Page 21 - GOTIL (ENG) Sample

Introduction xix

Modern life is a ridiculously over-hyped grovel for sense
gratification. Although the mindless pursuit of wealth,
luxury, power, and sex have never brought satisfaction
to anyone, nonetheless lust and greed are promoted as
desirable — indeed indispensable — to modern man.
There is constant pressure to adopt the foolish ideals
imposed by the entertainment and advertising industries.
Consciously or unconsciously people try to cut profiles
shaped in movie studios. Too busy trying to be someone
else, they remain ignorant of their own identity. Anxious
to “get ahead” by any means, they nonetheless have no
knowledge of what really lies ahead.

In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa describes lust, anger, and
greed as gateways to hell. Of course modern men don’t
like to believe in hell, despite busily creating it on earth.
Their habits are unregulated, imbalanced, unhealthy,
and sinful; their bellies filled with junk food and animal
corpses; their values perverted. They cannot trust even
their spouses, children, or parents. They’re proud of
their big buildings, big highways, big economy, and big
universities, but their minds are so agitated that they
cannot sleep without the aid of a sleeping pill. The
“advancement” of which they are so proud is simply a
ploy to make them work like beasts for the sake of sense
enjoyment. Gorging on flesh, becoming intoxicated,
living in a fantasy world of sex, violence, and myriad
nonsensical diversions — all this is considered normal
to modern “civilized” man. Psychosis, neurosis, crime,