Mrs. Keating: Do you have many Indian followers? Many Indian followers as well as foreign?
Prabhupāda: Yes. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so far Indians are concerned, everyone accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Mrs. Keating: May I ask the significance of the markings?
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is a sign that we are Vaiṣṇava, devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
Ambassador: You all have that.
Mrs. Keating: And the bag, is that, is that...
Prabhupāda: That is our chanting.
Mrs. Keating: Oh.
Prabhupāda: We are chanting always the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. These have got special significance because Kṛṣṇa is absolute. There is no difference between Him and His name. Here, just like this milk substance and the milk name is different. If I want to take milk, simply if I go on chanting "milk" and "milk," that will not satisfy. I must have the substance milk. But in the spiritual world the Absolute has no differentiation between His name, ...between His name, between His quality, form, entourage. They are the same. So this chanting of holy name means that directly associating with Kṛṣṇa. Directly associating with Kṛṣṇa.
Ambassador: It's a constant reminder to yourselves of the...
Prabhupāda: ...of my relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
Ambassador: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That is it.
Ambassador: Oh, that's very... I'm very much impressed with the sincerity of these American...
Prabhupāda: As soon as one understands this science, he would accept immediately.
Śyāmasundara: The one thing that impresses us and causes us to be sincere is that we recognize Kṛṣṇa consciousness not on a sentimental level but philosophically, and because it's very practical. It's not only the philosophy is there but also the practice of the philosophy. So we realize the results of the philosophy, actually, in our lives. So this convinces us absolutely, because the philosophy works. There's no flaw.
Guru dāsa: Śyāmasundara was..., had a scholarship to big college for philosophy, and he was studying philosophical sciences, but he could not apply them. This was the reason for his frustration, searching. Now we found something we can apply in our practical everyday life. And not only ourselves, but people who, having families in the United States, etc., they wanted to apply philosophy. And that's the strength of this movement. We can apply it.
Ambassador: I sort of forgot..., I don't know what I asked you, where you joined the movement.
Devotee: In California.
Ambassador: In California. In uh...?
Devotee: Los Angeles, California.
Ambassador: Los Angeles.
Devotee: I met the devotees there about three years ago.
Ambassador: Ahah.
Devotee: ...and stayed in the...
Prabhupāda: He was in the Navy of your country.
Ambassador: Oh, he was in the Navy.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Ambassador: Isn't that interesting.
Śyāmasundara: We've got a lot of Vietnam veterans too, join up.
Ambassador: Really.
Śyāmasundara: One boy in London, he was on his way back from Vietnam, and he was completely shattered, and he found refuge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He was a machine-gunner.
Ambassador: Where are you living?
Śyāmasundara: Well, we've been living in London last two years.
Ambassador: But here you're all living in the Delhi area, but you're going down to... What's the name of that place south of here?
Guru dāsa: Vṛndāvana?
Ambassador: Yeah.
Guru dāsa: We went.
Ambassador: Oh, you went?
Guru dāsa: Very nice.
Prabhupāda: Where?
Guru dāsa: They inquired about our Vṛndāvana trip.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Śyāmasundara: That's where Kṛṣṇa was born.
Ambassador: Oh.
Mrs. Keating: Where is that?
Ambassador: Ninety miles south of here.
Prabhupāda: Yes, ninety miles.
Guru dāsa: Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke to the Russians that the principle, our philosophy is the same, and that's service. You are serving Lenin and we are serving Kṛṣṇa. So by expounding upon the philosophy, then when you see that it's more intelligent to put his service toward God than one man. Like that.
Prabhupāda: Our, this is a fact, that everyone is serving somebody superior.
Ambassador: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Nobody can say that I am not serving anybody. Is it possible?
Ambassador: You're serving God.
Prabhupāda: I am serving, you are serving your state.
Ambassador: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So everyone is serving. Nobody can say that I am not serving anybody. It is not possible.
Mrs. Keating: But we serve God first.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Mrs. Keating: We serve God first.
Prabhupāda: God or anything, we have to serve.
Mrs. Keating: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That is our constitutional position. Just like eating and drinking. You may eat something, I may eat something, but eating is essential. You cannot say that I don't eat. That is not possible. Eating, sleeping, mating, defending—these are the bodily necessities. Similarly, the soul's necessity is to serve someone. Either you serve your country or your society or your family or your community, or at least if you nothing to serve, then you keep a dog and serve it. (laughter)
Mrs. Keating: Or what?
Śyāmasundara: A dog.
Mrs. Keating: Oh, a dog, yeah.
Prabhupāda: Therefore, the conclusion is that I have to serve. This is our position. Do you admit?
Mrs. Keating: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Suppose I say that I don't serve. That is not possible. That being our constitutional position then, just like my finger, it is serving, always, sometimes doing like that, sometimes doing like that, sometimes doing like that. The finger's business is to serve. As part and parcel of my body, the finger's business is to serve the whole body. Similarly, we are part and parcel of God. Our essential business is to serve God. How do you find this argument? Do you refute this argument?
Mrs. Keating: You serve and you share.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Mrs. Keating: You serve...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mrs. Keating: ...and you share.
Prabhupāda: Yes. By serving I share. Just like this milk. The hand helps me, brings it here. I drink, and as soon I drank, the benefit is shared by all the parts of body. Is it not?
Ambassador: That's true.