In2-MeC

Belgrade, Yugoslavia
30 June, 2003

How Much Time Have You Got in That Body? Go to: www.deathclock.com/

The original actual Reality, in all its unlimited richness, is Bhagavan Sri Krsna. He is the immeasurable reservoir of beauty, wealth, strength, knowledge, fame and renunciation. Though He has an unchanging form, it is limitless in its qualities. That is the amazing nature of spiritual form as opposed to material form, which defines a thing by limiting it to a fixed shape, a fixed location, a fixed list of qualities. Maya is the original virtual reality (i. e. simulated reality). From the dictionary there is a nice single word for virtual reality: verisimlitude.   A snapshot of a person looks exactly like him in many ways, but obviously it is not him. Similarly, maya resembles original reality in many ways. It is an expert enough verisimlitude to fool us if we want to be fooled. But just as a photograph is a two-dimensional image of a person who exists in three dimensions, so maya's replication of Krsna's opulences is within the lower dimension of material consciousness. We all feel attraction to the qualities of beauty, wealth, strength and so on that are evident in maya's realm. To us, who are very weak and tiny, maya's raw, primeval display of opulence and power appears unlimited. How can entities so insignificant as ourselves lord it over the unlimited? Therefore maya, the energy that accomodates our materialistic inclinations, also displays herself in forms that we can apparently seize and take control of. One definition of maya is "measurable. " Things within our human power of manipulation have their definite size, shape, weight, position in time and space and so on. That which we can measure, is limited.   That which is limited, we get bored with.   There's the rub.   And so people become attracted to newer and newer manifestations of maya, artificial maya created by human beings.   Artificial maya--like the world inside a computer game--seems more exciting than "real" maya. It is full of unexpected surprises. Another thing we find thrilling is that we can can change the shape of that maya at will.   For more about computer-simulated reality, go to: http://digitalism.8m.com/ The original maya is usually not nearly so thrilling. If it is thrilling, it's often because of killing (war and catastrophe), which is no fun if it happens to you and me. The original maya is much harder to manipulate. For example, if you want to change the landscape of the place you live, you are faced with the prospect of many long hours of hard work.   The spiritual world, consisting of pure consciousness, is ever-fresh with transcendental enjoyments. But these enjoyments are meant for Krsna's pleasure. The spiritual world is instantly manipulatable by the Lord.   Why did Lord Balarama become so angry at the Yamuna River?  Because He called her to come to Him but she neglected His order, considering Him intoxicated. After He threatened to divide her into so many rivulets with His plow, she immediately arrived to fall at His lotus feet in surrender. Then He bathed in her.   In the material world, if a river changed its course at the beck and call of some powerful man, we would call it a miracle. This is what virtual reality aims at: the creation of a miraculous world for man, not God, to enjoy. But look. The sun, a gigantic ball of super-intense energy, moves across the sky every day.   Is that not miraculous? A fly walks on the ceiling. Is that not miraculous? A cow eats grass and produces milk. A tree grows out of the ground and bears apples, pears or bananas. Can man with his modern technology manufacture a tree out of chemicals that will do that? Technological man is proud of his big metal airplanes,
but can he manufacture an airplane the size of a mosquito? Technological man is proud that he harnessed atomic power, but can he dispell the dangers that come with atomic power? Atomic power plants are no longer wanted because of the risk of radioactive contamination. Technological man knows no foolproof way to safeguard against this danger.   The sun has been pouring down its tremendous energy upon the whole earth for millions of years, free of charge and free of problems. Is that not miraculous? Of course it is. Then why is man so foolish as to ignore the miracle of Krsna's acintya-sakti all around him? Why does he retreat into a computerized world of flickering electronic images? It's because he can manipulate that world with little clicks of his mouse. It's because there, within the CGE (Computer Graphic Effects) universe, he can imagine himself to be God.   For more about that world, go to: www.smartuniverse.com/reach.html But how will mere flickering computer images make a person happy? That is just an escape into an even deeper illusion than the "original" maya. Thus we have a new kind of addiction: computer addiction, Internet addiction. It is an up to date, very technologically sophisticated form of idiocy.   Want to know more?  Go to: www-csag.ucsd.edu/individual/pakin/idiot/chapter1.html

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