War is Natural

Friends today, enemies tomorrow

Who are you?

You Too will be Kicked Out A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Today you are an Englishman because you were born in England, but in your next life you may not take your birth in England; it may be in China or Russia or some other country. Or you may not get this human form of body. Today you are a nationalist, you are a very great follower of your country, but tomorrow if you stay in your country you may be a cow being taken to the slaughterhouse. more

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HANSADUTTA: World history is the sequence of persons who tend to lord it over.

SITHU: And become toppled.

HANSADUTTA: And who eventually…

SITHU: Disappear.

HANSADUTTA: That's all there is. An attempt to lord it over material nature by concocted ideologies: communism, socialism, capitalism, imperialism, or some ism. But it is always the same underlying motive, to lord it over and exploit the resources of material nature. And for that they use the name of God, they use welfare.

SITHU: Look at the history of Mahabharata, people have been learning world history for centuries. Everybody has learned history, but what is the outcome? Nobody uses history, other than as a method to perpetuate their—

HANSADUTTA: Perpetuating.

SITHU: We actually know what happens in life. If there was a war, would it stop war by learning world history?

HANSADUTTA: Prabhupada said war cannot be stopped. He said war is natural. It's natural. War means accumulation of sinful reactions, taking its toll. We should stop birth and death, not war. We should aim at stopping the cycle of birth and death. War cannot be stopped. It will go on.

SITHU: All the noble sentiments of patriotism are just wasted?

HANSADUTTA: It's a waste. Just the bodily concept of life. Extended selfishness. I love my family, and because my family is part of the community, I love the community, and the community is part of this nation; therefore, I love this nation.

SITHU: We go to war and die, then get born again on the other side.

HANSADUTTA: Right. Because one has identified himself with a nation, when the nation confronts another nation, so he has to sacrifice his life for the nation. But we say, if I have to sacrifice my life—which I do, at some point I have to give up this life—then let me sacrifice for the highest cause, Krishna. Love of Krishna. And even if I fail, if I don't perfect, Krishna says there is no loss. There is no loss in that. When one sacrifices for a material cause, he's just a loser. Look at all those Germans who sacrificed. And the Americans who sacrificed. What did they gain? Or when they went to Vietnam, what did they gain? Now they're giving loans to Vietnam. And Russia…. This material see-saw is all on the mental plane. Who is my friend today will be my enemy tomorrow, and who is my enemy today will be my friend tomorrow. There is no continuity. There is no permanence. It will come and go.

You will be recycled

SITHU: All those men who foolishly believed they were serving the cause by dying were cheated?

HANSADUTTA: They were cheated. Because what will they gain for that? Okay, again be an American. You loved America and gave your life for America? So we'll give you America again. Be American. You be Chinaman, you be Japanese. Whatever your determination is, Krishna says, "All right, you take it." You live like a dog, you'll be a dog. I met Timothy Leary one day. That was in John Lennon's place, in fact. He came in, he was already bombed, on drugs. I said, "Here, take some prasadam." I put it in his mouth. He said, "What is this?" I said, "This is prasadam. If you take it, it's guaranteed you'll be a human being in your next life and won't be a dog or an animal." He spit it out. He said, "I want to be a dog." He was so ignorant.

SITHU: He said that?

HANSADUTTA: Yes. He said, "I want to be a dog." People have this idea that animals are free. They always... during the hippy days there was a group of hippies who worshipped hogs, pigs, because they thought pigs had a really good time. They could have sex without discrimination, eat trash. So they felt that the hog's life was emblematic of freedom. Uninhibited. The hippy call was the uninhibited. The women all took off their brassieres and walked around with their boobs flopping around. That kind of.... Again, there's desire for being uninhibited and natural. It's a natural, eternal compulsion, but because they had no knowledge of the higher spiritual nature, they wanted to have this freedom in the material nature. But material nature is not my nature. My nature is there, but I'm here. To exhibit unrestricted, uninhibited freedom in eating, sleeping, defending and sex here means bondage. We must have it there. Freedom in the spirit.

SITHU: So many people want that freedom.

HANSADUTTA: They don't understand. Because they have no proper knowledge that this is not our natural environment. They think natural means this. But this is unnatural. Why? Because it won't last. It will be born, grow and produce something, dwindle and vanish. Like Singapore. It was born, it has grown, it is producing some offspring, and then it will begin to dwindle and then vanish. Everything will undergo these six changes, and Singapore is no exception. But Lee Kwan Yew is thinking, "Oh, this will be an exception." He's thinking that this will be an exception.

SITHU: Is this the greatest maya? I'm sure that he's seeing so many other countries all through history go through it.

HANSADUTTA: And now Americans are being defeated. Within their own country, the young people think, "Who cares? Who gives a sh_t." They don't care. They just throw it off. The young Americans are apathetic.