Garden Conversation with Professors, Chairman of the Religion Dept. of U.S.C., and Dr. Stillson Judah, and others -- June 24, 1975, Los Angeles
Prabhupada : This society, this Krishna consciousness movement, is based on the authority of the Vedic literature, and everyone is working under the guidance of the spiritual master. And it's becoming successful. It's expanding, and people are appreciating it. It's practical.
The next stage is varnashrama dharma. We have distributed the idea in the shape of books. We've established temples. Now we will establish the community life, and it will expand and expand. As far as we are concerned, it will overflood. It will change the course of history. It is meant for that. As Lord Jesus introduced something that changed the course of history, so now this has been introduced. The original knowledge, the original culture of the world, Vedic culture, is being re-introduced. It is the renaissance of Vedic culture.
Vedic culture is the original culture, from which all other cultures emerged. Scholars have acknowledged that Sanskrit language, the language of the Vedas, is the root of the world's languages. Even the name Christ means "the lover of Krishna." The word Christ comes from the Greek language: christos, meaning "the anointed one", and the word christos comes from the Sanskrit Krishna. The same word is there also in Russian: Krazna. And you will find the origin of even Lord Jesus's teachings in India. Their origin is India. The original religion, the original culture is Vedic, and everything has come from that. It's not conjecture or just a statement on my part. It's a fact. Those who study history and culture will have to come to this conclusion. Christ refers to Jesus the Christ. It was not his name; it was his title. Lord Jesus, the Christ, like Jimmy Carter, the President. "The President" is not his name; it's his title. Lord Jesus the Christ means "the lover of Krishna, lover of God. In this way, if we understand things actually on principle, then there's no difference, no competition, and no incongruity. Not "Oh, I'm Christian; he's something else" or "I don't believe this, I don't believe that." On principle, you will find a "golden thread" running through the Bible, Koran and the Vedic shastras.
According to Vedic civilization the cow is to be given special protection. Why it is recommended for the cow? It does not say of other animal. When animal killing is required according to Vedic civilization, those who are meat-eaters, they are allowed to kill some insignificant animal like deer, goat, pigs. It is for the animal eaters, not for all. But if one is bent upon... And there are persons, they want meat-eating. So for them these unimportant animals are recommended. But cow is very important animal. You get from its milk so many nutritious food. So apart from religious sentiment, from economic point of view, cow-killing is not good. And from moral point of view it is not good because you drink cow's milk, so cow is your mother."
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