Does one's belief encourage contentment or consumerism?
Any genuine religious process that values contentment with whatever nature arranges for one's maintenance, over consumerism, is much easier to implement if there is a belief in another life. Because then there is not the fear of "missing out" if one does not finish his business in this life, or if one decides to take seriously a life of sacrifice and austerity for the sake of spiritual enlightenment instead of material advancement. It takes the edge off the competitive spirit and gives rise to the spirit of cooperation.
Other philosophies on the other hand, seem to encourage or excite earthly existence and exploitation. Take for example, the typical theistic view. There was a movie about a man who died and went to heaven, but he kept looking down wistfully at his wife on earth, wishing that he could rejoin her. Most obviously because "heaven" was a bunch of clouds to stand upon while his wife had plenty of interesting things to do down below. In other words, ambiguous scripture makes human life look much more appealing and dampens the motive to go beyond.
Then there is the monist philosophy that after death one merges into oneness, one homogenous spiritual existence with no room for individuality. These are the people who tell you, "I am God. You are God"... They make no distinction between the minute living entity and the unlimited Supreme Lord. Their philosophy culminates in what's known as "spiritual suicide" in the attempt to permanently disable one's individuality by merging into the brahmajyoti or white light. How that kind of goal also contributes to materialism is pointed on in this Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1 purport:
"The whole material creation is moving under the principle of sex life. In modern civilization, sex life is the focal point for all activities. Wherever one turns his face, he sees sex life predominant. Therefore, sex life is not unreal. Its reality is experienced in the spiritual world. The material sex life is but a perverted reflection of the original fact. The original fact is in the Absolute Truth, and thus the Absolute Truth cannot be impersonal. It is not possible to be impersonal and contain pure sex life. Consequently, the impersonalist philosophers have given indirect impetus to the abominable mundane sex life because they have overstressed the impersonality of the ultimate truth. Consequently, man without information of the actual spiritual form of sex has accepted perverted material sex life as the all in all. There is a distinction between sex life in the diseased material condition and spiritual sex life."
And then of course there is basic atheism which appears in various forms and coverings. Unless they are interested in doing good for the sake of goodness or for their kids, then why not eat, drink, and be merry since after death there'll be nothing to do at all, not even hanging out in the brahman effulgence like the above impersonalist aspires for, nor the clouds like the guy in the incomplete description of heaven? Srimad Bhagavatam 3.20.19 continues to explain:
"Andha-tämisra involves considering death to be the ultimate end. The atheists generally think that the body is the self and that everything is therefore ended with the end of the body. Thus they want to enjoy material life as far as possible during the existence of the body. Their theory is: 'As long as you live, you should live prosperously. Never mind whether you commit all kinds of so-called sins. You must eat sumptuously. Beg, borrow and steal, and if you think that by stealing and borrowing you are being entangled in sinful activities for which you will have to pay, then just forget that misconception because after death everything is finished. No one is responsible for anything he does during his life.' This atheistic conception of life is killing human civilization, for it is without knowledge of the continuation of eternal life.
"This andha-tämisra ignorance is due to tamas. The condition of not knowing anything about the spirit soul is called tamas. This material world is also generally called tamas because ninety-nine percent of its living entities are ignorant of their identity as soul. Almost everyone is thinking that he is this body; he has no information of the spirit soul. Guided by this misconception, one always thinks, 'This is my body, and anything in relationship with this body is mine.' For such misguided living entities, sex life is the background of material existence. Actually, the conditioned souls, in ignorance in this material world, are simply guided by sex life, and as soon as they get the opportunity for sex life, they become attached to so-called home, motherland, children, wealth and opulence. As these attachments increase, moha, or the illusion of the bodily concept of life, also increases. Thus the idea that 'I am this body, and everything belonging to this body is mine' also increases, and as the whole world is put into moha, sectarian societies, families and nationalities are created, and they fight with one another. Mahä-moha means to be mad after material enjoyment. Especially in this age of Kali, everyone is overwhelmed by the madness to accumulate paraphernalia for material enjoyment."
The ancient Vaisnava tradition, on the other hand, encourages environmental and psychological health. For one thing, the Vedic literatures such as the Bhagavad gita As It Is, Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Caritamrta give detailed descriptions of God, His name, address or personal abode, form, personality, pastimes and activities, associates, our relationship with Him and the process to reach Him. Thus one's consciousness can be transferred from hankering for material things to hankering for what is spiritual. Material detachment becomes very easy by becoming attached to the spiritual, namely Krishna.
Other philosophies on the other hand, seem to encourage or excite earthly existence and exploitation. Take for example, the typical theistic view. There was a movie about a man who died and went to heaven, but he kept looking down wistfully at his wife on earth, wishing that he could rejoin her. Most obviously because "heaven" was a bunch of clouds to stand upon while his wife had plenty of interesting things to do down below. In other words, ambiguous scripture makes human life look much more appealing and dampens the motive to go beyond.
Then there is the monist philosophy that after death one merges into oneness, one homogenous spiritual existence with no room for individuality. These are the people who tell you, "I am God. You are God"... They make no distinction between the minute living entity and the unlimited Supreme Lord. Their philosophy culminates in what's known as "spiritual suicide" in the attempt to permanently disable one's individuality by merging into the brahmajyoti or white light. How that kind of goal also contributes to materialism is pointed on in this Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.1 purport:
"The whole material creation is moving under the principle of sex life. In modern civilization, sex life is the focal point for all activities. Wherever one turns his face, he sees sex life predominant. Therefore, sex life is not unreal. Its reality is experienced in the spiritual world. The material sex life is but a perverted reflection of the original fact. The original fact is in the Absolute Truth, and thus the Absolute Truth cannot be impersonal. It is not possible to be impersonal and contain pure sex life. Consequently, the impersonalist philosophers have given indirect impetus to the abominable mundane sex life because they have overstressed the impersonality of the ultimate truth. Consequently, man without information of the actual spiritual form of sex has accepted perverted material sex life as the all in all. There is a distinction between sex life in the diseased material condition and spiritual sex life."
And then of course there is basic atheism which appears in various forms and coverings. Unless they are interested in doing good for the sake of goodness or for their kids, then why not eat, drink, and be merry since after death there'll be nothing to do at all, not even hanging out in the brahman effulgence like the above impersonalist aspires for, nor the clouds like the guy in the incomplete description of heaven? Srimad Bhagavatam 3.20.19 continues to explain:
"Andha-tämisra involves considering death to be the ultimate end. The atheists generally think that the body is the self and that everything is therefore ended with the end of the body. Thus they want to enjoy material life as far as possible during the existence of the body. Their theory is: 'As long as you live, you should live prosperously. Never mind whether you commit all kinds of so-called sins. You must eat sumptuously. Beg, borrow and steal, and if you think that by stealing and borrowing you are being entangled in sinful activities for which you will have to pay, then just forget that misconception because after death everything is finished. No one is responsible for anything he does during his life.' This atheistic conception of life is killing human civilization, for it is without knowledge of the continuation of eternal life.
"This andha-tämisra ignorance is due to tamas. The condition of not knowing anything about the spirit soul is called tamas. This material world is also generally called tamas because ninety-nine percent of its living entities are ignorant of their identity as soul. Almost everyone is thinking that he is this body; he has no information of the spirit soul. Guided by this misconception, one always thinks, 'This is my body, and anything in relationship with this body is mine.' For such misguided living entities, sex life is the background of material existence. Actually, the conditioned souls, in ignorance in this material world, are simply guided by sex life, and as soon as they get the opportunity for sex life, they become attached to so-called home, motherland, children, wealth and opulence. As these attachments increase, moha, or the illusion of the bodily concept of life, also increases. Thus the idea that 'I am this body, and everything belonging to this body is mine' also increases, and as the whole world is put into moha, sectarian societies, families and nationalities are created, and they fight with one another. Mahä-moha means to be mad after material enjoyment. Especially in this age of Kali, everyone is overwhelmed by the madness to accumulate paraphernalia for material enjoyment."
The ancient Vaisnava tradition, on the other hand, encourages environmental and psychological health. For one thing, the Vedic literatures such as the Bhagavad gita As It Is, Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Caritamrta give detailed descriptions of God, His name, address or personal abode, form, personality, pastimes and activities, associates, our relationship with Him and the process to reach Him. Thus one's consciousness can be transferred from hankering for material things to hankering for what is spiritual. Material detachment becomes very easy by becoming attached to the spiritual, namely Krishna.
