12 Raja-vidya: The King of Knowledge
do with possessions or lack of possessions. “I have
nothing to lose and nothing to gain,” he thinks, “I
am completely separate from all this.” Nor does he
see anyone else as rich or poor, educated or unedu-
cated, beautiful or ugly, etc. He does not see any
material dualities, for his vision is completely on
the spiritual platform, and he sees that every living
entity is part and parcel of Krsna. Thus seeing all
entities in their true identity, he tries to take them
back to Krsna consciousness. His viewpoint is that
everyone—whether he be brahmana or sudra, black
or white, Hindu, Christian, or whatever—should come
to Krsna consciousness, When one is situated in this
way, then: mad-bhaktim labhate param—he becomes
eligible for becoming a pure devotee of Krsna’s.
Practically speaking, this process is not very easy
in this age of Kali. In Srimad-Bhagavatam a descrip-
tion is given of the people of this age. Their duration
of life is said to be very short, they tend to be
phlegmatic and slow and to sleep a great deal, and
when they’re not sleeping, they are busy earning
money. At the most they only have two hours a
day for spiritual activities, so what is the hope for
spiritual understanding? It is also stated that even
if one is anxious to make spiritual progress, there
are many pseudo-spiritual societies to take advantage
of him. People are also characterized in this age as
being unfortunate, They have a great deal of diffi-
culty meeting the primary demands of life—eating,
defending, mating, and sleeping—necessities which
are met even by the animals. Even if people are
meeting these necessities in this age, they are always
