Nalinīkaṇṭha: I have a question, if it's all right. This is . . . Prahlāda is instructing his schoolmates, but his schoolmates, I think they would argue, "That's all right, but we are young now; let us enjoy. Then later on in life we shall take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Prabhupāda: And unless you learn . . . just like education is given when one is young, and when one is old enough, he cannot take any education. The education . . . receptive faculty is there when one is young. Otherwise, he cannot take any education. What do you think?
Dr. Wolfe: Prabhupāda, I always thought . . . I always thought: "Later, later, I will. Later, later." But now I'm sixty-eight.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) No, education, everywhere, all over the world, education is given when one is young. That is the time. I think here in America there is adult education?
Hṛdayānanda: Adult? But not so much. Some. That's usually for making more money. Someone has a job, and he wants further training to get a higher-paying job, but not so much for knowledge.
Prabhupāda: So, what is the next verse?
Hṛdayānanda:
- ko nv artha-tṛṣṇāṁ visṛjet
- prāṇebhyo 'pi ya īpsitaḥ
- yaṁ krīṇāty asubhiḥ preṣṭhais
- taskaraḥ sevako vaṇik
- (SB 7.6.9)
"Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants, soldiers and merchants try to acquire money even . . ."
Prabhupāda: Here is a very nice example, soldiers. They know, "We are going to give up our life." And what for? "Money." (laughs) They are prepared to give up life for money. Money is so sweeter than honey. (laughs) And thieves, they go at night for burglary. He knows that "If I trespass anyone's house, he can kill me immediately." But still he takes the risk for money. That is all explained here. What is the verse?
Hṛdayānanda: "Thieves, professional servants, soldiers and merchants try to acquire money even by risking their very dear lives."
Prabhupāda: Merchants also. Formerly, merchants used to go from one country . . . and now they also go, now. Facility of transport is easier. Formerly, they had to cross the big ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, waves, and many of them died. Still, for money, they used to go.
Hṛdayānanda: Still today, Prabhupāda, many . . . for example, many big American merchants are being killed in the foreign countries by the Communists and so on. It's very risky still. Many American merchants are being killed in foreign countries.
Gopavṛndapāla: Many people also, they are collecting money all throughout this life, but they don't use it for their own sense gratification, yet they leave it for their children, and they think in this way, "My children will enjoy, and then all my work was . . . had some value."
Prabhupāda: Hmm. Yes. Where he is going he does not know. He's thinking of his grandchildren. This is called māyā.
Dr. Wolfe: That is also attachment to the material world, because he wants to be thought of.
Prabhupāda: Yes. These are different symptoms of material attachment. He does not know who is the rascal coming as my grandchild, but he is making bank balance for them.
Dr. Wolfe: Yeah. He wants to be remembered.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Sometimes he has no wife; still, he thinks of grandchild.
Gopavṛndapāla: They say that is the goal of life, if I can be remembered by others after I leave.
Prabhupāda: It doesn't matter where he is going. That is māyā.