Prabhupāda: So if you start a good center I will stay and see that things are going on. (aside) Just take this stick.
Indian man (3): Then I could . . . I think we would be able to benefit from you much more. See, your arrival in this period in Durban, with so many functions that we are carrying on today in this whole week, that people were sort of distributed, and quite a lot of them were unable to even come to your meetings.
Prabhupāda: Oh. No, our meetings were well attended.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Yes. We have had full house all the time.
Indian man (3): Yes, I know your house, but you could have had even more than full house.
Indian man (1): There are about four hundred thousand Indians alone here.
Indian man (3): Yes. The reason of that Navarātri festival these Ārya-samājīs they have had, well in advance. They had their celebrations and all, so a lot of people were unable to come. Do you think it will be possible for you to come back to Durban from Johannesburg, after your Johannesburg stay?
Prabhupāda: Yes. I can come back. There is no harm. (break)
Indian man (3): And when you have these āśramas and all, and how to serve the poor people in the way of welfare?
Prabhupāda: Give them prasādam. Give them prasādam. We are giving two thousand, three thousand men each center prasādam.
Indian man (3): And also to rehabilitate them against their . . .
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are giving them shelter also—food, cloth, everything—giving them proper chance to live peacefully and be God conscious.
Indian man (3): And in the way of hospitals?
Prabhupāda: Hospitals, there are many, but real hospitals, to cure the material disease, there is no hospital. They are . . . there are hundreds and thousands of hospitals for curing the disease of the body, but there is no hospital to cure the disease of the soul. That is the defect. So we are opening hospital for curing the disease of the soul. They have no information about the soul throughout the whole world. Even so-called religious organizations, they have no information about the soul. They go to religious ceremonies for material profit.
They do not know what is the necessity of the soul and what is the disease of the soul. They do not know. (break) . . . nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam (BG 7.13). What is the goal of life, these people, they do not know. Mūḍhas. Mūḍha means rascals, gādha. They do not know what is the goal of life. They take calculation of the duration of life, that fifty, sixty or hundred years, that's all. Beyond this, after this, they do not know. Yes. That is the defect. (break) Now, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that this temporary attempt to become happy—antavanta phalaṁ teṣām (BG 7.23)—it will end with the end of the body. But they do not know beyond this. Therefore alpam-medhasām, they are less intelligent. Just like a child playing. He likes to play and does not go to school. So do you think that is all right?
Indian man (3): No.
Prabhupāda: So therefore we are doing like that. We are concerned that, "I have got this body. Let me enjoy to the fullest extent, and don't mind what I am going to have in future. It doesn't matter."
Indian man (3): You get attracted by a lot of side attractions.
Prabhupāda: Yes. And the education is so defective that even university students, if I say that, "You are going to be a dog," they say: "What is the harm if I become?" They say like that. The education is so defective, they don't mind to become a dog. They think, "It is a facility to become a dog, because I can have sex on the street without any restrictions."
Indian man (3): Yes. I mean they have lost their self-respect for that.
Prabhupāda: No consideration. They are actually like cats and dogs. This is going on. (break) Nobody knows what is soul, nobody knows what is the goal of life, nobody knows what is the necessity of the soul. These things are not discussed, neither they know it. So-called religious institution or so-called . . . they do not know. It is only mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, and that . . . they do not take care of this Bhagavad-gītā. They manufacture their own ways of . . .
Indian man (3): Is there any other books before Bhagavad-gītā?
Prabhupāda: Yes, Vedas there are. Yes. But what is the purpose of Veda? The purpose of Veda is to understand God. If you do not understand God . . . just like the Ārya-samājīs. They are concerned with Vedas, they say. But they do not know what is God. They say: "I am God." This is their knowledge. If he is God, who is going to worship him? Nobody comes to kick on his face, and still he says: "I am God." This is going on. How you become God? Who worships you? But still he will say: "I am God." You see. Such foolishness is going on. Ārya. Ārya means advanced, and this is their advancement. Ārya means advanced, and this is their advancement that they think, "I am God." Just see. Everyone can think like that. Then what is the use of advancement? This is going on.