Ancient international law The role of religion in easing tensions between states manifested itself not only in society at the level of states. Polynesians sometimes traveled outside their territory for ceremonies at "international" temples.

The Appearance of Krishna Krishna is eternally present in the heart of every living entity, but because of the ignorance prevailing in this world, we are constantly attacked by all kinds of demons: lust, anger, envy, illusion, pride, greed. However, in the hearts of those who sincerely and humbly call for Krishna,

What is the Society for Krishna Consciousness really?

A few decades ago, such an ambiguous phenomenon as Krishnaism entered the life of Russians. At first, the followers of this movement secretly gathered at each other's homes in small groups. Soviet Union he did not really like religion in general - neither the traditional Orthodox nor the newly-minted Indian.

But gradually the number of Hare Krishnas in Russia increased significantly. And so much so that Vedic temples are now being built all over the country, and on the streets of any city you can meet dancing and singing people in bright oriental clothes with books and sweets in their hands.

How to explain it? Does the scale of this movement threaten the peaceful citizens of Russia? Are the Hare Krishnas a totalitarian sect or a harmless religion? Who is Krishna really? And how do those who are called Hare Krishnas differ from the rest?

Most people living in our country are firmly and unconditionally convinced that Krishnaism is dangerous. Uninformed in this issue citizens pass from mouth to mouth horror stories about "sectarians in Indian clothes": Hare Krishnas do not eat meat, fish and even eggs, they fill the heads of their adherents with strange foreign words, they zombify them with incomprehensible mantras, they look strange, smile and for some reason spin around in a dance right on the streets, and, of course, they put drugs in their food.

From the outside, it might look like this. Indeed, after all, serious anxious faces are all around, and then suddenly a strange unrestrained fun! Can this be? So the people think that these people were definitely lured into a sect and fed with drugs.

In fact, everyone who calls Krishnaism a sect simply does not know the history of the issue. It is obvious. Such people do not even realize that they disrespectfully speak about the most ancient knowledge on Earth - the Vedic teachings.

The Krishna consciousness movement - or, to use a more precise term, Gaudiya Vaishnavism - is a branch of Hinduism, one of the world's religions. In the form in which we observe this trend now, it was brought to the West by A.Ch. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada is an initiated preacher of Indian origin. It was he who registered the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the United States of America in the middle of the twentieth century.

People who oppose Krishnaism claim that its first followers were mostly asocial elements of American society - drug addicts, hippies, alcoholics. It's true. However, for some reason, it does not mention the fact that the mentioned people, after meeting with Prabhupada, drastically changed their lifestyle and abandoned bad habits. Moreover, to this day they promote the rejection of any kind of intoxication - alcohol, smoking, coffee and even black tea. Nothing should prevent the human mind from comprehending God.

All Hare Krishnas are firmly convinced that God is one and there are many paths to Him. For some personal reasons, they accepted God in the form of Krishna, but this does not mean that the followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism oppose Buddha, Christ or Allah. On the contrary, representatives of this religious movement are very friendly towards adherents of other faiths.

Krishna and sect are incompatible concepts. In this religion, there is not even a hint of totalitarianism or destructiveness, since the Hare Krishnas stand up for non-violence, being reverent even towards our smaller brothers. For this reason, by the way, they do not eat animal products, they try not to wear natural leather and fur products.

When the body is not burdened with heavy toxic food, the person's consciousness will clear up. And it becomes easier for him to establish a connection with the Almighty. And this does not require any psychotropic drugs. This is why Vaishnava vegetarians really feel their connection with what they call Lord Krishna.

The whole Vedic culture is built on the service of God and people. The followers of this religion are convinced that this is how we can love all things and get closer to our Creator. That is why they try to apply the acquired knowledge in practice - they help others free of charge, distribute Vedic books, promote vegetarianism as the norm of life for a civilized person.

One of the most active sects currently operating in Russia is the Society for Krishna Consciousness. Its obsessive dealers have become commonplace on the streets, its radio broadcasts are on the air, its commercials are played on television, its leaders sit on various public and state committees, actively lobbying the interests of the "Society". One of the structures of the USC - "Food for Life" even received state funds for the distribution of food offered to idols.

At the same time, the USC does not tolerate criticism at all, painfully reacting to any non-100% positive statement addressed to it. One of the favorite tricks of domestic Hare Krishnas is to call on Hinduism and the entire Indian people to help them. As soon as a newspaper publishes an article, say, about dubious ways of extorting money from the population by USC members, an angry rebuke immediately arrives at the editorial office: all Vaishnava Hare Krishna believers belong to the ancient Vedic tradition together with 500-600-800-(possible options)-million army Hinduism, the entire Indian people was offended by the article and the future of Indo-Russian relations is now in jeopardy. Then a second letter is sent to the same address, with approximately the same content, but already written by some “own” Hindu involved in public relations for USC, and after that a stream of indignation pours from ordinary Hare Krishnas.

The methodology is proven; often sectarians manage to intimidate the editors, and they no longer publish critical materials about them. Thus, it is very beneficial for the Hare Krishnas to present themselves “to the outsiders” as the traditional Indian religion.

Here, for example, are lines from a letter addressed by the USC leadership to Patriarch Alexy II. Pay attention to the unacceptable tone with which Vaidyanath Das, a young Muscovite who adopted an Indian name and title, and the president of the Societies for Krishna Consciousness Center in Russia, addresses the First Hierarch of our Church:

“There is reason to believe that a significant - if not a key role in<…>processes of escalating tension, which took on the scale of a social disaster and entailed human casualties among those very Russians to whom Your Holiness wishes peace, played the "Definition on pseudo-Christian sects, neo-paganism and occultism", given by the Council of Bishops in 1994. "Definition ...", according to essentially declared war on the organizations listed in it. Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the Society for Krishna Consciousness (OSK), which represents the ancient monotheistic tradition of bhakti - love of God, got into their number. The text of the “Definition…” is so saturated with a negative emotional charge that even the peace-making appeal with which it ends, apparently, is not able to have a tangible impact.<…>

Without disputing the right of the Orthodox Church to assess religious phenomena based on its own canonical principles, we nevertheless believe that the above assessments betray bias or superficial acquaintance, in many cases do not correspond to the truth, violate the ethical norms and laws of our country, and sometimes even lead to bloodshed. Undoubtedly, this damages the reputation and authority of the Church, "serving the Truth of God and striving to become a reconciling and unifying force."

We believe that many of the facts presented were not known to Your Holiness. We admit that the Council of Bishops did not have the opportunity to carefully study the text of the "Definition ..." before its adoption.<…>

In this way<…>we ask Your Holiness to reconsider the current attitude of the Orthodox Church towards the Krishna bhakti movement<…>and take the measures necessary to eliminate the misunderstandings that give rise to senseless tension in this area religious life Russia…”.

So, the general direction of the methods of pressure exerted by USC is quite clearly outlined in this letter; True, in the case of our Church, all the Hare Krishna menacing rhetoric, as expected, turned out to be a blank shot.

For a combination of reasons, USC cannot be attributed to classical traditional Hinduism. Probably the most decisive argument is the words of the very founder of the Bhaktivedanta sect, Swami Prabhupada, said by him at the moment of frankness:

“In trying to fit the Krishna consciousness movement into the appropriate historical and cultural context, many people identify it with Hinduism. But it's a delusion<…>There is a misconception that the Krishna consciousness movement is a Hindu religion.<…>Sometimes Indians, both inside and outside of India, think that we are preaching the Hindu religion, but this is not so.<…>The Krishna consciousness movement has nothing to do with Hinduism or any other religious system.<…>People should understand that the Krishna consciousness movement does not preach the so-called Hindu religion.”

This statement finally dots the i's. After the unequivocal words of the infallible divine guru and founder, any claims by Hare Krishnas that they belong to Hinduism are invalid.

But if not Hinduism, then what? The Krishna consciousness movement is often referred to as neo-Hinduism; it would be more accurate to call it a pseudo-Hindu syncretic religious movement of the theosophical persuasion, combining elements of various religions, which is typical of the neo-pagan New Age movement. I will try to prove this statement on the example of the use of Christian images by USC ideologues.

Not a single Hare Krishna can talk about his faith without the constant use of Christian images and concepts, which irrefutably proves the lack of independence, the secondary nature of the ideology of Krishnaism: an authentic religious system is able to speak about itself in its own terms. You can't say the same about Krishnaism. And this is not accidental: in order to create the ideology of their sect, designed to preach in Christian world(Hinduism does not accept proselytism in principle) Prabhupada used the images and concepts of Christianity extensively. It goes without saying that he radically distorted them, but this only confirms the secondary nature of the ideology he created.

As an example, consider briefly Prabhupada's teaching on man's relationship with God. He teaches that man is his soul (spiritual body), while physical bodies are of no importance to our personality. This view is typical of Eastern religion. But Prabhupada goes further; according to his teachings, our spiritual bodies come from Krishna and are related to him as children are to their father. This idea is no longer found in classical Eastern religions, this is an obvious borrowing from Christianity.

But in an idea new to Hinduism and familiar to would-be Western adepts, Prabhupada states that our relationship with Krishna should not forever remain a father-son relationship. After all, a son can only beg for handouts from his father, and this is humiliating. This original relationship of son and father must be changed to an erotic relationship; love Krishna more than we love father, mother or children; to desire him as a mistress longs for intimacy with her beloved. We should strive to forget everything in the arms of Krishna. Only in this way can we be saved and enjoy eternal pleasure from the caresses of Krishna, whose wife we ​​can become forever.

So, having borrowed the Christian idea to attract adepts, Prabhupada then abandons it. In the same way, Satanists take the Lord's Prayer in order to read it backwards, or steal a crucifix from the temple in order to hang it upside down.

The eclecticism of the dogma and attitude of the USC is illustrated by an article by Jayadvaita Das distributed by Russian Hare Krishnas, “Are Hare Krishna devotees idolaters?” with the subtitle “Senior members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness try to resolve this issue by explaining the identity of the Lord and His Deity”, that is, statues of dressed, bathed, anointed and fed .

The author of the article defines idolatry as “worship of the invented form of the Lord”, while “the Supreme Lord, both in the Bible and in other scriptures, instructs us not to imprint the fruits of our imagination in a tree or stone, thus expressing respect for our misconceptions." For example, Jews worshiped an idol - a golden calf - in Sinai.

What follows is an interesting logical twist. God is not impersonal! - the Hare Krishnas exclaim with aplomb. But if He is a Person, then He has "a name, a form, and other attributes proper to a person." Denying this is "the sign of a limited and not entirely sane mind."

“If God is the Supreme Person, the Supreme Father, He must have all the qualities of a person. Otherwise, why then these qualities are manifested in his sons?<…>So, if God has a personal form, what is it?<…>If we want to know about the personal qualities of God, we must turn directly to Himself, that is, to the revealed scriptures. We can also learn about Him from a self-realized saintly person or spiritual master. The main sign of such holy teachers as Jesus Christ is that they always speak based on the Holy Scriptures and refer to the Scriptures to confirm their words. They never come up with anything new.

Although Western scriptures always indicate that God is a person, they very briefly describe His form, qualities, and kingdom. If we want to know more detailed information about God, we should refer to the Vedic scriptures of the Krishna consciousness movement (these scriptures have nothing to do with the Vedas . - A.D.). Books such as Bhagavad-Gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam and other scientific (! - A.D.) works were first compiled and written down about five thousand years ago (“Bhagavad-Gita” was written in the II-III centuries A.D., and “Bhagavata-Purana”, as it is more correct to call the book “Srimad-Bhagavatam”, - in IV-VI centuries . - A.D.).

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement appeals to all people: if you really want to understand God in His full glory as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then you must refer to these scriptures, because nowhere else you will find such detailed description His name, form, qualities, deeds and abode<…>His transcendent image is the most attractive in all three worlds - His eyes are like lotus petals, and His body is the color of a thundercloud (recall that in ancient icons, demons were depicted as blue-black - A.D.). He is so attractive that His beauty surpasses thousands of Cupids (! - A.D.) <…>

It should be noted that this work is not a product of the imagination, like the works of poets and artists. Many Vedic literatures contain this comprehensive description of God. The Vedas also give us the name of the Lord - Krishna, and describe in detail His qualities, pastimes, environment and abode. And, most importantly for dealing with the issue of idolatry, they talk about His form. deities of Krishna who are<…>in the temples of Krishna consciousness, not a figment of the imagination. They were made in strict accordance with the instructions of the Vedas. Deities are not idols. When we look at the Deity of Krishna, what we see is actually the form of the Lord.<…>[Hence] the contrived form of God is nothing but an idol, while the authoritative form of the Lord is the Lord Himself, who, in His transcendent Deity form, accepts our service and reveals Himself more and more to us…”.

The above construction exactly follows the really ancient logical law, called the vicious circle, when the proof serves as an argument in the proof.

The Krishna article, which initially spoke of the “divine teacher Jesus Christ,” who was even “the son of God,” ends with a stern warning to us all:

“Therefore, for one who rejects the conclusion of the Vedic Scriptures and regards the Deities as a wooden idol, Krishna will forever remain an idol. The scriptures say that such a person is defiled by demonic consciousness.”

This example clearly shows the methodology of using Christian images by the “Society for Krishna Consciousness”: starting with a reference to the Bible, they end up with the fact that any Christian who perceives the Bible as the Word of God is “defiled by demonic consciousness”.

In other statements of the "Society for Krishna Consciousness" related to Christ and Christianity, the algorithm shown above is repeated. Here is a dialogue between Prabhupada and a certain “Father Emmanuel Jungclaussen, Benedictine monk of Naideralih Monastery”, published in The Science of Self-Consciousness (Bhaktivedanda Book Trust. B/m, 1991), p. 145–153.

“Srila Prabhupada: What does the word "Christ" mean?

Father Emmanuel: "Christ" comes from Greek word"christos" meaning "anointed one".

ShP: "Christos" is the Greek version of the word "Krishna"<…>When Jesus said: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,” by the name of God he meant “Krishta” or “Krishna”<…>"Christ" is a variant of the pronunciation of the name "Krishta" and "Krishta" is a variant of the pronunciation of the name "Krishna", the name of God<…>Whether you call God 'Christ', 'Krishta', or 'Krishna', in the end you are referring to the same Supreme Personality of Godhead.<…>In fact, there is no difference - Krishna or Christ, the name is the same ... ".

This point of Prabhupada is very important, because to our assertion that an authentic religious tradition defines itself in its own categories, one could argue that the early Christians used the terms and concepts of Greek philosophy for preaching. However, none of them could even think that Christ and Zeus, or, say, Christ and Baal, are one and the same; such statements came only from false teachers, the founders of the Gnostic sects.

Let's see how Prabhupada develops his thought:

"Practice bhakti yoga(loving service to God) implies that a person is freed from all kinds of external self-identifications such as "Hindu", "Muslim", "Christian" and the like, and simply serves God. We have created the Christian, Hindu and Muslim religions, but when we come to a religion without external definitions in which we consider ourselves neither Hindus, nor Christians, nor Muslims, then we can talk about pure religion, bhakti”.

Characteristically, Prabhupada declares the need to abandon all existing religions and move to a new syncretic world religion. Thus, the USC becomes on a par with theosophy, Roerich's agni yoga and other neo-pagan cults of the New Age movement, the “new era”.

When a Catholic monk reasonably asks why Prabhupada came to preach in Western Christian countries, Prabhupada's reasoning takes an interesting logical twist.

“ShP: The problem is that Christians do not follow the commandments of God. Do you agree?
OE: Yes, to a large extent you are right.

ShP: What then is the meaning of the love for God preached by Christians? If you violate the will of God, where is your love? That is why we have come to teach people what it means to love God: if you love Him, you cannot disobey His will. If you don't obey Him, then you don't have true love.<…>Therefore the Krishna consciousness movement is necessary to teach people to revive their forgotten love of Godhead in this way. Not only Christians are to blame, but also Hindus and Muslims and everyone else. They have labeled themselves Christian, Hindu, Muslim, but they do not obey God.”

Prabhupada further explains that Christians are mainly guilty of violating the “first (!) commandment of Christ” “Thou shalt not kill”, as they keep slaughterhouses and kill animals for food. No objection that this Moiseeva the commandment applied to people, not to animals, the main ideologist of Krishnaism does not work, and he repeats this again and again with enviable persistence. This is how the Society for Krishna Consciousness, with its history of destroyed families, crippled destinies, extortion, smuggling, drug and arms trafficking, violence, child molestation and murder, undertook to teach the world the love of God.

And at the end of the dialogue, Prabhupada demands:

“If you want to cooperate with us, go to churches and chant “Christ”, “Krishta”, or “Krishna”<…>We speak to you as a representative of the Christian church. Instead of keeping the churches closed, why don't you give them to us? We would sing there all the time holy name God."

So, Prabhupada claims that Christ and Krishna are one and the same, only Krishnaism is better (remember the capacious term introduced by Chesterton chrislam), because it better fulfills the commandments of Christ. But does Prabhupada really think that Christ and Krishna are identical? We will find the answer in the article "Jesus Christ was a guru", placed immediately after the above dialogue (pp. 154-155). Prabhupada is ready to recognize Christ as the "representative of God" and "spiritual teacher - guru", that is, to put him on the same level with himself. And in a dialogue with John Lennon, Prabhupada talks about whether the repetition of the names of Jesus Christ and Krishna is really equivalent:

“John Lennon: I want to ask if repeating "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus" will give any result?

Prabhupada: The Lord Jesus says that he is the son of God. He is not God, but His son. In this sense, there is no difference between Krishna consciousness and Christianity. There can be no quarrel between God and the son of God. Jesus said, "Love God," and Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, says, "Love Me." This is the same. If you say: “Love me,” and your wife says: “Love my husband,” there will be no difference in your words ”(Ibid., p. 194; above, he said that it doesn’t matter whose name to sing, Christ or Krishna - A. D.).

And here are the statements of a disciple of Prabhupada, who took refuge behind the pseudonym Satyaraja Das, the author of the pamphlet “Is it written in the Bible?” (translated from English; Russian edition of Yamuna Press Company. B/m, 1992). The task of the author, formulated by him at the beginning of the brochure, is identical to that declared by Blavatsky, the Roerichs, Alice Bailey and other prophets and apostles of the New Age:

“Show the harmony that exists between the Bible and the older Vedic texts of India (read Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita As It Is. - A.D.). The essence of the message of the Bible and the Vedas is the same<…>This message was revealed to different people according to time, place, and circumstances; therefore, the details may vary. But the essence remains the same - it is simply transmitted in accordance with the abilities of the audience. For example<…>in elementary mathematics one is taught that large numbers cannot be subtracted from smaller ones<…>However, in high school, we learn that subtracting large numbers from smaller numbers is possible: the result will be negative numbers(the reader is not yet told whether the Bible is "arithmetic" . - A.D.). Likewise, prophets and sages reveal religious truths selectively, for the benefit and gradual enlightenment of their hearers. In a few small details, one prophet may denounce an activity, while another, following a different tradition, encourages it. In this way, people of different cultures can gradually progress according to their abilities. Revelation comes gradually. And the highest revelation is the understanding that religion is one, for God is one” (p. 3).

“Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest existing Greek manuscript of the New Testament, is now in the British Museum. Interestingly, this manuscript was written in 331 after the birth of Christ - six years after Council of Nicaea. There are no manuscripts written before this cathedral. Why is it interesting? Because history shows that at that council everything was redone - just like at all subsequent ones (? - A.D.). No one knows what Christianity was before this Ecumenical Council (! - BUT. D.). And it is unlikely that anyone will know, since the Christian tradition has not been preserved, having undergone changes and decline” (p. 37).

"International Society for Krishna Consciousness" (English abbreviation - ISKCON - International Society for Krishna Consciousness), uniting the followers of Krishnaism (Vaishnavism), was registered in 1966 by Bhaktivedanta Swami (1896-1977). In fact, ISKCON became the missionary successor of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya, one of the four sampradayas, i.e. disciplic successions, through which Vedic knowledge has been transmitted from time immemorial (there are also Sri-sampradaya, Kumara-sampradaya and Rudra-sampradaya). All these branches of Hinduism are called Vaishnava, since they are based on the worship of the Supreme Divine Personality of Vishnu (Krishna).

Vaishnavism school called Gaudiya (from ancient name of Bengal), to which Srila Prabhupada belonged, was founded in Bengal 500 years ago by Sri Chaitanya (1486-1524). This succession is connected with the Madhva school (1281-1360), as well as with the even older school of Sri Vaishnavas Ramanuja (1017-1137).

Since the 70s. 20th century thanks to the activities of A.Ch. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who actually for the first time in history managed to bring and widely disseminate the ancient science of bhakti yoga (love of God) in the countries of the West, Vaishnavism is experiencing a revival both in India itself and beyond its borders. The founding acarya of the Society for Krishna Consciousness, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, is revered as a saint in India. Streets named after him major cities and various institutions, and in 2015 in Kolkata, on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of ISKCON, a unique sculptural composition was installed, consisting of two parts and symbolizing the departure of Prabhupada on the Jaladuta ship to America in 1965. The monument consists of two parts - the second part of the diptych will be installed in Boston at the Commonwealth Pier, the place where Srila Prabhupada first set foot on American soil.

ISKCON in RUSSIA

The Center for Societies for Krishna Consciousness in Russia (TsOSKR) is the largest Russian Hindu organization uniting (according to the Ministry of Justice as of January 1, 2016) 79 registered communities and over 400 small spiritual groups in more than 120 cities of the country with a total number of at least 30 thousand people. followers and at least 150 thousand interested in this philosophy and culture. The number of active followers reaches 11 thousand people.

The development of the tradition of Krishna consciousness in Russia began in 1971 after the arrival of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in Moscow.

THE ESSENCE OF DOCTRINE

The essence of the Vaishnava doctrine is that we are all eternal souls, born in various material bodies, because we have forgotten our higher spiritual nature. The goal of human life is to awaken in oneself the love of God and turn to His devotional service.

ISKCON IN NUMBERS

Modern ISKCON has:

602 spiritual centers around the world

65 agricultural farms and ecovillages

54 educational institutions, including elementary schools, middle schools and institutions of higher learning

110 vegetarian restaurants

75,000 followers with spiritual initiation (who have taken vows)

7 million followers visiting temples and spiritual centers

2 thousand small (home) groups of spiritual communication (bhaktivriksha), including about 30 thousand followers

516 million spiritual books published and distributed

3 billion servings of prasadam (sanctified vegetarian food) distributed worldwide

1,200,000 daily prasadam meals for children as part of the ISKCON Charitable Food Distribution Charity's Noon and Annamrita Programs

1 thousand street harinam every week

6,000 Vaishnava festivals such as Krishna Janmashtami, Ramnavami, Rathayatra, etc. in ISKCON temples and spiritual centers

210 thousand kilometers of padayatras (walking and other mobile groups of sankirtana (sermons), who visited 52 thousand cities, towns and villages in 110 countries of the world.

7 GOALS OF ISKCON

By registering the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada defined its goals and objectives as follows:

1. Systematically disseminate spiritual knowledge among the masses and teach people the methods of spiritual practice to restore the disturbed balance in the value system of society, ensure the true unity of all people and establish world peace.

2. To preach the philosophy of Krsna consciousness as expounded in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

3. To bring members of society closer to each other and bring them closer to Krishna - the original Supreme Being, and thereby enable members of society and all people to realize that each soul is an integral part of God (Krishna).

4. To spread and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, following the instructions of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

5. To build a city for members of society and all people in one of the holy places where the transcendental pastimes of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, took place.

6. To unite the members of society into a single family and teach them a simpler and more natural way of life.

7. To achieve the above goals, publish and distribute periodicals, magazines and books.

The Bhagavad Gita is the central eighteen chapters of the Mahabharata, which describes the history of Great India. And there, in the Bhagavad-gita, the whole basic philosophy of Krsna consciousness is explained.

"Bhagavad-gita" is called the primer of spiritual life, it is the very beginning of spiritual philosophy. The Bhagavad-gita was first spoken over five thousand years ago on the battlefield. It was spoken by Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who came to show His pastimes here on earth, to His devotee Arjuna, who was confused and did not know what his duty was in this situation. The most elementary philosophy is discussed in the Bhagavad-gita, namely the distinction between matter and spirit. Matter is created from earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego. These eight components represent the material world, and the material world itself moves and acts due to the presence and influence of the spirit. For example, the bodies we have are material. They are made of these eight basic elements, but inside the body is the spirit soul, which makes the body move, have consciousness, show signs of life. So the soul is inside this body. In fact, "I" creature, there is a spirit soul, "I" is not this body. "I" is a pure spirit soul, and the body is just an instrument, a machine that I have been using for some period of time. It is like a car. The car we drove here is now in a parking lot somewhere, and it won't move, it won't show any signs of life until I, the driver, get in the car and start it. The car completely depends on me, the driver, without me, the driver, the car cannot somehow act, move. Car and driver go well together because the car will act as an extension of the body and is able to take me from one place to another very quickly. After all, if I went on foot, it would take much longer. Obviously, of the two components: the car and the driver - the driver is much more important. A broken car can be replaced at any time, for this it is enough to go to the store and buy another one, but if the driver breaks, it cannot be replaced. No amount of money can bring back to life a driver who died as a result of a traffic accident.

You can invite another driver, but the previous driver has died, he is no more. So the driver of the car is the life force. He is very important. The machine itself is a dead material element, it is far from being so important. Similarly, I, spirit soul, am inside my vehicle, body. The body is exactly like a machine; it will lead me to various places so that I may fulfill my various desires. I am the spirit soul, the driver of this body, I am the life of this body. And as soon as the spirit soul leaves the body, the body immediately becomes lifeless and dead. The moment when the spirit soul leaves the body is called death. The body is a car. We find that the body is changing. The Bhagavad-gita says: dehino "smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati (Bg 2.13) Everyone starts life as Small child. We are born, then we begin to grow; an infant develops into a child, then into a teenager, into a young man or a girl, reaches middle age, and finally comes to old age. Our body is constantly changing throughout this life. It does not remain the same, the body is constantly changing every certain period of time. For example, all parts of a small child's body disappear when you pass into a teenager's body, and this body is also completely different when a person reaches middle age. All parts of the body change completely, but the owner of the body remains the same. The one who owns this body is "I" - the soul. The owner of the body remains the same all the time. For example, we might ask someone in the audience who is in their seventies or over, "Do you remember what you did when you were twenty?" He will say: "Yes, I remember very well. I was full of life, I ran, I danced." Then we can ask, "Was it you or someone else?" He will answer: "No, no, it was me!". Now you have grown old, but what has changed - the body or the person who has this body? Actually the body has changed; the owner of this body never changes, it always remains the same.

So, I am not this body, my body changes for a certain time in the process of this life, but I remain the same. Similarly, I change the body at the time of death. We have explained how the body changes during this life, but the person who possesses this body remains the same. Similarly, at the time of death, the body itself changes, but the owner of the body remains the same. The owner of the body, the "I", the soul, leaves this present body and passes into another. This process is called transmigration of the soul or transmigration of the soul, or reincarnation. I am an eternal spirit soul who always lives somewhere in this material world, and when my body dies, I don't die in the process. There is a verse in the Bhagavad-gita that says, "There has never been a time when I or you or the kings who have gathered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra did not exist." None of us will cease to exist. The spirit soul is never born and never dies. The body is born and dies. We are transmigrating from one body to another life after life, and this transmigration of the soul from body to body is a permanent feature of this world. This means that for millions of years we have been constantly changing our bodies, life after life, passing through different types of life. At one time we were a bird flying in the sky, at another time we were a fish that swims in the water, or an animal that runs on the ground, or took on various human forms. The living entity changes his body life after life, changes his characteristics, but the owner of this body always remains the same person.

Just as we change our body in this life, our body changes at the time of death. We even see where we're going, but our friends and our relatives don't see it. According to their understanding, our body has died and we are dead now. For example, if I were to die now and fall dead on the floor here, my friends would cry, "Oh, he's dead, he's gone from here." But a stranger would say: "Where did he go? He's lying here. The same hands, the same legs, the same glasses, the same shirt, everything is here, he has not gone anywhere. He is lying here." My friends will say, "No, no, he's gone, he's dead now." They say this because the person they have associated with, the person they have loved and known, is not this body. The body is just a shell, a shell that we wear. It is like the clothes we change every day. We carry this body for some time and at the end of life we ​​give it up because it becomes useless. The end of life means that the body can no longer hold the life force within it, for example, when it gets too old to sustain life, death comes; then the body develops various diseases and old age, and we have to accept another body. In fact, in the Upanishads (this is a section of Vedic literature) there are very good description what happens at the time of death. People are always wondering what death means, what death is, what happens to us at the moment of death. In the Upanishads it is described as follows. The spirit soul is in the heart. It is a small spark of spiritual energy, the person that we are. It is located in the heart and is the seed of our consciousness. This soul has feelings, the ability to see, for example. In fact, this ability does not come from the eyes or the brain, but from the soul, and we simply use this eye as a means by which we can see, for example, how I use glasses. The glasses themselves do not see, I just look through the glasses, they help me see. Similarly, I look through my eyes and they help me see. Now, because I am alive, I can see, hear, taste, smell and touch. These are the five senses that I use in my life, but at the time of death I can no longer use the senses because the connection between the body and the soul is cut off. When this connection breaks, at the same moment I find myself in complete darkness, because I no longer look through my eyes and am inside the heart, body, so everything around me becomes dark and I can no longer see anything. At this moment, the moment of death, the Supersoul (that is the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is in the heart of every living entity along with the individual soul) illuminates some part of the body, and we go to the light that we see.

There are one hundred and eighteen different nadias (or nerve channels) in the body, they are like tubes, and the Oversoul illuminates one of these channels, tunnels, and we see the light at the end of this tunnel. Naturally, the soul begins to move towards this light, and when it enters the light, it leaves this body and passes into the next. Let's say the soul has to take the form of a human and therefore it enters the sperm of the man, the father, which, in turn, is introduced into the mother's womb. When this sperm particle enters the egg, a new body is formed. It begins to grow and the soul again begins to change its body in accordance with where it should be born. One might ask, "Why does a living being die the way it dies? What makes it go into another body that is already predetermined?" This is very good question, because there must be some kind of force that makes a living being enter another body of a certain type. Not all bodies are the same, some bodies are very good, others are not; some people are born into rich families and rich countries, other people are born into poor families and poor countries. Some people are born beautiful, others ugly, some people are born fat and others not, some people are born very smart and some people have no brains at all. So what causes us to be born in different bodies? This is how the law of karma works. The law of karma is a very simple law, somewhat reminiscent of Newtonian physics. You know that in Newton's laws there is a postulate that states that every action is equal to the reaction. If I put pressure on this microphone stand, it will oppose me, and I must use force to overcome the opposite force coming from there. Karma is like this, but on a subtle level. Every action I take has certain consequences. Some consequences may be good and others bad, it depends on the action I have taken.

I always have a choice: I can do something good or something bad, it's up to me. If I do something bad, like hurting someone, it is considered a bad act and I get a corresponding bad reaction. For example, in Sanskrit the word "meat" means "mamsa". This word can be divided into two parts, or into two roots: mam and sa. Mam means "I" and sa means "he". Therefore, if today I kill this animal and eat it, tomorrow or in some other life this animal has the right to kill or eat me. This is the law of karma. Mamsa is "I-he." If I hurt someone in this life, he has the right, given by karma, to inflict this pain on me. This is the law of karma. A person's karma tends to accumulate. If I accumulate a lot of bad reactions, I have something like a karmic bank account, which are credited also our good deeds. And all these good and bad actions are taken into account at the time of death. Therefore, we are given a certain body exactly according to our karma. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, this is described as follows: "The living entity at the present moment creates karmic actions that will determine his future body." Similarly, our past karma has determined the body that we have in this moment. As soon as you are born, the body that is born at the same time brings with it various reactions that will manifest themselves in due time, for example, if your eyes should deteriorate, at some point your vision will deteriorate, if your teeth should fall out, this will happen if the liver should get sick, then this will happen at a certain time due to your karma. So, karma is created by our sinful and righteous actions. Sometimes people think that at the end of life everything will end, nothing will exist, and the body is just a pile of chemical elements. But if this is so, we can ask the scientists: "Please create a body and thereby prove your statement." But they only answer: "The body is just chemical elements". We ask you to prove it by creating some kind of body. We even agree to an egg or an ant body. Once our spiritual master A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was in South Africa. We were driving down the road heading for Durban, and as we passed a building called the Rainbow Chicken Factory, Srila Prabhupada asked what the building was for. It was explained to him that this was an incubator for chickens and for hens, which lay eggs all the time, and when they stop laying eggs, they are killed. Prabhupada said, "If the scientists say that life is just a combination of chemicals, then let them make an egg. I challenge them. They can take something white like calcium phosphate, something yellow like phosphate." sodium, and make a yolk. They can cover it with plastic. The Japanese have made a plastic that looks like a shell. You can put all this in an incubator and let a chicken hatch from there. It will be very simple. It will be much easier than keeping all these chickens in incubators." But scientists cannot make an egg. They cannot even make an ant, and yet they maintain that life is simply a product of chemical elements. In fact, their theory has not been proven by anything. If that were the case, then why don't they discover the chemical elements that disappear from the chemical body at the time of death? At the time of death, all the chemical elements in the body remain the same. Nothing disappears from the body, nothing spills out, all the chemical elements are in place. Why then did the man die? Scientists will answer this: "Because some of the chemical components have decomposed." What chemicals are decomposed? Can someone say? Even if they can tell, why don't they then take other chemicals and inject them into their body? Let this body come to life again! After all, in this way the state would have more workers. But they are not capable of that, because as soon as the body dies, you have to throw it away, it is no longer good for anything. Therefore, the body is not just a combination of chemical elements.

The body is a combination of matter and spirit, a combination of material elements and a spirit soul that has entered the body and is the cause of life. For example, if the spirit soul does not enter the mother's egg at the time of conception, the fetus will not develop. The spirit soul enters this ovum and then life arises and the germ will grow. Sometimes people think that there is no life in the embryo, that it is lifeless. They use this argument to justify abortion. They say that abortion is not the killing of a living being in the womb. But we have never seen dead things grow, and we have never seen the dead become alive, come to life. We always see that life comes from life. We have never seen life come from death. We see that life gives rise to some chemicals, and not chemicals give rise to life, for example, a lemon tree can produce great amount citric acid, and the person will not know where it came from. There are many other components in our human body, many various elements for example, our bowel movements are filled with phosphates, they have a lot of phosphates. In this way, we produce various chemicals, it is natural, but chemicals do not give rise to life. At one research institute (we also saw this), botanists did an experiment to show that plants can produce various chemicals. Sometimes someone argues that the body does not actually create any elements, it just transforms chemicals, for example, we eat with our mouth, food is transformed in the body and then takes the form of stool. To answer this objection, a scientific experiment was done. You can take the seed of a small plant and put it in externally controlled conditions. You know exactly what elements are contained in this earth. You can accurately weigh the earth, make a chemical analysis of the earth and what is on the earth. Every day you can carefully measure the amount of water or other things you add. You can carefully measure how much solar energy hits this plant. And during the period of plant growth, you can see that new components have appeared there that were not there before. They are not part of those substances that were in external environment. In particular, the plant produces calcium. You can completely free the environment from calcium, but when the plant grows, it will still contain calcium. This proves that life produces chemicals, but there has never been evidence anywhere that chemicals produce life.

So the Vedic literature says that the living entity produces this body, gives birth, and then at the end of life, when the body becomes old and useless, the living entity gives up the past body and gets a new one. All this happens in accordance with the laws of nature. When we use the laws of nature, someone may ask us: "Whose nature is this? Under whose nature is all this going on? Who directs all this?" And the answer to this question is one: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. He is the cause of everything that happens according to the exact plan." But who is Krishna, and how do we treat Him? What is our relationship with Him? This can be explained by a very simple example of the Sun and sunlight. The sun is a huge source of light in the universe and an infinite number of particles come from it, which have wave characteristics. These particles of the Sun are called photons. They have all the qualities of the Sun, they have heat and light, like the Sun. The difference is that the Sun contains a huge amount of light and heat, while the particles of the Sun are tiny, tiny particles of light and heat. So, this particle is practically negligible, infinitely small, if we compare it with the infinite Sun. Such a great variety of energies, no one can understand how it happens. So much light and heat comes from this particle, and it is similar to the light itself, the Sun itself, but different in quantitative terms. This is an example of difference and unity at the same time. Difference and unity means that qualitatively we are one, but quantitatively we are different. This is a perfect example that demonstrates the oneness and difference between the Personality of Godhead, Krsna, and us living entities. Krishna is the great source of all living beings, and from Him all of us living beings have come. All spirit souls in creation come from Krishna. Qualitatively we are the same as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but quantitatively we are different from Him. Unity and difference exist in us at the same time. We are the same with Him in quality, but different from Him in quantity. Krishna is the great source of all cosmic creation, and we, tiny, insignificant spiritual particles, are the result. Krishna is the Lord, and we are His servants. This is an elementary representation of Vedic philosophy.

The relationship between the living entity and the Supreme is called the sanatana-dharma of the living entity. This sanatana-dharma means essentially service. The tiny living entity must serve the supreme, huge, great personality God. This service is called bhakti. Bhakti, bhakti yoga. Yoga means "to bind," and bhakti means "to be in a loving transcendental relationship with the Supreme." Thus the living entity naturally has a relationship with the Supreme Lord as his eternal servant. The Lord is great, and we are very small and insignificant, so our duty is to serve Him. This is our natural constitutional position. We living entities do not belong to this material world. We have simply come here because of our desire to dominate material nature. We want to dominate and enjoy material existence, but actually we are neither enjoyers nor lords, we are servants of the Supreme, and when we restore our natural position as servants of the Supreme through the process of bhakti-yoga, we reach the spiritual platform. self-awareness. Self-awareness means understanding ourselves, who we really are and what we are a part of. This is called self-awareness. When a person realizes himself, he will no longer be born in this material world, but will return back to the spiritual world to which he belongs. This is the elementary philosophy of Krsna consciousness. Certainly, Krsna consciousness has a gigantic philosophy. Srila Prabhupada translated many books from Sanskrit into English, about sixty books. Tonight we can only explain a small part of our philosophy, but if you want to know more, please take home our books on Krishna consciousness. We are gradually translating these books into Russian and all other languages ​​of the Soviet Union. It is a very big work and it will take a long time, maybe not very long, but long enough, but now at least we have Bhagavad-gita. The Bhagavad-gita is the most important of our books, it is the primer of the spiritual life. Please take the Bhagavad-gita with you and read it carefully. This is a wonderful book that will give you a deep understanding of spiritual knowledge. You will be able to read the Bhagavad-gita again and again and you will find everything new and new in it, because it is actually a very deep book and you will never be able to exhaust it to the bottom, although very simple things are discussed in it. It is a very profound work because the Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. So try to accept spiritual life, Krsna consciousness.

One may ask, "How can I accept Krsna consciousness and bring it into my life?" And one answer might be: “You can very easily take on Krishna consciousness by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. This is a very simple mantra, but don't let that simplicity fool you. Actually, the Hare Krishna mantra is very, very powerful because it includes the name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, and His first expansion, Rama. The word Hare refers to the energy of the Supreme Lord. By chanting the mantra, you are chanting the names of the energy and source of energy of everything. Therefore, chanting these names is a very powerful method. One should try it. Anyone can chant Hare Krsna. We do not ask you for any money for this mantra, we are giving it to you for free because no one has that kind of money to pay for it.It is priceless and therefore there is no point in asking you for money for the Hare Krishna mantra.You will never be able to pay for it.Some groups charge money for Vedic mantras, but this mantra is given to us free of charge in the Vedas. There is no need to ask money for it. These mantras are priceless. The Hare Krishna maha-mantra is the most powerful of all mantras because it restores our natural relationship with Krishna and brings us to the level of self-realization, self-understanding. So we ask all of you to chant this mantra and understand more and more, learn more about this process of Krishna consciousness. When you chant the Hare Krishna mantra, your life will become sublime and you will become truly happy. We want you to be happy. This is the purpose of our preaching. Therefore we ask you to read Bhagavad-gita As It Is, read the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, and thus become happy. We thank you for your patience in listening to this lecture. Will there be any other part of this program? Is there anything left? Will there be a video? You will be shown a video. Maybe our guests will ask us a few questions? The devotees have already had time for questions, so we encourage guests to ask any questions if you have any. If you have no questions, that's fine too, we'll show you a video. But if you have questions, please ask them, he (the translator) will translate for me.