HARE KRISHNA,
I am very concerned about the environment, but is being ecofriendly an illusion because we cannot hold the powers of manipulating krishna's will? Or the forces of material nature are acting regardless of what we do. Or does doing so fuel our false ego of lording over material nature?
Or should we do it as of duty, to protect what Krishna has given us.It can be seen as taking care of the body, as we have to use it in Krishna's service. But Is it still beyond our hands or authority to control material nature? After all it is temporary. But krishna himself had a simple living and high thinking, like Prabhupada lived. He wanted us to use natural cow's products, live in farm communities, serve Krishna. But, is it then binding us to the world if we campaign for the environment and forests, trees?
Ignorence is darkness, where there is light there is no ignorance. Kindly show your mercy by replying,
Jai Gauranga,
your lowly servant.
Replies
Hare Krishna,
please accept my humble obeisances
Very truly said...., unfortunately people right now are fed from chilhood of school , that development is good in economics.I always face a problem while trying to change their thinking, but they end up arguing with something like "science is trying to find solutions" "only with more research will we be able to find anwsers to global warming" and they have now converted to pushing forward "sustainable development"- but this is all rubbish like the way you expertly pointed out of the wide eyed fault in minimalsm theory - the basic sense gratification in disguise.(its not connected to krsna)
But I have one query if we are to carry out the project how chirag prabhu proposes, like the way in the Venu madhuri project in MP(http://www.venumadhuri.org/watershed) initiative by ISKCON, they have used PVC pipes to do the irrigation, do you think is is okay to bring forward that notion that technology again will help to do the things?And to what extent.
thank you,
your servant,
yashvini
Hare Krsna Chirag ji
thank you for your reply , and also for making this very valid point , ...''without Krishna being the center, sooner or later, we will revert to our old lifestyle. So it simply won't work. It may work for 5-10 years..but not for long.''
this is very much what I mean by saying that even minimal living is in some way swaping one form of material enjoyment for another , first one is sarrounding themselves with material posessions and thinking that these posessions are the source of happiness , then finding this to be bondage one moves on to another form of atttaining happiness by shedding the material attatchments and making space in ones life for orher forms of enjoyment , this freedom again will only bring temporary happiness , the only true and lasting happiness is attaining the realisation of our relationship to Sri Krsna , by doing this we automaticaly come to understand our true Dharma and how to establish ballance in our lives .
the orriginal post raised the question of how Krsna wants us to live and of the example set by Srila Prabhupada.....''But krishna himself had a simple living and high thinking, like Prabhupada lived. He wanted us to use natural cow's products, live in farm communities, serve Krishna. But, is it then binding us to the world if we campaign for the environment and forests, trees?''
when we become Krsna conscious , we have to examine many things in our lives and put these things into perspective . we canot just abandon the world we also have to be responcible towards others , we realise the values of ahimsa when it comes to our eating habits , so we must examine what is ahimsa in every other aspect of our life . Srila Prabhupada recomended living in farm comunities and using natural cow products , this is not just for our benifit but also for the benifit of Gomata and for the protection of the planet , living this way brings everything into ballance .
so if we are unsure if we should campaign to save the enviroment ? ...it is the same as asking should we campaign for the protection of Gomata ? ...and should we campaign for fair treatment of other human jivas ?
personaly yes I think we should , ...but this dosent have to take away from our Krsna Consciousness we can remain Conscious of Krsna all of the time , ...let us look at the ten avataras ...how many times has Visnu incarnated to save his devotees or to save the planet and to re establish Dharma ..every time he appears differently according to the situation , ...we too must act differently according to the situation .
we canot save the world by our selves but we can come together to raise awareness and to protect mother earth in the same way we would protect Gomata and other helpless jivas .
Hare Krishna,
wonderful answer mataji!
thank you,
your servant,
yashvini
Hare Krsna prabhu ji's
please accept my humble obeicences ,
I am a little worried about this Idea of minimalism as discussed in this blog , it is fine but it is just another lifestyle choice , having a beautifull home with nothing in it , less posessions to cause stress is very good but it isnt necesarliy replacing materialism and with something of a higher nature , such as god consciousness , ...many people take the Idea of minimalism as a rearangement of their disorganised life style , here people talk about removing clutter from their lives throwing away all the photos but putting them on a memory stick instead of keeping paper copies , this is just utilising technology to improve our living space it is not stoping consumerism just changing one form of consumerism for another one may throw away material artifacts but one is not detatching one self from material life , only devotion frees one from material life .
jai sri krsna
Ratikala
Hare Krishna,
Please accept my humble obeiscences,
In fact, this consumerism has taken a toll of our lives. In fact, many people have got tired of this nonsensical consumerism, and they now they practice minimalism. They have thoughts very similar to this, and live a happy life, and a man also left his six figure salary to adopt this.
www.missminimalist.com
jay prabhupada!
your servant,
yashvini
thanks for your brainstorming and i felt some winds reading them hare krsna
Hare Krsna Chirag prabhu ,
thank you for this very nice link ,
Jai Jai ,Radhanath Swami ji for this very important initiative .
this is a very nice project , we must also remember that we do not have to be a part of a team working on such a program we can do many things our selves and spread awareness amongst our friends and family .
Here we have been nurturing our small plot of land and growing fruit and flowers , but one of the most important things we can all do is to help to reduce the needless consumption in this world , we are so wastfull .
as a society we are taking more than we need to from this earth planet , we are very wastefull of every recource which means that there will not be enough to go around , which means that others will suffer because of our actions , we can all show our respects by cherishing every recource .
in this article the devotees highlight the alarming rate that we are cutting down trees just for the widening of roads then what will we do with these roads ? we will drive around wasting fuel and calling this progress we need to understand that there is a ballance that we have lost . restoring this ballance is very important .
there is also the added bonus I will grow fruit here and then I will enjoy so much more to offer it with love knowing that It has been grown with love and I will not have to wast petrol going to fetch it from a supermarket .
and Iespecialy like the idea that they are helping others to plant fruit trees so that they will benifit fro the crop , this is very beautifull serva .
Hare Krishna ratikala mataji,
Thank you so much for your reply. This link further thows some light on this matter,
(http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/page/sayana-ekadasi)
In satya yuga too, there was a drought that to because of a sudra's aparadha, then does it mean that whatever rain or drought that happens isn't influenced by trees or anything but just by karma?
Like it was mentioned by rashmi mataji that protecting the environment is good karma. So is then there really no such need to protect or campaign for trees as it is Karma (if people are to eat or not)?
Indeed, it is just best to have a simple living and high thinking.
your servant,
yashvini
Hari Krsna ,
Dear yashvini ji
you say here, ....
''Like it was mentioned by rashmi mataji that protecting the environment is good karma. So is then there really no such need to protect or campaign for trees as it is Karma (if people are to eat or not)?''
it is true that all the efects we see are as a result of Karma , but that does not mean that we do not need to be concerned or to work on spreading awareness about the importance of protecting the enviroment , it is very easy when talking of Karma to think that the results of past Karmas are the cause of the conditions we now face so that there is little that can be done about it , this leads to a sort of complacancy .
I said above that I do not nececarily beleive in campaigning , but I do very much beleive in action .
In the respect of the above question should we campaign to protect trees ? should we campaign to stop others going hungry ? or do we just accept it as their karma ?
No , we canot sit back , first we must think what can I do , will I just sit back and let others suffer because I have a benificial birth which allows me the good fortune to be a devotee , to have enough recorces to live a comfortable life and to have time for my devotions ?
or will I think how do my actions afffect others , am I responcible for the suffering others are suffering ?
it is not good that we should think that the poor suffer due to their own previous actions , it is not good that we simply leave others to suffer even if it is their Karma to suffer , if we do this we create future suffering due to our thoughtlessness .
so we must ask ..can I help others through my actions ?
can I enjoy the favorable fruits of karma and also share my good fortune ?
so as devotees we adopt simple living and high thinking ,
We clean up our act , we stop being indulgent , we take only the recources that we need from this earth planet and in thanks we give something back , the first thing we can think to do is to spread awareness ,
how can we consume so much whilst others go hungry ? how can we exploit the poor because they are needy by using their labour to amass profit ? ... some may say , it is ther Karma to be in their position , yes this is true , the poor are needy , but that does not mean we may leave them in this position without giving them a thought , ...and what of the trees that you mention , we canot think that they are just here for us to aprofitise from , they are the lungs of the world cut down too many trees and we will destroy the enviroment for countless others , we will destriy the enviroment untill it reaches the point that there are no plants , no flowers and no fruits to offer , ..so the first thing we can do is to cut our own un nececary consumption , behave responcibly , have few and simple needs stop being consumers just for the sake of consuming , think of the lives of others that we affect through our every action . take less and share more .
so high thinking is not just thinking about Krsna lila, it is thinking inteligently about what pleases Krsna , think about Rightious behavior , think about all those who do not have our good fortune , and what we can do to improve their material conditions , we must think sensitively , how can the poor man become Krsna conscious when his belly is empty and he fears for the wellbeing of his family , so we must give him this oppertunity , first by improving his living conditions ....this will please krsna , just as it pleases Krsna that we protect cows .
this whole subject of Karma is so very complex and very hard to understand so the best thing we can do is to act in a way that we know will please Krsna and not be personaly attatched to the result , but meanwhile we should never act in a way that is detremental to others , we should not just rest back and alow ourselves to let things that are in our control happen and think that it is all just a reaction or a fruit of activity .
this is an example of ''Action in inaction '' by standing back and doing nothing we ourselves create unwholesome outcomes which we and others inturn will suffer .
and finaly should we campaign ?
sometimes it might be nececary , if we have ajusted our behavior , if we have done everything that is within our powers to do and we think that campaigning might help , then we should campaign to protect others .
It is just that we should not allow campaigning to eclipse our devotions , it should be in full consciousness .
thank you for posting this interesting topic
jai sri Krsna
ratikala
Hare Krsna yashvini ji ,
Please accept my humble obeicences ,
your thoughts are smilar to my own , not only should we take care of the body but also take care of the enviroment for the sake and the benifit of those who canot , we belive in cow protection , then should we not care also for all living beings and protect the enviriment which we share .
as a part of our daily sadhana we should do our utmost to understand the principle of ''Simple living and High thinking ''
I do not nececarily beleive in campaigning but I do beleive very strongly that we should lead by example showing others that the devotee lifestyle is one of thoughtfullness and respect in every aspect of life , that we should take only what we need and be content with what recorses come naturaly avoiding excessive consumerism which ultimately leads degredation of society .
jai sri Krsna
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