238
Śrī-Caitanya-caritāmṛta
who are neither educated nor sophisticated, believe in the transmigration of the soul, believe in past and future lives, believe in God and naturally want to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His representative. These ideas are the natural inheritance of a person born in India. India has many holy places of pilgrimage such as Gayā, Benares, Mathurā, Prayāg, Vṛndāvana, Haridvār, Rāmeśvaram and Jagannātha Purī, and still people go there by the hundreds and thousands. Although the present leaders of India are influencing the people not to believe in God, not to believe in a next life and not to believe in a distinction between pious and impious life, and they are teaching them how to drink wine, eat meat and become supposedly civilized, people are nevertheless afraid of the four activities of sinful life—namely, illicit sex, meat eating, intoxication and gambling—and whenever there is a religious festival, they gather together by the thousands. We have actual experience of this. Whenever the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement holds a  saṅkīrtana  festival in a big city like Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Ahmedabad or Hyderabad, thousands of people come to hear. Sometimes we speak in English, but even though most people do not understand English, they nevertheless come to hear us. Even when imitation incarnations of Godhead speak, people gather in thousands, for everyone who is born in the land of India has a natural spiritual inclination and is taught the basic principles of spiritual life; they merely need to be a little more educated in the Vedic principles. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said,  janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra : if an Indian is educated in the Vedic principles, he is able to perform the most beneficial welfare activity for the entire world.
At present, for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness, the entire world is in darkness, having been covered by the four principles of sinful life—meat eating, illicit sex, gambling and intoxication. Therefore there is a need for vigorous propaganda to educate people to refrain from sinful activities. This will bring peace and prosperity; the rogues, thieves and debauchees will naturally decrease in number, and all of human society will be God conscious.
The practical effect of our spreading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world is that now the most degraded debauchees are becoming the most elevated saints. This is only one Indian's humble service to the world. If all Indians had taken to this path, as advised by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, India would have given a unique gift to the world, and thus India would have been glorified. Now, however, India is known as a poverty-stricken country, and whenever anyone from America or another opulent country goes to India, he sees many people lying by the foot paths for whom there are not even provisions for two meals a day. There are also institutions collecting money from all parts of the world in the name of welfare activities for poverty-stricken people, but they are spending it for their own sense gratification. Now, on the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has been started, and people are benefiting from this movement. Therefore it is now the duty of the leading men of India to consider the importance of this movement and train many Indians to go outside of India to preach this cult. People will accept it, there will be cooperation among the Indian people and among the other people of the world, and the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu will then be fulfilled. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu will then be glorified all over the world,