Materialists worship the dead while ignoring the soul; devotees serve the living Krishna and achieve eternal life.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
[in car from airport] Prabhupāda: ...live? Is he finished, or if somewhere he is still living, nobody knows. You are keeping his memorial, but where is the actual person, they do not know. Suppose I have come here, and all of a sudden I go away, keeping my shirt and coat.
And if you worship my shirt and coat and do not take care where I have gone, is that very good intelligence? Bṛṣākapi: No, Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda: This is going on. Bṛṣākapi: We will worship your shirt and coat, though. Prabhupāda: Lincoln, if you worship... Where is Lincoln's temple? In Paris, I saw one park, Napoleon Bonaparte. You have been there? Rūpānuga: Yes, Paris. Prabhupāda: They identified "Napoleon is France." France is there, but where is Napoleon?
They do not consider like this. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ [SB 7.5.31]. Blind man be happy that Lincoln was here, that's all. Where he is now?
Or he's finished. If he's finished, why you are worshiping his shirt and coat? What is the answer? What is their answer?
If he's finished, what is the use of worshiping his shirt and coat? Vipina: They say that what he accomplished, although it may not be the final answer, it was a step forward, and therefore he should be worshiped. Prabhupāda: Then his worship must be... That means after furnishing[?] he is also finished? That is ignorance. That is not the fact.
If he's finished, then what was the purpose of furnishing?[?] There are so many questions in this connection, but they cannot understand. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ [SB 7.5.31]. This is ignorance. This kind of civilization is civilization of darkness.
Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ. Rūpānuga: It looks like the devotees are the only people who are enlightened in this dark world. By your mercy, only the devotees can actually see anything properly and understand the condition. Prabhupāda: In Russia, that Kruschev, he was... Now, where he has gone, nobody knows. Finished.