1. This material world is nasty

    (In) 1966, I remember one lady. She was a model, very beautiful, tall lady. She looked at the paintings that Jadurani had did, that we hung in the temple, of Radha Krishna and she said, “Radha Krishna are so beautiful. Why did He create this world which is so terrible?” The Vietnam War was going on. The Civil Rights was going on — the black people couldn’t eat in a white man’s restaurant, they had to have their own restaurant, or they couldn’t sit on a bus with white people. There were a lot of questions on the society. There were a lot of disturbances in American society during that period — against the war, the civil rights of all people, and the equality of all people. So she asked a very good question. Prabhupada said it was a good question. “Why did Krishna make this world so terrible if He’s so perfect?” Prabhupada answered it very, hitting the point. Very briefly he answered it. He said, “You are a very beautiful lady. You are also very intelligent because you asked a nice question. You wear nice clothes. Everything is very nice with you. But you still pass stool and urine. Even though you look very beautiful, you still do dirty things.” Prabhupada was comparing this material world to the stool and urine of Krishna. That’s why it appears nasty. Not that Krishna’s nasty. But this material world is nasty. That’s how he answered her question by hitting the point. She is beautiful but what you pass out of your body is nasty.

    Gargamuni Das , Memories of Srila Prabhupada