Power to the People

Founder-Acharya of the world-wide Hare Krishna Movement, Brahma Sampradaya Acharya

Reuters - Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - Google boss warns politicians about Internet power
LONDON (Reuters) - Imagine being able to check instantly whether or not statements made by politicians were correct. That is the sort of service Google Inc. boss Eric Schmidt believes the Internet will offer within five years.

Politicians have yet to appreciate the impact of the online world, which will also affect the outcome of elections, Schmidt said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday.

Writing in the Sun tabloid, the Google boss said the online world has empowered ordinary people with the ability to challenge governments, the media and business.

"It has broken down the barriers that exist between people and information, effectively democratizing access to human knowledge," Schmidt wrote.

Revolution from the ground up
excerpt from Letter to Rupanuga, Bombay, December 18, 1974

If somehow or other we can convince the majority of the United States population to take to Krishna consciousness then the whole world will become Krishna conscious. This is a fact. The United States is the leader of all other nations. You simply educate the people in this Krishna conscious philosophy and then there will be no difficulty in capturing the government. In your country there is very good system of democracy. As we have seen just recently the people, as the common people have so much power, that they were able to get down this Nixon, who is obviously a rascal. So if we can simply convince a good majority of persons then they will automatically want a Krishna conscious leader. And if there are Krishna conscious leaders in the government then they will act as Krishna's representative and will be able to save the world from the disastrous condition of life. At the present moment there is nothing but great calamity but by injecting Krishna consciousness into the masses we can change this situation greatly.

How?
Srimad-Bhagavatam (purport, 7.2.11): "The Science of God"

Because of the increment in demoniac population, people have lost brahminical culture. Nor is there a kshatriya government. Instead, the government is a democracy in which any shudra can be voted into taking up the governmental reigns and capture the power to rule. Because of the poisonous effects of Kali-yuga, the shastra (Srimad-Bhagavatam 12.2.13) says, dasyu-prayeshu rajasu: the government will adopt the policies of dasyus, or plunderers. Thus there will be no instructions from the brahmanas, and even if there are brahminical instructions, there will be no kshatriya rulers who can follow them. Aside from Satya-yuga [a previous age], even formerly, in the days when demons were flourishing, Hiranyakashipu planned to destroy the brahminical culture and the kshatriya government and thus create chaos all over the world. Although in Satya-yuga this plan was very difficult to execute, in Kali-yuga, which is full of shudras and demons, the brahminical culture is lost and can be revived only by the chanting of the maha-mantra. Therefore the Krishna consciousness movement, or the Hare Krishna movement, has been inaugurated to revive brahminical culture very easily so that people may become happy and peaceful in this life and prepare for elevation in the next. In this regard, Srila Madhvacharya quotes this verse from the Brahmanda Purana:

vipra-yajnadi-mulam tu
harir ity asuram matam
harir eva hi sarvasya
mulam samyan mato nripa

"O King, the demons think that Hari, Lord Vishnu, exists because of the brahmanas and yajna, but factually Hari is the cause of everything including the brahmanas and yajna."

Therefore, through the popularizing of hari-kirtana, or the sankirtana movement, the brahminical culture and kshatriya government will automatically come back, and people will be extremely happy.

1. brahminical culture—cultivation of human society in accordance with religious principles, namely austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness, aiming towards spiritual self-realization. [back to text]

2. kshatriya government—monarchy or dictatorship where the king or dictator is a God conscious and benefic ruler who takes guidance from spiritually enlightened counselors, and acts to protect the citizens and ensure that their necessities are met and that they can live peacefully and cooperatively as a spiritually progressive society. [back to text]

3. shudra—laborer class of men. [back to text]

4. Kali-yuga—the present age in which we are now living, one of 4 yugas (Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali), which like seasons, are cycles of universal time. Kali-yuga lasts 432,000 years, of which we have passed 5,000. [back to text]

5. maha-mantra—the chant or hymn "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare", popularized by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago in India, and re-introduced to the West & East by the Hare Krishna movement's Founder-Acharya, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The 16 names comprised of 32 syllables are specifically mentioned in the Kalisantarana Upanishad, as well as the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, Naradiya Purana and other Vedic literatures as the exclusive means for counteracting the pernicious environment of this present age of Kali. [back to text]

6. sankirtana movement—organized campaign to introduce congregational chanting of the holy names. See Sankirtan Movement. [back to text]