Returning to the Eternal Religion
263
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes, God consciousness includes self-consciousness, but self-consciousness is not necessarily God consciousness.
Mr. O'Grady:  But it may be?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  No.
Mr. O'Grady:  One may achieve consciousness of the God that is within.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  That means he is God conscious. You are now in the sunlight, and consciousness of the sun includes your ability to see yourself. In the darkness you cannot see yourself. At night you can't even see your own hands or legs, but if you come before the sun, you see the sun and yourself also. Without sunlight, without God consciousness, self-consciousness is incomplete. However, God consciousness makes self-consciousness very clear.
Mr. O'Grady:  We meet a lot of young people in our teaching profession, and we don't try to teach them any kind of didactic salvation. We do try to direct them toward an awareness of what is best and what is most beautiful and what is most spiritually nourishing in the world about them—that is, insofar as the system allows us. Very frequently the students are not neutral enough to be in a spiritual condition; they are more in an emotional one. What we are faced with often is the basic question of “Who am I?” or, “What is it all about?”
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes.
Mr. O'Grady:  Or they ask, “Why am I here?”
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes, very good.
Mr. O'Grady:  We are asked, “Why should I be here? Who are you, teacher, and what gives you the right to tell us what to think or what to be or what not to be? Why should I read Shakespeare? Why should I listen to Mozart? I prefer Bob Dylan.” These kind of questions seem to emanate from a very disillusioned state of mind, and insecurity, and uncertainty, and a lack of credibility in the total structure of things as they are. Frequently we have to answer these questions in a catalysmic sort of way. Rather than presenting direct answers, we must answer indirectly, taking account of the conditioning that prompted students to ask these questions in the first place. Do you think that we should try to reach them more directly?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  You are talking about the problem of . . .
Mr. O'Grady:  Modern education.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes. So many questions are there, but they are not answered by modern education. “Why have I come here? What is the purpose?” These questions should be answered perfectly. Therefore the  Vedas  enjoin:  tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet . To find answers to