rla Prabhupda Speaks Out

Colleges for curing the Social Body

This exchange between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupda
and some of his disciples took place in Vndvana, India, during March of 1974.
rla Prabhupda: In this age the politicians' business will be to exploit the poor
citizens, and the citizens will be embarrassed and harassed so much. On one side
there will be insufficient rain and therefore scarcity of food, and on the other side
there will be excessive taxation by the government. In this way the people will be
so much harassed that they will give up their homes and go to the forest.
Atreya i dsa: Nowadays the government simply collects money and does
nothing.
rla Prabhupda: The government's duty is to see that every person is employed
according to his capacity. There should be no unemploymentthat is a very
dangerous situation in society. But the government has drawn people off the land
and into the cities. They have made the consideration, "What is the use of so many
people working on the land? Instead we can kill animals and eat them." It's all
very easybecause they don't care about the law of karma, the inevitable results of
sinful activities. "If we can eat the cows, why should we take so much trouble to
till the land?" This is going on all over the world.
Atreya i dsa: Yes, the farmers' sons are giving up farming and going to the city.
rla Prabhupda: You know this nonsense of "topless, bottomless"? The leaders
want that. They want the hotels to pick up college girls and let them be enjoyed by
the guests. All over the world the whole population is becoming polluted. So how
can people expect good government? Some of the people will take charge of the
government, but they are polluted. So wherever we have a Hare Ka center we
should immediately establish. a college for training peoplefirst, according to
their natural talents (intellectual, administrative, productive, and laboring). And
everyone will be elevated to spiritual awareness by performing the spiritual
activities we prescribechanting the Hare Ka mantra, hearing the science of
self-realization from Bhagavad-gt, and doing everything as an offering to Ka.
Everyone's life will become devotional service to the Supreme Lord.
At the same time, for the management of practical affairs we have to organize and
train the different social divisions, because there are different kinds of brains.
Those who have very intellectual brains should become brhmaaspriests,
teachers, advisors. Those who are fit for management and protection of others
should become katriyas, administrators and military men. Those who are fit for
producing food and taking care of the cows should become vaiyas, mercantile
men. And those who can assist the others and take up trades and crafts should be
dras, workingmen.
In the social body, just as in your own body, there must be divisions of work. If
everyone wants to be the brain (the intellectuals) or the arms (the administrators),
then who is going to act as the belly (the farmers) or the legs (the workingmen)?
Every kind of occupation is needed. The brain is needed; the arms are needed; the
belly is needed; the legs are needed. So you will have to make the social body
organized. You have to help people understand the Supreme Lord's natural social

divisions: some people will work as the brain, others as the arms, others as the
belly, and still others as the legs. The main aim is to keep the social body perfectly
fit.
You must make sure that everyone can engage in the kind of occupation he is
suited for. That is important. The thing is, every kind of work can be devotional
service to the Lordthe main point is to see that people are engaged in that spirit
in their natural work. For instance, when you are walking, your brain is
working"Go this way; go that way; a car is coming"and your brain says to
your legs, "Come to this side." Now, the work of the brain and the work of the
legs are different, but the central point is oneto get you safely across the street.
Similarly, the central point of the social body should be oneeveryone should
help in serving Ka.
rla Satsvarpa dsa Goswami: Will this kind of college be for the general public?
rla Prabhupda: Yes, for anyone. For instance, an engineering college is open for
everyone; the only requirement is that people must be ready to take up the
training. This is our most important program now, because people all over the
world have been misguided by these so=called leaders. Children can attend a
Ka conscious primary school, and then, when they are grown up, they can
attend a Ka conscious college for further development in their occupational
work and their devotional life.
Atreya i dsa: Will we teach business, also?
rla Prabhupda: Not this modern businessno. That is rascaldom. "Business"
means that you produce enough grain and other crops so that you can eat
sumptuously and distribute to everyonemen and animals (especially the
cows)so that they will become stout and strong. That way the cows can supply
milk and the human community can work hard, without suffering from disease.
We are not going to open mills and factories. No.
Yadubara dsa: rla Prabhupda, what class do the arts and crafts come under? In
our society today artists and musicians are accepted as philosophers.
rla Prabhupda: No, an artist is a workingman. At the present moment your
colleges and universities are giving too much stress on the arts and crafts.
Therefore the whole population is workingmen. No real philosophers, no wisdom.
That is the difficulty. Everyone is being drawn by the attraction of getting a high
salary. They take a so-called technical or scientific education and end up working
in a factory. Of course, they won't work in the field to produce crops. Such people
are not philosophers. A philosopher is one who is searching out the Absolute
Truth.
In your Western countries the rascals are writing about the philosophy of sex,
which is known to the dog. This kind of philosophy can be appreciated by rascals,
but we do not appreciate it. Someone who is searching after the Absolute Truth
he is a philosopher. Not this rascal Freudelaborating on how to have sex. In the
Western countries the people have all become low-class, and Freud has become
their philosopher. In the jungle, the jackal becomes the king. That's all.
What is the actual knowledge in this so-called Western philosophy? The whole
Western world is struggling along for industry, for making money"Eat, drink,
and be merry." wine and women. That's all. They are less than low class. This is
the first time the attempt is being made to make them human beings. Don't mind
that I am using very strong wordsit is a fact. They are animals, two-legged

animals. Rejected men. Vedic civilization rejects them as the lowest of the low. But
they can be reclaimed.
Westerners can be reclaimed, just as you Westernersmy studentshave been
reclaimed. Although you come from the lowest situation, by training you are
becoming more than brhmaas. There is no bar to anyone. But unfortunately,
these rascals do not agree to accept this opportunity. As soon as you say, "No
more illicit sex:" "no more meat-eating," they become angry. Rascals and fools. As
soon as you give them good lessonseducationthey become angry. If you give a
snake nice milk and banana, the result is that he will simply increase his poison.
But somehow, by Ka's grace, you are becoming trained. You become trained
and revise the whole pattern of Western civilization, especially in America. Then a
new chapter will come in. This is the program. Therefore Ka conscious colleges
are required.
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