At another program a bearded American anthropologist rode up on a motorcycle to attend Prabhupada’s lecture and kirtana. Afterward, the anthropologist told Srila Prabhupada that he had come to India to study the primitive tribes. Prabhupada told him it was simply a waste of time. “Why do you want to study the primitive people?” he asked. “Why don’t you study the exalted people?” And Prabhupada narrated a story:

One time a poor man roasted a cob of corn and then began picking off the kernels one at a time and eating them. In this way it took him many hours to finish. He did this, Prabhupada said, because he had nothing else to do, just to pass the time of day. In the same way, the study of anthropology was simply a waste of time. Prabhupada asked, “Why don’t you study some person or group of persons from whom you can learn something?”

(From Srila Prabhupada lilamrta)