Kks - Radhadesh Festival

KKS Lecture SUMMER FESTIVAL, RADHADESH 07/2007

So we have come together again on this Sunday afternoon. We’re coming closely towards the end of a summer festival- which looked more like an autumn festival- but I guess that’s how it is; in this part of the world, you never know! But it doesn’t matter at all because still our festival is nice because we’re not just depending on such things as the weather. It’s just nice to meet so many people who are interested in spiritual things. Since the festival is coming to an end in a way, I could say that I’ve met many interesting people yesterday. I had lots of nice talks and I found that lots of people are actually very favourable towards spiritual life and see a need, see that there is a need for a spiritual dimension to life. So I felt encouraged because I felt that there’s a place for us in this world, I felt that there’s something to do for us, we are appreciated and there’s actually many, many people out there who are interested in what we have to offer. I

found that really enlivening because, yes, I myself, I became involved in this movement, initially with hesitation. It wasn’t just that, when I saw the Hare Krsna’s that I thought, “This is what I’ve always wanted to do with my life!” and that I jumped right in- nothing like that at all!

But rather I read books, books about ways of life, which went a little bit about the borders of our homeland. I was interested in other cultures and other ways of thinking. And of course, I was there in the 60’s and 70’s. I was just sort of growing up towards independence at that time. So in the

70’s, a lot of people were interested in India. Nowadays also, but especially at that time, it was new, it was really a new thing. The Beatle’s came out with different songs about it and were eventhe long, long winding road which was a road going to Hrsikesh actually- they went there and met the Maharsi yogi and there were many other things.

George Harrison did this concert for Bangladesh and I sure enough, bought the LP’s and played the sitar music forever, and it was the first time that I ever heard such a thing. And I still remember that record quite well because it started out with Ravi Shankar.

He was first of all, he asked people to not smoke, then he started making some noises on the tamburas and all these things, and stopped after about a minute and there was a huge applause. And he said, “If you like the tuning so much, I’m sure you’re gonna like the concert even better!” That’s how it

started. So, that was pretty funny! Ya, what can I say, that it sort of created that mystic image about India.

So I decided to go there. Now, in the culture of the 70’s, if you were going there, you couldn’t go by plane- that was not the proper way to go to the East. You had to go over land. So I did it: got the magic bus from Amsterdam and boy, was it magic! Three weeksover mountains, over valleys, sometimes no roads, through dry riverbeds and what not! Eventually I, after many adventures, came to India. It was really something extraordinary, undoubtedly, because it was a country that had totally different values, totally different approach to life and at that time, practically no Western influencevery, very little. India was keeping its borders closed to Western influence. Gandhi had something like 300% import tax on anything from the west so there wasn’t much to be found, you can bet! Everything was just very traditional, it was interesting. I came from Pakistan, in Pakistan they said, (Pakistan accent) “oh, you are not having the correct stamp in the passport. You will have big trouble. We can not let you out of the country.” They said, “When you come into our country, they should have given you an entry stamp at the border and without the entry stamp you can not exit!”

I said, “I came into the country, I didn’t get an entry stamp, but I surely entered because I’m here! So now you should let me out…” But they wanted a bribe and everything- big fight. So after Pakistan- shoo! - I walked across the border of India. There was a long lane with potted palms at the side of the road and I walked along this beautiful lane into India, and there was a man sitting behind the desk under a tree. So I thought, that’s pretty far out! He doesn’t have an office- his office is under a tree! Not only did he have an office under the tree, but to make it more extraordinary; he had a moustache, which was about this big. I think at night he was putting on curl pins to make it come out in the morning and so on! And this man…well, I wanted a stamp in my passport this time, because I’d just gone to this trip. So I gave him my passport, I wanted a stamp and he went like, “No, no, no, no, no.” He said, “Not interested.”

He said, “I want to know why you have come to India?” So I said, “Well, I’ve come to India because I heard that India is a very spiritual country and I’m interested to check it out.” He said, “Ah, ah, ah, very nice! Very nice!” He was very happy and then he told me, “Then you must go to Benares.” So I said, “Yes, yes I will go there, surely.” He said, “No, no. You must go.” I said, “Yes, I will.” He said, “I will make sure, I will personally put you on the train tonight.” He said, “Meet me at the railway station.” And he bought me a ticket and put me on the train. So it was quite something.

On that train, there were all kinds of people. We came from Punjab so there were Sikh’s with turbans around their heads- one sitting in luggage rack, he was constantly chanting, “Rama, Rama, Rama…” I was looking, after one hourstill going strong! “Rama, Rama, Rama…” There were Muslims and they were bowing down all the time. It was a long train ride- something like 32 hours! So there was lots of bowing, lots of prayers and all along, our friend continued with, “Rama, Rama,

Rama…” – the whole way! That was quite impressive! Then there was a husband and a wife, and this wife was serving her husband in a way like I’d never seen in my life.

I was shocked! It was another world, I was in another culture and it was intriguing! And somehow or other, on that train, everyone seemed so religious and one old man came to me and said, “Son, everything is in God’s hands.” And I thought, did I get on the wrong train? Is this one maybe going to heaven? It was like that. So, never before in my life had I been so confronted with religion. I’m from Holland, sort of Heimsteider, not so far from Amsterdam. And my family, for a few generations, was into business. That was really what was going: Money! Money was the honey!

So anyway, religion was ‘something.’ My parents did marry in the church and it was the last time they ever went!

What can I say! And I went twice in my life. So religion was not so prominent. But when I came to Indiashoo! – it was everywhere, everywhere. But it sort of seemed to have a different nature- not so dark- it seemed to be a more festive approach, not one of black clothes and dark buildings, but one of more outgoing, but very much part of life. And one thing that became very clear in a country like India, was that people had deep faith, somehow or other. The whole country of India was resting on deep faith.

In Benares, of course, there were many experiences: that mighty river and also, in the city of Benares, one gets a bit of an experience with death because it is a holy place and according to the Vedic culture, those who leave their bodies, often times those bodies are brought to the Ganges and are burned there. And then the ashes are put onto the river, as you know. So there are these burning gata’s. So one day, there…well at these burning gata’s also, one could see things from so nearby, from so nearby. Years later a friend of mine, who was a devotee- a devotee of Krsna- also went there and he came to the burning gata,

and he saw a man sitting there, burning a body. The man was crouched down and burning the body. So the man saw our devotee. He said, “Oh! You are a vaisnava! (a devotee of Visnu or Krsna) I can see it by the mark on your forehead.” He said, “My mother, she was also a vaisnava. She was initiated in the Gaudiya Math.” He said, “Yes, and this is her body…” “Shoo! This is your mother, roasting in the fire, right here!”

He said, “Yes.” And like this, he said, “it is so nice that a vaisnava has come now at this moment.” It is quite…what shall we say! People live so close to the basics of life. The western world- everything is so covered, so far away. We have a culture where such things are not spoke about too often, not too much and kept a little bit away, and only when you really have to deal with it, you deal with it. But in India, people are living very much aware, within awareness of these things. Why? Well, for one thing, as I said, the culture of India rests on strong faith, on strong belief. There was a deep and strong faith, that life is eternal, and that death is nothing but a transition, nothing but a moment of entering into another dimension, like stepping through a door and then you continue to walk. Nothing, something like: ‘and then he sleeps eternally…’ No, death rather is seen as stepping into another realm, another world, another dimension and life certainly goes on.

Depending on the consciousness of a person, his destination will differ. If one is still very much pre-occupied with this world and with everything that goes on: money, money, money or power or sex or other things, thenreturn, return my brother, return my friend, try it again, try it again, no problem! You wish to have it again; you are not yet ready, not yet ready to leave this world- return, return. There is another chance for you to try again, and again, and again, and again and again…life after life, after life, after life…

So reincarnation suddenly for the first time made a little bit of sense to me, I had to say. Prior to that, I always thought, what a strange idea! Where did they get it from? The whole East believes in reincarnation? I thought, what an awkward idea!

Why would they believe in that, why in the world? When nobody remembers anything! Do you know your last life?

I don’t know mine. Is there anyone who remembers it here? If there is, that’s nice but are you even sure that it’s not something you sub-consciously picked up from the movies and mistake it for a last life? So they say, it’s difficult- remembrances of last life, yes. But, yes, there was a logic to it, a logic that those who have not completed their course of life in this world, who still want to continue to enjoy this worldcome back! Enjoy it again. If you can, try again. It’s not so easy, because life is not always what you want it to be. We wanted a summer festival, for example. Imagine how much meetings they had to have a summer festival! Everything they tried to do. Of course they have experience, so they made a tent just in case. One year, this tent was so badly flooded that they filled it up with hay; there was so much water here during the summer festival that they threw all kinds of hay everywhere and it was like we had a ‘barn festival’. And at night we had a dance and I was just waiting for the violins you know, ‘… hee haa!’, because we were dancing in the straw. So I didn’t know what it would be like this year. We’ve already had other summer festivals before.

Anyway, so here we are, in this world. So according to the thoughts of the East, life after life we return to this world. Slowly, slowly it began to make sense to me as I was there in India, as I saw everything in India, gradually I thought, there’s a logic to it. That was something! Eternity- that made sense to me also; to think that this one life is

all there is, to think that we are only chemicals?

How can I believe it! Last year, I was with a group of people with a boat and some other leaders, sailing around the sea in Denmark- nice place. We rented this big boat- expensive thing, 10 000 euros, 3 master- with a crew and everything: 32 cabins inside and filled it up with people, who all paid for the rent, and off we went to the Danish islands. It was very nice! So whenever we came into one of these little ports, a crowd of people would come to look at the boat and then they saw on there the Hare Krsna’s- which made it even more special- and then we treated the boat like a stage and we did a performance for them, which was appreciated by some and not, by others. What to do! That’s life! But there were enough who liked it to make it interesting.

Anyway, so afterwards I was walking in the shore and there was a Dutchman. And he had already heard that I was from Holland, so he walked up to me and said, “Oh, you are from Holland?” I said, “Yes I am from Holland.” He said, “Oh very nice. You have a nice boat!” I said, “Yes, yes.” He said, “I

also have a nice boat.” I said, “Oh, really?” He said, “Yes, you want to come and see?” I said, “Sure, sure!” So he invited me to his sailing yacht, which was a 35m thing- an ocean racer etc- and he had already been across the Atlantic a few times. He sat down on the ship, took a bottle of wine, poured a glass and said, “Have a drink.” I said, “I’ll have some water please.” All right, he gave me some water. I had my water, he had his wine and we had a chat, and he said, “You know, when you’re out in the middle on the Atlantic, you cannot imagine the sunrise! The sunrise: the colours reflecting on the water and returning into the sky…” He said, “…that, that was so beautiful! It moved me deeply! It touched me! It was something overwhelming. I cannot describe it. I have never seen anything like that!”

He took a sip of his wine and then said, “And what happened to you in your life, that you had to create some God to feel comfortable?” I go like, “Ho, ho, ho, ho!!!.Wait a minute, wait a minute!!!! Just one minute ago, you, you had a semireligious experience! You were almost on your knees in awe and reverence for the sunrise! If it’s all just chemicals, if you’re just chemicals and that’s all- just combinations of gases and explosions there in that sun- why are you so moved by it? Why do you feel so touched by the rising of the sun? Why do you want to write poetry about it, and tell me about it with almost tears in your eyes? Why? If we are all from a bio-chemical origin, please explain to me, where

does this come from- this sense of ecstatics, this sense of being touched by nature? ‘It’s so beautiful…’” Snow? It’s just ice and water!

H20, H20 in a temperature below 0. What’s so extraordinary about that? Why? But somewhere we see, that somehow or other there is another element in us, an element that wants to appreciate the beauty of nature, that appreciates the good and bad. Why is there good and bad if everything is just coming about by chance? Is there good and bad then? Very relative. If everything came about simply by chance, by a bio-chemical origin, then good and bad- what does it mean? What’s good is what’s good for me! Well okay, let’s say what’s good, is what’s good for both of us! But it’s not easy because how can you do good for all? It’s impossible.

That’s very difficult. How can you do good for all?’ So indeed, difficult. What’s good for me is causing damage to another. The factory owner is getting fat and rich he is having a great time.

Africa. It’s forbidden in the North Sea so we dump it in front of the coast of Africa! Neo-colonialism, still exploiting them! Nice!’

The factory workers? I don’t know if they are as happy as the owner. They live under the smoke; he lives in a nice place in the hills. So like that, happiness for all? Is it possible? These questions come to mind, these questions come to mind. So yes, if life is just coming from a material source, then what’s good and bad? And therefore, we see so many ideas in the world, so many kinds of people and therefore we see a world where gradually…where nobody cares. I saw once a poster, it was a poster of a Happy Home and that’s what it was called: “Home sweet Home” and there was a nice house, with a nice garden and a family there with pets and everything and it was very nice- on planet Earth. The only thing was, that planet Earth, there was not much left of it! Most had fallen off; there was only a little piece, like a piece of cheese cut out. So that was what was left. It was no longer more a round ball, but just one point of the ball with a little house on it- “Home sweet home.” Yes, that’s what we get in a spirit of selfishness. In a spirit of selfishness, then ‘as long as I’ve got a nice garden, as long as I live okay, what do I care! Dump the nuclear waste and all the heavy chemicals in the oceans of

So like that, what to do! Therefore when we really want to go forward, we have to grow up and we really need happiness for all, happiness for all- that is the world we should see. Not happiness for Europe and poverty for another part of the world- no, happiness for all! Not a first world and a third world- no, everything one world, one world. Why borders? Why did we invent borders? ‘Visa! (Bark!) You don’t have visa? Get out from my country; you’re from the wrong part of the world! (Bark!) Out!’

Yes, like dogs barking at the borders! Keeping the gardens for ourselves, yes but why? We are one world, one people. Borders? Why do we have borders?

‘Dad, why do we have borders?’ ‘Don’t ask such questions son!’ ‘But why?’ ‘Well, it’s just like dad, you know, people speak different languages.’ ‘Why do they speak different languages?’ ‘This boy asks too many questions! Stop! Just accept it all right! And just be like everybody else.’ ‘Yes, dad.’

So like that one becomes dead…dad, I mean! So what to do! So, why borders? No, one world, one people. Different- okay different colours. No problem. Even here, everyone looks different; different colours of hair and so on. It’s not that we say: all the blonde one’s in that corner, ‘okay, all the blonde’s over to the corner in the back! All the brunette’s, over there!’ no, we are mixed. So why not mix with all the varieties of the world? Why borders? No more borders. So we propose one world where people come together. But this is only possible, only possible if we have a spiritual goal- if we accept some spiritual knowledge. So gradually I was getting deeper into India, and as I was getting deeper into India, I was getting more and more knowledge about the Vedic tradition of India. So gradually I read BhagavadGita, which is a summary of all those Vedic conclusions. As I read Bhagavad-Gita, there was one principle in there, which I liked. It was a comparison to a field. It said, there was a farmer, he was working in the field and as this farmer was working in his

field, he was growing the grains. And yes, when the harvest came, he took some grains home, but ultimately, the man working in the field, was not the owner of the field. The owner of the field, he was wealthy, he lived in a big house, he did not actually work on the land; he engaged others in working on the land. So the worker, the worker could certainly work on the field and take something, but not everything. Most of the produce of that land went to the owner. It’s the way the world works! This metaphor was given in the Bhagavad-Gita and it explained that yes, the body is the field and within that body there are two knower’s of that field: one is the worker, the cultivator and the other is the owner of the field. We are the cultivator and not the owner of the field.

Well, I thought about that because I had always thought sort of, well everyone is trying to be a proprietor, ‘My house, my garden, my fence, yes, my gate- mine, I and Mine!’ but no, here it’s said that actually, we are not actually the owner in this world. So we are caretakers, not owner in this world. Mankind doesn’t own this world. ‘God, that’s a shock! We always thought that we were in charge on this planet. Wasn’t it? Animals- we put them something in their mouth and some ropes and we pull them…yes, we are in charge here, you animal! Even elephants, we control them. No problem! Man is the ruler of planet Earth….. we always thought we

were, and now, what did I read? It was quite an adjustment. Suddenly I was no longer a proprietor; suddenly I was only a caretaker.

I never thought of that, I never thought of that- as a caretaker. But if I’m the caretaker, then who’s the proprietor? It’s Bush! Come, didn’t you know… No, no of course not. He’s just…he’s one of the best comics that the world ever had! So, no, beyond him, there is Krsna- the Supreme Lord! We call Him Krsna, others call Him other names.

I go to Africa, South Africa where they call Him, “unkhulukhulu”. It’s cool, er? He has a cool name, “unkhulukhulu”!

And do you know what “unkhulukhulu” means? I’ll tell you what it means; it means ‘He who has most cows.’ Pretty good! They got it, they got it right! They did good. They actually realise that God has the most cows!

Okay, so we tell them, ‘Yes, you’re right. And did you know that He’s a musician as well? And they say, “Really? Is unkhulukhulu a musician? That’s pretty cool man! (African accent)’ so like that, I thought it was remarkable that somehow or other in Africa, they knew that the Supreme Lord had the most cows! And that it sort of convinced me that there was some ancient, deep knowledge there, which may be now covered over, but that once, people actually knew about Krsna and that is a fact! So there is one Supreme Lord who is the Lord of the world. We may have different cultures, but if we begin to approach Him- and everyone can do that from his own tradition and his own background- if we begin to approach Him, then He will reveal Himself to us, and everything becomes clear, with time.

One time…you may know that the Hare Krsna movement’s official name is ISKCON. ISKCON stands for International Society for Krsna Consciousness.

We are registered like that around the world; International Society for Krsna Consciousness. So one day, a man came to our founder, Srila Prabhupada, and he had a proposal, he said, “I would like to invite you to become the founder guru, acarya, teacher of the ‘International Society for Christ Consciousness’ Would you be willing to accept?”

So Prabhupada said, “All right, yes, I’m willing to accept. But I have a condition and my conditions are these, two things: one is that, you follow the 10 commandments, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ that means not even animals thou shalt

not kill, and that you chant the name of the Lord. And if you follow the 10 commandments and chant the name of the Lord, I will accept.”, Prabhupada said. Anyway, they didn’t do it. But yes, he was ready to accept like that because Srila Prabhupada, he knew very well that once people became devotes of God and dedicate their lives to Him as the proprietor and understand that they are caretaker on His behalf, then God will make everything clear, Krsna will reveal Himself to the world, the world will know Him as He is, the Lord will gradually show His identity.

And the more the world becomes atheistic and materialistic, the more Krsna hides Himself, the less He will be visible, the less he will be known, the less we will hear that little voice from within- if you don’t listen to it, you wont hear it anymore! Until everyone says, “God? I don’t know… It’s a nice thing, but you know the problem is there’s absolutely no proof…” until you come to a point where people say, “Well, you know, that’s a very personal thing, that’s a very personal thing and if you want to believe, that’s up to you. But please, please one thing- don’t talk about it…”

then you have come in Holland, where that kind of philosophy is not uncommon! But there is a spiritual vacuum in the world and if we look at all the cultures of the world, then we see that an atheistic, materialistic culture has never existed very long in the world. Maybe since the 2nd world war or so have we got this culture and already so many people are looking for alternatives- so many! We get so many visitors heretoo many! Sometimes when I’m here in Radhadesh, I’m only a visitor, but sometimes when I’m here, I feel like a monkey in a cage because you have all these bus tours, they come here and the people, they look at you like…as if in the zoo, you know! And they look at you from head to toe like, “Wow, that’s a real one, you know…” someone pulls out a camera- click! It’s like a monkey in the zoo!

So, so many people actually, are taking interest in spiritual life because it’s natural- somehow or other it’s natural. And that’s why we see, why are there so many religions in the world? Because all the people of the world, somehow or other, have that same inclination in their heart- there is a spiritual need. And therefore, I’m glad you came and that you shared this weekend with us. Please do come back next year. We’ll try and improve on the weather conditions first of all, and if there are any other areas that you would like us to improve, certainly we will try in those too. And some of you, we have

seen before, some of you have come again, some are coming more often, some have only come for this festival, and some come every year for just this festival!

All I can say is that, that’s wonderful! We’re happy to see you, old friends, back here again. We hope you’ll come back again and again because yes, this place is also for you; it is a place full of culture, full of a deep culture coming from India originally and full of deep knowledge.

We have a big library there, on the other side of the park. There is a college here, where people are studying and they get degrees- it’s connected to some university- I don’t know exactly because I’m totally useless at these things, but whatever they’re getting, it’s

a formally recognised degree. So there is a theological college, there are many, many things going on in this place: there are regular courses, regular activities…in other words, it’s an interesting place. It’s not all just about a summer festival with some balloons and so on- No, there’s more to it. It’s not all about hot air- there’s more to it than just that, there is some substance.

So you are most welcome to talk to us personally, privately, and to look into things more because I think by now, (this is it, I’ve got 30 seconds, I timed it real well) by now, Hare Krsna is sort of accepted. You know, when I use to live in the 70’s in the temple, and I was in Amsterdam, people would…especially the Amsterdam construction workers would go, “Hey, *young Jourig! Hey, Young Jourig!” I can’t translate that very well! But if you missed out on it, it’s a typical Amsterdam way of saying, ‘a guy in a dress.’ I mean, the things I went through over the years, you know…I’ve had a man come up to me and said, “Hi, I love the colour of your dress!” I mean, I have a staff also, so you can’t have a staff, so you can’t imagine what

it’s like walking around in Holland with a staff on the 5th of December! Or I came to Australia and they say, “Hey, fishing, fishing! Did you catch something?” So, sometimes I just say, yes! And they go, “Oh, ye, I love fishing, I caught this big…!” Oh my God!

But over the years, I must say, we got a little more acceptance and by now, a lot of people begin to appreciate that maybe we’re not just some strange guys but that possibly, we have something to offer, because they realise it’s not just some idiots who put on the ‘bed sheets’, or not just some extraterrestrials who have just landed from another planet,

or not some sought of absolute strange cult of religious fanatics, ‘Hare Krsna Hare Krsna…’- constantly repeat this

mantra; but that actually they are people who have a way of life, who seem to have many good sides to it actually: we don’t drink and we don’t need it. I don’t drink and I don’t go nuts, I don’t smoke and I feel okay, I don’t need any drugs and I’m quite happy, I’m even not addicted to sex this way or that way, and it makes life pretty cheap and simple. And I’m still okay. I’m not ready for any mental hospital or anything like that, I’m totally peaceful. In other words, there must be something, some secret to life that can be found. What it is? I will not tell you in this lecture! Rather, whatever that secret is, you can dig under the surface and see what you find, because my lecture ends herewith a secret!!!

Thank you very much!