Prabhupāda: Nobody can change. Nobody can change. But rules and regulation for different times, different circumstances are there in the śruti-smṛti. We have to take it. You cannot change.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: And who will sanction that application?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He said. He's authority. He's ācārya.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The ācārya must sanction for the particular time and place.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are following the footprints of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is not whimsical. You have to follow the authority in all circumstances. You cannot avoid. That is illegal. It will have no power. Just like all of a sudden you make a low-class man a harijana. It will not stay. But you can make harijana any class of man provided you adopt the proper means.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: I think one more question that would be appropriate, because it kind of ties in which this last question. Number seven: "Hinduism has always renewed or revitalized itself according to the needs of the times. In today's context, are any correctives called for, and if so, who will bring them about and how can they be brought about, and made acceptable to all the masses?"
Prabhupāda: First of all, who will take it? Kṛṣṇa has given already according to the time. He has summarized the whole Vedic scripture in the Bhagavad-gītā, but who is taking it? And Caitanya Mahāprabhu and all the ācāryas, they have explained how to accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa's instruction. So first thing you must be ready to take the presentation according to the time and circumstances. Then everything will be all right. If you manufacture your own way of life, if you do not take it from the authority, then it will be failure. Just like this harijana. Harijana is very good idea, make everyone harijana. But harijana is being picked up from the lowest class of men, the bhangis and cāmāras. That is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā, pāpa-yoni. But how this pāpa-yoni can be purified? Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya: by accepting Kṛṣṇa as everything, that means full surrender. Then he can be, even if he's pāpa-yoni, he can be rectified. But if there is no question of surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, and if you rubberstamp a low-class man that he has become harijana, how it will be effective? The condition is there, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya. Find out this verse.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna:
- māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
- ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
- striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
- te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim
- (BG 9.32)
"O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth—women, vaiśyas, as well as śūdras—can approach the supreme destination."
Prabhupāda: Yes. The condition is that "those who take shelter unto Me." Now, Mahatma Gandhi manufactured the harijana, but where there is the teaching that "You take shelter of Kṛṣṇa"? So how this harijana will be effective? The condition is there, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya (BG 9.32). Read the purport.
Dhṛṣṭadyumna: "It is clearly declared here by the Supreme Lord that in devotional service there is no distinction between the lower or higher classes of people. In the material conception of life there are such divisions, but for a person engaged in transcendental devotional service to the Lord there are not. Everyone is eligible for the supreme destination. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that even the lowest, who are called caṇḍālas, dog-eaters, can be elevated by association with a pure devotee. Therefore devotional service and guidance of a pure devotee are so strong that there's no discrimination between the lower and higher classes of men. Anyone can take to it. The most simple man, taking center of the pure devotee, can be purified by proper guidance."
Prabhupāda: Yes. The guidance means how to take him to Kṛṣṇa's shelter. Then he will be all right. The guidance is wrong, no question of Kṛṣṇa, and he, simply by rubberstamping, "Here is a harijana," how it will be effective? Therefore it is failure. He remains the same drunkard, same meat-eater, and he becomes harijana. How it is possible? The guidance required. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). He must be guided.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You started this explanation by saying, "But who will take it?" So is this to say that this religion that you're speaking of is not trying to be made acceptable to the masses, or is it only for those who will take it?
Prabhupāda: No, no. Unless you take it, where is question of religion? So that requires guidance. Just like to make a child educated, there is teacher required. Automatically how he can? A child, now you give him a rubberstamp, "Now you are M.A." Is he M.A? He must be guided to pass the M.A. examination, then he'll be, he's M.A. And "Because he is born in a certain family, he cannot be M.A.," that is not the fact. He can be M.A. provided the guidance is there, training is there. He can become M.A. It doesn't matter that because he is lowborn he cannot become M.A. No. He can become. The training is how to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Then he goes back to home, back to Godhead.