Spirit soul transcends all material distinctions of nation, color, and creed through Krishna consciousness.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Arrival Lecture — July 20, 1972, Paris 720720AR-PARIS [12:36 Minutes] Arrival_720720AR-PARIS Prabhupāda: ...saṅkīrtana movement. This saṅkīrtana movement was started by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu five hundred years ago for mitigating the sufferings of the people of the world. He predicted that in every village, in every town on the surface of the globe, let this saṅkīrtana movement be spread out and people will be happy and they'll find Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. That was His prediction.
Actually, this is happening now. So our simple method—we go everywhere, all over the world, chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and we attract people, especially younger generation, boys and girls. Sometimes the newspaper reporters they ask me, "Why these young men and young women, they are very much attracted with this movement?" And I reply, "That is the success of the movement. Because younger generation, they are the flowers, the future hope of the country, of the world. If they take this movement seriously, then the whole world will be happy." Vedic civilization desires that everyone be happy.
Sarve sukhino bhavantu. Vedic civilization is not animal civilization, exploiting others. Giving something to others. Sometimes the people, they think that India comes to the foreign country to take qualification for earning livelihood. Actually, they come here...
When one of my Godbrothers, long ago, he came to England, Lady Willingdon challenged the preacher that "In your country the people come here, they take some degree and go to the back their country and become big man. So what you have got to teach us?" Actually, from materialistic point of view we haven't got to teach to the Western country anything. That's a fact. Because your science, your machine, far advanced.
But still there is a great treasure house in India, which is spiritual knowledge. You have to take from India. Of course, this spiritual knowledge, Vedic knowledge, is not for any particular society or country. It is meant for all. People sometimes ask me "Eastern," "Western." Actually there is no Eastern and Western in spiritual platform.
Spiritual platform is one. You are spirit soul; I am spirit soul. So on the spiritual platform if we see, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg. 5.18]... Those who are actually learned, they are sama-darśī.
They have no distinction. The exact version of Lord Kṛṣṇa is, vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini śune caiva śva-pāke ca panditāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg. 5.18] A brāhmaṇa is considered... A brāhmaṇa generally becomes very learned, vidyā-vinaya, very gentle. So one brāhmaṇa who is qualified with gentle qualities and high learning, vidyā-vinaya-sampanne, and a cow, an animal, and an elephant, a dog, a low-born caṇḍāla, all these living entities, a learned man sees all of them on the equal level, because a learned man who is actually on the spiritual platform, he knows that "Here is a dog and here is a learned brāhmaṇa. By their karma they have got different dress only, but within the brāhmaṇa, within the dog, the same spirit soul is there." So our material platform, we distinguish, "I am Indian," "You are Frenchman," "He's Englishman," "He's American," "He's cat," "He's dog." This is the vision of the material platform.