Berkeley: July 15–21

The Day After Prabhupada Arrived a press conference was held, with all the major newspapers and television stations represented. Sitting under the glare of TV lights in the large Berkeley temple room, Prabhupada was faced with the question, "What will happen to the movement when you die?" His answer came back immediately: "I will never die." All the guests and devotees cheered and Prabhupada continued, "I live in my books."

The President of the Assembly of World Citizens came to visit His Divine Grace. His society is dedicated to bringing peace in the world, and Srila Prabhupada was very stern with him. Prabhupada told him, "The world can never be united if we maintain our [bodily] designations. How can you unite people of different designations? If someone is thinking, 'I am American, I am Russian, I am black, I am white, I am a woman, a man, communist, capitalist, etc., there will always be disunity. But in our movement we never think of ourselves as any material [bodily] designation. We understand all living entities are spirit souls, part and parcel of Krsna. This is the actual platform of unity. If you bring together people who don't understand this simple fact, they will simply talk nonsense. So without spiritual understanding, the idea of a 'world citizen' is foolish. It will never be successful."

A Professor Of Anthropology, Dr. James Freeman of the California State University, and some of his students paid a visit. The discussion turned to the reason for all the different species of life. Srila Prabhupada began, "The basic defect is that scientists do not know that the soul is different from the body. According to my activities I get a different body. The body is like a dress. According to the price you pay [your activities] you get a different dress [body]. For example, when you go to court, you are punished or rewarded according to your activities. The judge is impartial; it is your activities that determine if you are punished or rewarded. The supreme judge is the Supreme Lord.

"Devotees of the Lord, however, are not under karma [the laws of material nature]. Just as a king or president can overrule the decision of a judge, similarly, Krsna promises that those who surrender to Him will be protected by Him; He takes charge of the devotee, and the laws of material nature cannot then act. To reach this perfection we must fulfill Krsna's desire. If we maintain personal desires, then we are still under the law of karma." Dr. Freeman then asked, "How do we know when we are acting according to Krsna's desire and when we are acting according to our own desire?" Srila Prabhupada answered, "When we manufacture our own plan, we are subject to the law of karma. We should act according to Krsna's order; that is His desire. This is called bhakti [devotion]."

At this point an Indian gentleman who was present commented that in his opinion everyone should have the right to worship the way they want. Prabhupada objected: "Then everyone in the state can do what they want?" "No," came the reply. Prabhupada continued, "If you can't make your own law, then how can you make your own religion? It is not possible. Religion means to follow God's law."

The conversation turned to politics. Prabhupada's arguments persuaded everyone present that democracy was not the best form of government. "The common man has no sense whom to elect; he proves this by electing an unqualified leader and later trying to change him or pull him down. Meanwhile, thousands of bureaucrats live off the taxes of the people and spend their time planning how to keep themselves in power.

"The ideal government is that which is administered by a perfect, saintly person. We can see from the Vedic histories, a benevolent king is responsible to see that the citizens in his kingdom are well situated both materially and spiritually."

Swami Chidananda, President of the Divine Life Mission, and some of his young followers sat before Prabhupada one afternoon and expressed their opinion about the merits of hatha-yoga, which is a process of different bodily exercises. Prabhupada explained that the idea of making spiritual advancement by manipulating the body is wrong because, "I am not the body, I am spirit soul." Bhakti-yoga, the process of linking up with God through devotion, begins with the proprietor of the body, the spirit soul. Other yogas, including hatha-yoga, begin on the material platform by prescribing different ways to control the senses artificially. But this is very difficult in this age. Even Visvamitra Muni, a very great yogi of the past, fell down after meditating for many years because he became attracted to a woman. Similarly, nowadays so-called yogis cannot control their sexual urges.

Srila Prabhupada continued, "It is described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam that in this age of quarrel and hypocrisy men have short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and above all always disturbed. (Bhag. 1.1.10) Therefore, this yoga practice will never be successful.

"Practically speaking these boys and girls in Krsna consciousness have taken directly to the spiritual platform. How? Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam/ kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha. (Brhan-naradiya Purana) In this fallen age the only way, the only way, the only way to attain self-realization is by chanting the names of the Lord. If you really want to help people, preach this philosophy, the philosophy from the scriptures."

Swami Chidananda agreed that all the great saints tended to emphasize bhakti and that even his guru brought chanting of the holy names to many parts of India.

Just Five Minutes Away from the Berkeley temple is the sprawling campus of the University of California. In the morning Prabhupada would walk there, past somber gray buildings and carefully manicured lawns. Once he challenged, "For all the 'advancement' of modern civilization, how is the problem of death being solved?" A devotee responded, "People are trying to learn how to meet death cheerfully." Prabhupada laughed, "It is like the man who is sentenced to death by the judge, but the lawyer consoles him, 'That is all right, you can be hanged cheerfully.' "

The devotees informed Srila Prabhupada that the university authorities had to put glass in the clock tower on the campus to prevent suicides. Prabhupada responded, "Education which leads to hopelessness is not education."

A Practicing Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Allan Gerson, had been testing devotees in the Hare Krsna movement to convince his colleagues of the validity of Krsna consciousness. His tests showed that devotees are markedly calmer, milder, more unbiased, and freer from anxieties than non-devotees. When he came to see Prabhupada in San Francisco, however, Prabhupada explained that since the soul is beyond the body, mind and intelligence, psychology does not apply.

Dr. Gerson: "If the soul is at peace, then wouldn't the mind and intelligence be at peace also?"

Prabhupada: "Yes, these tests may show this, but they will not give you any help. A diseased man will have certain symptoms, and a healthy man will have certain symptoms. Our goal is not to study the symptoms; we want to touch the origin of the disease and clear it away.

"You and your colleagues have no information of the spirit soul. So how will you understand the cure? The first business is to understand the soul-but not by mental activities, mental concoction. Kindly explain to your colleagues these simple facts: there is a soul beyond the mind and intelligence, and that soul is eternal and is transmigrating from one body to another. Open their eyes so that they can see how 'drug addicted hippies have become loving servants of Krsna and humanity' [from a letter from Dr. Judah]. We can see practically that these boys and girls have become happy. How have they become happy? They have been following the process of Krsna consciousness. If we take up this simple formula, the whole human society will become happy."