Feb 08, 2011 — VRINDAVANA, INDIA (SUN) — I have seen the video in which an ISKCON Swami, Sri Radhanath, appears with another devotee, Gaura Vani Prabhu. It is no joking matter by any stretch. Rather it is a disgrace that a representative of the Gaudiya parampara should be intermingling with Mayavadis, most of whom are either followers of impersonalist Neem Karoli Baba or are professional kirtan singers.
In the 1970's in Vrindavana the people here were quite wary of foreigners intermingling in our ways of Vaishnava-dharma. It is easy to offend the Lord and nobody wished for such an untoward eventuality under any circumstances. However, in due course with the blessings of Swami Srila Prabhupada we came to recognize that his devotees were not hippies who had come here to smoke ganja and generally offend our sentiments and the beliefs. Gradually we learned that the foreign disciples of Swami Prabhupada were by and large sincere and deserved a chance to serve Sri Krishna in His Own Dham.
Moreover, Srila Prabhupada brought many of the benefits here to the Place of Sri Krishna and through his influence the entire town has picked up somewhat. We are proud of the Krishna Balaram Mandir and seldom refer to it as the foreigner temple any longer, because we feel a part of that place also.
Such was never the case at the ashram of Neem Karoli Baba, who generally attracted only foreign hippies of an unregulated temperament. We respected ISKCON's followers because none of them would besmirch the name of the sampradaya of Mahaprabhu by associating with a Mayavadi baba with no allegiance to any sampradaya or traditional code of puja.
Neem Karoli Baba never insisted that his followers practice any sort regulating principle or study any shastra with a mind and intent upon seeking out the Absolute Truth. Only to worship him. On the contrary, Neem Karoli Baba was always with this or that foreign woman stroking his back with peacock feathers. His followers smoked tobacco and other things and yet came to the land of the Supreme Lord and claimed to become God with an offensive mentality. We considered his goings-on as a disgrace. He merely converted his beatniks into yoga-niks, starting with the LSD guru Richard Alpert, who became some Baba Ramdass with nothing of spiritual credential. These yoga-niks simply added the name of Ram, but with no improvement in activities what could be of value?
The thought that Srila Prabhupada would associate with such a so-called Swami was anathema to the mind of anyone of the thinking individuals. But on this non-devotional and impersonal video KEEP YOUR FAITH ALIVE we see one of ISKCON's leaders hob-nobbing with the professional imitation kirtan singers who have made an occupation out of singing bhajans. Where is the loyalty to the Sampradaya Acarya? What is the motivation? Perhaps he is one of the rich gurus who are above the law? Anyone with computer can do the research. The website of the author of the song they are singing clearly states that these are "Indian myths." Myth is a word the British used to poison entirety of Vedic culture in one fell swoop, by rendering the religious practice of millions of years of spirituality into a pipe dream. It is highly offensive.
Only one of the singers on the video is devotee of sorts, and he is the one who rejected Neem Karoli Baba in favor of Pushti Marga of Shri Vallabha Acharyaji. All the others are professional artists-cum-yogis or followers of impersonalist Neem Karoli Baba. This is not kirtan, but is the degradation of kirtan. But nowadays even the gurus of ISKCON have no potency, neither they have courage to stand up and preach these yoga-niks any semblance of the Absolute Truth, beginning with Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita. Whereas Srila Prabhupada could write some ten thousand letters and 60 volumes, today's ISKCON holy men are fearful of giving one word of Vaishnava advice to the yoga-niks.
Since the power has gone out of the hands of ISKCON to Mayavadis, what will be the future of ISKCON -- simply to become a philosophy-free zone that is void of bhakti? When the religious sentiment absconds in favour of impersonalism, only party politics can fill the void and that is the factual result of the matter. From inside the gilded cage the zookeeper thinks others see only the polish on the cage, but such desires for fame and recognition are old story when the acarya departs.
Imagine if Shrila Prabhupada went to the ashram of Neem Karoli Baba to sing such songs, what disgrace it would have to be? Not only disgrace, but bad example for all other disciples. But today, a guru in ISKCON is honored for associating with Mayavadis and drinking down the milk touched by serpent lips only. And in the video, Gaura Vani plays the clown while chanting the Holy Name of SHRI RAMA, so we can understand that his potency is non-different from the other storefront yogis and professional YouTube so-called kirtan singers. A man is known by his association, as seen in the age old adage, birds of feather flock together. That is a very sad day for ISKCON sampradaya and the disciples of Radhanath Swami.
The following conversation, widely available on Prabhupada sites, is very well respected among Vaishnavas who have admired Srila Prabhupada's courage to speak truthfully to the Mayavadis and never compromise an iota with them. It was recorded on 7 June, 1975 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, when Yogi Har Bhajan Singh, kundalini yoga teacher, invited Sri Prabhupada to come to a gathering of hippy Mayavadis.
The title of the yoga-nik song is KEEP YOUR FAITH ALIVE. That would be good advice for devotees who compromise their faith. As we can see from the following conversation, Srila Prabhupada never allowed his faith to be intimidated by Mayavadis. Srila Prabhupada kept his Krishna conscious faith alive by never mingling among all-knowing pasandis.
Srila Prabhupada Refused to Visit the Unity of Man Conference
"It will be never successful. You can write it down."
Room Conversation with Yogi Bhajan, June 7, 1975, Honolulu
Yogi Bhajan: How are you?
Prabhupada: Not very well.
Yogi Bhajan: You have carried a big load. What is... Will you be in a position to come to the conference?
Prabhupada: I don't think so. Which conference?
Yogi Bhajan: This Unity of Man Conference.
Prabhupada: Where it is?
Yogi Bhajan: New Mexico. There are about, we have confirmed sixteen teachers coming from, various people from India. We have confirmation of people coming all around the world.
Prabhupada: So they have not invited me, I don't think.
Yogi Bhajan: The invitation must have gone.
Prabhupada: Hmm?
Yogi Bhajan: We invited everybody.
Prabhupada: Ah, but I have not received an invitation.
Yogi Bhajan: Oh, it may be on the way.
Prabhupada: Mexico City?
Yogi Bhajan: New Mexico.
Paramahamsa: That's in America. It's one of the states in America, right next to Texas.
Yogi Bhajan: Yeah. Santa Fe. We have decided that this is the time for everybody to get together and get their scene together and merge together.
Prabhupada: They will never. (laughs) You may call all conferences, hundreds and thousands, but they will never, because there is no common platform. Godless.
Yogi Bhajan: That is what we are trying to provide.
Prabhupada: But you are trying, that's nice, but it will be never successful. You can write it down.
Yogi Bhajan: Well, perhaps it is very simple. Somebody has to break the ice.
Prabhupada: Hmm?
Yogi Bhajan: Somebody has to break the ice. Somebody, it doesn't matter who. Somebody has to go out and say, "You are welcome. Come in." And it has shown response. Even the prime minister has agreed to it. First she was not agreeing. And she is coming in Mexico.
Prabhupada: Indira Gandhi?
Yogi Bhajan: Um hm. She will be there on the l7th and l8th. So we are carrying that spirit.
Prabhupada: The thing is everyone is trying to be united. That United Nation is for the last twenty years. They started in 1947, United Nations? Eh?
Paramahamsa: Yeah, '47.
Prabhupada: And it is seventy...
Paramahamsa: Almost thirty years.
Prabhupada: Thirty years. What they have done? All the best men of the whole world, they are there, but no united, simply disunited. Common platform, they are not agreeable. They do not accept God.
Yogi Bhajan: Um hm.
Prabhupada: That is the difficulty, no central point. You have got your own philosophy. I have got my own philosophy. He has got his own philosophy. Now, how we will agree?
Yogi Bhajan: No, I may not agree with your philosophy, and you may not agree with my philosophy, but one thing we both have agreed that you are you, and I am I, and both can have respect and love for each other. And there has to be a place where everybody should be given that opportunity.
Prabhupada: That is going on. When I meet you I say, "Yes sir." You say, "Yes sir." That is all right. That is social etiquette. But real unity is on the platform of spirit soul. Panditah sama-darsinah. Pandita, he is sama-darsina. So panditah means
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
"A very learned brahmana and a dog and an elephant, a cow, a candala--all of them, to a pandita, really learned person, sama-darsinah." You see? So now how a learned scholar brahmana and a dog can be seen on equal level? But it can be seen. Panditah sama-darsinah. It is on the spiritual platform, that every one of us is spirit soul. We are, by different karma, we are covered with different material dress. A dog is also a soul, and a learned brahmana is also a soul. But he is covered with different body, and he is covered with different body. So one who does not see the body, he can see on the same level. But one who sees the body, he cannot see. This is the basic principle of equality. I am seeing you are Sikh, you are seeing I am Hindu, he is seeing he is Christian, he is Mohammedan, and so on, so on. And nobody is seeing that nobody is brahmana. Nobody is seeing nobody is Hindu, nobody is Christian--he is pure soul. So that vision, unless one attains, how there can be equality? There is no possibility.
Yogi Bhajan: Yeah, that's agreed. But...
Prabhupada: So that requires education. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na ka... samah sarvesu bhutesu. When one is Brahman realized, then he can see equally. But that requires education, how to become brahma-bhutah. But everyone is sarira-bhutah. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body." So how it can be possible? So we may attempt, but it is not possible.
Yogi Bhajan: There are a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions given against each other.
Prabhupada: No, no. Misconception... Just like you have got a body; I have got a body. If I say, "No, I don't like you "... If I say, "I don't like you"... Naturally, when we see superficially, then this tendency will go on. When you see inside, introspectively, then there will be equality. That requires education. So...
Yogi Bhajan: All right, come and educate.
Prabhupada: (Chuckling) But that education is there, the beginning, in the Bhagavad-gita.
Yogi Bhajan: No, you are shy.
Prabhupada: Bhagavad-gita and the education is there, that, immediately Krsna says, dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih. Asmin dehe, there is the soul. This is the beginning of education. But there are many learned scholars; they do not believe in the soul. That is the difficulty. They do not believe. A big, big professor.... I have been in Moscow. Professor Kotovsky, he said, "No, there is no soul. After this finishing of the body, everything is finished."
Yogi Bhajan: But they don't have experience.
Prabhupada: Therefore... So if you assemble some not experienced men, then how there will be unity?
Yogi Bhajan: No, granted. What we are trying to do is we are giving out a call to all learned, the unlearned... But basic fact is: there is a desire somewhere in the ether that everybody wants to feel each other. And they have not done anything good by negating each other or talking negatively. They have not gained anything. They have realized it now. Otherwise...
Prabhupada: Now, what will be the basic principle of unity? That is the point.
Yogi Bhajan: The point of basic unity is respect for each other.
Prabhupada: But that is going on. Suppose you have come here. I welcome you. If I go to your place, you welcome me. That respect is going on.
Yogi Bhajan: Yeah, that's right. That is between two individuals.
Prabhupada: Similarly, whenever we come in a big assembly, we respect each one, gentlemen. There is no harm.
Yogi Bhajan: No, no, but people do not understand why we are like this, why they wear like this. They don't get a chance to explain. At Interreligious Council, I am a member. They never knew. They think we are the most weird people from the Mars perhaps. They don't understand a bit. And now our legal services are helping them, and all sorts of things have happened, and they are trying to understand. And when the last president left the office, he said, in his words of departure, he said, "I am only limited by the Christ. I never understood anything else. But I do feel from that limit that God is unlimited and it is in everybody." Asking a fanatic Christian to make that statement to the general assembly, it took us about two years.
Prabhupada: Hm. You find so many fanatics. How you will unite them?
Yogi Bhajan: Gradually, one by one, one by one, they will understand. Love is the winning point. That's why they don't understand. When they find love from you, they will find love from me, they will love from people, they will love from everybody else. You know, you can take a mango stick and beat somebody, but you can take mango off it and eat. Effort has to be made somehow. And now...
Prabhupada: Effort is being made, but the platform, the world where you are staying, that effort is very difficult to fulfill.
Yogi Bhajan: That is agreed. That's typical, difficulty is agreed. I go to India; I find the difficulty. I am here; I find the difficulty. But there are genuine people in the spiritual work...
Prabhupada: But one thing is, just like you said some Christian priests?
Yogi Bhajan: Yes.
Prabhupada: That "I realize that one, God is one." So if God is one and every one of us after God, then why there is disagreement?
Yogi Bhajan: Well, those... Everybody has limited egos, so we understand that.
Prabhupada: No, we should... The conference should be made that if there is God and God is one, then who is that God? What is His characteristic? That should be discussed.
Yogi Bhajan: Well, that's what I say. But what we are trying to do is spend all, what we have righteously earned, provide that platform, and invite somebody. My personal feeling is even if somebody comes and tell us there that we are the worst being on the world, but by coming and opening himself up, herself, he at least acknowledges that there is a mutual existence. At this time I have walked away to every corner, here and there, everywhere. Some people are not aware totally. I was asked one day a question, "Why these Hare Krsna people dance in the streets?"
Prabhupada: Ecstasy.
Yogi Bhajan: I said, "Why not?" I asked the question. I said, "Why not? What is wrong with them? What do you feel?" "But that's not in America. You know, we don't go and dance everywhere." I said, "You go in ballroom dances and you dance all the time. You drink and you dance, and you do what you want to do. And they just, in their own life, feel that they enjoy dancing right for God and the world. You dance for your own social contact. They dance for their own divine contact. What is wrong with them? Their leader, their prophet, their spiritual guide danced to God, and they dance to God. Why you think, why you go to the church?" "We go to pray." I said, "That's their prayer. Why don't you understand the prayer aspect of it? Why you want to understand how they dress, how they like, how they dislike each other?" And the second question somebody asked me, "But do you think somebody has the right to convert our children?" I said, "But do you think somebody has not the right..."
Prabhupada: I never asked them to be converted.
Yogi Bhajan: Well, I understand that. My situation is sometimes people ask you a question about me. They think I am another religion, they can ask question of me.
Prabhupada: ...Dr. Judah has written. Where is that book? That Dr. Judah's book?
Ambarisa: We took it to court, and I think (indistinct name)) has it.
Prabhupada: One professor, Dr., what is his name?
Paramahamsa: Stillson.
Prabhupada: Stillson Judah, he has... Many others also written books about us, but his book is very scholarly. He has written the same thing that... What is that dedication?
Srutakirti: "To the devotees who have found fulfillment in Krsna consciousness and to their parents who have raised them."
Ambarisa: "So they will understand."
Prabhupada: Ah, "the parents who will understand them." My students, mostly they are young, mostly within thirty, some of them little above thirty. So some of their parents they come and congratulate me, "Swamiji, it is our great fortune that you have come to our country." That I receive many. But there are other many parents, they are not happy.
Yogi Bhajan: We are starting a parent organization for our kids. We invite the mothers, parents, ask them to stay, and send them back. Idea is basic, and the fundamental idea is: what you are doing is God's will, these people who are following you is God's will, and those who will receive it as God's will... But it is not that everybody sees that God will.
Prabhupada: No. God's will is open. Krsna says, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru. God says that "You always think of Me. You just become My devotee, worship Me, and offer your respect to Me." This is God's will. "And if you do this, then you are coming back to Me." It is clearly said. God's will is declared. There is no secret. Man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad... Find out this ninth verse, er, Ninth Chapter. Yes. Read it.
Bali-mardana: Sanskrit?
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam
atmanam mat-parayanah
"Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me."
Prabhupada: That's all. This is God's will. It is not secret. It is open. But the thing is that everyone has got his different God.
Yogi Bhajan: Well, question is very fundamental. Everybody has his own God, so let everybody bring one's own God in understanding. It's not... God is...
Prabhupada: God... you have got own God. God says, "Always think of Me."
Yogi Bhajan: Um hm. That's true.
Prabhupada: So that's all right. The followers may think of Him. Man-mana. "You become My devotee, become My devotee and worship Me and offer respect to Me," that's all. So we are teaching our student, "Here is God, Krsna. You chant Hare Krsna, always think of Him. You just offer your respect and worship Him. In this way become His devotee." We do not... Spiritually, thing is (?) (indistinct) That's all right. And they are doing that and they are getting the result. We do not say that "Sit down, press your nose, and meditate and this, that," or, no. Simple thing. There is God, we have got our temple... (Aside:) Don't make now this sort of thing.... Simple thing. We have got our temple. We say that "Chant Hare Krsna. Here is God. And think of Him." As soon as you chant "Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna..." Everyone has got the beads. That means you are thinking of Krsna, man-mana. And then we are offering respect, go to the temple and offer our obeisance, very simple thing. So we accept Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So if you don't accept, then you must have your own God. Do that. But the followers of Vedic principle, they will accept Krsna the Supreme Lord. Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam. I think somebody was telling me that Guru Nanak also accepted Krsna as the supreme father. Is it a fact? I do not know.
Yogi Bhajan: No, we have in Siri Guru Grantha lot of things about Lord Rama, about Lord Krsna, about...
Prabhupada: Now, what is Krsna? How Krsna is accepted? Is He accepted as the Supreme Lord?
Yogi Bhajan: Krsna is accepted as incarnation of God.
Prabhupada: Well, incarnation of God and God, there is no difference.
Yogi Bhajan: That's it. Also there is a fundamental message in that, that as God created everyone, God created all of us, and in Sikh dharma God, whatever we want to call it, ultimate reality, beyond sunya-samadha, the truth, and Lord Krsna in His incarnation taught, Lord Rama taught. And what our problem at this time at the humanity is: the humanity is divided in many forms. And it is the inner hatred which people want to expel (spell?) out.
Prabhupada: Therefore I say that every, at least, religious sect... I don't say others, nonreligious or agnostic. There are Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu, Sikhs, or any religious system, they have accepted that there is God, Supreme Truth.
Yogi Bhajan: No, there is one fundamental thing which this movement may not know. In Dasan Grantha, Guru Govind Singh wrote down Krsna avatara.
Prabhupada: Avatara...
Yogi Bhajan: Krsna avatara is in his own poetry. It is about Lord Krsna. If somebody of these people who know Sanskrit and who know guru-mukhi can translate that part...
Prabhupada: No, translate or not translate, we have already accept Krsna God. So if Guru Nanak has described Him as God, that's all right. Then if Krsna is God, accepted by Guru Nanak, and Krsna is God, accepted by us, why not put this God, one God?
Yogi Bhajan: Yeah. One God is all right. That everybody will agree. But everybody...
Prabhupada: That one God, Krsna says, "I am the same, I am the one God, that Supreme Lord." Mattah parataram nanyat. Where is...? Find out this verse. Mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya.
Devotee: Chapter Seven, text seven. You'd like it read?
mattah parataram nanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
mayi sarvam idam protam
sutre mani-gana iva
"O conquerer of wealth, Arjuna, there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread."
Prabhupada: And so all the acaryas of India, including Guru Nanak, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnusvami, Sankaracarya, Guru Nanak, they have accepted God Krsna. So why not present this God all over the world?
Yogi Bhajan: Yeah, but question is very simple. Present it among the other Gods. Time has come of a mutual presentation.
Prabhupada: No, mutual presentation, simply talking will not do. Suppose we are presenting from India. If we accept Krsna... We have accepted, as you say. As so far other acaryas, namely, Sankaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, the Visnusvami, and then, Nimbarka, Lord Caitanya, and Guru Nanak--practically the whole India, they have accepted Krsna the Supreme Lord.
Yogi Bhajan: Um hm.
Prabhupada: Now, in India, I think, people ask me the "How many they are Krsna conscious?" "Everyone in India." At least in India everyone is Krsna conscious. So the majority of people... And why majority? The whole India. Even there are many Mohammedans who also worship Krsna. So if Krsna is God, we, in this conference, why not present, "Here is God, whose name is Krsna."
Yogi Bhajan: Yeah, but understand one thing. In layer, that Ka-rish-na, when the kar comes to sunya, at that consciousness if a person does not release to himself, he is not...
Prabhupada: What is that, sunya?
Yogi Bhajan: Sunya.
Prabhupada: Sunya? Mean zero? God is zero?
Yogi Bhajan: No, it is not zero, it is where the kar, the action, stops.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Yogi Bhajan: That is the Godhead.
Prabhupada: Yes, that is reaction...
Yogi Bhajan: But everybody here in this world, four billion people, everybody does not have that experience...
Prabhupada: No, no, I mean to say that every religious sect believes in God.
Yogi Bhajan: Um hm.
Prabhupada: If we present, "Here is God. You are seeking after God. Here is God," now what they will say?
Yogi Bhajan: Well, some will say, "Yes, it is." Some will say, "No."
Prabhupada: Accha. So if he says no, "Why do you say no? Then what is your conception of God?"
Yogi Bhajan: Well, that is what we want to understand basically. That's what we are talking about, one thing. Your realization about God is a very universal realization. Somebody on this human level is very limited. After all, the limited and the unlimited have to be brought together.
Prabhupada: No. Limited cannot understand God. Limited is limited.
Yogi Bhajan: Um hm.
Prabhupada: Mahatma means unlimited.
Yogi Bhajan: Um hm.
Prabhupada: Maha. Maha means very great. So unless one has very big understanding, he cannot understand God. God is unlimited. So you have (to) come to that platform to understand. Those who are limited, they cannot understand God. That is not possible. Manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye, yatatam api siddhanam. Siddha. Siddha means one who has become unlimited, Brahman, aham brahmasmi, Brahman realization. So Krsna says, manusyanam sahasresu: "Out of many millions of person," kascid yatati siddhaye, "somebody is trying to become unlimited." And yatatam api siddhanam: "Those who have become unlimited, out of millions of them, one can understand Me, Krsna." So Krsna understanding, God understanding.... When I say Krsna, God. God understanding is for the perfect unlimited, not for common man. Common man should accept the acaryas. They must follow. Acaryopasanam. Just like in India the Sikhs, they follow Guru Nanak. So Guru Nanak says, "Yes, Krsna, incarnation of God." So they should accept, that's all. Not that every Sikh is expected to be unlimited as Guru Nanak. That is not expected. But they should follow Guru Nanak. Then they will understand. Guru Nanak says, "Krsna is incarnation of God." The all the Sikhs should accept, "Yes, Krsna is..." Then it is all right. It is not expected that every Sikh will understand Krsna. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah. The mahajana, the acarya, what path they have shown, that will show. All the acaryas, they have accepted Krsna. And Arjuna, who directly listened Bhagavad-gita from Krsna, he accepted, param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan. So in this we have to follow. Otherwise it is not possible. What they will understand? They must follow the acarya. If Guru Nanak says "I accept Lord Krsna as God,".... God's incarnation and God--there is no difference. Then why the Sikhs should not accept Krsna as God?
Yogi Bhajan: That doesn't solve the problem of the world.
Prabhupada: No, first of all, if we know, "Here is God," then it will solve the problem. But if we do not accept... If I... I can hear from you, provided I know that you are some big man. Otherwise how shall I agree to hear from you? The obedience must be there. A student, a small child, hears the teacher because he knows that "My teacher is very great."
Yogi Bhajan: No, we may try to become limited or unlimited. Question is very simple. There are four billion people on this earth and...
Prabhupada: And therefore they are not expected to understand, four billion. They should follow the leader. It is not expected that...
Yogi Bhajan: That is what we are trying to do. We are going to get the leaders together.
Prabhupada: That leaders... the leaders are already there. Now, suppose Guru Nanak says "Krsna is God," so will the Sikhs follow Guru Nanak or their own whims?
Yogi Bhajan: No, no, Sikh will follow the instructions...
Prabhupada: Of Guru Nanak.
Yogi Bhajan: ...Guru Nanak.
Prabhupada: The Guru Nanak says Krsna is God.
Yogi Bhajan: That's very true. Krsna is God.
Prabhupada: Then why don't you follow Krsna's instruction?
Yogi Bhajan: We are not disobeying any instruction towards God.
Prabhupada: No, Krsna, Krsna's... What Krsna says, that is written in the Bhagavad-gita. Why don't you take it, Bhagavad-gita, that instruction? What is wrong there? Every problem is solved there. Now, so far economic... Now the question is economic. So Krsna says, annad bhavanti bhutani. So where is the objection? Produce food grain, and both animal and man will be happy. So who will disagree with this point? Follow this. Annad bhavanti bhutani. Krsna says first. This is economic. Social--Krsna says, catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah. The human society should be divided into four classes according to quality and work. So four classes there are. First class, intelligent class; the second class, the administrators; the third class, the mercantile; and the fourth class, who are not within these three class. That is going on. Now make it systematic. The first-class man... Who is a first-class man? Then... Find out. Satya samo damah titiksa arjavah, jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam. Train first-class men. He must be truthful. He must be self-controlled, controlling the mind, controlling the senses. He must have full knowledge of the whole world, jnanam vijnanam, practical application. So where is the question of that "I am Sikh," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim..."
Yogi Bhajan: No, no, the question is very simple, what the people will ask you. The caste system, what did to India...
Prabhupada: This is not caste system.
Yogi Bhajan: It turned into.
Prabhupada: This is classification of the human being. This is not caste system. Just like we are making this American boy a brahmana. So this is a brahmana caste?
Yogi Bhajan: No, but that is only...
Prabhupada: We have been training them to, how to acquire the brahmana qualification. It doesn't matter whether he is coming from Christian family or Mohammedan family, this... No. Just like if you train one how to become engineer, it doesn't matter from which family he comes. It doesn't matter. Any family, he can come. He can be trained how to speak truthfulness. Satyam. What is that? So...
Devotee: The verse is...
Prabhupada: Satya sama damah titiksa. You don't find?
Devotee: I thought it was the verse about the qualities of a brahmana.
Prabhupada: Yes, yes, what is that?
Devotee: "Peacefulness, self..."
Prabhupada: No, no, what is the Sanskrit verse?
Devotee: The one I have is text forty-two of Chapter Eighteen, but I don't think that's the one you're quoting from.
Prabhupada: What is the verse? You cannot read?
Devotee: Samo damas tapah...
Prabhupada: Ah, samo damah, that's it. Read.
Devotee: Samo damas tapah saucam ksantir arjavam eva ca, jnanam vijnanam astikyam...
Prabhupada: Brahma-karma svabhava... this is first-class man. Samah. Samah means controlling the sense or controlling the mind. And damah, controlling the sense. Now, if either you may be Hindu, Muslim, Christian... Now, if I say, "Please come here. Learn this thing, how to control the mind, how to control the senses," so who will object to it? So if anyone is trained up, it doesn't matter from which sect, which family he is coming, if he has learned how to control the mind, how control the senses, then he becomes first-class man. So we have got everything already spoken by God. If we accept it, then there is unity. But we don't accept, we manufacture something. That is the difficulty.
Yogi Bhajan: Yeah, but let us agree to confer...
Prabhupada: No, no. Your...
Yogi Bhajan: There will be difficulty.
Prabhupada: Our difficulty is that we don't agree. If I say, "Come here. Be educated," and if you don't agree, "No, no. I don't want," then how you can be educated? One must agree what God says. They will say, "I believe. We believe." What is the "I believe, we believe"? If you want to become first-class man, then this is the formula: Control your mind, control your senses, be fully in knowledge. Practically apply knowledge in life. So this is first class. Then the second-class men, you see, what is that? Ksatriya.
Prabhupada: Next class. First class, either you say first class or brahmana. The second class...
Yogi Bhajan: Ksatri.
Prabhupada: Ksatriya, the administrator. They have got(?) sauryam. Then what is the word, sauryam?
Devotee: Heroism.
Prabhupada: Huh?
Devotee: Sauryam...
Prabhupada: Heroism. That is... Just like Maharaja Pariksit. He was going on his tour, and he saw one black man was trying to kill a cow. Immediately he took his sword, "Who are you? You are trying to kill cow in my kingdom?" This is called heroism. Now, where is that hero? And they are becoming president. How he will command? He is not hero. Everyone has right to live. Why they are killing animals? This is heroism. As soon as he saw that a rascal is going to kill a cow, "Why you are doing this?" Immediately he took his sword. Heroism. Then?
Devotee: "Power, determination..."
Prabhupada: Power. He must have power, influence. Why he should beg vote, "Give me vote, give me vote, give me vote," begging? Where is power? If he is begging vote, where is power? Formerly the kings... Just like they used to take sword. "If you don't accept me, then I shall kill you." This is power. Sauryam tejam...
Devotee: Dhrtir, determination.
Prabhupada: Determination, and yuddhe ca apalayanam. Now when there is war, these politician will remain in their room safely. They will not go to the war. And why these people are voted for political post? Formerly the king would first of all stand. To the other side also, the king is there and this side also. The fight is going on. If the king is killed, then the victory is there. Yuddhe ca apalayanam. The formula is there. So these classes of man should be on the administration, not anyone coward, nonsense, and by hook and crook they get some vote and take the political leader... How you will find peace? The fourth class is required. Just like in your body you have got brain, brain is required. Then hand. Whenever there is some attack, consciously, unconsciously, I forward my hand. So the division is already there. If you come to attack me with a knife, I don't push my head. I push my hand. So when there is attack, the brahmanas are not expected to go forward; the ksatriyas. So this is training. Everything is perfectly there. People are not accepting. You don't require conference. You simply accept the standard knowledge. Then everything is there. I am speaking to you because you are leader of the society. So if we take Bhagavad-gita seriously and train people from all over the world --not that Bhagavad-gita is meant for the Hindu or for the Indians--for everyone, then there will be all right. Otherwise difficult...
Yogi Bhajan: No, I definitely agree that you must be successful in that mission now. And you have practically and honestly taught what you believed in. My idea...
Prabhupada: No, no. "I honestly believe." Why don't you honestly believe?
Yogi Bhajan: I believe that you honestly believe...
Prabhupada: But you also try.
Yogi Bhajan: That's what I am saying. This is the time...
Prabhupada: Yes, you accept this Bhagavad-gita as the standard knowledge and preach it.
Yogi Bhajan: I read it, I preach it, I understand it. That's in my concept.
Prabhupada: That is wanted. That is wanted.
Yogi Bhajan: What I am trying to reach is that this concept which you honestly believe as individual must be shared.
Prabhupada: No, no. I, again you take... Why "I honestly believe"? Why you honestly do not believe?
Yogi Bhajan: Well, every honest understanding will believe that.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Yogi Bhajan: There is no individuality in that...
Prabhupada: That is wanted.
Yogi Bhajan: But still there is individuality.
Prabhupada: No individuality. Then suppose you are leader of a group. If you honestly believe, teach them. They will accept it.
Yogi Bhajan: So that is why we are having understanding, why we are to gather today at this point. Because we understand that one particle...
Prabhupada: Yes. So if we accept, if we try to convince the people that "We haven't got to research how to unite the whole world. The things are already there in the Bhagavad-gita. Accept it and follow it, everything will be done."
Yogi Bhajan: Come for a message then.
Prabhupada: Message is already there. I am giving you the message.
Yogi Bhajan: Well, they are coming about lot of people, and they would like to understand and..., what this Krsna movement...
Prabhupada: No.Yad yad acarati sresthah. If you carry this message... It is not my message; it is the message of Krsna. I have not manufactured this message. I am imperfect. But I am presenting the perfect message. That is my business. I don't say I am perfect. I am simply carrier, peon. When a peon delivers a money order, thousand dollars, it is not his money. He simply carries. So my business is to carry Krsna's message. That's all.
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