A Man who is poor in Knowledge, he is poor

Mr. Dwivedi, April 24, 1977, Bombay: […] So then I said, “Maharaja, then I put one question to you if you permit me.” He said, “All right, I permit you.” So I asked, “Vivekananda has said that, ‘Service of God… Service of humanity is service of God.’ Do you think it is correct or it is incorrect?” He said, “This is correct.” Then I said, “We are running educational institution. Whatever good or bad, leave that aside. But in our own little small way we are rendering little service to humanity. And…”
Prabhupada: But I may interfere. In the Bhagavad-gita is there such statement, that, “Service to humanity is service to God”? Is there any statement?

Mr. Dwivedi: Daridranam bhara kaunteya… I think there is somewhere…

Prabhupada: There is no.

Mr. Dwivedi: But this particular I remember, daridranam bhara kaunteya…

Prabhupada: This is… This is wrong theory. Don’t maintain this. This is a very wrong theory. Just like, “Service to the leaves is service to the root.” Is it not wrong? What do you think? Like a tree, so where the service should be given, to the root or to the leaf?

Mr. Dwivedi: The root.

Prabhupada: Then why do you say like that? And Krishna says openly, mam ekam saranam vraja. He doesn’t even recommend to worship demigods. Kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah yajanty anya-devatah [Bg. 7.20]. So these are imagination, concoction. They are not authorized. Vivekananda advocated daridra-narayana-seva hundred years ago. So India is full of daridras. What Mothilal can do? What Vivekananda can do? This is all simply concoction. You cannot do anything.

prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate [Bg. 3.27]

The nature’s law will go on. You cannot make a poor man a rich man, unhappy man an happy man. That is not possible. Karanam guna-sango ’sya sad-asad-janma-yonisu. Can you make a hog eat halava instead of stool? Can you make? By nature’s way it is going on. Ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate [Bg. 3.27] These are foolish person who concoct ideas. It is not possible. If you can do anything to the human society, induce him to become a Krishna devotee.

ya idam paramam guhyam mad-bhaktesv abhidhasyati [Bg 18.68]

na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya-krttamah [Bg. 18.69]

Krishna says. So Krishna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam… [Bg. 18.66] Teach people that “You take it.” That is real benefit. Otherwise you cannot do anything. What you can do?

Indian man: The persons are the root.

Prabhupada: Yes! Root should be given water.

Tamala Krishna: He says, “Persons are the root.”

Karttikeya: Person is the root.

Prabhupada: Eh?

Tamala Krishna: He says, “Persons are the root.”

Prabhupada: No, Krishna is the root.

Karttikeya: Krishna is the root.

Prabhupada: Janmady asya yatah [Bhag. 1.1.1]. This is the Vedanta. Aham adir hi devanam, Krishna says. So devanam, Brahma, Visnu, Mahesvara, He is the origin of Brahma, Visnu, Mahesvara. The root is Krishna. Karanam… Sarva-karana-karanam [Bs. 5.1].

isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam [Bs. 5.1]

Root is Krishna.

Indian man: Origin.

Prabhupada: Origin, yes. Aham sarvasya prabhavo mat… [Bg. 10.8] That is the difficulty. You do not read Bhagavad-gita. You quote Vivekananda. You quote another, another. But Krishna is God. That is the cause of misfortune of India. You don’t accept Krishna as the authority. Everyone accepts, all the great sages formerly, Asita, Devala, Vyasa. Svayam caiva bravisi me. And at the present era, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Nimbarka, Caitanya—all accept, krsnas tu bhagavan. You don’t follow the acaryas, the authorities, Krishna. You bring something.

Karttikeya: Concoction.

Prabhupada: That is the misfortune. They have left the authority, real authority. They have accepted some foolish man as authority. And that is the misfortune. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad- gita As It Is, the supreme authority. Mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg. 7.7]. Aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate [Bg. 10.8]. Why don’t you take this? Distortion of our sastra, distortion of authority, and bringing something foolish, and you are following. Not… You cannot follow. That is not possible. It is not possible. But you are making some authorities. You trying to follow. Even if you follow… That, the same example, just like Vivekananda was advocating daridra-narayana. First of all this is a concocted word. How Narayana can be daridra? People have accepted. Narayana is daridra?

Mr. Dwivedi: No.

Prabhupada: Then how he manufactured this nonsense word? It is insulting. If I say, “Foolish Jetthi, President, rascal,” so is it not insult? Similarly, if you say, daridra-narayana, it is insult to Narayana. But people are accepting daridra-narayana. Just see how they are misled.

Indian man: They have not even proper knowledge, sir.

Prabhupada: Eh?

Indian man: They have not even proper knowledge.

Prabhupada: No knowledge. All rascals.

Karttikeya: Not even proper. No knowledge.

Prabhupada: :That is he difficulty. Rascals have become leaders.

Karttikeya: And we follow them.

Indian man: And we have to, actually. It is…

Karttikeya: Not we have to. Here is a leader. Why don’t you follow him?

Indian man: But when we get the… Fortunately then we can do so.

Karttikeya: No, fortune is given.

Indian man: Yes.

Karttikeya: He has been doing it for so long.

Indian man: Yes, yes.

Prabhupada: That is the misfortune of human society. The other thing…

Mr. Dwivedi: This also happens by good luck. As Ramayana says, vina hari-krpa na mile sat-sanga. (Hindi)

Karttikeya: No, that’s not… You should not worry about a poor people then. You should worry about Krishna only. You should serve Him. You should become His devotee.

Prabhupada: There are… Poor people, so far concerned, that… Are we not taking care of the poor people? That is automatically taken. Who is poor? A man who is poor in knowledge, he is poor.

Mr. Dwivedi: Yes, correct. Yes.

Prabhupada: Otherwise nobody’s poor.

Tamala Krishna: Americans are very rich from…

Prabhupada: Yes.

Tamala Krishna: …material point of view.

Prabhupada: Poor means poor in knowledge. Otherwise even a small ants, it is not poor. It is eating. You are not giving food. In this room you’ll find some hole. Hundreds and thousands of ants will come out. Are you giving him food? And you go to the jungle. Thousands of elephants are there. Are you giving them food? Why you are concerned about the poor? Who is poor? Poor means who has no knowledge. He is rascal. He is poor. Poor means poor in knowledge. Otherwise nobody is poor. Everyone is getting his food according to his karma. Karmana daiva-netrena jantur deha upapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. These are wrong theories. Wrong means because they are rascals, they are putting something rascal, idea. Mudhah nabhijanati mam ebhyah param avyayam, avyayam. Nityo nityanam ceta… This is Vedic version. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam eko yo bahunam vidadhati kaman. (Hindi) We want to stop all this nonsense. That is our mission. Our Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission is that “You become guru,” as I was telling, “and teach, deliver persons where you are.” If you say, “How can I become guru?” there is no difficulty. Simply repeat the words of Bhagavad-gita. That’s all. You become guru. So our mission is to create real guru, not these jugglers. And real guru is he who speaks on behalf of Krishna. And that is wan… It is very simple. Do you accept or not? Boliye.

Mr. Dwivedi: (Hindi) (laughter)

Prabhupada: (Hindi) …manufacturing word, narayana daridra. Laksmi-pati is daridra. Kitna gadha. (Hindi) …without checking. (Hindi) (Hindi conversation) We want to reestablish this. This is our mission. Everything is there. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, yare dekha tare kaha krsna-upade… “You simply make your life successful by understanding Bhagavad-gita and preach this. You become guru.” So where is the difficulty? Why don’t you do that? Boliye. (Hindi) You quoted from Vivekananda, not from the Bhagavad-gita.

Mr. Dwivedi: (Hindi)

yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva mad-arpanam

Prabhupada: This should be the… Take… Take Bhagavad-gita as the authority. Everything will be all right. (Hindi)

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