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The Direction of the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Movement 7
which is the only panacea for the myriad troubles of mankind.*
He referred to the “soul-killing civilization” and “the
1
civilization of polished cats and dogs,” and analyzed the whole
2
situation thus:
The completely bewildered material civilization is wrongly
directed toward the fulf illment of desires in sense gratif ication.
In such civilization, in all spheres of life, the ultimate end
is sense gratif ication. In politics, social service, altruism,
philanthropy, and ultimately in religion or even in salvation,
the very same tint of sense gratif ication is ever-increasingly
predominant. In the political f ield the leaders of men f ight
with one another to fulf ill their personal sense gratif ication.
The voters adore the so-called leaders only when they promise
sense gratif ication. As soon as the voters are dissatisf ied in
their own sense satisfaction, they dethrone the leaders. The
leaders must always disappoint the voters by not satisfying
their senses. The same is applicable in all other f ields; no one is
serious about the problems of life. 3
Indubitably, modern society f its Kṛṣṇa’s description of the
demons as given in chapter sixteen of the Bhagavad-gītā. It is a
†
distinctly unpleasant civilization, characterized by monstrous
ef forts to amass wealth and to develop industry, science, the
military, and educational institutions dedicated to spewing out
ever more useless knowledge – all for the sake of outdoing and
dominating others. Being based on dehātma-buddhi (the bodily
concept of life) and the quest for sense gratif ication, it has a
* Lecture: Modern Civilization is a Failure, Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is the Only
Solution <www.bvks.com/1176>
† Lecture: Modern Society — Full of Hypocrite Demons
<www.bvks.com/2173>
1. Īśopaniṣad, mantra 3, ppt.
2. SB 1.8.5, ppt.
3. SB 1.2.10, ppt.