"What is your opinion?" Just see. What is his value? Nobody... He is public leader because he has got some money. Money is the criterion. Therefore people are accumulating money some way or other

Expressions researched:
"Just see. What is his value? Nobody... He is public leader because he has got some money. Money is the criterion. Therefore people are accumulating money some way or other" |"Money's everything at the present moment. People, they are trying to accumulate money by all means. Never mind first class, second class, third class, bring money any way"

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Newspapermen go to him to take his opinion. "What is your opinion?" Just see. What is his value? Nobody... He is public leader because he has got some money. Money is the criterion. Therefore people are accumulating money some way or other. He knows that "If I got money, then I'll have all influence over the society."

Morning Walk -- February 27, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: What is his contribution to the state after becoming President?

Hṛdayānanda: Ford?

Prabhupāda: No, Ford, no, I mean Nixon. When he was being elected, I was there in America. He was advertising, "America needs Nixon." You have seen that?

Dayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: You were driving me. I saw that time.

Dayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: At that time, we had no place. We were holding our classes on the garage and somewhere. Before coming to La Cienega...

Dayānanda: Hm, yes.

Prabhupāda: ...I was running on that road where there is tram-line. What is that road?

Hṛdayānanda: Which road?

Dayānanda: Melrose, I think?

Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes.

Hṛdayānanda: That was 1968.

Prabhupāda: 1969... I do not know.

Dayānanda: '69

Prabhupāda: '69, yes.

Hṛdayānanda: The election was '68.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: That time he lost to Johnson, I think.

Hṛdayānanda: No.

Prabhupāda: No, no, he was being elected. So he was... The signboard was "America needs Nixon."

Hari-śauri: I think, when he was thrown out of office, he said "Well, I may have had so many faults, but at least I increased our good relations with other countries." He was always... He was trying to convince everybody that he may not have been very good at domestic affairs, but at foreign affairs he was expert, so then that made his administration not so bad.

Hṛdayānanda: One thing... The one thing that caused his downfall, that when they heard the tapes... He had recorded all of his conversations, private conversations with his ministers. So it turned out that it was horrible language. Practically every other word was dirty word.

Prabhupāda: That dirty word used by him?

Hṛdayānanda: Practically every other word.

Dayānanda: Filthy language.

Hṛdayānanda: They discovered... So this is what also hurt him because they discovered some tape of private conversations, and it was very, very obscene. Practically every other word was bad word.

Prabhupāda: He was a lawyer. He's a lawyer?

Hṛdayānanda: Yes.

Dayānanda: In America now, so many so-called cultured men, lawyers and doctors and so many cultured men, their language is very horrible, their...

Prabhupāda: Vulgar.

Dayānanda: Their whole attitude is vulgar also, not just language but whole... Yeah. And like even in Europe before, a gentleman was a gentleman. They were... I think. And even in America before, they had some good qualities. But now the so-called gentlemen or educated men, they're very vulgar.

Hṛdayānanda: Vicious.

Dayānanda: Becoming more and more gross.

Prabhupāda: Varṇa-saṅkara.

Dayānanda: Yes. Like that.

Prabhupāda: Therefore their sons are hippies.

Dayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: The father is varṇa-saṅkara, the son is also.

Hari-śauri: The more vulgar you are, the more glorified you become, especially like all these film stars and public figures. The more of a drunkard they are, then the more they're publicized in the news.

Prabhupāda: Just like John Lennon. He is a public man.

Dayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Just see. What he is? He's standing naked and taking photograph. His wife and he, standing naked. I have seen. And that picture is there in his sitting room, fireplace. That is the picture. (laughs) I went to see him. I was his guest. So one day I was... I saw there that big picture on the fireplace. And here is a public... Newspapermen go to him to take his opinion. "What is your opinion?" Just see. What is his value? Nobody... He is public leader because he has got some money. Money is the criterion. Therefore people are accumulating money some way or other. He knows that "If I got money, then I'll have all influence over the society."

Hari-śauri: A rich man no matter what his morals or character...

Prabhupāda: No, nobody cares.

Hari-śauri: ...he becomes very attractive.

Prabhupāda: Anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has no good quality. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). These are the... From the Vedic angle of vision, the Western people are the most uncivilized. Only money is covering them.

There is no first-class men. All fourth-class men. They do not know what is first-class men. If one has got money, then he's all right. That is Kali-yuga. No qualification. But if you have got money, then it is all right. You are big man. Money's everything at the present moment. People, they are trying to accumulate money by all means. Never mind first class, second class, third class, bring money any way.

Morning Walk -- June 13, 1976, Detroit:

Prabhupāda: Detroit has got no money? Such a big industrial city. Neglected. They have got money.

Hari-śauri: They're not keeping this park up very well.

Prabhupāda: No. Because nobody comes here.

Hari-śauri: Too dangerous.

Prabhupāda: Ācchā?

Hari-śauri: Many of the big parks in the big cities, they are full of thieves and all kinds of other people.

Prabhupāda: That means they cannot improve the condition of the people. Just like at the airport, everyone is checked. There is no gentlemen. Why everyone is checked? That means the whole mass of people, they're all rogues and thieves. Therefore it is necessary to keep an ideal, an ideal class of men brāhmaṇas. Then people will follow. But there is no such.... Everyone is coolie. That's all. Everyone is. They are making everyone coolie. Coolie civilization. One officer came to see me in Perth, Australia. So I told him, this is a civilization of fourth-class men. You remember?

Devotee (2): We heard the tape.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (laughs)

Devotee (2): You said there must be an ideal class of men.

Prabhupāda: There is no ideal class of men. All fourth class, fifth class, tenth class.

Śrutakīrti: He accepted it also.

Prabhupāda: Oh, you were present.

Śrutakīrti: Yes. At the finish he said, "Now I'm going back to my fourth-class friends."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (2): This man last night also, he admitted.

Prabhupāda: There is no first-class men. All fourth-class men. They do not know what is first-class men. If one has got money, then he's all right. That is Kali-yuga. No qualification. But if you have got money, then it is all right. You are big man. Money's everything at the present moment. People, they are trying to accumulate money by all means. Never mind first class, second class, third class, bring money any way. Rather, if one does not drink, he's a third-class man. And if one drinks, he's first-class man. Civilized. In India, formerly, any gentleman comes, a glass of water or two sandeśa was given. Now that is rejected. If a gentleman is not offered a bag(?) of wine and some chicken, then it is not proper reception.