[Posted August 27, 2007]

New Age Neo Conmen: Suck it Up, America

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Why are we not surprised? Because we read about it in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Rolling StoneAugust 23, 2007 -

The Great Iraq Swindle

How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury

Operation Iraqi Freedom, it turns out, was never a war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It was an invasion of the federal budget, and no occupying force in history has ever been this efficient. George W. Bush's war in the Mesopotamian desert was an experiment of sorts, a crude first take at his vision of a fully privatized American government. In Iraq the lines between essential government services and for-profit enterprises have been blurred to the point of absurdity -- to the point where wounded soldiers have to pay retail prices for fresh underwear, where modern-day chattel are imported from the Third World at slave wages to peel the potatoes we once assigned to grunts in KP, where private companies are guaranteed huge profits no matter how badly they fuck things up. go to story

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The Price of Money

Can't Get No Satisfaction A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Although there is no lack of money in the world, there is a scarcity of peace. So much human energy is being diverted to making money, for the general population has increased its capacity to make more and more dollars, but in the long run the result is that this unrestricted and unlawful monetary inflation has created a bad economy all over the world and has provoked us to manufacture huge and costly weapons to destroy the very result of such cheap money-making. The leaders of the big money-making countries are not really enjoying peace but are making plans to save themselves from imminent destruction by nuclear weapons. In fact, huge sums of money are being thrown into the sea by way of experiments with these dreadful weapons. Such experiments are being carried out not only at huge costs but also at the cost of many lives. In this way the nations are being bound by the laws of karma. more

Cheaters and the Cheated

purport, Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.12.7

King Rahugana was proud of being king, and he felt he had the right to control the citizens as he liked, but actually he was engaging men in carrying his palanquin without payment, and therefore he was causing them trouble without reason. Nonetheless, the King was thinking that he was the protector of the citizens. Actually the king should be the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For this reason he is called nara-devata, the Lord among human beings. However, when a king thinks that because he is the head of the state, he can utilize the citizens for his sense gratification, he is in error. Such an attitude is not appreciated by learned scholars. According to the Vedic principles, the king should be advised by learned sages, brahmanas and scholars, who advise him according to the injunctions given in the dharma-shastra. The duty of the king is to follow these instructions. Learned circles do not appreciate the king's utilizing public endeavor for his own benefit. His duty is to give protection to the citizens instead. The king should not become such a rogue that he exploits the citizens for his own benefit.

It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam that in Kali-yuga the heads of government will be plunderers and thieves. These thieves and plunderers take the money and property of the public by force or connivance. Therefore it is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam, rajanyair nirghrinair dasyu-dharmabhih. As Kali-yuga advances, we can see that these characteristics are already visible. We can certainly imagine how deteriorated human civilization will be by the end of Kali-yuga. Indeed, there will no longer be a sane man capable of understanding God and our relationship with Him. In other words, human beings will be just like animals. At that time, in order to reform human society, Lord Krishna will come in the form of the Kalki avatara. His business will be to kill all the atheists because ultimately the real protector is Vishnu, or Krishna.

The Lord incarnates and sets things in order when things are mismanaged by so-called kings and heads of government. As Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita, yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata [Bg. 4.7]. Of course this takes many years, but the principle is there. When the king or governmental head does not follow the proper principles, nature deals out the punishments in the forms of war, famine and so forth. Therefore if the governmental head is not aware of life's goal, he should not take charge of ruling the people. Actually the supreme proprietor of everything is Lord Vishnu. He is the maintainer of everyone. The king, the father, and the guardian are simply representatives of Lord Vishnu, empowered by Him to look after the management and maintain things. It is therefore the duty of the head of the state to maintain the general populace in such a way that people will ultimately know the goal of life. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi vishnum [SB 7.5.31]. Unfortunately the foolish governmental head and the general populace do not know that the ultimate goal of life is to understand and approach Lord Vishnu. Without this knowledge, everyone is in ignorance, and all society is crowded with cheaters and cheated.

Sri Guru and Gauranga