Interviewer: Swami, will you get a little closer to that microphone, if you will. You are the head of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Interviewer: Is it a church?
Prabhupāda: It is not exactly a church, but it is an institution for understanding the science of God.
Interviewer: Could you tell people how you are dressed today, what's the significance of your clothes?
Prabhupāda: About the significance of our institution?
Interviewer: No, about the way your clothes, the way you're dressed today. Uh, the robes.
Prabhupāda: Oh, the robe? Yes, I am a sannyāsī. The sannyāsī is the highest status of human social division. According to Vedic culture there are four divisions of human society. Brahmacārī, student life; then householder, gṛhastha; and then vānaprastha, retired life; and then sannyāsa life, means preaching transcendental knowledge to the society from door to door. So this dress... In Vedic culture, there are different dresses for different persons. So this saffron colored dress means that he is admitted without any introduction anywhere because he's understood to be a man of transcendental knowledge. And the householders receive them and take knowledge from them. That is the system of Vedic culture.