Text 22] Lord Visnu’s Appearance in the Sacrificial Arena 791
of the first order. We can distinctly see from his behavior how he became
ecstatic, both externally and internally, in pure devotional service.

Just today we have seen in the newspapers of Bombay that the govern-
ment is going to repeal its prohibition laws. Ever since Gandhi’s noncoop-
eration movement, Bombay has been kept dry and has not allowed its
citizens to drink. But unfortunately the citizens are so clever that they
have increased illicit distillation of liquor, and although not being sold
publicly in shops, liquor is being sold in public lavatories and similar
abnormal places. Unable to check such illicit smuggling, the government
has decided to manufacture the liquor at cheaper prices so that people can
have their supply of intoxication directly from the government instead of
purchasing it in public lavatories. The government failed to change the
hearts of the citizens from indulging in sinful life, so instead of losing the
taxes they collect toinflate the treasury, they have decided to manufacture
liquor to supply to the citizens who hanker after it.

This kind of government cannot check the resultant actions of sinful
life, namely, war, pestilence, famine, earthquakes and similar other disturb-
ances. Nature’s law is that as soon as there are discrepancies in the laws of
God (which are described in Bhagavad-gita as dharmasya glanih, or dis-
obedience to the laws of nature of God), at once there will be heavy punish-
ment in the form of sudden outbreak of war. We have recently experienced
a war between India and Pakistan. Within fourteen days there have been
immense losses of men and money, and there have been disturbances to
the entire world. These are the reactions of sinful life. The Krsna conscious-
ness movement is meant to make people pure and perfect. If we become
even partially pure, as described in the Bhagavatam (nasta-prayesv abha-
dresu), by development of Krsna consciousness, then lust and greed, the
material diseases of the citizens, will be reduced. This can be made possible
simply by broadcasting the pure message of Srimad-Bhagavatam or Krsna
consciousness. Big commercial and industrial firms have contributed many
thousands of rupees to a Defense Fund that burns the money in the form
of gunpowder, but unfortunately if they are asked to contribute liberally
to advance the Krsna consciousness movement, they are reluctant. Under
the circumstances, the world will periodically suffer from such upsurges
and outbreaks of war, which are the consequences of not being Krsna
conscious.

TEXT 22
CIC RIC CT MED CAD DCE
ALACIMALATS Tory |
