Prabhupāda: So God is acting within the heart of everyone. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15).
Sir Alistair Hardy: Yes. That's what I certainly believe.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Sir Alistair Hardy: I certainly believe that. Oh, I think we're very close, really, in our views of God, except that I'm concentrating on studying the working of God in the people of today. You are studying the message of God given by Kṛṣṇa in the . . . and I'm trying to show they are the same, the same view as that revealed by Jesus and by other great . . .
Prabhupāda: No . . . when we speak of Veda, Veda means knowledge. So knowledge means knowledge of God. Any scripture that gives knowledge of God, that is Veda. Don't think that Vedas means that only the Sāma, Yajur, Atharva. Those who are following the principles to give knowledge about God, that is Veda. Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda vido jñāne. Vid-dhātu is called veda, vetti. Jñāne, when there is question of knowledge, these three forms are used: vetti, veda, vido, jñāne. Vinte vid vicaraṇe vidyate vid saptāyāṁ labhe vindati vindate. This is the vid-dhātu description. So vid-dhātu means to know.
So ultimate knowledge is to know God. That is real knowledge. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ (BG 15.15). Sarvaiḥ, all kinds of Vedas. All kinds, sarvaiḥ. So Bible can be taken as Vedas because it is trying to give knowledge about God. Maybe for a certain class of men; that is another thing. But the subject matter is how to know God. So that can be taken as also as Vedas. Because ultimate knowledge is how to know God. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). So we accept Bible also as Vedas, but we simply say that they misinterpret the Biblic commandments. The Bible says, "Thou shall not kill," and the Christian people are killing, maintaining slaughterhouse. What is this? This is my question. How they'll understand God if they are so much implicated in sinful activities?
According to Vedas, there are four kinds of sinful activities: illicit sex, unnecessary killing of animals, intoxication and gambling. Yatra pāpaś catur-vidhaḥ. So God is purest. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). How one can approach God if he leads a sinful life? That is our propagation. You give up this sinful life. Then you'll be able to understand God. You follow Christianity or Muhammadanism or Buddhism, it doesn't matter. You give up this sinful life.
Revatīnandana: In the Bible it says: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Revatīnandana: It's possible to see God, but only if there's purity of heart. And a sinful person has not got that purity of heart.
Sir Alistair Hardy: Yes, I . . . some of the very simplest people have been nearer to God than those of great intellectual standing. That's true.
Revatīnandana: Not "simple", sinful. Not simple. We're saying "sinful."
Prabhupāda: Sinful.
Sir Alistair Hardy: Oh, sinful! I . . . I thought . . . I thought you said . . . sorry.
Revatīnandana: Yes, it's, it's, it's sin . . . I'm saying . . . even in the Bible it says: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."