Hansadutta: All parents look to their children, hoping they will embrace or carry on their line of thought, but this is almost never the case, 80 to 90% of the time. We see that even Srila Prabhupada’s children did not follow in his footsteps. This must be the greatest suffering: for a parent to see his children’s indifference or rebellion. It is very, very painful. The devotees thought their children would be different, but look at the outcome of the gurukulas, look at the children of the devotees. In spite of all that Srila Prabhupada did for his family in the years of his household life, his children did not embrace Krishna consciousness.
Das: If this is the case almost without exception, then isn’t family life a waste of time?
Hansadutta: That is of course the point. Spiritual life has nothing to do with material life. The best example we have is Srila Prabhupada’s own life. He was and is the Acharya of the whole world, but his wife and children couldn’t care less. We can hope and try, but we have to remember that Srila Prabhupada couldn’t induce his own children to take up Krishna consciousness, so what to speak of us?
