SPD01-05 The Ācārya Part 5

SPD01-05
The Acarya Part 5
The Acharya Part 5
[47:34 minutes]
[00:23] Hello. I'm Cid Hunter, here at the Srila Prabhupada Museum in Los Angeles.
[00:29] Over the past several years, I've had the good fortune
[00:32] of being the editor of ITV's acclaimed Acarya series.
[00:36] In a few minutes, you'll be seeing the Acarya Part 5,
[00:40] another wonderful collection of documentary film clips
[00:44] that provide us with an intimate glimpse into the remarkable personality
[00:48] of that great visionary and spiritual teacher,
[00:52] His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
[00:57] But sadly, this will be the final show in the Acarya series.
[01:02] The film segments you are about to see represent the very last remaining
[01:06] 16mm sound-synchronized material in our collection of intimate footage of Srila Prabhupada.
[01:13] All of us at ITV feel honored to have participated in the production of the entire series,
[01:19] and we extend our heartfelt thanks to Yadubara dasa, and his wife, Visakha dasi,
[01:24] who gave us so much of the original footage that was used to compile these shows.
[01:32] Certainly, everyone who personally knew and loved Srila Prabhupada will appreciate
[01:37] the opportunity to rekindle and relish the sublime memory of his presence.
[01:42] And for those who never met Srila Prabhupada in person, we hope that these rare,
[01:47] all too brief moments will serve as an inspiration to learn more about his saintly personality and his teachings.
[02:04] At the ripe old age of sixty-nine, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
[02:11] boarded an Indian steamship bound for America.
[02:15] Like so many who have come before, he arrived with only a few dollars,
[02:20] a couple of battered trunks, and a dream.
[02:24] But his was not the usual dream of freedom, fame or fortune.
[02:29] Srila Prabhupada had a bold vision for the re-spiritualization of the entire Western world.
[02:36] He sought to transform the predominantly material consciousness of the West
[02:41] by transplanting the ancient religious traditions of India,
[02:44] first to America, and then throughout the world.
[02:48] The seeds that this elderly saffron-robed holy man planted took immediate root and blossomed into
[02:55] an international spiritual movement that profoundly influenced the lives of millions of people.
[03:01] In just twelve years, from 1965 until he passed away in 1977,
[03:08] Srila Prabhupada circled the globe some fourteen times, preaching, gathering disciples
[03:13] and opening hundreds of centers for the study and practice of Krsna consciousness.
[03:19] In that time, he also managed to write and publish over eighty volumes of translation and commentary
[03:25] on the sacred texts that form the basis of Indian religious and philosophical thought,
[03:31] winning lavish praise from the academic community for his dedicated scholarship and profound insight.
[03:38] Today, his books are available in over thirty languages and are being printed
[03:43] at the phenomenal rate of twenty million copies a year.
[03:48] All of Srila Prabhupada's accomplishments were the result of his single-minded determination
[03:53] to make the science of self-realization both understandable and achievable,
[03:58] even in a world increasingly consumed by material values.
[04:04] By his tireless preaching, such fundamental spiritual concepts as vegetarianism, karma
[04:11] and reincarnation have become widely understood and accepted.
[04:17] But Srila Prabhupada's struggle against all odds to establish a spiritual beachhead
[04:21] in the Western world is more than just a tribute to his fierce and vigorous resolve.
[04:27] His remarkable success was in great part due to an engaging personal warmth,
[04:32] a rare blend of deep moral strength and quiet humility that inspired both reverence and affection.
[04:41] Srila Prabhupada succeeded because his life and personality
[04:45] were the epitome of the ideal he set forth for others to follow.
[04:49] He could offer to everyone he met not just a theory, but a practical way of living.
[04:55] At every moment, he was a true acarya, a holy man who teaches others by example.
Morning Walk, June 21, 1975, Venice Beach, California
[05:17] [Prabhupada:] That is our motto. Krsna is sun. You know it? Krsna sūrya-sama.
[05:26] So when Krsna sun is there, all these glowworms' lightening will be finished.
[05:39] Keep this sun always shining. Then these glowworms will be finished.
Morning Walk, May 20, 1975, Melbourne
[05:52] [Prabhupada:] ...one million, and vimsati, twenty lakhs.
[06:03] [Hari-sauri:] There was one newspaper article in the paper I was reading. They were advertising a new book
[06:09] about the evolution of man, and they were saying that there was approximately two million
[06:13] varieties of life on this planet. This was the calculation of the scientists.
[06:18] [Prabhupada:] Two millions? No. 8,400,000.
[06:27] [Srutakirti:] You were saying the other day that all the species of life are mentioned in the Padma Purana. They're all given account of.
[06:40] [Amogha:] Is it divided by country, or within one country there are many species?
[06:46] [Prabhupada:] You are taking of country, but sastra takes of the planets, not of the country.
[06:54] Your idea is based upon country, national. But sastra is not.
[07:02] There is no such thing as national. They take the whole universe as a whole.
[07:10] They consider from that angle of vision: one planet or universe, like...
[07:20] Just like last night the girl was astonished at how this planet can be governed by one king.
[07:31] And it was being actually done, and the whole universe is being governed by Brahma,
[07:37] one person. So one must know how to govern.
[07:43] Just like we have got different GBCs for different jobs.
[07:48] Similarly, they're doing their duty nicely.
[07:53] All these planets are the different residential quarter of different demigods.
[08:03] They are controlling the whole universal affair.
[08:08] In comparison to them, this human being is nothing. [break]
[08:13] ...very good chance of realizing God in the human form of life.
[08:20] Just like difference between Western country and India.
[08:26] India, very quick chance of realization of God.
[08:32] The atmosphere is so nice.
[08:37] So this planet is good for God realization, and the best place is in India.
[08:49] [Devotee:] So in this planet everybody is meat-eating, or in this country everybody is performing sinful activities...
[08:55] [Prabhupada:] Therefore, it is decreasing. The more you are becoming sinful, the rain will decrease.
[09:00] [Devotee:] So it is decreasing now.
[09:02] [Prabhupada:] Yes, and at the end, there will be no rain.
[09:07] Then this whole planet will be ablaze with fire. That is the beginning of destruction.
[09:14] Or there will be scarcity of rain. There will be scarcity of rain and scarcity of food grains.
[09:25] The best thing is at night there must be heavy rain and daytime there should be sunshine.
[09:33] Then the field will be very fertile.
[09:38] That is knowledge. But they have no knowledge.
[09:42] They simply want to enjoy.
[09:45] They do not care for death also.
[09:50] Simply sense gratification. That's all.
[09:53] This is called danava [demoniac]. Danava life.
[09:57] [Amogha:] They say originally there was just a cell, and by adaptation, in some circumstances,
[10:04] one kind would live and another would die, so all these varieties adapted to different conditions.
[10:08] [Prabhupada:] Who adapted?
[10:09] [Amogha:] Well, they did...
[10:10] [Prabhupada:] Who managed?
[10:11] [Amogha:] ...accidentally.
[10:12] [Prabhupada:] That is nonsense. Nothing happens accidentally. That is nonsense.
[10:19] There must be some arrangement. What is happening accidentally?
[10:23] Why you are taking care of the trees? So many things. Nothing is done accidentally. You do not see the cause.
[10:36] If accident is there, let accident come and I'll become rich man. Why they try?
[10:45] Why they go to the college? Then accidentally you become M.A., Ph.D.
[10:51] This is all rascaldom.
Room Conversation, June 23, 1975, Los Angeles
[10:58] [Devotee:] Dr. Mize finds that he is chanting Hare Krsna a little in the shower now.
[11:03] When he takes a shower, he chants a little now.
[11:08] [Prabhupada:] One press reporter in the Berkeley University, in the beginning, he wrote his article, and he wrote that
[11:16] "After hearing this 'Hare Krsna' for a few minutes, I came home chanting all the road,
[11:25] 'Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna.' "
[11:28] So when you conquer over these base qualities, then you'll become happy.
[11:38] Tada rajas-tamo-bhavaḥ kama-lobha dayas ca ye, ceta etair anaviddham [SB 1.2.19].
[11:46] When the consciousness is not influenced by these base qualities, ceta etair anavid... Sthita sattve prasidati:
[11:57] being situated on the platform of sattva-guna [goodness], he feels happy.
[12:05] That is the beginning of spiritual life.
[12:09] When so long the mind is disturbed by lusty desires and greediness,
[12:15] there is no question of spiritual life.
[12:19] Therefore, the first business is how to control the mind
[12:26] so that it may not be influenced by the base quality: lusty desires and greediness.
[12:42] We have seen in Paris, old man 75 years old, he is going to the nightclub,
[12:55] because the lusty desire is there.
[13:04] He pays $50 for entering the club, and then he pays further for other things.
[13:19] So even he is 75 years old, the lusty desire is there.
[13:36] [Dr. Mize:] Do all souls fall out of the spiritual sky at once, or at different times?
[13:39] Or are there any souls that are always good, but not foolish?
[13:43] [Prabhupada:] No, there are... Majority, 90%, they're always good. They never fall down.
[13:53] [Dr. Mize:] So we're among the 10%?
[13:55] [Prabhupada:] Yes. Or less than that.
[14:00] In the whole material world all the living entities, they're just like in the prison house.
[14:09] There are some population, but they're not majority.
[14:15] The majority of the population, they're outside the prison house.
[14:20] Similarly, majority of living being, part and parcel of God, they're in the spiritual world.
[14:27] Only a few falls down.
[14:30] [Dr. Mize:] Does Krsna know ahead of time that a soul is going to be foolish and fall?
[14:34] [Prabhupada:] Krsna? Yes. Krsna may know, because He is omniscient.
[14:43] [Dr. Mize:] Are more souls falling all the time?
[14:46] [Prabhupada:] Not all the time, but there is the tendency of falldown.
[14:53] Not for all. But because there is independence,
[14:57] everyone is not liking to misuse the independence.
[15:03] The same example: just like a government constructing a city,
[15:11] and they construct also prison house,
[15:16] because the government knows that somebody will be criminal,
[15:21] so their shelter must be also constructed. It is very easy to understand.
[15:32] Not that cent percent population will be criminal.
[15:36] But government knows that some of them will be.
[15:45] Otherwise, why do they construct the prison house also?
[15:50] One may say, "Where is the criminal? You are constructing...?"
[15:53] But the government knows, "Oh, there will be criminal!"
[15:57] So if the ordinary government can know, why God cannot know? Because there is the tendency.
[16:10] [Dr. Mize:] The origin of that tendency is...?
[16:12] [Prabhupada:] Yes.
[16:13] [Dr. Mize:] And where does that tendency come from?
[16:15] [Prabhupada:] Tendency means the independence.
[16:20] So everyone can know that independence means one can use it properly,
[16:27] one can misuse it. That is independence.
[16:33] Therefore, it is the duty of the human being how to control the mind,
[16:41] not act like cats and dogs. That is human being.
[16:47] He should be inquisitive: "Why this happening? Why this happening?"
[16:54] And he should take education. That is human life.
[16:59] That is the difference between human being and dog.
[17:13] Therefore Vedic injunction is, "Go and inquire. You have got this human form of life."
[17:21] Athato brahma jijnasa: "Now this is the time for inquiring about the soul."
[17:29] Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigaccet :
[17:33] "If you want to understand this science, then go to a proper guru and take lessons from him."
[17:44] The same thing as we instruct our children,
[17:48] "If you want to be educated in the higher status of life, go to school, go to college, take lesson."
[17:58] That is human society.
[18:01] The dog's father will never ask the dog child, "Go to school."
[18:06] No. They're dogs.
Interview with Reporters, July 4, 1974, Chicago
[18:16] [Prabhupada:] Come. The hippies are dissatisfied with the method of modern materialistic way of life. Is it not?
[18:27] [Reporter:] They have given away their possessions and they have chosen to be poor.
[18:31] [Prabhupada:] Voluntarily they are giving up possession. [aside:] Sit down.
[18:36] [Woman Reporter:] Hello. Hi.
[18:37] [Sri Govinda:] This is a reporter from the Chicago Daily News.
[18:38] [Prabhupada:] Ah.
[18:40] [Reporter:] Is it because they had already given up material possessions, and so they were prepared for...
[18:44] [Prabhupada:] No. They are misguid... They want to have something new, but they are not accepting what is actually better.
[18:55] Some of them are accepting. But there is frustration, there is no doubt.
[19:08] [Reporter:] There is no doubt...?
[19:09] [Prabhupada:] Frustration.
[19:10] [Reporter:] Frustration.
[19:11] [Prabhupada:] Yes. This way of materialistic way of life like their fathers, grandfathers, they do not like.
[19:18] Is it not? Eh?
[19:20] [Reporter:] I think so.
[19:28] [Woman Reporter:] In Los Angeles, do you live in richness? Do you have a car and a chauffeur and a yacht?
[19:35] [Prabhupada:] Why not? I am... I am the guru of the richest country, why shall I not have car?
[19:43] Do you follow?
[19:44] [Woman Reporter:] No, I don't.
[19:47] [Prabhupada:] If I am guru of the richest country, then why shall I not have a car?
[19:56] [Woman Reporter:] So you have one?
[19:59] [Prabhupada:] I have many. In each center I've got at least one dozen cars. [laughter]
[20:09] Just now I'm coming from Europe, Germany. They have got nineteen vans. Nineteen.
[20:18] They go, interior villages. The Wolkswagen? What is called?
[20:24] [Devotees:] Volkswagen bus.
[20:25] [Prabhupada:] Bus, bus. Yes.
[20:29] So our devotees are packed up in each bus, and they go interior, in the village.
[20:37] Similarly, in every center we have got:
[20:43] in Germany, in England, in Los Angeles, in New York.
[20:51] [Reporter:] Here also?
[20:52] [Sri Govinda:] Yes. There's nine vehicles here.
[20:55] [Prabhupada:] Just see.
[20:57] [Reporter:] Nine vehicles in Chicago?
[20:58] [Sri Govinda:] Yes.
[21:02] [Woman Reporter:] Some spiritual leaders of various groups live in great richness, with chauffeur and, uh, expensive cars and boats…
[21:12] [Prabhupada:] Yes.
[21:13] [Woman Reporter:] What about you?
[21:14] [Prabhupada:] Because I know you are envious, therefore I don't sit here [elevated seat]; I am sitting here.
[21:24] You are very envious when a spiritual master is honored very nicely by his disciples;
[21:30] you become envious. What can be done?
[21:39] But that is the etiquette, that spiritual master be honored as good as God.
[21:47] But if you do not know, you become envious,
[21:52] "Why this man is sitting in this position in this gorgeous way? Why?"
[21:57] What can be done?
[22:00] [Woman Reporter:] Are you honored as good as God?
[22:03] [Devotee:] Yes.
[22:04] [Prabhupada:] Yes.
[22:06] [Devotee:] Srila Prabhupada is the most exalted personality on the earth. So he must be honored in the highest fashion.
[22:12] [Prabhupada:] No. That is the injunction: yasya prasadad dharitvena. What is that verse?
[22:19] Saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhiḥ, kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya [Gurv-astaka 7].
[22:30] "A spiritual master should be honored as good as God." That is the injunction of the scripture.
Room Conversation, March 27, 1974, Bombay
[22:39] [Prabhupada:] But the tailor, according to the body, makes a covering of this hand,
[22:49] and this looks like a hand This covering of the chest looks like a chest.
[22:57] Therefore, the impersonal means the material covering.
[23:05] Otherwise, the spirit soul is person.
[23:10] Just like you go to the tailor; according to your body, the tailor will cut a coat.
[23:18] The coat, ingredients of the coat, the cloth, that is imperson;
[23:26] but it is made like a person, covering of the person.
[23:34] In other words, the spirit soul is person,
[23:40] as much as God is also person.
[23:44] Imperson means the covering. Try to understand.
[23:52] The covering is imperson.
[23:56] Not the living being who is covered, he is not imperson; he is person.
[24:06] A very simple example. The coat-shirt is imperson,
[24:13] but the man who is putting on coat and shirt, he is not imperson.
[24:19] He is person. So how God can be imperson?
[24:28] The material energy is imperson. That is explained…
[24:41] That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita:
[24:45] maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-mūrtina [Bg. 9.4].
[24:51] This jagat is avyakta, imperson. And that is also energy of Krsna. Therefore He says,
[25:03] "I am expanded in the impersonal form."
[25:09] So the impersonal feature is Krsna's energy. So the material covering is imperson,
[25:24] but the spirit soul, or the Supersoul, is person.
[25:30] Any question on this? It is very intricate question. Anyone?
Room Conversation, June 26, 1975, Los Angeles
[25:39] [Ramesvara:] I will have to sign...
[25:41] [Prabhupada:] This payment, Book Trust has paid to me. But that is my money, not your money.
[25:51] I am paying you. It has been simply sent through you.
[25:54] [Ramesvara:] Transfer.
[25:55] [Prabhupada:] Transfer. But actually Book Trust is not paying to me. So under the circumstances, what is the account?
[26:06] You are debiting, that "paid to A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami."
[26:11] [Ramesvara:] I have written it as a transfer, because Your Divine Grace told me
[26:15] you were going to give me these certified checks.
[26:20] I can do it another way. If you do not want to deposit the checks with us,
[26:25] I will write it as a donation to some project in India.
[26:31] Whatever the money will be used for, I can simply make it a donation.
[26:36] [Prabhupada:] Donation, that's all right, but you are not donating; you are taking payment.
[26:42] [Ramesvara:] Only if you want.
[26:44] [Prabhupada:] No.
[26:45] You give me a statement, if not many months, at least in this month,
[26:55] what is the receipt and how it is spent and what is the balance.
[27:02] [Ramesvara:] For this account, in India?
[27:04] [Prabhupada:] No, no.
[27:06] Every month you give me a statement.
[27:09] [Ramesvara:] Of BBT?
[27:10] [Prabhupada:] Yes.
[27:11] So much received, so much spent.
[28:14] [Ramesvara:] Oh, yes. I can do that. Every month.
[27:16] [Prabhupada:] Every month.
[27:17] [Ramesvara:] No problem. I am doing that already, and sending a full report to Bhagavan
[27:22] and Hamsadūta each month.
[27:24] [Prabhupada:] So you can give me one copy.
[27:26] [Ramesvara:] Yes. I never did before because I didn't want to disturb you with the details.
[27:31] [Prabhupada:] No details.
[27:35] Give me this.
[27:50] I will be able to also keep a record,
[27:54] so you can, for transfer, receive the check. Is that all right?
[28:04] [Ramesvara:] Yes.
[28:06 [Prabhupada:] I am giving in favor of BBT.
[28:10] [Ramesvara:] Yes. We are acting like your bank. We, at BBT, is acting like your bank.
[28:17] [Prabhupada:] Yes. That's it. That will be... Where is my pen box? Here.
[29:43] There is no sufficient men? Or they're not working? Otherwise there is tremendous market.
[29:50] I did it personally. When I was alone, I was selling this Bhagavatam.
[29:55] All the schools, college, everywhere, very, with great delight they were taking.
[30:03] And then I have got standing order of the American Embassy:
[30:09] eighteen copies of each book, as soon as it's published. The same standing order.
[30:15] But these people are not doing their job.
[30:19] Indian management is very…
[30:22] [Ramesvara:] So for the time being, if the money will not be used for the construction in Mayapur,
[30:28] it will be used to print books.
[30:31] [Prabhupada:] Mayapur, they have already taken one half lakh from me.
[30:36] [Ramesvara:] Gopala Krsna, in India, requested that BBT give him a loan of $160,000.
[30:47] In India, just this..., during the Mayapur festival, he requested a loan from the US BBT
[30:54] for $160,000, which would be used to construct the second residence building.
[31:03] [Prabhupada:] How he will pay back?
[31:05] [Ramesvara:] His plan was that the American temples would purchase rooms,
[31:10] and over a period of four or five years they would pay that money back.
[31:16] So is that still approved by Your Divine Grace?
[31:20] [Prabhupada:] Yes. I have no objection.
[31:22] [Ramesvara:] The only thing is that we will have to delay the loan, because for the next three months,
[31:27] all our money will be used to print these 17 books.
[31:30] [Prabhupada:] First of all books, then loan. Our... We cannot hold up printing. That is not possible.
[31:41] This you must always keep in view.
[31:44] We are not going to… The surplus money we are going to pay.
[31:49] Not that at the cost of stopping printing. You must always keep it...
[31:55] When you require money for printing, there is no question of loan or temple building.
[32:02] This should be our...
Room Conversation, May 21, 1975, Melbourne
[32:23] [Devotee:] He says, "How would we react if someone breaks in and tries to rob the building?"
[32:28] [Prabhupada:] Rob?
[32:29] [Devotee:] A thief. What would we do if a thief came in?
[32:34 [Prabhupada:] Oh, a thief? That means we shall punish him.
[32:37 [Director of Research of the Dept. of Social Welfare:] You should be violent?
[32:39] [Prabhupada:] Why not? A thief should be punished.
[32:43] [Director:] You would punish yourself? What would you do? Would you start attacking him?
[32:49] [Prabhupada:] No, ourself or anyone, a thief, he has to be punished. A thief has to be punished.
[32:58] Ourself or yourself, it doesn't matter. A thief is thief. He should be punished.
[33:05] [Director:] So what if he breaks in because he is hungry?
[33:08] [Prabhupada:] Who breaks?
[33:10] [Devotee:] He says what if he breaks in because he's hungry? What if he becomes in as a thief because he wants something to eat?
[33:17] [Prabhupada:] Then we say, "Everyone come and eat." Why he should remain hungry?
[33:23] We invite everyone to come here and eat. No charge. We don't charge.
[33:29] So why should he remain hungry? Let us increase this program.
[33:35] All hungry men of Melbourne city, "Come here. You take your eating sumptuously."
[33:42] We invite, "Come on." Why you should remain hungry?
[33:47] [Director:] The minister is elected according to public will in our society.
[33:50] [Prabhupada:] Because they have made a department, just like your... What is the department?
[33:54] [Director:] Social welfare.
[33:55] [Prabhupada:] Social welfare. So if they find social welfare, why not help? Why they bring politics?
[34:05] If actually there is social welfare here, why they should not support it?
[34:12] [Director:] Yeah. Well, you're right. But in our society, a minister is elected to carry out certain policies.
[34:22] Not what he wants, but what the people voted for. And they are taxed to support this.
[34:28] [Prabhupada:] Then if your policy is social reformation...
[34:31] [Director:] Social reform is not our policy.
[34:34] [Prabhupada:] Then social welfare.
[34:36] [Director:] Just to look after those who are in trouble. That's our policy.
[34:40] [Prabhupada:] But everyone is in trouble. At the present moment even the ministers are in trouble.
[34:46] [Director:] Yes, but that is not what our function is. Everybody's in trouble.
[34:51] [Prabhupada:] "Physician heal thyself."
[34:53] You see, they are also drunkards, they are also woman hunters and meat-eaters and gambling. That's all.
[35:02] They require to be rectified.
[35:07] [Director:] But you can't help that. That's society... You have to go and change society, then society tells us to act differently.
[35:12] [Prabhupada:] Unless you change the society, how you can make social welfare?
[35:18] If you keep them as it is, then where is the question of welfare?
[35:22] [Director:] You give it a different interpretation to the word.
[35:25] [Prabhupada:] Inter..., how the...? I don't...
[35:27] [Director:] Does he understand me?
[35:28] [Prabhupada:] Basically... Basically one must be first-class ideal man. That is wanted.
[35:39] [Director:] That's why it is so very difficult. You have to work on your own, and you have to see that your faith has to work. If you can reach enough people...
[35:48] [Prabhupada:] Our own program, it is not vox populi. You find out fault with us.
[35:55] You find out what is our fault.
[35:58] [Director:] I don't see any fault!
[36:00] [Prabhupada:] Then you can disagree.
[36:02] But when you see everything is nice, how you'll not accept it? Unless you are biased.
[36:11] [Director:] Of course I'm biased. I've been brought up differently.
[36:14] [Prabhupada:] Yes. Just like our...
[36:17] [Director:] Just as you are biased against my life.
[36:19] [Prabhupada:] No, we are not biased. We are not biased. We are allowing.
[36:25] We say that if you want to be first-class man, then you must not commit sinful activities.
[36:33] That is our proposal.
[36:37] [Director:] But I, as a public servant, I'm not here to change society.
[36:43] [Prabhupada:] We are also public. We belong to the public. You must become our servant also.
[36:49] [Director:] Pardon?
[36:50] [Prabhupada:] We are public, members of the public, so you should become our servant also,
[36:55] if you are public servant.
[36:58] [Director:] A public servant is, in our philosophy, is a man who serves the minister elected
[37:04] by the people, and in this way he serves the public. And what the public decides... That is something different.
[37:10] [Prabhupada:] Therefore, just like we are proposing here-I am not proposing; Krsna says-
[37:16] that one must be peaceful. So how to become peaceful?
[37:21] If his mind is always disturbed, how he can become peaceful?
[37:26] [Director:] You're quite right.
[37:27] [Prabhupada:] So that is the secret of success.
[37:30] You want to make the people peaceful, but you do not know how to make him peaceful.
[37:37] So therefore, you have to adopt this.
[37:39] [Director:] You have a competitive society.
[37:42] [Prabhupada:] We say that you chant Hare Krsna, eat here sumptuously, live here comfortably,
[37:52] and you become peaceful. It is guaranteed.
[37:57] If anyone, even a madman, agrees to these three principles,
[38:02] that let him chant Hare Krsna mantra, take whatever nice foodstuffs we prepare, take,
[38:10] and live peacefully, he will be peaceful.
[38:14] [Director:] What's your answer that still, such a small percentage of the population, a tiny percentage of the population, accepts that the philosophy that so and so...
[38:24] [Prabhupada:] Tiny percentage... Just like there are so many stars in the sky and there is one moon.
[38:35] In percentage, the moon is nothing.
[38:38] If you take percentage of the stars, the moon is nothing.
[38:43] But moon is important than all the nonsense stars.
[38:46] But because he is moon, he is important than all these rascal stars.
[38:54] This is the example.
[38:57] What is the use of taking percentage of the stars in the presence of moon?
[39:02] Let there be one moon; that is sufficient. There is no question of percentage. One ideal man.
[39:11] Just like in Christian world, one ideal, Jesus Christ.
[39:14] [Director:] How do you feel about Mao Tse-tung?
[39:17] [Prabhupada:] Huh? What is that?
[39:18] [Devotee:] He says, "How do you feel about Mao Tse-tung?"
[39:20] [Director:] In China, he's ideal man.
[39:23] [Devotee:] He's a Communist.
[39:24] [Prabhupada:] His ideal is all right.
[39:27] [Director:] In China, he is...
[39:28] [Prabhupada:] His idea, Communist idea, that everyone should be happy,
[39:34] that is good idea. But they do not know how to make a…
[39:38] Just like they are taking care of the human being in the state,
[39:43] but they are sending poor animals to the slaughterhouse.
[39:47] Because they are godless. They do not know the animal is also a living being and the human being also a living being.
[39:57] So for the satisfaction of the tongue of the human being, the animal should be cut throat.
[40:05] [Director:] But that idea's...
[40:06] [Prabhupada:] So what can be done? Then hopeless.
[40:08] [Director:] You can work on the...
[40:10] We are going, without depending on these rascals. We are going on.
[40:15] We are publishing our books. We are making our movement. We are honestly trying. that's all.
Garden Conversation, June 22, 1975, Los Angeles
[40:26] [Dharmadhyaksa:] Dr. Gerson has promised that he will read every single one of your books before he writes his book. He's very serious.
[40:33] [Prabhupada:] That is very kind of you. We have got over fifty books.
[40:37] [Dharmadhyaksa:] He knows.
[40:41] [Prabhupada:] And it is increasing.
[40:43] Perhaps in the next two months we shall increase another seventeen books.
[40:50] [Bahulasva:] When a person came, first he was doing some drugs or some nonsense,
[40:54] and now that he's taken to Krsna consciousness he has become
[40:56] so much more of a healthy and wholesome person.
[40:59] [Prabhupada:] That is the test. That is the real test: how we got so many devotees from the hippie group.
[41:11] So how they have given up all their bad habits? This is the real test.
[41:16] [Revatinandana:] The function of his testing is to show that, that that change takes place
[41:20] in a way that other scientists will accept it. That is his purpose.
[41:25] [Prabhupada:] Oh, that's nice. That is already admitted by educated class.
[41:34] Therefore they are becoming attracted.
[41:37] [Dr. Gerson:] Well, there are still many who aren't familiar with the movement, and I hope to familiarize them.
[41:43] [Prabhupada:] But I say that even there is something wrong, it is not impediment.
[41:50] They are making propaganda that these American devotees, they are CIA.
[41:58] This propaganda is very strong in India,
[42:03] making the people against these American boys who are preaching.
[42:10 [Dr. Gerson:] I would like to show them a path so that they won't be cheated any longer.
[42:14] [Prabhupada:] Provided you know the path.
[42:16] [Dr. Gerson:] I'm trying to learn.
[42:18] [Prabhupada:] So first of all learn it. Otherwise you'll be cheating.
[42:25] If you do not know the art, and if you want to do some benefit to the others, then that is cheating.
[42:38] Suppose a physician, he does not know what is the medical science,
[42:42] and if he wants to become a physician, that is cheating. Quack.
[42:52] [Dr. Gerson:] I hope through the study that I'm doing with the devotees and the books that comes out of it,
[42:56] it will help them not be cheated any longer and show them the right way.
[43:02] [Prabhupada:] Yes.
[43:04 [Bahulasva:] He is advising his patients that they should chant Hare Krsna and come to the temple.
[43:08] [Prabhupada:] Then he is very nice. Then you are friend.
[43:12] [Dr. Gerson:] Another thing I would like to do is go to Gurukula and test the children, and show
[43:17] what NBC did was very false and unfair.
[43:22] [Jayatirtha:] On television, they did a very bad story on Gurukula.
[43:25] [Prabhupada:] Yes, they're cheater. He wants to cheat and get some money. That's all.
[43:33] Because the whole so-called human society is combination of cheater and cheated.
[43:41] So anyone who is acting without Krsna consciousness, he is a cheater.
[43:48] And anyone who is thinking himself advanced without Krsna consciousness, he is cheating.
[43:55] This is the basic principle.
[43:57] I mean Krsna consciousness is God consciousness.
 

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