Returning to the Eternal Religion 263
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, God consciousness includes self-consciousness,
but self-consciousness is not necessarily God consciousness.

Mr. O’Grady: But it may be?

Srila Prabhupada: No.

Mr. O’Grady: One may achieve consciousness of the God that is within.
Srila Prabhupada: That means he is God conscious. You are now in the
sunlight, and consciousness of the sun includes your ability to see your-
self. 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 stu-
dents 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?”

Srila Prabhupada: Yes.

Mr. O’Grady: Or they ask, ‘“Why am I here?”’

Srila Prabhupada: 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 ema-
nate from a very disillusioned state of mind, and insecurity, and uncer-
tainty, and a lack of credibility in the total structure of things as they are.
Frequently we have to answer these questions in a cataclysmic 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?

Srila Prabhupada: You are talking about the problem of...

Mr. O’Grady: Modern education.

Srila Prabhupada: 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-vijnandrtham sa gurum evabhigacchet. To find answers to
