Hospital Staff Indifference Kills Woman

Waiting for their turn
excerpt from Teachings of Lord Kapila

Hospital means...

Discriminating Against the Poor A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

A person who is actually Krishna conscious is kind to everyone. Therefore one tenet of our philosophy is "No meat-eating." Of course, people may not accept this. They will say, "Oh, what is this nonsense? Meat is our food. Why should we not eat it?" Because they are intoxicated rascals (edhamana-madah [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.26]), they will not hear the real facts. But just consider: if a poor man is lying helpless in the street, can I kill him? Will the state excuse me? I may say, "I have only killed a poor man. There was no need for him in society. Why should such a person live?" But will the state excuse me? Will the authorities say, "You have done very nice work"? No. The poor man is also a citizen of the state, and the state cannot allow him to be killed. Now, why not expand this philosophy? The trees, the birds, and the beasts are also sons of God. If one kills them, one is as guilty as one who kills a poor man on the street. In God's eyes, or even in the vision of a learned man, there is no discrimination between poor and rich, black and white. No. Every living entity is part and parcel of God. And because a Vaishnava sees this, he is the only true benefactor of all living entities. more

When people are in the modes of passion and ignorance, they perform vikarma. They do not care for their future lives, and they are habituated to eating anything and everything, just like hogs. They do not care for the shastric injunctions, and they are totally irresponsible. They are just like street boys who have no education and do not care for anything. Such urchins do whatever they like, for their fathers and mothers do not care for them. Life in ignorance, tamo-guna, is such a careless life. People simply act unlawfully, not considering the results of their actions. They act for sense gratification, and actually they take pleasure in committing sins. In Calcutta I have seen people taking pleasure in cutting the throats of chickens and laughing when the chicken jumps and flaps about. Sometimes in Western countries students are taken to slaughterhouses just to see how the cows are butchered. In this age, people take pleasure in committing all kinds of sins. They have no brains to see that this body is temporary and full of suffering. They are completely in the mode of darkness, just like the animals they slaughter. There may be many animals in a pasture, and if one takes an animal aside and cuts its throat, the other animals will simply stand, look, and continue eating grass. They do not realize that the next time they may be slaughtered. The people in Kali-yuga are in the same situation, but the Krishna consciousness movement is trying to give these rascals a little sense. We are saying, "Don't remain animals. Become human beings." In the words of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:

krishna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha

"Forgetting Krishna, the living entity has been attracted by the external feature from time immemorial. Therefore the illusory energy (maya) gives him all kinds of misery in his material existence." (Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya 20.117)

When one forgets his relationship with Krishna, he acts in a very foolish way, and maya gives him one misery after another. It is also stated:

maya-mugdha jivera nahi svatah krishna jñana
jivere kripaya kaila krishna veda-purana

"The conditioned soul cannot revive his Krishna consciousness by his own effort. But out of causeless mercy, Lord Krishna compiled the Vedic literature and its supplements, the Puranas." (Cc. Madhya 20.122)

The Vedic literatures—the Vedanta, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata and many others—should be utilized if we wish to become free from the contamination of tamo-guna and rajo-guna. The whole world is revolving due to kama and lobha. Kama means "lusty desire," and lobha means "greed." people cannot have enough sex or money, and because of this, their hearts are filled with contaminations, which have to be cleansed by hearing, repeating and chanting. Human life is meant to get rid of anarthas, unwanted things, but where is the university or college where this science of purification is taught? The only institution is this Krishna consciousness society. Krishna is within the heart, and the contaminations are also there, but Krishna will help us cleanse them. Nashta-prayeshv abhadreshu nityam bhagavata-sevaya (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.18). We must regularly hear Srimad-Bhagavatam and chant Hare Krishna; these are the two processes recommended by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Haridasa thakura was chanting three hundred thousand holy names a day, but we have fixed the number at sixteen rounds. Nonetheless, we are so unfortunate and fallen that we cannot even perform them. We should not waste our time reading and talking nonsense, but should engage in the study of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Our time is very valuable, and we should not waste it. Chanakya Pandit has said: ayushah kshana eko 'pi na labhyah svarna-kotibhih. We may live for a hundred years, but not one moment of these hundred years can be returned, not even if we are prepared to pay millions of dollars. We cannot add a moment, nor can we get a moment back. If time is money, we should just consider how much money we have lost. However, time is even more precious because it cannot be regained. Therefore not a single moment should be lost. Human life should be utilized only for chanting and reading Vedic literatures. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is publishing many books so that people can utilize their time properly by reading them and make their lives successful. Not only should we read Srimad-Bhagavatam, but we should also serve the person bhagavata, one whose life is nothing but Srimad-Bhagavatam. Nityam bhagavata-sevaya [SB 1.2.18]. By this process we can attain the stage of bhagavad-bhakti, but first we must get rid of all these anarthas, unwanted things. Presently we are wasting our time thinking, "This is my country. This is my nation. This is my body and my family," and so on. Nityam bhagavata-sevaya. We can vanquish all these false conceptions when we come to the platform of sattva-guna. Then we will not be disturbed by tamo-guna or rajo-guna, nor by kama or lobha (lust and greed).