More and more people are today realising it today that it’s not just sufficient to possess knowledge. What matters is what effect it has on the world?
Previously when scientists were asked questions about moral responsibilities, they used to shirk it and point to the religious for such discussions. They would be concerned only with their research and their inventions. However, today the situation has changed. With nuclear research, genetic engineering etc, more and more people are asking questions about ethics.
Modern science in its quest for knowledge has forgotten to ask the question of value. Albert Einstein put it very nicely in a line: “Science can tell us how things are, but not how things should be.”
As times are changing, we find many books on topics related to the union of science and religion. Many prominent universities are offering courses where these two seemingly diverse fields are unified for research. People from both parties are realising that a synthesis is very much in need – they would have to sit together on the same table and talk.
For Google too, then, just spewing out information is not enough; it would have to become responsible in presentation of its content. Not even information, even if people were really searching for knowledge, could be considered alright. Instead, the top five searches on Google for the year 2009 are as under: (1) Michael Jackson, (2) Facebook – a social networking site, (3) Tuenti – a Spanish social networking site, (4) Twitter – a website that helps you stay in touch with your friends, and
(5) Sanalika – a Turkish social networking site. Thus, people aren’t even looking for knowledge on the internet. They are looking for relationships. Everywhere you go, people want to connect – not to information – to their family members, their relatives, their friends etc. There is already an overload of information. Google can’t provide a relationship though. Even these social networking websites can connect you to people, but cannot provide meaningful relationships. Friends spending time with each other sometimes end up spending more time on their cellphones talking to someone else instead of focusing on the relationship at hand. In the society today, we see less people actually talking to one another; most of the time they are punching on the keypad of their cellphones trying to connect to faraway people in hopes of a relationship rather than to people with whom they already have an existing one.
Real relationship
We are all looking for a relationship. But the most stable one will be found when we establish our sambandha (relationship) with God. The Srimad Bhagavatam (1.2.6) mentions that we will be truly satisfied when we try to serve God unmotivated by a personal selfish desire and without interruption. This is what we all desire – real satisfaction. But to have a relationship with someone, I need to see him or feel him, and I am unable to feel God currently. So, how do we relate to Him? For that, we need to understand who God really is.
Someone in knowledge might mention that God is the Creator; some would say He is the omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent controller of all that exists. A layman would probably say that God is nature or all-pervading energy around us. A person with some more understanding would say that he is the Supreme Father or the Supreme Judge giving the understanding facet of personality. But the Vedas ask: what does God do when separate from any connection with this world? He is the Supreme Creator, but how long would God go on just creating? Is there something that He does beyond just creation and destruction? The answer to this question is that God engages in divine pastimes with His dearmost devotees.
If one looks around the world, this conception of God is so difficult to find. Beyond all the managerial work that He does, He likes to have relationships with people who love Him and whom He loves. The Vedas therefore define God as the Personality of Godhead, who is by His own nature always engaged in transcendental pastimes. Srila Rupa Gosvami, one of the prominent acaryas, defines God as the reservoir of pleasure for devotees in all devotional rasas. He mentions that this definition in its fullest degree is met by Lord Sri Krishna.
You can establish any type of relationship you want with Krishna. You will find that though He is all-powerful, He establishes loving relationships with different types of devotees. He has relationships in the mood of a servant, in the mood of a friend, in the mood of a child, in the mood of a lover. He Himself acted as a parent to some too. Whichever relationship one is looking for one is sure to find it in Krishna.
In fact, in the Bhagavad-gita (9.17), He claims that He is the father, the mother and even the grandfather of all. Indeed, the love of a father is different from the love of a mother or that of a grandfather. Krishna is promising all of that to us. From the beginning of our lives, we look for a fulfilling relationship. An infant always is looking out for its mother because the mother is the only person with whom it has a relationship.
Later, the same baby expands its circle of relationships. Sometimes, we can’t get along with everyone.
People are of different natures and we tend to go along only with those of similar natures. Even if we meet people of our nature, with how many would we really be in a position to have a relationship? Our real friends whom we can really depend upon are a handful. But Krishna is not like that. He can get along with any person.
Sometimes He can be the funniest person and sometimes He is very grave. Sometimes He is an exuberant youth and sometimes He is a responsible householder. Whatever different traits are possible, one will find them in Krishna. Therefore, if we stop looking for relationship in Google, we can get true love from Krishna. We should rather utilise Google in the service of Krishna.
Hare Krishna.
