Prabhupāda: . . . I.A.S. civil service examination before one man is posted in some responsible office. Similarly, to be recognized by Kṛṣṇa, as He says, na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu (BG 18.69), one has to pass examination, severe test of examination. All the big, big devotees we see. Nārada Muni, before becoming Nārada Muni, he had to pass through severe examination, test. So that chance is there in the human form of life, to pass the examination, test. But they are passing this human life with ordinary animal propensities. They are not trained up to pass the examination and be recognized by God. That civilization is lost, Vedic civilization, to prepare the human beings for passing the test, examination for being recognized by God.
- tapasā brahmacaryeṇa
- śamena ca damena vā
- tyāgena satya-śaucābhyāṁ
- yamena niyamena vā
- (SB 6.1.13)
Where he has gone?
Hari-śauri: He's at the top of the . . .
Prabhupāda: These things are required, tapasā brahmacaryeṇa.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: To pass the examination, one must follow a strict, austere life.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa, beginning tapasya, austerity. Brahmacarya, celibacy. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena damena (SB 6.1.13), controlling the senses, controlling the mind. Tyāgena, by renunciation. Satya-śaucābhyām, by following truthfulness and cleanliness. Yamena niyamena vā, by practicing yoga, yama, niyama. These are the different items of being qualified. But all these things can be done by one stroke, kevalayā bhaktyā, by engaging oneself in devotion, vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ.
- kecit kevalayā bhaktyā
- vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ
- aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena
- nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ
- (SB 6.1.15)
One becomes qualified by one stroke of bhakti to Vāsudeva. Just like the sunrise immediately dissipates the fog. Aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. In the Kali-yuga, this one item of bhakti can make one perfectly fit candidate to pass the examination. Aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. What is this nonsense life? There is no tapasya, no spiritual culture; simply like cats and dogs. Last night I was reading, Vāmanadeva created a planet, Sutala, in which Viśvakarmā was ordered to construct big, big houses, palaces, better than in the heavenly planet. And these rascals are going and seeing simply rocks and sand. And what about these palaces and . . .?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: In Koran it is described that there is a very dangerous bridge that one has to pass.
Prabhupāda: Which is described in the Vedas, Vaitaraṇī, cross from the material to the spiritual world.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. And it is fire in both sides, and it is like a razor edge, it could be very thin. And the saintly persons close their eyes and pass it. Kṛṣṇa makes them pass.
Prabhupāda: Similar description is there, bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām (SB 10.14.58). Bhavāmbudhiḥ, the great ocean of material nescience, it becomes vatsa-padam, just like the water containing in the hoof impression of a calf. Bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ param. Exactly animal civilization. Animal does not know what is future, what is past, what is going to happen—nothing. The human civilization has become like that. Professor Kotovsky said: "Swāmījī, after finishing this body, everything is finished." He's a big professor in Moscow. This is their civilization. What do they explain about the lower animals? Wherefrom they come, the birds, beasts, trees, insects?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Where, in Koran?
Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say the modern scientists.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Modern scientists. One theory is the evolutionary process.
Prabhupāda: So wherefrom evolution begins?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: They don't know how it began. Some say it came from water. Just . . . how does life begin? Nobody really knows.
Hari-śauri: They say there has to be certain combination of gases—ammonia, and there has to be water, some hydrogen.
Prabhupāda: They cannot make this gas and combine?
Hari-śauri: This is the way they are testing for life on Mars. This is one of the tests.
Prabhupāda: No, why Mars? In their laboratory they can make gas and mix.
Hari-śauri: Well, they say that they've made amino acids.
Prabhupāda: They cannot make?
Hari-śauri: They've made that, they say.
Prabhupāda: But they cannot produce life.
Hari-śauri: They haven't succeeded in having it develop any further than that.
Prabhupāda: They have not succeeded in a thing which they proposed as the origin of life. This is going on.