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| WORLD December 15, 1998 VNN2687 See Related VNN Stories Y2karma - Just Around The Corner BY SWAMI B.G. NARASINGHA USA, Dec 15 (VNN) — Did Someone Pray for This? If you have been a member of the Sankirtan Movement for any length of time you have surely wondered how much longer the atheistic (demoniac) technological civilization can go on? According to our holy scriptures like Srimad Bhagavatam cow killing alone causes enough 'bad karma' to bring the roof down on society - what to speak of such sinful activities as abortion. During the 60's and 70's devotees preached very heavily up and down the streets of the world - warning of the outcome of developing a Godless civilization but ironically nothing seemed to happen. Many devotees even entered the 'main stream' not eating meat at least but nonetheless becoming dependent on the technological wonders and easy life in the age of science. Indeed the Sankirtan Movement spread but so did demoniac civilization - abortion and cow killing are presently at an all time high throughout the world. What did the devotees do then? Possibly you have even 'prayed' for Krishna to do something in a big way to bring modern civilization to its knees - something to humble the Godless mentality which pervades society. If so your 'prayers' might be answered very shortly - Y2 Karma (Y2K) is just around the corner! The world has a problem! You have a problem - the devotees have a problem! It may be the biggest problem that the modern world has ever faced. Many people think it is. At 12 midnight on January 1, 2000 (a Saturday morning), most of the world's mainframe computers will either shut down or begin spewing out bad data. Most of the world's desktop computers will also start spewing out bad data (Swamis go offline). Tens of millions - possibly hundreds of millions - of preprogrammed computer chips will begin to shut down the systems they automatically control. This will create a nightmare for every area of life, in every region of the industrialized world (even for devotees - especially if they are unprepared). This is not a 'Jean Dickson' prediction or something your local 'astrologer' is predicting - this is just an 'old fashion mundane reality' getting ready to cut loose! Its called the year 2000 problem, Y2K. Suddenly it dawned on me - 'K' stands for karma. I know that none of you devotees are 'fanatical' about such things but just imagine if Krishna was behind the Y2K scenario and indeed it was the year 2000 karma coming down! - what might be the potential or implications? If so things could get interesting and before I go another step further I would like to humbly suggest that we (the devotees) get ready for Y2K. First chant Hare Krishna and second- for the sake of those you care about (the Vaishnavas and your kids) stock up on 'a little' extra prasadam. Haribol! Think of what happens if the following areas go down and stay down for months or even years: banks, railroads, public utilities, petroleum industry (no gas), telephone lines (the internet), military communications, and financial markets (say good-by to your Gold Card!). What about Social Security, Medicare, Food Stamps and Welfare Checks (look out ISKCON Alachua, Florida)? If Welfare, Social Security and Medicare go down, it will affect millions of people, even devotees, even you. Who is going to leave his money in his bank if he thinks his bank's computer is not reliable? A worldwide run on the banks will create havoc in the investment markets. People who have placed their retirement hopes in stocks and mutual funds will see their dreams vanish. How reliable will stocks and mutual funds be if the banking system has closed down? Will people continue to trust in 'paper money' or will they demand silver and gold for their goods, labor etc.? How will you even get paid if you have a job or get your temple allowance from the Temple President? How will you be able to go to the temple store to buy a coloring book for your little kid? You are looking at 384 days or less until melt down! At which time your Krishna consciousness will be the only real 'reality' that you can take shelter of. No more movies, Super Bowl, or Basken and Robins Ice Cream. The chances that nothing happens on Y2K day and the world just goes on as though nothing happened is zero. Thas right ZERO. My brother is a commander of a Nucular Destroyer in the US Navy and I know it through the family grape vine that all divisions of the US Military will be on alert for Y2K. Preparation for Y2K is daily going on in Congress, the Senate, British Parliament, the United Nations and so on. They are expecting total social breakdown in places like England and Martial Law will go into effect within 24 hours after Y2K hits! The United States is no exception - plans are also in place by the USA government to implement Martial Law, especially in the inner cities like; L.A. New York, Atlanta, Chicago, etc.. But how would you (the simple devotees of Krishna) know these things? You never read the main stream news - that's Maya - you only read VNN or Chakra! Now is the time to broaden your scope of things before you are kicking yourself in the rear and saying, "Why didn't I listen when I had a chance?" By the way, no government tax collection agency above the county level is Year 2000-compliant today. People will know in 2000 that the government cannot trace them. Will they continue to pay, especially if the huge government welfare programs for the elderly (and the devotees) have shut down? Kiss it good-by. Everything is tied together by computers. If the computers go down or can no longer be trusted, everything falls apart. And it matters not to the computers whether we accept this fact or not. They do what they've been programmed to do. They've been programmed to recognize 2000 as 1900. Uncorrected PC architecture DOS and Windows-based desktop computers will revert back either to 1980 or 1984. They can be corrected briefly, but as soon as a PC is turned off, the correction dies. I've been saying all along that ISKCON devotees should get smart and get on the Mac system - we Mac users do not have that problem - at least with our laptops. But how will we power them? Anybody got an extra solar panel? The first response of most karmis when they hear this news is denial - the response of most devotees initially is the same, denial! Most people (but hopefully not all devotees) will stay in denial, especially those who will suffer financial losses by admitting the problem. This is why the problem will not be fixed. Everyone in authority will deny that time has run out to get this fixed, right up until December 31, 1999. They are paid to deny this or they are too stupid to understand the problem. It's over. Right now. It cannot be fixed. Whatever it does, the Y2K scenario is going to do -its going to bite the world big time in the seat of the pants! How hard? There the debate begins but why should you (the devotees) be unprepared. This is a great opportunity for devotees to pull together around the world and get their communities together. (Even the Red Cross says there is a problem.) "United we stand - divided we fall." "United we preach - divided we go hungry." (When you get in to this Y2K issue and you finally stumble across what the Mormans are doing to prepare for Y2K you are going to be shocked! Just to give you a clue - every Morman family is being required by their church to stock a minimum of one years supply of food. What is your temple president doing? - planning a meeting on the Ritvik debate or a committee to deal with the women Guru issue? No offense intended Prabhus but the fact is that the devotees of Krishna are way behind the curve on Y2K. I have heard that out of the total ISKCON population only Dasaratha Prabhu in Arizona is ahead of the curve. As for the other communities of devotees outside ISKCON - well they are totally in the dark about Y2Karma) If you and your community prepare intelligently for Y2Karma then you have nothing to loose - if you don't - don't say we didn't tell you. For the last two years articles on the internet and other places have appeared concerning Y2K but these early starters were mainly from the 'Born Again Christians' and other extreme 'Right Wing' groups. Now however the serious talk on Y2K goes 'Mainstream America.' Keep an eye on the front page of your local newspaper and watch for the coverage on Y2K. By mid-summer 1999 the Y2K issue is going to dominate the Media - by then its going to be very difficult to prepare yourselves. How will you buy some extra wheat (especially a couple of hundred pounds) from your local health food store when every Tom, Dick, and Harry in Los Angles (or where ever you are) is standing in line to do the same things? Or the store just ain't open because there just ain't no stock! Think about it, fast. The links given below will help you to evaluate your own personal vulnerability and the seriousness of Y2Karma (Y2K). Do us all a favor - check it out. Whatever you do don't get caught without an extra case or two of Bhagavad Gitas stored in your basement (order now from BBT or whoever). Your neighbor might be looking to the sky soon crying, "Oh God why me, why me!" At that time you can approach him and give him a Bhagavad Gita and say, "Here is the book that says it all" - provided that is that you yourself are not looking in the sky crying, "Oh Krishna, Oh Krishna, please save us!" Lets get ready Prabhus. If any of you are interested in practical ideas about what you can do (spiritual and economic) to be prepared for Y2Karma then I will be happy to share some ideas with you via email <gosai@sover.net> Links on Y2K and Related Topics from: http://www.garynorth.com/ Welfare Payments: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Welfare_Payments Health Care: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Health_Care Government: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Government Taxation: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Taxation Military: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Military Martial Law in USA and Elsewhere: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Martial_Law Banking: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Banking Stock Market (get out today): http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Stock_Market Telecommunications: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Telecommunications Personal Computers: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Personal_Computers Domino Effect (no one is safe): http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Domino_Effect Power Grid: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Power_Grid No Big Problem: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/No_Big_Problem No Silver Bullet: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/No_Silver_Bullet Noncompliant Chips: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Noncompliant_Chips Programmers Views: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Programmers'_Views Imported Data: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Imported_Data Shipping & Transportation: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Shipping_and_Transportation Too Late Now!: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Too_Late Testing: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Testing Compliance: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Compliance Litigation: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Litigation Count Down Clock: http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/results_.cfm/Countdown_Clock
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