You'll get all this, nice position, nice wife, nice power, famous... All this material, not spiritual. So to worship any other demigod than Krsna is materialism. That is not spiritualism

Expressions researched:
"you'll get all this, nice position, nice wife, nice power, famous . . . all this material, not spiritual. So to worship any other demigod than Kṛṣṇa is materialism. That is not spiritualism"

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

If one becomes a devotee of Lord Śiva, then Durgā gives him, eh? Dhanaṁ dehi rūpaṁ dehi rūpavatī-bhāryāṁ dehi yaśo dehi. So you'll get all this, nice position, nice wife, nice power, famous... All this material, not spiritual. So to worship any other demigod than Kṛṣṇa is materialism. That is not spiritualism.

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa and Śiva, just like dahī and dudha. Dahī is nothing but dudha, but still it is not dudha.

Guest (2): It's a different form.

Prabhupāda: Not different form; different action also. If you want milk, if I give you dahī, and if I say: "Oh, dahī and dudha, the same thing. Why you are not accepting this dahī?" will you accept?

Guest (2): Correct.

Prabhupāda: Although the same thing, but action is different. If you become devotee of Lord Śiva, you'll get opportunity of material opulences. Because Lord Śiva is the husband of Durgā, and Durgā is the superintendent of this material world. So Durgā is under control. If one becomes a devotee of Lord Śiva, then Durgā gives him, eh? Dhanaṁ dehi rūpaṁ dehi rūpavatī-bhāryāṁ dehi yaśo dehi. So you'll get all this, nice position, nice wife, nice power, famous . . . all this material, not spiritual. So to worship any other demigod than Kṛṣṇa is materialism. That is not spiritualism.

Guest (1): Worshiping Viṣṇu is also material?

Prabhupāda: No. Viṣṇu is not . . . Viṣṇu is Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu the same, expansion. That you have to understand.

Guest (2): Rāma also.

Prabhupāda: Rāma also.

rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan

nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu

kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.39)

Tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Yes. Kṛṣṇa also says, mām ekam.

Guest (2): What is the position of people like Guru Nanak, Muhammad, and other people?

Prabhupāda: They're servants of Kṛṣṇa. They are serving on behalf of Kṛṣṇa among certain people who cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Just like a student in the primary class, he does not know what is M.A. examination. Therefore teacher is teaching according to his position. But he's a teacher, he's an authorized teacher, appointed by the school authority.

Guest (2): So they're representatives.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But they're . . . just like Lord Buddha. We accept him as incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. But he preached, "There is no Kṛṣṇa. There is no God. I don't care for the Vedas."

Guest (2): He's flaunting the authority of . . .

Prabhupāda: No, he is authority himself. Keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare (Śrī Daśāvatāra-stotra 9). He's personally Kṛṣṇa.

Guest (2): Does he say so, or you . . .?

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Sometimes he has to say so.

Guest (2): And he's allowed to say so.

Prabhupāda: That is . . . just like . . .

Guest (2): Is he allowed to say so?

Prabhupāda: No, no. He is the Supreme, He can say. Just like a father cheats sometimes the son. The son has taken from the pocket of the father one hundred rupees' note. He's not separate. The father takes one lozenges, two paisa–worth: "Oh, my dear son, you can take it, very nice. You give me that." "Ah, yes." It is not cheating? He's giving two paisa–worth lozenges, and taking hundred rupees' note. Is it not cheating? That is cheating. But father is cheating; therefore it is good. You cannot imitate father and cheat others. Father can do anything for the welfare of the son. That is another thing. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa appears as a cheater, the atheist class of men and Lord Buddha say, "No, no, there is no God. Yes, it is all right. You are right. But you hear me." "Yes, sir, we shall hear you." But he's God. This is cheating.

Guest (1): Was he preaching karma-kāṇḍa?

Prabhupāda: He said that there is no God, but he's God. Just like the policeman sometimes cheats. He goes as a gambler, but he's a policeman. So that is another thing. Therefore if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then you understand all these different activities. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3). If you understand Kṛṣṇa, then you understand everything. And you become liberated. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. If anyone understands what is Kṛṣṇa, why He comes, what His activity is, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, you, after giving up this body, you haven't got to come again in this material world.

Simply by studying Kṛṣṇa. Therefore we are preaching, "Simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (break) . . . life is meant for to possess complete knowledge of the Supreme. That is perfection of knowledge. That is possible in the human form of life, not in the life of cats and dogs. That is not possible. So we have got this opportunity. If we spoil this life, living like cats and dogs, then we are missing the opportunity. This is the opportunity to understand Kṛṣṇa, God.