A relative truth....

[Subala108 0]

According to the Bible, Jesus says "I am the the way, the light and the truth. No one cometh to the father but by me"

 

This verse is in my opinion one of the most dangerous verses in christian literature. This verse has been instrumental in the many christian genocides inflicted on the non-christian world, because this verse seems to imply that Jesus is the only way to God. All other paths are null and void.

 

I often ask christians if the above verse is an absolute or realative truth. They always say that is it is absolute truth meaning that this verse is applicable at all times, places and circumstances. But unfortunately this is flawed thinking for the reasons outlined below:

 

1. God by definition is second to none otherwise He would not be God.

 

2. Christians believe in Satan who appears to be God's competitor

 

3. According to christian thinking only those surrendered to Jesus will go to heaven to be with God and all others will go to Hell to be with Satan.

 

4. There are 5 billion people, give or take a few million, on this planet of which only 1 billion are christian. 4 billion, including myself, are non christian.

 

5. If we except that Jesus is the only way as the above verse suggests then it follows that only 1 billion people go to God when they die and 4 billion, including me, will go to hell when they die.

 

6. This means that God gets only 1 billion souls and Satan gets 4 billion souls, which makes Satan more powerful than God.

 

7. This means that Satan must be God.

 

So if we are to accept the above verse as an absolute truth then Satan becomes God!

 

Obviously the above verse is a realative truth. There are other paths to God.

 

This argument usually shocks christians, but as a great acarya once said a religion without philosophy is just sentimentalism.

 

A non christian

 

Subala Sakha dasa

 

[gHari 0]

Actually scholars do note that the original language uses words that indicate 'relative' - a very present tense of the verbs in those sentences.

 

Subala, I know you really only take exception to some Christians' understanding of Christ's words. We must remind detractors though: Krsna may not take it too lightly if one is to become anti-Christ. That could well mean the eternal hell of the animal kingdom for eight hundred million lifetimes, being ripped apart savagely at death for another animal's daily meal.

 

Srila Prabhupada, a great modern day guru has concluded that a person cannot accept one without the other. To reject Christ is to reject Krsna, and vice versa.

 

[krsna 3]

 

 

 

 

Modern Day Miracles--Jesus Christ, God, and PRABHUPADA are NOT Dead!

 

 

A friend sent me these - they're all about God and miracles... thought they might make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

 

 

TAKE A DEEP BREATH BEFORE READING THIS.

 

There was an atheist couple who had a child. The couple never told their daughter anything about the Lord. One night when the little girl was 5 years old, the parents fought with each other and the dad shot the Mom, right in front of the child. Then, the dad shot himself. The little girl watched it all. She then was sent to a foster home. The foster mother was a Christian and took the child to church. On the first day of Sunday School, the foster mother told the teacher that the girl had never heard of Jesus, and to have patience with her. The teacher held up a picture of Jesus and said, "Does anyone know who this is?" The little girl said, "I do, that's the man who was holding me the night my parents died."

 

 

--

 

A young man who had been raised as an atheist was training to be an Olympic diver. The only religious influence in his life came from his outspoken Christian friend. The young diver never really paid much attention to his friend's sermons, but he heard them often. One night the diver went to the indoor pool at the college he attended. The lights were all off, but as the pool had big skylights and the moon was bright, there was plenty of light to practice by. The young man climbed up to the highest diving board and as he turned is back to the pool on the edge of the board and extended his arms out, he saw his shadow on the wall. The shadow of his body, was in the shape of a cross. Seeing that image created such an unusual and strong response that instead of diving, he knelt down and finally asked God to come into his life. As the young man stood, a maintenance man walked in and turned the lights on. The pool had been drained for repairs.

 

 

--

 

Yes I do Love Jesus. He is my source of existence and Savior. He keeps me functioning each and everyday. Without him, I am nothing but with Him I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. -Phil 4:13

 

This is pretty deep....

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God

and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

 

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say,

but question what the Bible says.

 

Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven,

provided they do not have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says.

 

Or is it scary?

 

Funny how someone can say "I believe in God" but still follow Satan (who, by the way, also "believes" in God)

 

Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of Jesus is suppressed in the school and workplace.

 

Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.

 

Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what God thinks of me.

 

Jesus Loves You.

 

 

--

 

And it's not just Christians who see the modern day miracles... I have personal experience and so do most devotees that Srila Prabhupada is living... We have seen the miracles ourselves so many times...

 

 

--

 

In 1989 after returning from India and seeing there was no place for me in ISKCON Australia I took two boxes of Srila Prabhupada's books and puschased a bus ticket to Canberra. At that time there was no ISKCON temple there so I took encouragement from Srila Prabhupada. After buying the bus ticket I only had $1.00 left...

 

I arrived in Canberra late in the night and ended up in a shelter for the homeless, Ainsley Village. I stayed there for a few weeks distributing books in the city and in the next few months I experienced miracle after miracle... In a few weeks we had a very nice three bedroom house near the city as a temple, we had a Sunday Feast with 100+ guests coming every Sunday, at least half of them students from the Australian National University, we had a Food For Life program on Wednesdays feeding 100+ homeless people. The Salvation Army were giving us money to buy the food, the government gave us a "Food For Life" van and a nice grant to cover the costs of the food program and the running expenses of the van... And I was going out evey day distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. It was perhaps the most blissful experience I have ever had.

 

There were so many miracles, it came to the point that I was not even surprized when they happened. One Sunday I was cooking the feast in the temple. I was still incredablly poor. Krishna was sending the money to pay the bills, but no more than that. So I had no money at that time, not even a cent. Half-way throgh cooking the feast the gas ran out... I just looked at Srila Prabhupada and said: "OK. How are you going to get me out of this one?" And, right then, there was a knock at the back door. There was a young man there who introduced himself as "John." He said he was my new neighbour from over the back fence. He said he had heard me chanting Hare Krishna and wondered if I had any of those "Srimad-Bhagavatams"? A devotee had sold him one some years before and he had lost it...

 

It just so happened that on the previous Friday an ISKCON devotee, Ananta Sesa Prabhu, had visited and, as was the custom, he left whatever books he had in his car with me so I had something to distribute... He left a partial set of Srimad Bhagavatam's so I could happily say to John, "Yes, I've got some of those Srimad-Bhagavatams..." I showed them to him and he picked out two volumes and handed me $50. So not having much time to get the cooking finished I thanked him very much and rushed off to buy the LPG gas...

 

 

 

 

"So he wanted this, and he is not... It is not that he is dead and gone. That is not spiritual understanding. Even ordinary living being, he does not die. Na hanyate hanyamane sarire. And what to speak of such exalted, authorized personality like Bhaktisiddhanta. He is seeing. I never feel that I am alone. Of course, when I came to your country without any friend, without any means... Practically, just like a vagabond I came. But I had full faith that "My Guru Maharaja is with me." I never lost this faith, and that is fact. There are two words, vani and vapuh. Vani means words, and vapuh means this physical body. So vani is more important than the vapuh. Vapuh will be finished. This is material body. It will be finished. That is the nature. But if we keep to the vani, to the words of spiritual master, then we remain very fixed up. It doesn't matter. Just like Bhagavad-gita. It was spoken five thousand years ago. But if you keep to the words of Krsna, then it is always fresh and guiding. Not that because Arjuna personally listened to Krsna about the instruction of Bhagavad-gita, therefore he knew it. That is not the fact. If you accept Bhagavad-gita as it is, then you should know that Krsna is present before you in His words in the Bhagavad-gita. This is called spiritual realization. It is not mundane historical incidences. If we keep...

 

 

evam parampara-praptam

imam rajarsayo viduh

sa kaleneha (mahata)

yogo nastah parantapa

 

If you don't keep in touch with the original link, then it will be lost. And if you keep touch with the original link, then you are directly hearing Krsna. Similarly, Krsna and Krsna's representative, spiritual master, if you keep always intact, in link with the words and instruction of the superior authorities, then you are always fresh. This is spiritual understanding. Na jayate na mriyate va kadacit nityah sasvato 'yam purano. Puranah means very old. Just like Krsna, the Supreme Being. He must be very old because He is the original person. But the Brahma-samhita says, advaita acyuta anadi ananta-rupam adyam purana-purusa nava-yauvanam ca. Purana-purusa, the oldest person, but you will find Him nava-yauvanam ca, always a fresh youth. That is God. God is not a material, that it gets old. The body gets old.

 

So you are hearing this philosophy daily. Try to understand more and more. We have got so many books. And this is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and, by disciplic succession, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, then my spiritual master. Then we are trying our level best. Similarly, you will also try your level best on the same principle. Then it will go on. Same principle. It doesn't matter whether one is born in India or outside India. No. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama, "As many towns and cities and villages are there," He did not say it to make a farce. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So sometimes I am very much criticized that I am making foreigners a brahmana. The caste brahmanas in India, they are very much against me. But this is not fact. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that all over the world His message will be broadcast, does it mean that it will be simply a cinema show? No. He wanted that everyone should become perfect Vaisnava. That is His purpose. It is not to make a farce, some lecturing and..., or some mutual praising society. No. It is Krishna Society. Everyone who will join this Krishna Society movement, he is more than a brahmana. Brahmana, what is brahmana? Brahmana is also material. A devotee is more than brahmana. The brahminical culture is included already. Brahma janatiti brahmanah: "Brahmana means one who knows the Absolute Truth, Brahman." He is brahmana. But that is not very fixed up. Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. Brahman is impersonal effulgence, and then further progress, realization of the localized aspect, Paramatma, Antaryami, and finally, understanding the Supreme Person, Krsna, Supreme Person, that is the final understanding.

 

So people cannot understand that how the Supreme, the origin of everything, can be a person. That is their difficulty. Because they are thinking, "A person, God? How it is possible. God is great, and He is the creator of everything. How a person can do that?" Yes. That is the Vedic version.

 

 

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanam

 

He is the cause of Brahman. He is the cause of Supersoul. So ordinary man cannot understand. Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam. It requires Krsna's grace to understand Him.

 

So try to receive Krsna's grace through the disciplic succession, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then you will understand everything. Yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau. This is the process, Vedic process. One should have unflinching faith in God and spiritual master. Don't jump over God, crossing the spiritual master. Then it will be failure. You must go through. We are observing Vyasa-puja ceremony, the birth anniversary of our Guru Maharaja. Why? We cannot understand Krsna without spiritual master. That is bogus. If anyone wants to understand Krsna, jumping over the spiritual master, then immediately he becomes a bogus. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, guru- krsna-krpaya paya bhakti-lata-bija. That is Vedic injunction. Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya. Nobody can understand Krsna without going through His most confidential servant. This is the meaning of this Vyasa-puja. You cannot surpass. If you think that you have become very learned and very advanced, now you can avoid the spiritual master and you understand Krsna, that is the bogus. That is the meaning of this Vyasa-puja ceremony. We should always pray, yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah. Yasya prasadad, only by the grace of spiritual master we can achieve the grace or mercy of Krsna. This is the meaning of this Vyasa- puja, offering obeisances by parampara system.

 

So you have taken a very nice line of activities, spiritual activities. Of course, as far as possible, we have tried to give you instruction, books. But remain always faithful to the spiritual master and try to understand Krsna. And if you simply understand Krsna, then your life is successful. Janma karma ca divyam me yo janati tattvatah. The human life is meant for understanding Krsna. That is the perfection of life. Any other so-called understanding, that is simply waste of time because we are under the grip of the material nature. You may be very learned scholar. You may be a fool. It doesn't matter. You are under the laws of material nature. So before finishing this small span of life... We have got this human form of life. It will be finished, as the cats' and dogs' life also finished. But if we try through the guru and Vaisnava, then, we can achieve in this life the full success, not failure like cats' and dogs' life. That is the opportunity. So as far as possible, we are trying to lead you in this line, and you kindly follow. Then your life will be successful. That is the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He wanted to deliver these fallen souls, the conditioned souls rotting in this material world. So Krsna Himself... Krsna comes Himself, Krsna sends His devotees, Krsna comes as devotee--just to execute this mission to reclaim the fallen souls from the clutches of illusory energy, material world.

 

Thank you very much. (end) Srila Prabhupada[750302BA.ATL]

 

[gHari 0]

KRSNa, Christos, Christ

 

In 1974, near ISKCON's center in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, SrIla PrabhupAda and several of his disciples took a morning walk with father Emmanuel Jungclaussen, a Benedictine monk from Niederalteich Monastery. Noticing that SrIla PrabhupAda was carrying meditation beads similar to the rosary, Father Emmanuel explained that he also chanted a constant prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, be merciful unto us." The following conversation ensued:<blockquote>

SrIla PrabhupAda: What is the meaning of the word Christ?

Father Emmanuel: Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, meaning "the anointed one."

SrIla PrabhupAda: Christos is the Greek version of the word KRSNa.

Father Emmanuel: This is very interesting.

SrIla PrabhupAda: When an Indian person calls on KRSNa, he often says, "KRSTa." KRSTa is a Sanskrit word meaning "attraction." So when we address God as "Christ,KRSTa," or "KRSNa," we indicate the same all-attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead. When Jesus said, "Our Father, who art in heaven, sanctified be Thy name," that name of God was "KRSTa" or "KRSNa." Do you agree?

Father Emmanuel: I think Jesus, as the son of God, has revealed to us the actual name of God: Christ. We can call God "Father," but if we want to address Him by His actual name, we have to say "Christ."

SrIla PrabhupAda: Yes. "Christ" is another way of saying KRSTa, and "KRSTa" is another way of pronouncing KRSNa, the name of God. Jesus said that one should glorify the name of God, but yesterday I heard one theologian say that God has no name--that we can call Him only "Father." A son may call his father "Father," but the father also has a specific name. Similarly, "God" is the general name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose specific name is KRSNa. Therefore whether you call God "Christ,KRSTa," or "KRSNa," ultimately you are addressing the same Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Father Emmanuel: Yes, if we speak of God's actual name, then we must say, "Christos." In our religion, we have the Trinity: the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe we can know the name of God only by revelation from the Son of God. Jesus Christ revealed the name of the father, and therefore we take the name Christ as the revealed name of God.

SrIla PrabhupAda: Actually, it doesn't matter--KRSNa or Christ--the name is the same. The main point is to follow the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures that recommend chanting the name of God in this age. The easiest way is to chant the mahA-mantra: Hare KRSNa, Hare KRSNa, KRSNa KRSNa, Hare Hare/ Hare RAma, Hare RAma, RAma RAma, Hare Hare. RAma and KRSNa are names of God, and Hare is the energy of God. So when we chant the mahA-mantra, we address God together with His energy. This energy is of two kinds, the spiritual and the material. At present we are in the clutches of the material energy. Therefore we pray to KRSNa that He may kindly deliver us from the service of the material energy and accept us into the service of the spiritual energy. That is our whole philosophy. Hare KRSNa means, "O energy of God, O God [KRSNa], please engage me in Your service." It is our nature to render service. Somehow or other we have come to the service of material things, but when this service is transformed into the service of the spiritual energy, then our life is perfect. To practice bhakti-yoga [loving service to God] means to become free from designations like "Hindu,Muslim,Christian," this or that, and simply to serve God. We have created Christian, Hindu, and Muhammadan religions, but when we come to a religion without designations, in which we don't think we are Hindus or Christians or Muhammadans, then we can speak of pure religion, or bhakti.

Father Emmanuel: Mukti?

SrIla PrabhupAda: No, bhakti. When we speak of bhaktI, mukti [liberation from material miseries] is included. Without bhakti there is no mukti, but if we act on the platform of bhakti, then mukti is included. We learn this from the Bhagavad-gItA (14.26):

mAM ca yo 'vyabhicAreNa

bhakti-yogena sevate

sa guNAn samatItyaitAn

brahma-bhUyAya kalpate

"One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down under any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman."

Father Emmanuel: Is Brahman KRSNa?

SrIla PrabhupAda: KRSNa is Parabrahman. Brahman is realized in three aspects: as impersonal Brahman, as localized ParamAtmA, and as personal Brahman. KRSNa is personal, and He is the Supreme Brahman, for God is ultimately a person. In the SrImad-BhAgavatam (1.2.11), this is confirmed:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvam yaj jJAnam advayam

brahmeti paramAtmeti

bhagavAn iti zabdyate

"Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, ParamAtmA, or BhagavAn." The feature of the Supreme Personality is the ultimate realization of God. He has all six opulences in full: He is the strongest, the richest, the most beautiful, the most famous, the wisest, and the most renounced.

Father Emmanuel: Yes, I agree.

SrIla PrabhupAda: Because God is absolute, His name, His form, and His qualities are also absolute, and they are nondifferent from Him. Therefore to chant God's holy name means to associate directly with Him. When one associates with God, one acquires godly qualities, and when one is completely purified, one becomes an associate of the Supreme Lord.

Father Emmanuel: But our understanding of the name of God is limited.

SrIla PrabhupAda: Yes, we are limited, but God is unlimited. And because He is unlimited, or absolute, He has unlimited names, each of which is God. We can understand His names as much as our spiritual understanding is developed.

Father Emmanuel: May I ask a question? We Christians also preach love of God, and we try to realize love of God and render service to Him with all our heart and all our soul. Now, what is the difference between your movement and ours? Why do you send your disciples to the Western countries to preach love of God when the gospel of Jesus Christ is propounding the same message?

SrIla PrabhupAda: The problem is that the Christians do not follow the commandments of God. Do you agree?

Father Emmanuel: Yes, to a large extent you're right.

SrIla PrabhupAda: Then what is the meaning of the Christians' love for God? If you do not follow the orders of God, then where is your love? Therefore we have come to teach what it means to love God: if you love Him, you cannot be disobedient to His orders. And if you're disobedient, your love is not true.

All over the world, people love not God but their dogs. The KRSNa consciousness movement is therefore necessary to teach people how to revive their forgotten love for God. Not only the Christians, but also the Hindus, the Muhammadans, and all others are guilty. They have rubber-stamped themselves "Christian,Hindu," or "Muhammadan," but they do not obey God. That is the problem. Visitor: Can you say in what way the Christians are disobedient?

SrIla PrabhupAda: Yes. The first point is that they violate the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" by maintaining slaughterhouses. Do you agree that this commandment is being violated?

Father Emmanuel: Personally, I agree.

SrIla PrabhupAda: Good. So if the Christians want to love God, they must stop killing animals.

Father Emmanuel: But isn't the most important point--

SrIla PrabhupAda: If you miss one point, there is a mistake in your calculation. Regardless of what you add or subtract after that, the mistake is already in the calculation, and everything that follows will also be faulty. We cannot simply accept that part of the scripture we like, and reject what we don't like, and still expect to get the result. For example, a hen lays eggs with its back part and eats with its beak. A farmer may consider, "The front part of the hen is very expensive because I have to feed it. Better to cut it off." But if the head is missing there will be no eggs anymore, because the body is dead. Similarly, if we reject the difficult part of the scriptures and obey the part we like, such an interpretation will not help us. We have to accept all the injunctions of the scripture as they are given, not only those that suit us. If you do not follow the first order, "Thou shalt not kill," then where is the question of love of God?

Visitor: Christians take this commandment to be applicable to human beings, not to animals.

SrIla PrabhupAda: That would mean that Christ was not intelligent enough to use the right word: murder. There is killing, and there is murder. Murder refers to human beings. Do you think Jesus was not intelligent enough to use the right word--murder--instead of the word killing? Killing means any kind of killing, and especially animal killing. If Jesus had meant simply the killing of humans, he would have used the word murder.

Father Emmanuel: But in the Old Testament the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" does refer to murder. And when Jesus said, "Thou shalt not kill," he extended this commandment to mean that a human being should not only refrain from killing another human being, but should also treat him with love. He never spoke about man's relationship with other living entities, but only about his relationship with other human beings. When he said, "Thou shalt not kill," he also meant in the mental and emotional sense--that you should not insult anyone or hurt him, treat him badly, and so on.

SrIla PrabhupAda: We are not concerned with this or that testament but only with the words used in the commandments. If you want to interpret these words, that is something else. We understand the direct meaning. "Thou shalt not kill" means, "The Christians should not kill." You may put forth interpretations in order to continue the present way of action, but we understand very clearly that there is no need for interpretation. Interpretation is necessary if things are not clear. But here the meaning is clear. "Thou shalt not kill" is a clear instruction. Why should we interpret it?

Father Emmanuel: Isn't the eating of plants also killing?

SrIla PrabhupAda: The VaiSNava philosophy teaches that we should not even kill plants unnecessarily. In the Bhagavad-gItA (9.26) KRSNa says:

patraM puSpaM phalaM toyaM

yo me bhaktyA prayacchati

tad ahaM bhakty-upahRtam

aznAmi prayatAtmanaH

"If someone offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or a little water, I will accept it." We offer KRSNa only the kind of food He demands, and then we eat the remnants. If offering vegetarian food to KRSNa were sinful, then it would be KRSNa's sin, not ours. But God is apApa-viddha--sinful reactions are not applicable to Him. He is like the sun, which is so powerful that it can purify even urine--something impossible for us to do. KRSNa is also like a king, who may order a murderer to be hanged but who himself is beyond punishment because he is very powerful. Eating food first offered to the Lord is also something like a soldier's killing during wartime. In a war, when the commander orders a man to attack, the obedient soldier who kills the enemy will get a medal. But if the same soldier kills someone on his own, he will be punished. Similarly, when we eat only prasAda [the remnants of food offered to KRSNa], we do not commit any sin. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gItA (3.13):

yajJa-ziSTAzinaH santo

mucyante sarva-kilbiSaiH

bhuJjate te tv aghaM pApA

ye pacanty Atma-kAraNAt

"The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food that is first offered for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin."

Father Emmanuel: KRSNa cannot give permission to eat animals?

SrIla PrabhupAda: Yes--in the animal kingdom. But the civilized human being, the religious human being, is not meant to kill and eat animals. If you stop killing animals and chant the holy name Christ, everything will be perfect. I have not come to teach you, but only to request you to please chant the name of God. The Bible also demands this of you. So let's kindly cooperate and chant, and if you have a prejudice against chanting the name KRSNa, then chant "Christos" or "KRSTa"--there is no difference. SrI Caitanya said: nAmnAm akAri bahudhA nija-sarva-zaktiH. "God has millions and millions of names, and because there is no difference between God's name and Himself, each one of these names has the same potency as God." Therefore, even if you accept designations like "Hindu,Christian," or "Muhammadan," if you simply chant the name of God found in your own scriptures, you will attain the spiritual platform. Human life is meant for self-realization--to learn how to love God. That is the actual beauty of man. Whether you discharge this duty as a Hindu, a Christian, or a Muhammadan, it doesn't matter--but discharge it!

Father Emmanuel: I agree.

SrIla PrabhupAda [pointing to a string of 108 meditation beads]: We always have these beads, just as you have your rosary. You are chanting, but why don't the other Christians also chant? Why should they miss this opportunity as human beings? Cats and dogs cannot chant, but we can, because we have a human tongue. If we chant the holy names of God, we cannot lose anything; on the contrary, we gain greatly. My disciples practice chanting Hare KRSNa constantly. They could also go to the cinema or do so many other things, but they have given everything up. They eat neither fish nor meat nor eggs, they don't take intoxicants, they don't drink, they don't smoke, they don't partake in gambling, they don't speculate, and they don't maintain illicit sexual connections. But they do chant the holy name of God. If you would like to cooperate with us, then go to the churches and chant, "Christ,KRSTa," or "KRSNa." What could be the objection?

Father Emmanuel: There is none. For my part, I would be glad to join you.

SrIla PrabhupAda: No, we are speaking with you as a representative of the Christian church. Instead of keeping the churches closed, why not give them to us? We would chant the holy name of God there twenty-four hours a day. In many places we have bought churches that were practically closed because no one was going there. In London I saw hundreds of churches that were closed or used for mundane purposes. We bought one such church in Los Angeles. It was sold because no one came there, but if you visit this same church today, you will see thousands of people. Any intelligent person can understand what God is in five minutes; it doesn't require five hours.

Father Emmanuel: I understand.

SrIla PrabhupAda: But the people do not. Their disease is that they don't want to understand.

Visitor: I think understanding God is not a question of intelligence, but a question of humility.

SrIla PrabhupAda: Humility means intelligence. The humble and meek own the kingdom of God. This is stated in the Bible, is it not? But the philosophy of the rascals is that everyone is God, and today this idea has become popular. Therefore no one is humble and meek. If everyone thinks that he is God, why should he be humble and meek? Therefore I teach my disciples how to become humble and meek. They always offer their respectful obeisances in the temple and to the spiritual master, and in this way they make advancement. The qualities of humbleness and meekness lead very quickly to spiritual realization. In the Vedic scriptures it is said, "To those who have firm faith in God and the spiritual master, who is His representative, the meaning of the Vedic scriptures is revealed."

Father Emmanuel: But shouldn't this humility be offered to everyone else, also?

SrIla PrabhupAda: Yes, but there are two kinds of respect: special and ordinary. SrI KRSNa Caitanya taught that we shouldn't expect honor for ourselves, but should always respect everyone else, even if he is disrespectful to us. But special respect should be given to God and His pure devotee.

Father Emmanuel: Yes, I agree.

SrIla PrabhupAda: I think the Christian priests should cooperate with the KRSNa consciousness movement. They should chant the name Christ or Christos and should stop condoning the slaughter of animals. This program follows the teachings of the Bible; it is not my philosophy. Please act accordingly and you will see how the world situation will change.

Father Emmanuel: I thank you very much.

SrIla PrabhupAda: Hare KRSNa.</blockquote>