[Posted December 20, 2009]

Politics in the Guise of Religion

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Piggybacking on religious sentiment

If Americans Knew May/June, 1998 - GRACE HALSELL, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

What Christians Don’t Know About Israel

...increasingly, American Jews have fallen victim to Zionism, a nationalistic movement that passes for many as a religion. While the ethical instructions of all great religions—including the teachings of Moses, Muhammad and Christ—stress that all human beings are equal, militant Zionists take the position that the killing of a non-Jew does not count.

Over five decades now, Zionists have killed Palestinians with impunity. And in the 1996 shelling of a U.N. base in Qana, Lebanon, the Israelis killed more than 100 civilians sheltered there. As an Israeli journalist, Arieh Shavit, explains of the massacre, “We believe with absolute certitude that right now, with the White House in our hands, the Senate in our hands and The New York Times in our hands, the lives of others do not count the same way as our own.” go to story

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Who are the chosen people?

Godless Religiosity A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Krishna, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is present everywhere. And He is equal, equally merciful. In everything He is equal to everyone. Just like the sun. The sun is equally distributing the sunshine. Now, in some country, we find there is cloud; sun is covered. There is no sunshine. The sun is shining, but due to our misfortune or something else, the sun is covered, and we cannot see. It is not that the sunshine is stopped. Sunshine is there. Similarly, Krishna's mercy is equally there. Samo 'ham sarva-bhuteshu [Bhagavad-gita 9.29: "I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him."]. Krishna says, "I am equal to everyone." Otherwise, how He can be God? God is not partial, that He is merciful upon me and not merciful upon you. God cannot be like that. Just like a state government. Government is equal to everyone, all citizens. more

When religion is pretension

excerpt from letter to Subal, Los Angeles, April 11, 1970

Regarding religion, not only at present, but also in the past, all of them are described as pseudo religions. The Bhagavat has condemned such pseudo religion in the second verse of the first chapter, first canto. Under the spell of material energy, man is forgetful of his eternal relationship with God. They create some religion to derive some material benefit as they create political organization for mutual undisturbed sense gratification. So religion is also a part of that concept of life. As such, in most of the religions you will find some instruction on morality and goodness, and God consciousness is superfluous.

So except Krishna consciousness or Bhagavata Dharma or religion of the Bhagavata, any other system of religion is only pretension, that is the fact. It is not therefore surprising that your impression of the meeting of the Jews and Christians, where you had opportunity to speak, was that they were lacking so much in God consciousness. So far we are concerned, our principle is to live with God as actual fact, and not to make God a supplying agent. Our process is different because we want to supply God everything—whatever we have got and whatever we have not got.

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