So that meaning, "mahātmā," is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). Mahātmā means who is not under the material energy, but he is under the spiritual energy. And what is the symptom that one is under the spiritual energy? That he has no other business except executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That's all. That is the symptom.
- mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
- daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
- bhajanty ananya-manaso
- jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam
- (BG 9.13)
He has no other business except Kṛṣṇa. That is mahātmā. That is explained in the Bhagavad... So we, the people gave a title, this Gandhi, a politician. His business was how to get independence politically. He was given the title mahātmā. So this mahātmā, when there was meeting, hundreds of thousand people gathered. But no... Actually, there are persons in India who are called sādhus, sādhu-samāja. A great number. Not, I mean to say, a small number. They are three million in India still. There is statistics. Three millions persons who are in renounced order of... Sādhu, they are called sādhu. They do not come. So these three millions mahātmās, those who are engaged, they may be, some of them may be impersonalists, some of them may be yogis, some of them are devotees. That doesn't matter, because they are also engaged in understanding the Absolute Truth. The impersonalist, they're in the beginning stage, but they are not materialists. They are not materialists. They are trying to understand the Absolute Truth. They cannot accommodate the Absolute Truth, the Supreme, can be a person. That is their less intelligence. But they are engaged in searching out. Similarly, yogis... Real yogis, not these fat-reducing yogis. I mean to say... (laughter) Real yogis. They are concerned with understanding the Supersoul, Paramātmā. And devotees, they are engaged in serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So all of them are searching about the... Devotees, they have finished their searching. They have found out the real truth. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1), the Supreme. So it is a question of degrees of spiritual understanding. So there are three million serious sādhus in India. None of them ever attended such Mahatma Gandhi's meeting, neither they invited Mahatma Gandhi. No. They never never recognized, recognized. Because what they have got to do with these political affairs? Just like... They know, this is the business of the crows. The crows will take interest in such meeting. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). What these politicians will do? They'll simply make plan. That's all. Hitler will make one plan, Mussolini will make one plan, Churchill will make another plan. Your Roosevelt will make another plan, Gandhi will make another. Simply planmaking business. They will never be able to bring any peace and prosperity in the world. That is not possible. Because it is under the grip of māyā. They do not know. The peace and prosperity means surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Then you become out of the clutches of māyā.