(His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
Prabhupāda: Actually, at the present age, nobody is interested in spiritual subject matter. Nobody is interested. So nobody is coming to surrender to you. Therefore you have to canvass, "Please surrender. Please surrender." This is our position. Otherwise, the... Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). One should come to the guru. But nobody comes to the guru, therefore guru has to come to USA to canvass. This is the position. Nobody went to me in India, but I had to come here to canvass you. Because it is Kali-yuga.
Real process is one should go to the guru. But intelligent man goes: "My life is meant for spiritual realization. So I must find out a guru." That is his business. But people are so fallen in this age that nobody's interested in that subject matter, that he has got spiritual value and he has to achieve this knowledge and make his life perfect. Nobody knows it. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught preaching. These rascals, they are so fallen, they'll never search out guru. So guru should go and canvass.
Devotee: Therefore you are jagad-guru.
Prabhupāda: I may be whatever it is, but that is the business.
Devotee (2): You are so kind that your books are attracting so many. They have the same potency as yourself. Your canvassing is so effective, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught us... Even Nityānanda Prabhu, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, they were sent: "Go and preach. Go door to door, teach them Hare Kṛṣṇa." And Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally did it. So our mission is like that. People are so rascal that they'll never come to guru and surrender. Manda. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). They are so much embarrassed with these material calamities. Upadrutāḥ. Upadrava means disturbances. And manda: by nature very rascal. And sumanda. If there is, if there is little intention, they goes to this, what is called, this boy?
Devotees: Guru Maharaj-ji?
Prabhupāda: Guru Maharaja, Dr. Mishra, and this and that, they'll go. They'll not go to the real person. The real person is strict. Suppose somebody comes here, if he comes to me, I shall immediately order, "You have to do this." But these rascals, they do not say that. They, "You pay me, and you become perfect." That is their proposal. So your money is very cheap. They pay and flock together. That is going on. That is called sumanda-mataya, misled. Manda, by nature they are rascals, and if they take some path, that is sumanda-mataya, again rascaldom. Why?
Manda-bhāgyā, unfortunate, disturbed. They cannot find out. Therefore real guru has to canvass. This is the position. Short age, alpāyus; they are not going to live for many years, and most of them are unfortunate rascals, and if they are eager to accept a guru, they accept a false guru, and they are materially disturbed. This is the position of the people of this age. So against so many disturbances and counter-facts, we have to preach.
Devotee (3): Is it, is it also not the mercy of Kṛṣṇa that He has descended to implicate and...
Prabhupāda: Yes, therefore guru is called the Kṛṣṇa's mercy-incarnation. Kṛṣṇa's mercy-incarnation is guru. Guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). Kṛṣṇa is so merciful, He's trying to educate from within, and outside He sends His representative to teach. So He's trying to bring all these living entities back to home, back to Godhead. Two ways: from inside and outside. His propaganda is going on. His propaganda is going on.
Devotee (2): You are just like the reservoir of mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: No, mercy reservoir is Kṛṣṇa. But we are servant of Kṛṣṇa. We have to abide by His orders. That's all. Real mercy is Kṛṣṇa's.
(Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk, Los Angeles, December 10, 1973)
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