(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada and disciples, Vrindavan 1975)
Prabhupāda: So this movement should be pushed very vigorously. And so far, we have become successful. And enemies will be always, as soon as there is something good. That is the way of material world. Even Kṛṣṇa had enemies, what to speak of us. Eh? So many enemies, but He was powerful; He killed all them. Nobody could kill Him, but there was attempt to kill Him from the very beginning of His birth. He had so many enemies. As soon as Kaṁsa heard that his sister is now newly married, but as soon as there was some foretelling, "Ah, you are taking care of your sister so nicely. The eighth child of this sister will kill you." "Oh, where is your child? Where is pregnancy?" Nothing. He became angry. "So why wait for eighth child? Kill my sister." Long, long before taking birth of Kṛṣṇa, the mother was to be killed. This is the position of this material world. So he became so bad that "My sister..." He did not consider that "She is my sister, and she is just newly married. Where is pregnancy? Where is child? And that is the eighth child, and what will happen after that?" No consideration. Immediately, "Kill him, kill her." This is the position.
So we are instructing: no intoxication. So those who are flourishing by selling cigarettes and wine and liquor, they do not... "Immediately kill him." Oh, yes, in this way. "If they, the movement goes and becomes very strong, then our business will be lost. Kill him." So naturally they will be enemies. The same thing, the Kaṁsa saw that "This my sister, now she is married. So although it will take some long time, but here is the cause." So they are thinking like that. No meat-eating, then all slaughterhouses will be closed: "They're enemy." Although there is no such symptom that slaughterhouse is going to be closed, but they'll think like that. They'll think like that, the same way. There is no ex... (break) ...pregnancy, first, second, third, then eighth, and the child will go, take birth and... They are thinking like that. So the modern civilization, we are everyone saying. Because you have forbidden: no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling. The whole Western world living on these four pillars. Just see our position. And the same conscious way, everyone is thinking, "If this movement goes on, then how all these nightclubs will go on? How all breweries will go on? How all slaughterhouse will go on, cigarette factories will go on?" This is all foolish. So you cannot expect that we will get more, many friends. That is not possible, because the world is full of Kaṁsas, demons. So we have to struggle and... In the face of so many obstacles we have come to this standard that there is one Hare Kṛṣṇa movement; it is very dangerous to the modern way of life. That much is great, advance. They're feeling the pulse. Now when they are meeting, state obstacles. Everywhere we are meeting obstacles. In Singapore.
Devotee: We went to the airport.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee: And practically they didn't even want to let us stay in the airport. We had to stay there only for four hours to catch the next flight. They are so much...
Prabhupāda: This is our position. Gradually they will show Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. In India also, although India's... They will want to crush down this movement. So this will be up to Him. Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's movement, the same thing. And Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed by Kaṁsa class of men and his company, the demons. So it will be there; it is already there. Don't be disappointed, because that is the meaning that it is successful. Kṛṣṇa's favor is there, because Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's movement is not different, identical. So as Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed, many, many years before He appeared... At eighth child, if the mother produces child yearly, still ten years, eight years before His birth, the mother was to be attempted to be killed. So there may be attempt like that. And Lord Jesus Christ was killed. So they may kill me also.
Devotee (2): I don't think that is possible.
Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say, I am not so important man. But it is the, this is the way of the law. If we become weak by factioning, then that is not good. We must be strong and... But you do not expect that this movement will be accepted. In India the so-called yogis, Rama Krishna Mission—they are also being afraid of. There are so many... But if we remain sincere, even we are feeble, new-born, nobody can kill us. That is a fact. Just like Kṛṣṇa when He was three months old, attempt was made by Putanā to kill Him, but the Putanā was killed. A big demon, gigantic, six miles long, and what is killed by a small child playing on the..., sucking breast and sucking life. That is Kṛṣṇa. So the other day I have explained that by guru, he is accepted as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You have typed it?
Devotee (3): Yes.
Prabhupāda: Go on. Yes, arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matiḥ. Narakī, if anyone thinks arca-vigraha, the Deities as made of stone, made of earth, or made of something material, and guru, the spiritual master, "He is an ordinary man"—these are forbidden. So why guru is to be considered sākṣād dharitvena samasta-śāstrair, exactly the Supreme Personality of Godhead? That reason is given there. That reason is that he is giving the Kṛṣṇa knowledge; therefore he is as good as Kṛṣṇa. Even though his family members or his friend thinking, "Oh, he has now become guru," still he should be considered the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That reason also given there, that even Kṛṣṇa was taken as ordinary man, but does it mean that He has become ordinary? Similarly any..., our movement, it may appear just like other movement, but because the movement is giving Kṛṣṇa, that means it is as good as Kṛṣṇa. This is the example. Ajñāya haña (follow the order). It may appear to others... And there are so many movements, and the hippies have taken another shape, but it is not that. It is actually Kṛṣṇa so long it adheres to the principles as enjoined, as we have accepted. Otherwise it is ordinary movement. This same man, he's guru so long he gives the real knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. And the same man, he's ordinary man as soon as he cannot give. Same thing: just like a stone doll, when it is worshiped according to the regulative principles—Kṛṣṇa. And the same doll, kept in the sculptor's showroom, it is stone.
So if we keep our movement pure, then you are as strong as Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as we deviate from it, immediately ordinary. This is the secret. Now it is up to us how to keep it pure. Then no enemy can kill us. Nobody can kill. So that purity is wanted, then it will be successsful. So what is there difficulty? ... (indistinct) ... Follow the rules and regulations, worship the Deity and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, as we have given, then you will remain as strong as Kṛṣṇa. And if we manufacture some ideas, then it is gone. Kṛṣṇa cannot be manufactured; Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. You cannot manufacture another competitor of Kṛṣṇa. That is not the way. Then failure.
(Srila Prabhupada Room Conversation, May 3, 1976, Honolulu)
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