Faith in Guru and Surrender to Krsna 91
put up their flag and claimed it for their nation. This
flag planting and flag waving is all due to ignorance.
We do not stop to think where we are putting our
flag. It is not our property, but God’s. Knowing this
is knowledge, and thinking that it is my property is
ignorance. We have the right to utilize but not to
claim or hoard.

If we throw a bag of grain into the street, pigeons
may come and eat four or five small grains and then
go away. They will not take more than they can
eat, and having eaten they go freely on their way.
But if we were to put many bags of flour on the
sidewalk and invite people to come and get them,
one man would take ten or twenty bags and another
would take fifteen or thirty bags and so on. But
those who do not have the means to carry so much
away will not be able to take more than a bag or two.
Thus the distribution will be uneven. This is called
advancement of civilization; we are even lacking in
the knowledge which the pigeons, dogs and cats
have. Everything belongs to the Supreme Lord, and
we can accept whatever we need, but not more.
That is knowledge. By the Lord’s arrangement the
world is so made that there is no scarcity of any-
thing. Everything is sufficient, provided that we
know how to distribute it. However, the deplorable
condition today is that one is taking more than he
needs while another is starving. Consequently the
starving masses are revolting and asking, “Why should
we starve?’’ But their methods are imperfect. The
perfection of spiritual communism is found in the
knowledge that everything belongs to God. By
