The Global Illusion of Oneness

We hear it all the time. The idea of global oneness, where we are supposed to unite and realise how equal and how the same we are, regardless of our origin, the colour of our skin, or even, as advocated today in most bisar ways, in regards to our sex, we are the same and one, men, women, (or women and men in correct order? :-) or those "in between", great and small, rich and poor, strong and weak,... we are the same.

Are we?

If it is so, why always point out the need to get rid of the dualities dictating our different patterns of behaviour and why always try to unite as we are "naturally" united?
The idea of global oneness is old. To achieve this oneness, many rulers and dictators tried, throughout the history of mankind, to establish it by brutal force. The more clever ones amongst them infiltrated the local cultural environment with their doctrines in the name of "education", establishing nothing else as their own empires by surpresing the local population. "Divide and rule" was their real agenda, entirely contradicting the ideals they preached.

The lies and indoctrination of the occupying forces are as old as humanity itself. Srila Prabhupada came and impressed the about global freedom and love dreaming hippies and humanists with the only possible type of unification, an unification possible to achieve only on a spiritual platform, which is for all those who believe to be their body a mystery.

Any "nationalist" or, in extended form, a globalist shares the same idea: we are this body, and herewith unification and globalisation have to take place on a bodily platform where we enjoy nature's gifts equally. There are small thieves and big-time thieves exploiting nature's gifts while trying to suppress the inherent question whose nature they try to abuse.

While trying to establish the humanistic "don't abuse others" ideals, they commit the greatest abuse while stealing and exploiting what was given by God. As thieves try to equally divide amongst themselves what was stolen, taking democratic votes on what else we should steal next, such demoniac leaders lure the stupidified population into the idea of global "love and peace". By pushing their agenda either by bribing the population with false paper currency or, in times when such an illusion is revealed by the use of brutal physical force, claiming to be exactly what they are not, such demons are able to achieve their goals.

Srila Prabhupada exposes this hypocrisy by telling a humorous story:

When a thief was out at night, he was woken up by a sleeping householder. Even before switching the lights on, the aroused housekeeper heard a voice out of the darkness: „I am not stealing! I am not stealing!" he declared, clearly exposing the intention of the stealing man.

Why is there so much talk about global "love and peace"? Those who truly live up to such ideals have no need to talk about them all the time; they simply LIVE according to them while trying to give them physical form.

We don't have to go too far to point the finger at materialist society in order to expose such hypocrisy. Even Srila Prabhupadas movement got invaded by individuals of such mentality, who always try to make us believe that in the name of Krsna consciousness we will be one and the same... as long as they stay in power. Such cheating leaders advocate principles they themselves do not follow. Securing their status with money and false titles, such invadors try to establish themselves on the basis of the mere faith of the pious but nevertheless ignorant ones.

No wonder they seek favours from the demoniac leadership of the society; the mentality is the same.
„Drinking wine and preaching water" such hypocrites are committing the worst kind of abuse: abuse in the name of Krsna's words. Trying to intimidate the ignorant ones with threats of vaisnava aparadha, offence to the saintly devotees, and always repeating the same parole of forgiveness, they seek to relieve themselves from the horrifying karma coming to them.

Vedic management is based on the facts established by Krsna Himself in the Bhagavad Gita, informing us that we are individuals eternally, and so there is a reason why we get different bodies according to our different natures. One and different, we are simultaneously spiritually united as eternal parts of the Supreme but individual in the expression of our devotion to Him.

Vedic kings DIVIDED human society along their forms of conditioning, making sure that nobody invaded or encroached upon the local habitat of the other. Simultaneously, they tried to bring everybody to the spiritual platform of devotional service to God.
All this was manifested in Srila Prabhupadas preaching. He was an amazing pure devotee of the highest order who could attract a broad spectrum of pious individuals and unite them in service to Krsna.
Dealing with his disciples most individually while engaging them in the same mission, to spread Krsna consciousness, he practically demonstrated what real unification and real love mean.

Real love comes from the heart. Body love comes from sensual perception. There is a lot of difference between these two, as bodily love easily turns into hatred when one's sensual expectations get frustrated. There is no unification on the bodily platform; rather, it is wise to maintain our bodies locally according to the given nature, as long as such nature clearly doesn't contradict the principles of Krsna consciousness. Unification without shared principles is a mere idea. When Srila Prabhupada was informed that there was quarrel and disagreement to be found even amongst his disciples, his analysis was swift: „They don't follow the regulative principles". When this happens, only agitation of the senses can be found, and an agitated person can never find the necessary peace of mind to be united with anyone.

For thousands of years, humanity was regulated by principles being established within the local religious context, however basic they were. A society without religion is an animalistic society. Even worse, such a society operates according to animal standards, as animals are regulated by material nature, which dictates their particular forms of behavior according to their instincts. Contrary to "human" society, there are not hypocrites amongst the animals, as a dog is clearly a dog and a cat is clearly a cat.

The worst predator on this planet, the unregulated human being, can never unite with anybody.
Alliances can be temporarily made for the sake of sense gratification, but in the name of unification we again try to invade others; in the name of "help" we kill and get killed; in the name of "love" we learn how to eliminate the other; in the name of education we end up being stupidified. Such are the policies of demons who cleverly use the right vocabulary for the wrong purpose.

Vedic management respects the individual nature of a being and the place it appears. The concept of indiscriminate immigration is well understood as being devastating to human society. In vedic society, travel is conducted mainly by preachers; the rest of humanity lives off the local environment and the resources it provides.
Even in Srila Prabhupada's movement, which is by its nature transcendental and operates beyond the boundaries dictated by this body, we find problems being generated by devotees from various regions mixing together. Finaly, we find Russian devotees always talking to Russian devotees, Indian devotees relating mostly to Indian devotees, and American devotees trying to dominate everybody else ending up being isolated proportionally to their "imperialistic" mentality :-)
Such differences can only be put aside in the presence of strong leadership that brings devotees together under the banner of being "one and different simultaneously".

The strongest places where Krsna consciousness is maintained are those where local devotees manage. Water always finds its level, and birds of the same feather flock together. For the sake of preaching, a devotee can travel, but such travels are only of an assisting nature to the locals and not of dictating one's nature to others. Even devotees anxiously travelling to India to collect the mercy on location eventually have to return to their domestic destinations...when the visa permit runs out :-)
The disaster that follows when management becomes dominated by one single leader of an imported kind was clearly demonstrated by the collapse of the zonal guru regime, where few understood themselves or were designated to be the ULTIMATE leaders and not the ASSISTANT leaders. When such imperial understanding prevails, natural fragmentation follows as "my zone" is not "your zone".

Fragmentation in the bodily sense is natural. As mentioned before, unification is only possible on the spiritual platform through the chanting of the Holy Name, the yuga dharma of this age, the distribution of prasadam, food offered to the Supreme, and, for those equipped with higher intelligence, the study of Srila Prabhupadas books, while their distribution forms the basic element of our preaching.

Such are the guidelines Srila Prabhupada gave us, and when temples and consequent communities of devotees manifested, Srila Prabhupada strongly opposed centralization as advocated by some leaders of his movement. Every project and every temple have to stand managerially on their own while being united in regards to the regulative principles given by the Acharya.
It is the duty of global leaders to ensure the individuality and simultaneity of such projects and the devotees who participate in them. This can only be achieved by constant traveling and on-location assistance, as Srila Prabhupada did, whose vocabulary destroyed his body by giving his personal associations to us. To sit in some remote location and wait for others to come is like driving down a dead-end road. This is especially true in times when the majority of ISKCON devotees live in the form of grhasta asrama, which forces them in presence of their children to live very localy. 
Those who are unable to provide such personal association are isolated in a secure financial institution. Old, well-maintained men, bereft of any strength derived from tapasya, cannot give inspiration to young devotees, who are often dominated by passion and an innovative spirit. To regulate such passion is possible only when taking part in others lives, not when living life in seclusion. The world will not come to us; we have to go to it.

Of course, there are many who don't want anybody to invade their lives, so they construct their own images of Krsna consciousness and collect only what they find suitable for their expectations. We used to call such mentality "going shopping". Such home-made gurus may even accept a Kanistha adhikari as a guru in a formal way, but they will never taste the happiness in Krsna consciousness derived from tapasya, giving up one's own idea and joining Krsna's idea of becoming His devoted servants. Such vimukta maninahs, who have Krsna consciousness only in their minds without the involvement of their hearts, try to impress upon the public their own concocted standards, and surely they find sympathy with those who would like to change the kingdom of God to their own liking. "Sannyasa means to do the needful" a simple definition of Srila Prabhupada in regards to real renunciation.

Meanwhile, those who understand the true nature of Krsna consciousness while respecting individuality seek unification within the mission Srila Prabhupada entrusted to us.
As any flourishing tree is filled with branches that bear fruits and green leaves, those branches that get disconnected from the root dry out. Such is "spiritual Darwinism" where only the spiritually strongest survive.

Final unification can be found only in the spiritual world. To the degree we are willing to be united by Krsna and His pure devotee, we can taste some bliss of unification even in this world, but such unification is possible only on the basis of knowledge of our true selves and not on the basis of imagination.