Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisance’s at your lotus feet on the occasion of your 113th appearance anniversary.
All glories to you, our beloved Srila Prabhupada!
Every year in your divine service brings to us, your followers, and newer and newer realizations of the truth and the supreme necessity of your teachings for us individually, organizationally, and globally. This year, that realization has come powerfully through the medium of the global meltdown. As the Recession is tightening its vicious grip on the world economy, unemployment is increasing rapidly. Even those who have not yet lost their jobs are seeing their income stagnant or decreased and are living in constant fear of “the dreaded pink slip.” Economic experts are predicting a grim, ominous future. Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, has said:
It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the [USA} and we’re going to see many more. We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not used to. It’s going to come as a shock, and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs—over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension.
Srila Prabhupada, you had, nearly four decades ago, pointed out the artificial, unstable nature of modern industrial economy. The present economic model considers the ability to provide a few people with luxuries like cars, computers, and cell-phones as signs of success, whereas the Vedic economic model that you taught us considers the ability to provide necessities like food and water as signs of success. You would emphatically expose the ridiculousness of this standard of success on many occasions:
Prabhupada: Mother asked . . . Mother Durgä asked the devotee . . . Because Durgä comes every year. Asked the devotee, “My dear son, you are happy?”
“Yes, Mother, very happy.”
“So there is no complaint?”
“Only two complaints.”
“What is that?”
“There is no food and there is no cloth. Otherwise we are very happy.” [Laughter] Two difficulties: no food, no cloth. [Room conversation, January 1977, Bhuvaneshwar]
And of course, your unforgettable exposé of modern so-called industrial progress echoes repeatedly, even today, from the lips of your faithful followers: “Can you eat nuts and bolts?” In fact, you pointed out the folly of the loan-based purchasing that led to the US subprime crisis and eventually the global meltdown:
Prabhupäda: In America the bank canvasses that “You take money, you purchase motorcar, you purchase your house, and as soon as you get your salary, you give me.” That’s all. Finished. You take the card . . . American . . . What is it called? Am-card? Yes.
Syamasundara: Bankamericard.
Prabhupäda: “Bank-card” or something. “Bank-rupt.” [Laughter] You see? So you take the card and you purchase whatever you like. And deposit your money in the bank. Then again, you are without any money. Simply that card. That’s all. [Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture, October 1972]
Eminent thinkers have not only pointed out the problems of the merely five-hundred-year-old Western civilization, but have also stated that the solution will come only from the ancient, indeed timeless, Vedic civilization. Late British historian Arnold Toynbee reminds us, “It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the Self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian way.”
You unequivocally elaborated on this same theme during your celebrated Azad Hind Maidan lecture series in Mumbai, 1977, which I was blessed to have the opportunity to attend. You had fittingly, prophetically titled that lecture series “Western Civilization Is a Failure. Krsna Consciousness Is the Only Hope.”
The Vedic socioeconomic model is so practical and essential that when Lord Krsna came to this world He demonstrated it by His own life. He Himself looked after cows, and Balarama carried a plow, used to till the earth. You elaborated on the standard of real prosperity that this represents: Dhänyena dhanavän. If you have got grain, then you are rich. And if you have got cows, then you are rich. This is the standard of Vedic richness. Dhänyena dhanavän gavayo dhanavän.
They don’t say, “Keep some papers and you become rich.” All rascals, one thousand dollar I promise to pay a piece of paper. Practical, we have got enough food grains. We have got enough . . . That is richness. What is use of paper? Even gold you have got, you have to exchange. And if you have grain, immediate food. Just boil with milk and it is nectarean, param anna, immediately. Take some wood collected from the wood and have fire, put the milk and the grains—oh, you’ll get so nice food, nutritious, full of vitamin, and so easily made. It is practical. So tasteful, so nutritious, and don’t require. If you simply boil little milk and little grain, whole day, so much sweet rice, you take—bäs. You don’t require any more. And if you add little apples and fruits, oh, it is heavenly. Your whole day free from any food anxiety, and you can work. And you can work.
You can chant Hare Krsna. Make this ideal life here. America has got good potency. We have got so much land here. We can have hundreds of New Vrndavana or farms like that. And people will be happy. And invite the entire world, “Please come and live with us. Why you are suffering congestion, overpopulation? Welcome here. Chant Hare Krsna. [Room Conversation, June 28, 1976, New Vrndavana]
As the failure of the modern economy is being exposed on all fronts, now is the time to preach vigorously about the Vedic solution of God-centered simple living that you taught.
On the occasion of your 113th Vyasa puja, we pray to you for guidance to properly present and represent your teachings as a solution to the problems of the world.
Your insignificant servant,
Lokanath Swami