This material world is a place of darkness. In darkness there is always fear. Violence, hatred, envy, greed, lust and illusion—these are the forces of darkness which control the world. This darkness is propitiated through the two processes of cruelty and hypocrisy.
In the name of religion, people are exploiting others for their personal motives. In the name of peace and love, there is violence and hatred. This is called hypocrisy. When hypocrisy is present within our material dealings, it creates impious life. But when hypocrisy comes into the system of religion it becomes the greatest threat to the human society; it destroys the very fiber of saintliness, which is the only means of creating harmony in the world.
Where there is hypocrisy there must be quarrel. We think in terms of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Therefore, so much quarrel, so much fighting and killing over, ‘This is my land,’ ‘this is my body,’ ‘this is my wealth,’ ‘this is my religion,’ ‘this is my caste, my society.’
But even in the darkest night, the presence of the moon gives relief and light. Similarly even in the darkness of this night of this age, when we remember Krishna, He is like a full moon that rises within our hearts giving relief, giving light, giving infinite hope. Scriptures describe that in this age there is only one benediction: that is the remembrance of Krishna, and that remembrance rises within the horizon of our mind when we sincerely chant His holy name.
