India–From Punya-Bhumi to the Land of Sinners
Over the last thirty years I have spent a lot of time in India and I am very, very dismayed to see the incredibly rapid degradation of the Indian people. Srila Prabhupada wrote:
“Indeed, the chief executives of the present day introduce all kinds of sinful activity, especially illicit sex, intoxication, animal killing and gambling. These sinful activities are now very prominently manifested in India. Although a hundred years ago these four principles of sinful life were strictly prohibited in the families of India, they have now been introduced into every Indian family; therefore they cannot follow religious principles.” (SB 5.2.1 purport)
He wrote this many years ago but now these sinful activities in India have increased unlimitedly. Indians no longer appear have any fear of performing sinful activities and although there are now so many gurus in India preaching on the television I think none of them are seriously protesting against these sinful activities.
Killing Children:
The scale of the sinful activities in India is staggering. For example according to wikipedia every year there are 11 million abortions in India and of these 20,000 women die due to complications after the abortion. So they are murdering 11,000,000 children every year and 20,000 mothers and no one is even complaining about this. No sadhu, no ISKCON guru, no one.
To get some idea of the scale of this according to a 2008 estimate there were 262,200,000 women in India of the reproductive age. Out of these women 11,000,000 of them are going to have an abortion in one year. That is 42 women out of every 1000 having an abortion in India every year. This is practically equal to the black and Hispanic population in the USA who have one of the highest abortion rates in the word. It compares to around 13 women out of 1000 for white American women. When you add to this that it is estimated that 49% of the women of the reproductive age in India are using modern contraceptive methods and many are already sterilized the picture gets even worse.
In ten years almost half of the women in India of reproductive age will have an abortion, and that does not account for the fact that many of the women in India of reproductive age can not get pregnant because they have been sterilized or are using effective contraceptive methods.
In addition to this since the Indian government legalized homosexuality a few years ago this has become a very popular activity among the men.
Many young men are now not very interested in getting married.
They are getting plenty of sex so they don’t see any need to get married very soon. If you ask them about marriage they will say they are not interested and maybe they will get married after they are 35… It is quite usual to meet a young Indian boy who will boast that he has many girlfriends. And I don’t think they are lying…
So it would be difficult to find a country where there is more illicit sex going on than India.
Killing Cows:
India is now one of the biggest exporters of beef in the world. A lot of it is buffalo meat but there is also a big business in cow meat. Cow killing is legal in at least three states including Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s West Bengal and it is going on in full force in all other states also. The cows in India are disappearing quickly because the trucks are cruising the streets every night to pick up the cows and send them to the slaughter houses. And generally the Indians are thinking that it is nice, now there are no annoying cows and bulls on the streets… There is still some sentiment about the “holy cow” but no one is doing anything to actually protect the cows…
Meat Eating:
If you visit India it will appear that many of the people are vegetarians… And many of the people are vegetarians on a day-to-day basis, but this seems to be more because of economic reasons than anything else. The traditional Indian vegetarian diet is much cheaper than a meat-based diet, so even many Muslims will be vegetarian generally. But that is because it is cheaper, not because of any religious reason. I was quite shocked–I was staying in a small Hindu village and assumed the people were vegetarians but then there was marriage and everyone went there and they were serving mutton and goat meat and chicken and it was a great festival… All these Hindus with parts of dead animals hanging out of their mouths. It is a great treat for them. Everyone was eating it… Everywhere in India there are chicken shops and it is so popular. Chicken meat… Mutton, great delicacies in India…
Alcohol:
The English wine and beer shops are everywhere. And they are doing a great business…
The Holy Places:
Even in the holy places these sinful activities are in full force. So many people come from Delhi to Govardhan Hill to do parikrama on the full moon. But all around Govardhan Hill there are many meat shops, there are many wine shops and particularly in the hot weather when the people do the parikram at night if you look closely under the trees you will find so many people having sex there. So they are coming to Govardhan to have sex under the trees. It is almost unbelievable…
The Television:
Now practically everyone in India has satellite TV. Even in the most remote villages. It goes everywhere. It only costs Rs. 100 ($2) per month and many times I see they are running cables to their neighbors houses to share the cost. They have 100 channels of materialistic rubbish to choose from. Full of scantily clad women and packed with materialistic messages of sense gratification. This is one of maya’s greatest tools in completely breaking down all moral standards in India.
The Indians have a fascination with Americans. Although they don’t like Americans–they want to be like Americans.
Maybe they are attracted by the “American Lifestyle.” So they think having fair skin is a very good thing. One of the best-selling products in the chemists is “skin lightening cream.” So they are buying this cream and rubbing it into their skin hoping to become white and beautiful like the Americans. If you look at the advertising in the Indian glossy magazines you would think that all Indians are white. They change the skin tones in photoshop so the Indians in the advertisements appear to be white. It is bizarre.
The Gurus:
The “Guru Business” is thriving in India. They have whole cable TV stations dedicated to the gurus. And they present the usual Hindu hodge-podge and the Indians worship them and give them daksine and become their disciples. You have gurus who are young children that know a few Sanskrit verses and they go on the “Guru Chanel” and get so many disciples and make so much money. And the disciples just want blessings so they can get money, get a good job, get a nice wife, etc…
Even ISKCON is really thriving in India. And they have provided a whole batch of bogus gurus to add to the confusion. And what is the result of this record number of gurus? Day by day the Indians are getting more and more sinful, more and more materialistic.
If you go towards the Himalayas you will find many babas. They are very much sought after by the Western tourists because they have the best drugs to sell. The Indians accept these babas as spiritual and give them food and money and the babas just smoke drugs and sell drugs to the tourists. This is guru in India…
So the spiritual aspect of India has practically disappeared.
Of course the holy places are still there. But they are being covered with materialism. Vrindavan is a good example of this. It is turning to a mini version of New Delhi. It is full of materialistic people who are there for completely materialistic reasons and has many materialistic schools and colleges and even has an engineering university now and is developing very nicely as a normal materialistic city. The spiritual aspect is just being buried.
Even the “pilgrims” are not coming there for Krishna any more. Many years ago Vrindavan was very different. The devotees would come to Vrindavan from all over India. These villagers with their cows would come to Vrindavan and visit the temples and bathe in the Yamuna and do their tirtha. These devotees are not coming any more. The Delhi people come on the weekend because in Vrindavan they can stay very cheaply and eat cheaply. And it is like a holiday destination just a few hours drive away from Delhi. Of course they visit the temples and take darshan. But so many sinful activities are going on in Vrindavan. It is unimaginable. These people have no fear whatsoever of performing sinful activities in the holy dharm. And so many completely mundane things are going on here.
So if you are thinking to come to India to find spiritual life I think you will be very disappointed… Srila Prabhupada is correct. Because of all these sinful activities being so prominently manifested in India the Indians can not follow the religious principles at all. Indians are just as sinful and materialistic if not more so than the people in any other country.
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
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Hare Krishna Prabhu,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Please accept my humble obeisances,
Prabhu, I am born in India and I have unfortunately heard this Mayavada philosophy. Prabhu, I do not know, 3-4 years ago I was lsearching for these things and I came across Mayavada philosophy. And Prabhu Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that if you listen to this philosophy you are doomed, there is no hope… So Prabhu I am feeling very discouraged because of this, is there any hope for me? Prabhu I am not a devotee nor have any taste when I chant Hare Krishna and my mind is in the darkest ignorance, so much so that I cannot concentrate 1 minute, less than that even, so it is very difficult for me to chant 16 rounds..my mind is very flickering..
Prabhu, somehow or other by Krishna”s grace I discovered your website and because of you I discovered Srila Prabhupada. I knew Srila Prabhupada before but it was from the ISCKON people and I thought they were good people but really they never told me to actually follow Srila Prabhupada like you have kindly shown me. Prabhu, whether I am successful or not I want to thank you Prabhu.I am very fortunate to meet you and Srila Prabhupada and all real devotees of Krishna. I am very fortunate but still I am such a rascal that I cannot follow the instructions…
Also Prabhu, I have simply wasted my semen for the last 4-5 years and my memory has become very weak and I cannot concentrate for even 5 minutes..so Prabhu kindly guide me..although I am trying to follow I am not able to chant 16 rounds.. And my mind is in the grossest ignorance… and I am afraid that untimely death will meet me any moment but still I am addicted to these sinful things
Also Prabhu, somehow or other I am born in rich family, good house, there is no problem for me to advance, but by bad association since my childhood I have fallen lower than the animals..Prabhu I wish to give you the money which my family is simply wasting on sense gratification but I do not know Prabhu, they will not allow me..but Prabhu my family is little rich and I know it will help very nice Krishna consciousness if I donate
Prabhu, Please forgive me for my offenses..I am very good at speaking learned words but I can’t follow anything… I have become a madman Prabhu..
Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
It does not matter. Everyone has heard the Mayavadi philosophy by now. We have to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and take it seriously and actually follow strictly. There is no taste in the beginning in Krishna consciousness. Not for you, not for anyone. Because in the beginning we are in a materialistic, diseased condition. And in that diseased condition we can not tase the bliss in chanting Hare Krishna.
So we have to become purified and that purification starts when we surrender to Srila Prabhupada and follow the process of saddhana bhakti as he sets out. And that means chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours. That is the beginning but ultimately we have to be engaged 24 hours a day in serving Krishna.
There are so many things, Krishna consciousness is a great science, and we have to learn it from Srila Prabhupada by reading all his books and following all the instructions he gives us as we read his books.
It does not work if we do not seriously follow it. Actually Krishna consciousness is very rare and difficult to get, it is only possible to get actually by the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna like Srila Prabhupada. So our only hope really is to try and please Srila Prabhupada by our service. And if Prabhupada is pleased with us then by his pleasure Krishna will also be pleased with us.
So that is the point. We have to surrender to Srila Prabhupada, serve him, and please him by our service. That is the only way. Otherwise, actually, it is not possible to become Krishna conscious.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
I went to a Janmashtami celebration today but there was hardly any glorification of Krishna. They started with demigod bhahans and then they had girls who were not dressed decently dancing as Radha and it was becoming disgusting so I came back home. People seem to not understand Radha-Krishna at all and Indians are doing so much offense in Their name. This has to stop!
Hare Krishna
Yes Amen. It is always the way. When the empowered acharya leaves gradually everything is lost. The followers forget the teachings of the acharya and it ends up in this ridiculous hodge-poge that has become Hinduism today.
But fortunately our acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapda is still with us, still guiding us, as long as we are prepared to take advantage of his personal association in the form of reading his transcendental books.
So while everyone else may forget what Krishna consciousness is, we, the followers of Srila Prabhupada who are actually reading his books and actually following his instructions, we will not forget.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I want to know that somewhere on this article you said that they are still holy places one and go live in to become Krsna Consciousness. Seems like Vrindavana has been outed. You seem have outed
Vrindavana with the materialism going on. Are there any holy places in India where there is more genuine and seriousness and sincerity unlike Vrindavana. Are there any other places one can go to practice Krsna Consciousness. And is Vrindavana still an option?
Holy place can be made anywhere by a pure devotee of Krishna. So become a pure devotee of Krishna and make wherever you are a holy place. No India is more-or-less useless now. There are so many holy places in India but now are totally full of materialistic people. So is is the people who make the place holy, not the place itself. So a holy place is holy because pure devotees live there and spent their time serving Krishna, worshipping Krishna, that is what makes a place holy.
Ganges river flows through Calcutta but Calcutta has never been accepted as a holy place, even though the Ganges, a holy river is there. No. Because Calcutta is full of materialistic people, even though the Ganges, a holy river for sure, is right there, it is not considered a holy place.
Holy place atmosphere is created by the pure devotional service of the pure devotees who live there and serve and worship Krishna there.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Madhudvisa dasa Prabhu. But five years back when I went to Bhopal India from America I felt a certain spiritual vibe even in Bhopal India unlike America which felt very different and really mundane and dull. Businesses everywhere on the highway and looking at American restaurants advertising meat and all. I felt very different. Yes the people were very materialistic no doubt but compared to people here they seemed there seems to be a spiritual vibe. Like people are more godly in some respects than they are in America.
Yes. There is most certainly a spiritual ‘vibe’ in India. India is actually Punya Bhumi, and India is eternally Punya Bhumi, this current crop of materialistic Indians polluting it is not a permanent thing, and even the Indians who are currently very materialistic, they are not ordinary persons, they are special souls who have taken birth in India because of their previous pious and spiritual activities. It is just unfortunate that they have become attracted to work for Microsoft instead of working for Krishna…
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
When I was small people in India in villages used to sleep outside in summer season, not out of house but just outside their rooms. It was very nice in summer season and we used to get the chance of looking at stars, moon etc at night and many questions about creation of the world would arise. Nowadays there is no such facility as houses do not have that place inside their house. The houses have been westernized and Lankaised (the ones like those in Lanka of Ravana).
In India distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books is much more difficult than in western countries….I feel if I was in other countries I would be distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books easily but here it is very, very difficult as people have their own bogus idea of what books like Bhagavad-Gita, etc are.
No. It is difficult distributing Prabhupada’s books everywhere. This is a war against maya and practically everyone is on maya’s side. So it will be difficult. But we have to push on. Actually in India it is relatively easy to distribute Prabhupada’s books. The point is you are there and you have to distribute them where you are. So the idea is it can be done, a lot of ISKCON devotees distribute huge amounts of books in India, so it can be done, you just have to work out how to do it. And that means you have to work hard trying to distribute the books and gradually you will learn how to do it and you will be able to distribute in big quantities. It is the same everywhere, not that it is just difficult in India.
All right Prabhu. Then I must be wrong. I’m trying to chant Hare Krishna and read Srila Prabhupada’s books more and more so that I may become stronger and be able to stand against maya and distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Hare Krishna Prabhu!
In India elder people are very nasty. Most of them are mayavadis. I feel like beating these rascals with shoes when they talk against Krishna and Krishna bhakti. Younger people who are totally materialistic are far better than these msyavadis. Young generation is much like western people. I feel much more comfortable around young people. These people will accept Krishna Consciousness more easily than rascal mayavadis. Am I right?
Hare Krishna Aman
Yes. It is the same everywhere. Older people are set in their ways and generally will not become Krishna conscious. But younger people, even if they are in maya, there is hope for them to become Krishna conscious. But they need to be guided by some pure devotee. So best you become fixed up pure devotee yourself and guide them. If you just associate with them then you become in maya like them. That is the power of association. We become like the people we associate with…
Today I read in news that during Holi some college going boys in Delhi threw semen-filled balloon on girls….then I remembered the headline of this article. Madhudvisa Prabhu is absolutely right in saying that India is also a paap bhoomi now.
Hare Krsna. Feminism is the cause of all of these things. Because a woman is always protected by a male whether her father, husband or her son. So that is one of the main culprits
Lack of Krishna Consciousness is the cause of all problems.
Hare Krsna prabhu. Fine it is. Prabhu the only thing you should really read is Srila Prabhupada’s books, hear Srila Prabhupada, etc. Prabhu india is so falllen these days we get the point. but when you say Krsna Consciousness me and you should either become Krsna Conscious or go and preach Krsna Consciousness. And for preaching first we should become Krsna Conscious ourselves. Prabhu we should focus on what we can do and achieve. Talking about news articles is good in one sense that you are reinforcing about what Madhudvisa dasa is saying. But one should focus on Krsna Consciousness more than the news. There is a lot of negativity and suffering. I see suffering around me these days. Actually i am suffering in my mind a lot. But you know what i am anxious about. I am anxious about getting association of devotees. Trust me i can tell you how this world is suffering. I can write literatures about this world’s suffering. I can write plays and poems. But is that what you want to focus on. I have been through a lot of suffering a lot of hell including mental health hospitals and jails. So please focus on Krsna Consciousness. If you are so concerned about that college please go and do something about it. Do not just talk about. Go and preach Krsna Consciousness to such shameful young lads.
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
Please accept my humble obeisances.
Is being born in India still an advantage because of the presence of holy places, holy plants, etc if one can avoid the association of materialistic people and follows the teachings of Srila Prabhupada?
Yes. Being born in India is still an advantage. Unfortunately most Indians are not taking advantage of this at present. But yes. Holy places are there in India, the traditional culture of worshiping Krishna is there. So it is still a great opportunity, birth in India.
Sir i want to ask you some questions without any offence.
1. First you say..chant The Mahamantra and be happy. You will realise krishna by chanting . A person feels veey comfortable with this process and really accepts it wholeheartedly.
2. Then you introduce 4 regulating principles. The person after some hesitation accepts this with optimism.
3. Then you introduce the concept of Nama-apradha and prescribe 10 more things. By this time the person is fully into the organisation and is not able to withdraw even if he is not comfortable.
4. Further.so many regulations are put forth..dont watch movies…dont go out much with friends who are not spiritual ..dont go eat with a person who doesnt take prasadam..even i was told to give up my career aspiration as some senior devotee thought that it is not compatible with krishna bhakti (of course i was aspiring for something legal). By this time the only purpose of life becomes bhakti and the whole concept of Dharma -Artha -Kama -Moksha is put aside.
5. Then so many principles and theories to be accepted as truth without questioning. If we questioned too much ..we were told “its all Mayas game prabhu”. Dont question much. And further the exclusivity claim of Krishna being supreme..which i agree ..but didnt beleive in demeaning other peoples Ishtaa
6. Then all the negative facets of the world were emphasised upon without acknowledging the good things. Even i was told that “beyond the gates of the temple there is Maya everywhere”.I was even told that even your parents love you for their own interests and getting married is an obstacle to bhakti.
(All the points mentioned here are all my own experiences)
Dont you think that such an attitude kills all the enthusiasm of a person to persue different things in the world. Even Lord Krishnas devotee Arjuna was so passionate about his profession of Archery. Even Krishna himself was so interested in doing so many activities (no comparision with Krishna).
Why do you reveal your conditions slowly and slowly..?
why dont you reveal all your conditions and philosophy in one go so that people are able to make fair choices for their lives.?
When is asked the same question to a devotee in Islcon..he said if we so this people will run away.
This means that you simply want to attract people without knowing their personal inclinations and simply increase the followership of Iskcon.
Hare Krishna Anoop
The problem is with ISKCON today they say all these things, and everything they say is true and correct, but because they have disobeyed Srila Prabhupada in so many ways, they are unable to actually delver the real thing, actual Krishna consciousness.
So as you have experienced this whole ISKCON presentation is dry and tedious and theoretical. Because the devotees in ISKCON and the devotees who come to ISKCON generally do not develop any love for Krishna or feel any transcendental bliss when they chant Hare Krishna.
Actually for a real devotee who is really advancing in Krishna consciousness all these things come naturally. There are many regulations but because of attachment to Krishna and devotional service the real devotees automatically and spontaneously and willingly follow these regulations.
Actual devotees feel something, at least some attraction to Krishna, some relief when they chant Hare Krishna, at least a hint of transcendental bliss. And actual devotees are anxious to find out how to situate themselves in such a way that they can become closer to Krishna and they want to become free from the contamination of maya.
Actually it is the definition of a devotee that he is a person who does not associate with non-devotees.
So the problem is ISKCON have told you everything in theory but you can not accept it because they have not been able to give you Krishna consciousness…
But if you just ignore ISKCON and get Srila Prabhupada’s books and read them and hear about Krishna directly from Srila Prabhupada, a pure devotee of Krishna, then your experience will be totally different. By associating with Srila Prabhupada you will actually get Krishna consciousness and with Krishna consciousness you will be able to joyfully and enthusiastically accept the principles that the dry ISKCON devotees have theoretically explained to you.
So no one actually can follow these principles without some real advancement in spiritual life, and the only way we can advance in spiritual life is by the guidance and caisson of a pure devotee of Krishna. So you need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books [http://prabhupadabooks.com] and listen to his classes [http://krishnakirtan,com] and watch his films and videos [http://krishnatube.com]
So if you hear about Krishna consciousness from Srila Prabhupada, a pure devotee of Krishna, that will be a totally different experience to hearing from the dry devotionless ISKCON people…
And of course you can study and you have to obviously have some profession and get a job so you can maintain a family, etc. But it is possible to add Krishna consciousness to your life.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Perfect
Sir i do not agree with your views…i really appreciate your bhakti towards Lord Krishna. He is indeed very attractive. Even i think that he is the supreme personality of God.
but as a devotee you can point out whats wrong with the world..but to condemn others way as sin is inappropriate.
To call others way of approaching God as Hodge podge Hinduism is not justified. Me and yourself have a right to consider Krishna as Supreme ..however we can’t label others..if we do so how different are we from Abrahamic religions who are based on their exclusivity claims.?
Hare Krishna Anoop
We can call a spade a spade. Hindusm is a hodge-podge. It is useless actually. We do not label people. Krishna consciousness is based on transcending the bodily conception of life. So a devotee sees everyone equally. He does not see the bodily differentiations.
But there is no question, what is going on as Hinduism today is totally useless at least in regard to the development of love of God. Hindus are generally totally confused about what is actually taught in the Vedic literatures. And that is a great pity.
But the answers are all there in Srila Prabhupada’s books. You can read them and understand everything in the proper way.
Hare Krishna! The British brought their “poison” to the Indian people and know it will be very hard to put the demon back in the bottle.
Hare Krishna Vinod
Yes. You are right. The British poisoned India. They came there and promoted everything British as civilized and advanced and the traditional Indian Vedic culture they called barbaric and primitive. So they introduced their ‘civilization’ of meat eating, gambling, intoxication and illicit sex into India and the Indians now accept this as civilization and have almost completely rejected their traditional Vedic culture.
And yes, it is very difficult actually for Indians to become Krishna conscious now. That is why Srila Prabhupada had to go to America to make devotees. Because Indians are not very interested in actually surrendering to Krishna, serving Krishna. And it goes back to the Indians accepting the British as civilized and their rejection of their traditional Vedic culture as primitive and barbaric…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna! This is very true about the place I live in.. The people are degrading at an alarming rate, especially the younger generation, but I didn’t know such things happen in Sri Dham Vrindavan too!
So many devotees living so far away from Vrindavan can only hope and pray that one day they are lucky enough to have visit the Holy Dham but people living in Vrindavan and around visit and commit such crimes.. It’s just sad.
I’ve heard that any good deed done in Vrindavan is multiplied by a1000 times and also any sin committed is also multiplied by a 1000 times so no sin should ever be committed in the Dham.. Is that true?
Hare Krishna Apeksha
Yes. In Vrindavan the pious activities are multiplied many times and the sinful activities are also multiplied many times. So it is recommended that us neophyte devotees only visit Vrindavan for 3 days. For 3 days we can respect the holy dharm and strictly follow the regulative principles. But the tendency is when one stays there for a long time, particularly if he has no proper service, then he starts committing sinful activities in the holy dharma. Which is bad.
So we should only perform devotional service, Krishna conscious activities in the holy dharma. Everywhere of course. A pure devotee can create Vrindavan anywhere…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
pranam prabhu all glories to HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA
FATHER I HAVE THIS REQUEST FOR YOU -vrindavan has not fully deteriorated ,and actually some indians are literally taking up bhakti marg -THE BRAJ FOUNDATION ,
they started their journey back in dec 2005 ,their area of concern was to renovate the whole of braj bhoomi they have till now –
1. Restoration of 46 Ancient Water Bodies in different stages
2. Revival of 2 Groves, work on 4 more in progress
3. Protection of Hills & Regeneration of Green Cover
4. Master planning of Braj for UP Govt.
5. Restoration of 3 heritage buildings
6. Audio-visual documentation of Braj culture
7. Drinking water supply projects in some villages
8. Exhaustive scientific survey of Braj region
9. World-wide awareness campaign about the plight of Braj
10. Nine grand Braj Mahotsavs in different parts of the country
11. Special legislations for Braj protection
so father they are trying their best to serve the dham ,my request is pls allow to advertise their website -http://www.brajfoundation.org/index.html,
you can do that in krishnstore as well please father kindly cooperate
a
fallen servant
May be India is degrading but still its far better than other countries of the world.
Killing of Children are not correct (wikipedia is incorrect most of the time on figures)
Killing Cow is not allowed in other states except 2-3 states and that also will now stop due to strong government
Meat Eating – Everything is non veg technically dead plants or animal
Alcohol – Not many drink alcohol in India hardly 1-2% people
Holy place – Details incorrect please go visit there again
TV – Depends on how people use it – spiritual programs also comes
Guru – Everyone does it some on social network site, blogs others on TV or in person
I wonder you know so much about India……BUT DON’T KNOW ITS CORRECT MAP??????????
Hare Krishna Anamika
I know about India. I live in India about 1/2 of the time.
So I know India.
In India there are more abortions [baby killing] than practically any other country. In every family now there is meat eating and every other sort of sinful thing is so common in India. India has more rapes than most other countries. So this mentality is very sinful. India is one of the biggest beef exporters in the world. All sinful activities are going on in the holy places. And almost all the gurus on televison are demons or Mayavadis. In the “guru business” for their own personal benefit, not for engaging people in the service of Krishna.
So India is very down at the moment.
But you are right that India is better than other countries and that the spiritual life is there within the hearts of the Indian people and can be very easily reawakened. So do that. Take to Krishna consciousness very seriously yourself and become a pure devotee of Krishna and convince the other people there in India to follow you. In this way you can help reawaken India’s true spiritual culture and then the Indians can become the real leaders, the spritual leaders of the world. That is what the Indians are meant to be doing. Spiritual leaders. Not call center operators serving American companies…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Indians are far far far from being spiritual…so true
Hare Krishna
Absolutely agree with the situation in India currently. However, that is why it is all the more important for some of us with strong convictions and strong Krishna consciousness to go back to India and do our best to try and revive the situation there.
People there need a reality check. Most of them are very superficially spiritual but think that that is just sufficient. They don’t know the shastras, they don’t know the correct way of living. They think that as long as they are being “so called” good people, not harming anyone, looking after their family and praying to god every now and then, it is fine.
However I would like to believe that this is a passing phase. People will soon wake up. As we understand India was a poor country for the last few centuries. And it is only very recently that people have seen this kind of money and materialist pleasures and they are a bit overwhelmed by it.
However, the basic spirituality is instilled in most of them. Even at these times one will see unimaginably large crowds at most of the temples and holy places, unlike in the west where all the churches are almost vacant. Though many of those people may be misdirected right now, the basic spiritual feeling is very much prevalent. And hence the reason that one can be optimistic that if they are directed by the books from Srila Prabhupada then it can make a lot of difference.
This is only my humble opinion.
Hare Krishna
you are right in this, you can find those kind of people in every street, colonies, etc who think that “as long as they are being “so called” good people, not harming anyone, looking after their family and praying to god every now and then, it is fine”. This is the reason why when i go and offer some of srila prabhupads books they say actually we have all these kinds of books at home, and the reality is that they don’t have any of these books but books like Parvati devi fasting guide books, Thursday fasting guide books, from which they get material wishes fulfilled. This statement is for our middle aged elders and our youth has a different story they have a mindset that there are no karmic reactions, no reincarnations, no planet effects, no astrology, so how can god come ?? And the reason for this is that they are not given any soul related, supreme personality of godhead related, kind of super knowledge by there elders(middle aged), they are only said to do material advancement like fame, money, reputation, etc. So, when all this knowledge is not with elders then what will children and future get???
And all this is because of passion to be like Americans, rich, beautiful, western culture which makes them forget of there own more richer culture and heritage which is moral life, simplicity, shastra’s knowledge.
So, Americans like our country as tourists because of all this,
rather then speaking broken or mixed English and Hindi can’t we speak proper Hindi or Sanskrit (remember Sanskrit is the mother of many many languages including other countries languages and indian languages as well)
rather then wearing short one piece dresses, bikinis, can’t we wear beautiful saris, suits, Kurtis, ghagra cholies, gararas, etc which look more beautiful and have a big variety (remember there r many many tourists visiting India only because of our dresses)
rather then keeping thoughts in our minds that we should also look like Americans we shall appreciate our wheatish, rich brown, sanwale, complexions which are real and beautiful (remember many fair people have brown small small dots kind of..spots below there eyes, and many more problems)
many many examples of our incredible India like these can be given but not even a single example of indian people following these can be given, no incredible people!!!
But i love my culture, heritage, vedic knowledge, lifestyle, morality, simplicity, helpfulness and want to install all this in me through Krishna consciousness!!! And i am also doing so and i think that people who read srila prabhupad’s books understand that.
India teaches to realize the inner self, soul and real aim of human life but today’s maximum to maximum indian people are far away from this, but Sri Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Krishna consciousness teaches its purity and reality of it and we can get that pure, unchanged culture and knowlage of soul by reading srila prabhupad’s books which will bring us near to the reality of soul, its realization, and will take us away from material desires, personal self graftification.
And we should always remember to never ever make vrindavan dirty by doing sinful activities, and leaving our inner and outer garbage there, or otherwise it will be a great sin for this life and upcoming as well because liberation is impossible after these sins,.
Wake up people, wake up !!!!
All glories to srila prabhupada
all glories to vrindavan ji dham
all glories to supreme personality of godhead Sri Krishna ji
deep respect to madhudvisa dasa Prabhu ji.
this is the sad news . it is heartbreaking to me that the material is overcoming the spiritual in beautiful India. The whole world needs soft open spaces where the spiritual is honored and India once had those places. Thank God we have the ancient texts and the ones who understand the reality of this world for what it truly is. Thanks for this article. but at the same time Im really sad about it.
I am born brought up in India and lived there for 19 years of my life.
Now a days I hate India just because of these.
All this is going on everywhere.
I am in Aus still student but when I think to go bcak it truely painfull..
No doubt I respect Mother India.
But this modern life is ruining everything there even people’s heart.
Hare Krsna Prabhu (Madhudvisa Dasa)
My dear prabhu, first of all I would like to offer my respectful obeisance’s to you. You are a direct spiritual disciple of grand spiritual master Srila Prabhupada. Since, you are well-wisher of the fallen soul in this kali-yuga I could understand your feeling on this human society, particularly in the country like India, when you come to know the things which you never thought of it .Although, in India there was a great materialist called Kamsa the jaghanya-guna and his association who use to torture the whole praja in every respect, and during satya-yuga Ravana, in other word, the most advance in material science, in front of whom the so called modern science is almost fail, so this is going on . I appreciate the feeling that you bear on seeing the pap-karma activities going on in the places where spiritually, highly sensible. Your web-article is a great lead to the people who is having a little inquisitiveness but don’t know what is, where is and who is the actual source of the spiritual science and without knowing this, many people’s spiritual hungry is filled by mayavada and material-demigods. Then they become fully materialistic (Godless) and do not hesitate to do all these activities. But by reading your article, I hope, the reader will definitely think-over Hare Krsna.
Thank you
Your servant
IB Singha
Dear Moderators, please look into the picture of Mother INDIA map, the J&K place is reversed , I mean a mirror image, please correct it.
After all, I believe Motherland is also one of our reverend Goddesses.
Thank You & Warm Regards
how may we young and our younger brother and sister then find the true masters to lead us? How may we get the atmosphere to grow spritually in this materialistic mode of teaching for materialistic purpose? Atleast there should be a balance between the two which we young ones dnt find, so it wont be shocking if the condition worsen, for at our small age we are not geting religious institutions n there teaching, instead we get television n its rubbish
Hare Krishna Vaibhav
Yes. India now is practically 100% materialistic. There is virtually no spiritual knowledge and people are almost 100% working towards material and not spiritual goals.
There is really not a balance between material life and spiritual life. You have to have a goal in life and that goal can be a material goal or a spiritual goal. Mostly in India these k people are choosing material goals because, just like in the West, that is the way they are educated. They are taught that material success is important and spiritual life is not important. That is the message through the education system and as you mention on the rubbish television. So if they are taught like this then naturally their goals in life will be materialistic.
So I am suggesting that you read Srila Prabhupada’s books, watch the Prabhupada DVDs, listen to Srila Prabhupada’s classes and bhajans, etc, and that will give you the spiritual knowledge you are hankering for.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
I do not agree that India turned into land of sinners. But I agree with the factual position so narrated. All these created by God himself. Maya is also his power. If everybody assembled together in a temple what miserable condition would prevail.For these sinners we feel the importance of ISKCON.One day these Jagai Madhai will be the devotee of God.
Chant and let chant Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna Aparesh
In one sense the new generation of completely godless and sinful young people in India is the only hope for the future for India. They are not interested in hearing the Mayavadi philosophy that has submerged Indian spirituality so they will be good candidates for the mercy of Lord Sri Catanya Mahaprabhu, they are not taking the poison. It is better to be sinful than to hear from the Mayavadis.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhuvisa Prabuji.
Pranams. I fully agree with what you say. I am ignorant of what is Mayavadham. Adishankara is known to be the Avatar of Lord Shiva who took birth to revive the values of Vedic Sanatana Dharma at time when Hindu values were decadent due to Budhisim and jainism which preached non existence of a super power and everything at end is a vast Vacuum. Adhi Sankara did sanchara from Kanykumari to Badrinath to defeat this atheism to reestablish Vedic values. In Bhjagovindam he instructs the followers to chant the name of Govind as nothing will come to their help at the time of departing from this world. Though his commentaries in the initial stages looks like Bhudism, He is very clear about the existence God in the form of Lord Govinda. So many saintly followers of Adisankara preached, nama Samrana and nagar Sankirtana. Even tody in South Indian villages during the month Margarirish early morning nagar Sankirtana is done on the streets and ends in the temple. If you take Sourthern India, most of the people of Shaivites and in north India most of the people of Vaishnavas. There were 64 Vaishanava alwaars composed music in Praise of the Lord and 63 shaivite saints composed music on Lord Shiva and other Demigods, and they are still sung in all our temples. Through out the Country Shiva Temple and Krishna temple exisit in large numbers. In my opinion the decadence of character of the Indian culture is due to unwanted increase of material comforts rather than Mayavadis.Adi Shankara and his decedents in our Shankara Mutt are saints and teach Gita way of life for happiness. In our Vedic culture there was a Maharishi known as Charvaka who preached only materialism which is swallowing the Indian Citizens. Forgive me for my ignorance. HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAME HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
It is true as you say that Shankacharaya is the incarnation of Lord Shiva and he appeared to defeat the Buddhists and reestablish the authority of the Vedas and as Lord Shiva he is of course the greatest Vaisnava. However in his incarnation of Shankacharya he had the sad task of presenting a gross misinterpretation of the Vedanta Sutra in his Sarikaya-Bhasya commentary.
I would humbly suggest you study the relevant sections of Srila Prabhupada’s Sri Caitanya Caritamrta or if you would like a more condensed version his Teachings of Lord Caitanya to get an understand of the extent that Shankacharaya has misrepresented the direct meaning of the Vedanta Sutra. He has commented in such a way to turn Krishna into maya and to remove any indication that the Supreme is personal in the ultimate issue. This created a spiritual vacuum in India and it is only in that vacume created by the Mayavadi philosophy of Sankacharaya that this gross materialism has been able to flourish.
The athiestic philosophies of Carvaka Muni and others are really not so dangerous. There will always be two groups of people, the demoniac and the divine, the athiestic philosophies make no attempt to be divine. They clearly state that they do not believe in God. Also the Buddhist philosophy is not very dangerous in comparison to the philosophy of Shankacharya because the Buddhists clearly reject the Vedas and clearly do not believe in God. So the divine people, the devotees, will never be attracted to the atheistic or Buddhistic philosophies. But the problem with the Mayavadi philosophy of Shankacharya is that it is presented as being a commentary of the Vedanta Sutra and it is presented as divine and godly. But ultimately what he is preaching is nothing more than Buddhism covered by a disguise of the Vedas.
So the Mayavadi philosophy of Shankacharya is the most dangerous thing in the world and it is this that has created the spiritual void by removing any aspects of personalism, individuality and therefore service and surrender to the Supreme Lord. So his philosophy destroys the spirit of bhakti or devotion and eliminates any transcendental bliss or pleasure from spiritual life. They are good at austerities but they can not taste any transcendental pleasure. So ultimately they can not maintain the austerities and have to fall down again to material life.
Anyhow I have written another article about this but please study the teachings of Lord Caitanaya Prabhu and understand this from the perspective of the Supreme Lord HImself.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa Prabhuji,
I agree with you completely. Things are just getting worst even in India. People like to show off that they are patriotic and religious but actually they are after sense gratification. Even the socalled celebrities who earn millions and billions of rupees squander all the money and even if they do some charity its only for show off. The public in general is so much mad about the celebrities, they worship them instead of worshipping the most beautiful Lord Krishna. Also the politicians are not interested in helping the citizens. They are only interested in money and power as if they will remain in that position forever. Also indians are becoming one of the greatest society of cheaters. If you ask an Indian how much money does he earn, he will tell you the salary for a whole year including money for the tax! and if you are innocent you will think its for a month. Just see how degraded they are! Its very unfortunate and any sincere devotee would be pained at heart. Not only in the cities but even in villages the people dont have any spiritual knowledge. It is only by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada that the Krishna Conscious movement is growing and will continue to grow as more and more devotees from other countries join it.
Your servant,
Garima
Hare Krishna Prabhuji: I agree with you to some extent. You have generalised the entire Indian population under the category of hypocrites. I am sure you have not visited the South india where still the vedic system is still practiced. There are two villages in India on in Karnatak and another in Madyapradesh where all the population speak in sansrit in conversation and pious. I think you have not visited the Sankarachara mutt, Ragavendra Mutt at Mantralayam, Asharam Bapuji’s mutt at Ahmedabad and their branches all over India where devotees come for spiritual progress. Please visit them and then comment about Indian population as whole. You have generalised that Indians want to look like Ameericans (white skin)by using creams. kindly tell me how many Indians have the money power to buy such creams. Your remarks that Americans are beautiful definitely shows a samll tinge of racism in your writing. I humbly beg not to pass such comments as a matured devotee of Krishna Consciousness. All the Gurus who have preached the vedic system of life abroad have taken Samadhi only in India as this country is Punya Bhoomi as well as Karmabhoomi. America and aother European countries are Boga Bhoomi, and they have take birth in India for their Karmas. I would like you to visit all the Ashrams in South as well as north to find out what is going on there. All the Avatars took place only in India. I agree that Indians of the upperclass imitate the Westerners which is wrong. Though I agree with most of your view that lot of illicit activities are going on India which is regrettable, but it is the case all over the world. Forgive me if I am wrong.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Yes I agree that it is a generalization and there are obviously exceptions to the general trend. But this does appear to be the general trend in Indian. This is the way it is going. As far as the followers of Shankaracharya in South India, yes, there may be some pakka brahmins there–but they are Mayavadis and impersonalists–and that is really the source of all these problems.
We learn from Srila Prabhupada that the Mayavadi and impersonalist philosophies ultimately lead to this godless materialism.
You are right that India and Indians have a great opportunity from taking birth in India. That so many incarnations of the Lord appeared in India and so many great saints appeared there–that is why it is called punya-bhumi. But you know, generally speaking, the Indians are looking to sense gratification and economic development rather than following the path of spiritual advancement chalked out by their predecessors.
In this article I am speaking about the current trends and the trends are that the Indian people are becoming more and more sinful year by year.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Excellent article ! i have just gone through it and it seems to be absolutely true.
Your Servant,
mitul
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
I really like your article because it shows the Modern India. Even though i am an Indian but i am not at all proud rather i am really disappointed because the Vedic culture which is supposed to flourish particularly in India is forgotton and people have become like animals. I was born and brought up in Nigeria but because of some pious activity in my previous life i came in contact with Krishna Consciousness. Otherwise if i were born and brought up in India i would have been a different person. I used to watch television and see what nonsensical things indians do even in the Holy places for the sake of name and money and yet show themselves as if they are very religious and what not. Its really disgusting and now i hardly watch television. Only the Supreme Lord can help because without His will not even a blade of grass can move. Therefore atleast those who are sincere devotees try to help as much as possible and leave the rest to Krishna.
Your servant,
Garima
Good to see people like you. All Glories to the Lord Krishna.. Chant Hare Krishna When Ever possible.