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(In Devanagari:)
asatyam apratistham te jagad ahur anisvaram
aparaspara-sambhutam kim anyat kama-haitukam
(Bg. 16-8)
Wordings
Asatyam Apratistham, Tey, Jagadahu, Aniswaram, Aparasparam, Sambhutam, Kimanyat, Kama, Hetukam.
Synonyms
Asatyam=Wholly false, Apratistham=Without any origin, Tey=They, Jagat=The universe, Ahu=Do say, Aniswaram=Godless, Aparasparam=By intercourse of man and woman, Sambhutam=Produced, Kim=What, Anyat=Else, Kama=Sex appetite or creative force, Hetukam=The ultimate cause.
Translation
They (the atheists) do say that the universe is without the Supreme cause, it is false and Godless. It was created by sex appetite or the creative force in man and woman. Except this what else there is the cause of creation?
There are different theories of the mental speculators in the matter of creation of the universe. But the Bhagwat Geeta rejects all those unauthorised theories on account of its conception of the Personality of Godhead. The atheist thinks that God (if there is anyone like that) is an Impersonal identity without any sentient activity. Whereas in the Bhagwat Geeta and in all other authentic revealed scriptures God is said to be the Supreme Cause of everything. And because He is the Supreme Cause, He is sentient and all-powerful Personality. Impersonal feature of Godhead is the negative description of His material conception. By such negative conception, the materialist is sure to arrive at the conclusion of voidness as the ultimate cause of creation. Students of the Bhagwat Geeta in the Parampara line of Shri Arjuna do not accept this atheistic theory. In the Bhagwat Geeta and in all other authentic revealed scriptures accepted by the Acharyas, creation of the material world is accepted to have been effected by the will of the Supreme Lord who is sentient, active, all-powerful and the Person. This material world is externally a manifested expression of His all-powerful will. The Absolute Personality of Godhead is not different from His varied energies or from the Will of creative function. They are all one in varied diversity.
The creative force of the material world is called external energy of the Supreme Person. This energy is produced from the eyes of the Supreme Lord and the power of His vision is represented by the ever-glowing disc of the sun. This sun is said to be the controller of all planets and the sun has unlimited potency of immense temperature. The whole creation is therefore sustained by the heat produced by the sun and at the time of annihilation the rays of the sun will be so much powerful as twelve times more than what it is.
The Prakriti or the material energy consists of Agni (fire) Mahi (earth) Gagana (sky) Ambu (water) Marut (air) Dishasa (Space) Manas (the mind etc.) Kala (Time) Atma (the living entities) Jagat (the universe) Traya (in there dimension) all are produced by this energy and all of them are absorbed by Him as also sustained by His diverse energies and the sun is one of such varied powers of the Supreme Lord.
The Prakriti or material nature is inert and she has no independant power to produce the living entities. Matters as above mentioned combinedly called as Prakriti but Atma or the living entities is another Prakriti called the superior nature of the Lord. This superior nature of Godhead is impregnated by Him in the Apara Prakriti or the material Nature and thus the living being is produced. Accordingly the material Nature is the mother of the living being but the Supreme Father, who impregnates, is the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is the father of all living entities displayed in 84 lacs of species.
This sex idea of the creative force is different from the sex idea of our tiny brain. Here the conception is made possible by the organ of vision. The sense organs of the Supreme Lord are not of the same quality as that of ours. Each sense organ of the Lord has all the potencies of all other organs. Therefore visionary organ of the Lord can act the function of the generating organ. But the sex idea is given here for the reason that we may understand it in our present limited power of acquiring knowledge.
The atheist however takes this act of sexuality in his own imaginative way and thinks that the origin of creation is due to an accidental sex desire as it happens in the ordinary living being. But the purpose of creation is planned one and it has a great purpose on the background. It is neither Godless or accidental.
The living entities are described in the Bhagwat Geeta as the parts of the Supreme Being and some of them out of their own independant will wanted to lord it over the material nature. The living entity constitutionally being a servitor cannot lord it over anything excepting that he can render service only. So the material world is created for fulfillment of such false sense of enjoyment of the fallen living being. These lost living beings are accommodated in the material world and they are awarded and decorated with the mind and the five senses to make a prolonged struggle for existence and if possible to come to his senses by the association of devotees. The material world is therefore a sort of facility to the false sense of the fallen souls who declined to serve the Supreme Lord but preferred a so-called independant life at the mercy of the material energy. The material world is therefore a sort of prison house for these living beings who deviated from the constitutional position.
The atheist does not believe all these authentic statements of revealed scriptures but they have their own theories of different views. There is no agreement of the atheists about the uniformity of creation. They make therefore a compromise amongst themselves in a mutual praising society and each and everyone of them is recognised by the other as a great scholar and each and everyone’s theory is accepted as something authentic.
According to these mental speculationists, the Vedas and Puranas are so many big humbugs without any truth in them (?). Some of them accept the four Vedas only as true but rejects the Puranas as untrue. Some of them reject bothwise and say that the Author of scriptures or the sages and the Rishis are great impostors and sophists of the first order.
With this conclusion they come to the truth of their own imagination with a net result that they learn to cling to the temporary existence of the present life without any care for future transmigration. They do not believe in the scriptural truth that this life is a preparatory stage for the next good or bad position and in an irresponsible manner they go on indulging in the sense gratification business in an unrestricted motion. Their theory of Godless creation makes them more and more irresponsible and for them only, the world becomes a hell itself unfit for human habitation and the saner section is wholly disturbed.
The cause of creation is educed to non-cognizance of the Supreme Creator if there is any. The manufacturer of a material object knows the art of manufacturing his own article but the parents of a child do not know how their offspring is manufactured in the womb. Without their knowledge, the process of manufacturing a child in the womb of the mother takes place. It is all automatic ways of the material nature. Similarly the cause of creation, in the opinion of the atheist, is unknown to the Creator if there is any, and therefore there is no God cognizant of the creative forces(?). Existence of a Personal God is thus dismissed by the judgment of the atheist with the net result that all of them are free to put forward as many theories as they like. Some of them are prominent as Kanada, Vaisesi, Kakapila and their followers who put forward the theory of atoms, electrons, nebulous gaseous and similar other causes of creation without knowing that all such atoms, electrons, nebula or gas are products of the five gross elements which are themselves the effects of some other subtler causes known by the name inferior nature. Every one of them sticks to his own theory of creation and nobody accepts the Supreme cause of all causes is the Personality of Godhead. That is called atheism.
Blind Materialism
The result of a Godless civilization now merrily going on all over the world is that the people are being systematically trained up in the matter of satisfying the senses. Nobody knows the standard of sense gratificatory process. Old sense gratificatory processes are changed day by day yielding place to the new and when one necessity is gratified another is created. That is the name of progress (?) never mind it glides into the hell. In the language of the revealed scriptures this progressive attraction of the material world is the illusory method of the external energy. The slokas in the Bhagwat Geeta [Bg. 16.9-10] runs as follows:—
(In Devanagari:)
etam drstim avastabhya nastatmano ‘lpa-buddhayah
prabhavanty ugra-karmanah ksayaya jagato ‘hitah
kamam asritya duspuram dambha-mana-madanvitah
mohad grhitvasad-grahan pravartante ‘suci-vratah
Wordings
Etan, Dristim, Abastavya, Nastatmana, Alpabudhyaya, Parabhatanti, Ugrakarmana, Kshyaya, Jagataha, Aheeta.
Kamam, Ashritya, Duspuram, Dambha, Mana, Madanwita, Mohat, Grihitwa, Asatgrahan, Prabartate, Asuchibratah.
Synonyms
Etam=This, Dristim=Views, Abastarya=Accepting, Nastatmana=Those who have lost the soul, Alpabudhyaya=Men of poor fund of knowledge, Prabhakanti=Do flourish. Ugrakarmana=Engaged in dangerous work, Kshayaya=For the destruction of, Jagat=The world, Aheeta=For nobody’s benefit, Kamam=Sense gratification, Ashritya=Taking shelter of, Duspuram=Insatiable, Dambha=Pride, Mana=Prestige, Madanwita=Led by madness, Mohat=Out of an illusion, Grihitwa=Taking to, Asatgraha=Temporary or false conclusion, Prabartante=Do exist, Ashuchibrrta=Men of unclean habits.
Translation
Men, who have such poor fund of knowledge and have lost their spiritual identity, do accept such atheistic views (theory) and being engaged in dangerous work flourish for no one’s benefit.
Such men are conducted by insatiable desire of sense gratification, pride and false prestige which are all signs of insanity. Out of an illusion they take to false conclusions and thus the world becomes full of such men of unclean habits.
Purport
This is an actual picture of atheistic civilization conducted by blind materialism. By such unrestricted advancement of blind materialism, people have lost sight of their spiritual identity and the so-called progress of learning means an assembly of poor fund of knowledge. When such poor fund of knowledge prevails, one can only live in the fool’s paradise in a Godless atmosphere of potential animal life. This poor fund of knowledge is condemned by the author of the philosophy of Bhagwat Geeta.
When Arjuna spoke some ordinary things from the religious scriptures in connection with social life and yet he could not solve the problem in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, he decided to surrender himself unto the guidance of Shri Krishna the world teacher for real enlightenment. On his doing so, Shri Krishna chastised him in the very beginning and said that Arjuna in spite of his learned speeches on social matters possessed a very poor fund of knowledge although he posed himself to be very learned man.
Sri Krishna said that a really learned man does not lament over flickering things which come and go by the laws of material nature. A really learned man directs his mode of action towards spiritual realisation. And to adjust the poor fund of knowledge of Arjuna, Shri Krishna began to speak and instruct on the knowledge of the Spirit Soul, the basic stand of all humane civilization.
When the basic principle of human civilization is lost sight of by the Nastatmanas, the whole campaign of advancement of learning becomes a colossal hoax. Blind materialism means loss of spiritual sight. As such the present civilization of blind materialism is a kind of polished animalism leading the people to varieties of dangerous work for nobody’s benefit. Both the leaders and the followers are gliding towards a great fall down.
Shri Krishna advised Arjuna to be engaged in work constantly for without work nobody can accomplish even the primary necessities of life. By this He explained that spiritualism does not mean to leave the actual field of work and live in a secluded place for cheap distinction. That is not spiritualism. Spiritualism means that everyone must practice it personally and propagate the same for other’s benefit. So there is no question of stop work in any stage of spiritual culture. Spiritualism or materialism whatsoever may be the aim of life, after all the body and soul must be pulled on together. So long this material body is there one has to maintain it properly even for spiritual culture. This does not mean that one has to take to dangerous type of work for no one’s profit.
By the grace of the illusory energy of Godhead we are now engaged more and more in the dangerous type of work in this machine-age. The machine-age is the result of dangerous type of work. When we leave aside the culture of spiritualism, we are entangled in the dangerous type of work. Nobody can live for a moment without work and therefore when finer elements are made to stop working, gross materialism occupies the devil’s brain. The result is that we have now come to the age of nuclear weapons for the destruction of material civilization. By the law of nature, the nuclear weapons have been produced for crushing the result of blind-materialism.
The peace move of different powers of the world, by the false gesture of suspending the experiments of dangerous weapons-may be very much pleasing to the comparatively weak nations-but these temporary peace-moves will prove useless by the law of material nature. When the dangerous weapons are produced, they must be utilised for annihilation of blind materialism by the plan of the Daivi Maya or the external energy of Godhead. The problem can be solved when they are taught about their spiritual identity.
The soul-killing civilization is progressively taking to the dangerous type of work by invention of huge mechanical means. The illusory energy is creating this atmosphere for blind materialism and on the other hand she is arranging for their destruction also. Such opposite methods are called illusory energy. The human energy is thus misused for breaking the same thing which is produced by the same energy. It is something like blazing the fire and extinguish it by pouring water simultaneously-a sign of insanity or spoiling the valuable human energy meant for spiritual culture. History has been repeated so many times and many many leaders of materialism like Napoleon, Hitler and others now remain in name only without any sign of the material progress planned by them. De-Stalinisation has already begun in Russia. Nobody is enjoying the result of civilization created by atheists like Ravana, Kansa, Aurangzeb, Napoleon or Hitler. Everything is in oblivion and this teaches us the lesson that the materialistic plans of the present age will also meet with the same fate after a lapse of 50 years. Therefore blind materialism does not bring in any permanent relief in the world.
The mode of spiritual plan is explained very clearly in the II Chapter of the Bhagwat Geeta. This plan is called ‘Buddhiyoga’ which has neither any destruction nor any lapse. Even a slight progress in the line of ‘Buddhiyoga’ can save the performer from many many dangerous types of work.
In order to save the people from blind materialism they have to be trained up in the art of ‘Buddhiyoga‘ or the transcendental loving service of the Personality of Godhead. ‘Buddhiyoga‘ is another name of ‘Bhaktiyoga‘ or devotional activities.
Blind materialism will progressively lead to the dangerous type of work in the matters of sense gratification. The senses are compared with the fire. Fire is never extinguished by constant supply of clarified butter. Blind materialism has no limit of standardisation. You go on increasing blind materialism and there will be no satiation of desire. It is something like the conspiracy of the illusory energy (Maya). It is a sort of mirage which creates a false impression for water pool in the mind of the thirsty deer in the desert. It does not know that there is no water in the desert. The poor creature under delusion goes farther and farther deep in the desert with the ultimate result that it meets with death instead of getting water. The oasis in the midst of a desert reminds us of the life in the kingdom of God.
Blind materialism has therefore given a false impression that the world has no need of God.
We may thus believe it or do not believe it the Supreme Lord is there and the sufferings of the civil-disobedient atheist are also there. The permanent soul is there and the law of transmigration is also there. The controlling power of material nature is there and the police action of material nature is also there. Blind materialism may not see to all these work of Prakriti but her stringent laws are there manifest at all times. Even a powerful atheist like Mohishasura could not resist the laws of material Nature in spite of his ability to show many magical jugglery for existence. As such the atheist and blind materialist will be obliged to transmigrate according to his present association of the modes of Nature. How such faithless atheist will be dealt with is explained in the Bhagwat Geeta. The atheist student of Bhagwat Geeta carefully avoids this portion of the reading.
Infection of association with the qualitative modes of nature is so strong that it is quite possible for the atheist to be obliged to take his next birth as a mouse in the huge mechanical plants established by him. Will the atheist like to become a mouse or a serpent or a dog in his own establishment after his death. He may not believe in it but even then also he does not know what is going to happen next after his death. He has no knowledge of the spirit soul neither of its mode of transmigration. The whole thing is looming in darkness and why should he risk at all his valuable life in such darkness when there is the light before us-the Bhagwat Geeta. Let the blind materialist take light from the Bhagwat Geeta. Let him mould his life in the new light inculcated in the Bhagwat Geeta. The atheist is requested herewith for his own benefit and for the benefit of all concerned-not to indulge in any more attempt of insanity. The whole world is already infected with an epidemic of insanity. The whole world is now full with men of unclean habits. And to save the world from further deterioration for human habitation, the atheist should give up the mode of irresponsible life under the influence of blind materialism and take to the path of ‘Buddhiyoga’ as mentioned in the Bhagwat Geeta.
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