Prabhupāda: Now let us discuss, question and answer, "How political situation can be improved by Kṛṣṇa consciousness?" Can anyone answer? Who will answer this question? Yes?
Pradyumna: If the head of the country, if the commander-in-chief of the army and the rulers and the person who dispenses justice are all devotees, they can clearly make a plan or arrangement of government so that people are informed what their real welfare is.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Pradyumna: So that people are informed what their real welfare is, what the real goal . . .
Prabhupāda: What is that real welfare?
Pradyumna: To be . . . to render service to Kṛṣṇa and to serve Kṛṣṇa, and to see that everything in the country is used in Kṛṣṇa's service. If the government does that, then it becomes a Kṛṣṇa conscious government.
Prabhupāda: (to the other devotees) So, is it all right?
Revatīnandana: Also, if the leaders become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then they can stop the institutions of vice, which prevent the people from understanding Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They can shut down the slaughterhouses and . . . (indistinct) . . . then their propaganda will be understood and people will become more Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Pradyumna: With a future of Kṛṣṇa consciousness there wouldn't be any more political maneuvering, because the leaders would be willing to accept advice from the learned sages and Brāhmins and devotees. There wouldn't be any . . . (indistinct) . . . politics, and there would be understanding from the scriptures.
Prabhupāda: This is social improvement, er, political improvement. What is the social improvement?
Revatīnandana: The social improvement would be that when the people become Kṛṣṇa conscious under good leadership, then they would be satisfied. Then they would simplify the lives of the people, everyone would become happy, and . . . (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: The basic principle is that yenātmā suprasīdati. Social . . . yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśno yenātmā suprasīdati. Every householder . . . everyone is dissatisfied. There is no, I mean to say, peaceful atmosphere between the husband and the wife, the son and the father. We remain, of course, together. But everyone is of different opinion.
In your country it is very practically experienced: nobody agrees with nobody. Everyone has got his own opinion. So if Kṛṣṇa center . . . even in Kṛṣṇa center we are having different opinions, because we are accustomed to live like that. But actually, if we are serious about serving Kṛṣṇa, then there cannot be two opinions. One opinion: how to serve Kṛṣṇa.
So in family life, if we introduce this arcā-vigraha-sevā . . . every family can keep Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa vigraha, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's photo vigraha, and as we are, whatever we are doing, center is Kṛṣṇa, similarly, everyone can do that. That will solve all social problems—social problems, philosophical problems, economic problems. Economic problems, practically there is no economic . . .
Just like in London they are throwing away tons of tomato into the sea. That is our creation. God has given sufficient to eat, but because there is strike, we have created a problem. So if one is Kṛṣṇa conscious, what will be strike? Strike means they want money—more money, more money. There is no end. When I first came to America, in New York, there was strike of the transport men. All transport stopped—the subway, the bus, everything. People became so much in difficulty.
So without being Kṛṣṇa conscious, there is no end of sense gratification. Nobody knows. But Kṛṣṇa conscious person, they are satisfied. The . . . even still in India, you'll find this satisfaction by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A poor man, practically very meager income, but he's satisfied. He's satisfied in this way, he thinks: "Kṛṣṇa has given me this much. I must be satisfied. Kṛṣṇa has given me this much. Why shall I . . .?" And that is also recommendation of the śāstra, that tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). We should not waste our time for improving our economic position. That is already settled up.
So, "Whatever Kṛṣṇa will do, that is all right. Let me utilize my valuable time of this human form of life in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa." People will not agree to this. But actually, if anyone wants peace of the mind, yenātmā suprasīdati, then this process should be adopted. This is practical also. There are many saintly persons, they do not try where to go, where to take money or where to eat. They're busy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. "If Kṛṣṇa sends some food, I shall eat. Otherwise, it doesn't matter. I shall starve." They have got that determination, strict. They do not go anywhere, but Kṛṣṇa sends him everything.