[Posted Sep 25, 2008]

Sold out to debt and a false standard of living

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

How did we get sucked into this mess?

Rense Sep 23, 2008 - WEBSTER TARPLEY

NO To The Paulson-Bernanke Derivatives Scam Bailout

Bail Out the American People, Not Wall Street! An Economic Recovery Strategy for Protectionists, Dirigists, Mercantilists, and Populists

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley between them have in the past year by various estimates accounted for about half of the speculative activity in the commodities markets of London, New York, and other money centers which brought about the doubling of the per barrel price of oil between July 2007 and July 2008, increasing the cost of gasoline to almost five dollars per gallon.

In a very real sense, American motorists filling their gas tanks at the pump at exorbitant prices have been involuntarily subsidizing the speculative derivatives activity of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. How bitterly ironic that the same American motorists should now be taxed in order to permit their tormentors to live on and to continue to mercilessly loot them.

...Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, like their now-defunct brethren Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch, have also made many speculative investments in the area of mortgage backed securities based on predatory subprime mortgages. The adjustable rate mortgages that underlie these derivatives should have been declared illegal long ago. But now let us imagine what will happen if a hapless victim of these predatory lending practices is forced into foreclosure in the current world economic great depression.

Goldman Sachs will send the bailiff to your door to throw you, your family, and your belongings out on the street, even though you have been taxed to permit Goldman Sachs to continue its sociopathic existence. You will in effect be robbed out of one pocket even as you are being pushed out the door and made homeless by the same institution which has been the beneficiary of your forced charity. go to story

The Bhaktivedantas World Sankirtan Party and Inside Nam Hatta are hosted by Hansadutta das, a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada and trustee of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Participate or learn more about World Sankirtan Party.

We agree to be cheated

Money is Not Wealth A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

This is another cheating. Nobody trusts in God, and they write, "In God We Trust." And unless I write... Of course I do not wish to say very harsh word, that unless I cheat you that way, how a man will accept one piece of paper as one thousand dollars? [laughter] You see? It is a grand cheating, that "I am giving one thousand dollars to you." But if I value, it is not even one farthing. This is called maya. It is not, but I accept. I accept. If people become enlightened, "No, we are not going to accept this piece of paper as one thousand dollars. We must have gold," so many things will be solved immediately. So many things. But because we agree to be cheated, the cheaters are cheating and things are going on wrong. This is called Kali-yuga. more

Unnecessarily we have complicated our life

excerpt from Dharma: The Way of Transcendence

Generally, people do not understand the need for making spiritual progress and cleansing the heart of all dirty things (abhadrani). Material life means dirty life, uncivilized life, yet people think that having nice clothes and a nice apartment and a nicely washed body means they are civilized. They do not know how the contamination within their hearts has attacked them.

In the name of civilization, people have created so many unnecessary things, called anarthas. For example, thousands of years ago, in the Vedic age, when there was no so-called advancement of civilization, people used to eat from utensils made of silver or gold, or at least some kind of metal. Now people are using plastic, yet they are still proud of their advanced civilization. Actually, the plastic utensils are unnecessary. Another example: two hundred years ago in India there was no industry, but people were so happy. They did not have to travel two hundred miles or five hundred miles away from home to earn their livelihood. In Europe and America I have seen that some people are daily flying by airplane to the place where they earn their livelihood. From Toronto they are flying to Montreal—almost five hundred miles. Nearly everyone has to travel at least fifty miles. In New York many people come from a distant place on Long Island, cross the river, and then take a bus to reach their place of employment. All this travel is simply unnecessary.

Chanakya Pandit asks, "Who is happy?" He answers, "The man who does not work away from home and who is not a debtor—he is happy." Very simple. Yet now we see that practically everyone works away from home and everyone is a great debtor. So how can they be happy? In America the banks canvass, "Borrow money from us, purchase a motorcar, purchase a house, and as soon as you get your salary, give it to us." Or they offer, "Take this bank card." It should be known as a bankrupt card. If you take the card and deposit your money in the bank, then you can purchase whatever you like with the card. But soon you are without any money, and all you have left is that card.

So, all these anarthas can immediately be finished if you take up the process of Krishna consciousness, or bhakti-yoga: anarthopashamam sakshad bhakti-yogam adhokshaje [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.6]. A good example is our students in the Krishna consciousness movement. Many are from America or Europe, and they knew very well how to increase anarthas. But as soon as they joined our Society they no longer had to pay the cinema bill, the gambling bill, and so many other bills. Even the medical bills were decreased almost to nil. Does a person die without smoking? No. It is an anartha. One becomes habituated to smoking due to bad association: sangat sañjayate kamah. Because of bad association one learns how to smoke, how to gamble, how to eat meat, and how to take intoxicants. In America the government is spending millions of dollars to stop this intoxication habit among the young people. But the government does not know how to stop it. Here is the remedy: Krishna consciousness. It is practical. Anyone who seriously takes up the process of Krishna consciousness can immediately give up all bad habits, including intoxication. But still the government will not patronize the Krishna consciousness movement. They'd rather spend lavishly on some useless program.

Because the modern people do not know how to get out of the clutches of all these unnecessary things, the learned Srila Vyasadeva wrote the Srimad-Bhagavatam: lokasyajanato vidvamsh chakre satvata-samhitam. Take shelter of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and you will perfectly learn how to diminish your unnecessary things. The simple process is given in the previous verse (SB 1.2.17):

shrinvatam sva-kathah krishnah punya-shravana-kirtanah
hridy antah-stho hy abhadrani vidhunoti suhrit satam

If you simply hear about Krishna from the Srimad-Bhagavatam or the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna Himself will cleanse away your anarthas.

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