Re: Science and Unemployment...

Sandra Russell (srussell@ix.netcom.com)
1 Jul 1995 05:18:33 GMT

In <3t2brm$kjt@dingo.cc.uq.oz.au> shelter@peg.apc.org (Madhudvisah dasa
Swami) writes:

>>No new medicines either I suppose,
>
>They have very good medicine. They have the Auyavedic scriptures. All
the >medical knowledge is there... It doesn't need research it's
perfectly OK >the way it is.

No kidding? What do the scriptures say to do when a baby is trying to
get born through a pelvis that is simply too small for the head? What
idiocy you preach.

>>but even more so, what you are suggesting
>>also implies no new ideas.
>
>There are no new ideas really. We just rehash the old ones.

And the above it not just idiocy, it tends toward outright evil, ala
Orwell.

>>then, where would you get the cash to go on a nice long holiday to
India?
>
>Yes. We are in a very fortunate position. We can live simply and spend
>time thinking about and serving God and we can also fly over to India
to >visit if we want to... So we should use this great opportunity of
birth in >the western countries to make spiritual advancement... not
just waste it >eating, sleeping, mating and defending like the cats and
dogs.

Wait a minute. I thought you said they already had all the time they
needed to do this, in simple old India. And that anyway there were no
new ideas. So how are you going to advance, spiritually or otherwise?

>>And what is it like when there is a drought or heavy storm? How many
die>>of dysentry because of no water purification plants.
>
>They're a little more philosophical about it all. As I have said many
>times we get the suffering that's coming to us because of what we have
>done in the past. That's karma. You can't change it.

Then what is the crap above about having time for philosphy if you don't
have to work to keep yourself fed? Can you change your life for the
better by working, or not? By working smart, or not? By using
technology, or not? You go back and forth, contradicting yourself,
whenever it suits your argument.

They have some types >of suffering in India and you have different
types of suffering in the US. >They are not getting AIDS, they are not
having heart attacks, they are not >getting cancer

Sorry, but if you visit a hospital you will see plenty of cancer and
heart disease in India, and AIDS is radpidly on the rise there, too.
Wait 5 years.

.. Life is certainly "harder" there than in the west. But
>that's life. India is not really for material comfort, it is called
"Punya >Bhumi", the land of pious activity, so it's meant for spiritual
>advancement.

You contradict yourself again.

> The western countries are better equipped for material life.
>It was Srila Prabhupada's [the founder of the Hare Krishna movement]
idea >to combine the two. The wealth and technology of the west and the
>spiritual knowledge of India. He said India was like a lame man and
>America was like a blind man. India has a treasure house of culture and
>spiritual knowledge but is materially bankrupt while America has very
nice >material facilities but is spiritually bankrupt.
He saw that the two >countries could work together cooperatively for
each other's benefit.

For his material benefit, you mean. Unfortunately, you've already spent
pages and pages arguing that material advances are not necessary, not
important, and not worth seeking. What was Prabupada doing getting rich
then? Very odd.

>Because a godless civilization is not nice and also a poverty stricken
>civilization is not nice...

A poverty stricken civilization is "not nice"? This from the guy who
says that there is the same amount of suffering everywhere? Whatever do
you mean then, by "not nice"?

I think you had better go back and think this out again, before you try
it again on the boobs.

Steve Harris