev brought Saksi Gopal and Jagannath's ratna simhasana (altar) from Vijayanagara kingdom. The dining hall (bhoga-mandapa) in the Jagannath Temple that can be seen now also was built by Purushottam. Like his father, he was trying to have his bread buttered on both sides, but Purushottam's son King Prataparudra, with all his family, ministers, servants, royal opulence, and all his possessions, came under the influence of Sri Chaitanyadev and became His fanatic follower. In the meantime, a renowned emperor of Vijayanagara named Krishnadevaraya repeatedly attacked the capital of Prataparudra's kingdom and eventually conquered all territories south to the Godavari that had been under the rule of Prataparudra. In the end, Prataparudra was forced to hand his daughter over to be married to the King of Vijayanagara.

Materialists do not consider that such religious fanaticism(?) causes individual downfall—they consider it the cause of the downfall or bondage of the entire nation. That is why, perhaps, as soon as Russia hears even a hint of a religion's name, it becomes enraged and takes the stand to attack. They demolish churches and create open squares for playing dice or turn them into club houses, restaurants, etc. instead. The old generation that made the mistake is trying now to reform by establishing a new foundation for the nation that would be devoid of even a slightest hint of religion! They make sure they deport any mention of religion from the educational institutions so that the new generation, the young boys and girls, do not have any contact with religion. After the examples of German Nazi movement leader Chancellor Hitler, Italian Prime Minister Mussolini, et al. now more or less all nations and milieus are becoming united in their views—people find religion guilty of all national degradation and decay. It is considered that the ten commandments of Christ or the Lord's prayer (Gospel, Luke, 23.24), "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" when He was about to be crucified and other teachings are adverse for the prosperity of the society and country.

Therefore, our first and foremost duty is to determine clearly what is considered 'downfall' and 'religion' and what is their real form. In every sphere in this world, there is a limit to how far you can interfere without having the right or qualification to do so, but the thing is that anyone is considered qualified to judge in the matters of religion, even if they are actually not. Many of us take the meaning of religion for granted. Sometimes people to come the door of our house—decorated with tilak, forehead marks, long beard, etc. they play tambourine and sing sweetly and melodiously the words 'Krishna' (?), 'Vishnu'(?); or sometimes public speakers give lecture captivating streams of people making them sit mesmerised with their sweet speeches—we make the verdict that these people are religious and that their activities are called 'religion'. Some time later, when we see that behind the scene they change their tune, and their sham character turns out blatantly immoral and brutal, we take an angry stand to attack religion saying, "Vaishnavism is the shelter for debauchees!" However, while claiming this, we forget to note and take into consideration one thing—that which we decided a second ago was a 'religion' is not religion. Doing whatever suits my senses, becoming a servant of my senses or whichever grips my senses is what we call religion! We place our mind's whims, various musical tunes, melodies, rhythms and other sense pleasures on the throne of religion, but we do not think that revealing the true nature of the soul, exploring the conscious realm is a religion. Even if we do not oppose the eternal genuine religion, we actually pass it as a religion for unrighteous dead people and, as for us, we fill the place of religion with the pleasures and transformations of the senses.

When we judge our degradation we always weigh material prosperity against how low we have to stoop—material position, material enjoyment, material opulence are the only standards against which we measure our prosperity and deprivation. The all-devouring materialism has sown so many poisonous seeds into the body of human race, the so-called civilised society, the country. We may not understand it now from the various simple examples, but it can be said that destruction of this human race is inevitable. History offers us an x-ray that exposes the transformations within the society, but we should have long ago used it to awaken our dormant selves.

Nowadays we take so much pride in being initiated into the 'mantra' of patriotism, but the fact is that our patriotism is based on imitating foreign countries. The truth is that foreigners have not made us a foreign nation through clothes, etc.—foreigners have changed our core. It is very easy to change clothes, to behave like a patriot or a foreigner, to be civilised, well-mannered or religious. Those who have studied history know that, when ancient Romans' Britain was conquered, they had to leave it and return to their own country—they may have left the country, but the British have not been able to forget their influence.

We may have become polished by wearing good clothes, etc., but if we only dress up like foreigners imitating them, and internally we are converted into the materialism that has engulfed the West, then we simply become fake patriots who are intolerant to the eternal and true religion of our own self.

Materialism is not a property of India—neither of India, nor of any living soul in the entire universe. It is merely a foreign attack on our own pure consciousness. This foreign attack is the very cause of the degradation, or downfall, of our consciousness. When there is a downfall of consciousness, it means the very life is ruined—when you break the spine, the whole carcass disintegrates and becomes ruined. Being under the attack of foreign influence, our understanding is just the opposite: we think that uncovering our consciousness (awakening the awareness of our consciousness), seeking the interest of the soul causes individual and collective degradation. The truth is that whether it is individual, national, social or any other downfall, the only reason why it happens is a lack of spiritual culture. This is the eternal and living historical truth.

At first sight, being covered, many say that if we seek the interest of the soul, we must become indifferent to or detached from the society or nation and sail the boat of our life in the tempest of renunciation—how can social and national prosperity be possible then? If a new wave of religion arises in the heart of a spiritual seeker, this newly arisen enthusiasm first of all turns into rebellion against marriage; and those who are already married think that it is something abominable and their wife, children start to annoy them. Then, the parents and well-wishers of the young boys and girls tell them, "How will reproduction and creation continue without marriage? Creation, or reproduction, is the desire of the Lord, and if everyone rebels against it instead of assisting it, how will it be possible to practise religion?" That is why if someone becomes aloof to their wife, sons, mother, father, they are advised by religious well-wishers, "The highest religion is to serve one's wife as Narayan(?), son as Narayan(?) and parents also as Narayan(?). It is those who are indifferent to this that are the cause of the national degradation."

Because Sri Chaitanyadev became apathetic towards His wife, mother, country and nation and became a religious fanatic, He must be blamed for the degradation of the nation.

There is another class of people who argue that when one practises religion, one must be detached from the material things, then how will the means of national prosperity (literature, art, science, philosophy, politics, ethics, etc.) thrive? If people go to a mountain and sit mediating in a cave, how will literature, art, science develop and come up with new inventions? If one gives up all enjoyment and dresses up as a renunciate, will that increase the country's trade, agriculture, money, population, wealth, etc.? Wherever people live every day like its their last day, such religion must make national degradation inevitable.

When we see this picture of 'crematorium' religion [when people become religious only in the face of death] and false religions, the arguments of so-called rationalists become not unreasonable. In fact, if someone thinks that the mankind and other living entities must accept the duty of preservation of the created world, such arguments will entail various adverse bitter experience, opposition and rivalry. When one wants to take up the responsibility of maintenance of the world, they will again be inspired to obstruct the creation. If we accept Thomas Malthus's theory, then we must say that the human population increases in geometrical progression, and the food production increases in arithmetic progression, but the creative process is obstructed through positive checks (such as child death, epidemics, diseases, famine, earthquakes, floods, wars, etc.) or otherwise preventive checks such as late marriages, etc.

There are some who opposed this theory of Thomas Malthus—they say that this theory worked only for the contemporary times (the times of Th. Malthus, 1766-1834). Their argument was that this growth model could be applied to poor countries such as India, China, etc., but in case of rich countries such as Great Britain, Germany, USA, etc., where education and civilisation developed rapidly, where the Factory Act and other regulatory laws were passed much earlier, where grains are imported from abroad, especially during the time when their agriculture and trade was prospering, then this theory does not work, but Walker (in his Political Economy) and other economists say that the Malthusian growth model works always and for all nations and there lies much profound truth in it.

Anyhow, when mankind tries to look after(?) the world created by the Lord, their greed for enjoyment will not allow them to exercise prudence—instead of national prosperity, they will have to embrace national degradation. Those who have no relationship with the service of the Lord are always partial towards either maintenance or destruction, and both of these classes of people walk down the path of destruction of the society and nation. Compared to the human race, the number of lower life forms (beasts, birds, insects, etc.) increases more rapidly, so it does not make any sense to try to retain the prosperity just by expanding the world or through checking its expansion. Even though an educated, refined independent nation may prosper in their creative methods, will their attempts not be baffled by what Malthus called the 'positive check' (warfare, etc.)? When people try to check the birth rate by various ways and laws, does the weapon production need not be restricted? Does it not infest the nation with its germ of phthisis that in the name of national prosperity, civilisation, education, independence, etc. destroy the innermost core of the nation? The wise should judge for themselves.

Sri Chaitanyadev, or anyone who is knowledgeable about the teaching of Sri Chaitanyadev, never advises anyone to get involved in all these activities that destroy the nation. In fact, the destructive human race can never compete with the way devotees would expand the family of Sri Chaitanyadev—the family of Their Lord (Achyuta-gotra) where they are all His children. Sri Chaitanyadev instructed to expand this family: "Tell whoever you see about the teachings of Krishna, become a guru and liberate this land on My order (yare dekhe tare kahe Krishna-upadesa, amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa). May our family increase (gotram nu vardhatam). May Krishna increase our family (gotra vadauna Krishna ama sabakara)." In His family, all children are 'golden children': they are not creators of a material mortal nation; they are messengers of an immortal nation; their family is the family of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, if people think that the sect of people who have an unrestrained craving for enjoyment or who make a show of restraining themselves but internally crave for enjoyment can support the nation and devotees of the Lord obstruct the growth of the nation, then they are making a mistake, and not just a mistake—they are travelling down the path of destruction.

The devotion school based on service to Vishnu shows a unique for the entire world path towards real benefit and gradual social and scientific progress. The eternal religion is based on the worship of Lord Vishnu within the transcendental system of four social orders and four spiritual orders (daiva-varnasrama)—there is no other place in this world except India where the eternal religion would be presented in such a beautiful way. If daiva-varnasrama is not practised in the entire nation, or if the nation moves towards a social and spiritual system that is averse to the service of the Lord, then the sheer truth is that such people more or less embark on an adventurous expedition called 'progress' while walking down the path of destruction. Daiva-varnasrama is rightly based on a scientific foundation and focuses on placing the Absolute in the centre—this is a scientific ladder to national prosperity and progress. Those who say that Sri Chaitanyadev is the cause of obstruction or downfall of any country or nation's prosperity make such statements because they have more or less fallen into the waterfall of degradation. We can see that firsthand. Enlightened by the mercy of Sriman Mahaprabhu, Dabir Khas and Sakar Mallik, who were at that time chief ministers under the rule of Muslim King Hussein Saheb Srila Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu gave up opulence like that of Indra and a wife, beautiful as a denizen from heaven; Srila Raghunath Bhatta Goswami abstained from getting married; Maharaj Prataparudra became indifferent to warfare—this causes no damage to the nation; on the contrary, it brings real national prosperity, culture, along with the ensuing nourishment, which is and always will be the longing of intelligent persons. To get a big government job, people often give money illegally, and attempting to give so-called benefit to the country and nation, some people all the time become prisoners of dry prestige (pratistha), etc. Sanatan, on the other hand, was imprisoned because he was trying to show the true path to independence of the entire humankind and all the other living entities; moreover, to leave his chief minister's post, he paid a bribe of seven thousand mudras (coins). Hussein Shah was astonished to see this behaviour of Sanatan.

Nowadays, various Western countries become role models for us when it comes to wealth, national independence, enjoyment, increasing the scope of pleasure, etc., but what is the result of their national thriving and independence? We see hundreds and hundreds of examples—will we never get it? The German nation has long been considered one of the best nations based on the development of their science, trade, wealth, nationalism, economics, politics, education and civilisation, but what is the result of their thriving? Do the past wars and subsequent historical development not prove it? If you notice that the politicians of this country shed streams of blood in the past, you may ask if the country in their present state can be considered amongst the civilised class? Even though the heroes of this country showed the nation some ray of false hope, history will show how successful the nation will become following that false ray of hope—but the eternal aversion to the Lord will devour the entire human race by its magic that is capable of accomplishing the impossible. For us to climb the highest peak of so-called national prosperity and civilisation would require either harnessing our waist with the ropes of warfare or resort to some artificial means like imposing a law of firearms regulation. The life of one human being is so valuable—for just one human to survive it is necessary to constantly destroy hundreds and hundred of lower forms of life, but when civilisation, science, politics, sociology or economics teach how to destroy thousands and thousands of human beings in one second, then what highest result can it bring other than destruction? When Sri Prataparudra came in touch with Mahaprabhu's real, genuine teachings of non-violence, he did not resort to destructive politics—instead, he helped the country, society and kingdom to truly prosper by engaging his political activities in the service to the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanyadev. In fact, today Odisha owes its true prosperity to the influence of Sri Chaitanyadev.

If people hear about Odisha now, they can become enlightened by the remembrance of Sri Chaitanyadev. The true culture, education, literature, art, etc. of Odisha developed most of all with the focus on Sri Chaitanyadev. Expelling religion strips Odisha, or any country in this world, off any value. Even the proficient Western architects are stunned by the genius artistic architecture of the temples of Lingaraj Bhuvanesvar, Ananta Vasudev, Puri's Sri Jagannath mandir, etc. The Odia poet Govindadev and others increased the beauty of literature by taking the shelter of Sri Chaitanyadev; even the atibadi poet Jagannath Das entertained the Odias with his ingenious poetry—whoever he may be, but he got greatly excited by coming in touch with Sri Chaitanyadev and His disciples, it is a fact that is accepted even by the historians. Intelligent people can understand how much the influence of Sri Chaitanyadev and His followers purified the moral development of Odisha. There is no spiritual consideration in narrow-minded patriotism or nationalism. There were two and a half devotees who did private, intimate service of Sri Chaitanyadev, which means that two and a half devotees of Sri Radhika appeared in Purusottam Dham. These two and a half devotees are Raya Ramananda, Sikhi Mahiti and his sister Madhavi Devi. The Bangladeshi Srila Purusottam Bhattacharya also came to Nilachal with Sriman Mahaprabhu and became known as Mahaprabhu's second self, Damodar Svarup. Actually, by the mercy of Sri Chaitanyadev the highest discourses of the spiritual realm were preached from Odisha. At present, especially the members of prosperous and advanced nations do not get an opportunity to embark on the quest for the highest truth—Sri Chaitanyadev, Himself and through His devotees, explored and led the entire world to explore this treasure trove of the supreme benefit.

Was Sri Chaitanyadev the cause of the national downfall because He created an altar for the teachings that bring the highest benefit for Odisha? Does that mean that the national prosperity implies national destruction? Think about it. If Prataparudra had not taken shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanyadev, if Sri Chaitanyadev had not come to Odisha, or if He had not made His appearance in this extremely unfortunate world among the human race, then, as the history before and after His appearance bears witness, none of the former mighty kings' 'Golden Lankas' (such as Vijayanagar lost by King Prataparudra, for example) would have remained intact.

Many places were captured and transferred under the rule of Vijayanagar during the time of Krishnadevaraya's successor Achyuta Deva Ray, Ramaraja and others. After that, the Muslims defeated the Hindu in a battle of Telikot, killing Ramaraja and destroying Vijayanagar. All the marble palaces and mansions of Vijayanagar were demolished, and the Udayagiri Hill [(myth.) the hill behind which the sun rises] of the prosperity(?) of the Hindu empire or nation turned into the Astachala Hill [(myth.) the hill behind which the sun sets.]. How long does the sun of glory shine in the sky?

The worldwide emperors like Ambharish Maharaj, Prthu Maharaj and others who took to religion; the holy temples of South India that embody the ingenuity of the spiritual art; the holy literature—Vedas, Sruti, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagavatam—that came into prominence; the creation of later literary works that explore the gems of the Gaudiya literature focused on the holy lotus feet of Sri Chaitanyadev; the discovery of various music instruments for raga-ragini musical tradition focused on the spirituality—the conception that all these are the cause of national degradation befits only degraded people. Actually, devotees of the Lord do not renounce hundreds and hundreds of the produced luxury goods, perfumes, etc. exhibiting false renunciation and considering it unworthy of being seen or touched—rather, they use it as appropriate in the worship of the lotus feet of Sri Krishna. Those who are qualified to read Vaishnava literature (Govinda-lilamrшta, etc.) or those who are knowledgeable about the rules and regulations of service (Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa, etc.) collect and gather so many different luxury goods, ornamentation, valuable things, various flowers, garlands, etc. for the service of Sri Radha-Govinda.

The present day civilisation and education is associated with the so-called progress and prosperity that turn the jiva souls, collectively and individually, into enjoyers and soldiers set out on the adventure of destroying the nation, that fuels lust and material desires and that lures the jiva souls and throws them as an oblation into the sacrificial fire of the senses. Is this human sacrifice the mantra and the way to worship civilisation and progress?

With the conceptions of sincere spiritual traditions jumbled with the conceptions of sham religious traditions, with all these religious imposters filling our heads with their ideas of religion, we have become incapable of ascertaining the real truth. Unlike the fake religious traditions, those who are dedicated to spiritual life are not envious of the world and living souls, neither are they fond of souls' aversion to the Lord. Those who are dedicated to spiritual life do not feel animosity towards the exploits of science—rather, instead of using dynamite to clear the path for the human race to enjoy, Hari-katha and kirtan can be used to move the mountains and hills that stand like obstacles on the path of service to the Lord; instead of using an aeroplane to help kill living beings in a war for enjoyment, it can be used for preaching Krishna consciousness.

Ultimately, only the religion of the soul is capable of turning the face of despotic progress that destroys the nation and bestowing loving devotion to the Lord, spreading thus auspiciousness amongst all living entities. If we read historical accounts, we can see first-hand that in this world the benefit of materialistic conception of the life automatically entails material prosperity of the nation, but this inextinguishable 'submarine (vadava) fire' of enjoyment and renunciation leads not only to the downfall of the nation but also to its destruction.

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CONTENTS:

• Foreword
• (Preface) Meaning of Festival
• What Is Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math and Its Distinctions
• "Without Lord Krishna Life Is Meaningless"
• The Unrenounceable
• Sri Radhastami
• Proper Renunciation
• Astakala-Lila
• Is Religion the Cause of National Downfall?
• Householders and Renunciates
• Provincialism and Service to the Lord
• Offenders
• Hell
• Devotional Mood (Bhakta-Bhav)
• Home-interest vs Math-interest
• Samsara and Bhakti
• Questions and Answers