Durdarshan

Swami Bhakti vikasa wrote, "They (Indians) invented a word for television- doordarshan... dur means very bad darshan (bad association)” Not only that, countless dollars, manpower and materials are wasted in creating elaborate sets of illusion. Prabhupada writes that a sign of a demoniac civilization is that they are very expert at creating illusion.

But I admit, TV has been a part of our lives. On the one hand it can be a useful thing such as watching a gardening show instead of simply reading about it (ditto computer web sites such as selective YouTube), or going on a virtual field trip to Hawaii and other geographical sites for a lot less cost. And if one has enough energy they can set and enforce limits, make good viewing choices and take the time to watch as a family, discussing what is seen and heard from a Krsna conscious perspective, and perhaps also encouraging follow up reading or activities... But on the other hand, it is easy to misuse,be influenced by very subtly in unfavorable ways or become a means to escape the pressures of life instead of taking shelter of Krsna.  It's addictive. Thus spiritual life is hampered... and material progress, too. I've witnessed that when TV was out of our lives for any amount of extended time, the children became more productive and creative.

Here are some quotes from Prabhupada's books and other sources for consideration regarding the use of television (or activities similar to hearing and viewing television) for those serious about spiritual life and the spiritual lives of their children:

SUBTLE SEX
“Demons arrange many kinds of performances to see the glaring beauty of a beautiful woman... The purpose...is to see the bodily construction of the beautiful girl and enjoy a subtle sex mentality. This demoniac sex mentality of material enjoyments is sometimes encouraged by so-called yogis... Bhagavad-gita, however, recommends that if one wants to enjoy life, then it cannot be with these gross senses. A patient is advised by the experienced physician to refrain from ordinary enjoyment while in the diseased condition. A diseased person cannot enjoy anything; he has to restrain his enjoyment in order to get rid of the disease. Similarly, our material condition is a diseased condition. If one wants to enjoy real sense enjoyment, then one must get free of the entanglement of material existence... Foolish creatures are enamored by the beauty of matter and think that the enjoyment it offers is real, but actually that is not real enjoyment.” SB 3.20.35 purport

"Gross and subtle, there are so many subtle sex enjoyments—to think of woman, to see a beautiful woman going on the street, or to talk about woman, to read (hear) about woman. There are eight kinds of subtle sexual intercourse"-- SB 6.1 lecture

"A brahmacari or sannyasi should avoid talking with women or reading literature concerning talks between man and woman. The injunction restricting association with women is the basic principle of spiritual life. Associating or talking with women is never advised in any of the Vedic literatures. The entire Vedic system teaches one to avoid sex life so that one may gradually progress from brahmacarya to grhastha, from grhastha to vänaprastha, and from vänaprastha to sannyäsa and thus give up material enjoyment, which is the original cause of bondage to this material world."-- SB7.7.12 purport

HEARING MISUSED
"The scientists are eager to hear about the physical laws working in material nature.They are eager to hear through the medium of radio and television about things taking place far away from them on other planets, but they should know that the power of hearing and the instruments for hearing were given to them by the Lord for hearing about the Self, or about the Lord. Unfortunately the power of hearing is misused in hearing the vibrations of mundane affairs. The great sages were interested in hearing about the Lord through Vedic knowledge and nothing more. That is the beginning of aural reception of knowledge."--SB 2.10.22 PURPORT

"Minimizing the transcendental process of hearing and chanting the glories of the Personality of Godhead,they prefer to listen to useless and whimsical vibrations on the radio and television, in newspapers and magazines, and so on." SB11.6.24 purport

PRAJALPA,  WASTING VALUABLE TIME
"Those outside of the Krishna consciousness movement are interested in reading heaps of newspapers, magazines and novels, solving crossword puzzles and doing many other nonsensical things. In this fashion people simply waste their valuable time and energy. In the Western countries old men, retired from active life, play cards, fish,watch television and debate about useless socio-political schemes. All these and other frivolous activities are included in the prajalpa category. Intelligent persons interested in Krishna consciousness should never take part in such activities."-- NOI2

"No one can honestly say he has absolutely no time to devote to sravanam kirtanam. Even the busiest people find time daily to go through newspapers or magazines, and almost everyone finds some time for television, as well as for idle talk. Much of this time could be spared for bhakti-yoga." --Narada bhakti sutra 37

PROBLEMS BUT NO SOLUTIONS
sankalpah sa-vikalpakah indicate that a materialist is always making new plans or modifying his old plans to increase his material enjoyment, although in his saner moments he admits that material life is full of suffering." SB 11.13.9-10 purport

COMPARABLE TO DRINKING POISON
The Lord then informed Särvabhauma Bhattacarya, “‘Alas, for a person who is seriously desiring to cross the material ocean and engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord without material motives, seeing a materialist engaged in sense gratification or seeing a woman who is similarly interested is more abominable than drinking poison willingly.’” Madya 11.8

COMPARABLE TO A LIVE SERPENT
“Just as one is immediately frightened upon seeing a live serpent or even the form of a serpent, one endeavoring for self-realization should similarly fear a materialistic person and a woman. Indeed, he should not even glance at their bodily features.’Madya 11.11

SEE NO EVIL...
“Yet even one who theoretically understands the actual nature of the body should never associate with women or with men attached to women. After all, the contact of the senses with their objects inevitably agitates the mind.
Because the mind is not disturbed by that which is neither seen nor heard, the mind of a person who restricts the material senses will automatically be checked in its material activities and become pacified.
Therefore one should never let his senses associate freely with women or with men attached to women. Even those who are highly learned cannot trust the six enemies of the mind; what to speak, then, of foolish persons like me.” SB 11.26.22- 24

TUNING IN TO THE KRISHNA CHANNEL INSTEAD, SPIRITUAL TV
“May Your pastimes ever be enacted in my heart”--King Satyavrata

"As soon as a pure devotee engages himself in the pure devotional service of hearing, chanting and remembering the name, fame and activities of the Lord, at once He becomes visible to the transcendental eyes of the pure devotee by reflecting Himself on the mirror of the heart by spiritual television." SB 1.6.33p

"Sanjaya's vision was actually greater than the telephone. It was mystic television. It was television within the heart, for he was sitting in a room far from the battlefield and still seeing everything that was occurring there. "--morning walk, 12/7/73

IF ONE MUST WATCH
“Help children think through a movie’s message...

"Get cynical- Studies show that kids with parents who are openly critical about the messages given in today’s media are far less vulnerable to its influence.

“Ask the tough questions, before someone else does... Why does God let the innocent suffer?, etc" -- Raising Judgmental Kids,Greg Hartman

STRANGER IN THE HOUSE ---author unknown
A few months before I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Tennessee town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family.

The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a fewmonths later.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it.

But the stranger? He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past,understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future!He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to her room and read her books. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home ..not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.

My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in the home, not even for cooking.But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freelY(much too freely!)about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive,and generally embarrassing. I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked ... and NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first.

Still, if you were to walk into my parents' den today you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?
We just call him TV.

Giving Children "Positive Life"

Prabhupada: Don't say "no." But give a taste for the good, then it will be automatically "no." ...If you say "no" then he'll, they will rebel. The four "no's," that is very difficult. Still they are breaking... But if they develop Krishna consciousness, this will be automatically "no." So don't bring many "no's," but give them positive life. Then it will be automatically "no."...If you say "no," that will be a struggle. This is the psychology. Positive engagement is devotional service. So if they are attracted by devotional service, other things will be automatically "no." Param drstva nivartate. ---Room Conversation, New Mayapur, 7/31/76

"The scriptures say that it is not in the power of man to ensure the immunity of boys and girls from the blight of precocious sensuousness except by means of the service of Krishna. This is declared to be the only effective and natural method. Let the boys (and girls) be exposed to the attraction of the Cow Boy of Vraja.

They will soon learn to pick up His company. They will easily realize that the Boy Krishna can alone save them from every form of danger. " -- Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Nourishing Faith

In the nine stages of devotion to Krsna, the beginning is sraddha or faith. How to instill faith in the children? Prabhupada gives a hint in his purport to the following Bhagavad gita verse (15.12). Lord Krishna asserts:

"The splendor of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from Me. And the splendor of the moon and the splendor of fire are also from Me."

PURPORT by HDG Srila Prabhupada
"One can begin to be established in knowledge by understanding what the Lord explains here. Everyone sees the sun, moon, fire and electricity. One should simply try to understand that the splendor of the sun, the splendor of the moon, and the splendor of electricity or fire are coming from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In such a conception of life, the beginning of Krishna consciousness, lies a great deal of advancement for the conditioned soul in this material world....

"So many things are done with the help of fire. Therefore sunrise, fire and moonlight are so pleasing to the living entities. Without their help no living entity can live. So if one can understand that the light and splendor of the sun, moon and fire are emanating from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, then one's Krishna consciousness will begin. By the moonshine, all the vegetables are nourished. The moonshine is so pleasing that people can easily understand that they are living by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Without His mercy there cannot be sun, without His mercy there cannot be moon, and without His mercy there cannot be fire, and without the help of sun, moon and fire, no one can live. These are some thoughts to provoke Krishna consciousness in the conditioned soul."INSTILLING A SENSE OF APPRECIATION AND WONDER
Keeping the above advice in mind, one idea is to look for poems and prayers for children that express gratitude and instill a sense of wonder at Krishna's material nature.
These may be read aloud to children or serve as an example for a parent what to point out to children at opportune moments to encourage their Krishna consciousness. Until more poems are available from devotees, there are poems from other sources that may be acceptable. Many are also adaptable whenever a part of an otherwise acceptable poem contains a philosophical error and questionable or objectionable content or one wishes to chant more personal names of the Lord instead of secondary names such as "God" or "the Creator" , etc.. Many can also be set to music.

MIRACLES
Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with anyone I love, or sleep in the bed at night with anyone I love, Or sit at table at dinner with the rest, Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car, Or watch honey bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon, Or animals feeding in the fields, Or birds,

Or the wonderfulness of insects in the air, Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, Or of stars shining so quiet and bright, Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring; These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles, The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,Every cubic inch of space is a miracle, Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same, Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle, The fishes that swim--the rocks--the motion of the waves--the ships with the men in them, What stranger miracles are there? Walt Whitman (1856)

THE DAISY
Not worlds on worlds in phalanx deep,
Need we to prove a God is here;
The daisy, fresh from winter’s sleep,
Tells of His hand in lines as clear.

For who but He that arched the skies
And pours the dayspring’s living flood,
Wondrous alike in all He tries,
Could rear the daisy’s purple bud?














Mold its green cup, its wiry stem;
Its fringed border nicely spin,
And cut the gold-embossed gem,
That, set in silver, gleams within?

Then fling it, unrestrained and free,
O’er hill and dale and desert sod,
That man, where’re he walks, may see,
In every step, the stamp of God.
--J.M. Good

THE SPACIOUS FIRMAMENT ON HIGH

The spacious firmament on high,
with all the blue ethereal sky,
and spangled heavens, a shining frame,
their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun from day to day
does his Creator's power display;
and publishes to every land
the work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
the moon takes up the wondrous tale,
and nightly to the listening earth
repeats the story of her birth:
whilst all the stars that round her burn,
and all the planets in their turn,
confirm the tidings, as they roll
and spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though in solemn silence all
move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
and utter forth a glorious voice;
for ever singing as they shine,
"The hand that made us is divine."
-- Joseph Addison, 1712

TO A SNOWFLAKE

What heart could have thought you? --
Past our devisal
(O filigree petal!)
Fashioned so purely,
Fragilely, surely,
From what Paradisal
Imagineless metal,
Too costly for cost?
Who hammered you, wrought you,
From argentine vapor? --
"God was my shaper.
Passing surmisal,
He hammered, He wrought me,
From curled silver vapor,
To lust of His mind --
Thou could'st not have thought me!
So purely, so palely,
Tinily, surely,
Mightily, frailly,
Insculped and embossed,
With His hammer of wind,
And His graver of frost." --Francis Thompson

WE PLOW THE FIELDS

We plow the fields, and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft refreshing rain.

He only is the Maker
Of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower,
He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey him,
By him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, his children,
He gives our daily bread.

We thank thee, then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest,
Our life, our health, and food;
Accept the gift we offer,
For all Thy love imparts,
And, what Thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
-Matthias Claudius

WHO MADE THE STARS?
"Mother, who made the stars, which light
The beautiful blue sky?
Who made the moon, so clear and brighO t,
That rises up so high?"

"'T was God, my child, the Glorious One,
He formed them by his power;
He made alike the brilliant sun,
And every leaf and flower.

"He made your little feet to walk;
Your sparkling eyes to see;
Your busy, prattling tongue to talk,
And limbs so light and free.

"He paints each fragrant flower that blows,
With loveliness and bloom;
He gives the violet and the rose
Their beauty and perfume.

"Our various wants his hands supply;
He guides us every hour;
We're kept beneath his watchful eye,
And guarded by his power.

"Then let your little heart, my love,
Its grateful homage pay
To that kind Friend, who, from above,
Thus guides you every day.

"In all the changing scenes of time,
On Him our hopes depend;
In every age, in every clime,
Our Father and our Friend."
--McGuffey’s Third Reader

WHO TAUGHT THE BIRDS?

Who taught the bird to build her nest
Of softest wool, and hay, and moss?
Who taught her how to weave it best,
And lay the tiny twigs across?

Who taught the busy bee to fly
Among the sweetest herbs and flowers,
And lay her store of honey by
Providng food for winter hours?

Who taught the little ant the way
Her narrow cell so well to bore,
And through the pleasant summer day,
To gather up her winter store?

'Twas God who taught them all the way,
And gave the little creatures skill;
He teaches children, when they pray
To know and do His heavenly will
-Jane Taylor

WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND?
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you;
But when the leaves hang trembling
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I;
But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by. -- Christina Rossetti

THE BOOK OF NATURE
There is a book, who runs may read,
Which heav’nly truth imparts,
And all the lore its scholars need,
Pure eyes and pure hearts.

The works of God above, below,
Within us and around,
Are pages in that Book, to show
How God Himself is found.

Thou, who hast giv’n me eyes to see,
And love this sight so fair,
Give me a heart to find out Thee,
And read Thee everywhere.


(Photo credits: All photos except for the daisies and snowflake are my own.)