Dinner Lecture By Guru Maharaja Part-1

…giving an opportunity to everyone to elevate themselves from material platform to
spiritual reality. I was very impressed with Vara Nayaka prabhu’s presentation. It was a
very, very succinct and profound presentation.
Actually, ISKCON is here to unify the world. Today’s world is divided in so many ways
and ISKCON is here to show everyone how to transcend those differences and come to a
platform where we all can become united as a family. That is the essential teachings of
the Vedas. Vasudhaiva kutumbakam. Vasudha, the entire world is actually one family. It
is unfortunate that we are creating so many differences among ourselves, but when we
become properly situated in spiritual understanding then we can very easily become
united as a family.
Once, in New York City, some devotees, I’m sorry, some priests, Roman Catholic priests
came to meet Srila Prabhupada and they questioned Srila Prabhupada in a rather
challenging way, that why are you converting these Christian boys and girls into Hindus?
Prabhupada’s response was, “No, I am not converting the Christians into Hindus or Jews
into Muslims. I am simply making better Christians out of the Christians, better Jews out
of the Jews, better Muslims out of the Muslims and better Hindus out of the Hindus.”
I come from a Hindu background. I honestly admit, I didn’t actually know what
Hinduism meant until I came across Srila Prabhupada. And when I met Srila Prabhupada,
when I became exposed to his teachings, then I realized what my actual identity as a
Hindu is. In a similar note, Vara Nayaka also was saying that he was a Christian, he is coming from a Christian background, but probably he became a better Christian when he
became a Hare Krishna.