when man separates from God, he becomes like a branch or leaf fallen from the tree, and he can no longer be fed; any effort to satisfy it becomes a waste of time and energy. Today’s fully materialistic society has cut its relationship with the Supreme Lord, and all the plans erected by its atheistic rulers are certain to fail. But men do not know how to learn from it.

In our age, the collective and public chanting of the Lord’s Holy Names is the recommended method of “awakening” people, of bringing them back to consciousness. This method was presented in a very scientific way, and in all its details, by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the Lord in Person, and every intelligent man must take advantage of his teaching if he wants to know true peace and prosperity and to share them with all of humanity. Whoever serves the Supreme Lord, Krishna, with love and devotion immediately acquires, by grace, knowledge and detachment from material existence.

Any material thing used in the service of God is spiritualized immediately.

The three sources of suffering that mark material existence, those caused by the mind and body, those caused by the elements of material nature, and those caused by living things, cannot be eliminated by the only material actions. These must be spiritualized through the practice of devotional service. Just as in contact with fire, metal acquires the same properties as fire, so all material things used in the service of the Lord spiritualize immediately. This is the key to spiritual success.

We must not seek to dominate material nature, but neither to reject all material things. The best way to make good use of our presence in the material universe, against good fortune, is to use everything in relation to the Supreme Spiritual Being, God. Everything comes from Him who, by his inconceivable power, can change the spiritual into material and vice versa. Thus, by his supreme will, any material thing qualified as such because covered with the material concept can be transformed into spiritual energy. Such a conversion takes place using what is called matter in the service of the spiritual. This is the remedy that will relieve us of all the material evils which we fall prey to, and the very means by which we can rise to the spiritual level where there is no suffering, no lament, no fear. And when we thus use all things in the service of the Lord, it is given to us to realize that nothing exists outside of Him. In truth, we can thus understand that everything is spiritual.

Any action done here in this life to satisfy the will of the Lord is part of his service of sublime love, and inevitable knowledge flows from it. It is generally believed that by practicing self-interest according to the directives of the original scriptures, “the true