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Atomic energy

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.2.32, Translation and Purport:

The Lord, as Supersoul, pervades all things, just as fire permeates wood, and so He appears to be of many varieties, though He is the absolute one without a second.

Lord Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by one of His plenary parts expands Himself all over the material world, and His existence can be perceived even within the atomic energy. Matter, antimatter, proton, neutron—in all these one can perceive the manifestation of the Paramātmā feature of the Lord by proper spiritual culture. As from wood, fire can be manifested, or as butter can be churned out of milk, so also the presence of the Lord as Paramātmā can be felt by the process of legitimate hearing and chanting of the transcendental subjects which are especially treated in the Vedic literatures like the Upaniṣads and Vedānta. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the bona fide explanation of these Vedic literatures. The Lord can be realized through the aural reception of the transcendental message, and that is the only way to experience the transcendental subject. As fire is kindled from wood by another fire, the divine consciousness of man can similarly be kindled by another divine grace. His Divine Grace the spiritual master can kindle the spiritual fire from the woodlike living entity by imparting proper spiritual messages injected through the receptive ear. Therefore one is required to approach the proper spiritual master with receptive ears only, and thus divine existence is gradually realized. The difference between animality and humanity lies in this process only. A human being can hear properly, whereas an animal cannot.

SB 1.7.27, Translation and Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Know from Me that this is the act of the son of Droṇa. He has thrown the hymns of nuclear energy (brahmāstra), and he does not know how to retract the glare. He has helplessly done this, being afraid of imminent death.

The brahmāstra is similar to the modern nuclear weapon manipulated by atomic energy. The atomic energy works wholly on total combustibility, and so the brahmāstra also acts. It creates an intolerable heat similar to atomic radiation, but the difference is that the atomic bomb is a gross type of nuclear weapon, whereas the brahmāstra is a subtle type of weapon produced by chanting hymns. It is a different science, and in the days gone by such science was cultivated in the land of Bhārata-varṣa. The subtle science of chanting hymns is also material, but it has yet to be known by the modern material scientists. Subtle material science is not spiritual, but it has a direct relationship with the spiritual method, which is still subtler. A chanter of hymns knew how to apply the weapon as well as how to retract it. That was perfect knowledge. But the son of Droṇācārya, who made use of this subtle science, did not know how to retract. He applied it, being afraid of his imminent death, and thus the practice was not only improper but also irreligious. As the son of a brāhmaṇa, he should not have made so many mistakes, and for such gross negligence of duty he was to be punished by the Lord Himself.

SB 1.7.27, Purport:

The brahmāstra is similar to the modern nuclear weapon manipulated by atomic energy. The atomic energy works wholly on total combustibility, and so the brahmāstra also acts. It creates an intolerable heat similar to atomic radiation, but the difference is that the atomic bomb is a gross type of nuclear weapon, whereas the brahmāstra is a subtle type of weapon produced by chanting hymns. It is a different science, and in the days gone by such science was cultivated in the land of Bhārata-varṣa. The subtle science of chanting hymns is also material, but it has yet to be known by the modern material scientists. Subtle material science is not spiritual, but it has a direct relationship with the spiritual method, which is still subtler. A chanter of hymns knew how to apply the weapon as well as how to retract it.

SB 1.7.30, Translation and Purport:

When the rays of the two brahmāstras combined, a great circle of fire, like the disc of the sun, covered all outer space and the whole firmament of planets.

The heat created by the flash of a brahmāstra resembles the fire exhibited in the sun globe at the time of cosmic annihilation. The radiation of atomic energy is very insignificant in comparison to the heat produced by a brahmāstra. The atomic bomb explosion can at utmost blow up one globe, but the heat produced by the brahmāstra can destroy the whole cosmic situation. The comparison is therefore made to the heat at the time of annihilation.

SB 1.7.32, Purport:

The theory that the modern atomic bomb explosions can annihilate the world is childish imagination. First of all, the atomic energy is not powerful enough to destroy the world. And secondly, ultimately it all rests on the supreme will of the Supreme Lord because without His will or sanction nothing can be built up or destroyed. It is foolish also to think that natural laws are ultimately powerful. Material nature's law works under the direction of the Lord, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord says there that natural laws work under His supervision. The world can be destroyed only by the will of the Lord and not by the whims of tiny politicians. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa desired that the weapons released by both Drauṇi and Arjuna be withdrawn, and it was carried out by Arjuna at once. Similarly, there are many agents of the all-powerful Lord, and by His will only can one execute what He desires.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.38, Purport:

His appearance in the material world as one of us is also His causeless mercy upon the fallen souls. He is transcendental to all material conceptions, but by His unbounded mercy upon His pure devotees, He comes down and manifests Himself as the Personality of Godhead. Materialistic philosophers and scientists are too much engrossed with atomic energy and the gigantic situation of the universal form, and they offer respect more seriously to the external phenomenal feature of material manifestations than to the noumenal principle of spiritual existence. The transcendental form of the Lord is beyond the jurisdiction of such materialistic activities, and it is very difficult to conceive that the Lord can be simultaneously localized and all-pervasive, because the materialistic philosophers and scientists think of everything in terms of their own experience. Because they are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, the Lord is kind enough to demonstrate the virāṭ feature of His transcendental form, and herein Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has vividly described this form of the Lord.

SB 2.2.3, Purport:

The whole material creation is a jugglery of names only; in fact, it is nothing but a bewildering creation of matter like earth, water and fire. The buildings, furniture, cars, bungalows, mills, factories, industries, peace, war or even the highest perfection of material science, namely atomic energy and electronics, are all simply bewildering names of material elements with their concomitant reactions of the three modes. Since the devotee of the Lord knows them perfectly well, he is not interested in creating unwanted things for a situation which is not at all reality, but simply names of no more significance than the babble of sea waves. The great kings, leaders and soldiers fight with one another in order to perpetuate their names in history. They are forgotten in due course of time, and they make a place for another era in history. But the devotee realizes how much history and historical persons are useless products of flickering time.

SB 2.2.19, Purport:

Material desires are based on the false ego of the living being and are exhibited by his childish and useless activities to conquer the laws of material nature and by his desire to lord it over the resources of the five elements. With such a mentality, one is led to believe in the strength of material science, with its discovery of atomic energy and space travel by mechanical vehicles, and by such tiny advancements in material science the false egoist tries to challenge even the strength of the Supreme Lord, who can finish all man's tiny endeavors in less than a second. The well-situated self, or Brahman-realized soul, perfectly understands that the Supreme Brahman, or the Personality of Godhead, is the all-powerful Vāsudeva and that he (the self-realized living being) is a part and parcel of the supreme whole. As such, his constitutional position is to cooperate with Him in all respects in the transcendental relation of the served and the servitor. Such a self-realized soul ceases to exhibit his useless activities of attempting to lord it over material nature. Being scientifically well informed, he fully engages himself in faithful devotion to the Lord.

SB 2.7.40, Purport:

The highest scientific advancement of the material scientists is atomic energy. But the material scientist is not able to have an estimation of the particles of atoms contained in the whole universe. But even if one is able to count such atomic particles or is able to roll up the sky like one's bedding, even then one is unable to estimate the extent of the prowess and energy of the Supreme Lord. He is known as Trivikrama because once, in His incarnation of Vāmana, He expanded His leg beyond the highest planetary system, Satyaloka, and reached the neutral state of the modes of nature called the covering of the material world. There are seven layers of material coverings over the material sky, and the Lord could penetrate even those coverings. With His toe He made a hole through which the water of the Causal Ocean filters into the material sky, and the current is known as the sacred Ganges, which purifies the planets of the three worlds. In other words, no one is equal to the transcendentally powerful Viṣṇu. He is omnipotent, and no one is equal to or greater than Him.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.9.10, Purport:

Because they suffer from insomnia sometimes they feel sleepy in the morning for lack of sufficient rest. By the arrangement of supernatural power, even the great scientists and thinkers of the world suffer frustration of their various plans and thus rot in the material world birth after birth. A great scientist may make discoveries in atomic energy for the quick destruction of the world and may be awarded the best prize in recognition of his service (or disservice), but he also has to undergo the reactions of his work by rotating in the cycle of repeated births and deaths under the superhuman law of material nature. All these people who are against the principle of devotional service are destined to rotate in this material world without fail.

This verse particularly mentions that even sages who are averse to the principles of devotional service to the Lord are also condemned to undergo the terms of material existence. Not only in this age, but formerly also, there were many sages who tried to invent their own systems of religion without reference to devotional service to the Supreme Lord, but there cannot be any religious principle without devotional service to the Lord.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 21:

Similarly, the atheist Kapila tried to establish that it is not God who created the material world but rather a combination of material elements. Gautama and Kaṇāda have also given stress to the material elements, trying to establish that atomic energy is the origin of creation. Impersonalists and monists like Aṣṭāvakra have tried to establish the impersonal effulgence (brahmajyoti) as the Supreme. And Patañjali, one of the greatest authorities on the yoga system, has tried to conceive of an imaginary form of the Supreme Lord.

“In summary, it should be understood that all these materialistic philosophers have tried to avoid the Supreme Personality of Godhead by putting forward their own mentally concocted philosophies. But Vyāsadeva, the great sage and incarnation of Godhead, has thoroughly studied all these philosophical speculations and in answer has compiled the Vedānta-sūtra, which describes the relationship of everything with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the execution of devotional service, and the ultimate achievement, love of Godhead.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.1:

Efforts to extirpate human suffering through advanced technology and bring about lasting happiness have brought us to the Atomic Age. Western thinkers have become gravely concerned about the extent of destruction an atomic explosion can cause. Some leaders are trying to calm the alarm with platitudes about how atomic energy is to be used solely for peaceful purposes, but this is another form of deception caused by daivī māyā, or nature's law.

It is impossible for anyone to surmount the two-pronged attack of daivī māyā—that is, her covering potency and her throwing potency. The more we try to conquer this divine energy, the more powerfully she defeats us by exciting us through the mode of passion and punishing us with the threefold miseries, culminating in all-devouring death. This struggle between the divine energy and the evil forces is eternal. Our inability to understand this struggle has led us to lament, "In the dispensation of providence, mankind cannot have any rest."

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 11, Purport:

For good health, a person should not increase his fever from 105 degrees to 107 degrees but should reduce his temperature to the normal 98.6. That should be the aim of human life. The modern trend of material civilization is to increase the temperature of the feverish material condition, which has reached the point of 107 degrees in the form of atomic energy. Meanwhile, the foolish politicians are crying that at any moment the world may go to hell. That is the result of the advancement of material knowledge and the neglect of the most important part of life, the culture of spiritual knowledge. Śrī Īśopaniṣad herein warns that we must not follow this dangerous path leading to death. On the contrary, we must develop the culture of spiritual knowledge so that we may become completely free from the cruel hands of death.

This does not mean that all activities for the maintenance of the body should be stopped. There is no question of stopping activities, just as there is no question of wiping out one's temperature altogether when trying to recover from a disease. "To make the best use of a bad bargain" is the appropriate expression.

Sri Isopanisad 14, Purport:

By its so-called advancement of knowledge, human civilization has created many material things, including spaceships and atomic energy. Yet it has failed to create a situation in which people need not die, take birth again, become old or suffer from disease. Whenever an intelligent man raises the question of these miseries before a so-called scientist, the scientist very cleverly replies that material science is progressing and that ultimately it will be possible to render man deathless, ageless and diseaseless. Such answers prove the scientists' gross ignorance of material nature. In material nature, everyone is under the stringent laws of matter and must pass through six stages of existence: birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, deterioration and finally death. No one in contact with material nature can be beyond these six laws of transformation; therefore no one—whether demigod, man, animal or plant—can survive forever in the material world.

The duration of life varies according to species. Lord Brahmā, the chief living being within this material universe, lives for millions and millions of years, while a minute germ lives for some hours only. But no one in the material world can survive eternally.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.30 -- London, August 31, 1973:

And within the universe there are so many material, I mean to say, identities, entities. Even this atom. The śāstra says even within the atom, He, as Paramātmā, He is within the body of everyone. Not only within the body of living entities, but He is within the paramāṇu, the atom. They are studying now atomic energy. Still they are finding difficulty. Dividing, dividing, dividing. Because they cannot find out that there is God, there is Kṛṣṇa.

So without Kṛṣṇa's, I mean to say, presence, nothing can exist. Therefore, one who is advanced Kṛṣṇa conscious, he sees only Kṛṣṇa. Not the outward covering. Because without Kṛṣṇa nothing can exist. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, it is said: sthāvara-jaṅgama. There are two kinds of entities: moving and not moving. Moving means sthāvara and... Moving means jaṅgama. Sthāvara-jaṅgama. And sthāvara means not moving. So there are two kinds of entities. So you can see these two kinds of entities, some of them are moving, some of them are not moving.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- San Francisco, September 11, 1968:

So to improve the method of mating is not advancement of civilization. That is animal civilization polished, that's all. The animal also, the dog can also defend from other dogs. And if you think that you have discovered atomic energy to defend yourself, that is not advancement of human civilization. The defending measure, that's all. Similarly, you go on analyzing.

The analysis of man is perfect when he is searching after his constitutional position. "What I am? What I am? Am I this body? Why I have come to this world?" This inquisitiveness required. That is the special prerogative of human being. Therefore as soon as one begins to inquire "What I am?" and if he goes on searching after this, then he will come to God. Because he is part and parcel of God. He is sample of God. Therefore manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). Out of many, many thousands varieties of men, one, or say a few persons, may be interested to know God. Not only know... Not to know God, just to know himself. And if he actually wants to know himself, then gradually he will come to God.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.7.22 -- Vrndavana, September 18, 1976:

"We are suffering. Not that to this brahmāstra we are suffering, but the world is so made that there is suffering only." Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings, viṣaya-viṣānale dibā-niśi hiyā jwale. Jwale means this dahyamānānām. Jwale means ablaze, fire. So this saṁsāra-viṣānale, it is not ordinary fire. Viṣāna: fire from poison. It is more infectious. Poisonous fire. Just like the atomic energy. There is heat, but what is that heat? It is called... Radiation and... So many things. So viṣānale. Saṁsāra-dāvānala. Saṁsāra-dāvānala is dāvānala, and at the same time that anala, the fire is coming out of poison. Saṁsāra-viṣānale dibā-niśi hiyā jwale. We are always anxiety, full of anxiety. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām. Even big, big Vaiṣṇava kings they also retired. Just like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he was always engaged in devotional service. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha (SB 9.4.18)—still, he retired. Still, he retired. After this incidence with Durvāsā, then he divided the property to his sons and he retired. Although he was the most exalted Vaiṣṇava, such a great Vaiṣṇava that because he was put into difficulty by Durvāsā Muni, Kṛṣṇa showed His brilliance and glories in such a way that Durvāsā Muni was attacked by sudarśana-cakra, and for fear of life... Even there is fear, Durvāsā Muni, a great yogi. There is no comparison of his yogic mystic power.

Lecture on SB 2.1.1-5 -- Boston, December 22, 1969:

He could not see his father. His grandfathers raised him. All the boys died, of the whole family, in the battlefield. Only these five brothers remained alive, and this child was in the womb of his mother. Otherwise, the members of the whole Kuru family died in the battle. It was such a big fight. So this child was also hit by atomic energy, brahmāstra, but Kṛṣṇa saved him. Kṛṣṇa wanted that "The descendant of My devotees, they must prolong." They were very good family, Kṛṣṇa conscious family. Kṛṣṇa wants to give protection to the Kṛṣṇa conscious men, family. That you know from the Bhagavad-gītā. So this child was saved even in the womb of his mother by Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa also could save him when the king was cursed by a brāhmaṇa boy, but Parīkṣit Mahārāja did not like the idea. He took it very seriously that "I have offended the brāhmaṇa, and he has cursed me. That's nice." You see? How much liberal he was. So he accepted. Immediately he prepared for death.

Lecture on SB 5.5.21-22 -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1976:

We learn from Brahma-saṁhitā that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is within the atom. Atom is..., not that atom was not known, atomic energy was not known to the Vedic scholars. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣam (Bs. 5.35). Anor anīyāṁ mahato mahīyān. The Supreme Lord can enter even within the atom. They are studying, modern scientists, the atomic energy, but still, they are perplexed. The smaller than proton, electron, and so many things, still, still, still... So there is life even within the atom. But scientists, because they are materialistic person, they cannot understand wherefrom the energy, the life energy, is emanating. Otherwise life energy is there even within the atom. So the life energy begins, vīrudbhya. The plants, the grass, there is life symptom. Gradually there are different grades.

Festival Lectures

Radhastami, Srimati Radharani's Appearance Day -- Montreal, August 30, 1968:

Just like He appeared as Hiraṇya..., I mean to say, Varāhadeva. The Varāhadeva, He appeared in such a gigantic body that He could lift this whole planet by His tusk. So just imagine how much great body He assumed. So aprameyam. Another, He can assume so small body. Just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja, when he was within the womb of his mother, attacked by the atomic energy, so Kṛṣṇa entered the womb of his mother and saved him. Just imagine how small He became.

Therefore aprameyam means you cannot measure how He is small, how He is great. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they can think of greatness, but Kṛṣṇa can become small also. Just like Jagannātha, He is the master, He is the proprietor of the whole world, but He has assumed such a nice form that He is within our reach. We can serve Him very convenient. This is God. Therefore aprameyam, immeasurable. Immeasurable does not mean simply great. Immeasurable means you cannot measure even how small He is. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. He is greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest. Therefore aprameyam. Anagham. Anagham means this material contamination cannot touch Him. Etad īśasya īśānām. Īśa, the Supreme Lord, means that He may come in any form. Just like He appears as the boar, hog.

Initiation Lectures

Initiations -- Los Angeles, January 10, 1969:

It is never satisfied. But people are hankering more, more, more, more, more... That means temperature is increasing. And when the temperature is 107 degrees, finish life. That's all.

So this material civilization has come to the degree of atomic heat, you see. Now everyone has got this atomic energy, and it is going to be finished. So that kind of advancement is not needed. Actually bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). The test... Whether you are making progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you have to test yourself, whether you are decreasing your material desires. That's all. Because in the perfect stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness there is no more material desires. Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce: (CC Madhya 22.42) "I have no more any demand. I am fully satisfied." Kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma ataeva śānta (CC Madhya 19.149). If you want śānti, peacefulness, then you have to become completely Kṛṣṇa conscious-kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma—because he has no more demand. And bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta. And those who are karmīs, trying to elevate material position, they are all disturbed. And mukti, those who are hankering after liberation, he is also disturbed. And siddhi, those who are yogis hankering after some material perfection, mystic perfection, he is also disturbed.

General Lectures

Lecture at International Student Society -- Boston, May 3, 1969:

That is the modern trend of civilization. Everyone is busy how to eat and how to sleep nicely in big palatial building, nice apartment, very good room, sleeping, the business of sleeping. And economic condition, developing the business of economic condition, means the business of eating. And defending—either you defend with atomic energy or with your nails and claws, the process is defending. That is in the animal life also. And mating, sex intercourse or sense gratification.

So human life is not meant for simply for these four kinds of business. There is another business. Therefore the Veda says, uttiṣṭhaṁ jāgratam: "Please get up. Don't be sleeping simply for these four principal things(?)." These are not problems, eating, sleeping, mating, and... The Vedic literature says, "Wherever you take your birth, the eating, sleeping, and mating and defending is there, even in animal life." Suppose there is a cat. It knows how to eat, it knows how to sleep, it knows how to mate, and it knows how to defend. The dog also knows. The hog also knows. So do you mean to say scientific advancement of education is simply for this purpose—how to eat, how to sleep, how to mate, and how to defend? No.

Lecture at World Health Organization -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

Therefore it is said, tapo divyaṁ putrakā (SB 5.5.1). The tapasya, the spiritual culture, is necessary. Divyam. Tapasya. Tapasya means... There are so many scholars. They also undergo tapasya for finding out, discovering... Just like we have now discovered this atomic energy. That is also tapasya. Or something wonderful, discovery, that also, tapasya. But here it is said, tapo divyam: "Undergo tapasya, austerity, penances, for transcendental realization." Divyam. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). So we should undergo tapasya, penance, austerity, for transcendental realization. Divyam. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā: (SB 5.5.1) "My dear boys, this life, human form of life, is not meant for working so hard like hogs and dogs. This life is meant for tapasya, and for transcendental realization." Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ śuddhyet. Sattva means existence. We exist, but this existence is not pure. Therefore we have to accept birth and death, old age and disease. This is not pure. Actually, we are living entities. Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. The living entity never takes birth, neither dies. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre: (BG 2.20)

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Karandhara: They had a big meeting recently in Europe of the foremost scientists, chemists, physicists and researchers, and they predicted that by the year 2050, the scientists will be able to make the superhuman eternal human being. Then they started asking themselves, "Well, who will decide? Who will play God? If we can make an eternal person or manipulate, who will decide?" What if they make a hundred Hitlers or some demoniac scientists who knows how to do this makes a hundred Hitlers. So even if their whole thing is (indistinct), they'll misuse whatever power they acquire by understanding the laws of nature. They've misused the atomic energy.

Prabhupāda: They can produce for human being, many (indistinct)?

Śyāmasundara: They call it the genetical xerox machine.

Karandhara: They can analyze someone's genes. Say they take my genes and analyze their chemical structure. They can reproduce that structure and make a hundred me's, just like me—the same brain, the same body, the same mentality, everything.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So nowadays the scientists are also thinking that there have been so many mistakes, so...

Prabhupāda: They will find out.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So they say that this atomic energy, this bombing, was a tremendous mistake on the part of the... They say this mostly responsible by politicians, not on the part of scientists, the scientists say. But on the other hand, the public say, people say, the scientists are responsible because they discovered the...

Prabhupāda: Yes, they are responsible. If you give a sharpened razor in the hands of a child, the child will cut here and there. So who is responsible: the parent or the child?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Parent.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 15, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Helped means you have helped to minimize their duration of life. Formerly man was living hundred years. Now they do not live more than sixty, seventy years. That you have helped certainly. What you have helped? A man is dying ordinarily, and you have created atomic energy. You can kill thousands of men. So you have helped only in dying. But you have not helped in living. That is not possible. Then what you have done? Some childish play? What you have done? You cannot stop death, you cannot stop birth, you cannot stop disease, you cannot stop old age. So what you have done? Formerly people used to become old. Now also, they are becoming old. Formerly people used to die. They are dying now also. Formerly the people used to become diseased. They are becoming diseased. More diseased. More medicine. What you have helped? You have not helped anything in the improvement of the order of the world? What is that help?

Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles:

Devotee: Is that personality within the atom Paramātmā?

Prabhupāda: Yes, Kṛṣṇa. Govinda.

Devotee: When they release the atomic energy, where does that energy come from?

Prabhupāda: From Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). He is the origin of everything. Don't you read Bhagavad-gītā? Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ. The atomic energy is different from sarvasya? Sarvasya means everything. Everything comes from Him. The atomic energy must come from Him. Right conclusion.

Devotee: I was wondering. They say they are splitting the atom, and Kṛṣṇa is living within the atom. When they divide the atom, there is so much energy released.

Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Because Kṛṣṇa is there, therefore you will find Kṛṣṇa's energy.

Devotee: Is that more directly Kṛṣṇa?

Prabhupāda: Directly, yes. You cannot even tolerate the atomic energy, and He has got reserved so many other energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Millions of energies Kṛṣṇa has got. This is one of the energies. You cannot tolerate it. Reservoir of all energies.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Biochemist, Dr. Sallaz -- June 4, 1974, Geneva:

Dr. Sallaz: Result. Result, only with physical heat, eight hundred, and pressure, only this. No laser, no atomic energy, nothing at all. Simply by natural measures.

Prabhupāda: We can give you one information, that metals like bell metal. Bell metal is combination of...? What is called? Tin? Tin? What is another name of tin?

Yogeśvara: Copper.

Prabhupāda: Anyway, tin and copper and mercury; if you can mix, it will become gold.

Dr. Sallaz: I'm sure it is possible, from what we have seen and made. But it is not of great interest to make gold.

Prabhupāda: No, we are interested. (laughter) We want gold for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Nobody is paying us. We are simply selling our books. That's all. Nobody paying us, no government, no..., that "You take so many million dollars for spreading Kṛṣṇa..." Nobody. Therefore we require some gold. So biology, what is the basic principle of biology?

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Guest (2): You should read the book. I have a very good friend, a brāhmaṇa friend in the Indian Atomic Energy Commission. How do you view the development of the potential for nuclear explosions in India?

Prabhupāda: Yes, from the revealed scripture we can understand from... You have got the first part of Bhāgavatam?

Cāru: Yes, right here.

Prabhupāda: The Aśvatthāmā released the brahmāstra?

Satsvarūpa: That's in three I think.

Prabhupāda: Similar nuclear weapon was there. It was called brahmāstra. So when this brahmāstra was released by one Aśvatthāmā, the same symptom of nuclear weapon... Kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa mahā bāho. That is...

Satsvarūpa: We don't have that volume.

Prabhupāda: Why you are lacking? You have got enough books. I inquired from you in the morning. You said, "Yes, we have got enough stock."

Room Conversation with Devotees -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: This is practical. The scientists have got good brain, but who manufactured the brain? You cannot do. You have not manufactured your brain. If you say, "By nature," then nature is more powerful than you. But nature is dead. It cannot create life. That is in the hand of Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). As soon as the question of jīva, living entity, there, this, mine, you can say it is nature. And other things? Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarva... (BG 3.27). Prakṛti, nature, is doing. Everything explained. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā: (Bs. 5.44) "There is an energy which can create, maintain, and destroy the whole cosmic manifestation." Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā (Bs. 5.44), one. There is one energy. Chāyeva yasya vibharti bhuvanāni durgā: "That energy is working just like shadow under the direction of Kṛṣṇa." That is big energy, but that energy... Just like atomic energy, big energy, but it is done by a scientist, not that the ingredients automatically mix together and become an atomic... No.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Devotees -- April 14, 1975, Hyderabad:

Nitāi: They say that now we are controlling atomic energy and now we are controlling...

Prabhupāda: What is that atomic energy? What is the use of it? We'll die. Without atomic energy you'll die. What is that control? Death is already there, and you're utilizing atomic energy for death, that's all. So what is your credit? You use atomic energy that you'll not die. Then it is control. Death is already there. You might have atomic energy or no atomic energy—you have to die. By atomic energy you are accelerating the same problem of death, that's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Gradually we are learning how to become deathless.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Yaśodānandana: They will argue...

Prabhupāda: That is foolishness. That is called hope against hope. That is foolishness. Therefore we say because you are expecting like that, therefore we understand that you are a fool. We can immediately understand, "Here is a grand fool." That is our study. Many fools have done like that, and you are one of them, you are also scientific (indistinct). Therefore our conclusion is "You are Fool No. 1."

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 19, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Feudalism, yes. What is this nonsense, maintaining so many idle men without any profit? Very, very bad system. And nowadays especially, when there is atomic energy, what is the value of the soldiers?

Harikesa: We need the soldiers to start.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Harikesa: The soldiers, they start the war. One stands on one side, the other stands on the other side, and there's one shot, one shot, ten shots, ten shots, then mortars, then tanks, then atom bombs.

Prabhupāda: No, why this is? If you have improved scientifically, let two, three scientists keep flying and the handy atom bomb. As soon as war starts, "plum," finished.

Harikesa: They have that also.

Prabhupāda: Then.... Why also? That should be the only. It is waste of time. What kind of scientists they are? If you have actually improved in science for killing others by atom bomb, so keep one atom bomb very carefully. Fly in the sky. And as soon as the war-world, "plum." Finished.

Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad:

Pradyumna: And this is completely nonsense: "Their major concentration seems, however, to be in Orissa"—we don't have anything in Orissa—"the land of princes and paupers. They have built a center close to our atomic energy commission complex."

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: A hut center.

Jayapatākā: Gaura Govinda, he has a few huts. "Major complex."

Pradyumna: "Besides, they are planning to set up a Sanskrit university in Purī, the home of famed temples and one of the few spots in India blessed by Ādi Śaṅkara. Two devotees, Gurudāsa Swami and Abhirāma dāsa visited Bhuvaneśvara in April last to explore means to set up the university." Then in big heading, "Patnayak's interest in Kṛṣṇa cult."

Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: This is going to get us...

Prabhupāda: That's nice.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: That will be... (chuckles)

Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...very impressive to the Indian audience.

Girirāja: We know a big man in the Atomic Energy Department already, so I think you can arrange this meeting.

Prabhupāda: He's convinced?

Girirāja: Well, actually we met him some time ago, and at that time he liked your books a lot. He bought some of your books and he thought that this would help purify him and his family.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: We were already thinking of printing about a few months ago before I came here in the form of monographs. We have already finished some articles. Mādhava suggested that we print this in the form of monographs and then combine within one journal. We in our Washington meeting in December we thought that idea because we thought the journal was not too far. So we printed the whole... I also want to talk with Rāmeśvara Mahārāja since he's here about printing policies and some of the artwork we'll be needing in the journal. I want to put a lot of illustrations, scientific, and want to make it very nice as well as very scientific. So in Bombay Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Prabhu told me that there's not so much facility for artwork and art.

Prabhupāda: Our men can do it.

Room Conversations Bangladesh Preaching/Prabhavisnu Articles by Hamsaduta -- August 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says, "Fairy stories like Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, Bible, Koran, Pilgrim's..." Oh, this man... "Pilgrim's Progress, Jataka stories, astrology, palmistry, numerology, theology, demonology, etc., are the products of subjective thinkers. While the former are factual, the latter are all fictitious. Some of the marvelous achievements of mankind in recent years are the liberation of atomic energy, radio telescopy..."

Prabhupāda: What is value of atomic energy? A man is dying; you have accelerated his death. That's all.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Landing on the moon..."

Prabhupāda: Have you invented something that man will not die? Then it is approved. They are dying. You have given facilities to die earlier. That is atomic energy. There is no energy which can save him—"No more death." Is that improvement? By nature one dies natural death, and you have accelerated-many millions of people can be killed by this atomic weapon. So what is your achievement? Save millions of people.

Room Conversations Bangladesh Preaching/Prabhavisnu Articles by Hamsaduta -- August 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So who is mentally deranged?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He says we are. He says, "And they often become founders and preachers of diverse types of religious cults."

Prabhupāda: No, no. Your atomic energy, what benefit has done to the people?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: A real rākṣasa. Here's Haṁsadūta's reply to him. "Reply to Dr. Kovoor's article: Before going into the main body of my article, which I..., a transcript of a lecture I delivered at Sarasvatī Hall on July 29th before an audience of approximately one thousand respectable gentry of Colombo, and where Dr. Kovoor also happened to be present and was subsequently challenged but failed to defend his position that life is generated by chance chemical combination, I would briefly like to point out the apparent defects in his article. It is not beyond Kovoor's power of observation. First of all, it should be pointed out that Dr. Kovoor has done exactly what I predicted he would do in my last article, namely swamp the reader with a deluge of word jugglery in order to avoid the main point in question, which is, If life is generated by chance biochemical combination, as the scientists claim, then if given the said chemicals, can the scientist Kovoor make the chemicals come to life? Instead of answering this point, he has cleverly written that 'Scientists have created over ten elements, such a fermium, plutonium, serium, einsteinium, etc.'

Page Title:Atomic energy
Compiler:Sahadeva, RupaManjari, Visnu Murti
Created:30 of Sep, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=10, CC=0, OB=4, Lec=10, Con=12, Let=0
No. of Quotes:36