Dr. Patel: After matriculation they go to the office.
Prabhupāda: No matriculation. They engage good paṇḍitas, good teachers, and teach them at home, and, as soon as they are able to read and write and see accounts, immediately engage in the business. They know that "We can purchase technologist. Why shall I waste time for so-called education, Ph.D., D.A.C.?" You have seen that Ph.D. in our Vṛndāvana? Useless. So many Ph.D.'s are useless. Cannot earn their livelihood. I have seen. So what is the use? Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta. Because one has become.... I have seen one Ph.D. chemist in Allahabad. He could not get any job. Then he was manufacturing soap at home and taking it in cycle and going to the market just like ordinary coolie. These so-called educationists, unless they get a good job, they are useless street dog. Useless. They cannot earn even livelihood. Therefore śāstra says, "Don't try for these things, to increase your economic position. This is already destined. You cannot increase or decrease. Whatever you are destined, you must get it. Try to get Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
- tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido
- na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ
- tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ
- kālena sarvatra gabhīra raṁhasā
- (SB 1.5.18)
You'll get. As you get miserable condition of life—you don't like it but it comes—similarly, happy condition will also come according to your destiny. Why you are wasting time for this? This is the decision of the śāstra. You cannot change your destiny. If you have to be, have to work like a coolie, even after becoming Ph.D. you'll have to work like a coolie. You cannot change it. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (Hindi) Jaya. This is.... Therefore formerly any man was satisfied in any position. They were not trying to develop economic condition, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. She is your daughter?
Indian man: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Oh. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
- tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido
- na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ
- kālena sarvatra gabhīra raṁhasā
- (SB 1.5.18)
(aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Jaya. (Hindi) Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa?
Indian man: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Thank you.
Dr. Patel: He is such a man. He has all the characteristics of a sannyāsī in the home. He is a multi-millionaire's son. But absolutely untouched by wealth, and very fine man, extremely fine.
Prabhupāda: If our gurukula children comes here they can have very good sporting. And this idea I have given you?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Remain healthy.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Twice a day.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Twice a day can come, take bath and enjoy sporting life and then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, take good prasādam. That's all. Why they should waste their time in technology to become a coolie?
Girirāja: Actually there was once a case. A newspaper once wrote that Henry Ford was ignorant. So Henry Ford filed a case against the newspaper. So in the hearing, the defense asked so many questions about science and history to Henry Ford. So Henry Ford said to the judge that "In my office I have a panel of buttons, and I can press any button and someone will come running to answer any of these questions. So am I ignorant?" (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Dr. Patel: When Mr. Ford comes willing, back on...? Is he coming back again?
Prabhupāda: No, there are many. There are many. Now, you see, near Delhi there is Modi Nagar. That Mr. Modi was not very educated man, but how he has developed?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He is employing something like fifty thousand people.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (Hindi) Mr. Modi near Delhi.
Dr. Patel: Modinagarawala.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he is employing fifty thousand people, without any education.
Dr. Patel: (Hindi)
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: We had a very big program in Modinagara.
Prabhupāda: His wife received us very nicely.
Dr. Patel: Very cultured people. My cousin's daughter is married to his nephew, Modinagarawala. He's a big architect.
Prabhupāda: Yes. No, Modi, he...
Dr. Patel: This Modi, is, I mean, an industrialist, but his nephew, an architect.... My niece was studying in London, and she married with him in England. Intercommunal marriage.
Abhirāma: Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Abhirāma: I have seen in Miami Beach that one man was found dead in his apartment, and he was living poverty-stricken. His whole place was full of rats and cockroaches. When they investigated his file they found that he had eight million dollars in the bank and in stocks. But all of his friends said he couldn't spend one penny his whole life, because he was too cheap. So even though he was a rich man, actually he was a poor man.