If the politician is God conscious, then we'll support him.

To Vote or Not to Vote

Where is the God conscious presidential candidate?

INTERVIEWER: But isn't, that's part of what I'm thinking about, that you and your movement tend to separate people from concern with what's going on in the world, like that's a Presidential election and Jimmy Carter is the democratic candidate. This is a disregard of what's going on in the world. Isn't that an example of it?

PRABHUPADA: No, the thing is that there were many Presidents before, what is this name of this?

BALI-MARDAN: Jimmy Carter. He is not President yet.

HARI-SAURI: Ford is the president.

PRABHUPADA: Ford. So what improvement you have done by having this President or that President? What improvement you'll make unless some false promise? That's all. What is the improvement? You have changed so many hundreds and thousands of Presidents, but what is the improvement about spiritual knowledge?

BALI-MARDAN: Prabhupada sees everything spiritually.

INTERVIEWER: How's that?

BALI-MARDAN: He's seeing everything spiritually. What is the improvement spiritually out of all these Presidents? So therefore we do not care.

INTERVIEWER: You do not care what the President...

PRABHUPADA: We take care, but we take care more for the spirit soul than the body. That is our basic principle.

INTERVIEWER: But do you think most of the Hare Krishna members will vote in the election in November?

PRABHUPADA: They're attending?

BALI-MARDAN: He's asking if you think that they will vote, our members will vote.

INTERVIEWER: Will they participate in the election? Will they register and vote do you think?

PRABHUPADA: Personally I never give votes.

INTERVIEWER: Never voted. You're a citizen however, aren't you, a U.S. citizen?

PRABHUPADA: I am permanent resident.

BALI-MARDAN: Permanent resident.

PRABHUPADA: Immigrant.

INTERVIEWER: Well, will they follow your example and not vote?

PRABHUPADA: I do not know, but our principle is that I vote for this man or that man, so what is spiritual benefit, that is our point.

BALI-MARDAN: If he was Krishna conscious, then he might vote. If the politician is God conscious, then we'll support him.

INTERVIEWER: Vote for this man or that, what spiritual difference would it make, is that the way you put that?

BALI-MARDAN: Yes, as long as the candidate is not God conscious it wouldn't make any difference which way we vote, but if he's God conscious, then we'll vote.

INTERVIEWER: Well, would he have to be in the Hare Krishna movement to be God conscious?

PRABHUPADA: Hm?

BALI-MARDAN: Would the candidate, in order for a candidate to be God conscious, would he have to be part of the Hare Krishna movement?

PRABHUPADA: He must know the science, this science, this spiritual science.

INTERVIEWER: To be God conscious, you must...

PRABHUPADA: That's a great science.

BALI-MARDAN: Great science.

INTERVIEWER: How's that?

BALI-MARDAN: In order to understand God it is a great science.

INTERVIEWER: Do you need to be involved in the Krishna movement to be God conscious?

PRABHUPADA: You may take part in the movement or not but he must know the science. Movement is preaching...

INTERVIEWER: You mean the Bhagavad-gita, he must know that or what?

PRABHUPADA: Not Bhagavad-gita or anything, but he must... Just like a book, mathematics, it may be written by different men, but one must be a mathematician.

INTERVIEWER: I think what Bali was saying is that if a Krishna consciousness member were running for an office then you would get out and vote for him. That he would be God conscious.

PRABHUPADA: Yes, yes.

INTERVIEWER: But I'm trying to ask does he have to be Krishna conscious, involvement, in order to be God conscious?

PRABHUPADA: Everyone should be Krishna conscious.

INTERVIEWER: Huh?

PRABHUPADA: Everyone should be Krishna conscious. Not only the... President or not President, everyone, that is the objective of human life. He must know himself what he is.

INTERVIEWER: Now, that leads up to another question I wanted to ask you, do you think that the, one of the attractions of Krishna consciousness is the rather exotic, Hindu, unusual customs in the West. I mean these customs are unusual in the West and they have a sort of exotic appeal, a fascination for young people.

PRABHUPADA: No, no, that ignorance is there both in Western and Eastern. It is the ignorance of the human society.

INTERVIEWER: But do you think it's unusual, the fact that it's an Eastern, mysterious Eastern religion has an appeal to American young people?

PRABHUPADA: Why do you bring Eastern religion Western religion? It is a science. Two plus two is equally important both in the East and the West.

INTERVIEWER: Well, it originated in the East and it's not very, it hasn't been customary in the West.

PRABHUPADA: That originated... Just like the sun rises in India first. That does not mean the sun in America and the sun in India is different. The sun is the same sun. It may appear first in the Eastern side but that sun does not belong either to the East or the West. Sun is sun.

INTERVIEWER: Well do you think that the Eastern sun, meaning Hare Krishna, is appropriate in a culture that has a different religion traditionally?

PRABHUPADA: No, no, it is ignorance. Why do you say...?

INTERVIEWER: The Jewish, Biblical Christian tradition is traditional in the West, the Hindu tradition...

PRABHUPADA: I never said that Jewish or Christian or Hindu or Muslim.

BALI-MARDAN: We aren't Hindus.

PRABHUPADA: We do not belong either to the Hindus or Christian or Jewish. We belong to Krishna or God. Krishna means God.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, but you use the Hindu scriptures.

PRABHUPADA: That is another thing. Just like we say the sun, surya and you say the sun, the "sun." But the subject matter is the same. You say the sun in the sky as s-u-n, "sun". And we say in India surya. S-u-r-y-a. So the name may be different but the object is the same.