Can We Keep Society
From Going to the Dogs?
Srila Prabhupada speaks out to India’s Bhavan’s Journal: “A dog comes ~
when there are some eatables; I say ‘Hut!’ and he goes away. But again he
comes—he has no memory. So when our memory of God is reducing, that
means that our human qualities are reducing. ... There is no religion, simply
a dog’s race. The dog is running on four legs, and you are running on four
wheels—that’s all. And you think that the four-wheel race is advancement of
civilization!”
Interviewer: The first question is this: ‘‘Is the influence of religion on
the wane? And if so, does this factor account for the increase in corrup-
tion and the widespread deterioration of moral values?”’
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, religion is on the wane. This is predicted in the
Srimad-Bhagavatam [12.2.1]:
tatas canudinam dharmah
satyam Saucam ksama daya
kalena balind rajan .
nanksyaty ayur balam smrtih
‘In the Kali-yuga [the present age of quarrel and hypocrisy] the follow-
ing things will diminish: religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, dura--
tion of life, bodily strength, and memory.”’

These are human assets, which make the human being distinct from
the animal. But these things will decline. There will be no mercy, there
will be no truthfulness, memory will be short, and the duration of life will
be cut short. Similarly, religion will vanish. That means that gradually we
will come to the platform of animals.

Interviewer: Religion will vanish? We’ll become animals?
Srila Prabhupada: Especially when there is no religion, it is simply
animal life. Any common man can distinguish that the dog does not
understand what religion is. The dog is also a living being, but
he is not interested in understanding the Bhagavad-gitd or the Srimad-
Bhagavatam. He is not interested. That is the distinction between man
and dog: the animal is not interested.

173
