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[Posted May
28, 2006]
Quarrels Breaking Out over
Trifles
His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acharya of the
world-wide Hare Krishna Movement, Brahma Sampradaya Acharya
Excerpt
from Srimad-Bhagavatam,
Canto 1, Chapter 5
BBC
News,
Sunday, May 28, 2006--Iran Azeris protest over cartoon
There have been demonstrations in several parts of north-west Iran,
with thousands of ethnic Azeris protesting at a newspaper cartoon.
by MATTHEW
COLLIN
Azeris said the cartoon, which was
published earlier this month, compared them to cockroaches.
Reports from the cities of Ardebil, Naqadeh and Meshkin Shahr say
Iranian security forces fired on demonstrators, killing at least five
people.
Srimad-Bhagavatam,
Canto 1, Chapter 5, Text 11
Those words which do not
describe the glories of
the Lord, who alone
can sanctify the atmosphere of the whole universe, are considered by
saintly persons to be like unto a place of pilgrimage for crows. Since
the all-perfect persons are inhabitants of the transcendental abode,
they do not derive any pleasure there.
PURPORT
Crows and swans are not birds of the same feather because of their
different mental attitudes. The fruitive workers or passionate men are
compared to the crows, whereas the all-perfect saintly persons are
compared to the swans. The crows take pleasure in a place where garbage
is thrown out, just as the passionate fruitive workers take pleasure in
wine and woman and places for gross sense pleasure. The swans do not
take pleasure in the places where crows are assembled for conferences
and meetings. They are instead seen in the atmosphere of natural scenic
beauty where there are transparent reservoirs of water nicely decorated
with stems of lotus flowers in variegated colors of natural beauty.
That is the difference between the two classes of birds.
Nature has influenced different species of life with different
mentalities, and it is not possible to bring them up into the same rank
and file.
Similarly, there are different kinds of literature for different types
of men of different mentality. Mostly the market literatures which
attract men of the crow's categories are literatures containing refused
remnants of sensuous topics. They are generally known as mundane talks
in relation with the gross body and subtle mind. They are full of
subject matter described in decorative language full of mundane similes
and metaphorical arrangements. Yet with all that, they do not glorify
the Lord. Such poetry and prose, on any subject matter, is considered
decoration of a dead body. Spiritually advanced men who are compared to
the swans do not take pleasure in such dead literatures, which are
sources of pleasure for men who are spiritually dead. These literatures
in the modes of passion and ignorance are distributed under different
labels, but they can hardly help the spiritual urge of the human being,
and thus the swanlike spiritually advanced men have nothing to do with
them. Such spiritually advanced men are called also manasa
because they always keep up the standard of transcendental voluntary
service to the Lord on the spiritual plane. This completely forbids
fruitive activities for gross bodily sense satisfaction or subtle
speculation of the material egoistic mind.
Social literary men, scientists, mundane poets, theoretical
philosophers and politicians who are completely absorbed in the
material advancement of sense pleasure are all dolls of the material
energy. They take pleasure in a place where rejected subject matters
are thrown. According to Swami Sridhara, this is the pleasure of the
prostitute-hunters.
But literatures which describe the glories of the Lord are enjoyed by
the paramahamsas who have grasped the essence of human
activities.
SB 1.5.11:
On the other hand, that
literature which is full
of descriptions of the
transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the
unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental
words directed toward bringing about a revolution in the impious lives
of this world's misdirected civilization. Such transcendental
literatures, even though imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and
accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest.
PURPORT
It is a qualification of the great thinkers to pick up the best even
from the worst. It is said that the intelligent man should pick up
nectar from a stock of poison, should accept gold even from a filthy
place, should accept a good and qualified wife even from an obscure
family and should accept a good lesson even from a man or from a
teacher who comes from the untouchables. These are some of the ethical
instructions for everyone in every place without exception. But a saint
is far above the level of an ordinary man. He is always absorbed in
glorifying the Supreme Lord because by broadcasting the holy name and
fame of the Supreme Lord, the polluted atmosphere of the world will
change, and as a result of propagating the transcendental literatures
like Srimad-Bhagavatam, people will become sane in
their transactions. While preparing this commentation on this
particular stanza of Srimad-Bhagavatam we have a
crisis before us. Our neighboring friend China has attacked the border
of India with a militaristic spirit. We have practically no business in
the political field, yet we see that previously there were both China
and India, and they both lived peacefully for centuries without ill
feeling. The reason is that they lived those days in an atmosphere of
God consciousness, and every country, over the surface of the world,
was God-fearing, pure-hearted and simple, and there was no question of
political diplomacy. There is no cause of quarrel between the two
countries China and India over land which is not very suitable for
habitation, and certainly there is no cause for fighting on this issue.
But due to the age of quarrel, Kali, which we have discussed, there is
always a chance of quarrel on slight provocation. This is due not to
the issue in question, but to the polluted atmosphere of this age:
systematically there is propaganda by a section of people to stop
glorification of the name and fame of the Supreme Lord. Therefore,
there is a great need for disseminating the message of
Srimad-Bhagavatam all over the world. It is the duty
of every responsible Indian to broadcast the transcendental message of
Srimad-Bhagavatam throughout the world to do all the
supermost good as well as to bring about the desired peace in the
world. Because India has failed in her duty by neglecting this
responsible work, there is so much quarrel and trouble all over the
world. We are confident that if the transcendental message of
Srimad-Bhagavatam is received only by the leading
men of the world, certainly there will be a change of heart, and
naturally the people in general will follow them. The mass of people in
general are tools in the hands of the modern politicians and leaders of
the people. If there is a change of heart of the leaders only,
certainly there will be a radical change in the atmosphere of the
world. We know that our honest attempt to present this great literature
conveying transcendental messages for reviving the God consciousness of
the people in general and respiritualizing the world atmosphere is
fraught with many difficulties. Our presenting this matter in adequate
language, especially a foreign language, will certainly fail, and there
will be so many literary discrepancies despite our honest attempt to
present it in the proper way. But we are sure that with all our faults
in this connection the seriousness of the subject matter will be taken
into consideration, and the leaders of society will still accept this
due to its being an honest attempt to glorify the Almighty God. When
there is fire in a house, the inmates of the house go out to get help
from the neighbors who may be foreigners, and yet without knowing the
language the victims of the fire express themselves, and the neighbors
understand the need, even though not expressed in the same language.
The same spirit of cooperation is needed to broadcast this
transcendental message of the Srimad-Bhagavatam
throughout the polluted atmosphere of the world. After all, it is a
technical science of spiritual values, and thus we are concerned with
the techniques and not with the language. If the techniques of this
great literature are understood by the people of the world, there will
be success.
When there are too many materialistic activities by the people in
general all over the world, there is no wonder that a person or a
nation attacks another person or nation on slight provocation. That is
the rule of this age of Kali or quarrel. The atmosphere is already
polluted with corruption of all description, and everyone knows it
well. There are so many unwanted literatures full of materialistic
ideas of sense gratification. In many countries there are bodies
appointed by the state to detect and censor obscene literature. This
means that neither the government nor the responsible leaders of the
public want such literature, yet it is in the marketplace because the
people want it for sense gratification. The people in general want to
read (that is a natural instinct), but because their minds are polluted
they want such literatures. Under the circumstances, transcendental
literature like Srimad-Bhagavatam will not only diminish
the activities of the corrupt mind of the people in general, but also
it will supply food for their hankering after reading some interesting
literature. In the beginning they may not like it because one suffering
from jaundice is reluctant to take sugar candy, but we should know that
sugar candy is the only remedy for jaundice. Similarly, let there be
systematic propaganda for popularizing reading of the Bhagavad-gita
and the Srimad-Bhagavatam, which will act like sugar
candy for the jaundicelike condition of sense gratification. When men
have a taste for this literature, the other literatures, which are
catering poison to society, will then automatically cease.
We are sure, therefore, that everyone in human society will welcome Srimad-Bhagavatam,
even though it is now presented with so many faults, for it is
recommended by Sri Narada, who has very kindly appeared in this
chapter.
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