Prabhupāda: Where?
Sister Mary: We live down there, you see, and we've seen them several times in the street singing, and asked them what you're doing, really.
Prabhupāda: (aside) You can keep it here. It may fall down. No.
So do you know something about our movement?
Sister Mary: I've been told something about it, the other day.
Prabhupāda: We are preaching God consciousness. God is God. God is neither Christian, nor Hindu, nor Muslim. God is God. So everyone should be God conscious. That is our movement. We . . . we are preaching love of God. So it doesn't matter what type of religion one is following; we simply want to see that he has love for God.
Our bhāgavata-dharma defines that that is first-class religion, following which one becomes a lover of God. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is first-class religion if, by following that, one becomes a lover of God. It doesn't matter what religion he is following, but the test will be whether he has become a lover of God. That is our . . .
Sister Mary: So you don't try to convert people from other religions?
Prabhupāda: No.
Sister Mary: One can be Christian and . . .
Prabhupāda: Any way. We are teaching how to love God. That's all.
Sister Mary: Yes. So we're doing the same thing.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But the test is there, whether he has become a lover of God or lover of dog. That is the test. If you find that he has become a lover of dog, then his religion is useless.
Sister Mary: How does he know?
Prabhupāda: You can see whether he's loving God or dog. That's all. That you can see. Everyone can see whether he has got good love for dog or good love for God. That you can see. Anyone can see. The test is there. Crucial test is there.
Revatīnandana: Jesus used the expression, "Loving God or loving Mammon."
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Revatīnandana: Jesus used the expression "Love God or love Mammon."
Prabhupāda: That says, or . . . everyone says different way. "Mammon" or "dog" is expression in the faith. That is the test. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says:
- yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa
- cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam
- śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ
- govinda viraheṇa me
- (CC Antya 20.39, Śikṣāṣṭaka 7)
Yugāyitaṁ, "Every moment is just like twelve years," cakṣuṣā pravṛṣāyitam, "crying like torrents of rain." Cakṣuṣā pravṛṣāyitam, śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ, "Oh, I find everything is vacant," govinda viraheṇa me, "without God, without . . ." This is an ideal picture.
So another test is, bhaktiḥ pareśānubhava viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). If one has become lover of God, naturally he will be detached to material enjoyment. Love of God and love of material world cannot go together. Either this or that.
Sister Mary: . . . (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Just like Lord Jesus Christ: he never advised to . . . for economic development, for industrial development or this and that, so many things. He sacrificed everything for God. That is one test, "Here is a lover of God." He was punished that, "You, you stop this preaching," but he did not. So that is love of God. He sacrificed everything. That is love of God. So the ideal is Lord Jesus Christ, and the follower must be, at least to some extent, to that point. That is the test.
So we say that you follow any religious path—that doesn't matter—we want to see whether you are lover of God. That is our propaganda. And if one is serious about loving God, it doesn't matter in which way he'll develop that dormant love. It doesn't matter. Just like one . . . a person wants to be a very nice student of mathematics. It doesn't matter from which university he takes the degree. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He can go.
Just like students are coming from one country to another, one country to another—because his aim is education. So if one is serious about loving God, then it doesn't matter in which way he learns that art. It doesn't matter. He won't discriminate, "Oh, I must learn this art from this university." No. Any university. It doesn't matter.