The Esoteric Teaching is not a religion, not a spiritual path, not yoga, not Tantra. But it supports and facilitates so many religions, spiritual paths, yogic and tantric practices. And it even facilitates art, music, science, sociology, science—everything you can imagine, and a great many things that, in material conditioned consciousness, you cannot imagine: for example, the science of transcendental consciousness.
It has this power because it is an ontology. It is the science of consciousness, the science of spirituality. It is so powerful because human beings are spiritual living entities, or souls. Therefore the Esoteric Teaching, as the science of spirit, gives the proper form and meaning to human existence and activities.
To give one very important example, the Esoteric Teaching can show us how to structure human society according to spiritual understanding. We are not talking about government or politics; that is a mundane field best left to its respective experts. What we are talking about is the natural class structure of human society according to spiritual science.
Karl Marx was partly right: there is a class struggle going on in human society. But he was wrong in that he attributed the different social classes to economics and politics. His solution was to eliminate classes by redistributing wealth, and create a workers’ paradise. This is foolish, because you cannot eliminate the different classes of human beings. The classes of human beings are created by Kṛṣṇa:
catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma vibhagasah
“According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 4.13]
Social classes exist by the will of God, by divine law. Thus it is natural to have classes, but these classes must be defined by peoples’ quality of consciousness and the type of work they perform.
The Vedic varnasrama-dharma social system is divided into four classes: brahmanas or the priestly intellectual class, ksatriyas or the martial and administrative class, vaisyas or the mercantile and agricultural class, and sudras or the worker class.
Naturally, the brahmanas are considered the most intelligent and spiritually advanced, and are held to the highest standard of moral conduct. They advise the ksatriyas in the proper administration of the government, and help the vaisyas perform the religious rites that guarantee the prosperity and safety of the society. The duty of the sudras is to work and serve the other three classes. They generally are not very advanced in spiritual wisdom and following religious principles, and are prone to degradation such as intoxication and illicit sex life.
These classes are not artificial; because they exist by the law of God, they are natural and found everywhere you look. In every country and among every people, these four classes of human beings exist: some people are giving advice and performing the duties of religion; some are giving orders and administering the state or political system; some are engaged in agriculture, trade and banking; and the rest are employees of the former three basic classes.
Vedic society structured according to varnasrama-dharma is not arbitrary: the social class to which one belongs is determined by objective spiritual tests. Thus one’s role in society is determined by one’s aptitude and spiritual qualifications.
Bhagavad-gita describes the specific qualifications for brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras. But the key to the entire arrangement of Vedic civilization is that everyone is guided by a superior. The brahmana guides the ksatriyas, the ksatriya protects the vaisyas, and the vaisya employs the sudras. The brahmanas give spiritual advice and protection to the ksatriyas, as the ksatriyas’ business is to give protection to the citizens, similarly, the vaisyas’ duty is to give protection to the sudras and animals.
krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam vaisya-karma svabhava-jam
“Farming, cattle raising and business are the qualities of work for the vaisyas.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.44]
Vaisyas should engage themselves in agricultural production and giving protection to the cows: go-raksya. Go-raksya, cow protection, is one of the essential items of state affairs in Vedic society. And now there is no cow protection. The poor cows deliver milk to us, and later on they are slaughtered. How sinful the modern society is! And still they want peace and prosperity? That is not possible. What they are doing is against the law of God: “Thou shalt not kill.” “He who killeth an ox is as he who killeth a man.”
The society must be divided—brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra—and they must execute their proper duty. The brahmanas should be responsible for education, spiritual training and advising according to spiritual wisdom. The vaisyas should give protection to the cows. And the sudras, they should work under the direction of the higher three divisions. In this way there will be nice management.
Then, as it is stated in the Esoteric Teaching, kamam vavarsa parjanyah [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.4]. Then nature also will help. If you keep human society properly according to Vedic direction, then nature also will help you. Nature will give you sufficient foodstuff. Vavarsa parjanyah kamam. All the necessities of life will be supplied by nature simply by proper adjustment of the weather, vrsti.
Actually, now the whole world is suffering because of climate change. There is scarcity of rain in some places, and in others too much rain and violent storms. Without good weather and regulated rainfall, agriculture is impossible.
Therefore during the Vedic era, kamam vavarsa parjanyah: “The clouds showered all the rainfall that people needed, and the earth produced all the necessities of mankind in profusion.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.4] And Kṛṣṇa says, yajnad bhavati parjanyah [Bhagavad-gita 3.14]. “If you want sufficient water, then you must perform yajna, spiritual sacrifices.”
These are the indications, direction of the Vedic wisdom. So at the present moment no other yajna is possible. The only yajna, sankirtana-yajna, is possible. Yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah: “In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.32]
So if this Esoteric Teaching is taken seriously all over the world and people perform sankirtana-yajna, congregational chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord, and implement the Vedic varnasrama-dharma social system, then everything will be adjusted by the law of nature. Everything. Even the climate will change. But the rascals of Kali-yuga will not take it; so they will suffer. Otherwise all good directions are there in the Esoteric Teaching.
People have to take the advantage of this direction, the perfect direction of the Esoteric Teaching, and they will be happy. So we are trying to introduce this Esoteric Teaching so that people may come to their senses, take advantage of it and be happy.
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