(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 20 March 2013, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.12.7)
Allen Ginsberg, the poet, had conversations with Srila Prabhupada. In reading Srila Prabhupada’s conversations, I liked the ones with Allen Ginsberg because he was not Prabhupada‘s disciple. The disciples were too submissive -when they asked a question and got an answer, they never really asked further whereas we would have liked them to have asked further. But Ginsberg asked further. So Ginsberg said, “In many religions, they are not allowing worship of a form of matter. They say this is idol worship because God can never be captured in matter.”
So, Ginsberg was getting ready for a debate with Prabhupada. And Prabhupada’s answer to him was, “Matter doesn’t exist.” That finished it, “It’s all spiritual.”