Interviewer: What I've heard, what I've heard some Hindu professors say is that Hinduism is such a complex and profound religion and that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness members are very superficial about it. They simply go through these disciplines and really don't involve themselves in the... They take a superficial version of Hinduism.
Prabhupāda: That may be Hindu religion. But we do not belong to any religion. That may be true for the Hindu religion what the professor has said, but we do not identify with any religion. We are different from any religious system.
Interviewer: But the scriptures are the same, the Vedic scriptures are Hindu scriptures.
Prabhupāda: No, Hindu religion... Of course, the scripture is the Vedic principle, but the word is not Vedic. This word Hindu is not Vedic word.
Bali-mardana: Hindu is not Sanskrit, it's just a popular, general term.
Prabhupāda: Vedic, Vedas, Vedas, that is real, the word. But they have taken it in a different way. Actually the "Hindu," this name is given by the neighbor Muhammadans. There is a river called Sindhu. That river is still there, it is now in Pakistan. So outside the border of India, the Muhammadans, they used to call the inhabitants of the neighborhood of that river Sindhu, Hindu. Because they pronounce s as h. So this is the origin. So "Hindu" is a title given by the Muhammadan neighbors. It is not found in the Vedic literature.
Interviewer: I see, I see. That's like most religious names derived quite often out of ridicule or scorn. Like the Quakers, that was originally a title of scorn. And Methodists, they were the methodical ones, that was a title of scorn. And the Baptists were the baptizers.
Prabhupāda: Real Vedic principle is called varṇāśrama. Observing the principle of four varṇas. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya. It is a very long science. Brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. This is called varṇa. And brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. This is called āśrama. So the Vedic civilization is called varṇāśrama-dharma, not Hindu dharma. This is later contribution of the so-called scholars.
Interviewer: Well ah, I thank you very much for your time, your Grace, and I'm glad I finally got acquainted with you. I missed you in Brooklyn.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Interviewer: I missed you in Brooklyn, I came over there and you were in the backyard, I think you were asleep or having a backrub or something. So I didn't get to see you.
Prabhupāda: Yes, in the daytime I am...
Interviewer: It was good to catch you this time and I hope to see you again.
Prabhupāda: So kindly put the matter properly because people misunderstand on account of their ignorance they misunderstand our, movement.
Interviewer: What are their main misunderstandings?
Prabhupāda: This bodily concept. They are thinking that they are body. "I am Muhammadan, I am Christian, I am American, I am Eastern, I am Western," all bodily conceptions.
Interviewer: You mean about the Eastern and Western?
Prabhupāda: Eastern, Western, that is also bodily conception. Why they are thinking Eastern, Western? Everyone is human being.
Interviewer: Well, what is it that they particularly understand, misunderstand about the movement?
Prabhupāda: They do not understand that we are talking on the spiritual platform and they are on the material bodily platform. Therefore they find contradiction. One has to be little sober to understand this movement and what platform we are speaking. They are accustomed, on the same example, hammering the bricks. And when they see others, they are not hammering the bricks, they think they are different. They cannot understand that life can be without hammering the bricks. Karmīs. In the Bhagavad-gītā, the word mūḍha, that has been explained by Viśvanātha Cakravartī, karmīs, these mūḍhas. They cannot understand.
Interviewer: I'm going to have to go back and hammer a few bricks. (laughter) It's been a pleasure, thank you very much, for your time.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Give him prasāda. Thank you very much.
Interviewer: Thank you again, I hope to see you again sometime.
Prabhupāda: Jaya.
Interviewer: Good day. (end)