Apocalypse Now?
It is said in the Vedas that the people of this world live in illusion. Moreover, they create that illusion themselves by their own desires. Such an amazing place, this world. We all walk around with our unique understanding of reality playing in our minds, as if it were the absolute truth. So strong is that desire to stay in illusion that when we are confronted with the truth we resist it. “Don’t bother me with the facts, my mind is made up!” This was of course the theme powerfully portrayed in the film “The Matrix.” Here is my favorite quote from that movie:
“The Matrix is a system. When you are inside it, you look around and what do you see? Businessmen, Teachers, Lawyers, Carpenters. The very kinds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are part of that system. You have to understand that most of these people are not ready to be ‘unplugged.’ And many are so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to defend it.”
Although those words were spoken in a fictional movie they really are true—most people are so dependent on the system that they will fight to defend it (including devotees!).
My interest in Sri Krishna’s instructions about economics in the Bhagavad-gita have led me to study and understand the realities of the economics of this world. The fact is that that truth is very different from what most people think. Let’s just say that economics has a very dark side, and it sometimes happens if I speak about economic realities that people become upset. I was told that after my presentation earlier this year at the Lithuanian Summer Festival that several listeners found themselves devastated, as if there were nothing left to live for. Hearing what I said seemed to destroy their entire world! As you might guess, after brining such a reaction I have not been invited back to the next festival. As the Matrix quote tells it, many people are not ready to be ‘unplugged.’ They want to keep to their own understanding (illusion). Wow! Is that the result that I wanted to create? Well, yes, actually.
The destruction of our illusion is so disturbing that we resist it. We fight those who would wake us up to reality, because reality in the material world is often very ugly. We are living our lives thinking that the world is such a nice place, and we make plans for how we are going to enjoy here. I’ll get my education, then I’ll get my job, then I’ll get my spouse, and then we will get children, and we will gradually accumulate wealth and live happy lives while we learn about Krishna consciousness, and it will all be wonderful, and at the end we will (hopefully) go back to Godhead.
Pop! Goes the bubble of illusion!
“Hey! Who is that guy who destroyed my illusion? What does he think he’s doing? What do I have left to live for now? I’m crushed. Devastated. Lost.”
You see, the first result of realizing the truths of this world is devastation. We are crushed but it takes some time to realize why. But why should we be so disturbed? Because we have been taking shelter of those things that we now realize give no shelter. I can remember when I had those same realizations more than twenty-five years ago, upon learning the inside knowledge of how economics actually works. I was devastated too! It took some time to overcome that feeling, and in the process I had many powerful realizations. Me: “Wow! These things that I thought were my security, the things that I was taking shelter of, are not actually going to protect me. In fact, these people I was taking shelter of are even trying to exploit me! And I was so taken in by it that I was trying to find security there. But...but, if there is no security there, then where does one go for shelter?”
The things of this world that we go to for shelter are what the Srimad-Bhagavatam calls fallible soldiers (2.1.4):
Persons devoid of atma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.
Srila Prabhupada Comments:
This material world is called the world of death. Every living being, beginning from Brahma, whose duration of life is some thousands of millions of years, down to the germs who live for a few seconds only, is struggling for existence. Therefore, this life is a sort of fight with material nature, which imposes death upon all. In the human form of life, a living being is competent enough to come to an understanding of this great struggle for existence, but being too attached to family members, society, country, etc., he wants to win over the invincible material nature by the aid of bodily strength, children, wife, relatives, etc. Although he is sufficiently experienced in the matter by dint of past experience and previous examples of his deceased predecessors, he does not see that the so-called fighting soldiers like the children, relatives, society members and countrymen are all fallible in the great struggle... This poor fund of knowledge exhibited by human society is certainly misleading, and it is all due to ignoring the constitution of the living soul. This material world exists only as a dream, due to our attachment to it. Otherwise, the living soul is always different from the material nature. The great ocean of material nature is tossing with the waves of time, and the so-called living conditions are something like foaming bubbles, which appear before us as bodily self, wife, children, society, countrymen, etc. Due to a lack of knowledge of self, we become victimized by the force of ignorance and thus spoil the valuable energy of human life in a vain search after permanent living conditions, which are impossible in this material world.
Our friends, relatives and so-called wives and children are not only fallible, but also bewildered by the outward glamour of material existence. As such, they cannot save us. Still we think that we are safe within the orbit of family, society or country.
The whole materialistic advancement of human civilization is like the decoration of a dead body. Everyone is a dead body flapping only for a few days, and yet all the energy of human life is being wasted in the decoration of this dead body. Shukadeva Goswami is pointing out the duty of the human being after showing the actual position of bewildered human activities. Persons who are devoid of the knowledge of atma-tattva are misguided, but those who are devotees of the Lord and have perfect realization of transcendental knowledge are not bewildered.
We must recognize that these fallible soldiers are more than just spouse, children, home, etc. They include all of the things of this world in which we find “security.” These also include our society, our nation and its military strength, and our political leaders; but especially our money and our ability to earn money. Why? Because money appears to be the source of our sustenance. We do take shelter of it. And if someone comes along and tells me that the entire money system is a scam from beginning to end, that the value of the money I have worked hard and saved, and depend on to maintain me in hard times and old age, can become worthless overnight, then it challenges my illusions. It challenges my notion that I am secure in this world depending on “the system.” And if I can actually understand that, due to this speaker’s statements, then my shelter is lost. Those things, those soldiers, that I have been depending on to save me from the cruel vagaries of life are indeed fallible, so then how will I live? For what will I live? I am vulnerable, and I don’t know how to protect myself. Therefore I am devastated.
It seems like the greatest tragedy! A calamity of immense proportions! Actually, it’s the exact opposite. Such a realization puts one on the threshold of living in reality, of finding real shelter. So, if my money can not be depended on to save me, if my government is not going to save me, if my family cannot actually save me, then where do I go for shelter?
The Bhagavatam answers that question in the very next sloka:
“O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all miseries must hear about, glorify and always remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all miseries.”
