Prabhupāda: "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss."
CID Chief: We are helpless. I assume that will stand. But actually what they call advancement in general, it is not; even the people themselves are realizing that . . .
Prabhupāda: Yoṣitāṁ saṅgī-saṅgam (SB 5.5.2).
CID Chief: . . . that advancement has led them to some sort of monotony, which they want to avoid, and they want to . . .
Prabhupāda: No, first of all, we must know the destiny of life, what is the destiny of life. Then whether we are advancing or degrading, then it will be decided. But they do not know what is destiny of life. They are so fools, they are thinking that this life, say, for hundred years, and after hundred years everything finished. The Russian big, big professor, they think like that. I went to Moscow, and I talked with Indologist. They say: "Swāmījī, after this body is finished, everything is finished."
CID Chief: I read somewhere that this scientist, Russian scientist, was making research through electronics as to what happens to the soul when man dies, what actually happens when man dies. What is . . .
Prabhupāda: No, no. You may study with electronics and other, but it is a open secret. The soul, the soul departs from the body, and it is a lump of matter. What is the difference between a lump of matter and the dead body? We see practically a motorcar, when it is no more workable, it is a lump of matter. What is the value of it? Who cares for the motorcar? Of course, we do not see here, but in the Western countries there are many places, oh, hundreds and thousands of cars are . . .
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Junkyard.
Prabhupāda: Hundreds and thousands. Here, of course, we have not so many cars, but there in many cities I have seen. They have gathered together, and then they are pressed and thrown to the iron factory and again melted in fire of . . . so similarly, when the life is not there, it is a lump of matter. So it is lump of matter. Just like the motorcar: when it was being driven by driver, it has value, but when it is not to be driven anymore, it has no value. Similarly . . . but the motorcar is the same. It is the driver that is important. Similarly, the soul is important, not this body. But the modern civilization, accepting this body as the important, and they have no information of the driver, soul.
CID Chief: They try to decorate it, a body, dead body. It is . . .
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Decorating a dead body.
CID Chief: No, but I think this . . . a lot of awakening in the mind of people.
Prabhupāda: This education is lacking throughout the whole world, and we have started this movement to give this education, and people are against. That means they have become so fallen that they cannot even take up right knowledge. The same proverb: "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." So we have to struggle against this darkness—but we have to do it. This is our mission. We cannot stop it. It is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, para-upakāra. People are kept in darkness, and . . . that is not Caitanya Mahāprabhu . . . Kṛṣṇa's mission, actually. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7): "When people are misguided," tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham, "at that time I come down." So the whole world is misguided on this bodily concept of life, and this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means Kṛṣṇa has come down in the shape of this movement. That is the real fact. Nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa kali-kāle avatāra (CC Adi 17.22): "In the Kali-yuga Kṛṣṇa is incarnated in the form of His name, Hare Kṛṣṇa." Therefore in this age . . . that . . . kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). This is the injunction of the śāstras. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya, simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, mukta-saṅga, he becomes free from all this material contamination, and paraṁ vrajet, he goes back home, back to . . . so this name is not different. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute, there is no difference between His name and Himself. And that is confirmed in the śāstra, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends, śāstra recommends. We're just following their footprints there. Kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ (SB 12.3.51). This Kali-yuga is the ocean of faults. So . . . but there is one great opportunity in this ocean of faults. What is that? Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ param . . . that is a great facility to these rascals, that if they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they become free from all contamination and become fit for going back home, back to Godhead. So this is a authorized movement. It is not a concoction, manufactured idea.