Religion vs Spiritual Science

Thank you very much, Akandadi Prabhu. I'm very happy to be a part of this summer school of Bhaktivedanta Institute. I'm somewhat embarrassed after hearing all these lofty presentations, especially the one from Hridayananda Maraj. So my presentation will be of more practical nature. Still, I hope it will be relevant. for the participants of this school. Basically, the reason why I'm presenting this is that I see the alarming tendency of presenting Krishna consciousness more and more as a religion. We are claiming to be a bona fide religion and in its zeal to prove this claim, we are kind of betraying the initial premise or foundation upon which Srila Prabhupada found his Krishna consciousness movement. So I'll make some observations which are there about the tendencies. And the main point of this presentation is to show the very dangerous consequences of stressing the religious nature of Krishna consciousness as opposed to the scientific nature of Krishna consciousness as Prabhupada was claiming. So I'm doing this in connection with the core mission of BI and let's see how it works. So Srila Prabhupada said to Satsvaruparaj, the next phase is yours. You must establish our movement as a genuine scientific movement. And of course we all know that Srila Prabhupada again and again and again was stressing this point that Krishna consciousness is scientific by nature. And he says the same thing in the letter to Amarendra Prabhu that this party is our most important preaching arm which we will be able to destroy the bogus speculation and cheating which goes under the banner of scientific advancement. So he wanted us to present Krishna consciousness as he did, not as a dogma, not as a religious belief but as a rational science. And basically if we take any scientific theory, it must be non-dogmatic, rational, and its conclusion should logically follow from several fundamental premises as Hridayana Namaraj so beautifully explained that there should be some axiomatic truths behind any scientific theory and it has to be able to explain the maximum number of observed phenomena it should be universally applicable and Srila Prabhupada of course gloriously prove that Krishna consciousness is universally applicable indeed. So it's not some ethnic kind of belief. It should work anytime, anywhere. And it should be experimentally verifiable or falsifiable. So, you know, if we take Krishna consciousness and analyze from these four points, we will see that it fits the bill it fits all the criteria and Siva Prabhupada specifically stressed that it should be practically applicable and should make the practical changes and should work practically basically this is a beautiful quote from his letter philosophy is the highest but even higher than philosophy is practice of philosophy. So he was pointing again and again and again that it's not just a phase, but it's something which is very practical and provable. As Radhika Raman so beautifully explained, that despite our Shastri grounding, we have a lot of room for empiric investigation. And basically we have to prove that it's true by our own experience, by applying the philosophy. And of course, Srila Prabhupada, again and again, that was his very important point. He would say that Krishna consciousness is not dogmatic. Don't think that it is a scripture of Hindus. No, it is for all human beings. There is reason, there is science, there is philosophy. It's not dogmatic. So we can go on and on. We all know this point. We have no dogmatism, Srila Prabhupada says here. If you want to understand this Krishna consciousness on the basis of philosophy, logic, science, we are prepared to present it to you. So that was his way, but again, as I said, we see different tendencies now. The same sort of quote, this is science of the soul, it's not dogmatic, and he says again the same thing about Chaitanya Charita Amrita. He says, religion often gives rise to dogmatism, But the author of Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Krishna Daskariraja urges us to try to understand Lord Chaitanya and the philosophy of Krishna consciousness according to logic. So that was Srila Prabhupada's presentation. But my initial premise was that we see the transformation of Skon into yet another religion. and in one sense it's a natural process. It goes on and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, he very beautifully explained this, that the idea of an organized church in an intelligible form indeed marks the close of the living spiritual movement. The great ecclesiastical establishments are the dykes and the dams to retain the current that cannot be held by any such contrivances. They indeed indicate a desire on the part of the masses to exploit a spiritual movement for their own purpose. That's a very important point from his essay. they also unmistakably indicate the end of the absolute and unconventional guidance of the bona fide spiritual teacher. So this is a very grave warning. And here, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswatita Kuru Prabhupada explains the reason that the masses are trying to exploit the genuine spiritual movement for their own purpose. So, you know, basically what we see in the beginning when any genuine religion starts, due to the contact of its founder with the spiritual reality, it is a vibrant spiritual movement. Therefore, it attracts genuine seekers of truth and transforms their hearts. Due to their enthusiasm and preaching zeal, gradually many people join the religion, bringing their expectations and hopes. That's where the problem starts. The movement gains recognition and becomes accepted as a bona fide. It is usually considered as a sign of success by the members, but in most cases indicate the demise of genuine spiritual movement. It's basically rephrasing of what Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says. What we're dealing here is the dynamic of demand creates supply. So what is the demand of the popular, of the masses of people? the masses of people need salvation. The main motivation of the masses of people is to be saved from the sufferings of this world. And the preachers, consciously or subconsciously, kind of sensing this demand, start assuring people that they can get guaranteed salvation here and only here. You know, we all heard perhaps these sermons from Vyasa sands, which would claim that Krishna consciousness is the only way to be saved and everything else is false. and it is as a result of such presentation which exploits the fears of people and of course answers their expectations and hopes people join in masses and the religion becomes very powerful institution of this world that's what we see gradually, gradually it's happening with this con but the end result, the consequence of this is very sad. Again, from the same essay of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, the church that has the best chance of survival in this dumbed world is that of atheism under the convenient guise of atheism. So this is what can happen. The churches have always proved the staunchest upholders of the grossest form of worldliness, from which even the worst of non-ecclesiastical criminals are found to recoil. So, and this is what we see, and the next slide explains the difference between the search for truth and the religious approach. You know, for those people who come to a spiritual movement with the need to be saved, with the need of salvation, they just want salvation and they hope for the better future. But of course, Srila Prabhupada didn't address this need. He was addressing people who have tried to find the truth. And the people who are convenient or conventional religious practitioners, they are ready to pay the price for salvation. the price for salvation is to adhere to some dogmas and rules and they're ready to pay it. If the religion promises you that you will be saved, okay, we will do this. But as a result you get some fake result. You don't really get the spiritual transformation, you just get these false promises. Whereas if we take the genuine search for truth, then you know the price to pay for it is the desire to deepening and increase desire to find the truth and ultimately you will get something real. So this is perhaps the most important slide in the whole presentation which shows the difference of religious approach and scientific search for truth. You know, even though externally it may sound similar, we may preach the same you know scriptures and say even the same things more or less, but there is a gulf of difference between these two approaches. A religious approach always stresses that you're already saved. Your salvation is guaranteed. You only should follow certain conditions. In our case, you know, you should chant 16 rounds and not one round more. And you should follow four or three and a half or self-regulative principles, whatever you choose, or perhaps go to Mangalarati or whatever it is. A very important characteristic of this religious approach is that you are making the choice once. You made the choice, you made the right choice, you joined the right place, you joined the right religion, And if you join, you're saved. And if you don't, well, you know, the hell is yours. And behind this approach, there is always the desire to absolve responsibility. The desire to take off the burden of responsibility. And, you know, usually people of this kind, they say, just tell me what to do, don't make such complicated philosophy, don't bewilder me, just tell me what to do, I will do it as long as you guarantee my salvation. And of course, spiritual organization and or immature spiritual teachers, they always claim that they will take all responsibility for you if you follow them without questioning. So the completely different approach is that when we treat the spiritual movement as the facilitation for us to find the truth. The spiritual movement gives only one guarantee, that it will help you in your search for truth. And the choice is not once. You basically have to make the choice every minute, at least every day, what you choose. You know, you have to be very introspective and to be, you know, responsible for your actions, for your words, for your even thoughts. So we make the choices every day. Our search for truth does not end when we join a religious or spiritual organization. And the person who is of this attitude understands that this is my responsibility. I don't have to shift the responsibility to anyone else and I will not blame anyone for my failure. And I am free, I am doing it of my choice, not because somebody else wanted me to do it. And of course, you know, the religious organization or genuine religious or spiritual teacher will not take the whole burden of responsibility for the salvation, quote unquote, of the person upon his shoulders. he will just say that you know I'm here to help you but the result really depends on how correctly you're following the path and how properly you're understanding the science behind it. So this is basically you know kind of common sense we can see the same dynamic in Bhagavad Gita. In the beginning Arjuna who is the representative of this sort of kind of beginners in the spiritual science he just says you know in this condition I'm asking you tell me for certain what is the best for me now I'm your disciple and the soul surrendered unto you please instruct me so I'm confused please tell me very clearly and I will follow you and after speaking Bhagavad Gita Krishna kind of turns it around and puts the burden of responsibility back upon Arjuna and says I explained everything to you I explained all the confidential knowledge deliberate on this fully and then do what you wish to do. So this is exactly the difference of the religious approach and if Krishna was not Krishna but if he was some of the you know gurus of Iskona he would say yes yes yes I will tell you just follow me and I will save you. But Krishna is saying what he's saying he is not taking the burden of responsibility. He is placing it back. And of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda was the same. One very important and very grave difference between the religious approach and scientific approach is that religion is emphasizing the result. It always talks about the end result, but the science emphasizes the process. The result is the outcome of the process and therefore Prabhupada, he was always emphasized the process that we have to follow the process properly. And therefore he coined this phrase, techniques of spiritual life. He was basically, indicating that we should do some spiritual experiment and enjoy the result of this experiment if we do everything properly. Whereas the religion will always talk about the end result without emphasizing enough the need for practice. So this is a very beautiful quote from Charles Colton Men will wrangle for religion, ride for it, fight for it, die for it, anything but live for it. They will do anything for religion but not practice religion in reality. And there are so many other differences which we can see. Usually religion is very obsessive about miracles. You need to show the miracles all the time. And if miracles don't happen, religious people always concoct some miracles or invent some miracles. Whereas spiritual science emphasizes not the miracles, but the real miracle, the change of the heart. heart. And miracles is just, they may or may not be there and we know how Prabhupada was very skeptical about miracles and even though sometimes we hear so many different stories how Prabhupada showed this miracle or that miracle, but as far as Prabhupada himself was concerned, his miracle was the transformation of the heart which is the real outcome of the same scientific approach to Krishna conscious process. Then attitude towards scriptures is also very different. You know we can see very unsystematic approach towards scriptures in this con very often and you know if we hear the average lecture we just see some anecdotes or hear some anecdotes or collection of the stories. Very rarely we see some solid or hear some solid or even systematically given philosophy. Whereas for the spiritual seeker, for the seeker of truth, the scriptures is the source of a different worldview. And to To create this worldview, to make this worldview work, you have to work hard and you have to systematically study the scriptures from beginning to end with understanding of logic and reasoning. And as a result of it, you will become Shastra Chakshu. You will have the eye of Shastra. You know, a very peculiar thing about rules and regulations in religion and in the spiritual science. In religion, you will see two different approaches. First, it's usually fanatical following rules for the sake of rules. And then inventing different ways of circumventing restrictions which are not convenient. You know, I heard a beautiful podcast with Noam Chomsky, who was totally disillusioned by the religion because he says, he explains his anecdote of his life. And he says, from this interaction with the Orthodox Judaic tradition, which always tries to find some loopholes into the religious canons and rules, he said, I understand that religion is based on the assumption that God is an idiot. You always try to kind of cheat God by trying to find the loopholes into the scriptural rules. Whereas the spiritual science means that you understand the meaning of the rules, the rationale behind them and the ability to discriminate the principles from details, which is so rare nowadays. days and you try to do the concerted efforts to raise the standard of your personal sadhana. Completely different attitude towards religion, towards the saints. You know if we take religious approach you will see that all the saints have to be flawless, they usually need yesiddhas, they just came to save us and And then, you know, if you see some little deviation from the imagined ideal, you become totally disillusioned and start blaming them and tell them, you know, call them names. Whereas spiritual science uses the example of the saints as the source of inspiration. And for the spiritual scientist, for somebody who is searching for truth, the example of a saint is more important where he is, you know, encountering obstacles and fights with the temptations. Srila Prabhupada gives the example of Bilvamangal Thakur in his Bacteria Samrita Sindhu, actually this is Rupa Goswami himself, and he says that this is the source of inspiration. Anyway, so there are so many different, you know, differences, very important differences in approach. And perhaps most relevant for Bhaktivedanta Institute is that usually dogmatic religious practitioners are very afraid of science and condemning science or adhering to some pseudo science proving all kinds of strange or trying to prove strange theories. whereas the spiritual science have no fear of engaging in the sensible dialogue with the science and have no problems. And yeah, very important difference is that if we are members of religion, we will always openly or maybe implicitly deprecate other religions and say that they are wrong because there is this rivalry. Whereas spiritual science knows that there are universal spiritual principles and they're reflected in other religions to a certain extent and we can discern the spiritual principles in other religions. So anyway, I will skip the whole thing. I just want to bring it to conclusion because my time is up. is that, yeah, this is important. You know, for religious people, the formal initiation is very important. But development, genuine relationship with spiritual masters and spiritual teachers are not as important. Whereas for those who are searching for truth, it's much more important to have genuine relationship by which we gain the knowledge and experience rather than formalities of a particular religion. So what I see in reality, people usually join this corner as sincere seekers of truth. But oftentimes they come to our environment and the sincere spiritual seeker is turned into a religious fanatic because of the unhealthy atmosphere and unhealthy ways of presenting Krishna consciousness in a very dogmatic way. You cannot ask questions, you cannot doubt, just follow this and that. And, you know, we can see this is actually an unfortunate result of all religions. You know, only 6% of religious practitioners are sincere seekers of truth and 94 in average are, you know, the masses of people. And therefore, Srila Prabhupada gave a solution which is relevant to Bhaktivedanta Institute and its mission. He says in the letter to Svarupa Damodar about Bhaktivedanta Institute in particular, I'm satisfied that you're properly understanding the philosophy and we have introduced the system of examinations and he says consider just consider how to organize this Bhaktivedanta Institute by giving these degrees you know what I see I don't want to make a blanket statement I'm sure there are nice courses, but I also see that there is more and more courses on Bhakti Shastri, Bhakti Vaibhava and everything else, which are very dogmatic, which just gives the surface of the Shastra without going deeply. And Bhaktivedanta Institute has to preach to the scientists, but not only to the scientists. Here the members of Bhaktivedanta Institute have to establish this culture of preaching Krishna consciousness as a science to the devotees and therefore Srila Prabhupada again says this that you know the Bhaktivedanta Institute is open for everyone and it's open including those who have already already entered our temples. They may also participate in our programs. So the main point of my presentation is that before it's too late, we have to do something and we have to revive the culture of preaching Krishna consciousness as the science by understanding it as the science ourselves without, you know, making it as a, you know, another pseudo-religious phase, or pseudo-religion, which is, as Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura Prabhupada said, is the main fortress of atheism. And that's why Silla Prabhupada said, I'm repeating it again to the members of Bhaktivedanta Institute, the next phase is yours. I finished my preaching, I did what I was supposed to do, now you take this further and you preach and establish our movement as a genuine scientific movement, including our members, because what is the use if we try to present Krishna consciousness as the science to everyone else and our own members don't understand this and make Krishna consciousness into a mockery. Thank you very much.