Page 26 - GOTIL (ENG) Sample

xxiv Introduction

United States Information Service declared: “In the short
space since she won independence, India has taken huge
strides toward assuring the blessings of modern life for her
citizens. In health, education, industry, and development,
India is forging ahead. The changes are coming and will
come to India’s villages too — not to destroy the peace
and dignity of rural life, but to enhance it with more
security, more of the good things of the world. Change is
beginning to come. In the villages, hope shines through.”

But nowadays at least some in the West are realizing
the mistake of foisting their economy and values on
the so-called underdeveloped world. As man gropes for
alternatives to soul-killing “civilization,” the significance
of Indian culture is emerging from under the very muck
which the West sought to bury it in, for Westerners
themselves are taking leading roles in promoting this
oldest of human civilizations.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the
founder-ācārya of ISKCON and the greatest exponent of
Vedic culture in the modern age, was keenly aware of
discrepancies in human society and strove to establish
Vedic culture as a blueprint for reviving spiritual values
throughout the world:

Vedic culture is perfect for human society, perfect culture.
You have to adopt it. Then you become happy. The whole
human society becomes happy, never mind where it is.
It is a science, how to live just like human beings, not like
cats and dogs. That is Vedic culture. Everyone is happy.