I have sent a letter to your government asking them questions that you write on the bills, "In God We Trust." So you trust in God blindly or knowingly? That was my question. Suppose I trust you. you must be trustworthy. Otherwise why shall I trust you?

Expressions researched:
"I have sent a letter to your government asking them questions that you write on the bills" |"In God We Trust" |"So whether you trust in God blindly or knowingly? That was my question. Suppose I trust you. So you must be trustworthy. Otherwise why shall I trust you"

Conversations and Morning Walks

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

I have sent a letter to your government asking them questions that you write on the bills, "In God We Trust." So whether you trust in God blindly or knowingly? That was my question. Suppose I trust you. So you must be trustworthy. Otherwise why shall I trust you?

Interview -- June 03, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Happiness is knowledge. Man who is in ignorance, he is suffering, and that you say material and spiritually. A person who is not in developed consciousness, he is suffering. And they commit sinful acts also.

Reporter: I beg your pardon?

Prabhupāda: They commit sinful acts also in ignorance. That is the difference between man and animal. Animal means not developed consciousness. They . . . some of them, they say the animal has no soul. That is foolishness. Animal has soul, but the consciousness is not developed. Just like a child. Father's consciousness and the child's consciousness, different. Why it is different? The child's consciousness is not developed. Father's consciousness is developed. Because the child is talking some nonsense, you cannot say there is no soul. There is soul, but the consciousness is not developed.

Reporter: Do you see hope for mankind in the future?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Man can be happy immediately, provided the consciousness is developed.

Reporter: Can . . . do you think that this will ever be achieved?

Prabhupāda: Yes. It can be achieved. Just like I have sent a letter to your government asking them questions that you write on the bills, "In God We Trust." So whether you trust in God blindly or knowingly? That was my question. Suppose I trust you. So you must be trustworthy. Otherwise why shall I trust you? So this question I asked your government, "You write on the bills, 'In God We Trust,' so what kind of trust is this?" If you actually trust, then you must know that God is trustworthy. Only blindly trust as a slogan. But that letter is not in reply. So what is your opinion? "In God We Trust," so how do trust? Why you trust? This is my question.

Reporter: It would be a matter of faith, I suppose.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Reporter: It would be a matter of faith, I suppose.

Prabhupāda: Faith may be different. You may have faith, I may not have faith. That is not the question. Just like in the bank you deposit some money. If some may have faith or no faith, but that bank is trustworthy. You know that your money deposited in the bank will not be cheated. Similarly, if you trust in God, then you must know whether God is trustworthy. Whether . . . what do you mean by God? This is not the question of faith. Faith is blind. It is a question of understanding. So that we want, that America specially—you are favored amongst all other nations; you are well-to-do, richer than other nations—so why don't you take God seriously? Why should you trust in God as faith? No. You understand what is God and have your faith at full that, "God is, yes, trustworthy," so that others may also know that God is trustworthy. That is our mission, that why God in trust? Are we trusting God should be a slogan? Let it be a fact by scientific study, by scientific understanding. There is way to understand why God is trustworthy. It's not the question of faith. It is a fact.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Just like a child had . . . has faith in his parents. So that is not an artificial thing. That is fact. And parents are trustworthy to the child—there is no doubt about it—by nature. So similarly, why could . . . you should be trust in God? Why blindly? Why not trust with knowledge? And that is our movement. Every civilized person has got some faith in God. But now they're advanced, they should understand what is God, why you must have faith in Him. That is the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.