SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 3 Text 29
prakrter guna-sammudhah
sajjante guna-karmasu
tan akrtsna-vido mandan
krtsna-vin na vicalayet

prakrteh--of material nature; guna--by the modes; sammudhah--befooled by material identification; sajjante--they become engaged; guna-karmasu--in material activities; tan--those; akrtsna-vidah--persons with a poor fund of knowledge; mandan--lazy to understand self-realization; krtsna-vit--one who is in factual knowledge; na--not; vicalayet--should try to agitate.

TRANSLATION

Bewildered by the modes of material nature, the ignorant fully engage themselves in material activities and become attached. But the wise should not unsettle them, although these duties are inferior due to the performers' lack of knowledge.

JOURNAL:

Srila Prabhupada writes; Social work, nationalism and altruism are some of the activities for such materially designated persons. Under the spell of such designations, they are always busy in the material field; for them spiritual realization is a myth, and so they are not interested.

This seems to set up a dichotomy since ISKCON is based on ideas like book distribution and feeding people. So, Srila Prabhupada at the end of his purport explains;

Men who are ignorant cannot appreciate activities in Krsna consciousness, and therefore Lord Krsna advises us not to disturb them and simply waste valuable time. But the devotees of the Lord are more kind than the Lord because they understand the purpose of the Lord. Consequently they undertake all kinds of risks, even to the point of approaching ignorant men to try to engage them in the acts of Krsna consciousness, which are absolutely necessary for the human being.