Enviromental cleansing begins from within
Giriraja Maharaja wrote a very nice Prabhupada Marathon letter to us about how preaching will help us to really know and understand Srila Prabhupada.
I had an experience recently which made me remember Srila Prabhupada very much and try to remember what he would say in such a situation. When you hear Prabhupada preach you can't help but wonder how he can be so stubborn. He does not give an inch.
Just when you think maybe he should just try to appeal to the person's material personality he is like a spiritual stick of dynamite. He just explodes in people's brains with his direct precise preaching and they can't help but appreciate it cause their brains get cleared out.
It helps to remember Prabhupada's direct, concise preaching even if we cannot really be as pure as he.
I was approached by college students who were taking a course called "environmental politics." They loved it, so they were taking interviews for their teacher with great enthusiasm. They wanted to interview somebody spiritual with their video camera.
I thought about how they were going to take up my time when I could be distributing books but they were so overwhelming I consented to be interviewed.
What would Prabhupada say? What would Prabhupada's disciple's say? I panicked.
I decided to try to say exactly what Prabhupada would say in order to make it short and quick.
I told them the only way to a clean environment would be to start from the inside with the chanting of Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. I told them that we have materialistic dust in our hearts and we need to chant to clear it away. If we don't start cleaning from the inside then all the legislation or conferences will have no effect because people will go back to their same unclean habits.
They asked, "But do you Hare Krsna have anything else to clean up the environment?"
So I said that our dormant love for God and for one another has turned into lust due to material association. We must transform that lust into love by chanting the mantra. That is the most effective way that the environment is restored to its natural condition.
Then the girl said she had tried to renounce everything by living on a beach for one week and it was a most beautiful experience. Do you Hare Krsnas renounce everything?
So I said that you cannot renounce things artificially. If you listen to the radio or watch TV you program yourself to go out shopping or buy a that new car, so why not set your mind straight spiritually by hearing the mantra, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. If you chant first thing in the morning then you will not spend your whole day polluting the environment, but you will think of Krsna and serve Krsna instead.
Again, "But is there anything else that you Hare Krsnas do to save the environment?"
Okay, I said. One other thing. Which do you think causes more global warming, driving a car or eating meat?
They were well informed on that from their professor.
So I explained that Hare Krsna devotees would never interfere with the God-given life of any living being. Only animals will eat other animals. Human life is a crossroads between compassionate spiritual life and animal life. Hare Krsna devotees are automatically inclined not to pollute the environment because they do not slaughter the animals.
Finally the interview was over I was glad because it made me nervous and I just wanted to go back to distributing books. They thanked me profusely but they would not go away. They asked me to explain Prabhupada's books to them. They bought two books and gave 22 dollars.
Srila Prabhupada Ki Jaya!
Your Servant,
Karuna Dharini Devi Dasi
