Vedic culture is humanity's original global civilization, designed to elevate souls through duty and proper qualification.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Evening Lecture at Pandiya House Meeting with Community Leaders — September 16, 1971, Mombasa 710916LE-MOMBASA [47:50 Minutes] Lecture_710916LE-MOMBASA Meeting_710916LE-MOMBASA Devotee: [introducing tape] Mombasa, evening, September 16th, 1971, Pandiya House. Meeting with community leaders. Prabhupāda: ...recite some verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which are instruction of Ṛṣabhadeva, Mahārāja Ṛṣabhadeva. Ṛṣabhadeva appeared… He is incarnation of God, and He ruled over some time on this planet, and He was the father of Mahārāja Bharata, who ruled over this planet after him some many thousands of years ago. Because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was written five thousand years ago, and long, long before. So Ṛṣabhadeva’s son was Bharata Mahārāja, and after his name this planet is called Bhārata-varṣa. Bhārata-varṣa does not mean the small piece of land which are now occupied in India.
Bhārata-varṣa means this whole planet. And before that, this planet was known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa. So this Vedic culture was ruling all over the world. Because the…, gradually people became degraded, the Vedic culture remained in a broken state in India only. Otherwise, from Mahābhārata and other historical references we can understand that these Europeans, Americans, they belong to the kṣatriya stock.
Mahārāja Yayāti gave to his two sons this Greek and Rome, and from their generation these European stock and the American stock has expanded. And the Arabians also, Indo-Āryan stock. This is historical reference. [aside to Indian guest:] Thank you very much.
Hare Kṛṣṇa. So Vedic culture was spread all over the world; there is historical reference. Just like, for example, that our India, twenty years ago, that India and present India is different because it is now divided Pakistan. Some portion of India was taken away by other elements who did not agree. Similarly, the whole world was India, or Bhārata-varṣa.
Gradually, as the Vedic culture degraded, others separated. In India also, still we have got so many sects differing from original Vedic culture. Just like Lord Buddha, he is Indian. He was Hindu, he was kṣatriya, but he differed from the Vedas. He started his own religious system, Buddhism.
Although in India there is practically no Buddhism—it is outside India—but Buddhism also originated from India. Similarly, there is Jainism, Sikhism and so many other isms, but the original culture is Vedic culture. Every culture you'll find there is a history. But Vedic culture has no history.
Nobody knows when it began and when it will end. It will never end. So on this cultural unity the whole world was one. There was only one plan[?]. Even after the time of Mahārāja Parīkṣit there was only one king in Hastināpura.