Prabhupāda: Demigod worship means followers of Vedas.
Haṁsadūta: The Buddhists, they have very nice temples there. In all their temples they have diorama exhibits about the life of Buddha and other figures from their line, but done very nicely, much nicer than the Hindu temples, very clean. But all Buddhists, they don't follow Buddhist even. They all eat meat, and, they say, they even drink and have women. Everything deteriorated. (to Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:) Is it all right to speak?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah.
Haṁsadūta: I once heard that when some devotees wanted to buy a church in America you suggested that they should keep the altar and next put Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and give simultaneous lecture from Bible and from Bhagavad-gītā. I was thinking that in Sri Lanka, if it would be all right to have a deity of Lord Buddha and speak simultaneously on the Dhammapada and also Bhagavad-gītā, showing how Bhagavad-gītā is beyond the stage of nirvāṇa. Is that a good idea, Prabhupāda, or not?
Prabhupāda: Good idea, provided you can present properly.
Haṁsadūta: Because Buddhists come and they ask, "If Lord Buddha was an incarnation of Viṣṇu, then why did he not teach about God? Why did he not teach about the soul?" So I always explain to them it's like teaching A-B-Cs and teaching advanced literature. He was teaching A-B-C. That was required. He did not go into higher subject matter.
Prabhupāda: First of all the Buddha wanted to make them sinless, "Don't kill." And you are not following that even. His business was to stop sinful life. In sinful life one cannot understand God as He is.
Haṁsadūta: Once Lord Buddha, they say, was sitting under a bo tree, and a leaf fell down. He picked it up and he said, "The knowledge I am giving you is like this leaf compared to the tree of knowledge." So I always quote that. They appreciate that, "Oh, yes," that beyond nirvāṇa there is brahma-nirvāṇa, and beyond that there is Paramātmā, and above that there is Bhagavān.
Prabhupāda: Nirvāṇa means sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). That is nirvāṇa. Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityaj . . . Parityajya means "giving up," and that is nirvāṇa. It requires expert presentation.
Haṁsadūta: And in all the temples they keep a Viṣṇu Deity. All the Buddhist temples, they have a Viṣṇu Deity. They have a saying that Viṣṇu promised Lord Buddha to protect the Buddhist religion in Sri Lanka for five thousand years in this age. They say that.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How many more years they have to go?
Haṁsadūta: I don't know.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda? I'm thinking to go today to the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple to see how things are going on. You told me regularly to check there whenever we're here?
Prabhupāda: Not immediately.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hmm. Better not to go today. Okay. (break)
Prabhupāda: . . . keeping money in the bank. Means so long I think that the bank keeping money is my pocket. And as soon as I've got the sentiment that these men are interested to keep our money in their pocket, I'll be very careful not to deposit.