Pradyumna:
- vittam eva kalau nṛṇāṁ
- janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ
- dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyāṁ
- kāraṇaṁ balam eva hi
Prabhupāda: So vittam, money. Money is the criterion, not family. Formerly, there was family, respectable family, aristocratic family, brāhmaṇa family, kṣatriya family. All these things are gone now. If you accumulate some money some way or other, then you are respectable, never mind what you are. That is Kali-yuga symptom, that position in society, if you want to be respectable man, you somehow or other gather money. Never mind how we have gathered, what is the method. It doesn't matter. Get some money and you become respectable. Vittam eva hi.
Pradyumna: Vittam eva kalau nṛṇāṁ janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ.
Prabhupāda: Ah, janmācāra. First of all, janma, the family, heredity, was taken into consideration, but that is now forgotten. Get money. Just like in England the British empire's policy was that you bring money from outside and deposit in the government treasury and you become lord. Is it not? Bring money, some way or other. So that was going on, exploiting, they used to go to the foreign countries and somehow or other accumulate money. Just like Lord Clive. He was a street boy, but he made some policy. In this way, diplomacy, he entered into Bengal and got some money, and Lord Clive, he became Lord Clive. So money is the criterion. Some way or other, bring money. That's all. That's a fact. These are the symptoms. Just try to understand.
Pradyumna: Vittam eva kalau nṛṇāṁ janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ.
Prabhupāda: If you have money, then you are aristocratic, then whatever you do, it is all right.