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Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
BOB:  Yes, Indian. He lives nearby and speaks English fairly well. When he was young he worshiped Kāli [a popular demigoddess] every day very rigorously, and then the floods came. When the floods came, the people saw hardship, and now he has no religion, and he says he finds his happiness in trying to develop love among people. And I couldn't think of what to say to him to add God and religion to his life. He says that after he dies, "maybe I'll become part of God, maybe not," but he can't worry about it now. He says he's tried these religious experiences, but they didn't work. One reason I ask this is because when I go back to America, a lot of people I come across are like this. They see that religion, like his worship of Kāli or other kinds of religion they've experienced, doesn't work. And I don't know what to say to them to convince them it's vorth trying.
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  Do not try at the present moment. You try to be convinced yourself.
BOB:  Yes. I asked him to see devotees, but then on the way out, as he was leaving down the road, I met him again and told him, "Come back," but . . . Oh, I see.
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  You first of all be convinced. And then try to convince others. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction is that you can improve the welfare of others when your own life is a success:
bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra
First make your life perfect. Then try to teach others.
BOB:  The devotees have told me that without consciousness of Kṛṣṇa all the time, you cannot be happy. But at times I feel happy.
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  At times. Not always.