Prabhupāda: No, no. Curtain.
Rādhāvallabha: Curtain, oh. Close?
Hari-śauri: Shut it now. Shade, the shade.
Rāmeśvara: I showed Richard the "Hare Kṛṣṇa People" movie that Yadubara made, and Yamunā mātājī made some prasādam for him to taste. So he's gotten some introduction already.
Richard: OK. You came here not too many years ago. Did you ever expect that it would grow into what it has over the years?
Prabhupāda: We came in 1965.
Richard: Eleven years ago. And in a relatively short period of time you've managed to gather around you a great number of people. Has it surprised you or...
Prabhupāda: Yes, I did not expect. When I came here I did not expect, because we have got so many strictures, so I did not expect that here the people will accept my proposal.
Richard: Your proposal?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because our proposal is "No sinful life." No more illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxicants. So I did not expect that anyone will accept this proposal. (laughs)
Richard: Are those three sort of proscriptions...
Devotee: Four.
Richard: Four, sorry. Are they prerequisites to accepting your knowledge?
Prabhupāda: The real thing is.... You can easily understand that "I am not this body; there is a living force within the body." Is it very difficult to understand? This body is not sufficient. The real body means the living force within the body. Is it not? You are talking; what is the difference, you're not talking? Now, if the body is dead, you cannot talk anymore, finished. So what is that force within you that is causing you to talk? Do you know anything about that?
Richard: Have I thought about it, me, personally?
Prabhupāda: No. Have you ever thought about it?
Richard: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So what is that?
Richard: What did I think about it?
Rāmeśvara: Yes.
Richard: Um, that I, I've always viewed myself as my self.
Prabhupāda: Myself, that's what..., you are not this body. You are not.... Body is not yourself. Did you ever think of it?
Richard: Well, when I say "myself," I should perhaps define it. Myself being all that I can recall being before, as well as my present, ah...
Prabhupāda: How do you distinguish between a dead man or living man?
Richard: Um, well...
Prabhupāda: The living man is important, but the dead man is not important.
Richard: Not his physical body, no.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Then within the physical body, there is something which is making him living man. Is it not?
Richard: Um...
Prabhupāda: What is the dead man? Something is missing; therefore it is dead. Otherwise the body is there.
Richard: Right. Okay. His ability to, to...
Prabhupāda: Yes. Body is.... The same hands, legs, mouth, eyes, ears, hair, everything is there, but now they're crying, "Oh, Mr. such and such gone, oh, finished." What is that finished?
Richard: Well, his ability to share...
Prabhupāda: What is that ability? That is my question. Why this important man is now useless although the same hands, legs, mouth, everything is there, but it is useless?
Richard: Well, he's no longer...
Prabhupāda: What was the important thing?
Richard: The important thing was his ability to share physically and intellectually.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that means that important thing was within the body; now it is missing. That is distinction between dead man and living man.