...this class, when it is held in Los Angeles, this full hall would have been compact. This is the difference between India and foreign countries. They are receiving this message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness very seriously. Here they are rejecting. Indians, they're rejecting. There is a proverb: āpanār dhana bilāye diye bhikṣā māge parer dvāre(?). They have lost their own culture, and they are now beggars. They are going to beg from door to door in the foreign countries. When I was speaking in Berkeley University sometimes in the year 1966, one Indian student stood up and he said, "Swamiji, what this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will do? We require now technology." So I replied, "Yes. You are after technology. So you are a beggar. I am not a beggar. I have come here to give something. That is the difference. I have come here to give some culture, and you have come to imitate the Western civilization by technology. That is the difference. You'll remain a beggar, I shall remain a giver. That is the difference." So still I am maintaining that position of giving, not taking. Before me, so many swamijis went there. They did not give, but they took something and came here and advertised themselves as foreign-returned sannyāsī and exploited the people. They lost even their original dress. Everyone knows, I have never changed my dress. Rather, I have given the dress to the foreigners, and they have taken it. The Ramakrishna mission people came to request me that I dress myself in coat, pant, hat. Because they are doing. Their so-called swamis, they are dressed in coat, pant, hat.
So this is a culture. This culture is meant for the human society. Fortunately this culture developed on this land of Bhāratavarṣa. Unfortunately, people are so much bewildered that they are giving up this culture. That is the most regrettable portion of, of our movement. Anyway, my mission was that I shall go to America, and if some of the American boys and girls, younger section, would accept it, then I'll bring them here to show these rascals that how great this culture is. So portion of the population, they are realizing now.
Now here is a word: Gāndhārīṁ ca tapasvinīm. Gāndhārī, the wife of Dhṛtarāṣṭra... He (She) is qualified herewith as tapasvinīm. Tapasvinīm. She was a householder, wife, having children. Not only children; she had one hundred sons. But still she is addressed here as tapasvinī. Tapasvinī means one who undergoes austerity. Because this human life is meant for practicing austerity. Human life is not meant for extravagancy. Tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). This is the principle of human civilization. Śuddhyet sattvam, existence. Our existence... We are eternal. Every living entity is eternal, but we are subjected to birth and death. Why? Because we are not pure. Just like when you are impure, some disease infects. If you are pure, follow the hygienic principle, you'll not be infected.