Prabhupāda: So Iranian spiritual culture and Indian spiritual culture. You told me?
Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So first of all, what is spiritual culture?
Atreya Ṛṣi: Sufism...
Prabhupāda: No, not... Just like gold. I'll explain. Gold, either in Iran or in India, gold is gold. You cannot say Iranian gold or Indian gold. That is not. Similarly, when you say Iranian spiritual culture and Indian spiritual culture, the common point is spiritual culture. Spiritual culture is one. It cannot be Iranian, Indian, or anywhere belonging to some sycophant. Just like this moon. This moon is now on Iran. But that does not mean it's Iranian moon. Or the sun, it does not mean Iranian sun. Moon is one. Either in India or in Iran, the moon is moon. You cannot say "Iranian moon" or "Indian moon." So spiritual culture is one. And material culture is one. Therefore I'm asking what do you mean by spiritual culture? That is my question. Then we shall consider whether it is Iranian or Indian or... What is your idea of spiritual culture?
Mr. Hamidi: Of course, I believe that they're all the same, but...
Prabhupāda: No, same. But you must explain at least. I want to know how far you have understood spiritual culture as it is. That is my question.
Mr. Hamidi: Well, of course, it is very difficult to differentiate.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is difficult. Practically you do not know what is spiritual culture. That is a fact. So first of all, you must try to understand what is spiritual culture. Spiritual culture means... There are two things within our experience. Matter and spirit. So matter is this body, and spirit is the soul within the body. Without spirit, this material body has no value. That we experience every day. When a man is dead, we take it, now the body is useless, throw it away. Therefore the body is important so long the spirit soul is there. And that is spirit. And when we study that spirit soul, that is the beginning of spiritual culture. If you have no idea of what is that spirit, then there is no question of spiritual culture. With this body we cannot make any progress of spiritual culture. That is not possible. The body is matter. They're explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Antavanta ime dehā. Bring Bhagavad-gītā. Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ. So try to understand what is spirit, what is matter.