Humans are trustees of the environment, not owners: Radhanath Swami

Q: You and your disciples feed a meal every day to 1.2 million schoolkids every school working day. How does this operate?
A: The government gives us Rs3.25 per child and some rice. We add Rs2 per child from our side and make the food in our own kitchens and then distribute it in our own vans in Mumbai and other cities. The food is delivered sealed to each school – it consists of a nutritious khichdi made from pure ingredients and with a ghee tadka. The money for the effort comes from corporates and individuals and our devotees and followers are also involved in the distribution.

Q: You also have a Bhaktivedanta hospital in Mumbai that caters to the underprivileged among other sections of society and subsidises medical treatment for the needy. How much are you involved in its administration?
A: To have the opportunity to serve people is the great joy. Body, mind and soul all have to be in harmony with each other. I am only the inspiration – the actual work is carried out by devotees – doctors and para-medics and management who devote their life to this seva. They're the real managers and healers.

Q: What is the outreach of your free medical and eye camps for the rural poor?
A: We go into several villages in rural India and conduct cataract surgeries because that is, I believe, the biggest cause of non-congenital blindness in India. The people out there are so poor that they can't afford such surgeries. We do around 5,000 cataract surgeries a year. The most important thing is that the poor get the same quality of treatment there as upper class people.

There was a doctor from Mumbai who volunteered for such a mission. He performed a cataract surgery on a 90-year-old woman. Post-surgery as he was taking her bandages off, she realised she could see again and became so excited that she began slapping him on his head, crying "Radharani, bless you" again and again. That doctor when he returned to the city told me that this has been the most fulfilling experience of his life, beyond any amount of money he has ever made in his medical practice. Because the truth is that there is more joy in giving than in taking and the actual success of a life is not how much you have acquired but how much you have given.

Q: Your Govardhan eco-village teaches people sustainable living. What are it's main features?
A: We teach people the process of symbiotic biotechnology – harnessing technology so that nothing in the process of living goes waste – not even sewage which can be processed for fertiliser. The belief being that man is the trustee of his environment and not its owner. If we focus our joint intention on developing systems that are sustainable we can create the technology that creates sustainable lives. We also have sustainable houses in the complex built with eco-friendly bricks as well as an orphanage. We have animals – cows, donkey and sheep – who share the environment and are protected there in the belief that animals have the same rights to the Earth as does man. Humanity evolves when we realise that animals have the same rights to the Earth as we do.

Q: You have spoken at Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, at the House of Commons and at the Google headquaters, not to mention at various Young Presidents' Organisation Chapters around the world. What has been your main message there?
A: They usually give me a subject. Yet my most important message wherever I go is that the greatest need in the world today is compassion as manifested through the mind, body and soul. And the importance of being an instrument of that compassion. The common need of all living beings to to be loved and to love. The origin of that love is to feel the limitless love of God within your own soul. To awaken the realisation that the environment and all things within it are reflections of God. We all have our own paths – whether we are in business, in education, in religious life, etc these are all details. The most important thing is for us to realise that we must learn to work together and with compassion. That's the essential message.

Q: How do you view the aspect of communalism that religion brings with it – and one that causes so much suffering?
A: The purpose of all religion is very different from communalism. Religion is meant to teach us true spiritual human character. It is meant for self-transformation. It is meant to transform anxiety into peace, arrogance into humility, envy into compassion, to awaken the pure soul in man and his love for the Source, which is God. Communalism enters when we become attached to the external ritual and disconnect from the essence. It is when we see differences with other human beings which awaken arrogance, fear and hate. This is not religion, it's material politics and internal insecurity. When people unfortunately use religion to facilitate their envy, arrogance and hate, communalism surfaces.

Q: We notice that your organisation has celibate orders for men only and that women are not given the option to become nuns. Why this discrimination?
A: In spirituality everyone is considered equal and everyone has equal ability to walk the path of God and attain enlightenment – be they men or women. We have a large number of lay-believers who are women. It's true that a big problem in society today is that men exploit women since they are physically stronger. That's a gross injustice. We should give women the protection, the integrity that every human being deserves. It's just that in our order we have believed till now that women are more inclined towards the family. And that they need to be protected. That's been the custom so far.

Q: You once memorably said that "When you make spirituality the basis of your life, everything turns out well". Can you elaborate, please?
A: When a house has a strong foundation, it can withstand any storm. Similarly when spirituality is the basis of your life it gives you the strength, wisdom and courage to surmount the many storms of life, that could destroy a weaker person who doesn't have this foundation. Then you can even live in a city like Mumbai and not be buffeted. You can then live in a spirit of love, just like the beautiful lotus flower grows in a muddy pond and spreads its fragrance everywhere.