Spiritual Enlightenment: What Is It, By Stephen Knapp

Spiritual Enlightenment: What Is It, By Stephen Knapp

by Stephen Knapp on Friday, February 11, 2011 at 11:54am

            There are many explanations of what is enlightenment, and many are rather unclear or even misleading, often appearing to come from someone who is not truly or deeply experienced. So, I wanted to try and offer something that is more apparent and direct. After all, enlightenment is a goal of yoga and meditation, and we should know something of what we are trying to attain.

            First of all, the thing we need to understand is there are different levels of enlightenment. There is the enlightenment concerning our spiritual position or identity known as the jiva or spirit soul. That is enlightenment of our higher self. Then there is the more developed enlightenment of God, of which there are three aspects. There is enlightenment of the all-pervading spiritual force, or the effulgence known as the Brahman. This is also the spiritual atmosphere or dimension that is beyond all material influence.

            Then there is the realization or enlightenment of the Paramatma or Supersoul within all beings. Most forms of yoga focus on the eventual or ultimate realization of the soul and Supersoul and their connection. Then the third aspect is enlightenment of Bhagavan, the ultimate Supreme Personality who displays His real characteristics, qualities, and pastimes to His most confidential devotees.

            Great sages have explained that for one to be completely enlightened, he or she must be realized in all three of these aspects of God; namely the Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan if their enlightenment is to be complete. However, before reaching this stage, a spiritual sadhaka or practitioner is likely to go through other preliminary stages of understanding and realization that, without proper experience or training, may lead one to think they are fully realized or enlightened.

            This leads us to understand that there are different levels of enlightenment, such as realization on the mental level. For example, the mental level of enlightenment is when something makes sense or resonates with you, and makes you want to know more. You can relate with it or feel a connection. It may even be something that you somehow recall from a previous existence. It is like peaking through the door and seeing something attractive, and then realizing that this may be something you have been looking and waiting for over the course of many years, or even lifetimes. But this realization is of the importance of something and your connection with it, it is not spiritual enlightenment.

            Then there is enlightenment on the intellectual level with the use of cultivated knowledge, known as jnana. The intellectual level of realization is based on collected information when you study and gather facts and details so you understand the subject better, or comprehend it and even explain it to others. You may develop full faith and accept the reality of its existence, but have not quite seen it directly yet.

            Then there is realization of that collected knowledge when jnana is called vijnana. In other words, it is like seeing through the spectacles of knowledge, you can actually see what the shastra or spiritual texts have been talking about. Actual realization is beyond theory or cultivated information alone, but is when you actually perceive the knowledge in action. It is when you can begin to see how the concepts of spiritual knowledge work around you. You recognize the effects of karma, or how the modes of nature are pushing people to do various things. You begin to see what others cannot when they have no spiritual insights or training. However, even such realizations can be on various levels. For example, you may have the realization of how temporary everything is in this material world by recognizing direct evidence of this fact. You may realize the need to learn the process for attaining freedom from this world. You may realize the need to regain your spiritual position and identity. Then, on a higher level you may realize how you are not this temporary body and how you are a spirit soul, and how everyone is essentially spiritual in nature. Then you may go on to realize or recognize the Supersoul or Paramatma within all beings. These are certainly steps toward full spiritual enlightenment.

            Higher than this kind of realization is the direct perception or experience. This is when life is no longer a mystery to solve but it becomes a reality to experience. This experience, however, must be as clear as when you see the sun rise in the east. Someone may tell you the sun rises in the east, but until you see it clearly yourself, it is still only theory, or knowledge from someone else’s experience. But direct perception takes place after what can be years of spiritual practice. Then you may begin to see the different aspects of the spiritual dimension. It is by constant and serious practice that your consciousness becomes purified or spiritualized so that the spiritual strata begins to reveal itself to you, or you begin to attain direct access to the spiritual dimension.

            Perception or experience is like eating a nice meal after being hungry and experiencing the relief from hunger. You can analyze how to cure your hunger in so many ways, but the experience is in eating a nice meal. And that experience is universal. You may use different types of food, such as Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, or whatever, but the experience of feeling the relief from hunger, or the satisfaction of a full stomach, is the same for everyone, after which there are no more arguments about what it takes to relieve one’s hunger. This is similar to spiritual enlightenment.

            One has to proceed through all of the steps or one’s progress may become encumbered by misjudgment and a lack of understanding and proper training. Otherwise, a person may think they are fully enlightened when they actually have a long way to go.

            Enlightenment is also the freedom from our karma, or the reactions of one’s past deeds. Being forced to deal with our karma and undergo the consequences from past actions can be an obstacle and hinders our ability to reach self-realization. It can keep one motivated toward areas of past familiarity and desires. Yet, the more spiritual you become, the more you become free from the base tendencies or sensual addictions that often linger because of one’s karma. How this happens is explained in the Bhagavad-gita. With freedom from one’s past karma, one can reach enlightenment. But it also works both ways. In other words, the purification one acquires by spiritual practice which gradually paves the way to enlightenment also slowly nullifies a person’s past karma. The practice of the yoga system, particularly bhakti yoga, purifies one’s consciousness, which also evaporates one’s subtle body of mind, intelligence, and false ego. These are all considered material elements according to the Vedic philosophy, and where one’s material desires reside. Freedom from such material desires is also a part of becoming free from one’s past karma, which tends to lock us into those desires. And such freedom paves the way to complete spiritual enlightenment.

            Therefore, if one is truly becoming enlightened, that person will also become free from the sensual desires that are widespread amongst materialists or common men. However, if someone who poses as a spiritual authority, teacher, or guru continues to exhibit the same desires for sensual pleasures that should have been surpassed, then it is obvious that he has not attained enlightenment or mastered the art of spiritual practice.

            We need to remember that the yamas and niyamas, or the dos and don’ts and the regulative principles of the yoga system are not rules to stifle our style or limit our activities from those things we would otherwise like to do. Nor are they meant to force us to adopt habits or restrictions that are artificial or abnormal to us. But they are actually a natural state of being for those who are spiritually realized. Why should one not follow ahimsa or nonviolence, or be content, peaceful, materially detached, etc., if he or she is truly enlightened? Once a person becomes enlightened, he or she will rise to the level of awareness in which these qualities, or the regulative principles, automatically manifest in the content of one’s character. If these qualities are not evident, then it shows the degree to which that person has remained attached to sensual pleasure or absorbed in materialistic consciousness. Thus, such a person is not spiritually enlightened and cannot become so as long as this is the case.

            Spiritual awakening means to awaken from the illusion of temporary material existence, and to see the spiritual essence and the Absolute or Supreme Creator within and behind every aspect of the creation. It is not that this material world is unreal, but it is like an ephemeral dream we have. The dream is real, and it may indeed affect us, but it has influence over us only as long as we do not wake up. Once we wake up from the dream, we realize what is genuinely real and then we remember our actual situation and what we are meant to do. Spiritual awakening is the same thing in which we awaken from our materialistic dream to our real spiritual identity and become free from the influence of temporary material existence, and then we remember who we really are.

In such a consciousness and full awareness of spiritual reality, there is no time when we forget God. That is the essence of Krishna or God consciousness. Thus, you see everything as a display of the energy of God. You recognize the Creator behind all created things. This is when you become one with the universal Self, and you see your self as one or the same as all others. In this unity, we find peace, calmness, acceptance, and the highest bliss.

            In this way, spiritual enlightenment is perceiving and honoring the inner sacredness of ourselves and all other beings, in fact all of creation. It is knowing we are all divine emanations from the same source. It is through this perception that allows us to undergo the challenge of constant changes in this material existence, or to weather the storm so to speak, with balance, equilibrium, and grace, knowing that all problems or reversals in life are but temporary illusions.

            At the spiritual level, the soul has no evil. The soul only wants what it ought to want, or desires what it ought to desire, and does not undergo extremes of unnecessary happiness, exuberance, or sadness, or depression. When we have regained our natural spiritual position and are free of the influence from the externals around us, along with the various changing emotions or dualities that are seen and engaged in on the mental state in our material existence, then we are eternally balanced in sudha sattva, ultimate pure goodness. This is our natural state of being that becomes clear and is perceived in the state of complete self-realization or actual enlightenment. And this flows from us on a continual basis to the degree in which we are spiritually awakened.

            Self-realization or enlightenment is also surrendering our false identity, our material conceptions and attachments into the ocean of nectar that is our devotion and love for God. This rasa or taste in the relationship we have with the Supreme can outweigh all other desires or cravings, and is that for which we all are ultimately searching. That is our home, and the basis for all our other longings. Once you attain that awakening, you are complete and whole in your self because you have established your connection with the Complete, as explained in the Sri Isopanishad.

            So, how do we get there? How do we attain this level of enlightenment and spiritual awakening? Through sadhana, regulated spiritual practice, which is part of and the purpose of the yoga system. To purify our consciousness starts with purifying or spiritualizing our activities. For example, if we have a cup and we want to fill it with nectar, but it is filled with dirt, we first have to start taking out the dirt. The more dirt we take out, the more nectar we can put into it. Similarly, the more nectar or bliss we want to put into our life, the more we have to start changing our activities to those which are based on or conducive to spiritual progress. This changes our consciousness. When our activities are purified, then our mind becomes purified or spiritualized. Thus, our desires are purified. When that happens, our consciousness becomes spiritualized. When that happens, material existence has nothing more to offer us. It is neither attractive nor repulsive to us—we are simply indifferent, or no longer interested.

            In this way, spiritual realization, awakening, or enlightenment is the aim, goal, and success of human life. Only human existence offers the facility for the living entity to become spiritually enlightened. Therefore, we should not waste this life on mere animal or trivial base pursuits.

            Actual enlightenment is the stage when one’s realizations have matured into a way of life, not glimpses of the truth, but a constant reality that directs one’s every action. This is when you know exactly what is to be done, the purpose of life, and can do nothing else but what takes you toward that goal. Others may or may not always understand such actions, but an enlightened person has complete singleness of purpose in all of his or her endeavors.

            Spiritual enlightenment does not mean that you are always in a state of being blissed-out, and otherwise dysfunctional to being able to do anything else. But it means you now clearly see what is to be done in this life and can joyfully do it. When you have such clarity and you sincerely try to arrange your life to do what is essential, then the universe or even the Divine will give you the opportunity to act in such a way, or give you the means to perform such activities. In such a state, when there is unity between one’s soul and the Supreme within, then the Divine may even work through such a person for the benefit of others.

            With this kind of clarity you will know your true purpose and what you are meant to give to the world. Then you will also know there is no time to waste and will want to work diligently to accomplish what you are meant to do in this life.

            Death is not the experience that automatically gives enlightenment or provides all the answers, as some people think. The experience of death will certainly provide additional insights and understanding. But, for the most part, the consciousness you develop in this life is carried over into the next, and from there you continue your development, and, ultimately, your search or quest for spiritual awakening. It is your state of mind and consciousness which attracts you to the situation in your next life that best accommodates you. That is why it is important to attain the highest level of enlightenment now, in this life, to attain the best possible situation in your next existence.

            Once you have attained pure spiritual consciousness, either in this or some future existence, there will be no need for further births in the cycle of samsara, or life and death in this material world. You achieve the ultimate success by entering directly into the spiritual dimension and eternal life. This is real freedom and the attainment of real life, our natural spiritual state, which is above and beyond the emotional, mental, intellectual, or even subtle realms of this temporary material existence. Such a jivanmukta or liberated soul will have attained his or her status of enlightenment through the process of steady sadhana or spiritual practice, then realization, illumination, direct perception, and then full transcendental freedom. That is enlightenment.

Slavery to Banks: A Vedic Prophecy, By Stephen Knapp

Slavery to Banks: A Vedic Prophecy, By Stephen Knapp

by Stephen Knapp on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 10:12am

This shows how banks, especially the Central Banks, which are part of a network established in many countries, have set up a system which is increasingly controlling the economy and lives of numerous people around the world, and is gaining more power, wealth and influence. The questionable development of the Federal Reserve Bank in America is presented as an example of the fulfillment of the Vedic prophecy regarding the dangers of standardized gold and the hoarding of it (one of the places in which the personality of Kali resides), and what more problems this can cause in the future as the age of Kali-yuga advances.

* * *

            As related in the Bhagavata Purana, at the start of Kali-yuga, King Pariksit declared that the seeds of evil will manifest in four things: intoxication, gambling, illicit sex, and the killing of innocent creatures, especially for meat-eating. These were the activities in which the personality of Kali could reside.

           Not only are these the bad habits of Kali-yuga, but engaging in the above-mentioned activities propel us into numerous additional negative activities, all of which force us to give in to such undesirable emotions as greed, anger, jealousy, fault-finding, treachery, hatred, and so on. All of these pave the way for untold pain, suffering, misery and further wicked actions and intrigue.

            We can plainly see the damage these activities are presently doing. For example, liquor and drugs and other forms of intoxication no doubt ruin the lives of innumerable people. It causes poor health, depression, the waste of needed money, and even suicides and death, either by accidental overdoses or from other things such as territorial gang wars and so on. Drinking or intoxication literally poisons the brain and body. It takes away the ability to achieve a higher consciousness and destroys the principle of austerity, and being responsible and focused on the goals of life. This leads to irresponsibility and a philosophy of “whatever feels good, do it”. Such intoxication paves the way for further calamities in one’s actions and difficulties in life.

Gambling, or engaging in questionable or fraudulent business practices, takes away the principle of truthfulness and honesty. Gambling houses also tempt people into their clutches with fancy lights and alluring women with the hope of gaining easy fortune, yet mostly take much of the money away from those who patronize such places, sometimes leaving them in ruins.

             A nimal slaughter takes away one’s sense of mercy and compassion for others. It promotes selfishness and cruelty and furthers society’s ignorance of its spiritual identity. You could not so easily slaughter and eat other creatures if you clearly saw the soul within the animal.

            Prostitution or frivolous sexual activity takes away one’s sense of bodily and mental cleanliness. It increases addiction to trivial bodily pleasures, which accelerates degradation and disease in society.

            The desire for sex in this age of Kali-yuga is one of the most captivating of all preoccupations of the human race. It distracts most of society from the real spiritual purpose of life. People want to satisfy themselves in this way and then use up so much energy, physical and otherwise, to meet their sensual desires. It saps them of their time in life when they could be using this existence in much more important ways.

            For quick profits debauched men and even women capture and force many young girls, and boys as well, into a life of prostitution, which often leaves them hurt, wounded, diseased or ruined for life. Such exploitative culprits, who engage in human trafficking and force others into such an existence of engaging in the sex trade, will multiply like a virus in this age. And like any virus, if they are not destroyed completely, they will only reappear later in a different place.

            On a personal level, for any man, semen or the vital force is the most precious substance in the human body, and is not meant to be wasted through mere sensual enjoyment. It is the last product made by the body through the process of digesting the food we eat. This vital force is especially effective in nourishing the nervous system and brain. All who are on the spiritual path to perceive the spiritual dimension are recommended to retain this vital force for assistance and greater strength, concentration, intelligence, good memory, health, determination, and clarity. When it is preserved it is turned into the Ojas Shakti, and is utilized in the brain for higher abilities and noble purposes. If it is wasted and released through frequent or unnecessary sex, one’s brain and nervous system are disadvantaged. This manifests as lack of certitude, direction, clarity, along with mental weakness, indifference and lethargy. Then noble thoughts give way to the increased focus on base and sensual desires. Intellectual energy is then diverted from spiritual inquiry to concocting further plans for more sensual pleasure. Then this becomes the major aim in such a person’s life, especially in Kali-yuga, which depletes them of their time, energy, higher consciousness, and paves the way to death’s door with little else being accomplished. In this way, one’s life becomes wasted.

            Anyone, such as rulers, social leaders, or religionists, who desires progressive well-being for themselves and society should avoid these four irreligious activities. All of these eliminate the finer characteristics of human nature, which leaves behind the lower animalistic qualities and the further degradation of human society and the world. However, the results and tendencies for all of these degrading activities are found in one specific thing more than any other, and that is the hoarding of money, which is explained next.

THE DANGERS OF KALI IN STANDARDIZED GOLD

In the story of Kali requesting Maharaja Pariksit for places in which he could stay, as related in Srimad-Bhagavatam16, Kali begged for one more place to reside, besides the four that have been previously described. So Maharaja Pariksit gave permission for Kali to live where there is gold, because wherever there is the hoarding of gold there is also falsity, intoxication, lust, envy, and enmity. Therefore, the personification of Kali became gold standardized. This has led to innumerable problems in this age, and it is simply getting worse as the age of Kali progresses.

Now one thing to remember here is that we have been warned about the dangers of standardized gold in Srimad-Bhagavatam, which was written around 5,000 years ago. But how does this danger manifest? How would a 5,000 year old statement or prophecy about gold apply to us today? Let us explain further.

Throughout history governments have coined and printed their own money, based on actual supply of whatever commodity was backing the money, such as gold or silver. This is what standardization is all about. A five-dollar bill, for example, would be worth five dollars of gold. Of course, the problem is that they removed that standard years ago and now they can print all kinds of dollar bills that have no standard value. Falsity sets in when actual gold, as in gold coins, is no longer used as a currency and paper money replaces it. The paper money does not fairly represent the value of the actual reserved gold. The result of this is artificial inflation and manipulation because the currency is not real. This inflation can set off multitudes of reactions in the value of goods: changes in the value of your savings and the money you earn, etc.

Then add to this the widespread ignorance and confusion regarding tax laws, and you have a system designed to keep people under control or bewilderment. In a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1787, John Adams wrote, "All perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arise not from defects in the Constitution, nor from want of honor and virtue so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation." In other words, a dishonest money system is the basis of many of the economic and even social problems in America. Money can either build or destroy a nation. If a money system is honest, all people can prosper. A dishonest system, however, enriches a few at the cost of many.

To give a very simple example, which was also told to me, centuries ago in some townships people stored their gold in the goldsmith’s vault for a fee, in which case, they would get a receipt for their gold. Afterwards, people would exchange these receipts among themselves as a money substitute for commodities or services. They could redeem the receipts for the gold. However, only a small amount of the gold was ever reclaimed, allowing the goldsmith to issue receipts for more gold than he had. So some receipts did not represent anything.

In fact, he could use some receipts himself to make purchases or to lend at interest and yet take title to property as collateral. In this way, the increase in fraudulent receipts decreased the value of legitimate receipts. By manipulating the number of receipts in circulation, the wealth and prosperity of the community were quietly confiscated by the goldsmith without anyone knowing.

By reducing the number of receipts and money in circulation, the goldsmith could cause a depression in which he could increase his wealth at the expense of others. However, by increasing the number of receipts he could stimulate the economy and bring prosperity into the community. In this way, we can see that any money substitute like paper currency is honest only when it accurately represents real money. But when people use paper instead of real money, the seeds of corruption can enter the system.

America’s economic problems are based on this practice of issuing notes that are not accurately backed by gold. This is standard practice in the banking industry that is based on the modern day goldsmith known as The Federal Reserve and their Federal Reserve Notes. Remember, a Note is an I.O.U., or debt. Paying a debt with another debt is not possible. A debt must be paid with something of value, like gold or silver. Thus, the name "Federal Reserve Note" is, in fact, a fraudulent name since it is not what it claims to be--an accurate representation of a certain amount of gold.

There are only two actual economic systems: One is barter and the other is credit. Barter is simply the exchange of items that have equal value. The use of gold or silver coins is a barter system. Other items that have been used for exchange have included cows, salt, tea, tobacco, and opium. But money by itself does not exist: It must be something of value or an honest representation of something of value. However, credit is not tangible; it cannot be measured. It is only an idea represented by bookkeeping entries. Wealth is produced through labor in exchange for value or in making useable products that have exchange value in the marketplace. You do not find this with credit, except for the amount of money that becomes owed.

Bookkeeping tactics can then manipulate and adjust the value of such credit to suit whatever the plans are of those who control it. On page twelve of Keeping Our Money Healthy, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, it states, "The Federal Reserve system works only with credit." But credit is not wealth.

This state of affairs started 200 years ago when Amschel Rothschild (1743-1812) established a principle that the economic and political systems of nations would not be controlled by the citizens but by the bankers, for the bankers. This came about by a carefully planned series of political and economic maneuvers that gradually established a " Central Bank" in every country. This, in effect, allows those involved in this Central Bank system to gain control over the economy of the world. Many people think that the strategy of these power elite bankers is to establish a single world government over which they have complete control. If such would become the case, then politicians, leaders, and people in general, would all be controlled by the policy decisions of these bankers, not by governments. Even nowadays governments are often influenced by the economic decisions made by these bankers.

These central banks have the authority to print money for whatever country in which they are established. It is these banks from which governments borrow money to pay for debts to continue their operation. Thus, printed money is debt money. It has no intrinsic value since they do not base it on gold. It is printed to further the borrowing by the government. This propels a false economy in which everything, even the government, operates on credit, which is debt. And the larger the debt, the shakier everything becomes. So, yes, presently the Federal Government of the U. S. is practically bankrupt, so it keeps borrowing money from the Central Bank, known as the Federal Reserve Bank. And now the national debt is over 8 and one-half trillion dollars (at the time of this writing, as of January 1, 2007), which the government owes to the Federal Reserve Bank and other member institutions. This also means that in a country of over 300,500,000 people, every U. S. citizen owes over $28,000 as their contribution to help pay off this debt. Most of this debt is interest that multiplies on a daily basis that the government, or rather the American taxpayers, are supposed to pay back to the Federal Reserve Bank. To pay back such a debt is most difficult. Thus, policy decisions by the Federal Reserve regarding the national debt can send waves of changes throughout the country at any given time. So we can see how this government must consider the dictates of the Federal Reserve Bank, which operates more like a privately owned and operated organization of international bankers than an agency of the government, since that is exactly what it is.

Presently, the policies of the Federal Reserve control inflation and deflation. They have the duty to establish and adjust the "prime lending rate" that "helps" stimulate the economy or control growth. They can expand or contract the money supply by buying or selling U. S. securities and by raising or lowering reserve requirements, which is the money that member banks must have in reserve. The Federal Reserve has many other duties that exert a powerful influence on this nation’s economic life, and, thus, affect every other country in the world.

It was on November 22, 1910 when the nation’s leading bankers left by train at night from Hoboken, New Jersey on a secret mission to Jekyll Island, Georgia to create what would be the Federal Reserve System. Through their plans they were able to bypass the U. S. Constitution that established how they should regulate money. For example, Article One, Section Eight of the United States Constitution directly states that only Congress has the "power to coin money and regulate the value thereof". Furthermore, Article One, Section Ten of the United States Constitution says, "No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts". Also, Title Twelve of the United States Code, Section 152, states: "The term lawful money, or lawful money of the United States, shall be construed to mean gold or silver coin of the United States." Even as far back as the " Coinage Act of 1792," Congress fixed the dollar as a specific weight of silver in the form of a coin, and fixed the value of a gold coin in relation to it. Nonetheless, it was in 1913 that Congress surrendered the original constitutional power to create and regulate money to the Federal Reserve in the Federal Reserve Act, thus giving this control to foreign interests. Then the Federal Reserve began printing paper money. Between 1914 and 1963 the Federal Reserve Note never claimed to be money or dollars. It simply stated that, as on a note for five dollars, "The United States of America will pay to the bearer on demand Five Dollars." Above the bank seal it said, "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury or at any Federal Reserve Bank."

Then in 1963 the Fed began to issue its new series of notes without this promise and began taking the previous notes out of circulation. By removing this promise to pay the bearer, the federal government, in cooperation with the Federal Reserve, eliminated the money system as established by the Constitution and replaced it with something totally different.

The implications of this may not seem as drastic as they really are, and, obviously, most people did not think so at the time. Nevertheless, a few people have certainly understood what this could mean.

For example, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), the third president of the United States, made the prediction: "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children shall wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Although Jefferson was no prophet, he perceived a clear picture of what we could expect. Even in the early days of this country the bankers had tried to establish a central bank. In light of this, Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), the seventh president of the United States, stated: "The bold efforts that the present bank has made to control the government, the distress it has wantonly caused, are but premonitions of the fate which awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it. If people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there could be a revolution before morning!"

The reasons for the early American wars were many, including the principles these bankers were trying to implement. England, for example, had attempted to take away the right of the colonies to print their own money. It had been noted by Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) in 1763 while visiting England, that the reason why the colonies were prospering while England was suffering a tremendous national debt and high unemployment was because the colonies issued their money in proper proportions to the demands of its trade and industry.

Thereafter, the Central Banks of England pushed the British Parliament to pass a Bill prohibiting the colonies from issuing their own money. Thus, the bankers could gain control of the wealth of the colonies. Benjamin Franklin later noted that within one year of the enactment of that Bill, the streets of the colonies were filled with the unemployed, and there was great dissatisfaction.

Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) tried hardest to establish the Bank of the United States, which would be an agency of the international bankers. But Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and other leaders greatly opposed this. However, after Franklin’s death, Hamilton had bribed enough congressmen to grant a charter for the First Bank of the United States in 1791. Having lost this battle, Jefferson said that he believed banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. They have set up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. They should take the power of issuing money from the banks and restore it to Congress and the people to whom it belongs.

The charter for the First Bank of the United States was for 20 years and expired in 1811. Then the Bank of England attempted to seize control over the ex-colonies as they had tried before the Revolution. This was one reason for the War of 1812.

For the next 100 years the international bankers tried gaining control in the U. S., but there were various opponents, including Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the 16th president of the United States. He said the money power preys upon a nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.

It is interesting that in 1913, the same year the Federal Reserve Act was incorporated for the Federal Reserve Bank, the government also adopted the 16th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution that began the Income Tax. Income tax "contributions" are collected by the Internal Revenue Service, which operates like a private collection agency for the Federal Reserve. In this way, they have positioned themselves as tax collectors who take the wealth of all individuals, besides printing the currency and directing governments by making economic policy. Furthermore, member bankers, and their institutions such as various Foundations, have used their wealth to purchase much of the media, controlling our education, news, publications, radio and television networks.

They also can manipulate universities by providing (or withholding) large grants of funds for particular programs, and they also often own companies that produce the college and school textbooks. In these ways, they can feed us whatever information is needed so that we form the necessary opinions they want us to have about many things around us. Thus, much of our philosophies and outlooks on life, the politicians we vote for, even the way we do things, are affected through this means. Plus, these days we can see how many people get seduced by the promise of easy money through various bank loans, adjustable mortgages which may be attractive at first until the rates go up, and the lure of credit cards, which catch people who become forever indebted by such instruments, or products as they are called in the banking industry. Though there may be many of us who use banks for various reasons, these are some of the ways by which numerous people become unknowing slaves to a banking system wherein a small group of elitist individuals live a wealthy life at the expense of the many.

Needless to say, there are hundreds of groups out there that have plenty of information and speculation about what is likely to happen in the future regarding the plans of these power elite bankers and their allies. Some people say that they will replace all money with a single international currency. They will later change this to international debit cards that each person must carry that will have a computer chip in it that will hold information on your whole life. One central computer will observe and track all of your dealings. Later they will do away with these cards and they will surgically embed the chips under the skin of your hand. Then you will not be able to make any transactions without having the microchip. No more cash or private transactions or gifts to friends or family without bankers knowing. There will be no transactions without it going through the banks and through your microchip. Some people also expect that they will take out taxes from your account automatically, or they might take possession of everything you own without you being able to do anything about it. You will have no privacy and few freedoms. You will be either a good citizen of the one world government, or I should say the one world bank, the New World Order, or you will be a renegade living underground or in the mountains. Thousands of people going off to live in the mountains and away from government control is a scenario that is also predicted in the Vedic literature, as we will see as we proceed through this book. From here the speculations of what may happen in the future can go on and on.

The reason why I write about all of this is not to promote the speculations or conspiracy theories of some people, but to show that although the Vedic literature may give a brief warning about what will happen in the Age of Kali and the cause of it when the dangers in the hoarding of gold is mentioned. Also, to help recognize the full implications and how that description will expand as the Age of Kali progresses. In this case, it is only one verse in the Srimad-Bhagavatamthat states the personality of Kali could reside in the form of hoarding and the standardization of gold, and that wherever this goes on there will be falsity, intoxication, lust, envy, and enmity. This also indicates the desire or lust for ever-increasing power and control, and an expanding gap between the haves and the have-nots. Certainly, we can see all of this in the short review above of the last few hundred years regarding this issue and the control of currency. Thus, the results or outcome of whatever small warning the Vedic literature gives may have very wide and deep implications that will greatly affect our lives and the state of society and politics, and even the well-being of the planet and our environment and natural resources. Naturally, the more profit oriented any organization is, the less they will be concerned for the well-being of the people, planet and natural resources.

So, we need to contemplate these warnings and develop the ability to perceive the long term dangers to which these Vedic prophecies are referring. We have to understand that the process of increasing corruption in the economy, government, and society in general of which the Vedic prophecies speak is still an ongoing process. What we may accept as normal during this day and age, even the economic principles that we think are standard, will all mean something far different in another 50 or 100 years. The rate of change and corruption is increasing as the age of Kali-yuga moves forward.

            As we study the warnings and prophecies in the Vedic literature, the implications of them will be quite evident whenever we see the news. But be mindful of the seriousness of what these prophecies describe. Then, as we become familiar with them, we will be more aware of the general pattern of events that are likely to continue into the far distant future of the Age of Kali, and how to prepare for such social tendencies and what our role is in an ever-changing and increasingly materialistic world. Nonetheless, there is still hope for expanding the spiritual forces in society, as I describe in my article, “A New Species of Humanity”. But the time to act is now while we still have the freedom to make a difference.

        [This was adopted from a segment of “The Vedic Prophecies” by Stephen Knapp. More information about this book can be found at www.stephen-knapp.com.]  

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura: The Lion Guru by Stephen Knapp

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura: The Lion Guru by Stephen Knapp

by Stephen Knapp on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 10:39pm

During the time of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s stay on this planet the pure religion of Vaishnavism taught by the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu was essentially lost and had come to be considered of the degrading standard of simply a sex religion, or at best a cult of religious fanaticism and sentimentalism. The Thakura was very sad in his heart to see this and with a desire to present the actual teachings of Sri Caitanya, he wrote and published many books in Bengali, Sanskrit and English which conclusively presented to the world and to the people of India specifically the real teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His genuine followers. He also traveled to many parts of India preaching and giving lectures to many people whose hearts became changed by seeing his pure character and shining example. Thakura Bhaktivinoda practically single-handedly revived the pure movement of Nama-sankirtana (the congregational chanting of the holy names of God) and presented the glories of Lord Caitanya to all learned men of the world.

However, so that this preaching of Nama-sankirtana [congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord] could go on nicely even after the Thakura left this world, he prayed to Lord Caitanya to send him an assistant and a successor from the Lord’s personal staff of preachers. Answering the prayer of the Thakura, a son was born to him on February 6th, 1874 while he was serving as the government magistrate in the holy city of Jagannatha Puri in Orissa. Through various signs the Lord showed Thakura Bhaktivinoda and his good wife that this was the great soul that had been sent by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to carry on the preaching work that Bhaktivinoda Thakura had started. It was witnessed by all present that when the child came out of the womb, his umbilical cord was wrapped around him like the sacred thread worn by brahmanas. Everyone was very amazed by this sign. Six months later at the annual Jagannatha Puri Rathayatra festival, the Jagannatha cart, being pulled by hundreds of people, came to a stop in front of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s house. When all the people were trying to get the cart moving again, Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s wife took the opportunity to take the child, whose name then was Bimala Prasad, out to see Lord Jagannatha and because she was the wife of Thakura Bhaktivinoda, who was the manager of the Jagannatha temple then, everyone respected her and she was allowed on the cart for darshana of the Lord. She then placed the child at the lotus feet of the Jagannatha deity and immediately one of the huge flower garlands hanging around the neck of the Lord fell down and encircled the child. Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s heart was filled with joy, for he knew beyond all doubt that this child was the answer to his prayers.

As the boy grew, the Thakura instructed him in the science of Krishna Consciousness. At the age of only seven Bimala Prasad Datta, who was later to be known  as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, had memorized all seven hundred verses of the Bhagavad-gita and could explain each one.

One day the boy took an unoffered mango from the room of the family Deity and ate it. Thakura Bhaktivinoda chastised him for it upon catching him and told him that it was not proper Vaishnava behavior to eat food that had not first been offered to the Lord. At that time Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, taking his father’s words very seriously, made a vow to Thakura Bhaktivinoda that he would never eat mango again. Through his whole life he kept this vow very faithfully. Whenever someone would offer him a mango he would say, “No, I cannot take, I am a great offender”.

At the age of ten, while attending the Serampore Missionary School, he was initiated by his father into the Hare Krishna mantra and a Narasimhadeva mantra. In school he invented a novel kind of phonetic alphabet which he called Bikranti or Bicanto. Later on he attended a special Sanskrit college where he became expert in Sanskrit grammar, Vedic shastra and different views of philosophy.

Due to his lifelong celibacy he had such a clear memory that even in his last days he could reproduce word for word any passage of any book he had read fifty years back.

At college he read all of the books in the library and made private studies into higher mathematics, international history and philosophy and Vedic astronomy. At that time he attended a cultural association in Calcutta called August Assembly and in which the study of various philosophical and theological topics was conducted. He was such a powerful debater that no one’s arguments could stand up against his vast erudition and scholarship. At the age of twenty-three in the year 1897 he opened a school in Calcutta which he called Sarasvata Chatuspathi. It was here that he began teaching Vedic astronomy. 

Many prominent and scholarly Calcutta gentlemen were among his students. At this time he also edited two monthly journals, the Jyotirvid and the Brhaspati and published several authoritative documents on Vedic astronomy such as the Surya-siddhanta which he had written himself. He was offered a chair at the University of Calcutta by Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, but he declined thinking that it might be too much an impediment on his devotional life. Since 1895 Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was attending the meetings of his father’s Vishva Vaishnava Raja Sabha in Calcutta. In 1899 he was editing and writing for a weekly cultural magazine, the Nivedana. In 1900 he wrote and published a book on the society and different religious sects in Bengal called Bange Sama-jikata. In 1901 Srila Bhativinoda Thakura requested his son to become initiated in the Gayatri mantra and accept a spiritual master. The Thakura had one very beloved disciple, Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maha­raja, a very renowned Vaishnava saint of Navadvipa. It was therefore he who the Thakura requested his son to take initiation from. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura then approached the babaji for getting initiated, but Gaurakisora dasa Babaji, who hadn’t any disciples, out of his infinite humbleness refused to accept such an erudite pandita as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, when he himself could not even write  his own name. 

So, disappointed, Sarasvati Thakura went back to his father and related to him what had happened, but Thakura Bhaktivinoda sent him out again, and again Srila Bhaktisiddhanta came back with the same news. So this time the Thakura told his son, “Unless you take initiation from Gaurakishora dasa Babaji your life is useless and no longer may you enter this house”. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati then set off with great determination, and meeting Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji on a bridge along the road told him that he would jump off the bridge and kill himself if the babaji did not accept him as a disciple. He said to him, “My father has told me that human life is worthless without a spiritual master, so if you refuse to accept me as your disciple I must kill myself”. Upon hearing that and seeing the young man’s sincerity of purpose, the babaji accepted him as his only disciple.

From that year, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta traveled with Thakura Bhaktivinoda in his pilgrimages to all the principle holy places in India. During this time he compiled a Vaishnava encyclopedia named Vaisnava-manjusha. In 1900 he was staying in Puri where he began to publicly preach the holy precepts of Srimad-Bhagavatam. In 1904 Srila Sarasvati Thakura traveled in East Bengal. In 1905 he travailed to the far southern provinces of India, lecturing, preaching, writing, debating, fully absorbed  in the fire of propagating the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In the South he traveled to places such as Simachalam, Madras, Tirupati, Kanchipura and many other places of pilgrimage. His strong preaching gave him such a reputation that his very name would strike terror into the hearts of his philosophical adversaries. The perverted and immoral so-called religious activities of different nonsense cults and sects were doomed forever in the presence of  Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

In 1911 at an All-India Conference of Panditas at Midnapore, presided over by Pandita Vishvambharanandadeva Gosvami, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, taking the place of Thakura Bhaktivinoda who was ill at the time, lectured to an astounded audience on the comparative position of a brahmana and a Vaishnava. After the discourse all the people came forward to offer him respect and touch his lotus feet. The president of the conference called him the other self of Sri Sukadeva Gosvami. The lecture was subsequently published as a book in Bengali.

In 1912 Srila Bhaktisiddhanta traveled and preached in different parts of Bengal.  In 1913 he established the Bhagavat Press in South Calcutta which was later moved to Mayapur and then to Krishnanagar, where he began to publish his many carefully edited books. Altogether he published, edited and wrote about sixty-one works as well as eight different journals. Once when he was asked how it was possible to publish a journal every month just about God, he replied that here in this world there are thousands of newspapers and magazines reporting the stale repetitious happenings of this limited space, so for reporting the news of the unlimited spiritual realm concerning the eternal, ever-fresh Supreme Personality of Godhead, we could publish a magazine at every second, what to speak of monthly.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada made special studies of the Vaishnava literature of south India and was the first to introduce Bengali translations of the works of the Madhvacharya Sampradaya to the public in Bengal. In his teachings he has dealt with the relative positions of different Vaishnava and non-Vaishnava schools of philosophy and he has brought out the difference between empiric and revealed methods of spiritual understanding. He always stressed the importance of publishing and distributing Vaishnava literature as a means of educating the mass of ignorant humanity and in order to facilitate the printing of books and journals he established four printing presses: the Gaudiya Printing Works in Calcutta (1923), the Nadiya Prakash Printing Works at Mayapura (1928), the Bhagavat Press in Krishnagar (1914-15), and the Paramarthi Printing Works at Cuttack (1936). He called these presses the big mridungas (clay drums used for large congregational singing groups) because the sound that they would produce would be heard all over India.

In 1914 on the disappearance of Thakura Bhaktivinoda from this mortal world, the task to carry on the movement of Sri Caitanya now lay in the hands of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada. He took over as the editor of his father’s journal, the Sajjanatoshani, a monthly Vaishnava paper in Bengali. Later on in 1927 he converted it into an English fortnightly called the Harmonist.

In 1918 at the age of fourty-four, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati accepted the title Gosvami Maharaja by taking the renounced order of life, sannyasa. On that same day  he established his first Vaishnava monastery, the Caitanya Math at Sridhama Mayapura which became his preaching headquarters. Later that year one important figure in a popular religious organization met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta SarasvatI Thakura and was so impressed by his power of purity that he immediately begged to become a disciple. He would arrange for Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s transportation between Mayapura and Calcutta and he rented him a small house for him in Calcutta for expanding the preaching of Sri Caitanya’s teachings. The house became known as “Bhaktivinoda Agana” and was later known as Sri Gaudiya Math when it was later moved to a large marble building in the Baghbazaar of North Calcutta in 1930. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura then in quick succession after that spread his Gaudiya Mission to every part of India attracting thousands of disciples to the banners of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. At the time of his passing from this world he had opened sixty-four Gaudiya Maths for the propagation of spiritual life and Bhagavata philosophy. In all these maths he established the worship of the archa-vigraha (Deity) form of the Lord so that his disciples wouldn’t become impersonalists. This deity worship was executed according to the principles of Sanatana Gosvami’s book of Vaisnava activities, Sri-hari-bhakti-vilasa.

One time a very important gentleman approached Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada and said that your Gaudiya Math is so nice you should open up temples in all cities of the world, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta replied, “My real business is to establish temples in everyone’s heart”.

He was such a powerful and bold preacher that he became known as the lion guru. Sometimes on walks in the early morning he would come across some big Mayavadi (impersonalist) sannyasi and he would physically grab him and shake him while verbally chastising him. Thereafter whenever any Mayavadi’s saw him coming, they would flee in fear of him. One time a big impersonalist Vedanta society in Calcutta invited him to a debate, on the condition that he could not use Srimad-Bhagavatam as scriptural evidence and so he agreed to come to the debate. Then after a short time they called him again and said he could not speak on Mahabharata, Ramayana, or any of the Puranas or Pancharattnas. He also agreed to come on those conditions. Then they called him and said that he could not use as evidence any of the Vedas, Upanisads or smriti texts, but could speak only from the Vedanta-Sutras. And so he agreed to that also. Then they called him up and said that he could not come at all.

From the years 1919-1929 he was constantly traveling all over India lecturing to crowds of thousands, debating, destroying various bogus religious sects and performing parikrama (walks to the holy places) with his disciples to different sacred sites, seeking to improve and preserve them. During these travels he installed foot­prints of Lord Caitanya in one hundred and eight places where the Lord had traveled during His sannyasa life. At those spots he also recorded the date when Sri Caitanya had been there.

In 1919 he completed his preaching tour over North and East Bengal and in 1920 he toured more extensively in East Bengal. In 1920 he also toured the provinces of Bihar, Orissa and the Sonthal Parganas establishing temples in some of these places, and in 1922 he visited Vrindavana, the place of Lord Krishna’s pastimes. On this Braja Mandal Parikrama he went with hundreds of disciples and gave lectures at all the major temples and places of the Lord’s pastimes. In the year 1925 His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, along with a large group or disciples went on an extensive tour of Bengal. On this Gauda Mandala Parikram Srila Bhaktisiddhanta visited all the holy places connected with the pastimes of Sri Caitanya. In the early part of 1926 he toured in some places in Assam. His tours during the years 1926-1928 marked a very important place in the Gaudiya movement of Sri Caitanya and in the history of India as well. He brought about changes and improvements in various ways in all the sacred places as well as brought about a new spiritual insight in the minds and lives of many followers of different religious sects, and brought them all under the banners of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhn’s sankirtana movement. Wherever Srla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would go he was received as a savior, religious reviver and prophet by all who came in contact with him. In most states he was received as an honored state guest and in many places was presented with public addresses of reception.

From 1928-1929 he again traveled to places from Assam to Punjab. During these tours he gathered a large number of authentic manuscripts of ancient Vaishnava writings which he started publishing, but left unfinished.

All these tours were highly successful, but were not without their problems. Because many of Srila Sarasvati Thakura’s disciples, although initiated as brahmanas and sannyasis, were not born in brahmana families, along the way while traveling, the so-called brahmana shopkeepers would close their shops and refuse to sell provisions to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and his disciples. Srila Sarasvati Thakura would always preach very strongly against the nonsense philosophy of these proud and arrogant caste brahmanas. He always emphasized the needlessness of material qualifications to receive spiritual life. Anyone, regardless of caste, sex, nationality, past background, etc., who was sincere to have spiritual life, he would give it to them.

These caste brahmanas were very much in an uproar about his turning those not born in brahmana families into brahmanas better than them. The Nityananda-vamsas especially plotted to assassinate him and went to the local police magistrate to bribe him so he wouldn’t apprehend them after the murder. The police magistrate told them that although he usually accepts bribes, he could not be connected with the killing of a Sadhu, a holy man. The police magistrate then immediately informed Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and in this way Srila Saraavati Thakura’s life was saved.

In 1930 and 1931 a new kind of spiritual education was exhibited for the benefit of the public and especially the illiterate masses. Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Prabhupada demonstrated the import and teachings of the Vedic literature by means of huge exhibitions in which pictorial representations by means of dioramas and dolls in life-like manner were employed. These wonderful exhibitions attracted thousands of people. One was on the property of the Calcutta Gaudiya Math in 1930 and in 1931 on the Calcutta corporation grounds. The exhibitions would draw at least one hundred thousand visitors daily during a month time period.

In 1933, eager to spread Lord Caitanya’s message beyond the borders of India, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura sent some of his sannyasa disciples to England to preach and open up Gaudiya Maths in the West, but not being able to convince the Westerners to take up spiritual life, they returned to India unsuccessful. Fortunately for the benefit of all people of the world, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhuipada’s most beloved disciple, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada carried out his Guru Maharaja’s order and has spread Lord Caitanya’s Nama-sankirtana movement to every corner of the globe, and is now being assisted by thousands of disciples in this preaching work.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada has so glad to reveal the transcendental glories of Lord Krishna that whenever he found an eager listener he would go on speaking, not knowing the bounds of time and space. Disregarding the requests of his medical advisors, up to the last moment be continued to deliver the message of the Supreme Lord to all people. This was the only purpose of his divine appearance in this world. He did not appear here by being forced by the laws of nature as an ordinary living being appears. He worked until the last moment of his life without any reservation, disregarding physical pleasure, comfort or relief to himself. His whole life was absorbed in a mood of loving devotion to the Lord. He was fully devoted to the propagation of the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The noble example of his life and conduct, his powerful speeches and numerous publications are evidence to this fact.

          In 1936 he was residing in Jagannatha Puri and on December 31st, 1936 at the age of sixty-two he left this mortal world and again re-entered the loving pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna in the sweetness of Braja Dham, the spiritual atmosphere. 

    Other articles in connection with this one that you may find interesting are located on my website at www.stephen-knapp.com, or amongst my NOTES here on Facebook, include:

Srila A. C. Bhaktitivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and His Great Accomplishments

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

The Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Disciplic Succession and Its Unique Characteristics: Of Which We are a Part

You can also view a great video on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta called "The Universal Teacher" through the following link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1379748204367073318&pr=goog-sl

How We Can See God, By Stephen Knapp (Sri Nandanandana dasa)

How We Can See God, By Stephen Knapp (Sri Nandanandana dasa)

by Stephen Knapp on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 3:27am

             First of all when it comes to trying to see God, if we expect to see God with our material senses, we need to first understand the limitations of the senses we have. We often need glasses merely to see clearly, and we also need enough light to do so. If it is too dark, or if there is no light with which to see, we can hardly make out what is right in front of us. So it is fair enough to say that we will never see that which is spiritual with these dull material senses.

However, even when it comes to researching the smallest elements like the atoms, and then defining parts of them like neutrons, protons, etc., do the scientists actually see every molecule that they discuss, even with super powerful microscopes? Sometimes not. In some cases, they only see the evidence that such particles exist, but do not directly see the particle itself. Similarly, even if we cannot see God directly with our material senses, we can still look around and see the evidence for God’s existence. But to do that, we also need to have the right knowledge.

For example, even a person with a little common sense can understand that there must be a source of everything, a point of origin, or what some call an Absolute Truth, the underlying basis or foundation for everything. And that something can be called God. That is why in some circles people ask, What is not God? And in that respect, we can perceive that everything is a part of God, or everything is but a display of God’s energy, including ourselves. Then we begin to see or feel the presence of God all around us.

However, in the Vedic sources of knowledge, such as the Bhagavad-gita, we find wherein Lord Krishna Himself begins to instruct Arjuna how to recognize Him in so many things. By meditating on and understanding this knowledge, we can begin to more closely recognize the evidence for God all around us, especially in all great and powerful things.

In Bhagavad-gita (7.4-11) Lord Krishna explains, “Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies. Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe. Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both its origin and dissolution. O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me as pearls are strung on a thread.

“O son of Kunti [Arjuna], I am the taste in fresh water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable Om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man. I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances [which brings one closer to God] of all ascetics. O son of Pritha, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the prowess of all powerful men. I am the strength of the strong, devoid of passion and desire.” 

Another aspect of this description in Bhagavad-gita is to recognize how God Himself descends into this material realm to reveal Himself through His divine instructions, pastimes, personality, and to show us His form. And even if He is not in front of us personally, we can learn about Him and see Him through the descriptions of the Vedic shastra. Thus, even though we may not be able to see Him with our material senses, He can indeed reveal Himself and make Himself visible to us through such means. However, we also need to become qualified to do that, which we will discuss shortly.

            In another aspect of seeing God is that found in the descriptions that many of you have no doubt heard about in near-death-experiences. Often it is described that in such an experience someone may be going down a tunnel, sometimes greeted by past relatives, until they finally approach a fantastic light, a being of unconditional love and acceptance. They often do not exactly see the form of this being, since it is engulfed in light, but they accept the being to be the object of their faith or religion, such as Jesus, or Buddha, or Krishna, or someone similar.

          When our own level of consciousness is lower than the higher beings that we may encounter, as in a near-death-experience, we may often see them and the frequency in which they exist as merely white light. In other words, we have not elevated our own consciousness to the frequency of that level of existence to be able to perceive and discern all the details therein. Thus, we perceive such entities as either beings of light, or engulfed in effulgence.

          A similar experience is described in the Shri Ishopanishad in mantras 15 and 16, where it says: “O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Please remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee. O my Lord, O primeval philosopher, maintainer of the universe, O regulating principle, destination of the pure devotees, well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind—please remove the effulgence of Your transcendental rays so that I can see Your form of bliss. You are the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, like unto the sun, as am I.”

          In this way, we have to raise ourselves to the same refined frequency or energy level as God in our endeavor to perceive Him directly, beyond the dazzling effulgence. Also, the last statement in the above paragraph means that as the sunshine is basically of the same quality in essence as the sun, and an expansion of it, so we are also the same spiritual quality as God. We are not as powerful as God, but we are of the same essential quality. Thus, seeing God is not unexpected, but we simply have to regain that same spiritual quality in our consciousness to acquire the ability to perceive God directly. And all that really means is to reduce the power of the material energy’s influence on ourselves through our spiritual practice.

          One more example I would like to use is the radio and television waves that carry the signals of so many stations, whether it be news, music, entertainment, or other forms of communication that are all around us all the time. However, if I do not know about them, or do not think they exist, then how can you convince me that they are real? After all, you cannot see them, taste them, smell them, or feel them. So how can you convince someone that they are real?

          The answer is that you have to have a good receiver. Then anyone will see that such waves are all around us, but they mean nothing unless you have a good receiver. Then you realize that throughout the frequency range in which these waves travel, there are so many such waves, and that they are extremely useful, with numerous things that can be done with them. You can even broadcast your own radio waves simply by your cell phone, or use your GPS system, etc. Then they become such a common part of our everyday lives that we no longer even think about them. So if someone says that radio and television waves are not real, or that he does not believe in them, what would you think of him? Obviously, this guy has no knowledge, has no experience, he is not in touch with reality, which means he must have been living under a rock, in a closet, or way out in the wilderness all of his life. You would think he is too weird.

          Similarly, if someone has no knowledge of God, and says he does not believe in God, what would you think? Pretty much the same thing, that he is merely out of touch with the proper knowledge that would help make someone understand how to recognize God.

          Therefore, another way to perceive God is through the instructions and knowledge as given by a spiritual master, or a person who is a good receiver of the transcendental vibration that exists all around us. Thus, he can receive or perceive it, and then also broadcasts the spiritual knowledge through his instructions that will allow us to understand it, at least to those who will listen. This is how we learn, through such personal instructions or through books that are written by such pure receptors of the spiritual vibrations.

          It is also through this means that we can train ourselves to be such receivers of spiritual vibrations or frequencies if we want to. We have to learn it from others to be able to do it ourselves. It is through the spiritual practices, as provided by those spiritual teachers who are already successful, and through the information and instructions given in the Vedic texts, that will also enable us to elevate our consciousness, and the vibrational frequency in which we operate. Then we can also see that which exists in those higher dimensions or spiritual realms.    

          Therefore, unlike those religions that depend mostly on faith, the Vedic or Dharmic system is that a person follows the path to spiritualize their consciousness to the point where the spiritual dimension becomes perceptible, and then one can begin to enter into that dimension and function on that level. The point is that our consciousness is where we live. We may keep our body in a house, or in particular clothes, and so on, but it is our consciousness that is the vibrational frequency in which we live and send out to others. And as we raise that frequency, we will be able to see that which exists on those higher frequencies as well. In other words, the more spiritual you become, the more you can perceive that which is spiritual. As you become more spiritual, meaning the more you spiritualize your consciousness, then the more qualified you become to recognize, approach, or even see God in so many ways. And once you begin to have that experience, then there is no further argument about what is or what is not God.

          So, would you like to become such a perceiver of the spiritual realm? If you do, then the way we work to uplift and spiritualize our consciousness includes the following: Chanting or singing devotional songs, or the names of God, using mantras for japa meditation, associating with like-minded people, discussing this knowledge and information, especially by going to the temple, eating blessed vegetarian food or Krishna prasada, etc. 

          We have already explained many of these processes in greater detail as related in my other articles, free Ebooks and paperback books. Some of the articles on my website that can be helpful include:

1. Finding Our Real Spiritual Identity

2. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, What's so Special About Chanting Hare Krishna?

3. Seeing the Divinity in Everyone

4. Spiritual Enlightenment: What Is It

5. The Secret of Bhakti-yoga

[Available at www.stephen-knapp.com]