This election, we are selecting another person. He is also like me. I am a pashu [animal]. How can I select a person who is not pashu? Therefore if you want good government, then—this is democratic age—then you must be good. You must know who is good. Then you can elect: "Here is good man."

Electing a person like me

Outside the Varnashram system means less than civilized

Now it is the time for democracy. So Lord Rishabhadeva is teaching us that how you shall select the president or the king, Bharata Maharaja, the ideal king, parama-bhagavatam. And vairagya-lakshanam paramahamsya-dharmam, and bhagavaj-jana-parayanam. These are. So democracy...

Sometimes I say to my American students that "Your country is opulent in every respect." Janmaishvarya-shruta-shri [SB 1.8.26], four kinds of opulences, everyone is trying for. Now everyone is trying for money, because if you get money, then, although you are born in the lowest family, chamar, bhangi, if you have got money, you'll be respected, everything. Now there is no question of caste because everyone is lost. Kalau shudra-sambhavah. So you cannot find out who is brahmana, who is kshatriya, who is vaishya, who is shudra. Everyone is the same. Now they are trying for classless society. Classless society means shudra. So how a shudra can be equal to the brahmana, kshatriya? But if you earn money, then you are more than brahmana, you are more than a sannyasi. This is Kali-yuga. So therefore people are after money only.

So we are being educated in that way, foolish education. And we shall select. When we come to the election we select a person like me. That has been described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, that shva-vid-varahoshtra-kharaih samstutah purushah pashuh [SB 2.3.19: "Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna."]. This election, we are selecting another person. He is also like me. I am a pashu [animal]. How can I select a person who is not pashu? Therefore if you want good government, then—this is democratic age—then you must be good. You must know who is good. Then you can elect: "Here is good man." Otherwise, shva-vid-varahoshtra-kharaih samstutah purushah pashuh. Srila Jiva Gosvami has said that these so-called leaders, they are big pashu. I am pashu, and he's a big pashu. What can I select? I cannot find out Bharata Maharaja, parama-bhagavatam, bhagavaj-jana-parayanam [a follower of the devotees of the Lord]. Nobody likes bhagavaj-jana. "These people are always speaking of God. It is brainwash." This is the modern "It is brainwash." In Europe and America they are now combining to oppose this Hare Krishna movement, that we are brainwashing him, controlling the mind by hypnotism. That is the charge against us. We are placed in the court also in many cases. So this is "What is this nonsense, bhagavaj-jana-parayanam, Bhagavan, Krishna? This is simply a sophistry," they say. Even a big scholar say. When Krishna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja [Bg. 18.66: "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear."], a big scholar, he has remarked, "This is sophistry."

So this is the age. So everyone is trying to be happy. That happiness is not possible. That peace is not possible unless you have got a leader or king like Bharata Maharaja, after whose name this planet is called Bharatavarsha, this Bharata Maharaja. So we have to find out such leader. Then everything will be adjusted. It is the... Now we are speaking of secular state. Secular state does not mean people will become godless. No. Secular state means that no religious preference. "Because you are Hindu, therefore we shall give you more preference than the Muhammadan"—no. Secular state means that the state should see that everyone is strictly following his religious principle. That is secular state. If you are Hindu or varnashrami, then you must follow the principles of how one is a brahmana, how one is a kshatriya. Hinduism, this is a foreign word. Real principle is varnashrama-dharma. Varnashramacharavata purushena parah puman vishnur aradhyate [Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya 8.58" "ÔThe Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu, is worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system of varna and ashrama. There is no other way to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One must be situated in the institution of the four varnas and ashramas.Õ"]. This is the aim of life, how to worship Vishnu. That is explained, and that is the training of this varnashrama-dharma.

Sri Ramananda Raya quoted this when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu inquired from him what is sadhya-sadhana: "What is the business of the human society and what is the aim of human society?" This was the question put forward by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Ramananda Raya first of all quoted varnashrama. The human society begins when there is varnashrama-dharma. Otherwise it is animal society. There is no human society. That is beginning of human society, brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya. Krishna says, chatur-varnyam maya srishtam [Bg. 4.13: "According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me."]. My Guru Maharaja also wanted to establish daiva-varnashrama. Yes. There must be the human society, not this asuric varnashrama [demonic civilization]. Asuric varnashrama... Just like Ravana. He was also son of a brahmana, but he was rejected, that "You are not brahmana; you are rakshasa [demon] because you do not care for Bhagavan Ramachandra." So this is the verdict of the shastra. So therefore daiva-varnashrama. Varnashrama should be established on the principles of devata [Godliness], to make people devata. Devata means vishnu bhaktah bhaved daiva asuras tad-viparyayah. Unless one is a Vaishnava [devotee of Lord Vishnu], he cannot be a devata [godly man]. He cannot be a civilized man.