Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So material consciousness is false.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything can be utilized for Kṛṣṇa. That is our preaching. That is truth. There is a nice car. Why shall I condemn it? Utilize it for Kṛṣṇa. Then it is truth. And the Māyāvādī philosophers, they will say, "It is untruth. Give it up." No. When you have produced something by your good intelligence, it is truth, but when you use it for other purpose than Kṛṣṇa, then it is false. (break) . . .Deity nicely decorated, if I say, "It is all false," is that very good sense? They have created such a nice thing. No, the purpose for which you have created or utilized, that is false. So we want to change the consciousness. We don't condemn the thing.
(break) . . .with a knife you are cutting vegetables and utilizing, but if you use it for cutting your throat, that is bad. That is bad. So they are using the knife for cutting their own throat. This is bad. They are doing. (break) The śāstra says, nidrāham ādyaṁ plavaṁ sukalpam. This body . . . We are just crossing the ocean of nescience. So this body is a good boat. Māyā ete 'rtaṁ guruḥ karṇa-dharam. And the wind is favorable, Kṛṣṇa's instruction. And the captain is guru. He is guiding you. With all these facilities, if you cannot cross the nescience, then you are cutting your throat. (break) . . . boat is there, the captain is there, the favorable wind is there. But we are not utilizing it. That means I am killing myself. (break) . . . tunity is there. (break) . . . policy. The policy is suicidal. That is the defect. So preaching means to remove this defect and utilize the policy for going ahead. (break)
Devotee: Is it because of our impurity that we can't convince them to stop cutting their throat?
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: His question is whether is it due to our impurity that we cannot convince people to stop cutting their throats.
Prabhupāda: No, it is due to their impurity, they do not take. What you are saying, that is pure. But the difficulty is if you instruct a rascal, he becomes angry. The example is given that if you give milk and banana to the serpent, he increases his poison. Payaḥ-panaṁ bhujaṅganaṁ kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam (Nīti Śāstra). Therefore we have to select sometimes that our preaching is in the proper place. Because a snakelike person, they will not hear. But if you are a good charmer, you can charm the snake also. (laughter) That depends on your quality. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu did. He made these snakes, the tigers, the elephants all dancing Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is possible by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Tripurāri: Just like you have charmed all of us, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Well, I am not going to imitate Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (laughs) I have come to New York, not to the jungle. (laughter)
Sudāmā: New York is worse than jungle.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It is called an asphalt jungle.
Prabhupāda: After all, they are human being. Therefore we have collected some nice souls. (break) If you can go to the jungle, that is no hindrance, but let us take the opportunity of the civilized nations, preach them. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhaḥ (BG 3.21). They are leading the whole civilization. If they are convinced, it will be great benefit to the human race. (break) Also my Guru Mahārāja said that "You go to the Western country." If he had said that "You go to the jungle," I would have gone. (break) . . .preacher, either the jungle or the city is the same. Nārāyaṇa-paraḥ na kutaścana bibhayati. One who is devotee of the Lord, he does not make any discrimination that "This is jungle and this is city." Svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ (SB 6.17.28). For them, everywhere, Kṛṣṇa's property. So where Kṛṣṇa asks him to go and serve, he will go. That's all. (break)
Jagajīvana: All classes of men should preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness?
Prabhupāda: Yes. First of all he must know what to preach. If he does not know what to preach, what he will preach? You have got a preaching capacity, provided you learn the art of preaching. But everyone can preach. That's a fact.
Devotee (2): What is to become of those devotees that leave ISKCON and take to breaking the regulative principles, and stop chanting sixteen rounds?
Prabhupāda: Explain.
Devotee (2): There are even brāhmaṇas in our temple who have left the temple, and they are acting just like karmīs.
Prabhupāda: So they were wrongly initiated. We want recommendation from the authority, whether one should be initiated. But they gave wrong information. That is the defect of the informer.