Prabhupāda: Family man, a family man wants to see that his sons are properly educated or they are well-placed, so on, so on, so many things. And if all of a sudden death comes, he becomes sorry that, "I could not finish my business." Therefore death is impediment.
Richard: You were widely respected in India before you came to the United States?
Prabhupāda: Why bring that question? First of all, let us finish this question.
Richard: Well, no, no, no. I'm getting to it. Ah, if you had died before you had come to the United States, would that have been a tragedy?
Rāmeśvara: Yes, that would have been a big tragedy for all of us. That is premature. That's the example Prabhupāda is giving. If a man wants to educate his sons, but he dies before they can be educated, then, to him, that is a premature death. So therefore he does not want that. In fact he's afraid, "Please, I don't want to die before I see my sons educated." So that is a fear of death.
Prabhupāda: Therefore death is an obstacle. That is the point.
Rāmeśvara: An obstacle to the goals of his life.
Prabhupāda: One who has no responsibility, that is another thing. But a responsible man wants to finish the responsibility, and if death comes before that, that's an obstacle.
Richard: Um-hm. Okay. Ah, how about smaller obstacles in life, though, than death? I mean this . . .
Prabhupāda: This is the major obstacles, and subordinate to these obstacles there are hundreds and millions of obstacles.
Richard: There are millions of obstacles.
Prabhupāda: Yes, this is the main obstacle.