The Vedas, spiritual scriptures of ancient India, the oldest known Sanskrit literature. Brahma, the Hindu god of creation is accredited with bestowing the wisdom of the Vedas, though it is asserted that the texts themselves are authorless. I have recently been learning about David R. Hawkins' scale of consciousness Sir David R. Hawkins MD, Ph.D, 1927 - 2012, was an internationally renowned American teacher, psychiatrist, physician and author who presented spirituality as "scientifically compelling" to all societies today. The now widely used 'Map of Consciousness' was created to illustrate the various states of enlightenment and stages of awareness humans are at. From a level of 1-1000 Hawkins explained that spirituality is moving on from anger, guilt and such base negative emotions below a level of 200, towards such states as acceptance, trust and forgiveness between 200-500, but still states of the ego, still in a place concerning what WE think we know, what WE want, what WE feel, still very ego-based living. Finding love, rated from around 500 and leaving the ego behind, realising joy at around 600 and discovering peace from around 700. "...the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding," as the bible calls it in Philippians 4:7, which is what all humanity is truly thirsting for. This is a naturally empowered state and a place from which we feel free and trust life. Though Mr. Hawkins didn't ascribe to any particular religion, when I read this quote from the Vedas, "Ego is the biggest enemy of humans," the logic of it fell into place for me. Everything below 500 is all ego, living life from a purely selfish perspective, looking at what you can get, thinking about yourself all the time, about what you want and feel is such a lower state of being than leaving the ego and looking at your purpose for being here, looking at yourself as one with all of creation, taking responsibility for caring for humanity and nature and the planet, making sure to be kind all the time and thinking more about the needs of others before your own. It certainly seems to me the ideal state and one which would solve all the problems in the world if we all lived from such a higher place. To be sure I'm not anywhere near any of that myself, I just admire it deeply and that's a start. My mental stance has moved on a lot, now I'm in my forties I see the world very differently and am more open minded. I remember seeing the Hare Krishna from time to time in my youth, in their orange robes, with their bald heads and finding them frankly intimidating. Some of them would stop you on the street and try to hand people little booklets, but the very idea of shaving your head and dancing in public in orange robes was only peculiar to me as a teenager and in my early twenties and nothing could have sent me packing faster. Today I understand that it is a display of togetherness and joy. Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of the god Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right, the god of compassion, tenderness and love, the highest states of consciousness. The Hare Krishna, the popular name for the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (or ISKCON), are a fairly new religious movement based in Hinduism that was established in America in 1965, the Hare Krishna worship the Hindu god, Krishna, as the One Supreme God. The name 'Hare Krishna' originates from one of the chants that is a key part of the many forms of meditation and devotion integral to the religion: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare; Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna, aside from their somewhat odd appearance, particularly on a high street in Western Europe, appear to be on the right track to me, because they are concerned with unification rather than division, kindness rather than war, peace rather than opinions. They draw inspiration from the texts of the Bhagavad Gītā and the Bhagavata Purana, viewed as the essence of the Vedas, the oldest scriptures in the world and a literal record of Krishna's words. Hare Krishna seek to align spirituality with science, to attain freedom free from anxiety and a state of pure, unending, blissful consciousness while still in this lifetime. We are not our bodies, we are not our minds, we are eternal, spirit souls and part of God, Krishna, the sustaining energy of all creation is viewed as one and the same God as Allah, Buddha and Jehovah-God. So they are not making themselves right and other wrong in the less peace-loving way that some other religions do. Images of Krishna are beautiful, gentle, colourful and often childlike and innocent, such as this one. Hare Krishna are vegetarian and peace-loving, perform all actions as offerings to Krishna and do nothing for their own gratification. While many aspects of their lifestyle seem extreme to the average Joe Bloggs, that is only because we are indeed self-obsessed for the large part and not wishing to own up to it. Ego is truly the biggest enemy of humanity!