View source for How do you feel the modern world (have received Krsna consciousness)? What's your feeling?

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{{terms|"How do you feel the modern world"|"What's your feeling"}}
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{{compiler|Mangalavati|Rishab}}
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{{first|20May11}}
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[[Category:Questions asked to Srila Prabhupada]]
[[Category:Questions asked to SP... 1971]]
[[Category:Questions On... Tradition, Modernity]]
[[Category:Questions On... Process of Krsna Consciousness - Bhakti-yoga]]
[[Category:Questions From... Journalists, Reporters, Writers]]
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<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
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<div id="1971_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1971 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1971 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="InterviewwithReportersNovember101971NewDelhi_0" class="quote" parent="1971_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="27" link="Interview with Reporters -- November 10, 1971, New Delhi" link_text="Interview with Reporters -- November 10, 1971, New Delhi">
<div class="heading">My feeling, I am very satisfied that Kṛṣṇa is accepted by presenting as He is. I must be very satisfied, because before me, who did not present Kṛṣṇa as He is, there was not a single Kṛṣṇa conscious person in the Western world. Now I have got thousands. So why I shall not feel satisfied? Those who misinterpreted Bhagavad-gītā—"This is this, this is that, this is that"—they could not get even one Kṛṣṇa conscious person, and by presenting Bhagavad-gītā, they are selling fifty thousand copies per month, and I am getting every year one thousand, two thousand Kṛṣṇa devotees. So why it is not practical?
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Interview with Reporters -- November 10, 1971, New Delhi|Interview with Reporters -- November 10, 1971, New Delhi]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Reporter: It's very, I think, sir, that we must, as you say, live and have our being in Kṛṣṇa...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. It is already, but you have forgot.</p>
<p>Reporter: It is unique. It is so unique. Of course, I mean to say...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Huh? Why it is not easy?</p>
<p>Reporter: It is not easy to be able to live, everybody... You know what a pāpī I am. I don't think the Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so easy...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, no, no. Even if you are pāpī, if you see... Don't you see the sunlight?</p>
<p>Reporter: It's very easy to see.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Suppose you are pāpī. Do you think that you don't see the sunlight?</p>
<p>Reporter: Yes, we do.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: So if Kṛṣṇa says, "The sunlight is Myself," what is the difficulty, even if you are pāpī? If..., don't... If you say, "I won't understand like that," that is another thing. But if the statement is clear, even if you are pāpī, what is the difficulty to understand? Simply if you say, "I won't understand," like this, that is a different thing.</p>
<p>Reporter: No, no, no. So how do you explain to a Muslim, he's...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, no, no. You say one after another.</p>
<p>Reporter: Yes, sir.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Don't make me distressed. So try to understand.</p>
<p>Reporter: Yes.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: You have raised that "I cannot understand." What is the difficulty to understand?</p>
<p>Reporter: I mean to be able to actually live it, day to day, like.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: This is a question of... Even suppose Kṛṣṇa says, "This beautiful flower I am." So you are seeing this beautiful flower. So why do you not understand if Kṛṣṇa says like that? This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa says, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ buddhiḥ manaḥ eva ca bhinnā me prakṛtiḥ aṣṭadhā: ([[Vanisource:BG 7.4 (1972)|BG 7.4]]) "These eight (indistinct), eight kinds of material elements, they are My energy." So you are sitting on the ground, bhūmiḥ, so if you understand that it is one of the energy of Kṛṣṇa.... Just like the electric fan is running on, everyone knows there is electric energy. Similarly, if you see the ground, bhūmiḥ, as expansion of Kṛṣṇa's energy, what is the difficulty? Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vayuḥ.</p>
<p>Reporter: (indistinct)</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Huh?</p>
<p>Reporter: It is very easy to... Sir, what is difficult to...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: I do not know what is the difficulty. (Hindi)</p>
<p>Reporter: (Hindi) (laughter)</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: It is very simple, you see. Actually one who does not understand what is Kṛṣṇa, for the neophyte, the prescription is there, that "You understand Kṛṣṇa like this." Because you are dealing with bhūmiḥ, you are dealing with water, you are dealing</p>
<p>with fire, you are dealing with air, you are dealing with sky, you are dealing with mind, you are dealing with intelligence. You are dealing with all these things. Well, Kṛṣṇa says, "They are display of My energy." And then again says apareyam: "These energies are inferior," itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, "and there is another energy superior." What is that? Jīva-bhūta, the living entity, mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat ([[Vanisource:BG 7.5 (1972)|BG 7.5]]). So what is the difficulty? I do not understand. He is explaining everything in the Bhagavad-gītā. Simply we have to take it as it is. Kṛṣṇa says that "I am this," and if you say, "No, Kṛṣṇa is not like this," so that is your nonsense. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am this." If you want to understand, just like if you want to understand me, I say that "I am a sannyāsī, I am a preacher," and if you say, "No, you are not a preacher," then how you can understand? I am giving my identification that "I am this." So you have to understand. You are writing also, understanding like that. So why do you deny it when Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the origin. This is My energy"? What is the reason you deny it? What is the reason?</p>
<p>Reporter: Sir, nobody is denying. Only we are trying to comprehend, understand.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: So there is no question of comprehension. When you see a snake, call it a snake. There is no question of comprehension. This is a fan, everyone knows. When I will say, "This is a fan," everyone understands it. Law of identification. Kṛṣṇa is identifying Himself, that "This is my energy."</p>
<p>Reporter: Let us understand you first of all.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: I have no personal presentation. I am speaking only what Kṛṣṇa... Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Here is the book, you see. This book, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, which we are presenting, and publisher is Macmillan Company, and every year they are printing at least fifty thousand copies. This is for our fifth edition. They are printing this book since 1968. '68, '69, '70, '71, that, I think, I know they have, they are fifth edition, and people are reading it, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Our..., we don't change. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the Supreme," and we are saying Kṛṣṇa is the same, Supreme. Even I do not understand what is Kṛṣṇa, I am simply presenting what is written in the Bhagavad-gītā. mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: ([[Vanisource:BG 7.7 (1972)|BG 7.7]]) "There is no superior element above Me." So we say, "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme. There is no other Supreme." Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru ([[Vanisource:BG 18.65 (1972)|BG 18.65]]). We say that "You follow, think of Kṛṣṇa, you become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, you offer your respect to Kṛṣṇa." So we are not (indistinct), because we are presenting Kṛṣṇa as He is speaking in the Bhagavad-gītā, that's all.</p>
<p>Reporter: How do you feel the modern world...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: This is the feeling. You see the effect.</p>
<p>Reporter: What's your feeling?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: My feeling, I am very satisfied that Kṛṣṇa is accepted by presenting as He is. I must be very satisfied, because before me, who did not present Kṛṣṇa as He is, there was not a single Kṛṣṇa conscious person in the Western world. Now I have got thousands. So why I shall not feel satisfied? Those who misinterpreted Bhagavad-gītā—"This is this, this is that, this is that"—they could not get even one Kṛṣṇa conscious person, and by presenting Bhagavad-gītā, they are selling fifty thousand copies per month, and I am getting every year one thousand, two thousand Kṛṣṇa devotees. So why it is not practical?</p>
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