Authentic transmission of Bhagavad-gita through disciplic succession transforms souls worldwide.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
[reporters from the English-language Times of India, the Press Trust of India, UNI, the Punjabi Akali Patarika and Ajit, and the Hindi and Urdu Hind Samachar.] Interviewer: No, I've seen this. It is in the library. No, but still I really wished... Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: About five hundred libraries in India have ordered these books in the last four months. Interviewer: Must have. These are very good quality book, it is.
Very good quality. Prabhupāda: Give this one book from the... Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, I brought it back. [break] Prabhupāda: India's culture and knowledge are richer than any other country. And that is being accepted. Yes.
Real knowledge, real culture is in India. Unfortunately, we did not try in that way. We simply went to the foreign countries to beg, "Give us wheat, give us this, give us this, give us that." But if we give our culture, they will accept that India is still richer than any other country. [aside:] You can bring some of the press items, professor, learned scholars' opinions. Devotee: Yes. Prabhupāda: Aiye. [pause] Prabhupāda: Where is Caitya-guru? Haṁsadūta: He's out. [long pause] Prabhupāda: Opinions of the big scholars. Interviewer: I would request you to wait for five minutes, because some other journalists are coming. They are... Interviewer (2): Here is some material written about... Interviewer: Oh, really? Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The electricity is off at the moment, so we [indistinct]. Prabhupāda: So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is purely a spiritual movement.
Therefore sometimes it is little difficult to understand the activities of this movement. There are two things: material and spiritual. That is the beginning of instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa begins with this statement: that this body is not the person; the soul is the person.
Asmin dehe. Within this body there is the soul. And He has explained in different ways that this body is antavanta ime dehā [Bg 2.18]. This body is perishable, but the soul is not perishable.
Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20], that even after the destruction of the body the soul is not destroyed. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. The soul never takes birth, never dies. Nityaḥ śāśvato 'yam na hanyate hanyamāne [Bg 2.20].
There are so many things explained, what is the soul. So without the soul, this body is useless. That everyone can understand. Therefore the importance should be given to the soul, not to the body.