From the book Perfect Questions and Perfect Answers
Becoming Pure
Bob: Thank you so much for allowing me to ask my questions.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That is my mission. People should understand the science of God. Unless we cooperate with the Supreme Lord, our life is baffled. I have given the example many times that a screw which has fallen from a machine has no value. But when the same screw is again attached to the machine, it has value. Similarly, we are part and parcel of God. So without God, what is our value? No value! We should again come back to our position of attachment to God. Then we have value.
Bob: I met a fellow today who came in the afternoon. His reason for coming—you may find it humorous—was that he heard the hippies were in Māyāpur.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: What?
Bob: He heard that hippies were in Māyāpur. I was talking to him, and then some devotees were talking to him. He had said some things to me which I could find no answer for. And he said he would come back tomorrow and meet some devotees. But let me tell you what he said. This is confusing. When he was young—
Śrīla Prabhupāda: He's Indian?
Bob: Yes, Indian. He lives nearby and speaks English fairly well. When he was young he worshiped Kālī [a popular demigoddess] every day very rigorously, and then the floods came. When the floods came, the people saw hardship, and now he has no religion, and he says he finds his happiness in trying to develop love among people. And I couldn't think of what to say to him to add God and religion to his life. He says that after he dies, "maybe I'll become part of God, maybe not," but he can't worry about it now. He says he's tried these religious experiences, but they didn't work. One reason I ask this is because when I go back to America, a lot of people I come across are like this. They see that religion, like his worship of Kālī or other kinds of religion they've experienced, doesn't work. And I don't know what to say to them to convince them it's worth trying.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Do not try at the present moment. You try to be convinced yourself.
Bob: Yes. I asked him to see devotees, but then on the way out, as he was leaving down the road, I met him again and told him, "Come back," but... Oh, I see.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: You first of all be convinced. And then try to convince others. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction is that you can improve the welfare of others when your own life is a success:
bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra
[Cc. Ādi 9.41]
First make your life perfect. Then try to teach others.
Bob: The devotees have told me that without consciousness of Kṛṣṇa all the time, you cannot be happy. But at times I feel happy.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: At times. Not always.
Bob: Yes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: But if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, you will feel happy always.
Bob: They had implied that you cannot feel happy without Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That is a fact. For example, if you are an animal of the land and you are thrown into the water, you cannot be happy in water in any condition. When you are again taken up a the land, then you'll be happy. Similarly, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We cannot be happy without being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. The same example: the machine part, without the machine, has no value, but when it is again put into the machine it has value. We are part of Kṛṣṇa; we must join Kṛṣṇa. And you can join Kṛṣṇa immediately by your consciousness, simply by thinking, "I am Kṛṣṇa's, Kṛṣṇa is mine:' That's all.
Bob: What is that? Kṛṣṇa is...
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is mine.
Bob: Mine?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes. Mine. My Kṛṣṇa.
Bob: Ah.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is mine. Kṛṣṇa is mine.
Bob: Yes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: And I am Kṛṣṇa's. That is our actual position.
Bob: We are part of Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes. Everything is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Because everything is generated by the energy of Kṛṣṇa and everything is the energy of Kṛṣṇa.
To be continued....
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