Dr. Kneupper: Do you think the same problem is here in India as in other countries?
Prabhupāda: No, in your country there is no God. That is another problem. There is no God. And here rascals are God. The problem remains the same. You say frankly, "There is no God," but these rascals say, "There is God, but here is my God." And he says, "No, here is my God." No one knows the real God.
Dr. Kneupper: How does one distinguish between what is a false God...
Prabhupāda: This is the formula. Just like aiśvaryasya. Now, you have got some money, but you cannot say that "I have got all the money of the world." That you cannot say. You may possess some states, but you cannot say that "I am the owner of all the states." So God is the proprietor. You have got your country. Which country you belong to?
Dr. Kneupper: United States.
Prabhupāda: United States. So you have got certain area. But when you go to the seaside, then who is the proprietor of the sea? As philosopher, will you not think it?
Dr. Kneupper: There is no proprietor, strictly speaking.
Prabhupāda: Why no proprietor? A small tank if you dig, you immediately claim, "This is my tank," and such a big ocean, and there is no proprietor? As philosopher, how you can think like that?
Dr. Kneupper: Well, I think of what is the basis of... (break)
Prabhupāda: Suppose I go in a park. There is nice tank, reservoir of water, very decorated. And if I think, "There is no proprietor," is it not my foolishness? There must be one proprietor, but I do not know him. That is real sense. Similarly, everything has got proprietor. Why the sea and the land, the so many other things, why there is no proprietor? This is foolishness.
Dr. Kneupper: I don't understand how this relates to distinguishing who are the true teachers...
Prabhupāda: No, that I have already explained. Everyone is foolish now. You cannot distinguish who is thief and who is not thief. (Bengali) If you study everyone you will find everyone is rascal at the present moment.
Dr. Kneupper: But surely there are some who are...
Prabhupāda: Some must be there. There is no doubt about it. But they are so in minority. Who will hear about them? "It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." The whole world is rascal. If somebody is intelligent, who cares for him? Just like people laugh at me that I am talking of God. I am not only talking. I am writing so many books. My only endeavor is to understand God, that's all. There is no sectarian. And I am selling my books all over the world. So not that everyone is foolish. They're trying to understand my presentation, big, big scholars, big, big philosophers. Yes.
Dr. Kneupper: We have many of them in our library...
Prabhupāda: Yes. So there is knowledge. If people kindly take it everything will be solved. But they have stubbornly denied, "No God." And I am stubbornly fighting, "Yes, there is God." That is the... Now the whole America is combining to fight against me, opposition, that "This man is brainwashing, controlling the mind, and our children are kidnapped." They are bringing these charges against us. Just like you have come. Have I kidnapped you?
Dr. Kneupper: Oh, no.
Prabhupāda: But these rascals say that I have kidnapped their children.
Indian man (2): But judgment has been taken.
Prabhupāda: There must be judgment, but people have become so rascal. So I am trying to convince, although single-handed, that "There is God," and they are bringing opposition.
Indian man (2): That is the real philosophy. That is not only Indian philosophy; this is universal philosophy.
Prabhupāda: Yes. God is for everyone.
Indian man (2): God, the almighty powerful.
Prabhupāda: God is not Hindu God, Muslim God, Christian. God is God. Now, when I say, "Here is God. His name is Kṛṣṇa. His father's name is Nanda Mahārāja," now they will laugh.