“It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 14.4)

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सर्व-योनिषु कौन्तेय
मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः
तासां ब्रह्म महद् योनिर्
अहं बीज-प्रदः पिता

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

“Do you get the sense that devotees sometimes come across as narrow-minded, stuck in the past, or outdated? Not necessarily with their beliefs. I think most people understand there is a higher power of some sort. They might not exactly behave in a manner that reflects that belief, but when pressed for a response they at least acknowledge something beyond the control of man. In that regard, they are normal, for lack of a better term, in all other areas of life. In what they do for fun. In what they take an interest in. In what they strive to achieve.

“Devotees within the Vaishnava tradition, on the other hand, give off an aura of release. As in, they have quit the typical race. They are escaping to a different place. In that way of living, everything that is material is not allowed. To the best extent possible, prohibit anything that stimulates the senses. The Sanskrit word is vishaya. I know that Shri Krishna describes how giving up vishaya in the strict and deliberate way is not necessarily the best path. This is because the taste for the objects of the senses might remain. There must be something higher to taste. The devotee has to see something superior, param drishtva.

विषया विनिवर्तन्ते
निराहारस्य देहिनः
रस-वर्जं रसो ऽप्य् अस्य
परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते

viṣayā vinivartante
nirāhārasya dehinaḥ
rasa-varjaṁ raso ‘py asya
paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

“The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.59)

“I am sympathetic towards the side at least attempting to progress in understanding the self. At the same time, what about science? What about outer space? What about trying to advance the cause of automation, which incorporates discovery, observation, and experimentation? Why not try to find a better way to write content, for instance? Why not seek to produce robots to manage routine tasks? The devotee appears to be giving up. At least that is what the skeptics claim. What is the best response to such aspersions?”

Imagine the case of running into one of your friends. You have not seen them for years, but once you meet it is like old times again. You don’t skip a beat. You ask your friend what they have been up to. They explain their story of turning towards science. They began with curiosity. They later turned that into a way of life. They particularly study the earth. Actually, they are only interested in the earth. Nothing else.

Their narrow focus piques your curiosity. You ask about the sun. You ask about outer space. Will this friend ever consider the impact of that which is outside the sphere of the earth? They repeat that they are only interested in the earth. It is almost like a mantra at this point. But what about the sun? Does that not have an impact on the earth? Does not the positioning of the moon at least affect the tides, what to speak of giving juice to the vegetables?

गाम् आविश्य च भूतानि
धारयाम्य् अहम् ओजसा
पुष्णामि चौषधीः सर्वाः
सोमो भूत्वा रसात्मकः

gām āviśya ca bhūtāni
dhārayāmy aham ojasā
puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ
somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ

“I enter into each planet, and by My energy they stay in orbit. I become the moon and thereby supply the juice of life to all vegetables.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 15.13)

In this case, it is your friend who is actually narrow-minded. They may think they are progressing, that they are advancing in understanding, but they will never get the complete picture without at least addressing the solar system. It would be one thing if they were dividing and conquering, if they delegated research of the external to other colleagues. But no, this friend of yours will only ever focus on the earth.

Devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead have a similar viewpoint towards material science, as a discipline. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains that the material world is but one of the energies of God. It is not the complete picture. It is the external energy. There is another side that is being completely ignored.

Moreover, just what has science discovered about that one energy? Just what mastery do they have over the external energy? They find ancient pyramids and offer no explanation as to how they were made. They are baffled by the entire thing. Something situated right in front of their eyes, built in the supposedly primitive time periods, cannot be recreated by the more advanced man of today. That supposedly advanced man has the benefit of centuries’ worth of scientific research. It is like a compendium of knowledge that continues to produce published volumes. Just what is that knowledge worth if there is defeat in frustration over explaining something as basic as a physical structure, which was obviously produced by human beings?

The better use of time begins with a foundation of accuracy. That is to say, the proper way to research is to acknowledge all of the different energies. This is the approach in the venture of timeless relevance that is the science of self-realization. Understand the cause and effect. Find the original seed-giving authority, who then provides a variety of playing fields upon which those seeds can develop. Delve deeper into the matter by considering the purpose to the existence of the playing fields.

भूत-ग्रामः स एवायं
भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते
रात्र्य्-आगमे ऽवशः पार्थ
प्रभवत्य् अहर्-आगमे

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātry-āgame ‘vaśaḥ pārtha
prabhavaty ahar-āgame

“Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.19)

Just what is the reason for the creation, maintenance, and dissolution of the universe? Why does the process repeat in a cycle? Just what is the way to finally escape from that cycle? Would that not be the best research to conduct?

अन्त-काले च माम् एव
स्मरन् मुक्त्वा कलेवरम्
यः प्रयाति स मद्-भावं
याति नास्त्य् अत्र संशयः

anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ
yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ

“And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.5)

In Closing:

True narrow-mindedness displaying,
When focus on one field for playing.

Just an energy at the core,
But never considering more.

The devotee acknowledges at least,
All energies for picture complete.

Knowledge their way to explain,
For highest realm to attain.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, science