If you would like to participate, or have any questions, text me at (412) 287-1667. We take turns reading from the book (optional-you can also just listen) with informal Q&A. Join our Facebook group to be notified of this and other events.
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"The great mistake of modern civilization is to encroach upon other’s property as though it were one’s own and to thereby create an unnecessary disturbance of the laws of nature. These laws are very strong. No living entity can violate them. Only one who is God conscious can easily overcome the stringency of the laws of nature and thus become happy and peaceful in the world. As a state is protected by the department of law and order, so is the state of the Universe, of which this earth is only an insignificant fragment, is protected by the laws of nature. This material nature is one of the different potencies of God, who is the ultimate protector of everything that be. This earth is, therefore, the property of God, but we, the living entities, especially the so-called civilized human beings, are claiming God’s property as our own, under both and individual and collective false conception. If you want peace, you have to remove this false conception from your mind and from the world. This false claim of proprietorship by the human race on earth is partly or wholly the cause of all disturbances of foolish and so-called civilized men who are claiming proprietary rights on the property of God because they have now become godless. You cannot be happy and peaceful in a godless civilization. Although there are many civilizations, there is only one God, although He may be called many names in different countries. In the Bhagavad-gita, the holy book of India, Lord Krishna delineates the peace formula. He says that He is the factual enjoyer of all activities of the living entities, that He is the Supreme Lord of all universes, and that He is the well-wishing friend of all beings. When the people of the world know this as the formula for peace, it is then and there that peace will prevail.
Click here to watch a 10-minute video slideshow/narration of a pamphlet written by Śikṣāṣtaka dāsa during the pandemic, inspired by a short quote (the 46 second audio of the actual quote is included at the end of the video) from a class given in Dallas in 1972 by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
Here is a link to the transcript and audio of the entire Prabhupāda lecture.
If you would like to go deeper into this topic, there is a short book written by Swami Prabhupada entitled "Beyond Birth & Death"
available on eBay here for $6 with free shipping.
This book is based on the ancient science of Bhakti-yoga originally spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, translation and commentary by the same author. It has sold 26 million copies worldwide. This book is infinitely deep and has been in extant since time immemorial. Henry David Thoreau said, "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial."
The above 770 page pocket size edition is available here for $8 plus media mail shipping.
If you would like to join us to discuss these topics online, I offer a free 40-minute Zoom class on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam every Wednesday at 6 pm. At that time, click here or enter meeting ID and password in the photo.
