Go to Vaniquotes | Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanimedia


Vanisource - the complete essence of Vedic knowledge


720921 - Morning Walk - Los Angeles

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada



720921MW-LOS ANGELES - September 21, 1972 - 14:02 Minutes



Prabhupāda: Don't think it like that. Don't put that. We cannot accept that.

Karandhara: Well, see, they use that, because they've made relative successes.

Śyāmasundara: They have mechanical hearts also.

Prabhupāda: So then why people die? Put mechanical heart, make . . .

Karandhara: They say, "We've done things in the past . . ."

Prabhupāda: Ah?

Karandhara: "We've made successes in the past, and there is no reason why we won't be able to make successes in the future."

Śyāmasundara: What success?

Prabhupāda: Nonsense. Childish. (laughs)

Śyāmasundara: They have a mechanical heart for people whose hearts fail. "If we install it in their heart, they could live."

Prabhupāda: That . . . our reply is that it is not the heart, but the soul. The soul has to live in this body, so you change the heart, he'll go and transfer himself to the heart. It is not the heart, it is the soul.

That is . . . that confirms that there is a soul, particular soul, who has got a span of life. Now you change this chair in the room. I have to live for so many days. Suppose I am sitting in one chair; you change the chair. That's all. I am not the chair.

Śyāmasundara: They sit back down again.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Karandhara: Well, they say that because that soul cannot be dissected, or chemically analyzed, therefore they won't accept . . . (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: But you see it is existing. Your knowledge is imperfect. You cannot do it. But that it is existing, that is the proof.

Śyāmasundara: Theoretically they accepted anti-matter before they could (indistinct coversation between devotees).

Karandhara: . . . (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: One of the . . . one of the defects in the modern discoveries in the scientists is that they completely ignore one very fundamental important question. They gamble . . . first of all, when they see the phenomena of nature, they ask why and how—why it is happening and how it is happening.

For example like Newton, when he discovered his gravitational theory, he was thinking, "Why the apple is falling down?" Either he was trying to search some answer, why it is happening and how it is happening. So his theory of gravitation developed on studying his inquiry. But he did not ask who is causing this falling of the apple.

So he neglected the subjective aspect of the question, so he took the objective understanding of the inquiring. So this way he said: "Oh, apple is falling, so because of the laws of gravitation." (laughter) And if he asked, "Who is causing this apple fall down . . .?"

Prabhupāda: Who has caused the . . .

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. He . . .

Prabhupāda: . . . law of gravitation.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Then he should have accepted that as . . .

Prabhupāda: Then he is foolish. (break) . . . Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we have to deal with so many fools and rascals. Unlimited number of fools and rascals.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Going back yesterday's theory of relativity, so the . . . in the material as well as spiritual platforms, everything's relative. So it doesn't contradict in . . .

Prabhupāda: Spiritual platform there is no relativity. There is only absolute. Material world: one plus one equal to two; one minus one equal to zero. In the spiritual world, one plus one equals one; one minus one equals one. This is spiritual. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). One minus one equals one. That is the description in the Īśopaniṣad.

Śyāmasundara: That's like mathematics of absolute numbers. Do you know that system . . .

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes

Śyāmasundara: . . . where that's true, one minus one equals to one? (break)

Prabhupāda:

. . . sviṣṭasya sūktasya ca buddhi-dattayoḥ
avicyuto 'rthaḥ kavibhir nirūpito
yad-uttamaśloka-guṇānuvarṇanam
(SB 1.5.22)

Therefore a man's education, culture, his acts of piety, charity—so many good things are there—with all these things one should try to glorify the Lord. That is perfect. If there is a great scientist, great mathematician, he should try to prove the glories of the Lord whenever . . . (indistinct) . . . that is his success. Chemist, he should try to glorify the Supreme by his chemical knowledge. That is perfection.

svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya
saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam
(SB 1.2.13)

That is our philosophy, that everyone should utilize his talents for serving Kṛṣṇa. That is perfect. Never mind you are chemist, you are mathematician, you are engineer, or whatever you may, you have got a particular position within this universe. So if in your particular position you try to satisfy the Supreme, then it is perfect.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the living entities are parts and parcels of the Supreme.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So . . . but we do not say this about the relative terms. We are small living particles, and the God is a Supreme Being, a Supreme Soul, so . . . and these small living particles are serving parts relative to the Supreme Soul?

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is relative. Because this finger is working as part of my body, so it has got relative value. If it is separated from the body it has no value. It has no value. If this finger is cut and thrown to the ground, you can say: "Oh, it is somebody's finger." But as finger it has no value.

You can say: "This finger," but that simply saying a finger has no meaning. It is ordinary matter. Similarly, we are relatively situated with the Absolute, and if we act relatively, according to our position, then it is perfect. So part and parcel of God means to have every one of us . . . everything is meant for God's service. That is part and parcel.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the absoluteness applies only to the Complete Whole?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (pause) . . . (indistinct) . . . advaita: the Complete Whole. (sound of waves) The sea is foaming.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Tomorrow is the full moon.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Phālguna-pūrṇimā.

Prabhupāda: Is there any such theory that the moon has been taken away from the earth, therefore Pacific Ocean has become? Is that theory?

Karandhara: That the moon was part of the earth?

Śyāmasundara: They think that the moon was part of the earth, then the earth split up, and a piece of it went out and became the moon orbit, and the Pacific Ocean was formed in the hole.

Prabhupāda: Then how it became brilliant? (laughter)

Karandhara: The birds . . . (break) They've got huge beaks. They see the fish, and then they scoop them up out of the water.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Karandhara: They glide along like that on the surface of the water until they see a fish, then they dive down and catch in their beaks. When they open their mouth, it's about this big. They're huge.

Prabhupāda: They are also the husband and wife. (laughter) Viṣaya karuṇa sarva dakṣaya. Sex life is everywhere, by nature's arrangement.

Śyāmasundara: Their wings, they always fly in perfect formation.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Śyāmasundara: They always fly in perfect formation. They never . . . they're always . . . their wings are always together, moving, and they don't even see each other. So it's a . . . there's some kind of communication that guides them.

Prabhupāda: They simply, they go on like that? They don't stop?

Karandhara: Yes, they have their nests. They live on rocks, like this one.

Prabhupāda: They can float also?

Śyāmasundara: Yes. They fly just a little bit over the water.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Very . . . almost touching. (break) (end)