[Posted December 17, 2009]

Pulling the wool away from eyes

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Aldus Huxley and George Orwell – two blind eyes, can't see beyond their eye lids. Healthy eyes cannot see their eye lids either. A riddle in a mystery, everyone is blind. So sad. "They have eyes but they see not, they have ears but they hear not."

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When I started this article I was unsure whether Huxley’s nightmare would resonate in our current reality. Sadly, much of his novel applies to our society. Even sadder, our society now resembles an amalgamation of the two most famous dystopian novels in history: 1984 and Brave New World. Social critic Neil Postman contrasted the two views of the future:

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no-one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.”

Our civilization has fused the worst of both novels. Many people in our country aren’t capable of reading a book. Supposedly educated people have no interest in reading a book. The government withholds or manipulates information that is spoon fed to the public. Trivial meaningless information floods the airwaves, keeping the public continuously diverted from seeking truth. The truth is lost in shades of grey and purposeful misinformation. Supposed differences between the ruling parties distract the public from realizing they are being fleeced by those in power. Government has used fear to create agencies and departments that have taken away our liberties and freedoms through Orwellian surveillance techniques. Our dumbed down culture of hero worship, material pleasures, and ego enhancement is the representation of triviality. The Alphas have used our fears and desires to distract us from their plans to dominate and control every aspect of our lives. Their success is all but assured at this point. go to story

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In the grip of nature

The Naked Truth A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

They are busy making their own plans, and big nations are busy expanding their empires. And yet we know that in due course of time many empires have come into existence and been destroyed. Many aristocratic families were created by people in their extreme madness, but we can see that in the course of time those families and empires have all been destroyed. But still the foolish atheists do not accept the supreme authority of the Lord. Such foolish people unnecessarily concoct their own duties without referring to the supreme authority of the Lord. The so-called political leaders are busy making plans to advance the material prosperity of their nation, but factually these political leaders only want an exalted position for themselves. Due to their greed for material position, they falsely present themselves as leaders before the people and collect their votes, although they are completely under the grip of the laws of material nature. These are some of the faults of modern civilization. more

They cannot see things as they are

excerpt from Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.13.46, purport

The world's movements for freedom through political, economic, social, and cultural propaganda can do no benefit to anyone, for they are controlled by superior power. A conditioned living being is under the full control of material nature, represented by eternal time and activities under the dictation of different modes of nature. There are three material modes of nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. Unless one is situated in the mode of goodness, one cannot see things as they are. The passionate and the ignorant cannot even see things as they are. Therefore a person who is passionate and ignorant cannot direct his activities on the right path. Only the man in the quality of goodness can help to a certain extent. Most persons are passionate and ignorant, and therefore their plans and projects can hardly do any good to others. Above the modes of nature is eternal time, which is called kala because it changes the shape of everything in the material world. Even if we are able to do something temporarily beneficial, time will see that the good project is frustrated in course of time. The only thing possible to be done is to get rid of eternal time, kala, which is compared to kala-sarpa, or the cobra snake, whose bite is always lethal. No one can be saved from the bite of a cobra. The best remedy for getting out of the clutches of the cobralike kala or its integrity, the modes of nature, is bhakti-yoga, as it is recommended in the Bhagavad-gita (14.26: "One who engages in full devotional service, unfailing in all circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman."). The highest perfectional project of philanthropic activities is to engage everyone in the act of preaching bhakti-yoga all over the world because that alone can save the people from the control of maya, or the material nature represented by kala, karma and guna [the three modes of material nature – goodness, passion and ignorance], as described above. The Bhagavad-gita (14.26) confirms this definitely.

There is life outside of jail

excerpt from "Summer Sessions", Back to Godhead magazine, #11-10, 1976
Before leaving the United States for ISKCON's European headquarters, near London, Srila Prabhupada stopped to visit the Hare Krishna Building, in New York. On July 16. George Orwell of Associated Press came to do an interview. Note: This George Orwell is not the same George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair 25 June 1903 - 21 january 1950) who authored Nineteen Eighty Four.

MR. ORWELL: Are you saying that this material life is like an evil prison, and that the real goal is another life?

PRABHUPADA: Yes. Now you have understood. This material life, with its repeated birth, disease, old age, and death, is not a desirable life. To live in this jail is not desirable.

MR. ORWELL: In other words, in a sense, one should repudiate this life, this world.

PRABHUPADA: Not repudiate—understand.

MR. ORWELL: That it is not a good life?

PRABHUPADA: That it is not a good life. The material world means false identification of the body with the self.

MR. ORWELL: Well, isn't it important to try to improve this life so it won't be a prison?

PRABHUPADA: Yes, and to improve it means to understand that I am not a person of the jail; I am a person of freedom. The trouble is that, after living in the jail for a long time, one tends to think, "Outside the jail I cannot live."

MR. ORWELL: Well, I hope we all get out of it somehow, some way.

PRABHUPADA: Yes, and that is why we are trying to educate the prisoners: "Your life is not perfect within the jail. Your perfect life is outside the jail." This is our education.

MR. ORWELL: Life cannot be perfect in the jail?

PRABHUPADA: No, but when we try to instruct them, the persons in the jail are thinking, "What is this? He is not working to improve the jail life?" They are such fools and rascals that they cannot understand that one can live outside the jail.

MR. ORWELL: If you are not working for the jail life, why are you here?

PRABHUPADA: Suppose a man has gone to jail and he becomes reformed. He may take up the task of giving education to the prisoners: "My dear brothers, this life is not good. Become honest. Then you will be released from jail and not have to return." So the other prisoners are working hard. They are hammering bricks. But instead of taking his advice, they resent him: "This man is not hammering bricks. He is only talking."

MR. ORWELL: In other words, you think people should get away from what they are doing in the world?

PRABHUPADA: No, don't misunderstand. As long as you are in the jail, you have to work according to the principles of the jail. But you must know that jail life is not good, that it is not all in all.

MR. ORWELL: Well, when you get through instructing the men hammering the bricks, are they going to lay down their hammers, too?

PRABHUPADA: No, they don't need to. Try to understand. They may continue hammering, but their knowledge will be complete. At least they must know, "This hammering is not our real business; it is our punishment." That is knowledge.

MR. ORWELL: Isn't that a rather negative way to look at it?

PRABHUPADA: Why negative? That is a positive understanding. If you are suffering, and I say, "Don't suffer," is that negative, or is that positive?

MR. ORWELL: Why is work in the world necessarily suffering? It is a mixture of pain and joy. It seems negative to look upon it as all punishment.

PRABHUPADA: That is why people are envious of Krishna conscious men. People say, "These men are not hammering like us. They must think there is no value in our hammering." In this way, most people think hammering is the real business of life. So, our business is to educate them: "Your hammering is not your real business. Freedom is your real business."

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