India’s greatest attraction for many foreigners is the Taj Mahal, arguably the greatest symbol of love. Richard (now Radhanath Swami) however was disappointed on knowing that such a massive marble structure was built with violence and insecurity in the mind of the king. After building the Taj mahal as a memory monument for his wife, the Moghul king severed the hands of the gifted craftsmen so that the structure would never be duplicated. Besides, one of his own sons imprisoned him and killed his brothers to take over the kingdom. Richard felt sorry that after building such a magnificent structure the family members battled and murdered one another. He realized that as long as the heart harbors greed for power as exemplified by this king’s dynasty, the monument of love has no meaning. Richard mused, “It’s really monumental if we can conquer over our lust, greed and envy.”
The world is witnessing unparalled poverty and deprivation caused by the greed of the affluent few. In the well-researched book Food First, Francis Moore Lappe points out that much of the world’s best land is being misused for production of cash export crops. Therefore it is greed among the affluent that’s at the root of the resulting starvation. Food First reports a study of famines in Africa showing that during every drought the affected nation had within its own boundaries the food resources to feed its starving citizens, but relief was withheld because of economic or political motives. The merchants wanted to hoard the grains, cause artificial inflation, and earn more profit. Or the politicians wanted to deprive regions supporting the opposing politicians and thus settle old scores or gain the upper hand. Sometimes the food-grains rotted in the storehouses while people all around starved. Or worse still, crops were burned or grains sunk into the ocean. The same sad story of Africa often repeats itself in various parts of the world wherever natural calamities strike. Thus whether it’s a Moghul King’s greed or modern man’s exploitative mentality, the phenomenon is universal; greed for power is the bane of human society.
Radhanath Swami offers an interesting presentation on greed; he says we don’t want to abolish the sentiment of greed; we just want to change the object. Instead of being greedy for material enjoyment we should seek to be greedy to serve God and others. Radhanath Swami reasons that the feelings of lust and greed that we have in this world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual reality; a reality where there is purity of thought, feelings and action. Therefore we should be lusty and greedy for making spiritual advancement and for serving others. Radhanath Swami further clarifies that lust means a longing for something. Therefore we have to long for God, says Radhanath Swami. He says that the price we have to pay for spiritual enlightenment is the tears we shed, a longing for God. This is the way we purify our lust- by longing for God. Similarly greed is a terrible demon in our hearts. Quoting Rupa Goswami, a sixteenth century Vaishnava saint and philosopher, Radhanath Swami says we don’t want to vanquish greed but purify it by serving God and others.
Radhanath Swami assures that individually each one of us can make a difference to the world if we attempt to transform our material greed to a spiritual emotion.
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Founder-acharya of the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
“Go to India” a sweet but commanding voice; spoke up in the heart of young Richard (later Radhanath Swami) who was immersed in meditation, his search for meaning in life has brought him to the Isle of Crete. Today he was ordered to go to India. Born and raised in the middle class suburbs of Chicago, Radhanath swami grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s era when popular musicians protested war, prejudice and social injustice. Radhanath swami would listen to these songs again and again, but their lyrics referring to God stirred his soul. Peter, Paul and Mary- the folk trio from Greenswich village sang in their debut album
“Early in the morning, about the break of day
I ask the Lord, to help me find my way”
This simple prayer was to guide Radhanath swami in the coming years of his life........
Wonderful example of how we can overcome our bad side by connecting with the Lord.
View Commentevery thing boils down to dovetailing…
View Commentvery inspiring and a fact of reality as mentioned by HHRNSM on the issue of greed & lust, thank you Maharaj for all the guidance and inspiration, HARIBOL, rajesh karia
View CommentThe book to read was good.Would like to read more books of the author.
View CommentBrilliant article.Really very inspiring.
View CommentGreat article wonderful article an inspiration to us
View CommentDown to earth thoughts…..thank you very much Maharaj
View Commentperfect and simply amazing. Yes, it is greed which is conquering the world now a days and we should humbly try to dovetail the same towards serving God
View CommentA very clear and enlightening piece if thought from the incident. Radhanath Swami Maharaj is especially empowered to draw the essence and distribute it as nectar free of cost
View CommentThere is no gain to show off beauty outside if one’s heart is not free from greed for self enjoyment. All glories to HH Radhanatha Swami Maharaja.
View CommentWhat a wonderful explanation to dovetail our negative propensities
View CommentIt is monumental indeed, if we can overcome lust, greed and anger
View CommentGreedy to serve GOD ! can we actually change are attitude to get doing that?
View CommentWell on a practical front with our own endeavor ,we may not be to crawl towards that, but under the compassionate guidance of Radhanath Maharaj it becomes a way of life.
i m impressed
View CommentWonderful article by Radhanath Swami!!!
View CommentThought provoking article……..very nice
View Comment“It’s really monumental if we can conquer over our lust, greed and envy.” – Radhanath swami always talks about the eternal principles, his words are potent to inspire everyone to transform. I really like these articles a lot.
View CommentRadhanath Swami gives a fitting solution “we don’t want to abolish the sentiment of greed; we just want to change the subject!”
View CommentEye opener stats, we always complain about 100s of things but root cause for all the suffering is truely greed and lust.
View CommentThank you very very much maharaj for enligtening us.
What a wonderful explanation of how to convert our greed and lust for material things into service of the Lord.
View CommentThank you Maharaj for showing us path to overcome material greed and material lust…
View CommentTaking this as new aspect with great wisdom.
View Commentultimate analysis ….good one
View Commentwonderful article.
View CommentVery nice realisations….thanks
View Commentgreat article. thank u.
View CommentWonderful article by Radhanath Swami!!!
View CommentUntil the bad dog within us is not killed we will keep doing all these abominable activities for our sadistic enjoyment.
View CommentWhat a message given by Radhanath Swami in this article. Thanks for sharing it.
View CommentVery good article ! Please Post a lot like that. Thank You very much !!!
View CommentMaharaj has nicely explained the importance of service to Lord. Thank you Maharaj.
View CommentThank You for Sharing
View CommentHare Krishna Thank You for sharing a nice story
View Commentamazingly good one
View CommentWonderful article by Radhanath Swami!!!
View CommentThank you very much Maharaj for this article.
View CommentVery nicely illustrated by HH RNS Maharaj how we should try to transform these material greeds into spiritual path in the service of the Lord and devotees.
View CommentHeart inspiring article on greed.
View Commentall material conquest is futile ..very well said
View CommentRadhanath swami so beautifully explains what to greed for.
View CommentVery inspiring article. Thank you very much for sharing.
View CommentThank you very much Maharaji for continuously enlightening our way understanding the things in material world.
View Commentwonderful realization by Radhanath Swami Maharaj
View CommentVery instructive lesson by Radhanath Swami!!!
View Commentinstead of conquering the enemies outside, let us conquer enemies inside …
View CommentReally true as Radhanath swami says- greater monumental thing is to conquer over lust and greed in one’s heart and not building Taj Mahal like architecture.
View Commentamazing article.
View CommentMany thanks to Radhanath Swami for revealing this very important point to transform our material greed to a spiritual emotion. Thanks for posting.
View CommentFantastic Article.
View CommentGreed for power is the bane for human society. Indeed, what Radhanath Swami is true to this day as we look around
View Comment