True religion transcends material seeking; only Krishna consciousness solves civilization's problems.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.2 — July 7, 1972, London 720707SB-LONDON [47:12 Minutes] SB-01.01.02_720707SB-LONDON Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] Prabhupāda: Then?
Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām. Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse] dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate 'tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt [SB 1.1.2] Prabhupāda: All right. So what is the purport? Go on. "In the lower stage..." Read. Pradyumna: "In the lower stages of human civilization there is always competition to lord it over the material nature or, in other words, there is a continuous rivalry to satisfy the senses." Prabhupāda: Hmm.
So this rivalry, it is, of course, found... This rivalry for colonization, that is the special feature of the European countries. Rivalry. In India we have got experience.
In America also, they have got experience, Canada. The Hollanders, the French people, the Spanish, Portugal and England. There was regularly rivalry how to occupy. Within the past two hundred years there was rivalry.
So according to Vedic civilization, there should not be rivalry. Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ [Īśo mantra 1]. You be satisfied what is allotted to you. Don't try to encroach upon others' property.
Mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam. That is Vedic civilization. One is satisfied... In 1942 there was a famine, man-made famine, and in India so many people practically died of starvation. Not died, but they died by eating.
There was scarcity of foodstuff, but when public began to give them food, so they ate so much that they fell sick and died, so many people. Not by starvation, by eating. By starvation, nobody dies; by overeating, one dies. That is a statistic. The next death rate is for over-eating.