Haṁsadūta: Do you want to hear the next letter? This is the second letter. "I do not see why you devoted two full pages to the article on 'Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa,' November 8th. Wearing a plain white sari, applying sandal paste on the forehead and wearing nose-rings do not transform one. Churning milk gopī fashion is no way to attain spiritual bliss. The statements made by the devotees of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement reflect an attitude of escapism."
Prabhupāda: Hm. Anyway, we are getting publicity.
Haṁsadūta: (laughs) They're angry. "How can the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa purify the mind? It only closes it to everything else. Purity of the mind lies in knowing all evil and yet abstaining from it. The escapist attitude of the devotees of the movement is reflected in the reply of Adhikārī when he bypasses the question of India's poverty by giving irrelevant answers. The poverty of our country is known to all of us. I am not an atheist, but I find it difficult to digest the sentimentalism in the article."
Prabhupāda: What is that sentimentalism?
Haṁsadūta: I didn't read the article. That was in the... Which paper? I think this was in a Bombay paper. What paper is this?
Guest (1): This is Times of India.
Prabhupāda: Bombay.
Guest (1): It is published from Bombay and Delhi both.
Haṁsadūta: Yes. I think in Bombay there was a large article.
Prabhupāda: What about? Favorable or unfavorable?
Haṁsadūta: It was an interview with the devotees, if I remember, with Gurudāsa.
Guest (1): The article, original article, was quite favorable. It was all praiseworthy and all that. That is why these two letters say that author of that article is unnecessarily being sentimental and this and that.
Rebatinandan: That was the Sunday edition of Times of India.
Haṁsadūta: November 8th.
Revatīnandan: The magazine section. Two page particle with nice pictures. You liked it very much.
Prabhupāda: Oh, oh, yes, yes. I remember. She is envious, that "Why two page advertisement, publicity has been..." That's all.
Haṁsadūta: There's another letter. It says, "Your leading article on the Kṛṣṇa cult makes interesting reading. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the Indian founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON, and his American disciples repeatedly told K.R. Sundarajan, the author of the article in the Times Weekly, November 8th, 1970, during their brief stay in Bombay that theirs was not strictly a Hindu movement. They explained to him that Kṛṣṇa was above all religions, the universal teacher, the supreme man, the purification of the Absolute Truth. If it is so, then why can't they go to Pakistan and China for chanting of Kṛṣṇa's name and ask them to vacate aggression? The soil of this land where the great master was born..."
Prabhupāda: Now, now, we have to serve the political, politicians. Eh? Because they cannot do, so they are asking us.
Haṁsadūta: To do.
Prabhupāda: Such a nonsense. So we have to help these rascal politicians. You write that, that "Do you mean to say that Kṛṣṇa consciousness means business is to serve the rascal politicians? We are going every country and when we find time we shall go to Pakistan."
Guest (1): Not for vacating the aggression, but for...
Prabhupāda: "Not for helping the politicians who are very much eager to join Pakistan. Our joining is different. Even in India we have got so many enemies like you who are criticizing Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So there are rascals everywhere, either in Pakistan or India. So we are not satisfy the rascals. We are meant for intelligent persons." Write that, like that.
Guest (1): (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: Yes? Then? Who is it? Anything more?
Haṁsadūta: I think that's it. (break)
Prabhupāda: But we have to do in such a way that I may not be in inconvenience. Take something. All right. Bring something; take one piece. That's all. Finished. You were drinking before?
Devotee: Yes, I was...
Prabhupāda: So you don't feel any inconvenience?
Devotee: No.
Prabhupāda: That's nice. You were smoking also?
Devotee: No.
Prabhupāda: That's nice. Our students, they have very quickly given up the four principles of sinful activity. And that is actually surprising to all these so-called sannyāsīs also. They are surprised. They cannot give up tea-drinking, smoking. Still, they are passing on as spiritually advanced. They are still servant of smoking and tea and they have become God. Just see the fun. "Nārāyaṇa." They address one another, "Nārāyaṇa. (laughter) You are Nārāyaṇa. I am Nārāyaṇa. There is no trouble because you are Nārāyaṇa." So begin. (break) Others not, your father.
Child: My grandfather.
Prabhupāda: So aśakti...? (end)