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EDITORIAL  The First Purpose Of ISKCON BY JNANADASA VANACARI EDITORIAL, May 13 (VNN) — When His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada registered ISKCON in 1966, he put forward seven Purposes. The second of these is to propagate Krishna consciousness, as put forward in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. The First Purpose is to educate people in spiritual knowledge and to systematically propagate spiritual values and techniques to correct the imbalance of values, and to bring peace and unity to society. In the Constitution of ISKCON, he restated this purpose, and added that this should bring about, "perhaps for the first time", peace and unity between the forces contending in the world today. If we want to understand his mission, we have to understand the respective intentions of these two distinct Purposes. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada engaged his devotees in explicitly Krishna conscious activities, and sometimes he engaged them in preparatory activities. For example, in Vrindavana in 1974, he explained his plan for opening varnashrama colleges. Varnashrama is not directly Krishna consciousness, he said; it is to make people's minds peaceful, so that they can take up Krishna consciousness. Similarly, the scientific preaching was not intended to prove the full scope of Krishna consciousness. On one occasion, Srila Prabhupada told Svarupa Damodara (as he was then), "Let the scientific community simply admit the existence of God and acintya shakti (inconceivable potency). Then our movement is a great success". The First Purpose of ISKCON is a foundation for the Second Purpose (the propagation of explicit Krishna consciousness). Krishna consciousness depends on the existence of the individual conscious self and the Supreme Self, Krishna. Therefore, as long as people have faith in materialistic science and philosophy, they cannot put faith in Krishna consciousness. To make a solid foundation for our preaching of Krishna consciousness "proper", we need to establish a spiritual world-view in which people can put their complete faith. It should be self-evident and undeniable, and it should also show that anything that contradicts is not just wrong, but self-contradictory and meaningless. It should show practically what is essential reality, the undeniable basis of our direct, everyday experience and life. We cannot absolutely prove the existence of the individual soul, or of Krishna, because both are beyond the range of sense perception and the material mind. Still, Srila Prabhupada began his presentation of Krishna consciousness from the self-evident logic and philosophy that we are not this body, but the conscious being within the body. Further, in his purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 2. , he elaborately establishes the presence of Supersoul as the object of logic and direct experience. Hence, although we cannot absolutely prove the existence of soul and Supersoul, we can show that they are true by direct experience, and that we cannot deny their existence without talking nonsense. We can say that they are self-evident and self-validating entities. Bhagavad-gita and the Vedic literatures direct us to the essential, self-evident and undeniable entities. There is a simple strategy for showing that these entities are indeed self-evident and undeniable, so that we can be practically certain about them. Material science and the empirical process for gaining knowledge depend on objective knowledge about entities that are viewed and analysed objectively. Now, no system of objective knowledge can describe or explain its essential basis, i.e the conditions and entities on which it absolutely depends. For instance, we cannot use arithmetic to explain directly what a number is, nor can we use geometry to explain directly what form is. At the same time, we cannot use arithmetic to deny that numbers exist, nor can we use geometry to deny that form exists, because they depend on these entities. If we examine the basic conditions on which our whole search for knowledge by experience depends, we will find entities that are self-evident, real and essential, but which cannot be described or explained objectively. They also cannot be denied, simply because our search for knowledge depends on them. This is the basis for practical certainty about the essential basis of knowledge, and of life itself. The following seven entities combine to provide a comprehensive basis for the whole of our everyday life. They are all acknowledged as tattva in the Vedic literatures. They cannot be defined objectively, because they are parts of the process for observing and understanding objects. However, we can define them in terms of direct experience, and of their specific, essential functions in the process for gaining knowledge by experience. In this list, they are stated first as we can present them to those who are unfamiliar with Vedic philosophy, and then with their familiar names. 1.Authoritative guidance (pramana); 2. Purposeful activity (karma); 3. The four phases of achievement and completion, namely education, leadership, resource management and routine work (varna); 4. The individual, consisting of body, mind and conscious self (atma); 5. Self-potential, namely the potential for being, knowing and loving (sac-cid-ananda); 6. The Universal Maintainer, the Universal Self (Paramatma); 7. Relationship as part to whole (acintya-bhedabheda). A complete world-view requires more than just understanding what essential reality is. We must also know how to act in relation to essential reality. The Vedic tradition shows that there are just three strategies for activity in the world: the way of positive harmony with essential reality (the sattvic approach); the way of confused, passionate over-endeavour (the rajasic approach); and the way of ignorance and destruction (the tamasic approach). In practice, our approach to life consists of a complex combination of these three paths, which correspond to the three essential and fundamental processes: maintenance, creation, and destruction. Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the other Vedic literatures point out the behaviour traits characteristic of each strategy. Hence, we can identify the specific sattvic, rajasic and tamasic behaviours and attitudes in relation to each of these essential realities. From this we can make a "reality check-list", consisting of a 7 x 3 grid: seven essential realities, and three strategies. For each of the seven essential realities, it spells out one approach (sattvic) to aspire for, and two (rajasic and tamasic) to avoid. This enables one to diagnose any present situation (one's personal situation, or what we see in the world around us). Further, it enables one to make a specific program for increasing the predominance of the sattvic strategy and reducing the incidence of rajasic and tamasic approaches in each of the seven essential areas of life. 15th May is the anniversary of the establishment of the Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti by our Srila Prabhupada and his beloved Godbrother and sannyasa-guru, Srila Bhakti-Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja. It is a very auspicious day for new beginnings, so on this day we are launching the Paradigm Institute, which is meant: (a) to show that the world-view of material scientists is not only wrong, but false, deceptive, and so self-contradictory as to be ultimately meaningless; (b) to establish a world-view that makes sense, based on self-evident and undeniable realities such as soul and Supersoul; (c) to establish what to do and what not to do in relation to these essential realities. The Paradigm Institute is a consultant body, meant for approaching leaders and the general public alike. It will publicise the inconsistencies and dangers of materialism, impersonalism and voidism. It will also establish the alternative world-view, and it will help those who are interested to establish it within their sphere of influence. Please give your blessings and prayers for this new venture. If you would like to be engaged, here are a few of the ways that are or will be possible. Learning and propagating the principles; Creative, dramatic, and musical presentations (including slide-shows, puppet shows, and comic strips propagating heavy philosophical principles in a light way); Web-site design, Research; Financial support; Making media presentations; Making and finding contacts; Marketing ideas and educational materials; We will be very happy to have your feedback and input. Jnanadasa Vanacari jdd@ecosse.net Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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