Interviewer: What do you think of Jimmy Carter?
Bali-mardana: Jimmy Carter is the Presidential candidate.
Prabhupāda: I do not know. What is the (indistinct) is I do not know, neither I...
Interviewer: Not aware of that.
Bali-mardana: Doesn't care about politics.
Interviewer: But isn't, that's part of what I'm thinking about, that you and your movement tend to separate people from concern with what's going on in the world, like that's a Presidential election and Jimmy Carter is the democratic candidate. This is a disregard of what's going on in the world. Isn't that an example of it?
Prabhupāda: No, the thing is that there were many Presidents before, what is this name of this?
Bali-mardana: Jimmy Carter. He is not President yet.
Hari-śauri: Ford is the president.
Prabhupāda: Ford. So what improvement you have done by having this President or that President? What improvement you'll make unless some false promise? That's all. What is the improvement? You have changed so many hundreds and thousands of Presidents, but what is the improvement about spiritual knowledge?
Bali-mardana: Prabhupāda sees everything spiritually.
Interviewer: How's that?
Bali-mardana: He's seeing everything spiritually. What is the improvement spiritually out of all these Presidents? So therefore we do not care.
Interviewer: You do not care what the President...
Prabhupāda: We take care, but we take care more for the spirit soul than the body. That is our basic principle.
Interviewer: But do you think most of the Hare Kṛṣṇa members will vote in the election in November?
Prabhupāda: They're attending? (indistinct)
Bali-mardana: He's asking if you think that they will vote, our members will vote.
Interviewer: Will they participate in the election? Will they register and vote do you think?
Prabhupāda: Personally I never give votes.
Interviewer: Never voted. You're a citizen however, aren't you, a U.S. citizen?
Prabhupāda: I am permanent resident.
Bali-mardana: Permanent resident.
Prabhupāda: Immigrant.
Interviewer: Well will they follow your example and not vote?
Prabhupāda: I do not know, but our principle is that I vote for this man or that man, so what is spiritual benefit, that is our point.
Bali-mardana: If he was Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he might vote. If the politician is God conscious, then we'll support him.
Interviewer: Vote for this man or that, what spiritual difference would it make, is that the way you put that?
Bali-mardana: Yes, as long as the candidate is not God conscious it wouldn't make any difference which way we vote, but if he's God conscious, then we'll vote.
Interviewer: Well, would he have to be in the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement to be God conscious?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Bali-mardana: Would the candidate, in order for a candidate to be God conscious, would he have to be part of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement?
Prabhupāda: He must know the science, this science, this spiritual science.
Interviewer: To be God conscious, you must...
Prabhupāda: That's a great science.
Bali-mardana: Great science.
Interviewer: How's that?
Bali-mardana: In order to understand God it is a great science.
Interviewer: Do you need to be involved in the Kṛṣṇa movement to be God conscious?
Prabhupāda: You may take part in the movement or not but he must know the science. Movement is preaching...
Interviewer: You mean the Bhagavad-gītā, he must know that or what?
Prabhupāda: Not Bhagavad-gītā or anything, but he must... Just like a book, mathematics, it may be written by different men, but one must be a mathematician.
Interviewer: I think what Bali was saying is that if a Kṛṣṇa consciousness member were running for an office then you would get out and vote for him. That he would be God conscious.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Interviewer: But I'm trying to ask does he have to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, involvement, in order to be God conscious?
Prabhupāda: Everyone should be Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Interviewer: Huh?
Prabhupāda: Everyone should be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Not only the... President or not President, everyone, that is the objective of human life. He must know himself what he is.