Finding the Cure for Today’s Social Ills 189

BTG: Revolution?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes.

BTG: Then the most important thing is to find the common cause that
people can unite on?

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, just like in our Krsna conscious society you
come to consult me about every activity because I can give you the com-
mon cause. Otherwise, there will be fighting. The government should be
very expert to know the aim of life—the common cause—and they
should train the people to work for the common cause. Then they will be
happy and peaceful. But if people simply elect rascals like Nixon, they
will never find a common cause. Any rascal can secure votes by some ar-
rangement, and then he becomes the head of the government. The can-
didates are bribing, they are cheating, they are making propaganda to win
votes. Somehow or other they get votes and capture the prime post. This
system is bad.

BTG: So if we don’t choose our leaders by popular election, how will
society be governed?

Srila Prabhupada: You require bradhmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas, and sidras.
Just as when you want to construct a building, you require engineers.
You don’t want sweepers. Isn’t that so? What will the sweeper do? No,
there must be engineers. So if you follow the division of varndsrama, only
ksatriyas are allowed to govern. And for the legislative assembly —the
senators—only qualified brdhmanas. Now the butcher is in the legislative
assembly. What does he know about making laws? He is a butcher, but
by winning votes he becomes a senator. At the present moment, by the
principle of vox populi, a butcher goes to the legislature. So everything
depends on training. In our Krsna conscious society, we’re actually doing
that, but in the case of politics, they forget it. There cannot be just one
class. That is foolishness, because we have to engage different classes of
men in different activities. If we do not know the art, then we will fail
because unless there is a division of work, there will be havoc. We have
discussed all the responsibilities of the king in the Srimad-Bhdgavatam.
The different classes in society should cooperate exactly as the different
parts of the body do. Although each part is meant for a different purpose,
they all work for one cause: to maintain the body properly.

BTG: What is the actual duty of the government?

Srila Prabhupada: To understand what God wants, and to see that
society works toward that aim. Then people will be happy. But if the peo-
ple work in the wrong direction, how can they be happy? The govern-
ment’s duty is to see that they are working in the right direction. The
