We arrived on our ships, around Nederland now, saw what you call "cave men" like societies, very depressing to us. We kept hovering south, seeing always the same. In Africa we found a peaceful farming people, so we stopped there, and gave them knowledge, and I stayed on living many lives till now here. That country was Egypt. We seeded them, to help you all. Truth, story, madness? You alone decide.

Empowered by it longer ago than your "recorded" or findable history, they, under our guidance, spread some truths, about gods, astrology, the Universe, up into Europe, and into India, the Jews source from this period, a heart reaction to us, while others kept on with the material reaction to us or mixed with their own heart reaction to our presence... See More for awhile, then we left, and became your many gods in your many nations, which are all similar due to us, the stories vary and got changed, but with the seeds sown, we know over time it would spread, the knowledge, and the heart, side by side, the ying and yang, are growing together, one awful to the other, but forever tied. And you will by this reach to our level, and then we can meet again. And you will know there is a center, the supreme, and you will know that many appear as gods to you, who are only your older siblings helping on the "bleeding edge" of creation by duty from being just ahead of you, as you will find one day you yourselves doing, for other Planets you will find, who are behind you, thus Planets become gurus to others, you are in mid state forgetfulness of this, between sown, and sowing, near to full worldwide oneness and enlightenment, more than your beginnings, thus, nearly done.

What are scriptures to us actually? "Risky distractions into a delusion outside of the normal material day to day the eyes see". Indeed. They alone, answer above the seen and empirical. Then madmen, seers, saints, and all side with them... what's up with that? Most are left wondering, "I don't know what I believe". That is fine. The truth is you ARE fine. It is auto pilot. The coming together of all knowledge for all is coming. Can you not see it forming? Hmmm. Well, have a peaceful now.

Our Situation according to Hindu Scripture

Although human life on Earth, in the West, is often tolerable materially, especially for the young person, still, we find that though we are given everything we need, still we are not happy or fulfilled. Material happiness, such as eating nicely, enjoying fine things, enjoying the company of friends and sex partners, and so on, simply does not make us feel whole. There is a perceivable emptiness despite fully clothing the body will all it could possibly want.

There are many persons who think that they will overcome this problem by desiring and struggling to get even more material things. For example, even though they live in a decent home, they will think that they will be happy if they get an even bigger, grander, more nicely decorated home. Or they focus on their conveyances, or their clothes, or their sex, or their relationships. Forever struggling to improve their material situation, even at the expense of putting others in distress, they waste their life engaged in a futile pursuit.

The Bhagavad Gita is a book, which is the recording of a conversation between Krishna and Arjun. This conversation took place roughly five thousand years ago. Krishna’s life is detailed in another work, the Shrimad Bhagavatam. Krishna is God, the Supreme Person who lives forever in His spiritual realm, which is diverse, full of happy devoted friends, servants, lovers, relatives and awestruck onlookers. Krishna is beautiful and blissful. Krishna causes all who know Him and see Him to also become beautiful and blissful. To remember Him, even though living in a human body here on Earth, means to become beautiful and blissful.

So, the Bhagavad Gita is a book, which to read means that you are directly hearing from God, the Supreme Blissful Person Himself. Fortunately for us, He descends from time to time, or sends someone dear to Him, to teach us about Himself, and His world, which is our best eternal home. This place we know as Earth may also be our home, but it has many problems for us. As such, we should be interested in making a better solution for our permanent residence if we can believe that such is possible.

In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna describes for our benefit all about the Soul, the Soul’s relationship with Him (God), the Soul’s relationship with the material energy, which surrounds us, the process for transiting from residence in the material realm to the spiritual realm, what is helpful here verse harmful, and so on. By reading the Bhagavad Gita and trying to follow it is instructions in your everyday life, you gradually realize all the things Krishna is teaching us. Thus, you gradually become fully aware of the truth. Krishna describes this happy state of mind in the Gita. He says that “one having attained such an awareness, which is very blissful, one never returns to the mundane way of thinking”. Furthermore, he says “When your awareness has gone above and beyond the dense forest of delusion you will see that all things are in me and are mine”.

Of course, Krishna says many more things in the Bhagavad Gita, much of, which are higher truths than the two verses I just quoted. You should make it an immediate priority in your life to acquire the Gita and begin reading it every day, early in the morning (or any time) when you can be peaceful and meditate on it is deep messages.

The Gita (and Bhagavatam, and all their followers) teach us what is known as “Sambandha Gyan”, which means “knowledge of our relationships”. This refers not to your love affairs or friends, though they are included in the greater scheme of course. Rather, this “Gyan” (knowledge) refers to knowing your relationship with nature, both material and spiritual. Ultimately, this knowledge leads us to the highest state of awareness possible. Know right from the start that we are talking about the very highest possible thing here. We are not talking about a petty pursuit to amaze yourself or your friends. We are talking about the most primeval and fundamental truths. We are talking about that truth, which controls everything, seen and unseen. We are talking about reuniting you, the living small Soul, with God, the living great Soul.

Ask yourself: Are you truly interested in knowing the truth? Or, do you like your current lack of full knowledge? You must admit to yourself that you truly do not know the full truth about your existence. You are going on with only partial awareness of your real situation. You do not remember being a sperm cell, but you once were just a little sperm cell, trying to penetrate an egg. You may be in that condition again. You do not remember sucking the breast of your mother. You do not know what will happen to you when you die. You do not know why the world is here and what God, if he or she exists looks like. Yet, you go on, day after day, living your life as best you can.

Do you want to know the truth? Are you ready to serve and live the truth?

Of course, being afraid of the truth, many persons will say something like “we cannot know the truth”. In this way, they conveniently leave the room just when the conversation starts to get interesting. They are afraid. Others, trying to mask their fear as knowledge and thus gain adoration from other fools say that they have “discovered” the scientific evidence to “prove” that their is no truth above their silly big bang theories. They believe in their eyes alone, though they don’t know the mastermind who created their eyes.

Therefore, there is always a good supply of persons who cannot accept even the 1st step of spiritual life, which is to read the Bhagavad Gita. They figure that anything that talks about things they can’t completely see and put under their microscopes must be “myth”. Others, who are more inclined to accept their own mind and emotions as evidence say things such as: “go with the flow”, “be one with the questions”, “we’re already perfect, just accept life”, and other mentally concocted adjustments.

Actually however, since both the scientific atheist and the atheistic “new age thinker” (for want of a clear way to describe those who avoid true religion using what sounds like religious, or Buddhist type arguments) derive their arguments from mental adjustments they make for themselves in their minds, neither are happy. Yet, they like their struggles with nature, and their mental concocting. It keeps them in the center of their lives. Avoidance of God in all varieties of human pursuit is simply one thing: different types of selfishness. To recognize God takes becoming unselfish, stepping aside, and giving the limelight to the “big guy above”.

Deep down inside we are keenly aware that we are dependent, and not the controllers of hardly anything that happens to us. We know this, though we walk, talk and act as if the opposite were true. So, deep down inside their fear. Fear of loss, fear of death, fear of unhappiness, etc. This is true for everyone, including atheists of all varieties. This unhappiness and fear will never be gotten rid of for the nonbeliever. Only the believer can overcome this fear, which causes unhappiness. They do this be fully surrendering to the knowledge that they are dependent on Krishna, or God. By fully surrendering to God, they become engaged in a relationship of chastity to the will and instructions of God. Thus their lives are overtaken by this relationship, and they become saintly, spiritual persons. They alone can attain true happiness. This is confirmed by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (and other scriptures of many faiths).

On the other hand, the atheist, no matter, which type of nonbeliever, New Ager, Scientist, Disinterested Materialist, and so on, cannot ever overcome this inner fear and unhappiness because their Soul inwardly knows at all times that they are “disconnected” from their own source. Like children separated from their guardians in a large carnival of vicious elements, the atheistic Soul runs hear and there, crying and screaming in fear, trying desperately to find a safe and happy home. They waste their precious human lives trying to carry this out based on their material bodies. Identifying with their bodies, they try desperately to secure homes, food, clothing, conveyances, entertainment, etc.

Actually, full happiness is available for them within themselves, as it is within all of us. Caught up in the illusion of our physical material bodies, we ignore the words of He who is our origin and constant supporter. Although we definitely do not know the truth of where we come from, where we go, or how everything is going on so perfectly, we don’t stop to think that perhaps the truth is known by somebody. Out of pride in something, which isn’t making us fully happy anyway (our current bodies and world and our illusions based on these) we assume that nobody knows more than us. Certainly we believe that no scripture from some “ancient third world country” could possibly be the answer for “we who are intelligent and modern and fully educated”.

In this way, our pride increases our illusion and causes us to be Sunk deeper into the quicksand of our incorrect mental and emotional position.

We think that nature is not perfect. We think that we can improve upon nature by creating tools and a more comfortable life. We have taken this pursuit so far that we have created an industrialized society. We believe in our chemicals, not the laws of nature. This implies an underlying belief that it was not perfect in the 1st place. Therefore, we alter the teachings of God so that they look like a backing for our dumb ideas. (Referring to those who think that God wants us to create a “heaven on Earth” by chemicals, plastics, and all the other dumb things we do here these days).

Actually, the truth is that, in the beginning, which was very long ago, God endowed humankind with the ability to live in total harmony with nature. This included the ability to heal with sounds. Herbs were the most gross type of medicine employed. Better than herbs was penance. In other words, everyone understood that all bad results, whether that be weather, diseases or whatever, were caused by something they did, and they deserved the negative result. In this way, they understood that nature was perfect in it is management of an “eye for an eye”. Thus, they followed lives of virtue, because they knew that they were fully responsible, and would suffer for, all their thoughts, words, actions, etc.

Although nature is still exactly like that, modern persons do not believe like this any longer. Instead, they believe that there is no controller whatsoever. They believe everything is simply chemicals and physics. Therefore, they, being the only conscious beings around that they can see with their inherited material eyes, feel that they can exploit nature freely without suffering any reaction. If there is a reaction that they see, they think that the only thing they need do now is improve their chemicals and make a new solution to their new problems. They call the hellish reactions to their greedy pursuits “new challenges” and “opportunities”.

Picture a room full of nuclear physicists sitting around discussing the “possibilities”, “opportunities” and “challenges” that they now face. They are excited to work on creating more and more hellish entanglement for themselves and the rest of us. They never stop to believe that they are going in the wrong direction. They are proud, selfish, unable to see simple truths, and uninterested in truth. Krishna says that “such demons are bent on destroying the world, and that they think it has no basis other than the satisfaction of their own lust”.

BhaktiVedanta Swami on Astrology

From a morning walk on 12,29,73

On how he does believe in Astrology:

Prabhupada: Astronomy, yes. Astrology is part of astronomy. Yes.

Sujit: It is part of the science. It has been accepted as part of the science.

Prabhupada: No, it is...

Svarupa Damodara: Astrological science is mostly speculative theory.

Prabhupada: Astronomy also.

Sujit: They are proving a lot of things. They are calculating when a certain Star can be in certain positions.

Svarupa Damodara: No that can be done.

Prabhupada: So our astrology is calculated by the position of the stars. By astronomy you calculate the position of the Star, and they know, "If the Star is in such and such position, the result will be like this." That is astrology.

Svarupa Damodara: This looks like collecting some facts from some experience.

Prabhupada: No, no. It is calculated by the astral movement. It is a great science. People do not know it now....We believe in astrology. But because it is a difficult science, people do not understand it properly. That is another thing. In my practical life I see. In my horoscope, everything is written, what I am doing. Everything is written. So...

From Shrimad Bhagavatam 1,12,29

Regarding the position of astrologers in Vedic Culture:

Amongst the Karma, kanda experts, the Jataka expert vipras were good astrologers who could tell all the future history of a born child simply by the astral calculations of the time (Lagna). Such expert Jataka-vipras were present during the birth of Maharaja Pariksit, and his grandfather, Maharaja Yudhisthira, awarded the vipras sufficiently with gold, land, villages, grains and other valuable necessaries of life, which also include cows. There is a need of such vipras in the social structure, and it is the duty of the state to maintain them comfortably, as designed in the Vedic procedure. Such expert vipras, being sufficiently paid by the state, could give free service to the people in general, and thus this department of Vedic knowledge could be available for all.

From a morning walk on 12,8,73

On Astrology's efficacy:

Svarupa Damodara: Srila Prabhupada, are these astrologers, ah, are, can we believe in them, what they say? Called pseudoscience.

Prabhupada: No. Astrology is a science. (break) ...that I shall go to the foreign countries and throughout the whole world I will establish so many temples, so many things... this...

Svarupa Damodara: So they have some intelligence to tell that...

Prabhupada: No, no. That is calculation, calculation. This astrologer, this astrologer was a very big astrologer and when I was in service, Dr. Bose's laboratory, so Dr. Bose was treating one patient. He was vomiting blood. So he was treating as tuberculosis. Then he could not cure him after giving all medicine. Then he asked the astrologer, this astrologer who made my horoscope, "What is the matter? Panditji, can you tell?" So he calculated. He said, "You are making wrong treatment. He has got some sore in the throat. It is not heart." And he treated, he was cured.