Religion: Boon or Bane for Country and Society? The general opinion of people is that religion is destroying our country, society and the world. To those who think like this, I would like to ask the following question: “If religion is destroying you, your society and country, is irreligion going to save you and your country, and is immorality going to save your society?”

Nowadays, so-called civilized persons of society also boldly declare that they don’t believe in God and morality etc., as if they are doing a very great work of chivalry. Is this freedom?

The following incident happened three or four years ago. I had gone to a bank for some work. There, I explained to one employee about my work when, without answering me, he lit a cigarette and began smoking. Then I approached an officer and said, “I am in a hurry. Can you please get my work done at the earliest?” He said that he didn’t have time. Then I went to the bank manager, who asked the employees to do the work. I saw that nobody even got up from their chairs; they were all enjoying tea. The manager then got up and began to do the work himself. Just think, where there is no discipline or morality, how will things get done?

At present you don’t follow your officer. In future, when you become an officer, your juniors will not obey you. Right now, you don’t obey your parents; in future when you become a parent, your children will not obey you. Then how would you feel? Similarly, right now you don’t obey your teachers. In future when you become a teacher, your pupils will not obey you.

Therefore, we should always remember one thing: How would we feel if whatever we do to others is meted out to ourselves? The purport is, if we don’t follow religiosity or accept morality, we cannot live peacefully even in society. We would then be called animals instead of human beings, because without religion, human beings are like animals (dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah).

Many people think that now-a-days we have made much progress in science. We have made satellites and manufactured different types of bombs. Now we have started going to other planets as well. Science has brought us so much development; so now we don’t need religion. My dear brother, just think using common sense. In 1942 when there was war between Japan and America, America, which is known as a civilized country, dropped a bomb over Japan which killed so many innocent people and children. Just think, if somebody kills a child we put him in jail. But who would put those persons in jail who have killed lakhs of innocent people and children? Is this civilization? Did science make such progress to carry out this kind of work?

The religion that is prevalent now-a-days in this world has been infected by politics. There is no place for violence in religion. Religion teaches non-violence; it enhances loving relations among living beings. But now-a-days, fanaticism has entered in the name of religion. With this attitude, we fight among ourselves and kill each other. We don’t even stop to think if religion really teaches this. Actually, it is misuse of religion. This is not religion. Our religious scriptures don’t teach us so.

In our country, the method of propagating Vedic religion is to make people understand through logic and argument, enlightening them about the pre-eminence of religion, and thus putting them on the path of progress. Others propagate religion through allurement; still others make followers by frightening or killing people with weapons.

The only way for living beings to live together peacefully is to develop loving relationships with other living beings, and this is only possible if they know their real identity. Who is the living entity? We should know the answer to this question. As long as we are unaware of this knowledge, what to speak of mutual love for living beings, we will not even be able to understand the definition of human duty. To teach these things, Srila Vedavyasa, who classified the Vedas, wrote the Puranas, Mahabharata and Gita, and propagated religion through these scriptures; but in spite of this, he could not attain peace. Then he went to Badarikasrama and remembered his guru, Sri Narada Gosvami. Narada Gosvami appeared before him and asked about his well-being. Seeing his guru appear before him all of a sudden, he paid obeisances and said, “You know how much I have done for the welfare of the living beings—to give them happiness—but in spite of all this, I am not feeling peace in my mind. Why is this so?”

Narada asked, “What have you done for giving happiness to the living beings?”

Vedvyasa said, “People of this world always want material enjoyment. They consider happiness to be in the fulfilment of their desires; therefore, I have compiled the kama-sastras by which their wishes can be fulfilled as quickly as possible. People in this world aspire for money so I have compiled the artha-sastras. Apart from this, people of this world want to go to heavenly planets after leaving the body, so I have compiled the dharma-sastras for them. I have endeavoured my best to make human beings achieve whatever they desire. Why am I still not feeling happiness?”

After hearing all of this, Narada Gosvami spoke gravely, chastising Vedavyasa as follows:

jugupsitam dharma-krite ’nusasatah
svabhava-raktasya mahan vyatikramah
yad-vakyato dharma ititarah sthito
na manyate tasya nivaranam janah

“You have done a very bad thing because the religion that you have established is most unfair. Living beings have a natural propensity towards dharma, artha and kama; this is a kind of disease. By compiling these scriptures, you have increased their disease. By increasing their disease, you have increased their distress and, in return, you are feeling distressed.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.15)

Then Vedavyasa said, “My lord, I have facilitated liberation for the well-being of the living entities.”

Narada Gosvami said, “This is all the more devastating, since by giving liberation to the living beings, you have made them forever bereft of the bliss of love of Godhead. By providing them the means to attain liberation, you have only offered them the means to escape from sorrow. You have not provided them happiness; how then can you get happiness?”

Whether theists or atheists—nobody considers the body to be the self. For example, although atheists, people of China, Russia, etc., don’t consider the body as the self, for when somebody dies, nobody punishes the person who has cremated the dead and in these countries, or in any country for that matter, the dead have no right to vote.

Within this body there is a conscious, cognizant entity by whose presence I am “I” and by whose absence I am “not-I.” That is my actual identity, and it is sac-cid-ananda, meaning I am eternally existing (sat), cognizant (cit), and blissful (ananda). That entity which is always fully cognizant and blissful is called atma (soul) in the scriptures. That atma is not destroyed even when the body is destroyed, as said in the Bhagavad-gita (2.20):

na jayate mriyate va kadacin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah sasvato ’yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sarire

Therefore, atma requires atma. That is why Narada says to Vedavyasa, “The instructions provided by you for dharma, artha and kama, according to the desires of the living beings, is about material, perishable objects. By perishable objects living beings will only get sorrow. Indirectly you have given only sorrow to the living beings. That is why you are getting sorrow in return.”

If dharma, artha, kama etc., are sources of misery, what is happiness?

The scriptures say that Happiness means personified Krishna. As long as you don’t glorify Krishna, Whom the Gita speaks of as the cause of Absolute Brahman; Whom Brahma calls the Lord of all lords and Cause of all causes; from Whose marginal potency all living beings have emanated, you, this world and the living entities cannot become happy.

Änanda has personality, consciousness has personality. As the atomic conscious being (jiva) is infinitesimally blissful, similarly, the Infinite Lord is infinitely blissful. Therefore, for atomic jivas to achieve supreme bliss, they have to sing the glories of the infinite conscious entity, Krishna. The scriptures say, yato va imani bhutani jayante yena jatani jivanti yat prayanty abhisam-visanti tad vijijnasasva tad brahma. (Taittiriya Upanishad 3.1.1)

This means that the entire universe has emanated from the Lord, is maintained by the Lord and will merge back into Him. Suppose my body is a person. A large object, a hand, has come out from this body, and from the hand, one small object, a finger, has come out. Now where has the hand come out from?

From the body.
Where is the hand?
In the body.
How is the hand?
By the body.
Then what is its duty?
To live for the body.

In other words, when the hand exists for the body, it remains happy. When it does not exist for the body, it cannot be happy. For example, assume the hand is a conscious entity. If it says that it will not have any relationship with the body and not cooperate with it, and if this hand, becoming separated from my body, befriends all of you people or all the doctors of Chandigarh or of the world, can it remain happy?

No! Since this hand is by the body, in the body and through the body, its sole duty is to live for the body. Similarly, living beings have emanated from the Lord, they are maintained by the Lord and their final destination is the Lord only. Therefore, the sole duty of the living entity is to exist for the Lord—only then can he remain happy, otherwise not. In the Lord’s satisfaction lies the living beings’ satisfaction.

Narada said further, “You have not sung the glories of the supremely blissful Sri Krishna, the cause of all causes. That is why you are unhappy.”

In reply to this, Vedavyasa said, “My lord, I have sung the glories of Sri Krishna in the Mahabharata.”

Narada said, “That glorification will not serve the purpose, since you have done for the purpose of attaining liberation. The objective of glorification of Sri Krishna in the Mahabharata is liberation. Whatever is the objective at the time of bhajana, one’s mind will go there. For example, if somebody worships the Lord for money, then at the time of worship, his mind will go towards money. Worship in this state would be called the worship of money and not of the Lord. Suppose that somebody is infected with some disease and he is worshipping the Lord to get relief from that disease. This would then be called the worship of disease and not of the Lord. Similarly, worshipping the Lord for liberation would divert the mind towards liberation and that would be called worship of liberation and not of the Lord.”

Worship of the Lord means worshipping Him for His affection, i.e., worshipping the Lord only for the Lord. Only this kind of worship will lead to the association of the Lord and association of bliss. The Lord will become happy, and through the happiness of the Lord, everybody will become happy.

Now the question arises, “How to worship the Lord?”

With the intention of answering this question, Narada Gosvami recited four important slokas to Vedavyasa, which are known as the “catuh sloki bhagavata.” Adhering to these slokas, Vedavyasa compiled the Srimad-Bhagavatam of 18,000 slokas and achieved absolute peace.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu also propagated this Bhagavata-dharma. He taught that by adhering to this Bhagavata-dharma, living beings would develop pure love of Godhead and would see their eternal relationship with the Lord and other living entities. Whence, the Lord says about the eternal relationship between the living entities and Himself:

mamaivamso jiva-loke
jiva-bhutah sanatanah
manah-shashthanindriyani
prakriti-sthani karshati

“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Bhagavad-gita 15.7)

jivera ‘svarupa’ haya—krishnera ‘nitya-dasa’
krishnera ‘tatastha-sakti’ ‘bhedabheda-prakasa’

“It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Krishna because he is the marginal energy of Krishna and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord.” (Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 20.108)

By having pure love for the Lord, the living being will see that the Lord has infinite potencies, among which the internal, external and marginal potencies are pre-eminent. All living beings are parts of the marginal potency. Even if externally we are Hindu, Muslim or Christian, or even birds or beasts, our relationship with the Lord is eternal.

I love my family, village, state or country—this is a sectarian view. In this, there is love for one group. It is natural that when there is love for my family, village, state or country, there will be animosity or superiority towards other families, villages, states or countries. But when we have love for the Lord, we will have intimate love for all living entities, whether they be of any country, caste or universe.

Living beings come into this world after forgetting God, and after coming into this world, innumerable desires appear in their hearts. After desires appear in the heart, the tendency for enjoyment arises. From here, clashes begin. I endeavour to satisfy my senses, and innumerable souls like me, who have also come into this world in forgetfulness of the Lord, also endeavour to satisfy their senses, and everyone fights among themselves like dogs.

But if the living beings who have turned away from God come to know the real purport of religion, i.e., if we understand that we are atma, then our only necessity will be Paramatma, the Supreme Lord. We will not have any demand for material objects and there will never be any fighting among ourselves. Therefore, religion is a boon to country and society, not a curse.