Prabhupāda Explains to His Disciples What They Want to Achieve in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness
In a world driven by endless material desires, Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly articulated the supreme, unifying goal of his international society: to reawaken pure love for God. He explained to his disciples that the movement does not want superficial religious conversions or mere numerical strength. Rather, it wants to raise an army of sincere preachers, distribute transcendental literature globally, and utilize every aspect of human life in the service of Kṛṣṇa, thereby bringing the highest, permanent benefit to all living entities.
The Ultimate Spiritual Goal
Materialists constantly chase temporary pleasures, while impersonalists desire to erase their existence by merging into the spiritual effulgence. A Vaiṣṇava rejects both. Śrīla Prabhupāda taught that a true devotee wants nothing more than Kṛṣṇa Himself. The ultimate goal is to finish with the miseries of the material world for good and return to the eternal, blissful service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- Krishna means the most attractive reservoir of Pleasure. Who does not want such pleasure? Therefore we want Krishna and nothing more. Hope you will understand me right.
- We don't want even the exalted place like Brahma in this material world. We don't want. That is our determination. We want Krsna, go back to home, back to Godhead.
- The Mayavadis they want to merge into the Supreme, but we want to become father of Krsna. Why merge? More than Krsna. The devotee can beget Krsna. Krsna accepts that. Yes, I shall become your child. I shall be controlled by your stick.
- Our real pleasure should be in bhajananandena. Radha-krsna-padaravinda-bhajananandena. In this way we have taken very serious job. In this life we want to finish this material existence for good.
Wanting Sincere, Active Preachers
To deliver the world from darkness, Śrīla Prabhupāda required a massive, dedicated workforce. He explicitly stated that the movement does not want professional, salaried priests, nor does it want reclusive babājīs who retreat to the forest to execute their own solitary worship. The profound need of the hour is for hundreds of thousands of fearless, active preachers who are willing to sacrifice their lives for God.
- We don't want babaji class. We want active preachers.
- We want men who have sacrificed their life for God. We want such men, not professional. The so-called priests, they are professional. They are earning money. That's all.
- There is a great need for this movement. We want hundreds and thousands of preachers to go outside India and preach this cult. And there are customers ready.
- We have to preach all over the world. We require so many men, so many boys, girls, men we want.
Distributing Knowledge and Books
The primary method for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the mass publication and distribution of authorized Vedic literature. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted his books translated into every language and placed into the hands of every class of man. He defined successful preaching by the society's ability to ensure that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Bhagavad-gītā, and the Back to Godhead magazine were universally read and studied.
- Every gentleman should have a valuable library of these (my books). That we want. Then our preaching is successful.
- Actually we want that every American have a copy of Back to Godhead in his hand.
- We want all our foreign language books to be translated by devotees.
- Yes, we want that businessmen, economists, religionists, students, etc. will all be carrying Bhagavatam and Gita.
Real Happiness for Everyone (Sarve Sukhino Bhavantu)
Modern society settles for temporary, superficial improvements, but the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement aims for the absolute highest welfare. Śrīla Prabhupāda explained that the Vedic principle is sarve sukhino bhavantu—let everyone be happy. By educating people in their spiritual identity and relationship with God, the movement seeks to bring about true, permanent peace and perfect spiritual communism for all living entities.
- Krsna consciousness movement is to let people know how much valuable life is his, and utilize it in that way. Our movement is sarve sukhino bhavantu: everyone become, be happy. Not only human society, even animal society. We want to see everyone happy.
- People want to be satisfied with little benefit, with little benefit. No, that is not our mission. We want the supreme benefit.
- Chinese Communism will be perfect if they take little instruction from us. We are also Communist, Krsna Communist. We want that everyone should be happy.
- We simply want people to become God conscious and that will bring forth real peace in the world.
Engaging Everything in Kṛṣṇa's Service
The fatal disease of modern civilization is wanting the kingdom of God without God. Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not demand that a person artificially strip away their natural instincts, talents, or enjoyment of art and music. Instead, Śrīla Prabhupāda taught his disciples that they should want all these things—but they must be perfectly dovetailed and centered entirely around the pleasure and glorification of Kṛṣṇa.
- Archbishop of Canterbury said rightly that "You want kingdom of God without God." That is the disease. Everything we want. Therefore our propaganda is just the opposite. We want everything with center Krsna.
- Everything is there in Krsna consciousness. We want music, there is music. We want dancing, there is dancing.
- We do not want stopping the natural instincts of the living entities, we simply want them to be dovetailed in Krishna's service.
- The cows, the trees, the cowherd men and Gopis, their chief engagement was loving Krishna, and in New Vrindaban we want to create this atmosphere and thereby show the whole world how practical and sublime our movement is.
Conclusion
The desires of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are vast, pure, and universally beneficial. Śrīla Prabhupāda trained his disciples to abandon petty material aspirations and instead want the supreme benefit for the entire world. By desiring hundreds of thousands of active preachers, the mass distribution of transcendental books, and the dovetailing of all human energy into the service of the Lord, the society actively constructs the pathway back to Godhead.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category We Want (Disciples of SP). We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.