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Prabhupada graphically described how the material world was a miserable place, replete with anxieties. From the big controllers, down to the insignificant ant, Prabhupada said, life was a struggle. "Even President Nixon, he is also full of anxieties: 'When shall I be dethroned? Let me take protection.' And the ant -- the ant is going, you stop it by your finger. He will struggle: 'Why you are stopping?'"

Why so much anxiety? The reason, Prabhupada pointed out, was due to misplaced love and affection. "Because we are missing God, we are loving this thing, that thing and then frustration. That very love which is reserved for God, we are applying it to this material world. 'I love my country. I love my society, I love my family, I love my dog, I love my ' I love. But I'm missing whom to love. That is the point. I'm placing my love in so many things, and I am becoming frustrated. So when we understand that love is meant for God, that is our perfection of life, and if you love God, then you love everyone. That is perfect love. Without loving God. Just like you are the son of your father. So when you love your father, naturally you love your brothers also because you know, 'My father will be pleased'. So this is love. That universal love can be possible when you actually love God, samah sarvesu bhutesu.

"On the material platform that is not possible. But a devotee, a pure lover of God, he loves everyone. Just like we are. Because we have tried to love God, therefore we are wandering, touring all over the world, with the same message, 'Please try to love God'. We have no other message because we have understood, to some extent, that without love of God, they are suffering. So they will be happy when they begin to love God. This is our mission."

During question time a spokesman from a popular yoga group that claimed that their guru was God asked Srila Prabhupada a "loaded" question.

"Prabhupada, Lord Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita that when there is a decline of true religion and when evil increases in the world, that He manifests Himself in a body, a human body, and comes to earth to rescue the human beings from their illusion. Now these conditions exist today. Is He here in the human form or is He still to come?"

Prabhupada answered gravely, "God has already come".

"In what form?"

"In the form of His name, Hare Krsna."

But the man was argumentative. "No. No. He said he manifests in a human form."

Prabhupada took pains to explain further. "God has a human form. And God is everywhere. So if He comes in the form of sound, what is the objection. Because what is this human being? You are seeing a human being, this flesh. That is combination of matter, earth, water, fire, air, ether. That is the combination. What are you seeing? Your eyes are also the combination, but the sound is ether. So if you accept earth as the form, where is your objection to accept ether? Because they are all material."

The man persisted in arguing. "There are two objections," he said, "One is that He said: 'I manifest in the human body', in the human body such as we have here .."

"So that requires a little intelligence. That anyone who is preaching the holy name of God, he is also God."

Prabhupada paused. The hall was silent. Prabhupada repeated the point. "Anyone who preaches the glories of God, he is also God." More silence.

Man: Are you God?

Prabhupada: I am servant of God.

Man: But you're preaching the holy name of God?

Prabhupada: Yes, that is my business.

Man: But then, by your own words, you are God.

Prabhupada: But that does not mean that I am God, but I am equal to God.

Long silence.

Prabhupada: Or at least you should see like that. That is explained: saksad-dharitvena samasta sastrair uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih, kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya vande guroh sri-caranaravindam. Guru's position is like this. What is that? Saksad dhari. He is God. Saksad dhari. How he is Hari, God? Samasta-sastraih: 'It is said'. Tatha bhavyatha eva sadbhih: 'Those who are intelligent, they accept like that'. Then the next line says kintu. Why he is God? Kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya. 'He is God because he is very, very dear to God.' So as I said, in the absolute world, God and a person very dear to God, he is also God, but he does not think that he is God. He knows that he is a servant of God. It requires a little spiritual intelligence to understand how the servant of God and God is the same.

A Christian lady asked whether Srila Prabhupada believed in the Bible.

"Why not?" Prabhupada laughed along with the audience. "It is holy. God's message. Why shall I not believe?"

An aspiring devotee in the audience asked Srila Prabhupada how to develop enthusiasm. Prabhupada gave the example of a drunkard. "If you want to become a drunkard," he said, "you mix with people who drink. Then you drink little, little, little. Then you become a big drunkard. Similarly, if you have got little sense, that 'I shall understand what is God', this is very much the qualification. If anyone also wants sincerely that 'I will understand what is God', then your 'drinking' business begins immediately. Then, if you continue, just as the drunkard becomes a bigger drunkard, then you become a big devotee."

Finally, a man stood up and asked Prabhupada's opinion of the recent news article that misquoted Prabhupada as saying that he planned to return to earth as a dog. Prabhupada answered with a grin. "The animal did not understand anything," he said, referring to the reporter. The audience erupted in laughter and applause.

"Because he is an animal, he is thinking like that. Everyone thinks others are like himself." Prabhupada explained his observation by way of an amusing story: A man who was hard of hearing called his wife, asking her when dinner was ready. She answered him saying, 'Yes, yes, I'm coming as fast as I can'. Because the man was deaf, however, he could not hear his wife answering. Therefore he considered that his wife was deaf and could not hear his question. In actual fact, the reverse was true: he was deaf and he could not hear her answer. In the same way, Prabhupada said, the person who wrote the article was thinking that Prabhupada was like himself.


- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu