Welcome to the Purely Prabhupada channel. This video series is called “Reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all.” My name is Kamra devi dasi, and I am a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
This is number eighteen of the series. It is called “Taking Darkness as Light.” There is a need to distinguish between what is darkness and what is light, and then make our choice where we want to align. In this world, darkness often masquerades as light, and we must become informed of its nature so that we are not tricked by the illusory energy of the Lord to remain in this temporary world of suffering birth after birth.
Many people recognize the problems of this world, the underhanded intrigues, the deceptions, the depths and horrors of the criminal activities. They spend a lot of time and effort researching, debating, discussing, but when it comes to real spiritual solutions to the ills of the modern world, they have none. They come up with sentimental or esoteric adjustments both to the outer world and to the inner consciousness, but these solutions are only speculative and pseudo-enlightened because they are not based on real spiritual science.
Anything not based on real spiritual science is of the same nature as what created the difficulty in the first place. Any adjustment made without transcendental knowledge cannot be successful in the real sense. It is still an entanglement of this world and cannot grant us liberation from it. It keeps us in the darkness of material illusion, and some of the approaches ensnare us even more deeply in the web of this illusion. But it may seem positive to the unschooled mind, and thus we are defeated by the material energy, having mistakenly taken darkness as light.
There are many spiritual imposters who deftly disguise themselves as bearers of light. There is artificial intelligence which has no spiritual intelligence and is essentially posing as a false god which actually erodes our real consciousness, which will be shown more and more. So many things, darkness masquerading as light…. This material world is a place of cheaters and those who get cheated.
The souls of this world are considered marginal in that, by their free will, or ability to choose, they can align themselves either with the material energy or with the will of the Lord. The choices of this world are simply that, of this world. There may appear to be so many choices, what to eat, how to dress, where to go, but they are still choices only of this world of darkness. The choice to align with the desire of God only comes through the transcendental teachings that originate directly from the spiritual plane under the guidance of those who follow these teachings. Those are the two options we have, to align our free will either with the mundane, or with the spiritual.
In this sense, I am pro-choice. Pro-choice in the sense that there needs to also be access to the information that actually frees us from the entrapment of this material world and its seductions, and only by taking advantage of that information, do we really have the chance to make a choice.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is a multi volume transcendental literature translated for us by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada. Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Chapter 3, text 43, says- “This Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the age of Kali shall get light from this Purāṇa.”
Spiritual education is required. The transcendental literatures that provide us with the opportunity for real choice are available to us today. These are the translations of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. We have many of them available at PurelyPrabhupada.com. They offer us choices that are outside the limitations of the material energy. They allow us real choice, either to stay ensnared in the net of the material creation or to make the necessary endeavor to leave this place of so much suffering, where the MO is simply to create pain for ourselves and others, or to enter back.into the eternal, blissful abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Who is the Reservoir of All Pleasure
July 9th,1973, in London, Srila Prabhupada was having a conversation with a gentleman name David Wynne. The subject matter was about darkness and light.
Prabhupāda: …..Just like here is light. It doesn’t depend there is darkness. You can remain in that darkness and immediately come to the light, and from the light immediately go to the darkness. So this darkness and light, they are existing, co-existing. It is my choice whether to remain in the darkness or in the light. It is my choice. As soon as you are in the darkness, there is no light. As soon as you are in light, there is no darkness. It is your choice.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is light. And anything else, that is māyā. So we can accept either māyā or Kṛṣṇa. If you take to māyā, then we’ve spoiled our energy and time. If you take to Kṛṣṇa, you utilize your energy and time. Everything is there, ready. You haven’t got to create. Everything is there. Just like night is there and day is there. You can keep yourself always in day. ……
And when David asked Srila Prabhupada, “Why do we all choose the dark? Why are we all in the dark, most of us,” Srila Prabhupada replied that it was due to bad association.
He said, “Therefore, our Society is association. If we keep good association, then we don’t touch the darkness. What is the association? There is a song, sat-saṅga chāḍi’ kainu asate vilāsa, te-kāraṇe lāgila mora karma-bandha-phāṅsa [Gaurā Pahū verse 3]. Sat-saṅga. Sat-saṅga means association with the devotees. That is called sat-saṅga. So the one poet, Vaiṣṇava poet, is regretting that “I did not keep association with the devotees, and I wanted to enjoy life with the nondevotees. Therefore I’m being entangled in the fruitive activities.” Karma bandha phāṅsa. Entanglement.
Here in this material world we act, and the result is there. Again we enjoy the result and act, again another result. We act, another result, another… Because as soon as you act, there will be some result, good or bad. So, good or bad, by good result we get good birth, good money, good bodily feature, good education—these are the effects of good work.
And the effects of bad work = low-grade family, abominable, ugly bodily features, no education, no money, poor—these are the two effects of material good and bad work. But those who are trying to be transcendental both to the good and bad work, devotees, they are perfect. Because in this material world either you do good work or bad work, you have to suffer the material conditions.
So, two things, studying the transcendental literatures and taking the association of devotees. These two things really are inseparable. Then real choice is possible. We have free will and even the Lord Himself will not interfere with that or there is no question of love. At least let us become informed that there is another option beside material entanglement, and then choose the affiliations that support our choice. And then, it is up to us if we want to continue to be cheated and take darkness for light….
