Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: He's saying that by Kṛṣṇa's mercy we're here, we've taken.
Prabhupāda: Hmm. No. Anyone who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, it is the duty to distribute it. It is his duty. You may... When I came here, I never came here because American boys or people wanted me. They did not feel any need of my presence. But I came here, because it is my duty. My Guru Mahārāja ordered me. So one may think there is need or no need—it is the duty of Kṛṣṇa conscious persons to spread it. Just like the example I have already given. The cloud..., the mountain does not want rain, the sea does not want, but the cloud throws water everywhere.
Devotee (3): If no one was thinking that they needed your presence, then how is it some have come and some have not come? What is the difference?
Prabhupāda: Difference is it is Kṛṣṇa's desire. He wants that "Don't remain like cats and dogs. Be intelligent and come back to Me." Kṛṣṇa says sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So it is the duty of a devotee of Kṛṣṇa to spread this knowledge so that they may take to Kṛṣṇa. The cats and dogs, they cannot understand, but those who are two-legged cats and dogs, (laughs) they can understand. That is the advantage, because they have got two legs. So long they had four legs (laughing) they could not understand. So here is a chance, two-legged, so give them some opportunity. That's all. (long pause) You grow bitter melon also here?
Kīrtanānanda: We tried to this spring to grow it, but we can't get the seed to sprout.
Prabhupāda: You can get it from Māyāpur?
Kīrtanānanda: We got seed, but it won't sprout.
Prabhupāda: Oh, due to the climate.
Kīrtanānanda: We don't know. It is a very hard seed.
Devotee (4): Śrīla Prabhupāda, perhaps the material scientists could help us make the seed sprout.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Devotee (4): I was thinking earlier how a farmer can put the seed in the ground, but he cannot actually make the seed grow if it is not the will of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The situation is not favorable. That is the proof that everything is a living entity. If you put the seed... The seed is not the tree, but when you put the seed on the ground, if the situation is favorable, the particular living entity who has to take the form of that tree, he comes, and then it grows. That is the proof. Just like sex. It is not the secretion of the man and the woman. It creates a situation so that the soul may come and live there, and then there is pregnancy. It is not the matter. This is the proof.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Does that mean to some extent that the soul is dependent on a material condition?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi (BG 13.22). Find out this verse, puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi.
Hari-śauri: Just like when the body is no good, the soul has to leave.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the proof there is soul.