Page 70 - THE FOURTH DIMENSION
P. 70

1- The seducer or the sexual predator who tries to satisfy his lusty desires anytime
            2- The actor who may portray hundreds of personas during his career
            3- The revolutionary fighter who rebels and conquers and intensely lives
            4- The artist whose imagery creates a particular way of seeing things

        The three attitudes mentioned above are in direct contravention of spiritual truths. First, the constitutional
        position of the human being is to carry out the order of the superior such as parents, teachers, police and
        magistrates, government, spiritual teachers, and ultimately God. Everyone follows some authority. When a
        person rebels against authorities, his decisions and actions become controlled by his own lust, anger, greed,
        illusion, envy and insanity.

        The greatest authority is Lord Krishna. Not following His authority or His bona fide representatives, the spiritual
        masters,  a  person  becomes  entangled  in  the  struggle  for  existence  in  this  world.  Camus,  being  a  shallow
        intellectual, did not understand that rejecting the authority of God makes one immediately subject to the laws
        of karma by which he is responsible for every action whether performed knowingly or unknowingly. Ignorance
        is no excuse when infringing on blind laws of nature.

        The struggle for existence is absurd if we analyze correctly that the cause is willful neglect and forgetfulness of
        God’s instructions. Camus’s advice is irresponsible and futile. Simply accepting and following Lord Krishna’s
        teachings will immediately liberate one from the travails of material life. A person like Camus whose intelligence
        was corrupted by prolonged sense gratification could not understand the simple fact spoken by Krishna that
        “one who performs auspicious activity (Krishna Consciousness) is never overcome by evil.” (Bg 6.40) Krishna
        Consciousness can free one from the meaningless, absurd life of material sense gratification and the hopeless
        morass of atheism.

        Secondly, the concept that one is absolutely free to think and behave according to one’s desires is absurd.
        Every  living  entity  is  controlled  by time, the  laws of  karma, the  three  modes  of  material nature, the  four
        defects, the three types of misery, birth, death, old age, disease, lust, anger, greed, envy, illusion, madness,
        material desires and above all misconceptions about the purpose of life. One cannot claim to be free if he has
        one  misconception  or  one  material  desire.  What  to  speak  if  one  is  overwhelmed  with  unlimited  material
        desires.

        Camus claimed one should think and behave according to his desires. It really means to think and behave
        according to one’s flawed speculations. This is a formula for a reckless and dangerous life. Just when Camus
        was  on  the  cusp  of  producing  perhaps  his  most  mature  and  significant  literary  works,  he  died  in  an
        automobile accident.

        For the atheists like Camus, they see God as death. Lord Krishna says, mrtyuh sarva-haras caham – I am all-
        devouring death. (Bg 10.34) Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has commented:

        We  are  changing  our  form  of  life  from  one  body  to  another,  but  if  we  want  to  understand  God...  That  is
        essential.  So  long  we  do  not  understand  God,  so  long  we  do  not  go  back  to  home,  back  to  Godhead,  our
        struggle for existence will continue. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati [Bg. 15.7]. They struggle.
        Everyone struggles hard to become happy, but that is not possible. Simply searching after, searching after
        happiness, our time comes: "Finished. Your business is finished. Now get out." That is called death. So death is
        also Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham [Bg. 10.34]. Mṛtyu, Kṛṣṇa, comes as
        death. During your lifetime, if you do not understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this Kṛṣṇa will come as death and
        take away everything what you have got. Sarva-haraḥ. Then your body, your family, your country, your bank,

                                                             68
   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75