“One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvelous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like the holes of snakes and a tongue like the tongue of a frog.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 2.3.20)

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बिले बतोरुक्रम-विक्रमान् ये
न शृण्वतः कर्ण-पुटे नरस्य
जिह्वासती दार्दुरिकेव सूत
न चोपगायत्य् उरुगाय-गाथाः

bile batorukrama-vikramān ye
na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya
jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta
na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ

“After the nonsense that went on for several years recently, I should not be surprised anymore. Nevertheless, here I am, puzzled, as ever. I am sure you have heard the news about the release of documents pertaining to that really bad person. I do not recall exactly what he was. Something like a blackmailer, acting as a magnet for the rich and famous, to visit his island and implicate influential adults in unspeakable activities. These usually involved underage women. In other words, girls, but I think children were there, as well. Honestly, I am not familiar with all the sordid details. This is because none of these things surprise me anymore.

“Anyway, every person is out here in the online space trying to top one another in their outrage. They are so upset, you see. They want punishment. They demand justice. They are even upset at the person who is ultimately responsible for finally getting these documents released, after they were kept hidden for years and years. The thing is, what about the policies? The people involved in this affair all seem to push forward the same policies. The end goal is always some type of suppression. Putting people out of work. Injuring them with crackpot medical interventions. Attempting to block out the sun. Experimenting on their own children. Raising tax rates to oppressive levels. Making everyone give up their automobiles, while the wealthy travel in private jets, miles away from the common man. Where is the outrage for that?

“In addition, the same people supposedly outraged are watching the same news channels, extending faith to the same bad actors. They dutifully patronize institutions that do nothing but lie. Nothing has changed. The same torture of children is already taking place; right in front of you. You needed a release of documents to understand that the people running the world are evil? Hello? Look at your own school! Did you not see how they suffocated the children for almost a year, in the name of science? Do you not see what is being injected into those same children? Just see what the adults of society think of children.

“This is all to say that it almost seems like people prefer being lied to. That is my conclusion. If someone tells the truth, they get in trouble. If someone raises an objection to an orthodoxy newly introduced but strictly enforced, they will be silenced. To that end, what do you expect to gain from speaking on the science of self-realization? If people want to be cheated, what interest will they have in the Absolute Truth? Just what progress do you hope to make? I wish I was wrong, but I cannot unsee any of this.”

His Divine Grace Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would refer to society as consisting of the cheaters and the cheated. There are those stepping up to the microphone, standing on the stage, ready to deceive. Then, there are the audience members, willing to pay money, even, to be cheated. It is like the greater the deception, the greater the enjoyment. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada describes it as a group of animals praising one animal as its leader. The leader might be proud of their standing, but it is still based on the opinion of animals, after all.

“The leaders of such ignorant masses of people may feel very proud of being adored by such a number of dogs and hogs, but that is not very flattering. The Bhagavatam openly declares that although a person may be a great leader of such dogs and hogs disguised as men, if he has no taste for being enlightened in the science of Krishna, such a leader is also an animal and nothing more. He may be designated as a powerful, strong animal, or a big animal, but in the estimation of Shrimad-Bhagavatam he is never given a place in the category of man, on account of his atheistic temperament.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 2.3.19 Purport)

The cause of the distorted view is absence of a connection. The tendency is natural, to give praise. To hear from an authority figure is the way of the individual. The distinction is that the authority should be of the highest character. Find the topmost person. Hear from Him. Take direction from Him. Then the same tendency can be put to the proper use. Otherwise, it is the opinion of the Vaishnava that the body itself becomes worthless. If there is no hearing about this highest person, if there is no explicit move in that direction, then the various parts of the body, which may otherwise be used for acquiring knowledge, are the equivalent of the same parts on a lower animal.

रसना सँआपिनि बदन बिल जे न जपहिं हरिनाम
तुलसी प्रेम न राम स्ॐ ताहि बिधाता बाम

rasanā sam̐āpini badana bila je na japahiṃ harināma
tulasī prema na rāma soṃ tāhi bidhātā bāma

“The tongue is like a snake and the mouth like a snake hole for the person who does not chant the holy names of the Lord. Those who have no love for Shri Rama are understood to be bereft of the creator’s favor, says Tulsi.” (Dohavali, 40)

Just consider, then, the compassion of the Vaishnava. They are at least attempting to broadcast the glories of this topmost person, who is known by names such as Hari, Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, and Purushottama. If comparing to an entertainment package offered by a satellite radio company, there should be at least one station that continues describing the transcendental glories, gunas, of the person with the highest authority. If we happen to tune in to such a station, we will not only see the error of our ways, but discover and soon reach the highest way of living.

In Closing:

Outraged from news to be,
In those disclosed documents to see.

But leaders singing the same song,
Obviously corrupt all along.

The people almost asking for the lie,
Rather than on proper authority to rely.

Best use when glories to hear,
Of Hari most worthwhile the ear.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, god, hare krishna, krishna lila, krishna pastimes, poem, poems, poetry