How the Vedic Civilization has diminished and how it can be revived
Until around 5000 years ago:
• There was only one flag in the whole World, the Vedic flag
• There was only one religion in the whole World, Sanatan-Dharma
• The was only one country in the whole World, Bharat
• The dominant language in the whole World was Sanskrit
• The dominant culture in the whole World was the Vedic culture
Today, there are more than 195 countries, and Sanatan-Dharma, Sanskrit, and the Vedic culture are all minority and diminishing.
There are many reasons for the diminutions and each is discussed with solutions to revive back the Vedic culture and dharma.
1. Ignorance among the Temple Personnel
The Temples are supposed to maintain and promote religiosity among the public. The Temples have become ignorant and out of tune with the reality and the result is degradation of society.
a. Many Temples don’t preach or don’t preach enough and thus the public learn nothing by going to these Temples. The result is degradation and loss of interest in the Vedic path. Preaching is most important and the highest service unto God.
“For one who explains the supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me. There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 18.68-69)
b. Some Temple preach but this is only beneficial to the limited few, due to the preaching being out of tune with the reality. The preachers are not able to understand the real life situation and mentality of the public and thus the preaching is of low benefit to the majority. Preaching should be done by many Gurus and not just a selected few. This is because one Guru cannot make everyone understand everything, but many can make everyone understand everything. The different Gurus will explain in different ways which is beneficial for the people, who are of variety of mentalities.
“Although God is one, sages have described Him in different manners. For this reason, one may not be able to gain a complete understanding of God from one ordinary spiritual master.” (Lord Krishna, Uddhava-Gita 3.31)
“Just as a bee takes the nectar from all kinds of flowers, similarly, an intelligent person should take the essence of all the scriptures.” (Lord Krishna, UddhavaGita 2.10)
c. Ego and pride among the Temple personnel. They think they know everything and are not open to good advice from others. The Temple visitors are limited to the knowledge they can gain from listening to those with limited and one sided viewpoints. The result of this is that people lose interest in going to Temples and/or the Vedic path. The Temples should setup a suggestion/complaint box and follow the recommendations from the visitors. This is used by many businesses and works very well.
d. Unqualified Temple personnel. Due to unqualified personnel, the Temples become expert at scaring people away instead of attracting and retaining them. Based on the Bhagavad-Gita (18.44), professional businessmen cannot be Brahmins and engaged in deity service, Temple management, and preaching in the Temple. This is because due to their nature (business minded), they will look upon everything with a materialistic view. Businessmen can serve the Temple by raising funds, cleaning, and accounting/administrative work. Those engaged in deity service and Temple management should be humble, truthful, and compassionate. Those who preach should in addition be very knowledgeable.
e. Most Temples don’t realize the importance of communication and responsiveness. If someone writes to them by snail mail or email, they never respond. There are many who have questions on the Vedic dharma and they communicate to the Temples via email and/or snail mail, but they never get a response. Even by phone, many times there is no resolution to the enquiries. The impression people get from trying to communicating with a Temple is that they don’t care.
f. Bad treatment of people. The result of bad treatment is that people leave the Vedic path and the Temples suffer from scarcity of service personnel and funds. Many Temples don’t have basic common sense. Treat people nicely and they will come back. Treat people badly and they will not come back.
“One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me – such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita
12.13-14)
“A devotee who faithfully engages in the worship of the Deity in the temple but does not behave properly toward other devotees or people in general is called a prakrta-bhakta, a materialistic devotee, and is considered to be in the lowest position.” (Swami Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.2.47)
“As long as one is not compassionate to people in general in his devotional service to the Lord, he is a third-class devotee. The first-class devotee gives assurance to every living being that there is no fear of this material existence: “Let us live in Krsna consciousness and conquer the nescience of material existence.” (Swami Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.21.31)
g. Cement mentality. The Temples think that the more cement (buildings) they can spread, the more successful the Temple is. Cement only destroys the natural beauty and does not lead to more sincere devotees. Only good treatment and suitable preaching will increase the number of sincere devotees.
h. Greed. Many Gurus/Swamis are only interested in raising money for their own benefit and advancement. They have no real interest in saving the fallen souls. Everything is based on money, money, and money. The big donors are seen as pious and those who don’t donate due to being poor or the small donors are seen as not worthy. Most people due to their own personal experience or having heard about the experiences of others, stay away from Gurus/Swamis. Simple material living and high spiritual thinking is the logo of devotional life and while money is needed, preaching should not be focused on those who donate big only. Everyone must get a chance to serve and advancement in devotional life.
“Member of the renounced order who fail to uproot the last traces of material desire in their hearts remain impure..” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.87.39)
i. Bogus Gurus/Swamis. There are some who only pretend to be religious, their real interest is wealth accumulation for their own benefit. To determine if a Guru/Swami is bogus, simple ask them for three years accounts which gives information on their income and expenses with bank statements and proofs of income and expenditure. If they cannot provide this then they are hiding something. Those who hide anything are not truthful and thus bogus. Being truthful is the number one quality of a genuine Brahmin. There are also many Temples which are only interested in collecting money and not spending it in the service of humanity. Before donating to any Temple or Guru/Swami. Ask them for their three years accounts. If they don’t keep accounts, then they are not accountable. Only trust those who are accountable. Not accountable means cheating and negligence.
“In the age of Kali, Godless civilizations will create so many so-called religious societies in which the Personality of Godhead will be directly or indirectly defied.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.16.20)
2. Ignorance among the Vedic followers
a. Abusive mother in laws. Many mother in laws treat their daughters in law very badly. The result of this is that Vedic girls are aware of this and stay away from marrying Vedic boys, fearing the mother in law. The girls marry into cow eating cultures. Most of these abusive mother in laws certainly pretend to be religious, because they go to Temples, perform deity worship, fast, go on pilgrimage to holy places, chant, and so on. But what is the value in all these austerities and devotional services, if they treat people badly? Compassion is one of the legs of religion and thus without this, one is simply irreligious. The mother in laws should treat their daughter in laws, like their very own daughters. If the daughter in law is treated nicely, then she will treat her husband more nicely and their relationship will become stronger. A happy son is the ultimate goal of all mothers.
b. Selfishness. There are many Vedic followers who are very religious, but they have absolutely no interest in promoting the Vedic culture to others, and even to their own children. If one does not pass on the Vedic culture to their children, they are the greatest enemy to their children. It is the Vedic culture which gives one the best chance to become free from material life and go back to the spiritual creation. Bringing up the children is also done by the animals, so what is so special about humans bringing up their children? The difference between the humans and animals is that only the humans can know God, the animals cannot. Only the Vedic path enables one to know God as a real and proven Person and not just a name in a book.
c. Money wastage. There are many who donate to cheating Temples/Gurus who simply keep raising funds, but spend very little or none on promoting the Vedic culture. Before donating a penny to anyone, please ask for accountability and look at their past history. Also get references from others.
d. Bogus Gurus/Swamis. There are many bogus preachers who deviate from the teachings of the Vedic scriptures and the result of this is that people get confused and leave the Vedic path. One should follow the instructions in the Bhagavad-Gita, accept by many great Vedic Acharya as the essence of all Vedic knowledge. There are also many bogus translations of the Bhagavad-Gita, one should follow ‘The Bhagavad-Gita As It Is’, which is translated by the most genuine and most potent preacher of Sanatan-Dharma, his divine grace Swami Srila Prabhupada. There are also other genuine explanations of the Bhagavad-Gita by other great Acharyas and preachers. The main criteria for knowing that it’s genuine is that they accept Lord Krishna as the Supreme Person.
e. Drinking to vomit out all human values. Alcohol is a big problem. These fishes think that drinking is natural and they have no consideration for religion for themselves nor for their children. Nor do they have any interest in passing on their culture and dharma to the future generations. The mothers should ensure that their children NEVER touch any bottle. Partying is the origin of all bad habits including drinking and thus children should be taught to stay away from parties. Just one party and one moment of bad association is all it takes to pick up nasty habits. Which will completely ruin this and many lives for the fish and many others.
f. No religious patriotism. The males in every species of living beings will fight for females so that its genes can be passed on for the continual survival of its species. Unfortunately among some male Vedic followers. They have no desire to pass on their culture and dharma. Many fathers let their daughters loose on the street (partying and/or away from home), so anyone can take them for a ride and marriage. Daughters should be protected from degradation by giving them Vedic knowledge so they understand the importance of spiritual life and become inclined to marrying boys who are spiritually orientated.
g. No interest in religion. There are many who have no interest in religion. They forget that there is time which is quickly eroding their life and based on the infallible law of Karma, one gets a body in a particular situation exactly according to what they deserve. Only the human beings can follow a religion, and among the human beings, only the Vedic
followers can know God, and in full. Those who are born into the Vedic religion and have no interest in the Vedic religion are like those who have given up a diamond for some stool. There are 8.4 million species of living beings, in which the soul keeps circulating life after life. Only the most foolish would give up the opportunity to become free from material life and go back to the spiritual creation where there is no old age, no disease, no death, and no misery.
“After many lifetimes in lower species, one achieves the rare human form of life. Although temporary, the human body gives one the opportunity to attain the perfection of life. One who is actually intelligent should try to attain this perfection of life as long as the body remains healthy. After all, sense gratification is available in all the other species of life, whereas Krsna consciousness can only be cultivated by a human being.” (Lord Krishna, Uddhava-Gita 3.29)
3. Ignorance among the Government Personnel
a. Based on the Vedic scriptures, the leaders are supposed to be religious so the public can follow them. Unfortunately the majority of the Politicians have no real interest in religion. The result of this is that they will have policies which will destroy true religiosity and promote irreligious values (anything that is opposed to the Vedic principles). Who is to blame for irreligious Politicians? Those who vote for irreligious Politicians and those who did not vote for the religious orientated Politicians. One should promote and only vote for religious orientated Politicians and policies.
4. Ignorance among the Celebrities Personnel
a. Bollywood is simply demonic. There are many Vedic followers in Bollywood, but they have no real interest in religion and they have no real knowledge of the Vedic teachings. Bollywood is the biggest destroyer of Vedic dharma. What the Moguls could not achieve in 800 years of India rule, Bollywood has achieved it in less than 25 years. The whole purpose of Bollywood movies and serials is to degrade the viewers and destroy the Vedic culture and dharma. The biggest fans of Bollywood are grandmothers, who are glued to movies and serials all day. They love watching the half-naked daughters of others dancing silly on the streets. Why don’t they dance half naked on the streets? Or would they want to see their own daughters dance half-naked on the streets?
“Being attracted by the mundane singing, dancing and musical performances of beautiful women, even great sage Rsyasrnga, the son of Mrgi, came under their sway, just like a pet dog.” (Lord Krishna, Uddhava-Gita 2.18)
5. Ignorance on the intensions of others
a. One can be 100% certain that the intensions of the cow killing cultures is to destroy the Vedic culture and dharma. One only has to see the history of India to realize this truth.
The Vedic followers should do more to preach and spread the Vedic culture and dharma. Through its purity, the Vedic culture and dharma can be revived again.
(EternalReligion.org – 26SEP2014)
Source: EternalReligion.org