Jan 7 1977 Bombay.
Prabhupāda: We are increasing. There is opposition against our movement, and still, we are increasing.
D. D. Desai: When you say, “We are poor…”
Prabhupāda: No, no, so-called poor.
D. D. Desai: That’s it. Because the other day when I was reading Howard Hughes and his billion-dollar life, and then also Poli(?), I can say this much, that some of our poorest of Indians are far better off than these gentlemen.
Prabhupāda: Yes, culturally we are better off. Materially, we are certainly very poor. But because we are culturally advanced, even the actual poor man, he does not feel that he is in poverty.
D. D. Desai: Yes, that is the case. That is… There is a basic grace in poverty.
Prabhupāda: That is…yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ yasmin sthite guruṇāpi duḥkhena na vicālyate [Bg. 6.20-23]This is culture. “So long I have got money, I am very happy.” No! “If there is not a single farthing, still, I’ll be happy.” That is real culture. That can be done That is possible when one is Kṛṣṇa conscious. Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. He went to the forest to ask Kṛṣṇa to give him a very nice kingdom, but when he met Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa—He wanted to give him benediction—he said, svamin kṛtartho ‘smi varaṁ na yace: [Cc. Madhya 22.42] “Bas, no more vara.” So we have got such things. Guruṇāpi duḥkhena na vicālyate [Bg. 6.20-23]. Never disturbed. That is culture. And “So long I have got money in the pocket, I am very happy”—that is dog civilization.
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