Prabhupāda: And therefore I say that education has been so wrongly given that they are restless like animals due to the modern civilization. The beginning of spiritual education they cannot accept. What they will make, further progress of spiritual life? Beginning, A-B-C-D, they are so restless, they cannot take. This is the position. Therefore I'm speaking that it is meant for the dhīra, for the rājarṣis. Not for the men who are like animals. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Their bodily conception is so strong that they cannot hear even what is said. They are so dull. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ (SB 1.1.10).
Brahmānanda: It seems now that it's the people from the West who want to hear. Why is that?
Prabhupāda: Now, because they have now experience of the bodily comforts, and they have seen it that "Simply by bodily comfort we cannot be happy." They have come to this stage.
Lokanātha: It's fortune to take birth in the West now. It's fortunate to take birth in America or England? (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Not all. (laughter) Not all. The fortunate, those who are so fortunate, they are now opposing me. The Western people, they are now opposing this movement, so they are not fortunate. So everywhere there are fortunate and unfortunate. But mostly in this age they are unfortunate. Either in the Western countries or in this country, they are unfortunate mostly. They cannot understand. In India, at least those who are not very educated, mass of people, they believe transmigration of the soul. They very easily believe it, because culture is based on that, pūrva-janma paro janma. They believe that "If I act sinfully, then I'll have to suffer next life, and because I did not do properly, therefore I am suffering in this life." Still they believe. But the so-called educated people, they are trying to set aside this. They say "Superstition." And the leaders say that "India, giving more stress on the soul, not on the body, India's position is so degraded." This is the leaders' opinion. Big, big leaders, they think. Therefore the so-called leaders or learned scholars, they write notes on Bhagavad-gītā, but they never give any idea of spiritual life. They utilize Bhagavad-gītā for material end. This is going on. Just like our big leader, Gandhi. He was supposed to be very strict follower of Bhagavad-gītā, and he has never instructed about spiritual life.
Nārāyaṇa: Satsvarūpa Mahārāja was telling a story on the way back from the Ganges that you had said that Gandhi, he was supposed to be mahātmā, but after he won victory, independence, by his activities, then they said, "Now you can stop meat-eating. You can stop cow slaughter throughout India." He says, "No, no. How can we do this? The Muhammadans, the Muslims, they are eating meat."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Nārāyaṇa: So what kind of rājarṣi is this? (break)
Prabhupāda: There is heat and light. And as soon as after evening the sun is off, not from the sky but from our sight, there is darkness. So chi . . . This consciousness is the rays, or shining, of the soul. As soon as the soul is off from this body, the shining of the soul or consciousness is completely gone. Have you understood or not?
Indian man (3): (Bengali) (break)
Prabhupāda: (Bengali) (break) People have been trained up not to become sober.
Indian man (3): Sober.
Prabhupāda: Sober. Childish. And Vedic civilization is to teach the youngsters from the very beginning how to become sober—under restriction, under regulation, just to make him very sober. Brahmacārī guru-gṛhe vasan dāntaḥ. Dānta means sober. And where is our paṇḍita?
Lokanātha: Next room.
Prabhupāda: Call him. (break) Find out from your dictionary what is the meaning of dānta.
Pradyumna: Dānta.
Prabhupāda: Vasan dānto guror hitam (SB 7.12.1). The word is used, dānta. Dānta means sober. Children are generally restless, and the brahmacārī-āśrama means to train him how to become peaceful. That is the first training, not that to make him very good scholar in grammar. It is not said there. That is later on. First thing is how to make him sober.