Illusions, Illusions, Illusions

All sincere devotees of the Lord have one quality in common. First instinctively and then consciously, they have always had, and always will have, a suspicious attitude toward whatever is fed to them as “information.” Srila Prabhupada stated that before accepting anything from the treasure house of Vedic knowledge, we must entirely forget whatever we have ever heard from material sources. With one shocking piece of news after another, he presented reality to us while attacking illusion. Srila Prabhupada exposed, without any compromise, the lies we had been fed from the very day we were born.

The fact that we are not this material body, designated by the genetic code given to us and the designations we collected along the way, but that we are eternal spiritual souls, entirely estranged from this unnatural material habitat in which we live, is still to be explored even by sincere spiritual seekers, as again and again we are victimized by material misconceptions.

Every word we heard prior to hearing from Srila Prabhupada is a lie.

Discovering the world in which we have lived for millions of lifetimes, we have learned, birth after birth, how to walk and speak again. By Krsna’s mercy, we have forgotten whatever illusions we followed in our last lifetime, and so we embrace new illusions day after day in this lifetime. It is indeed merciful that our memory has been lost, as remembering all those moments when we had to die and leave behind everything to which we were so attached would only result in many babies committing suicide. But, as we know, there are no suicidal babies, as, completely covered by a new body, the newborns are enthusiastically ignorant of their real identity. Only after many, many lifetimes of being cheated in this way does a doubt arise in the heart of the conditioned soul that perhaps the time has come to seek the real truth and stop collecting false designations, considering them to be our real identity.

Such doubts immediately make one a renegade, an unfit member of society, as being illusioned and following the lies ordained for us is the standard for any conditioned soul. The name given to us, the nationality assigned to us—all this can be changed, as we see today. The artificial change of nationality and the absolutely opportunistic way in which one nation invades another only increase the chaos and the level of misidentification that we believe to be our real identity.

Krsna Consciousness, a place where we learn not to be this body but to act on a spiritual platform, is the only place where mediation and unification can take place.

As Srila Prabhupada pointed out, more and more flags are appearing in front of the building of the “United Nations”; such illusory forums obviously do not unite anybody.

All the problems we experience, even among the more sincere seekers of the spiritual path, are based on the still-prevailing bodily identification. Even in the name of religion, we have been cheated, as one sect worships institutionalized dogmatic leaders who said that a Messiah nailed to a cross is to be worshiped—a saint nobody knows the appearance of, where he was born, or where he died, killed by his own followers—a sect whose members now symbolically eat his flesh and drink his blood in their churches while expecting to enter the kingdom of God, heaven, a place they do not know the appearance of. Then there are those who believe that the best service to God is to kill the members of other religions, as their religion must be spread “by fire and sword.” As their prophet used to be a robber and murderer, they follow in his footsteps by invading other countries and mercilessly killing, in the name of God, anybody who stands in their way. Then there are those who follow any religious path anywhere by hearing from anybody anywhere and worshiping anything anywhere. And so, in the name of Christianity, the Muslim religion, and Hinduism, the real path of worshiping God is forgotten, and once again the sects fight one another, struggling for dominance in this material world.

It is a world of cheaters and the cheated, as stated by Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja, and it is an absolute priority for any sanity-seeking human being to reject such lies one after another. Even though outwardly we may be forced to live and associate with cheaters and cheated people, a devotee uses every opportunity to share what he has received from Srila Prabhupada: the Truth.

Truth is feared by the cheated, as it brings responsibility and the necessity of proper action to each individual person. And so, once again following the path of the cheaters, people in general hide behind slogans and false leaders, only to blame them later. Is one Hitler or one Stalin capable of starting such massive destruction in the form of a World War? Surely, that is not possible. Both examples mentioned were glorified and even democratically voted for by masses of rascals who later defined them as the main culprits. When one goes to a circus, one cannot complain about the obnoxious behavior of the clowns.

And so it takes conscious and constant endeavor to abstain from identifying with the lies served to us, even in the name of spiritual life. As hungry men always speak about the need to feed others, merciless men always speak about the need to love one another, and arrogant men pose as humble servants of humanity, again and again we are cheated by pretenders and opportunists.

There is hope. Srila Prabhupada’s words are still there, still sounding in written and audio-recorded form, informing us about our real identity. What gifts we received from Srila Prabhupada! The Srimad Bhagavatam he gave us can, in one verse, one sloka, tear down any illusion we encounter along the way. Here is an example:

“As the moon reflected on water appears to the seer to tremble due to being associated with the quality of the water, so the self associated with matter appears to be qualified as matter.”

(Srimad Bhagavatam, Third Canto, Chapter 7, Text 11)

In the purport to this sloka, Srila Prabhupada describes the beautiful interaction between the constant and permanent spiritual reality, the Supreme Lord, and us, who in illusory form are moved just as the glitter of the moon is perceived on moving water. But it is only the reflection by which we are confused; our real identity is constant and never subject to the temporary changes in this material world. As Srila Prabhupada comments, ”The living entities appear to be tainted by material qualities like illusion, lamentation, and miseries, although in the pure soul such qualities are completely absent.”

Even in the conditioned state, the soul appears fascinating, illuminating a body filled with stool and blood with radiance. Instead of truly loving one another, we end up exchanging chemicals, resulting in the creation of other bodies. Instead of being truly united, for the sake of this body, we follow our selfish ways of enjoying this world, and despite speaking highly, as some academically educated fellows do, we emerge on the scene as total idiots, impressing others with a new brand of illusions. As though it were not sufficient to behold the temporary manifestation of this material world, we create within it, in the form of “Artificial Intelligence,” an illusion of another kind. Now we call it “Artificial Intelligence.” Soon it may be defined as real intelligence. As God can create a perfect illusion for us, we try to imitate Him even in this regard and create our own brand of illusion as well. This line of “progress” Srila Prabhupada used to call “phantasmagoria.” It is by dint of renouncing such illusions that our lives become “simply wonderful.” All we need to do is abstain from becoming, in the name of advancement, “complicated and miserable.”

Despite all the empty promises of false leaders, our lives are becoming more and more hellish. Being allured to leave the land, we find ourselves living in hellish cities where even financing a few square meters of living space becomes a problem. Totally dependent on the mercy of others, we declare our freedom, and, totally bereft of intelligence, we claim our “democratic” right to vote for those who cheat us even more. As another enlightened man said: “Democracy is the last trick of tyranny.” He even received a Nobel Prize by declaring it to be the work of the devil. There are those who instinctively seek ways to avoid illusions. But having no tangible alternative, they often either get killed or simply end up resigned, retreating into a depressive state of mind.

Srila Prabhupada called for radical change and bold opposition to any illusion served to us along the way. He boldly stated that in order to accept Krsna Consciousness, we have to forget whatever we have heard. Life comes from life and not from the arrangements of those who claim to define reality for us. Srila Prabhupada called any educational system of today simply a “slaughterhouse of intelligence,” or, as another enlightened man said, “I still have some intelligence because I am not educated.”

Srila Prabhupada called for radical action, beginning with revolutionizing our hearts while simultaneously encouraging others to do the same. Then, by changing ourselves, we may be able to unite with those who strive for the same, creating the basis of a movement that accepts everybody as being “simultaneously one and different,” in the way God created us, His eternal parts. As Krsna is simultaneously one with and different from His creation, we can follow by simultaneously living in the material world while preparing ourselves to leave it for the spiritual world, the only place where our true expectations of love and unity can be fulfilled. With regard to this world, to whatever extent the cheating propensity dominates its residents, there is a way to avoid such cheating, even if the cheaters are always the majority. Intelligence is always defined by the minority, as the history of mankind demonstrates. Even though truly demoniac persons are few, they manage to dominate the majority of a stupefied audience, always inspiring them to “destroy the old and create the new.”

However, Srila Prabhupada defined the “new” inventions of any kind in this world as “old wine in new bottles.” After all, none of them goes beyond another version of arrangements for eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, as previous generations of fools have done. As we can see today, even the quality of cheating is decreasing. Even in my short lifetime, during the last 72 years, I have had the opportunity to witness such degradation of the ideals, values, and products served to society that it fills me with wonder how quickly this age of Kali is progressing. Gold is replaced by plastic, currency is merely paper printed by the owners of the printers, and the quality of any product is incompatible with its intended use, making it worthless junk in no time. The gizmos are of such a complicated nature that the manuals for using them are far greater than the gizmos themselves. The ever-new but identical-looking cars are of such low quality that they fall apart as soon as the warranty period is over, or even before. The quality of basic food ingredients is replaced by a collection of various chemicals masked as food, which are entirely destructive to our health. We are surrounded by poisonous substances and radiation that bring about the destruction of our cherished bodies faster than we can imagine. While we are promised protection by dint of vaccination, we are killed by the very same “protective” chemicals in no time. The blind faith that people extend toward the pharmaceutical industry can indeed be compared to the faith of any fanatical sect member.

The leaders are becoming simply hordes of abusive, vulgar hoodlums, screaming at one another and at their followers at will. Knowing well that their time in leading positions is very limited, they steal whatever they can, awarding themselves pensions beyond the imagination of any old woman who worked her whole life for them. Art becomes simply an abstract collection of splashes of color, architecture becomes the construction of plain concrete garages with kitchens that resemble a morgue, and music becomes simply a loud reproduction of hellish sounds. The more degraded the lead singers of this bizarre, illusory orchestra are, the more they are admired by an even more degraded audience. All this is easy to document and easy to see for those who want to see.

And so Srila Prabhupada called for an absolute and radical retreat from such an illusioned society by actively and aggressively advocating a new society, a society of saintly men and women who seek refuge in Krsna’s words and seek ways to apply them in their lives. It is a time calling for the renunciation of lies and illusions, as these lies and illusions have become so abusive and so destructive to our lives that any sane person will naturally abstain from them. It is a time to tolerate the conditioned state of another as long as his motivation to learn how to abstain from such conditioning is right.

We cannot help those who insist on identifying themselves with false designations, even in the name of spiritual life. Krsna Consciousness is based on voluntary individual choice. But ultimately having no other choice than to seek the Truth or remain in illusion, the choice is clear for anybody who is sincere at heart. No academic education is required, and no fancy vocabulary is needed; “it is simple for the simple ones and complicated for the complicated ones.” It is indeed a challenge to become simple, as we were taught by another band of cheaters that “simple means primitive.”

The way to receive good advice is so simple that most people cannot do it. They would rather embrace another brand of lies, “advancing” in their overcomplicated ways, feeling superior and distinct from others. Lord Caitanya made the process of Krsna Consciousness so simple. But to become simple is not easy, said Srila Prabhupada. We see, over and over again, attempts being made by vain, arrogant fellows to complicate the simple ways of becoming Krsna Conscious given by Srila Prabhupada. The result speaks for itself. On the path of the complicated ones, we find only confusion, polarization, argumentation, and quarrels. On the path of those who are chaste and simply follow, we find unity and a peaceful frame of mind.

The choice is ours. There is nobody else to blame.