160 THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION
cycle of birth and death in different forms of life and go back home, back
to Godhead.

Mr. Faill: Do you think transcendental meditation is helping people?
Srila Prabhupada: They do not know what real meditation is. Their
meditation is simply a farce—another cheating process by the so-called
swamis and yogis. You’re asking me if meditation is helping people, but
do you know what meditation is?

Mr. Faill: A stilling of the mind—trying to sit in the center without
swinging either way.

Srila Prabhupada: And what is the center?

Mr. Faill: I don’t know.

Srila Prabhupada: So everyone is talking very much about meditation,
but no one knows what meditation actually is. These bluffers use the
word ‘‘meditation,’’ but they do not know the proper subject for medita-
tion. They’re simply talking bogus propaganda.

: Mr. Faill: Isn’t meditation valuable just to get people thinking right?
Srila Prabhupada: No. Real meditation means to achieve a state in
which the mind is saturated with God consciousness. But if you do not
know what God is, how can you meditate? Besides, in this age people’s
minds are so agitated that they cannot concentrate. I have seen this so-
called meditation; they are simply sleeping and snoring. Unfortunately,
in the name of God consciousness or ‘‘self-realization,’’ many bluffers
are presenting nonstandard methods of meditation without referring to
the authorized books of Vedic knowledge. They are simply practicing
another type of exploitation.

Mr. Faill: What about some of the other teachers, like Ouspensky and
Gurdjieff? In the past they brought to the West a message similar to
yours.
Srila Prabhupada: We would have to study the particulars of their teach-
ings to know whether they meet the Vedic standard. God consciousness
is a science, just like medical science or any other science. It cannot be
different because it is spoken by different men. Two plus two equals four
everywhere, never five, or three. That is science.
Mr. Faill: Do you feel that others may have possibly taught the genuine
method of God consciousness?

Srila Prabhupada: Unless I study their teachings in detail, it would be
very difficult to say. There are so many bluffers.
Mr. Faill: Just doing it for money.
Srila Prabhupada: That’s all. They have no standard method. Therefore
