Srila Prabhupada’s words are all the more relevant now, nearly 40 years since they were first spoken.
excerpt from morning walk conversation, Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:
PRABHUPADA: America goes to fight in Vietnam, what is the philosophy? Who will answer?
SVARUP DAMODAR: They want to stop spread of communism.
PRABHUPADA: Yes. Similarly, now America has to do the same thing to stop demonism. Then your nation will be leader. You understand; you have trust in God. Now it is your business to trust in real God and work for Him. You cannot… I have explained already. You cannot stop communism. You have to stop demonism. That is your real business. Communism is another type of demonism. So if you remain a demon, so what is the use of stopping another demonism? The same example: stool, the upside is dried up. You cannot say, “Because it is upside of stool, it is better side.” Stool is stool. …He cannot make the condition of the world better by… Just like Professor Kotofsky. He was saying that there must be revolution. I was talking of authority. So the authority you must have to accept. So he said that authority is accepted upon revolution.
SVARUP DAMODAR: After revolution?
PRABHUPADA: Ah. Because I said about authority… So this is fact. Now, in Russia the authority was the Czar. Now, after this Bolshevik revolution, Lenin became authority. That was his point. I said that you have to accept one authority. That you cannot change. That he said, that “Yes, that I accept, but authority has to be changed by revolution.” And yes, we accept that. But the ultimate authority… When you come to Krishna consciousness authority, then there is no more necessity of change.” Yam labdhva chaparam labham manyate nadhikam tatah. Everyone is trying to achieve the greatest profit. So when he gets Krishna, he is satisfied. No more profit. Final profit. Yam labdhva chaparam labham manyate nadhikam tatah. So there is no more necessity of revolution because that is the ultimate peaceful condition. So if you do not come to the ultimate condition of peace, then this revolutionary method will go on, continue. There will be no cessation of revolution, one after, one… That is maya, illusion. I am thinking by going a few steps, mirage, I will get the water. But there is no water at all. It is simply illusion. And as soon as you go a few steps forward, you see that the water has gone away, again, few steps forward. You go again. Again you see. This is going on. So animal, they go forward after the mirage. But a sensible man, he knows that “This is not water. It appears like water, but it is not water.” Therefore we are making revolution, changing one authority from another, but we do not know they are not authorities. Real authority is Krishna. That is their… Therefore it is called illusion or maya. We are thinking that “From this ism to that ism.” Just like there was French Revolution. So the French people are not happy. Still there is unhappiness. Similarly, Bolshevism. We have seen practically in Moscow. Nobody is happy. There cannot be happiness. This is going on. So real happiness is Krishna. That, people should know. The chemical evolution also, it is also maya. They are thinking by further improvement, just like you were speaking, almost come to the point… That “almost coming to the point,” that will continue. You will never come to the point. This is the position. You’ll never come to the right point.
SVARUP DAMODAR: When the concept of chemical evolution, when this fails, then they have to accept that there is a Supreme Being. This will also fail.
PRABHUPADA: No, this will fail. It is already failed. But because they are…
SVARUP DAMODAR: Yes, but they are still hoping.
PRABHUPADA: …they are fools and rascals, they are still hoping against hope. That’s it. It is already failed.
And what is demonism?
PRAJAPATI: As soon as we define what demoniac civilization is, then no one will support us because they’ll see that they themselves are demons.
PRABHUPADA: Yes, because they are demons they cannot understand. Just like one Christian priest went to some quarters, mine, coal mine. So he was describing that “If you do not worship Lord Jesus Christ, you will go to hell.” So they asked, “What is hell?” So when he began to describe—”It is always wet. It is dark. There is no sufficient air, so on, so on”—they could not understand what is hell because they are already in the hell, in the mine. They could not make any distinction that darkness is a very horrible thing. Similarly, these demons they cannot understand what is demonism. Asuram bhavam ashritah [Bhagavad-gita 7.15]. What is that asura-bhava? Not to accept God. This is asura-bhava. This is demonism. This is the basic principle of… Everyone is trying to deny God. Therefore they are demons. Who was telling that the medical man is considered to be first-class authority?
DEVOTEE: That was Prajapati.
PRAJAPATI: That’s what the people believe. They have more trust in medical men than they do in anything else.
PRABHUPADA: Yes. But medical man also does not understand what is that thing missing which makes this body dead. And still, he is placing himself as authority, as scientific man, and people are accepting. That is demonism.
