President
Bush hands out a "Get out of jail free" card to Lewis (Scooter) Libby,
while a man serves time for failing to plant his yard with green grass.
Yep, this is America today. Wood
TV 8 (Grand Rapids, Michigan) July 3, 2007
- PATRICK CENTER White Cloud yard police put man in jail
WHITE
CLOUD -- A Newaygo County man could spend another weekend behind bars
if he doesn't take care of his yard.
David Burch says he tried to seed the yard last fall but it wouldn't
take root. This all stems from a contractor who failed to sod the yard
in the first place. Now a judge is saying, do the yard or do the time.
"The
people who work at the court, at the jail, thought it was funny," Burch
said. "They said there had to be more. I said, 'No, it's just because I
don't have grass growing.' They said, 'You're in here for that?'" go to story
Suppose
you have five children, and you give them… you say, “Okay, you select
who should be the father,” they will select one of themselves! So how
will it work? You see, the people in general need an enlightened
leader. Rajarishi [godly king]. One who is king and also rishi
[saintly, godly], who has the humility and understanding of his
relationship with God. He will do good for the people. We need one
perfect man, one enlightened man. And you cannot replace the necessity
of having one perfect man with a hundred imperfect men. A hundred
imperfect men do not equal one perfect man. more
Upholding
religious principles is the duty of the king or government.
Unfortunately, in the present age, Kali-yuga, people have lost their
intelligence, so they cannot differentiate between dharma and adharma,
religion and irreligion. The courts do not know whom to punish and whom
not. For example, out of compassion for all the fallen souls,
Vaishnavas [devotees of Krishna] go out
to preach the principles of Krishna consciousness, but unfortunately,
because of the influence of Kali-yuga, even though these Vaishnavas
have dedicated their lives to preaching the glories of the Lord, they
are sometimes harassed and punished by courts on false charges of
disturbing the peace. This age, Kali-yuga, is very bad. We can only
take shelter of Krishna and always chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
...Corruption of the judicial system is very prominent in Kali-yuga.
The judicial system is meant to provide for execution of justice, yet
false witnesses and bribery make it difficult. With money, almost
anyone can get a favorable judgment in court. If the justice system is
corrupt, life becomes extremely troublesome. The government is supposed
to offer the citizens protection, as parents do for their children. A
small child is completely dependent on his father and mother, thinking
with full faith, "My father is here, my mother is here—I am safe." But
if the father and mother are corrupt, where is the protection for the
child? Similarly, if the whole government is corrupt, where is the
protection for the citizens?
Whatever the heads of society do, people generally follow. The
government or king is like a father to the citizens. A father will
never tolerate the killing or injuring of his children. He will give up
his own life trying to attack the person threatening his children. Yet
today crime is rampant. The government spends billions of dollars, but
the citizens have no security in their lives. The government is
answerable to the citizens because it must protect and provide for
them. If the government is incapable or corrupt, then what is the
position of the citizens?
The king, or in modern times the government, should act as the guardian
of the citizens by teaching them the proper goal of life. The human
form of life is especially meant for attaining self-realization,
realization of one's relationship with the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. The duty of the government, therefore, is to take charge of
training all the citizens in such a way that they will gradually be
elevated to the spiritual platform and realize their relationship with
God. This principle was followed by kings like Maharaja Yudhishthira,
Maharaja Parikshit, Lord Ramachandra, Maharaja Ambarish, and Prahlada
Maharaja.
Unfortunately, today's government leaders are generally dishonest and
irreligious, and thus all the affairs of the state suffer. In the name
of democracy, rogues and thieves fool the innocent populace into
electing them to the most important posts in the government. Recently
this has been proven in America, and as a result the citizens condemned
the President and dragged him down from his post. This is only one case
out of many.
In Kali-yuga, people have no shelter. Due to corrupt government, they
are uncertain of their lives and property. The mass of people should
always feel secure because of the government's protection. Therefore,
how regrettable it is for the government itself to cause a breach of
trust and put the citizens in difficulty for political reasons. We saw
during the partition days in India that although Hindus and Muslims had
been living together peacefully, manipulation by politicians suddenly
aroused feelings of hatred between them, and thus the Hindus and
Muslims killed one another over politics. This is a sign of Kali-yuga.
Another symptom of Kali-yuga is the abominable practice of animal
slaughter. In this age animals are kept nicely sheltered, completely
confident that their masters will protect them, but unfortunately as
soon as the animals are fat, they are immediately sent for slaughter.
Such cruelty is condemned by Vaishnavas like the Vishnudutas [messengers of Lord Vishnu]. Indeed, hellish
conditions of extreme suffering await the sinful men responsible for
such cruelty. One who betrays the confidence of a living entity who
takes shelter of him in good faith, whether that living entity be a
human being or an animal, is extremely sinful. Because such betrayals
now go unpunished by the government, all of human society is terribly
contaminated. The people of this age are therefore described as mandah
sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy upadrutah [Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.1.10]. As a consequence of such sinfulness, men are condemned (mandah),
their intelligence is unclear (
sumanda-matayah), they are unfortunate (manda-bhagyah), and
therefore they are always disturbed by many problems (upadrutah).
This is their situation in this life, and after death they are punished
in hellish conditions.
Although Ajamila was not punishable, the Yamadutas [messengers of the Lord of Death, Yamaraja]
were insisting on taking him away to Yamaraja for punishment. This was adharma,
contrary to religious principles. The Vishnudutas feared that if such
irreligious acts were allowed, the management of human society would be
spoiled. In modern times, the Krishna consciousness movement is trying
to introduce the right principles of management for human society, but
unfortunately the governments of Kali-yuga do not properly support the
Hare Krishna movement because they do not appreciate its valuable
service. The Hare Krishna movement is the right movement for
ameliorating the fallen condition of human society, and therefore
governments and public leaders in every part of the world should
support this movement to completely rectify humanity's sinful
condition.
Wood
TV 8 (Grand Rapids, Michigan) July 3, 2007
- PATRICK CENTER White Cloud yard police put man in jail
