Our Main Business

Our purpose is not to construct big, big buildings, although that is sometimes required for spreading Krsna consciousness and for giving shelter to people. But our main business is to turn the faces of the bewildered conditioned souls toward Krsna. That is our main purpose. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Thakura and other Vaisnavas have warned us to be careful about constructing too many big temples, because our attention may be diverted toward material things. In other words, we may become forgetful of Krsna.

Of course, ultimately nothing is material. Thinking something is material is simply an illusion. Actually, there is nothing but spirit. How can there be anything material? The Supreme Lord is the Supreme Spirit, and since everything is coming from Him, what we call the material energy is also coming from Him and is thus ultimately spiritual.

But the difficulty is that in this material world, Krsna's inferior energy, there is the possibility of forgetting Krsna. People are engaged in so many activities -- we can see this very clearly in the Western countries -- and they are inventing so many modern facilities, but the result is that they are forgetting Krsna. That is material -- this forgetfulness of Krsna.

Journey of Self Discovery, Chapter 3.3
His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada