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| Baptism for 2 angels, Belén and Morena (Click to enlarge image) | | | | |
A few people have asked me about balance in my life,
and it´s actually something I´ve learned a lot about here,
But what do we do?
(This is gonna be a long one, filled with research because I like studying.)
Imagine you only had 1 1/2 hours every week to
use a computer.... You would probably only do important things in that
hour and a half no? You might even write a list during the rest of the
week of
stuff you have to do. You might plan it out. You
might start to skip out on your favorite Netflix shows.. or your social
media accounts.
That´s how it is here, and its taught me a lot! I only have time to do a few things each week, or write a few people.
But life is a lot like that! We don't really have that much time here, so we have to use our time wisely.
This
week I read an interview between Dr. Benford (a professor in Los
Angeles) and Prabhupada, a follower of a branch of Hinduism. He
mentions a lot of Spiritual truths I want to point out.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: But do you think that there is a God or not?
Dr. Benford: I have a suspicion that there may be, but it is unverified.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: But you think sometimes that there may be God, do you not?
Dr. Benford: Yes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: So
you are in doubt, suspicion—you are not certain—but your inclination is
that you think there is a God, is it not? Your knowledge being
imperfect, you are in doubt, that’s all. Otherwise you are inclined to
think of God. But because you are a scientific man, unless you perceive
it scientifically, you do not accept. That is your position. But from
your side, you believe in God.
Dr. Benford: Sometimes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes. Sometimes or at all times—it doesn’t matter. That is the position of everyone. As long as one is in the human form of life, he has a dormant consciousness of God.
It simply has to be developed by proper training. It is just like
anything else in life. For example, you have become a scientist by
proper training, proper education. Similarly, the dormant consciousness
of God, or Kṛṣṇa,
is there in everyone. It simply requires proper education to awaken it.
However, this education is not given in the universities. That is the
defect in modern education. Although the inclination to be Kṛṣṇa conscious
is there, the authorities are unfortunately not giving any education
about God. Therefore people are becoming godless, and they are feeling
baffled in obtaining the true joy and satisfaction of life.
In San Diego,
some priestly orders are going to hold a meeting to investigate the
reasons why people are becoming averse to religion and not coming to
church. But the cause is simple: Because your government does not know
that life, especially human life, is meant for understanding God, they
are supporting all the departments of knowledge very nicely—except the
principal department, God consciousness.
Dr. Benford: So, of course, the reason is separation of Church and State.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Reasons there may be many, but the principal reason is that this age is the Kali-yuga [the
age of quarrel and hypocrisy]. People are not very intelligent;
therefore they are trying to avoid this department of knowledge, the
most important department of knowledge. And they are simply busy in the
departments of knowledge in which the animals are also busy. Your advancement of knowledge is comprised of four things—eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. For
example, you are discovering so many lethal weapons, and the
politicians are taking advantage of it for defending. You are
discovering so many chemicals to check pregnancy, and people are using
them to increase sex life.
Dr. Benford: What do you think about the moon mission?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That is also sleeping. You have spent so much money to go there and sleep, that’s all. Otherwise, what can you do there?
Dr. Benford: You can go there and learn.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: You go there and sleep, that’s all. Sleeping. You are spending billions and getting nothing in return.
Dr. Benford: It’s worth more than that.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: No,
nothing more, because these four principles—eating, sleeping, mating,
and defending—are the background. If you have no knowledge beyond this
body, you cannot go beyond this bodily jurisdiction. You may have very
gorgeous, polished bodily knowledge, but your whole range of activities
is within these four principles of eating, sleeping, mating, and
defending. This knowledge is prevalent among the lower animals, also.
They know how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sexual intercourse, and
how to defend.
Dr. Benford: But they don’t know anything about nuclear physics!
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That
does not mean that you are improved over the animals. It is the same
thing—only polished. You are improving from the bullock cart to the car,
that’s all—simply a transformation of material knowledge.
Dr. Benford: There is knowledge about the structure of the physical world.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: But
it is a waste of energy, because in your activities you cannot go
beyond this bodily jurisdiction of eating, sleeping, mating, and
defending. The dog may sleep on the ground, and you may sleep in a very
nice apartment, but when you sleep your enjoyment and the dog’s
enjoyment are the same. You may have so many electrical appliances and
other material conveniences, but when you sleep you forget everything.
Therefore this gorgeous sleeping accommodation is simply a waste of
time.
Dr. Benford: You
seem to place emphasis on what knowledge does for you. What about the
sheer joy of discovering how nature works? For example, now we think
that we understand matter like this [pointing to the grass]. We
think that we know from experiments, theory, and analysis that it is
made up of particles that we cannot see, and we can analyze the
properties of it through experiment. We know that it is made up of
molecules. We understand some of the forces that hold it together, and
this is the first time we knew this. We didn’t know it before.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: But
what is the benefit? Even if you knew every particle of this grass,
what would be the benefit? The grass is growing. It will grow with or
without your knowledge. You may know it or not know it, but it will not
make any difference. Anything you like you may study from a material,
analytical point of view. Any nonsense thing you take you can study and
study and compile a voluminous book. But what will be the use of it?
Dr. Benford: I seem to view the world as the sum of its component parts.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Suppose
I take this grass. I can write volumes of books—when it came into
existence, when it died, what the fibers are, what the molecules are. In
so many ways I can describe this insignificant foliage. But what is the
use of it?
Dr. Benford: If it has no use, why did God put it there? Isn’t it worthwhile studying?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Our point is that you would rather study the insignificant grass than the God who has created everything.
If you could understand Him, then automatically you would understand
the grass. But you want to separate His grass from Him, to study it
separately. In this way you can compile volumes and volumes on the
subject; but why waste your intelligence in that way? The branch of a tree is beautiful as long as it is attached to the main trunk, but as soon as you cut it off it will dry up. Therefore, what is the use of studying the dried-up branch? It is a waste of intelligence.
I am not a follower of Hinduism but I LOVED this!
I
love how he explains how much of modern priority is on Eating,
Sleeping, Mating, and protection, instead of learning and studying God
or our spirits, the most important part!
We need to change our priorities (and so do big universities).
I was also reading a talk that I loved in the 2013 Feb Liahona about a girl who was bullied in school.
Her
name was Charlotte, and because of her appearance, kids made fun of
her. They began calling her BLC, or Big Lip Charlotte. awh! :(
Thanks to that, she learned what was most important, not her appearance at all.
"Charlotte,
the only opinions that really matter are yours and the Lord’s. If
you’re OK with yourself and what you do, and if Heavenly Father is OK
with your choices, it doesn’t matter what people call you or say about
you. I promise.”
In the article, they include a photo of her and her husband years later. ♥
And finally, I love this talk about Good, Better and Best by Elder Oaks
"The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them.
We
have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are
better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and
strengthen our families."
He explains how there are SO many good things we can do, but that some things are more important.
So really all you have to ask is: what are the most important things?
So I ask you, what are the most important things?
I already know my answer.
I know what I must dedicate my life to. I know you can too!
I LOVE YOU ALL,
NOS VEMOS PRONTO
ELDER AMANN
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This was one of the best weeks of my mission, (if Argentina won, it might have been the best).
We
had a baptism for 2 angels, Belén and Morena! They are the greatest
and are huge examples to me. They are going to be great missionaries :)
They are great examples to their families and it's not hard to tell
why. I'm very grateful to have met them, and I am excited to see them
grow up.
We also put on a wonderful activity
with many different countries represented, and a lot of people came who
are investigating the church! We took an "airplane" and visited
different places.
Also, I gave my "last testimony" in my last Zone conference of all time... :(
I'm gonna miss it.
