Observation (Lectures)

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Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Science means simply theoretical knowledge is not sufficient. Observation and experiment is necessary.

Lecture on BG 1.23 -- London, July 19, 1973:

Practical examination. Those who are science students, in BAC, they have to give, pass theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge also. Simply theoretical knowledge, "So much hydrogen, oxygen, makes water," that is theoretical. But when you mix up hydrogen, oxygen gas, and actually prepare water, that is called practical. So that is science. Science means simply theoretical knowledge is not sufficient. Observation and experiment. Experimental knowledge. That is called vijñānam. So by practical knowledge you should be well-acquainted with God. That is brāhmaṇa's business.

So scientific proposition is based on observation and experiment.

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1968:

So scientific, I mean to say, proposition is based on observation and experiment. So this is simply observation, that those who are atheistic person... Just like medical science. There are many doctors. They are observing when a man dies, observing, feeling the pulse, taking pulse beating, offering oxygen gas, trying to save him. All of a sudden the man dies, and he is sure to die, but they cannot simply observe the symptoms. They cannot observe what is that thing which is gone now. They cannot say that. Neither it is possible for them to say. But their theory that combination of matter makes symptoms of life possible, they should prove it by experiment. Then it is complete science. Observation and experiment. But there is no such experiment till now. You trace out the history of the human society. Of course, in the modern world they cannot trace out chronological history more than three thousand years. That's all.

Science means observation and experiment.

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:

Prabhupāda:

atha cainaṁ nitya-jātaṁ

nityaṁ vā manyase mṛtam

tathāpi tvaṁ mahā-bāho

nainaṁ śocitum arhasi

(BG 2.26)

So this is the opinion of the modern scientists or the Buddha philosophy, that soul, there is nothing like soul separately, but by combination of matter, at a certain stage, the living symptoms are manifest. And as it is combination of several chemicals, so it is also finished as soon as the body is finished. There is no, nothing as soul. That is their opinion. So for argument's sake, Kṛṣṇa says, "If you think like that, that the body is all in all..., by certain condition, the material elements combine, and again it is finished..." So Arjuna was declining to fight. So the, for argument's sake, Kṛṣṇa says that "If you think like that, the body's everything, so it will be destroyed automatically. So why you are so much afraid?" Suppose I have combined some chemicals and it is destroyed... Say, bottles of chemicals, some way or other, it is destroyed. So who laments for that? You can purchase another bottle. That is simply for argument's sake. Actually, that is not the position. Now, if you think that the combination of chemicals can produce living force, then why don't you do it in the laboratory? The chemicals are there. You can combine and just produce a small ant, moving. Then it is... Science means observation and experiment. So if you simply observe, and cannot make any experiment, practical, so then that is not science. That is only theory. That is not possible. No scientist has ever made any living entity by combination of chemicals in the laboratory. Nobody can do that.

The other party, those who are inductive, follower of inductive process, they want to see actually by experiment and observation how man is mortal. They want to study, "This man dies. That man dies. That man dies. That man dies." Therefore they make a general conclusion, "Well, all men are mortal."

Lecture on BG 4.3-6 -- New York, July 18, 1966:

There are two kinds of processes of acquiring knowledge. One process is deductive, and the other process is inductive. Those who are student of logic, you know that there are two processes: deductive knowledge and inductive knowledge. Deductive knowledge is considered to be more perfect. And what is that? Just like "Man is mortal." This is a truth, accepted. How man is mortal, nobody's going to enter into discussion. It is accepted that man is mortal. Now, Mr. Johnson is a man. So he is mortal. This is the deductive conclusion. Because man is mortal and Johnson is a man, therefore he's mortal. This is the process of deductive knowledge. Now, how this man is mortal, this truth established? The other party, those who are inductive, follower of inductive process, they want to see actually by experiment and observation how man is mortal. They want to study, "This man dies. That man dies. That man dies. That man dies." Therefore they make a general conclusion, "Well, all men are mortal."

If you try to observe a mountain from distant place, it will appear as a hazy cloud. And if you go still nearer, you will find something, greenish rock. The subject of observation is the same thing, but you are looking in different way on account of your different angle of vision.

Lecture on BG 4.11 -- Geneva, June 1, 1974:

The Brahman feature is impersonal. Just like... Try to understand that there is sun, the sun globe, and within the sun globe, there is the sun deity, and outside the sun globe, there is sunshine. All of them are light. The... Within the sun globe, there is light, and in the outside the sun globe, there is light, and the sunshine is also light, but still, there are differences. Another example is: just like if you try to observe a mountain from distant place, it will appear as a hazy cloud. And if you go still nearer, you will find something, greenish rock. The subject of observation is the same thing, but you are looking in different way on account of your different angle of vision.

Scientific knowledge means observation, then experiment.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

"I am speaking to you a process of knowledge, jñānam." Jñānam means knowledge. Te: "unto you." Ahaṁ sa-vijñānam. Sa-vijñānam means... Jñānam is theoretical, and vijñānam means practical. Just like in scientific knowledge, the student has to pass both theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. Theoretical... "Combination of this chemical and that chemical makes this chemical," this is theoretical knowledge. But when you mix these two chemicals or three chemicals and produce that object, that is practical. Recently, I may say, in California University, one learned professor came there to speak about the evolutionary theory of chemicals, and he said that life is produced, perhaps you know, from four chemicals. But when one student he said that "If I supply these four chemicals, whether you can produce life?" In answer to this, he said, "That I cannot say." That is imperfect knowledge. If you say, "Life is produced from chemicals," then you must make experimental demonstration, by mixing those chemicals, you produce life. That is called vijñānam, practical demonstration. Otherwise it is not perfect. Scientific knowledge means observation, then experiment. If you fail in your experiment, that is not scientific knowledge. It must be experimented.

Science means observation and experiment.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

Science means observation and experiment. If you are observing something, then you must experiment. Jñānaṁ vijñānam. In the previous verses we have already studied that jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam (BG 7.2). Jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam. Theoretical knowledge, that is observation. And sa-vijñānam means experiment. If you say, if you have observed that life is produced of chemical, then make experiment. Then it is science; otherwise it is hodge-podge. It has no meaning. Life is never produced of matter; matter is produced out of life. This is the... Therefore we are fragmental matter, life. We living entities, small portion, very small portion. That is also given in the śāstras: keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). One ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair, that is the magnitude of soul.

Now there are so many observation, atomic observation. Proton, neutron, they are observing. And now, when that observation is complete, when they are put into experimental knowledge, that is called vijñānam.

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976:

Jñānam means knowledge. And vijñānam means particular knowledge. Just like in scientific word there are knowledge and scientific knowledge or theoretical knowledge and experimental knowledge, two kinds of knowledge. Science... In the field of scientific knowledge there are things, just like observation and experiment. Things are going on. The scientists are observing that "This things is being done." Now there are so many observation, atomic observation. Proton, neutron, they are observing. And now, when that observation is complete, when they are put into experimental knowledge, that is called vijñānam. So Kṛṣṇa says that "I shall explain to you jñānam, theoretical knowledge, with practical experiment." Not that you have to accept this knowledge blindly. Practical experiment. Jñānaṁ te 'haṁ pravakṣyāmy anasū... Jñānaṁ vijñāna-sahitam.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

At the present moment people are so down that they cannot also worship. It requires very vigilance, observation, that they are doing nicely. Otherwise they fall down.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, April 18, 1974:

In Dvāpara-yuga the temple worship. Now this... We have got in India, especially in South India, many temples, more than two thousand, three thousand years old. So temple worship is very old, since five thousand, six thousand years. So that is also not possible. At the present moment people are so down that they cannot also worship. It requires very vigilance, observation, that they are doing nicely. Otherwise they fall down. There are so many temples in India, they are no more taken care. Therefore somebody, they are against opening temple. That's a fact. But still, it has to be done. Anyway... But in the Kali-yuga, kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. What you attained in the Satya-yuga by meditation, what you achieved in the Tretā-yuga by performing big, big sacrifices, and what you attained by temple worship very nicely, you can attain the same result, kalau in this age, hari-kīrtanāt, by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

The Darwin's theory, because he's a rascal, he thinks that the struggle is the only business. His only observation is that the struggle is the only business: "Survival of the fittest." But he does not know how to become fit. He does not know.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

Vaiṣṇava means who is unhappy by seeing other's unhappy. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, śoce tato vimukha-cetasa māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān: (SB 7.9.43) "My Lord, so far I am concerned, I have no problem." Naivod..., udvije para duratyaya-vaitaraṇyāḥ. "This vaitaraṇya, this ocean of nescience..." What is explained here as punar bhava, this is nescience ocean, again and again, swimming. If you perpetually remain in the ocean, and if you have to perpetually struggle for swimming, because in the ocean you have no shelter... Land is your place, but if you are placed in the ocean, however expert... You may be very expert swimmer, but that does not mean that you are happy. You can go on struggling, swimming, very expert swimming, but that does not mean happiness. Similarly, here, in the ocean of nescience, all these rascals are swimming. They are making plans to become happy, but they are not happy. That's a fact. They can try to become happy. That is natural. Everyone unhappy, he wants to become happy. That is called struggle for existence. But they do not know except this. The Darwin's theory, because he's a rascal, he thinks that the struggle is the only business. His only observation is that the struggle is the only business: "Survival of the fittest." But he does not know how to become fit. He does not know. That is mentioned here, apunar bhava-darśanam (SB 1.8.25). That is fitness, no more struggling, struggling stopped. So that process is not known.

If you do not experiment practically in the laboratory, simply observation is not sufficient.

Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:

You cannot approach the Supreme by your these blunt material senses. That is not possible. Therefore His name is Adhokṣaja. Adhah-kṛta akṣaja-jñānaṁ yatra. The adhokṣaja means... Jñāna means experimental knowledge. Just like these modern scientists, they believe in experimental knowledge. But they are so rascal, in their own case, they will say, "Yes, we are trying. In future it will be successful." Why not experimental knowledge now? If you say that life is generated from matter... You are writing so many books and getting Nobel Prize. Why not by experimental knowledge prove that "Here are some matters and chemicals and here is life"? That they say, "We are trying." This is their escape. But actually, science means two things: observation and experiment. If you do not experiment practically in the laboratory, simply observation is not sufficient. That is not science. That is theory.

Science means observation and experiment. There must be experiment also.

Lecture on SB 1.16.1 -- Los Angeles, December 29, 1973:

Why you are taking the post of a teacher? You are a cheater. You have no full knowledge, and still, you are putting some theory to mislead the people. Just like they are putting on this theory that matter, from matter, life has come. "All right, matter, life has come from matter. Just prove it. Take matter, whatever materials you want, take, and produce life." "That we shall see in future." Then why you are talking this nonsense? Science means observation and experiment. There must be experiment also. But without experiment, they are putting on this theory and getting Nobel Prize. Although it is not a fact. We know. We. We are followers of Vedic principles. We know that matter or life, everything comes from life, not from matter. We know it certain. How do you know? Kṛṣṇa says. Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "Everything comes from Me." And Kṛṣṇa is the supreme life. So we have no difficulty, because we know, mattaḥ sarvaṁ prava... Sarvam means matter and life both, everything. There are two things: matter and life. There is no third thing. So Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: (BG 10.8) "I am the original source of everything." "Everything" means matter and... There are two things: matter and life.

So who is giving this body? Daiva-netreṇa, by superior observation. Kṛṣṇa is seeing that "This living entity wants a body so that he can eat anything up to stool."

Lecture on SB 3.26.18 -- Bombay, December 27, 1974:

There is a common saying that "Not a blade of grass can move without the sanction of God." Actually, that is the fact. Everyone has got different propensities, and he cannot do it without the sanction of God. This is God's business. Just see. Ananta-koṭi, innumerable jīva, and He has to give sanction and see his business and witness, also give the result. He is witness, and He has to give the result also. Because he is doing independently, he must enjoy or suffer the activities. That is going on. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa. He has to give different types of body. Suppose I want to eat everything—never mind how much nonsense and nuisance it is. There are so many men, they eat everything. So he has to be offered the body of a pig, no discrimination, even stool accepted. So who is giving this body? Daiva-netreṇa, by superior observation. Kṛṣṇa is seeing that "This living entity wants a body so that he can eat anything up to stool." So He has to judge; He has to give. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1).

They are asking food from America.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 12, 1975:

Acyutānanda: According to your observation, godlessness is responsible for scarcity. Then what about Communist countries compared with India?

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Viṣṇujana: If godlessness is the cause of scarcity, why the Communist countries are so affluent?

Prabhupāda: They are asking food from America. (laughter)

Guest (2): Why is Kṛṣṇa consciousness not spread in China, Russia, Pakistan and Bangladesh? (laughter)

Prabhupāda: You come forward. I shall train you.

First of all to study the situation by observation, and then practically, when you are able to make an experiment, then it is science. Otherwise, theoretical knowledge has no meaning.

Lecture on SB 5.5.14 -- Vrndavana, November 2, 1976:

Bhakti-yoga is not sentiment, it is a science. Therefore we have to take it from authorized Vedic instruction. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has advised that science means you have to take it from the Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means there is no mistake, there is no cheating, there is no imperfect senses. Everything is perfect. So science means, which is perfect knowledge. Not perhaps, it may be, that is not science, theory. Theory is not science. Science, the most important items of science is observation and experiment. First of all to study the situation by observation, and then practically, when you are able to make an experiment, then it is science. Otherwise, theoretical knowledge has no meaning.

Science means not only observation but experiment also. That is complete. Otherwise theory. It is not science.

Lecture on SB 7.9.6 -- Mayapur, February 26, 1977:

Our Doctor Svarūpa Dāmodara in the California University... One big professor came to lecture on chemical evolution, and he challenged immediately, that "If I give you the chemicals, can you produce life?" He said, "That I cannot say." So this is their position. They cannot prove it. They cannot do it. Science means not only observation but experiment also. That is complete. Otherwise theory. It is not science. So they have got different theories. That anyone can put forward. That is not But real fact is that Kṛṣṇa is spiritual and He's the Supreme. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). This is the Vedic injunction. God is the supreme nitya, eternal, and the Supreme Living Being. In the dictionary also it is said, "God means the Supreme Being." They could not understand Supreme Living Being. But in the Vedas it is said not only Supreme Being, but Supreme Living Being. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That is the description of God.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Just like child sees the explosion. He does not know that there, behind the explosion, there is a management of a superior being. This is childish observation.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.9 -- Mayapur, April 2, 1975:

Pañcadraviḍa: The sun. There are so many explosions are going on in the sun every day.

Prabhupāda: That is the same thing that, that vṛścika-taṇḍula-nyāya. Explosion is going on, but behind that all these explosions, all these transformations, is the Supreme Lord. That is here. And it is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā:

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ

sūyate sa-carācaram

hetunānena kaunteya

jagad viparivartate

(BG 9.10)

They do not see who is behind this explosion. That is their ignorance or poor fund of knowledge. We have got practical experience that no explosion takes place without the touch of a human being. Similarly, even there was explosion going on, but there is a touch of the Supreme Being. That is the statement in the Bhagavad... Mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10). We are seeing the explosion. Just like child sees the explosion. He does not know that there, behind the explosion, there is a management of a superior being. This is childish observation. Because in śāstra we see that behind everything the hand of the Supreme Being is there, and by our practical experience also, we see that matter does not act automatically without being touched by a living being, so how we can accept this argument, that the explosion is going on automatically? What is the evidence? There is no evidence.

Māyā is instrumental. Māyā is not all in all. Material nature is not all in all. That is foolish observation.

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.12 -- Mayapur, April 5, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Vaiṣṇavas, they are the best friend of the society, best friend, Vaiṣṇava. Patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ. The Vaiṣṇava is always thinking how to deliver these fallen souls who are so much captivated with this false philosophy of hedonism—"Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy." This is called hedonism. So they are always thinking how to deliver them. Advaita Prabhu did it; therefore He is Īśvara. Prahlāda Mahārāja did it. Any Vaiṣṇava who is actually feeling for the poor, conditioned souls, he must make arrangement for delivering these rascals from the death knell of ignorance. They do not know that nature is working, as it is said here, māyayā. Māyayā. The material nature means māyā. That is an energy, or agent of Kṛṣṇa, to act something, instrumental. Māyā is instrumental. Māyā is not all in all. Material nature is not all in all. That is foolish observation. This materialistic theory of creation—"There was a chunk, and there was..." What is called?

Devotees: Explosion. Blowing. Big bang. Shock.

Prabhupāda: What is that word?

Acyutānanda: Big bang.

Prabhupāda: Big bang?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Explosion.

Prabhupāda: Explosion, yes. So they are seeing that explosion and the chunk, but they cannot explain how the chunk became exploded.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

So a very learned scholar, brāhmaṇa, and a dog. So materially, how they can be equal? If I say, "The President Ford and a dog is on the same level," then it will be very nice? Spiritually, we are one. That is real observation.

Arrival -- Philadelphia, July 11, 1975:

Kīrtanānanda: What was the question?

Prabhupāda: That we have distinction between man and woman, black and white. Materially, there is distinction. You are differently dressed; I am differently dressed. But spiritually, there is no distinction. (break)

...sampanne

brāhmaṇe gavi hastini

śuni caiva śva-pāke ca

paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

(BG 5.18)

So a very learned scholar, brāhmaṇa, and a dog. So materially, how they can be equal? If I say, "The President Ford and a dog is on the same level," then it will be very nice? Spiritually, we are one. That is real observation. Artificially, to make man and woman equal, that may be artificially your sentiment, but actually it is not the fact. (break) ...other university in Philadelphia?

General Lectures

Simply observation will not do. You must make experiment. You make a log standing like that, keep anything, and the, it, water must go.

Speech to Maharaja and Maharani and Conversations Before and After -- Indore, December 11, 1970:

Prabhupāda: These are not legends. They are fact. Those who are not intelligent, they take it as legend. There are so many descriptions which is not within our experience—we take it as legend. Now, I gave some gentleman the example that the coconut tree, on the tree there are coconut and there are one-kilo water. Now, how the water is transported there? Where is the pipe? Where is the pumping? Because you have got experience if you want to get water high, you have to pump and you must have pipe. So where is the pipe and where is the pumping machine?

Indian man (1): In the tree.

Prabhupāda: So as you see, actually it is packed up nice, two pounds of water, very nice... And so nicely packed. How it has happened? What is the explanation of the scientists? According to their calculation, there must be pipe. There must be pumping. Somebody must be pumping. Where are all these? Then is it legend? It is fact. Now you explain how it is happening. If you are scientist, you explain how it is happening. Or you do that. Simply observation will not do. You must make experiment. You make a log standing like that, keep anything, and the, it, water must go.

You have seen in the play that when his mother was pregnant, the demigods were taking her to the prison just to keep her observation, that the child which is born of a atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, may not be missed. They wanted to kill him also.

Lecture -- Honolulu, May 25, 1975:

Prahlāda Mahārāja is one of the great personalities who knows what is religion. So he practiced it. Unfortunately, he was born of a atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu. But by the grace of Nārada Muni he knew what is religion. You have seen in the play that when his mother was pregnant, the demigods were taking her to the prison just to keep her observation, that the child which is born of a atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, may not be missed. They wanted to kill him also. But although he was born of an atheist father, demoniac father, he became a great devotee by the instruction of Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni took his poor mother. He asked the demigods, "Why you are harassing this lady? After all, she is woman. She is dependent." So by the order of Nārada Muni they let her go, and her husband was engaged in tapasya, so she had no protection. Therefore Nārada Muni took her at his āśrama and instructed her about God consciousness. That is the duty of saintly person. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, while he was within the womb of his mother, he heard all those instructions. His mother in due course of time—that is the nature of woman—she forgot the instruction. But Prahlāda Mahārāja remembered; therefore he became a great devotee. This is the history of Prahlāda Mahārāja.

"Because I am playing just like ordinary human being, those who are foolish persons, mūḍha, less intelligent, they accept Me as ordinary man. They do not know the greatness behind Me. They do not know. That I am the Supreme Lord." Because they do not know, therefore, simply by superficial observation, that "He is playing just like ordinary man," that "He is the chariot driver of Arjuna..."

General Lecture -- (location & date unknown):

Guest: Whose disciple was Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: He was also disciple of Sandipani Muni. Everyone has to become disciple. That is the Vedic system. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ gurum evābhigacchet. Without becoming disciple, nobody can understand.

Guest: No, but Kṛṣṇa was Supreme God.

Prabhupāda: That not... Supreme God... But He was playing just like human being. Supreme God we know by His activities. But He played the part of human being. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam: (BG 9.11) "Because I am playing just like ordinary human being, those who are foolish persons, mūḍha, less intelligent, they accept Me as ordinary man." Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ: "They do not know the greatness behind Me. They do not know." Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. Mama bhūta-maheśvaram: "That I am the Supreme Lord." Because they do not know, therefore, simply by superficial observation, that "He is playing just like ordinary man," that "He is the chariot driver of Arjuna..." Now, somebody may say, "How Kṛṣṇa can be the Supreme Personality of Godhead? He was ordinary chariot driver of Arjuna. He was ordinary cowherds boy." Muhyanti yat sūrayayaḥ. Very great sages, great saintly persons, also sometimes become bewildered.

Philosophy Discussions

They don't think there is God. They think that nature, there was a chunk, and the creation was there. And wherefrom the chunk came? That is imperfect observation.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

So wonderful things are happening in the material nature due to the will of the Supreme. Everything happening is the same process; it is undergoing the process, but the method, pushed by God, it takes automatically. Just like He created this material nature. It is in the beginning nonmanifest, then gradually it grows three qualities, and by the interaction of qualities so many things come out—the sky comes, and as soon as the sky comes out, there is sound; sound comes, as soon as sound has come out, the ear comes; the controller of the ear comes..., so many things—one after another, one after another, one after another. So the pushing is so perfect that all other things come automatically in perfect order. But foolish people, they are thinking that things are coming automatically out of it, without any background. They don't think there is God. They think that nature, there was a chunk, and the creation was there. And wherefrom the chunk came? That is imperfect observation. Perfect knowledge is you take Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ: (BG 9.10) "under My superintendence." And that is our practical experience. When I manufacture this table, the raw materials, matter, is there, but it has not automatically become table. I have made it by instrument, by my brain.

"Under My direction the material energy is working." So the wonderful working of the material nature is not perfect observation. Behind the wonderful work of the material nature there is Kṛṣṇa, God.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Nature is instrumental. Just like the potter: his wheel is going around and the clay is making a pot, but the original cause is the potter. He has given force to the wheel. After the wheel is running, then so many pots are coming out. So nature... Foolish people are seeing that the wheel is moving. They do not see that behind the movement of the wheel there is a potter who has given force. So there is no question of nature. Everything is God, Kṛṣṇa. This is imperfect vision, that the wheel is moving without any direction. So this kind of knowledge is imperfect. Real knowledge is, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, you take it from Bhagavad-gītā that mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ: (BG 9.10) "Under My direction the material energy is working." So the wonderful working of the material nature is not perfect observation. Behind the wonderful work of the material nature there is Kṛṣṇa, God.

Yes. So far direct perception is concerned, it is like that. But indirect perception, taken from authorities, that is different.

Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:

Yāmasundara: In fact, he calls the soul a bundle of perceptions, that it is nothing but a set or sequence of ideas.

Prabhupāda: But as soon as he says "ideas," there must be some concrete things.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. He admits that the external world is full of concrete things, but he thinks that we are also one of those things because we are only a bundle of perceptions. Our consciousness is only made up of our observations of material nature.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So far direct perception is concerned, it is like that. But indirect perception, taken from authorities, that is different.

Yes. If one is actually aware of God and His instructions, then the kingdom of God is within himself.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Hayagrīva: For Kant, the true religion is the divine ethical state. He is..., he was fond of quoting the Christian Bible. When Christ was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, 'Lo here' or 'Lo there,' for behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Now Kant footnotes this passage by saying, "Here a kingdom of God is represented not according to a particular covenant, but moral, knowable through assisted reason." So again he insists on the priority of God within, on the priority of ethical action and the freedom to accept ethical action. And this is epitomized in his famous line, "The starry sky above and the moral law within." The starry sky above is the abode of God, is very far away, but the moral law within is very close. Thus he emphasizes that the kingdom of God is within you.

Prabhupāda: Yes. If one is actually aware of God and His instructions, then the kingdom of God is within himself.

Idea means, scientist means they see something, observation.

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Idea means, scientist means they see something, observation. That is called observation. So observation, in the beginning there may be hazy. Just like two scientists, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose and Marconi were, both of them were trying to capture sound. This, I mean to say, radio. They are theorizing that sound can be captured.

Śyāmasundara: That's an idea.

Prabhupāda: Not idea. Somehow or other—they are both scientists—they thought it (that) the sound can be captured. So they were making research. Now, they said—Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, he found first, how sound can be captured but because he was Indian, the British government did not give him the credit. They gave it to Marconi and it was discovered (indistinct) Jagadish Chandra Bose. Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose personally told. I was present in the meeting in my childhood. That is a fact. One Baptist Mission Church in College Square, I saw Sir Jagadish, he spoke there. Then you challenge that "Now I shall give something which no others, which is (indistinct)". So he gave that the trees have sense, sensitive (indistinct). They can feel when you cut. That machine (indistinct). In Calcutta I have seen Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose Institute, we have got in (indistinct).

That is science, we do not know.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. There is one common observation also in science. They say that nothing can come out of nothing. That is already there. But it is not known, due to our imperfect senses.

Prabhupāda: That is science, we do not know.

Śyāmasundara: Nothing can come out of nothing.

Prabhupāda: Nothing. If something has come out, then background must be something. Therefore our definition is janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), everything, the root cause, the original source, is the Brahman, Absolute Truth. So whatever we are exhibiting, just like the other day, whatever we are thinking, there is some existence. Otherwise it cannot come to our ideas and thinking. The same scientific theory: nothing can come out of nothing.

Yes. What you can perceive, that may be wrong thing also, because you are not perfect.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

The universe is not evolving. It is perfect since it was created. But because we have no perfect knowledge, you are thinking it is evolving.

Śyāmasundara: Because he... Because my observations of the universe are evolving toward a unity. This is his criterion for truth, that only that which I can perceive is true, or which I can experience.

Prabhupāda: Yes. What you can perceive, that may be wrong thing also, because you are not perfect. But because you have got a poor fund of knowledge, therefore you are thinking that imperfect thing it is also perfect.

Yes. That is very nice. Morality means to execute the orders of God.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Hayagrīva: He sees the lover of God as being a morally free person. He writes, "As St. Augustine's maxim, 'If you but love God you may do as you incline,' is morally one of the profoundest of observations, yet it is pregnant for such persons with passports beyond the bounds of conventional morality."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is very nice. Morality means to execute the orders of God. If God is satisfied then it is moral. Otherwise our so-called convention in this material conception of life, "This is good," "This is bad," they are described as mental concoction. We must have clear orders from God, and if we execute it for the satisfaction of God, this means, in other words, morality means the action which satisfies God, the Supreme Lord. That is morality.

Record is there already, Mahābhārata, and those who have seen, they have confirmed it.

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Hayagrīva: He says, for him he says, "There is but one sure road of access to truth: the road of patient, cooperative inquiry, operating by means of observation, experiment, record, and controlled reflection."

Prabhupāda: Record is there already, Mahābhārata, and those who have seen, they have confirmed it. Vyāsadeva has confirmed, Nārada has confirmed. Arjuna talked with Him personally, he has confirmed, and everything is there in the record, but you don't believe. Then how you can be convinced? Neither you have got perfect senses to see. Then what is the way to convince you? You will remain always in darkness. There is no way out. You can, within your dark well, you can go on imagining, Dr. Frog, but you will never have perfect knowledge.

This is sense observation. It not nonsensical; it is complete sense, sensible, that now this soul has passed and quit this body—death.

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Devānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, when death comes, at the moment... Before death, the whole body is alive, completely alive and functioning, and in a split second it's all finished, completely dead. That would be an evidence that it is not a chemical combination. If it were a chemical combination it would die slowly.

Prabhupāda: The reason is that the soul, when quitting this body, there is examination what kind of body he is going to get. Superior examination. Either you call nature or God, there is superior... According to his karma he will get a body. Now, that requires a little time. So what kind of body this soul will get? As soon as it is decided, then immediately he's transferred to that kind of body, and this body remains there.

Śyāmasundara: This would also, it seems, satisfy his second requirement for verification, that sense observation or information ultimately derived by means of sense observation is necessary for verification.

Prabhupāda: This is sense observation. It not nonsensical; it is complete sense, sensible, that now this soul has passed and quit this body—death. So the body is not the man; the soul is the man. This is quite sensible. It is not nonsensical. Otherwise how do you explain? You explain what is that distinction between dead body and living body. What is your sensible explanation, according to this philosopher?

But the true knowledge, that ultimately Brahman is the ultimate cause.

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Śyāmasundara: In order to find out what is a genuine proposition, he says that a genuine proposition presents the sense content and shows how things stand if it is true.

Prabhupāda: This is sense content, that sarvaṁ khalv, "Everything is Brahman." Everything is Brahman.

Śyāmasundara: But how does that give us sense content? What does that mean to my sense observations?

Devānanda: Isn't there a way... There is a way of perceiving that everything is Brahman. It can be perceived. We cannot perceive it now, but it can be perceived.

Prabhupāda: But the true knowledge, that ultimately Brahman is the ultimate cause. So Brahman has got different energies, and the multiple energies, they are combined together, and they manifest in different phases. Therefore Brahman is the cause of all causes. That is the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Brahman means wherefrom everything is emanating.

No. There is standard. There is standard. That is also authority. The Vedas says, tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, abhigacchet śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. These are the qualities—śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. So accepting an authority as spiritual master, you have to check this, whether he is śrotriyam, whether he is brahma-niṣṭham.

Philosophy Discussion on Edmund Husserl:

Devotee (2): Well, even when one chooses a spiritual master, it's not as if he accepts anybody that comes along. He must have some criteria for choosing that person, and that criterion must begin with an observation of phenomena because that's all he has to work with. It's not as if you take any bhogī who is walking down the street and say, "All right, you become my spiritual master."

Prabhupāda: No. There is standard. There is standard. That is also authority. The Vedas says, tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, abhigacchet śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). These are the qualities—śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. So accepting an authority as spiritual master, you have to check this, whether he is śrotriyam, whether he is brahma-niṣṭham. Śrotriyam means whether he has heard perfectly from his spiritual master, and by hearing, whether he is completely, firmly standing on brahma (indistinct). These are the two qualities. So anything, you have to learn the same thing from authority.

He is saying that he had studied only some crazy people.

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Devotee: Freud's case is interesting, that he formed all of his conclusions by his observations of what he calls neurotic and psychotic patients. He observed mentally ill people, neurosis and psychosis, and he drew his conclusions about both sick and normal psychology from his observation of abnormal. He observed the normal behavior of neurotic people, psychotic people, crazy people, and from their behavior he tried to infer all about human psychology. So not only was he on bodily platform, but his only subject matter was the insane. So how can he draw valid conclusions about behavior?

Prabhupāda: So what is your answer?

Devotee: Yes, his observation is correct, but at the same time it doesn't invalidate Freud's use of psychology for supposedly normal people.

Prabhupāda: (indistinct) psychology.

Śyāmasundara: He didn't analyze only crazy people; he also analyzed his friends, his mother, his wife, other people also, healthy people.

Devotee: The point is in Revatīnandana Mahārāja's argument is that we have to define, then, what is crazy and what is sane.

Prabhupāda: He is saying that he had studied only some crazy people.

So we are..., what we are? Inferior or superior? Kṛṣṇa conscious, we think ourselves as servant of God. Is that inferior or superior?

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Śyāmasundara: Anyway, another one of his ideas is that the unconscious material on the person's personality sometimes emerges in the form of a complex, what's called a complex. This complex has the ability to initiate and organize behavior. Sometimes we say someone has a superiority complex or an inferiority complex or this complex or that complex. It means that they tend to act in a certain way. Inferiority complex means I consider myself inferior to others, and I react in a very inhibited fashion. Or if I have a superiority complex I act in a very arrogant fashion. Like that. These are his observations, that people who act in certain ways which are called complexes.

Prabhupāda: So we are..., what we are? Inferior or superior? Kṛṣṇa conscious, we think ourselves as servant of God. Is that inferior or superior?

Śyāmasundara: Well, our practice is not unconscious.

Prabhupāda: No. We are conscious.

Śyāmasundara: We are conscious, so we do not rely on the complex to guide us, or an unconscious impulse to guide us.

Prabhupāda: No. We are not guided by impulse. We are guided directly, instruction from the superior.

Hey're not independent; they are dependent. Who makes that separate? How do I separate them? There is no answer for that. They see simply that things are separate, but how they are separated, wherefrom they have come? That means superficial observation.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: Well, everything that we see and perceive is individually separate, atomic, he calls it. So that the world consists of millions, of billions, numberless simple facts. They're externally related, but they're still independent of each other.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They're not independent; they are dependent. Who makes that separate? How do I separate them? There is no answer for that. They see simply that things are separate, but how they are separated, wherefrom they have come? That means superficial observation. But our Vedic process is to find out the original source. That is factual knowledge. We can, just like (indistinct) because you are scientist, that if we are talking not according to the scientific facts, it is counter to the facts, then, you are modern scientist, so if you find that there is something we are talking which does not corroborate with the scientific statement, you can point out.