Skeptical of Skepticism

Skepticism is the philosophical position of doubting everything. In terms not being duped by false teachings it is certainly helpful to a certain point. But just as the existence of counterfeit money indicates the existence of real money, falsity indicate that somewhere there is actual truth.

If one is overly skeptical regarding money, he will never be able to accept money from anyone due his paranoia that all money is counterfeit. This is a highly unrealistic impractical position. Similarly if is one is overly skeptical regarding knowledge, he will never be able to accept anything as truth. But since truth exists, to take the philosophical position of the skeptics, to never accept anything as truth, would be ridiculous.

Science proposes to give us truth. But yet we do not see a consensus of opinion among scientists. What one scientists says is true, is said by another scientist to not be true. So how we will arrive at the truth? This is the most important question we can ask in this human form of life. Therefore the Vedanta Sutra enjoins:

athato brahma jijnasa

"The purpose of the human form of life is to understand what is the Absolute Truth."

So how will we arrive at the Absolute Truth? We are living within it at every minute. Therefore the Absolute Truth of existence can never be extinguished although it may be temporarily covered by ignorance. If we are very sincere to reconnect ourselves with that Absolute Truth, the Supreme Absolute Truth, dwelling within us, will bring us in contact with a bona fide spiritual master who will then fully reveal that Absolute Truth to us. When it comes to a direct experience of the Absolute Truth, skepticism would be a great hindrance for the progressive development of our intelligence. Therefore under such a circumstance it would be extremely foolish to hold onto our skepticism. Under such a circumstance skepticism must be abandoned.


The philosophy of skepticism dictates in the ultimate end that one must also doubt the validity of skepticism. When one reaches the precincts of the Absolute Truth to hold onto the crutch of skepticism is a gross violation of the principle of skepticism.
A Krishna conscious person is someone who has completely conquered over anxiety. Such a person has completely surrendered to Krishna and completely depends on Krishna for everything. Therefore he is totally fearless, 100% anxiety free.

How does someone who is currently in a state of anxiety become anxiety free? The answer is very simple. He must completely surrender himself to Lord Krishna. The difficulty is that we want to be free from anxiety, but we do not want to surrender to Krishna. This is called cheating. We want to purchase the diamond ring, but we do not want to pay for it. This will not work. If we want the diamond ring, we must pay for it. If we want to become completely free from anxiety, we have no choice except to completely surrender ourselves at the Lord's lotus feet.

A Great Challange

Remaining always in Krishna consciousness at every minute is a great challenge because we are presently situated in the midst of a non-Krishna conscious world. Our consciousness is developed according to the company that we keep. What sort of company is that? For most of us during a typical week this association is for the most part with non-devotees. When we are in the association of devotees it is relatively easy to stay fixed in Krishna consciousness, but when we are in the midst of non-devotees, those who have no interest at all in Krishna consciousness, it is a great challenge to always keep our minds fixed on Krishna. It is not at all easy. But staying always fixed in Krishna consciousness is essential if we want to achieve spiritual perfection, if we want to go back home, back to Godhead. So how, in spite of the handicap of non-Krishna conscious association, can we successfully remain beyond the influence of the material energy? Definitively answering this question is most essential if we want to make proper use of this rare human birth.

The technique for remaining always in Krishna consciousness is to never act for the purpose of sense gratification. We must always act for the satisfaction of Krishna. If we are working a job, that money must be spent for Krishna, in other words every penny must be spent in a Krishna conscious way. If besides our ongoing spiritual education we are getting a material education, that education must be for the purpose of enhancing our ability to serve Krishna in the future. It will not be possible for us to Krishna conscious, if we are acting for sense gratification. And it will be relatively easy for us to always be Krishna conscious when everything we do is for His pleasure.

So how do we make sure that everything we are doing is for Krishna's satisfaction? This is not easy because the material nature is always pulling us towards sense gratification and is trying to convince us to rationalize that what we are doing for sense gratification is actually for Krishna. This is a most dangerous trap indeed! This is why it is important for us to have the association of those who are solidly fixed in Krishna consciousness.

If we put ourselves under the scrutiny of the bona fide spiritual master, we can easily understand if we are acting purely for Krishna, or if we are still acting for our own personal sense gratification. Why is this? Because the spiritual master can easily see what is our motivation. The spiritual master is pleased when we act for Krishna, and he is not pleased when we act for personal sense gratification. Therefore to become solidly situated in Krishna consciousness we simply have to live in such a way that the spiritual master is always pleased with us. To please him all we have to do is inquire from him submissively how to render pleasing service unto him. By living our life in this way we will quickly and easily make progress along the spiritual pathway towards the ultimate perfectional stage of pure love of Godhead.

This should be the goal of all human beings.

Material Body

If we have a little common sense and a sincere desire to know things as they are, there are so many things we can learn just by studying things around us. For example, even by observing the difference between a living body and a dead body we can understand some of the basic underlying facts of reality. Amazingly this basic information remains unknown even to the leading so-called educational institutions on this planet. When Srila Prabhupada was preaching one time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) he inquired, "Where is the department at this university that teaches the difference between a living body and a dead body." Nobody could answer him because there is no such department.Why are we attracted to a living body and repulsed by a dead body? The chemical elements are the same. The difference is the presence or absence of the living spark, the atma, the spirit-soul. In the living body the spirit-soul is present, and in the dead body the spirit-soul is absent. So what is actually attractive and meaningful is the spirit-soul, not the material body. Yet in spite of this simple, easily understood point we invest practically our entire life's energy in catering to the demands of the material body, which is a mere covering of the actual self. And we practically complete ignore the needs of the eternal soul.Such a misspent life is utter foolishness. It leads to frustration and ultimately devastation at the time of death when everything is ripped away from us. The best thing is to mentally detach ourselves now by understanding and realizing, "I am not this body." Understanding means to grasp the philosophical concept, and realization means to fully imbibe that understanding in our every thought, word, and deed. In other words to always think, speak and act on the platform of being a spirit-soul, rather than a material body. How do we accomplish this? We have to engage ourselves fully on the spiritual platform by engaging everything in the service of God. This automatically elevates us to the spiritual platform without any necessity of the gymnastic system as practiced in hatha yoga or the system of mental speculation as practiced in jnana yoga. The platform of bhakti yoga (devotion to Lord Sri Krishna) immediately situates us on the transcendental platform. This can easily be realized by engaging all of senses in the service of the Lord. Through this simply purifying process we gradually awaken the dormant enlightened consciousness, the Krishna consciousness, which has been sleeping within us for countless lifetimes.

Uncertainity

There's nothing worse than uncertainty. We live in a world where there is growing tendency to make all absolutes taboo. Everything is relative. Many argue that there is no absolute standard for right and wrong, truth or untruth. They say that whatever you feel is right and true, is right and true for you, and whatever anybody feels is right and true is right and true for him. Sometimes they put a condition "as long as you don't hurt anybody." But the meaning of not hurting somebody is quite differently interpreted for example by someone who is against abortion as opposed to someone is in favor of abortion. Some people have no qualms about advocating kindness to animals while at the same time they eat them. The problem is that when my "truth" overlaps your "truth," and we have a very disturbing distressful situation on our hands. Thus fighting is going on between family members, between neighbors, between communities, and between nations. This is all coming because there is no universally accepted standard of right and wrong/ truth and untruth. If someone tries to impose their brand of relative truth upon others claiming it as absolute, this does not solve the problem. In the Kali Yuga, the age of quarrel and hypocrisy, this is a very common phenomenon. Whoever has the most clout economically or politically will put forward their "ism" and as an absolute and try to use their economic and/or political clout to get everyone else accept it as absolute. But this is artificial and therefore it can stand, it cannot remain. If we are going to have actually solidity and certainty we must hear directly from God, without any distortion, as to what is the Absolute Truth. Out of His sweet kindness the Lord personally appeared on this material plane of existence 5,000 and carefully and clearly revealed what is the Absolute Truth to His most beloved disciple, Arjuna. After hearing Krishna's or God's revelation of the most confidential knowledge, Arjuna said to Krishna: param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan purusam sasvatam divyam adi-devam ajam vibhum "You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest." Bhagavad-gita 10.12 If the human society can follow the wonderful example of Arjuna, then were will be perfect peace and happiness throughout the entire globe. No one has to change his or her religion because religion is actually one, to love God. It doesn't matter if you call Him Krishna, Christ, Allah, or Jehovah. If one can give up the sinful activities of meat eating, illicit sex life, intoxication, and gambling and absorb themselves in chanting the names of the Lord, they will quickly achieve the supreme happiness of pure love of God.

Spiritual master "Guru"

It is not possible to enjoy this material world because it is a place of suffering. No matter what we may do to try to counteract the suffering conditions, we will continue to be hounded by so many varieties of suffering conditions. The solution for one problem creates another problem. The solution for that problem then creates another problem. In this way we can never come to an end of the sufferings of this material existence.

However there is a way to become completely free from all varieties of suffering conditions. What is that method? We simply have to wake up. We have to come out of the dreamlike state of material existence. This material body is really not me after all. It is simply a covering of the eternal all-blissful, all-knowing self.

So what is the method of waking up? We need to come into contact with a person who is already awakened. This is described in the Caitanya Caritamrita as follows:

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

"According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service."
---Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya 19.151

So how does one become fortunate to associate with a bona fide spiritual master?

Krishna is very eager to bestow His mercy upon all living beings. As soon as someone desires the Lord's mercy He gives that living being the opportunity to meet a bona fide spiritual master. Such a sincere person is helped from within by Krishna and from without by the spiritual master. Both the Lord and the spiritual master are prepared to give all help to the living being who desires to become free from material bondage and thus easily bring about a total solution to all the problems of material existence.

Material world full of miseries

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This material world is described in the Bhagavad-gita as duhkhalayam, a place of misery. By living here we get daily first hand experience of the reality of this description. In spite of the fact that no one wants to get sick, get old, or die, everyone is forced to endure these miseries. Plus there are innumerable other miseries caused by the mind, other living beings, and nature.

So what can be done about all this suffering? In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna declares that we have to be tolerant of the dualities of material existence.

matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino 'nityas
tams titiksasva bharata

"O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."
Bhagavad-gita 2.14

Even the body of a fully self-realized soul gets sick, gets old, and dies. Even such a soul has to face so many impediments caused by nature and other living beings. Therefore we must patiently endure so many difficult circumstances while we engage ourselves in serving the Lord's mission. These difficulties are a golden opportunity for us to endear ourselves to the Lord because the more we are willing to take trouble in executing the purpose of the Lord, the more we become recognized by the Lord. Difficulties are therefore welcomed by those who are learned in the transcendental science.

Am I this Body??

Are your eyes seeing, or are you seeing through your eyes? Are you ears hearing, or are you hearing through your ears? Is your skin feeling, or are you feeling through your skin? What is that body and who are you? By careful thoughtful analysis we can understand that this body is changing at every minute while I, the passenger within the body, remain the same. I was a little baby. I become a young boy, then a young man. Now I am middle aged and soon to be an old man. But all along through these many changes of body the "I" remains the same. Therefore it is not at all difficult to conclude that the self and the body are different from each other. They are not one and the same. Even though with careful thoughtful analysis our spiritual existence beyond the body is quite obvious, still we have developed a society based on economic development and sense gratification that constantly reinforces the false conception of "I am this body." Why do we as a society do this? Because it sells. The general mass of people will consistently spend their money based on the principle of what gratifies their material senses. Therefore advertising plays off of this tendency. The companies that can most successfully exploit the lower pull towards bodily consciousness become the most successful. This creates a downward cycle, a whirlpool that constantly sucks the modern day society into deeper and darker ignorance. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Yes. That light is the Bhagavad-gita. Therefore the Bhagavad-gita should be very widely distributed in every language of the world and should be required reading in every educational program. In the meantime at least we can become educated and free from the suffering position of bodily consciousness. And we can do the highest welfare work of sharing this liberating knowledge of the non-material nature of the self with as many people as possible.