The Laws of Nature: An Infallible Justice — The Isopanisad says we should learn what vidya and avidya are. Avidya is ignorance under the guise of materialistic knowledge. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in one of his songs that “advancement of material knowledge is simply the advancement of maya’s jurisdiction.”
The more you become implicated in material knowledge, the less you can understand Krishna consciousness. Those who are advanced in material knowledge think, “What use is this Krishna consciousness movement?” They have no attraction for spiritual knowledge; they are too absorbed in avidya.
Some Indian boys reject the spiritual culture of India and come to the West to learn technology. When they see that I have introduced in the West the things they rejected in India, they are surprised. One reason I came to the West is that modern India has rejected spiritual knowledge.
Today Indians think that if they can imitate Western technology, they will be happy. This is maya. They do not see that those who are three hundred times more technologically advanced than the Indians are not happy. India will not be able to equal American or European technology for at least three hundred years because the Western countries have been developing technology for a very long time.
But since the time of creation Indian culture has been a spiritual culture.Vidya, or genuine spiritual knowledge, does not depend on technology. Srila Vyasadeva is the original guru of Vedic knowledge. How was he living? In a cottage in Badarikasrama. But just see his knowledge!
He wrote so many Puranas, including the Srimad-Bhagavatam. He also wrote the Vedanta-sutra and the Mahabharata. If you studied every single verse written by Vyasadeva, it would take your whole life. The Srimad-Bhagavatam alone has no less than eighteen thousand verses. And each verse is so full of meaning that it would take a whole lifetime to fully understand it. This is Vedic culture.”
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