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Part 1: The Divine Development Model: Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Vision of Economy, Education, and Ecology In the Rājabandhan, there was a great wave of excitement. Everyone experienced bliss. Ānandam Brahmaṇo rūpam—the real form of Brahma is bliss. Kṛṣṇa is the samādhi of the yogīs. The root of the Vedas is the tattva. He who is known as the dispenser of justice, He who is called the Puruṣa in Sāṅkhya, He whom the Vedas praise as the supreme enjoyer—Vah Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Paripūrṇa Tāṁ Paramātmā, āj Vraj Bandal meṁ prakaṭ hue. Vraj kise kaite haiṁ? Jahā asaṅkhyā gāyaṁ nivās kartī hai, us sthān ko Vraj kahte haiṁ. Bhagavān’s coming to Vraj was for serving the cows and for the advancement of agriculture. Within the avatāra of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa lies the concept of developmentalism. When can a country truly develop? There are three essential conditions for a nation’s progress. First, its economic condition must be excellent. Second, its natural environment must be in proper balance—ecological balance. Third is education. These are the three steps of development. Kisī bhī deś ke vikās ke ye tīn sīḍiyān hai. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s vision is that development must always begin from the villages. The village is the central unit of a country. Gāon kā vikās hī deś kā vikās hai. The development of a village is the development of a nation. That is why, although Bhagavān took birth in Mathurā, He still came to Gokul—He came to the village. The foundation of a village’s development is agriculture. Gorakṣā—cow protection—is the backbone of our economic system. The spinal cord of our development is the cow. Without the cow, development is impossible. The agriculture system cannot advance without the cow. The cowherds first came to Gokula. They stood for the importance of the cow. The importance of the cow is represented by Lord Kṛṣṇa because He wanted to develop the whole of agriculture. Jab tak deś kī kṛṣi vyavasthit nahī hogī, deś meṁ vikās sambhav nahī hai. As agriculture develops, it forms the primary stage. From it, everyone obtains food grains to eat, and various commercial crops such as cotton and medicinal plants are produced, which provide clothing. All endeavours rest on agriculture. First, farming must be developed; from that, industries will arise, and from that, civilisation will advance. Now, to bring about this agricultural development, cows are needed first, for only then will food spring from the earth. Godhan se gobar gomūtra paryāpt mātrā meṁ mileṅge, jaise hamko khāne kī jarūrat hai. In the same way, it has been considered that the earth is also alive. Earth is alive; this earth is no inert substance—it is a conscious entity. She is Pṛthvī Devī. Just as grain is our food, her food is the cow’s dung and urine. When this earth receives cow dung and cow urine, she gains the capacity to work, the capacity to produce food grains. The fertility that comes from gobar and gomūtra increases as the quantity of gobar and gomūtra is increased. The production of fruit and all commercial crops depends on gobar and gomūtra. As long as the earth receives enough gobar and gomūtra, her fertility will never end. Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted the earth to receive her food first. That is why He protected millions of cows in Vraja. Because of this, there was sufficient vegetation there; there was greenery; nature was green; there were crops. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa performed Gopālan, and Baladevajī carried a plough. With him, the plough is the symbol of farming. Baladevajī, Balabhadrajī, were farmers. Bhagavān became a cowherd, and Bhagavān Balabhadrajī was a farmer. Mahāprabhujī kī karatā… Devastat kar dī, dharati kā vikās, khetī kā vikās, gāy kā vikās, tab unhone śaharoṁ ke vikās ke bāre meṁ socā. Then Bhagavān went to Mathurā. Mathurā is, in a sense, a cultured township where He developed small industries that were based on agriculture, and then advanced further. The great city was Dvārikā. Moving forward step by step—kramik vikās karnā—alone can bring about the welfare of a nation. Therefore, first comes village development, and from it, the economic system and education. In the countries where you live, the atmosphere is completely different. There is a cold climate, and on that foundation your civilisation has grown. There can be no comparison between the two. If you wish to keep a country safe, then its education, its civilisation, should be in accordance with its own atmosphere, in harmony with its environment. Our people, our children, should understand this: what were the basic foundations of India’s education? India’s education must not exploit nature. We are not going to exploit nature. We are deepening our symbiosis with nature. We should live with nature, not merely think about using her, because we believe nature is our mother. Mother nourishes us; we cannot think of exploiting her—we should love her and respect her. Therefore, there was no rapid, forced development here. There was no frantic speed of development. There was a development in which nature was never at risk. Our sages were also great scientists. If they had wanted, they could have produced electricity; they could have invented electricity and mighty tools. But all of that would have harmed our nature. So they did not make any such invention. Bharat is a country that first discovered fire. Our Ṛgveda’s first mantra is “Agni Mīḍhe Purohitam”—Bharat brought energy to the world, Bharat told the world what energy is. Could a country that can discover fire, that can perform the fire sacrifice, that can give fire to people, not produce electricity? But to produce electricity, water has to be blocked, dams built, coal used. If electricity had been made in ancient times, coal would have been burnt, water stopped. When the flow of rivers stops, two things happen. One is that dirt accumulates and the rivers become polluted. Today, Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Narmadā—all are polluted, and their condition has become such that they are on the verge of extinction. Yamunā’s existence is in danger because so many barrages have been built on them. When there is no flow, how will the dirt be swept away? The second thing is that as long as the water is flowing, it carries minerals; the beneficial elements within the water remain intact. Today, those minerals are finished. So now water is sold in the form of mineral water, and the water we drink has chemicals added to it and is becoming cancerous. We have stopped the flow of rivers to generate electricity, and because of this we have suffered enormous damage. The purity of our water has been destroyed, and the good nutrients and minerals that used to be in the water are gone. Because of this, the power of water is no more; there is no energy left in the water. So, even after purification, we are forced to use manure and urea. Because of this, our crops are also spoiled. The grains we eat contain urea and pesticides; all these have become causes of cancer. Thus, when we tried to destroy our nature, when we tried to exploit it, it turned to destroy our lives. That is the ruinous result. Our sages and seers never attempted any such thing. They did not make vehicles that run on petrol, that run at high speed. India is the country that gave speed to the world, because first of all, India invented the wheel. Egypt had wheels 4,000 years ago, but our history stretches back crores of years. What is the reason that we have survived for crores of years in the same way? Behind it is our long-range thinking, our attitude of great vision. Hamāre ṛṣi-muniyoṁ kā, hamāre ṛṣiyoṁ kā vision aisā ūṁchā thā, ki unko pātā thā ki future kā prarūp kyā hone vālā hai. We have to preserve nature for a long time. What is the way to preserve nature? Use nature in such a way that it retains the capacity for regeneration. We have tried to nurture that capacity of reproduction. That is why our education system was designed the way it was: education in the gurukul, education beneath the trees, where a person did not have many comforts or luxuries, but felt himself connected with nature. He felt, “I am a part of nature; I must live with it.” Kitnā hī baṛā ho, chāhe rājā kā beṭā ho, chāhe sāmānya vyakti kā beṭā ho, sab log ek sāth baiṭh kar śikṣā prāpti karte the. There was no discrimination in education; no factor of high or low existed. And Lord Kṛṣṇa did the same in Gokul. Primary education should be available to all. Today’s Europeans also believe this; it is called the Kindergarten method—education through play, where there is no discrimination. This is the kind of education that God developed. Thus, education is the second line. First of all, the development of villages, the strengthening of the economic system—the first principle of development. The second principle is such education in which there is no discrimination, and which teaches us to live with nature, not to make a person greedy for ever more exploitation. There is another reason behind this: our Indian thought holds that our life is not a single life; we take birth many times, we are born in many eons, and if we do something wrong, we will have to wander again in the cycles of rebirth. On the other hand, Western philosophy often says that life is only once: let us enjoy. There is no concept that if we do something, we will reap a result, or that if we commit a sin, we go to hell—there was no clear definition of hell and heaven. A person wants to enjoy life as much as possible, to have entertainment; his greed exploits nature. We do not have this vṛtti here. We keep saying that the purpose of our life is not enjoyment; it is liberation, Mokṣa. We must live our life in such a way that we can attain Mokṣa in the end. We do not have to be born again, nor suffer sorrow. And when will we not be sad? When we make everyone happy. We move forward with this thought: in our education, we are not made greedy, not made selfish, not made slaves of desires. It is repeatedly said that the goal of life is liberation, mokṣa. Therefore, renounce. Become a renunciate, a devout person. Renunciation and devoutness are considered the goals of life. In contrast, the pursuit of pleasure dominates elsewhere. So, in such a situation, education should create renunciation within us, create devoutness, and create devotion. Through this, we will connect with nature, and we will love everyone. Our Indian culture teaches us renunciation, knowledge, and devotion. Today’s education has become such that every person thinks the most important thing is wealth—to accumulate more and more. When we want to earn wealth, we become greedy. Because of that, all our thoughts have changed, and we have begun to exploit nature. We have started ruining our lives with our own hands. Vikās kā tīsrā sūtra jo Kṛṣṇa ke jīvan meṁ dikhāī detā hai, vah hai ecological balance. Kṛṣṇa ke jīvan kī sabse baḍī viśiṣṭatā hai balance. Vah Yogeśvar kehlāte haiṁ. Yog ke Īśvar—the Lord of Yoga—is Kṛṣṇa. Aur yog kise kehte haiṁ? Jahān par samatva ho, jahān par balance. Bhagavān has balanced every living being. Whether it is village development, city development, or maintaining balance in family life, every situation is balanced. Because until there is balance, a person cannot be rational, and to be rational is extremely important. In our tradition, the highest epithet of humanity is viveka. Viveka is rationality—even greater than buddhi. To be rational is paramount for a person. And to be rational, one must know what is right and wrong. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa taught people to be balanced and to abide in samatva. Until samatva comes, learning yoga is not possible. The correct interpretation of this is found in the līlā of the three cities, as presented in the Bhagavad Gītā. In Gokul, the development of the village represents economic development. Mathurā mein śikṣā kā vikās—educational development. Dvārikā mein ecological balance, paryāvaraṇ yā parasthī kī santulan. Ye tīno cīzoṁ ke tīn kendra rehe. When in a country these three entities are in their highest state—the economic system, with its three sectors: primary sector agriculture and cow protection, then industry, then the service sector—from these three the economy is built. The development of all three, that is, of agriculture, industries, and the service sector, makes a country self-reliant. The whole world comes under its influence. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa ne sabse pahale ye chorā diyā. When we make our nation economically self-reliant, a country that is economically self-reliant has the entire world under its sway. But the whole world respects its strength, because it became self-reliant on an economic basis, and the reason for this was that it placed its dharma, its religion, foremost. The country that develops on the foundation of its religion becomes self-reliant. To, Kṛṣṇa kī pahlī śikṣā hai: ātmanirbhar bano, ārthik dṛṣṭi se ātmanirbhar bano, aur iske lie śeharoṁ kī taraf mat bhāgo. Leaving the village, people go to the city; leaving the city, God comes to the village. Connect the individual with people, do not sever him from them. Connect with people according to the educational system, civilisation, and culture. This is the teaching of the Mathurā līlā. Now, when one is economically self-reliant and educated, then the development of big cities can happen, where industries flourish. Dvārikā, meaning complete prosperity—sonī kī Dvārikā. The idea is that when you are economically self-reliant and educated, you can become prosperous. But in that prosperity, you should not limit yourself to the city. Lord Dvārakādīśa stayed only a little; sometimes He went to Indraprastha, sometimes to the ṛṣis and munis, sometimes to Mithilā. When you are prosperous, you can spread your prosperity to all countries. In the Gītā, in two chapters, this analysis is given: in the Viśvajit Khaṇḍa and the Aśvamedha Khaṇḍa, it is told how, while Bhagavān resided in Dvārakā, the prosperity of Dvārakā spread to all countries. When you become prosperous, work for welfare—make every country prosperous, make every person prosperous. Because India’s vision says, “Ayam Nija Paro Veti Gaṇanā Laghucetasām.” We are the people of Udāra Cārita; the whole earth is our family. Jai Bhagavān Gokula meṁ Nandotsav kā āyojan huā. Kewkī festival yā utsav mānav ko priya hain. Uske dvārā uskī internal energy, uskī ātmik ūrjā vadhtī hai. We have so many festivals and observances; what is their purpose? Their purpose is to save humanity from depression. In India, problems like depression do not exist, nor do ailments born of sorrow. Part 2: Festivals: The Antidote to Sorrow and the Path to Duty Why do we celebrate festivals? Because through such celebrations, through festivals, there is always positive energy. There is a flow of positive energy. If there is no celebration, if there is no festival, then a person will remain perpetually troubled. The burden of work will forever weigh on his mind: “Today I must do this work, I have to earn money, I have to nourish the family.” To voh chakke meñ pistā rahegā, aur uske kāraṇ se anya deśoṁ kī sabse baṛī samasyā hai stress, depression. (He will keep grinding in the same rut, and because of that the biggest problem in other countries is stress and depression.) Bhārat meñ stress aur depression jaisī koī samasyā nahīṁ hai. (In India there is no problem like stress and depression.) Kāraṇ yahī hai ki yahāṁ har din koī tyohār hai. (The reason is simply that here every single day is some festival.) Us tyohār meñ hum apanī vyaktigat samasyāoṁ ko, apnī pareśāniyoṁ ko bhūl jāte haiṁ. (In that festival we forget our personal problems, our worries.) We celebrate Rāma Navamī, we celebrate Janmāṣṭamī, we celebrate the Jayantī of our gurus. Utane samay tak hum sansār ko bhūle rehte haiṁ, hameṁ yād hī nahīṁ ātā, aur us kāraṇ se hamāre ko depression, stress jaisī samasyāẽ nahī̃ ghertī, har din hamārā ānand ke sād vītā hai. (For that much time we remain forgetful of the world, we do not even remember, and for that reason problems like depression and stress do not surround us; every day passes with joy.) Har din hame yād ātī hai ki hum bhagvān se joṛhe hue haiṁ, yeh sāre tyohār hame yād dilāne ke liye haiṁ, ki hum bhagvān ke anśh haiṁ, aur vo hamāre caretaker haiṁ, vo hamārī rakṣyā karte haiṁ. (Every day we are reminded that we are connected to God; all these festivals are to remind us that we are parts of God, and He is our caretaker, He protects us.) Karne wāle haiṁ, phir hame chintā karne kī kahāṁ zarūrat hai? (He is the doer, then what need do we have to worry?) This is why there is always happiness in India. People get prasāda, people live in bliss. In these festivals, everyone runs together, so there is no difference between rich and poor, and there is no difference between educated and uneducated. Everyone becomes one. Utsavoṁ ke madhyam se, in kathā, kīrtan ke madhyam se, Bhārat meñ depression jaisī pareśāniyāṁ nahīṁ hotīṁ. (Through celebrations, through narrations and kīrtan, difficulties like depression do not occur in India.) Look, all these activities also take place in club culture. But there, sensory pleasure predominates, there, desires predominate. Because of this, they cannot generate spiritual joy. Here, when we dance for God, when we sing for God, we get our internal energy, our cosmic energy. It increases our power. When some people say that there are many holidays in India, that there are so many celebrations, yet despite that, India’s production capacity is more than that of other countries in the world. Bhārat ke vyaktī meñ karne kī kṣamtā anya deśoṁ ke tulnā meñ adhik hai, kyōṁki jab bhī chutṭī hotī hai, voh utsav se lotṭā hai, to itnī energy se, itnī ūrjā se bhar jātā hai ki uske karne kī kṣamtā bhar jātī hai. (A person in India has a greater capacity to work compared to other countries, because whenever there is a holiday, he returns from the celebration filled with so much energy, so much vigour, that his capacity to work is filled up.) Viśva meñ jitne bhī manasoṁ sāṅsadan uplabdh haiṁ, viśva ke jitne bhī deśoṁ meṁ vahāṁ sab ucch sthānoṁ par bhāratīya nāgarik ek udāharaṇ diyā jātā hai. Śānti senā meṁ bhāratīya sainik bhī pradhān mātrā meñ rahe. (In all the peacekeeping forces available in the world, Indian citizens are given as an example at the highest levels. Indian soldiers have also remained in the peacekeeping forces in predominant measure.) In the jungles of Africa, there is not much to eat or drink. And the people of other countries of the world, those who were non-vegetarians, who were not connected to Indian culture, their lives could not be sustained, yet even for nine or ten days, the vegetarian Indian soldiers endured. Here, Gargācārya Jī wants to teach that no matter what kind of happiness or celebration it is, a person should not forget his duties. To do something is a person’s duty. Even though the king of that country is a bad person, a demon, a thief, still Nand Bābā has gone to fulfill his duty. Because no matter how the king is, the citizen should fulfill his duty. If he fails in his duty, then he feels guilty. If a person is not doing his duty, then he will be blamed, and God will punish him for it. But citizens should not act otherwise. Sometimes we accuse our leaders of being corrupt, but then what will we gain by committing a crime? We will commit theft and so we will incur the sin of theft. God sees the fault of those who are committing corruption. We are not seated on the judge’s seat. We are not judges. We are also ordinary people and we do not have this right. And when we do have a right—like the right to vote—we do not exercise it. We get our right when we give a donation; that day we should use our right; we should remove the wrong person from power. Yet at that time, we do not cast our full vote, but we merely discuss. Whether others follow their duties or not, we should not give up our own duties. We have to fulfill our duties, because if we abandon them, we will be blamed for that sin. We must be saved from that sin. Even though Kaṁsa was a wicked king, Nand Bābā used to pay the tax to his king, because it was the duty of the people to pay tax to the king. At that time, the tax used to be in the form of goods. They were all cowherds, so milk, curd, butter, and ghee. The main thing was that the tax was paid in the form of ghee, because ghee could be preserved for a long time. And in that very context, he meets Vasudeva. Vasudeva is sad at that time because his eight sons have departed and are gone. Nanda Bābā is extremely happy because after many years, his heart’s desire has been fulfilled. Both are at their respective extremes. One is sad at the ultimate extreme, the other is supremely joyful. Yet when both meet, which friendship is called true? This is the example presented by Vasudevajī and Nand Bābā. Vasudevajī expresses his happiness by hiding his sorrows, because his friend’s life has been filled with happiness. Vasudevajī says, “No problem. My sons are dead. This is my own destiny.” Yat likhitam vidhnā lalāṭ patale tat mārjitam kākṣam. (What is written by fate on the forehead and on the tablet—who can erase it?) Who can erase the destiny inscribed in destiny? No one can erase it. That is why I received whatever was in my destiny. But I am pleased by the fact that God is pleased with you. By the grace of Lord Nārāyaṇa, you have got a son in your old age. This is such a blessing of God. I am very pleased by this. To which Nand Bābā says, “I am sad that you have had eight sons taken. I always have to suffer for this. You should consider my son as your own son.” Now, Vasudevajī knows that your son is truly my son. So Vasudevajī speaks wisdom to lighten his mind. He says: Look, meeting and separation in life are all coincidence. For example, the stream of the river is flowing, and two tributaries flow into it. When there is a current, both banks meet. And sometimes the stream flows in such a way that the links separate. So all this is the effect of time. People who are caught in the flow of time meet and separate. What is the use of mourning because of that? There is no subject for mourning in it. What will happen by mourning? The person who had to go has gone. Now you must improve your future. Vasudevajī speaks knowledge; he clears his mind. Because a person is happy from the mind, he is sad from the mind, and a person cannot live with sorrow for many days. Dukh mānav kā svabhāv nahīṁ, jaisā pānī kā svabhāv śītalatā hai, agni kā svabhāv prakāś hai, vaise hī mānav kā svabhāv sukhī honā hai. (Sorrow is not the nature of a human being; just as the nature of water is coolness, the nature of fire is light, similarly the nature of a human being is to be happy.) Dukh kehte kisē haiṁ? Kalpit sukh ke abhāv kā nām hī dukh hai. Dukh kī apnī koī svatantra sattā nahīṁ hai. (What is sorrow? Sorrow is simply the name for the absence of imagined happiness. Sorrow has no independent existence of its own.) We did some imagination and we did not get that thing. We thought that if we had such a house, we would have lived comfortably, but we did not get that house, so we became sad. If we had a son, he would have grown up and been of use to us. This was our imagination. When that thing was not fulfilled, we became sad. So the unfulfilled imagination is called sorrow. Unfulfillment of imagination is sorrow. Dukh kā apnā koī svatantra astitva nahīṁ, kalpit sukh ke abhāv kā nām hai dukh. (Sorrow has no independent existence; sorrow is the name for the absence of imagined happiness.) Islie dukhī hone kā koī lābh nahīṁ. Dukhī hone se hamārī ūrjā naṣṭ hotī hai, śarīr vigartā hai, mana vigartā hai. (Therefore, there is no benefit in sorrowing. By sorrowing, our energy is destroyed, the body deteriorates, the mind deteriorates.) Sukha aura dukha ye hamāre adhīna hai bhī, aura ye prārabdha ke adhīna hai. (Happiness and sorrow are both under our control and also subject to our destiny.) Just as we make efforts day and night for the attainment of happiness, yet happiness may or may not be attained, similarly we try to avoid sorrow, yet sorrow comes. No one wishes to be sorrowful. These things are not under our control.