Atheist Can Have Perfect Morals?

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, University Talk, South Africa)

Kadamba Kanana Swami: It is not easy to avoid cheating because to avoid cheating you must have great modern strength and where will you get that when you are bombarded:
"Come one, just do it , come on don't be square!
Come on come one - come on!"
So how are we going to avoid it? So for moral strength you will have to take up spiritual practices otherwise you can't have moral strength.
If you regularly chant Hare Krishna Mahamantra as we are regularly doing, then you can rise above cheating, otherwise no…it won't work.
Ok, any questions, comments

Student: That 's a very big generalisation because an atheist can have perfect morals and do really well without any spiritual practices.

Kadamba Kanana Swami: Oh you think so?

Student: I think so

KadambaKanana Swami: Well let's get into it…



...According to the Vedic scripture they say that the problems in this world for all living beings is that they are having some fundamental defects on the mental plane and the fundamental defect is that everyone is under attack of lust, greed, anger, madness illusion and envy. So these are explained as influences that attack the mind – and everyone is struggling with that –everyone: atheist, religionists, I don't care who, everyone.
Who is free from lust greed or anger.
Lust I'm talking about , notwhen you're in love with your girlfriend – lust that makes people attracted to other's wives… all kinds of things: lust, when the lust becomes excessive. So a percentage of of society is suffering from excessive lust, a percentage of society is suffering from excessive greed…anger. We have courses on anger management – envy , these are fundamental problems which can not be overcome simply by humanism.
Atheism at it's most moral platform is humanism- like where we try to be perfectly moral at the same time, but humanism alone can not save us from these inner weaknesses that we are fighting.
So that's where these spiritual process can help us more to rise above these inner weaknesses.
So I'm not like trying to attack.. I myself am a man who is trying to rise above these enemies, I'm not saying that I am the angel but I have found that I battle with these things and nothing seems to work and just great ideas… what do I have as an atheist, at best I have great ideas from great philosophers, that the best I can have, I don't have any other way.
How do I rise, how do you rise above the primitive drifts that are just pushing us – spiritual process is the only thing you can do.

Student: Or you could identify with things, like you could identify yourself in two parts, you have yourself a consciousness which you could identify as spirituality and you have your form as ahuman as the ego, and you have all these characteristics and traits that form part of your ego in nature, and by acknowledging and identifyingthese traits you have taken a step further to being enlightened, so just because you don't believe in a higher form or god or soul..as an atheist that is, you can still identify with that and be spiritual at the same time.

KadambaKanana Swami: Yeah but that 's ok. Let's say we have certain qualities that we connect that to spiritualism, selflessness, doing good for others, tolerance, honesty and all these kind of moral qualities and one can identify with them…but one is stillattacked by lust, it is strong – you may be a moral married man and when you get attracted to the secretary, you get attracted to the secretary , what can you do?

Student: Is that wrong?

KadambaKanana Swami: Well, it will hurt your family a lot..
Student: If you act on that impulse…

Kadamba Kanana Swami: If you act on that impulse, and maybe you won't, but maybe you will – because the mind is willing, the flesh is weak..you get a little to close, a spark comes in and it gets out of hand.
Again, I'm not condemning just acknowledging that we are human and we are not strong – and that's why looking at it: an atheist can do his best, a noble person can certainly try to be very moral but:
"Boy , will it be hard to keep it up for a lifetime"
A lifetime is a long time and too never ever let it all hang down, if it's deep inside and you have to fight and fight and fight what's deep inside is very hard.
I know a little bit. In my own life, for one thing, I am a sanyassi, which means I have a lifetime vow of celibacy - so when you go for something like that, well then you realise now the pressure is on – the pressure is on and you start to realise if you would do such a thing only on the strength of self control, moral conviction… on strength of moral conviction I go for self control that is very difficult to maintain over time –
One really has to do it on strength of a higher inspiration - and what will that be:maybe that I will place my life I n the service of mankind, that does give some strength, that does give some inspiration but even that leaves something empty, some emptiness.
So how long can one live with emptiness, so ultimately you will have to fill it with something…maybe the love for a woman: great , "our lovvve"
but then most of these loving relationships turn into something really more down on the ground, that is love but it is not the all overwhelming everything love from the fairy tales – it's a pact, you know. It's an agreement. It's hard to be fulfilled in life.
And only when you are fulfilled can you be truly moral, you can be perfectly moral. So in an atheistic way it is not that easy to find fulfillment, one will remain an empty seeker, looking here and there, found some happiness here for a while, then found somewhere else, somewhere else and somewhere else.
Only a spiritualist can find a resting point, where he can stay.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, University talk, South Africa)

 

 

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