George Gullen: . . . I'm the president of Wayne State University. I'm very pleased to be asked to come and visit with you. (break)
Prabhupāda: You have studied something about our philosophy?
George Gullen: I beg your pardon?
Prabhupāda: I am asking, you have studied something about our philosophy?
George Gullen: A little. Not very much. I'm not as knowledgeable as I should be, I'm certain.
Prabhupāda: It is not a sectarian movement. (to someone else) Why you stop? Yes. (to Gullen) It is essential knowledge for the whole human society. There are two things: matter and spirit. We can understand, every one of us, we are combination of two things: matter and spirit. The matter is the body, and the spirit is the moving force.
George Gullen: Um-hm, I hear what you're saying, yes.
Prabhupāda: But the modern civilization, throughout the whole world, they are very serious about the matter, but they are completely in ignorance about the spirit. What is your opinion about these things?
George Gullen: I understand that very clearly, and I think we're caught up terribly in matters that are not of the spirit. We're terribly caught up in materialistic things.
Prabhupāda: But material, that is temporary. This body—your body, my body, anyone's body—that is temporary. It will not stay. It has taken birth at a certain date, it will endure for certain years, and then it will be finished. But the spirit, that will continue. It will accept another body. Just like we are accepting . . . we are giving up our body, childhood body, accepting the body of a boy, then giving up the boyhood body, accepting the body of a young man. Similarly, this body . . . just like I am an old man. This will be finished, and I will accept another body. So the spirit soul is eternal, and the body is temporary. So we are taking care of the body very much. That is also required. But what about the spirit soul? This education is lacking.