Dr. Sharma: Yes. Actually, they are only two hundred years old.
Prabhupāda: Say, rather, modern rascals. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61).
Dr. Sharma: Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (BG 15.15). And the (Sanskrit) says that the heart is the most important organ because it is concerned with ātmā and...
Prabhupāda: Santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu (Bs. 5.38). Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1).
Dr. Sharma: Yasyāntaṁ na viduḥ surāsura-gaṇā devāya tasmai namaḥ.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: What about these..., the artificial hearts that they are making?
Prabhupāda: Artificial heart and this real heart the same thing—it is material. Where is the difference? There is no difference.
Dr. Sharma: Just like they are trying to produce babies in the test-tube. They are never going to be successful. But they can keep on trying. I recently went to Houston, and there I have read that they cannot keep somebody alive even more than five, six hours. So far away from such a thing.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What about this heart transplant?
Dr. Sharma: Well, the heart transplants actually have been given up everywhere except one place, that's in Stanford Medical Center. And they are doing it because they are the one who initially started it, so they are emotionally stable about it. But actually I have gone and seen there, and they do it... The people are, you know, the recipient patient is very unhappy after the heart transplant. He's very restless, and he has nightmares and he is extremely unhappy.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Has Dr. Barnard of South Africa stopped it now?
Dr. Sharma: Well, he has stopped after doing nine, but Stanford people, they have done about almost over a hundred, and they can keep somebody alive another six months or a year or at the most two years. But the man, the man's existence is very miserable. He has to take so many drugs, and he is bloated like a balloon, and he cannot even do the simple duties like taking walks or going to bathroom. He has to be very careful. If he just slips, it will develop the fracture of his ventricle, and that's all. It is very, very unnatural, and I don't think they can solve this problem at all. It is just man's struggle (for) life.(?) And I know they are saying they will do only in people with proper insurance because the hospital bill is $70,000 for a heart transplant.