India is the perfect place for spiritual realization. The climate is such that even a poor man can always remain fresh – take a bath in any river and sit under a tree with just a loincloth.

In India they don’t have to advertise spiritual events. Everyone naturally knows – millions at the Kumbha Mehla. Everyone born in India is pious, but they’ve been cheated. The British introduced the railway and drew the poor people to the cities for employment and now they have been subjected to so much nonsense – bad association. In this way Gandhi’s movement was good. He wanted to move everyone back to the villages.

Srila Prabhupada, quoted in a letter from Aravinda to Satsvarupa, 28 Nov 1970