Choosing Human and Animal Lives 11
worshiping them. They actually wanted one hog to
become President, and they wanted the hogs to lead
them. This has gone to such lengths that at one be-in
in Seattle there was a demonstration with hogs in
which the boys and girls undressed themselves and
got in the mud and played with the hogs, and in
this way they were associating with the hogs and
pigs which they worshiped. All this is going on ina
country where the young people have good looking
bodies, a great deal of money and so many other
advantages over the young people of other nations.
The result of gaining all these advantages is that they
have simply taken to hog worship. Such hog worship
was anticipated long, long ago and was described in
Srimad-Bhagavatam, which was compiled at least
5,000 years ago. The point is that a beautiful situa-
tion in life should be utilized for a beautiful end,
not for degraded forms of worship.

In the Vedic histories we find that there were
many, many exalted emperors and kings who prac-
ticed austerities and penances. Dhruva Maharaja,
Ambarisa Maharaja and Yudisthira Maharaja were
all great kings and were most opulent, but at the
same time they were great sages. Thus they set the
example for those who have acquired this good
opportunity of a beautiful human form of life with
all the facilities for economic development and good
living. This opportunity should be used to attain an
even better life, and this can be actualized by prac-
tice of penance. At present we are existing in these
material bodies, but if we take to the process of
Krsna consciousness, our consciousness will be pur-
ified. Although American and European, the young
