Preaching of Bhagavad Gita

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Nectarean Mellows

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>Material civilization- Krishna explains that the fire of material desire however much ghee you put in the fire, however expensive and opulent that ghee may be it, only makes the fire bigger. Material desires can never be quenched by any amount of sensory satisfaction. The soul is searching for that loving relationship with God that is dormant with the heart of every living being. So how to attract? We must give our children the understanding as well as the higher taste of what Sanatana dharma and Hindu culture is really about.

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>And really that means we have to really put a great amount of emphasis in guiding them in this way. I know one young boy he is a college student. He took an interest in the teachings of Gita, when he told me that when I go to school everyone laughs at me because I am not smoking the cigarettes with them, I am not talking to the girls the way they do, I am not going to cinemas and talking about TV shows and all these things. They think I am crazy. They think I am out-caste. They think that there is something wrong with me. In fact my friends don't even like me anymore, that social pressure is a big problem. I told the boy that in the temple there are so many youths who are in colleges who are dynamic, you meet some of them, come one Sunday meet some of them. He developed friends with them, he came to the conclusion that it is not strange. I am not a misfit, I am not strange, I am not an out-caste. There are other people like me and he made friends with those people and they are completely giving up all sinful activities. They are still all studying in colleges but they have alliances with each other. They are studying for God. They are chanting the names of God, they are following the principles of the Gita, they are studying the Gita, they are associating with sadhus. What we have to do for our children is we have to create a society amongst them by which people of their age confirm whatever faith they have. That is essential otherwise they go and associate with their friends, they will all be erased. What you associate with, you become like. And therefore at our temples and at our cultural canters we must somehow or other create a society of youth who are practicing amongst each other and reconfirming amongst each other.

 

You know in the western world there is always the generation gap. You have heard of this. The generation gap? When I was growing up in America in my teens there was a mantra and all the youth chanted this mantra constantly and not only that but we lived by it and you know what that mantra is--Never trust anyone over 30. That is the law of the western world amongst the youth. Never trust anyone over 30 years old. They are old fashioned; they are of another generation they are just trying to disturb our lives to stop the progress of our lives. The no 1 song on the radio when I was a youth one singer was preaching to the parents and in one verse he says, "Get out of the new road if you can lend a hand. Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, don't criticize what you cannot understand. All your ideas, your sons and your daughters have betrayed your command. Now get out of the new way if you can't lend a hand". That's western Consciousness and as we accept all these devices of the west, western forms of education, you also get all of these western psychological ideas. It is not to the same degree but it is there deeply imprinted in our youths of Indian's hearts because of this western influence. They don't think what the elder generation has to tell them. It is practical in their lives therefore there has to be a society we have to create a society of youths, we can't expect them to sit in a session with all elderly people and listen to pravachan of the Sanatana dharma philosophy. And even if they do it won't sink in.

 

We have to have programs specially designed for youths amongst themselves. Just like for instance our Devamrit, he is young, he is dynamic, he is successful, he was a big, big banker in Standard Chartered Bank, an executive manager with masters degrees in several fields, they can relate to him. He is just about their age, he has gone through the same things that their generation is going through. When he speaks to them, they think, "Ah yes, you are like me and yes you are taking to spiritual life with such conviction". They listen. We must come to their level and we must inject knowledge of God accordingly and there is no doubt if we can somehow or other mobilize amongst each other, give up our sectarian ideas, this is our path. If we can just come together to reach out to saving the youth from spiritual disaster, you'll find a revolution, a renaissance of spirituality in this nation because they are this far from Krishna and they are looking for something meaningful and dynamic in their life and they'll go way out, this way looking in the wrong direction unless we can convince them right here and we can. There is no doubt. They will be convinced, but these considerations must be very, very seriously taken in our mind. These are my humble suggestions from own experience. Sanatana dharma, Gita must be preached scientifically and rationally.

 

Bhagavad Gita must be preached scientifically and rationally. So that the western scientific questioning minds; we can't expect them to accept it on faith. Their faith has been very much disturbed by all these doubting scientific ideas. They are taught in school that creation takes place through big bangs. There is no place for God in big bang theories, Darwin's theory of evolution. There is no room for the thought of God when you study these things. Their faith is very much in neutral condition. They haven't rejected but they haven't been convinced to accept. It must be presented in a way that is convincing and scientific and dynamic and they must also see there is a life that they can build around it. Otherwise they wont care for it. We cannot expect them to accept the tradition ritualistic form of Hinduism. We have to give them the Bhagavad Gita as Krishna gave it to Arjuna. And they will accept it.

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>H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj