Prabhupāda: So Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was a devotee when he was only five years old. And his father was atheist number one. So there was great misunderstanding between the father and the son. The father was insisting the son that, "You give up this line of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You become politician. You have to control over the kingdom and so on, so on . . ." But he could not give up.
This is the misunderstanding between the father and the . . . so at, at the age of five years only, he was preaching. But how he was preaching? He was preaching . . . because the father instructed the teachers, "Just look over this boy that he may not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Strictly. That is my order." So teachers were not allowing him. But he was taking opportunity in their tiffin hour.
Śyāmasundara: What?
Prabhupāda: Tiffin hour.
Śyāmasundara: Tiffin hour. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: What is . . .
Śyāmasundara: Oh.
Prabhupāda: Recess. When the teachers gone and students are free to move. So he was calling his class friends and other, and he was preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Śyāmasundara: Tiffin hour.
Prabhupāda: So . . . we call "tiffin hour" in India. Because we, we take some tiffin in the school, and we eat during that . . .
David Lawrence: Hmm. Hmm.
Prabhupāda: So he was preaching that kaumāra ācare . . . the other boys, they were insisting, "Prahlāda, why you are so much anxious about preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Let us play. It is our time to play." So, "No, no." He said: "No. This is the time to learn Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Because you are teaching, therefore . . .
David Lawrence: Yes.
Prabhupāda: . . . I am relating, "That kaumāra age, from five years to fifteen years, that is the right age for educating Kṛṣṇa consciousness." This is the word of . . . kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha, durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma (SB 7.6.1). He says that, "This human form of body is very rarely gotten, and it is a rare opportunity for awakening our Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, is there in every human being, especially in civilized . . . so it is not an artificial thing. Just like my, all my students, they are Europeans, Americans. Four or five years ago, they did not know anything about Kṛṣṇa, neither they knew the name of Kṛṣṇa. But now you can see how they're absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So it is not an artificial thing.
David Lawrence: No.
Prabhupāda: If it . . . had it been an artificial, they would not have been so serious. But it is a dormant consciousness. I have simply awakened. I have awakened. Otherwise . . . that is the statement in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that everyone is Kṛṣṇa conscious. Some way or other, it is now snuffed down. They have forgotten.
But if an opportunity is given, then it can be awakened. So this movement is giving opportunity to arouse that dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness which is already there in everyone. So if you take that process and allow this Kṛṣṇa consciousness among the student, oh, it will be great service to the humanity. As a teacher, you will give the greatest service.