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Interv NY 1975-03-05 Press--We Are Hare Krishna People
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ANNOUNCER: The following
is a press conference
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with His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda,
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recorded on March
5th, 1975, in New York.
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REPORTER #1: Can you tell us
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what your purpose is in coming
to New York at this time?
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PRABHUPĀDA: To New York,
I am coming here since 1965.
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I have got my temple.
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So I am going to London.
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So it is for the time
being, transit stoppage.
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Otherwise I have
got my temple here.
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REPORTER #2: What special
message would you have for people
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who don’t know anything
about your movement
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and would like to know
something about it?
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About the movement?
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ŚRUTAKĪRTI: Yes, what special message
for the people who don’t know about us?
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They… It is [a] little difficult to
understand this movement,
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because it is [a]
spiritual movement.
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People practically have no
information what is spirit
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and what is spiritual movement.
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But they can simply understand
that the body is there.
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Body is the machine.
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And the driver of the
machine is the spirit soul.
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So we are beginning our movement from
that platform: The driver of the machine.
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People are very much engrossed
with the machine only.
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But they have no information
who is driving the machine.
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That is the difficulty.
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Swamiji, your movement has
received a great deal of attention for,
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at least one reason, because
many of your followers
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dress in what for the
West is an odd fashion
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and relate to the world in what
for the West is an odd fashion.
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Can you respond to that?
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Why have you asked your
followers to dress in this fashion
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and to play drums on the streets?
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This is our preaching method: [To] some
way or other to draw their attention.
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DEVOTEES: Jaya! Haribol!
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I’m sure that you’re aware that to
many people in the West, in America,
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in New York City specifically,
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that your disciples seem strange
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- because of the way they act on the streets.
- Yes.
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- What about…?
- They must be strange because they are spiritual.
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You are all material.
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So, for the material persons,
we are surely strange people.
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Is this manifestation the
only way to be spiritual,
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- dressing in this fashion?
- No. No,
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you cannot compete with us,
because we don’t have any illicit sex.
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We don’t have meat-eating.
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We have no intoxication.
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We have no gambling.
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There’s so many no’s which
you are unable to perform.
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Swami, that wasn’t my question.
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My question was, is
this manifestation,
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dressing in this fashion, playing
drums and dancing in the streets,
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the only way to be spiritual?
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No, we have got
about sixty books.
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If you want to learn this movement
through science and philosophy,
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- we have got our books.
- Well, that… That isn’t…
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- Have you not seen our books?
- Swami, that isn’t the thrust of my question.
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Yes, I have.
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The thrust of my question
very simply is this:
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Can’t people be spiritual
without dressing in this fashion
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- and dancing in the streets?
- Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
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You can become spiritual
in your this dress.
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Simply you have to learn
what it is from the books.
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- But, Swami…
- The dress…
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Dress is not [a] very important
thing, but still, in the material field,
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this girl is dressed in a different way;
you are dressed in a different way.
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The way we dress lets
us move in all circles.
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No, the thing is, dress
is not very important.
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- But you have your disciples dress in this way…
- But just to draw a particular…
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Just like the policeman,
he is differently dressed.
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One can understand
that he is policeman.
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Similarly, we are also differently
dressed so that people may understand:
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We are Hare Kṛṣṇa people.
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Jaya! Haribol!
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Swami, I saw a television program
about your movement once,
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and they said that the men make
the decisions and the women follow.
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Is that true?
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I do not follow.
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She hears that the men make the decisions
and that the women follow these decisions.
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Not necessarily.
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We follow the decision of
Kṛṣṇa, men and women both.
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- Men are what?
- We follow the decision of Kṛṣṇa.
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That is applicable [to]
both men and women.
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Are men superior in your
movement, though?
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Hmm?
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Are men regarded as
superior to women?
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Yes, naturally.
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Naturally, woman requires
protection by the man.
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In the childhood she is
protected by the father,
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and youth time she is
protected by the husband,
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and old age she is
protected by elderly sons.
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That is natural.
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That goes against the thinking of
a lot of people in America now.
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- Do you know that?
- No…
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America, maybe, but this
is the natural position.
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- Women require protection.
- Who decides…
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Who decides who’s natural?
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And what’s natural?
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Natural means: Just like in
psychology it is said that woman…
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The highest brain substance
of woman is thirty-six ounce,
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whereas the highest brain substance
of man is sixty-four ounce.
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So there is difference
by nature, of the brain.
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Well, to get to something else, what do
you do for fun when you’re in New York?
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Huh?
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What is that? I…
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You have defeated her.
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Huh?
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But I’m not going to pursue your line
of logic; and what do you do for fun?
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No, that is natural defeat.
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You cannot avoid it.
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I can’t what?
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You cannot avoid it.
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Again, what do you do to have
a good time in New York?
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A sixteen-years-old boy can
travel all over the world,
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and it is very difficult for
a sixteen-years-old girl
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to travel all over the world. [break]
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- …realized the highest truth yourself?
- Certainly.
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- You have?
- Oh, yes.
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- At what age did you realize God?
- I can deliver to you also.
- Pardon me?
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I can deliver to you
also—if you want.
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My question to you is at what
age did you realize God?
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God is a person like you and me.
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The difference is that
we are also persons.
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We are many, and
God is one: Leader.
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Now, what is the difference
between this one and we many?
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He maintains all these many,
and we are maintained by Him.
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But He is also a person
like you and me.
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Do you follow?
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Yes, I do, but Swamiji, my question to you
was… was a bit more pointed than that.
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I appreciate the answer
you just gave me, but
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at what age did you
realize the highest truth?
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- At what physical age…?
- There is no question of age.
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Realization [of] God should be educated
from the very beginning of life.
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Oh, I understand that, Swamiji.
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My question to you was at
what age did you yourself
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in this physical incarnation
realize the highest truth?
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Of course, we were born
in a very nice family.
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My father educated
me in this way.
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So practically from the very beginning
of our life, we were educated in this way.
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Oh, no, I understand that.
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I mean at what time did you have your
own personal realization, Swamiji?
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At what age?
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That I can say from the
age, say, four or five years.
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At the age of four or five years?
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Yes.
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That’s a fact.
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Swami, is there a chance that all your
followers can realize the highest truth?
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- They have already done.
- They have already?
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Yes, they have already done.
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Otherwise, I am
Indian; I am poor man.
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Why they are after me?
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You Americans, you are rich men.
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So I have not bribed them.
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These young boys, they
are educated, qualified.
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Why they are after me,
unless they have realized?
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Swamiji, I have one other
question for you, please.
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By definition, it
seems to me anyway,
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and I think to other observers,
and sympathetic observers at that,
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that you have asked your spiritual children
to leave the outer world in the West
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and to go deep within
the heart of ISKCON,
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within your heart and the
heart of the Supreme,
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to accomplish what
you’ve set as their goal.
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What about outer service to
humanity in this incarnation?
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This is the best humanity’s service.
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They were all fools and rascals and we
educated them for spiritual understanding.
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The material…
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If I think, “I am this body,” then I
am no better than cat and dog.
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That is going on.
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“I am American;” “I am Indian;” “I am
Hindu;” “I am Muslim;” “I am Christian.”
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Only this bodily relationship.
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But suppose you
have come to me,
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can I ask you whether you
are body or something else?
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Swamiji, perhaps the
deficiency is in my question.
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Let me rephrase the
question, if you’ll permit.
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And I realize there isn’t
much air to breathe.
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[indistinct]
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But I will make the question brief.
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My question has to
do with karma-yoga
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in the outer world, for
instance, in New York City.
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From what I understand, your disciples
do not pursue the professions.
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Is that correct?
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No, we are also karma-yogī.
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We are also eating;
we are also sleeping.
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Oh, no, I understand that.
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I’m speaking in terms of outer service
to people who are not in your mission.
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- Yes.
- Other… Other than preaching the truth of Kṛṣṇa,
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- is there any other outer service to humanity?
- That will include everything.
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If we make [him] Kṛṣṇa consciousness,
then he becomes perfectly educated.
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We do not require to…
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Just like if you pour water
on the root of the tree,
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the water reaches everywhere.
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And if you pour water on the leaf,
on the twig, or on the branch,
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it does not go anywhere.
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It is… It is localized.
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So at the present moment, service
is a particular departmental service:
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Not all-including.
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So, to educate people
in Kṛṣṇa consciousness,
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means to educate him all round.
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I understand, Swamiji.
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Again the deficiency is
obviously with my question.
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My question relates to service to
the outer world by your disciples.
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- That I have already explained, that you have…
- Yes, but…
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If you pour water on the root of the
tree, the service reaches everywhere.
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How is that manifesting?
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Manifested? That’s like if you eat and
give the foodstuff to your stomach,
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then you realize that you have got
energy in every part of your body.
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Yes, I… I’ve understand…
I understood your words,
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and I’m grateful for them,
but again the problem,
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obviously, is with me
and not with you.
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But the question still remains, what
about being of material service.
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- Material service, not just spiritual service?
- It is material service, as I showed.
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If you put food…
foodstuff in your stomach,
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all the parts of your
body feels energetic.
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That is material service.
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That’s not spiritual service.
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Spiritual service [is] beyond that.
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Similarly, the center is God.
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If you understand God, then
you understand everything.
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Understood, Swamiji.
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But your disciples do not build
houses, they don’t work in hospitals,
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they don’t perform—
as far as I know,
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and I could be… I could be just
be swimming in ignorance here.
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They… They…
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As far as I know, they do not perform
service to the outer world other than
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offering free meals at the temple and
preaching the word of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
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I quite follow; that
is your ignorance.
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Because you do not know
that: What is the real service?
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You do not know.
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Do you know what is real service?
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The answer should come
from you and not from me.
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Yes; the real service is:
Suppose you open [a] hospital.
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You can cure, for the time being,
some disease, but can you give me…
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Can you give him any
assurance that he will not die?
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00:13:12,243 --> 00:13:14,790
Can you protect him from death?
235
00:13:14,791 --> 00:13:17,877
In spite of your all
big, big hospitals,
236
00:13:17,878 --> 00:13:23,756
can you protect humanity from death,
from birth, from old age, from disease?
237
00:13:23,757 --> 00:13:24,432
Can you?
238
00:13:24,433 --> 00:13:25,904
Physically, of course
not, only spiritually.
239
00:13:25,905 --> 00:13:29,329
Ah, that we are giving.
240
00:13:29,330 --> 00:13:30,340
That we are giving you:
241
00:13:30,341 --> 00:13:34,329
Then no more death, no more birth, no
more old age, and no more disease.
242
00:13:34,330 --> 00:13:38,167
But couldn’t your disciples perform all the
wonderful things that you have them do
243
00:13:38,168 --> 00:13:40,562
and at the same time provide
outer material service?
244
00:13:40,563 --> 00:13:41,909
They are doing.
245
00:13:41,910 --> 00:13:44,502
They’re doing; what
they are not doing?
246
00:13:44,503 --> 00:13:45,973
They are doing all service.
247
00:13:45,974 --> 00:13:48,304
We have got this body; you
have to maintain the body.
248
00:13:48,305 --> 00:13:50,536
They are doing everything.
249
00:13:50,537 --> 00:13:54,630
We are also eating, we are also sleeping,
as you are eating, we are sleeping.
250
00:13:54,631 --> 00:13:56,153
Where is the difference?
251
00:13:56,154 --> 00:14:00,131
We also allow sex,
but not illicit sex.
252
00:14:00,132 --> 00:14:02,849
We allow eating,
but no meat-eating.
253
00:14:02,850 --> 00:14:04,007
That is the difference.
254
00:14:04,008 --> 00:14:06,185
We are also eating,
as you are eating.
255
00:14:06,186 --> 00:14:09,163
We are sleeping, as
you are sleeping.
256
00:14:09,164 --> 00:14:12,249
Where is the difference?
257
00:14:12,250 --> 00:14:13,729
Perhaps only in some perceptions.
258
00:14:13,730 --> 00:14:15,381
- Huh?
- Perhaps only in some perceptions.
259
00:14:15,382 --> 00:14:16,261
That’s all.
260
00:14:16,262 --> 00:14:18,607
- Thank you, Swamiji.
- There is no difference.
- Thank you kindly.
261
00:14:18,608 --> 00:14:26,797
Jaya!
262
00:14:26,798 --> 00:14:26,799
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