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Material advancement (Letters)

Correspondence

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

My idea of preaching in the foreign countries means that they are rather fed up with material advancement of knowledge.
Letter to Ved Prakash -- Bombay 7 July, 1958:

So my idea of preaching in the foreign countries means that they are rather fed up with material advancement of knowledge. They are seeking the message guidance of the Vedanta Sutra or for the matter of the Bhagavad-gita in an authorized way. And I am sure that India will again go back to the Vedantic life when the principle is accepted by the Europeans, Americans etc because the Indian people are now in the habit of begging, after neglecting their own property. That was my view point. But all the same we must take only the opportunity of service without any limitation of time and space. More when we meet.

Material advancement of scientific knowledge cannot give even the desired material prosperity to the people in general without spiritual help.
Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru -- Bombay 4 August, 1958:

Therefore India may not waste her time in imitating the western way of life. You have admitted it that the position of India's culture is of very high order. But at the same time you want to bring in material prosperity of India by scientific advancement of knowledge. And what is that scientific Knowledge? Spiritualism is also advanced scientific knowledge. Material advancement of scientific knowledge cannot give even the desired material prosperity to the people in general without spiritual help. Swaraj of Mahatma Gandhi was adjusted in spiritualism more than materialism. Do you think that horseless carriage or telephonic or radio communication or any other such ephemeral facilities of life, can bring in material prosperity? No it cannot. Material prosperity means that the people must have sufficient to eat or to maintain the body and soul together in sound health for further development in spiritual consciousness which is conspicuous by its absence in the sense gratificatory life of the animal.

Both the Americans and the Russians are better materially advanced and although they have different political philosophy of life till they are not materially happy and peaceful because both of them are unconciously hankering after spiritual realization.
Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru -- Bombay 4 August, 1958:

Both the Americans and the Russians are better materially advanced and although they have different political philosophy of life till they are not materially happy and peaceful because both of them are unconciously hankering after spiritual realization as the child cries for the mother without expression by language. You can help the people of the world for satisfying their spiritual hankering as the true Indian messenger of peace. The world has recognized your sincere effort for endeavouring peace in the world and this is the suitable time to help your friends and at the same time glorify the standard of Indian spiritual advancement of knowledge for world peace. Please take up the matter in cool brain.

Try to understand this position of Indian culture and try to give it to the western brothers in the prescribed standard method of the liberated persons and that will be an exchange of Indian culture with western material advancement and necessarily bring in a happy life in the peaceful world.
Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru -- Bombay 4 August, 1958:

Poverty means poverty of knowledge. Prime minister Canakya Pandit used to live in a thatched house or cottage but he was the dictator of India in the days of Emperor Candra Gupta. Mahatma Gandhi your political Guru voluntarily accepted the ways of the so called poor Indians and still he was the dictator of India's destiny. But was he actually poverty sticken on account of his plain living with the primitive charkha? He was always proud of his spiritual knowledge. Therefore it is the spiritual knowledge which makes a man really rich and not the radio set or the motor car. Please therefore try to understand this position of Indian culture and try to give it to the western brothers in the prescribed standard method of the liberated persons and that will be an exchange of Indian culture with western material advancement and necessarily bring in a happy life in the peaceful world.

At the present moment the so called leaders of India are too much enamoured by the western way of material advancement of knowledge.
Letter to Sir -- Unknown Place May 1964:

BACK TO GODHEAD can direct the right way of such happiness even in the material field by the simple adjustment of re-establishing our lost relation with Godhead. We wish that people may kindly read this paper for some time with due attention and critical gravity. We are always prepared to answer any relevant question in this regard from any quarter who may be seeking after the Absolute Truth.

Although the messages contained in the pages of BACK TO GODHEAD are all gifts of the ancient sages of India who actually realized the Absolute Truth, yet at the present moment the so called leaders of India are too much enamoured by the western way of material advancement of knowledge. They are completely neglecting the treasure house of knowledge left by the sages.

1966 Correspondence

There must be an world wide organization for pushing the movement in the Human society so much afflicted by material advancement only.
Letter to Janis -- New York 29 October, 1966:

I am glad to learn that you are chanting regularly and I hope you are gradually getting some enlightenment in Krsna Consciousness. Our path is genuine sublime and easy. So there must be an world wide organization for pushing the movement in the Human society so much afflicted by material advancement only. This is only medium to save the people from ruination.

1967 Correspondence

The youth of America who are so searching I am very much sympathetic with them and their qualification of detachment to the material advancement of civilization will alone help them to advance in Krishna or God consciousness.
Letter to Ravindra Svarupa -- New York 21 May, 1967:

The basic principle of disease is Godlessness and this movement is approved method for reviving God consciousness. So let the leaders take this movement more seriously and it will actually relieve the suffering humanity and specially the youths who are out to search out something spiritual. The youth of America who are so searching I am very much sympathetic with them and their qualification of detachment to the material advancement of civilization will alone help them to advance in Krishna or God consciousness. If they patiently hear me I am sure they will be convinced as you have been.

Differentiation between spirit & matter is clear & practical experience, when a living creature is dead no amount of material advancement of science can bring back a dead body to life.
Letter to Madhusudana -- Navadvipa 2 November, 1967:

Kirtanananda wanted to become a spiritual master by dissatisfying his spiritual master and as such he has fallen down. He cannot say anything genuine any more till he has had revival of his pure consciousness in the spiritual world as mentioned above. Differentiation between spirit & matter is clear & practical experience, when a living creature is dead no amount of material advancement of science can bring back a dead body to life. The thing which is absent from a dead body is the spirit. As there is individual spirit in individual body, similarly there is the Great Spirit in the universal material form. As the individual spirit is working systematically within the individual material body, similarly, the Supreme Spirit is conscious of the universal body.

1968 Correspondence

When Krishna Consciousness is added to this material advancement, it becomes aromatic gold. Gold is very beautiful, but if there is some aroma, aromatic gold, if it is available in the market, it will have greater value.
Letter to Satsvarupa -- Montreal 19 August, 1968:

And in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is recommended by Prahlada Maharaja that unmarried boys should accept this Bhagavata dharma or Krishna Consciousness for their life's benefit. We have to convince them about this, that this life is very valuable so long this material education has misled us. Misled us in this way, that it is without Krishna Consciousness. So when Krishna Consciousness added to this material advancement, it becomes aromatic gold. Gold is very beautiful, but if there is some aroma, aromatic gold, if it is available in the market, it will have greater value. So material civilization is very good for comforts of the body. Now if we do not utilize the strength and comforts of body for Krishna Consciousness, it will be used for sense gratification. And that will degrade our position. So the younger section of this country should take it very seriously, that they should take to Krishna Consciousness, and the next generation will be a different public, in the western world, who are materially and spiritually advanced and they will be happy in this life as well as in the next.

When one person, or one community, makes such improvement in material advancement the next stage is the spiritual inquiry.
Letter to Sacisuta -- Montreal 19 August, 1968:

Fortunately, in our movement the youngsters are attracted. And in your country, I have studied it thoroughly, that the younger generation is looking after some sort of new engagement, and they are not very much interested in the materialistic way as America is professing. This is very natural. When one person, or one community, makes such improvement in material advancement the next stage is the spiritual inquiry. So I have felt the pulse of your country, not of your country, but throughout the whole western world, and younger generation, they are in need of this Krishna Consciousness movement. And I am therefore sending a branch to Europe, beginning from London, and so you are very intelligent boy, and Satsvarupa is also very intelligent boy, and if you organize the students to attract them to this movement, it will be great service to your country, and to the cause of Lord Krishna. I hope with faith and dexterity, you will do the needful, and I shall be glad to hear from you occasionally.

1969 Correspondence

If a certain fraction of the people are supposed to be very materially happy at the cost of others, that is not material advancement.
Letter to Rupanuga -- Hawaii 14 March, 1969:

Your seventh question, "How is it that there is so much material "advancement" in the USA even though there is no formal demigod worship? Is a man after economic development automatically worshiping Lord Siva whether he is making Yajna or not?" Actually there is no material advancement in the USA. Material advancement means there is amply opportunity for eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. Superficially, it appears that in the USA there is sufficient provision of eating, sleeping, mating and defending, but actually nobody is safe even in his good apartment. I have got practical experience in New York. Several times my typewriter and tape recorders were stolen and the police could not take any action. There are many persons in the Bowery street, they have no shelter to live. So if a certain fraction of the people are supposed to be very materially happy at the cost of others, that is not material advancement. Had it been so, then why there are so many persons confused and frustrated? So actually there is no material advancement here. Here, I am seeing practically that Gaurasundara, such a nice intelligent and qualified boy, he has to work hard 12 hours simply for his subsistence. I think there are many instances like that, so this is not material advancement. You can call it capitalist advancement, and the reaction for such advancement is communism. Such movement is simply suppressed in your country, but actually the reaction is this. So the Western type of civilization, industrialism and capitalism, is no material advancement. It is material exploitation. When one gets the bare necessities of life, namely peaceful home, sumptuous eating, necessary sex life, and feeling of security, then it is called material advancement. In the absence of such four preliminary necessities of life, it is not at all material advancement—just try to understand. According to Vedic civilization, a man is supposed to be rich when he has got sufficient grains and cows. Here we have neither sufficient grains or cows, but you have got sufficient quantity of papers only—falsely thinking that it is money. When there is some catastrophe, this bunch of papers will neither supply milk or grain. They will be seen only and the man will starve.

One who comes to the intelligence to understand that rather than serving the cause of material advancement, he should serve the cause of Krishna, then such person becomes transcendental to the stringent laws of karma.
Letter to Turya -- New Vrindaban 5 June, 1969:

In material life, everyone is bound up tightly by the laws of karma, and there is no question of transcending these laws by any material means. The modern civilization is trying to transcend the pangs of material life, namely birth, death, old age and diseases, by advancement of material knowledge, but actually this advancement is only binding them more tightly into the material concept of life. So thus there is no freedom from or transcending of these material miseries. But one who comes to the intelligence to understand that rather than serving the cause of material advancement, he should serve the cause of Krishna, then such person becomes transcendental to the stringent laws of karma. Krishna instructs us in Bhagavad-gita that one who serves Him in loving devotional service is delivered fully from all material contamination.

The government is enamored by the glittering civilization of the West, and it was a definite policy of our late prime minister, Mr. Nehru, who wanted to see India overnight as rich and materially advanced as America.
Letter to Gopala Krsna -- New Vrindaban 5 June, 1969:

You have voluntarily offered to do something when you return to India, and the best project will be to work there as representative of this Krishna Consciousness Movement. In my opinion, India is going down by giving up this original cultural life which is its own. The government is enamored by the glittering civilization of the West, and it was a definite policy of our late prime minister, Mr. Nehru, who wanted to see India overnight as rich and materially advanced as America. It was, of course, Gandhi's policy to concentrate his organization in village life, taking to simple life and cow protection. But just after Mahatma Gandhi's disappearance, his chief disciple, Pandit Nehru, planned for up-to-date organized cow-slaughter house. So this is our position. If you have understood Krishna Consciousness science, then you will try to revive this cultural life in India. Of course so long I shall live I shall give you all assistance. But if you concentrate your energy in a city like Bombay for propagating Krishna Consciousness amongst the younger generation, as I am doing here in the Western World, it will be great service to Krishna and to your country. I have already asked you to think on the project how you can push on our books and literature. I cannot suggest any other alternatives, but if you can execute this will of mine, I shall remain ever-obliged to you.

In the Western part of the world there is tangible example of this slogan. People in this part of the world are very much enthusiastic in material advancement and they have got it.
Letter to Jayagovinda -- Tittenhurst 15 October, 1969:

There is a proveb in Sanskrit literature that enthusiastic persons achieve the favor of the Goddess of Fortune. In the Western part of the world there is tangible example of this slogan. People in this part of the world are very much enthusiastic in material advancement and they have got it. Similarly, according to the instructions of Srila Rupa Goswami, if we become enthusiastic in spiritual matters, then we also get success in that way. Take for example, I came to your country in ripe old age, but I had one asset: enthusiasm and faith in my Spiritual Master. I think these assets only are giving me some lights of hope, whatever I have achieved so far with your cooperation.

1970 Correspondence

The favor of Goddess of Fortune which is bestowed upon the American people may be fully engaged in Krishna's service. That will be a finishing touch to this material advancement.
Letter to Bhagavan -- Los Angeles 2 January, 1970:

In Boston always 50 to 100s of devotees chanting, dancing and engaged in Krishna conscious business. That is the aim of our Krishna Consciousness Movement. We do not want stopping the natural instincts of the living entities. We simply want them to be dovetailed in Krishna's service. Your country is fortunate enough by the grace of Goddess of Fortune. Goddess of Fortune or Laksmi Devi is eternally engaged in service of the Lord. Therefore, the favor of Goddess of Fortune which is bestowed upon the American people may be fully engaged in Krishna's service. That will be a finishing touch to this material advancement. If people do not take to Krishna and simply want to utilize the Goddess of Fortune for sense gratification as it was the policy of the demons like Ravana and Hiranyakasipu, then the finishing touch will certainly culminate in releasing the nuclear weapon exactly like Ravana was vanquished by such policy. I have every hope on you as well as your wife and associates. Please organize your center in such way that the local people may take advantage of the great boon that we want to give them.

Under this formula the whole European and American people who are so intelligent and materially advanced can be converted into pure Vedic Brahmanas, and thus their mission of human life becomes successful, and the whole world becomes a garden of blooming flowers.
Letter to Janardana -- Los Angeles 16 January, 1970:

Prabha Vishnave means the powerful Lord Visnu; prabha means that the light or heat of Visnu is so strong that it is possible to melt them. Only the devotees of Lord Visnu or Krishna can be purified, not the devotees of any demigod. They will have to wait for their next birth according to their own karma.

So under this formula the whole European and American people who are so intelligent and materially advanced can be converted into pure Vedic Brahmanas, and thus their mission of human life becomes successful, and the whole world becomes a garden of blooming flowers.

Take all these words very seriously and try to propagate Krishna Consciousness with all serenity. It will be a great gift to the human society. You are a learned and intelligent and young man; think over the formula and try to execute to the best of your capacity. That is my request.

One who is materially advanced, covered with riches, covered with learning, covered with fame or covered with any material opulences, is understood to be covered with Maya.
Letter to Bhagavan -- Los Angeles 2 March, 1970:

The pradhana is the ingredient part of material energy. Yes, the Maya is covering all the material energies. Therefore one who is materially advanced, covered with riches, covered with learning, covered with fame or covered with any material opulences, is understood to be covered with Maya. Srila Bhaktivinode says, jada vidya saba mayar baibhava "the material opulences are expansions of Maya's influence." As such, according to Vedic process, one voluntarily renounces the material opulences.

This does not, however, mean that I am condemning the way of material advancement of life. We do not condemn any way of materialistic life, but we simply request everyone to learn how to love Krishna.
Letter to Japanese brothers and sisters -- Los Angeles 10 March, 1970:

When I first visited Tokyo in 1967 on my way back from India to the U.S.A., my impression of the city of Tokyo was that it is a replica of New York. My dear Japanese brothers and sisters, I think I am right if I say that you are trying to be happy by imitating the material opulences of America. But I must say that you cannot be happy in that way. This does not, however, mean that I am condemning the way of material advancement of life. We do not condemn any way of materialistic life, but we simply request everyone to learn how to love Krishna. This is the missing point. You live in any way as it may be suitable for your comfortable life, but side by side you learn the art of loving Krishna. At present we are utilizing our propensity of love by inventing so many ways, but factually we are missing the real point—Krishna. Or in other words, we are watering all parts of the tree, but we are missing the root of the tree; or we are trying to keep our body fit by all means, but missing the point of supplying foodstuff in the stomach.

1976 Correspondence

There is no harm to become materially advanced, but if simply for material advancement we forget our spiritual basis, it will be a great loss.
Letter to RamaKrishnaji -- Honolulu 14 May, 1976:

As you know I am trying my best to preach the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita all over the world, and I am experiencing some glimpse of success in this connection. Naturally, I'm inclined to preach the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita very fervently in India. India is the land of spiritual culture. But gradually, India, being influenced by the material allurement; Its spiritual culture is being forgotten.

It is the duty of the Indian Leaders to note this degradation. There is no harm to become materially advanced, but if simply for material advancement we forget our spiritual basis, it will be a great loss. Therefore, I am also very eager to revive India's spiritual culture with the help of the Gita Foundation.

Page Title:Material advancement (Letters)
Compiler:Visnu Murti
Created:17 of Aug, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=19
No. of Quotes:19