According to smṛti or Vedic wisdom, if one touches the stool of an animal he has to take his bath to purify himself. But in the Vedic scriptures the cow dung is as stated as pure. Rather, impure place or impure things are purified by touch of the cow dung. Now if one argues how it is that in one place it is said that the stool of the animal is impure and another place it is said that the cow dung which is also the stool of an animal, it is pure, so it is contradictory. But actually, it may appear to be contradictory, but because it is Vedic injunction, therefore for our practical purposes we accept it. And by that acceptance we are not committing mistake. It has been found by modern chemists, modern science, one Dr. Lal Mohan Gosal, he has very minutely analyzed the cow dung and he has found that cow dung is a composition of all antiseptic properties. So similarly, he has also analyzed the water of the Ganges out of curiosity. So my idea is that Vedic knowledge is complete because it is above all doubts and all mistakes. So, and Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is therefore infallible. It comes down through the perfect disciplic succession.
Chemist (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Just like several times I have told you that cow dung. Cow dung is, according to Vedic injunction, is pure. In India it is actually used as antiseptic. In villages especially, there is large quantity of cow dung, and they're, all over the house they have smeared to make the house antiseptic. And actually after smearing cow dung in your room, when it is dried, you'll find refreshed, everything antiseptic. It is practical experience. And one Dr. Ghosh, a great chemist, he examined cow dung, that why cow dung is so much important in the Vedic literature? He found that cow dung contains all the antiseptic properties. In Āyur-veda, cow dung dried and burned into ashes is used as toothpowder. It is very antiseptic toothpowder. Similarly, there are many things, many injunctions in the Vedas, which may apparently appear as contradiction, but they are not contradiction. They are on experience, on transcendental experience.
You take only one grain and mix with water and just inject within your body. So immediately the action is there that your heart fails and you die. One small half grain of pota (?)cyanide, you take, just touch on the tongue. According to the chemist there is no taste of pota cyanide. Because what is this... Whether it is sour or sweet, because there was no chance of tasting it. As soon as the taste is, the man is finished. He cannot say what is the sour or sweet. So if a material thing, a small particle, has got so much power that immediately it can stop the function of the body, immediately spreads all over the body, so the soul, the spiritual spark, grain, a small grain, just like atom, it is so powerful that so long that spiritual grain, spirit is in the heart, this body is so nice. As soon as it is passed, immediately body begins to decompose. Immediately. So it is so powerful. If a material thing can spread all over the body, why not the spirit? This is consciousness. Because the spirit soul is within the heart, I can pinch any part of my body, I feel that this is consciousness. This is consciousness. Go on reading. So because... Just like the effect of a poisonous grain of material thing is immediately felt all over the body, similarly by the consciousness which is spreading all over the body, you can understand that there is soul.
Suppose we are accumulating so many knowledge. Somebody is chemist, somebody is politician, somebody is metaphysist, somebody is artist, somebody is something. Everyone knows something of everything and everything of something. That is knowledge. But this knowledge, whatever knowledge you acquire, as soon as you leave this body, whole knowledge is void. Just imagine in your previous lives you had been a great man of knowledge, but in this life, since your childhood, you had to go to school, college, and acquire knowledge. The knowledge which you had in your previous lives is now forgotten. Therefore we are seeking eternal knowledge, but that eternity of knowledge is not possible with this temporary body. We have to understand that thing. Bhogaiśvarya. We are enjoying, we want to enjoy life, but the instrument of enjoyment is not proper.
So this morning these press reporters asking me, "What is the purpose of your movement?" So I said, "To educate the mūḍhas, that's all." This is the sum and substance of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that we are trying to educate the mūḍhas. And who is mūḍha? That is described by Kṛṣṇa. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Why? Māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. Why māyā has taken away his knowledge? Āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ. We have got very simple test, just like a chemist in the small test tube can analyze what is the liquid. So we are not very intelligent. We are also one of so many mūḍhas, but we have got the test tube. Kṛṣṇa says... We like to remain mūḍha, and take education from Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We do not pose ourselves as very learned scholar and very erudite scholar—"We know everything." No.
Just like last year, there was air crash on the Switzerland, one Indian aircraft. And there were all respectable gentleman, and there was... Perhaps you know it. There was one Indian chemist, Dr. Bhabha(?). He was going to attend some nuclear meeting in some European country, but there was a crash and all of them died in a second. So unless Kṛṣṇa desires, unless He allows, we cannot do anything. We cannot do any... This is the fact. So tattva-vit... Tattva-vit means one who knows the truth. He thinks like that, that "I cannot do anything. I am always dependent on Kṛṣṇa. I cannot..." Mahatma Gandhi he used to say that "Not a blade of grass moves without the sanction of God." It is a fact. It is a fact. Nothing can be done without His sanction.
Prakṛti, nature. Now, first of all we have to study the material nature. Just like the scientists, physicist and chemists, they are trying to understand the material nature. So what is this material nature? The material nature is described here as eight varieties. Five varieties gross, and three varieties subtle. The five gross varieties are the bhūmi... Bhūmi means this earth. Āpaḥ, the water. Bhūmir āpaḥ anala, the fire. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ, the air. And bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ kham. Kham means the sky, ether. Then manaḥ, mind. Then buddhi, intelligence. Ahaṅkāra, then self-consciousness, "I," "I am." "I am American," "I am Englishmen," "I am Swedish," and... This "I" consciousness.
Doctor: They are trying...
Prabhupāda: Huh? Is there any chemist here?
Doctor: A Mr. Feli was here.(?)
Prabhupāda: They're simply cheating. Simply cheating. It is not possible. But we know that life cannot be produced by any chemical combination because we understand from Bhagavad-gītā that mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). The jīva, the living entities, is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. So how it can be prepared by chemical composition? It is not possible. There are so many things. So therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "If you study knowledge which I am giving to you," yaj jñātvā, "perfectly, then," na iha bhūyaḥ anyaj jñānam, anya, "other department of knowledge will be manifest automatically. You'll know everything." This is the secret. Yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo 'nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate. You haven't got to learn departmentally anything else. Just see. This is the benefit. This is the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that you haven't got to work hard to understand other department of knowledge. You simply try to take this knowledge and you'll be perfect. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
There are so many theories based on Darwin's theory, chemical evolution. Recently, when I was in Los Angeles, one German scientist came there. He has written one book, Chemical Evolution, and he has got Nobel Prize. Now he's touring for lecturing on his theory. So in the California university there is our student, Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara. He's my disciple. He's doctor in chemistry. So, when this German chemist was lecturing, theorizing that life has come from chemicals, so he put the question that "Suppose if I give you these chemicals, whether you can prepare a life?" He answered in the meeting, "That I cannot say." That means he's not certain; still, he's theorizing, that from chemical, life has come. No, from chemical, life has not come; from life, chemical has come. This is real theory.
Everyone knows. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. (Bg 7.10) Here Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Is there any chemist? Just get one small seed like the fig seed. It is very small, but it contains that big tree. Where is that chemistry? Where is that physics? So here is the answer, Kṛṣṇa says, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi. Big, even this big, gigantic universe, that is also bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām. It is stated in the Vedic literature. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). There are so many things. Everyone is inquisitive, "Where is the beginning of this thing?" The beginning is the Supreme Lord. That is the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Beginning is there. So you cannot say that life has come from matter. That is not possible.
Yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante. It is a simple common sense affair to understand that matter comes from life. And the Supreme Life is Kṛṣṇa.
Material knowledge, any subject matter you can take, but that is temporary. Just like this body is temporary, similarly, any material knowledge you acquire, either you become a chemist or physicist or a medical man or an engineer, whatever you may acquire knowledge, all this knowledge will finish as soon as this body is finished. You forget. Death means forgetfulness.
Therefore Arjuna is asking not to a third-class so-called philosopher and chemist and economist, but to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Because whatever answer Kṛṣṇa will give, that is fact. And śāstra means the things which have been spoken by Kṛṣṇa. That is śāstra. And guru means who speaks... Guru means who speaks on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. Sādhu-śāstra-guru. This is called. So Kṛṣṇa is asked. And the answer for Kṛṣṇa, which He gives, that is final. No experiment. No "future." Whatever answer He gives, that is final. Otherwise, why people read Bhagavad-gītā so carefully? Not now. Thousands of years. Thousands of years. Not only in India, in other countries also. So answers, real answers are there.
Good chemists, they can understand how by combining different elements they can produce something. So these chemical products of this body is described by Kṛṣṇa very nicely, gross chemical and subtle chemical. But I am different from this. That is knowledge. I am different from this combination. But that we do not know. That is ignorance. I am thinking that "I am this combination," and I am thinking, "Wherefrom this combination has come into being, that is my place." That is described in the śāstras, yasyātmā-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ (SB 10.84.13). The chemicals comes from the earth. So everything in my body, they have come from these material elements and I'm identifying, "This place is mine because this body is born out of these elements." That is going on as nationalism. Bhauma iḍya-dhīḥ. Bhauma iḍya-dhīḥ. They'll not prefer worshiping Kṛṣṇa. They'll prefer worshiping that land from which this body has emanated.
When some such chemist is inquired, "Whether you can produce life if I give you the chemicals?" they will immediately say, "That I cannot say." Then why do you speak like that? So this is asuric. If they accept that everything comes from the living being, then they will have to accept God. So they want to avoid this: "Everything matter." But that is not the fact. Origin is life. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). Aham. Kṛṣṇa is life. He's not dead matter.
Just like acid and alkaline combine together. Just like soap. Soap is combination of acid and alkaline. The caustic soda is alkaline, and the fat is acid. So you mix this acid and alkaline—there is another product. This is chemical science. So the acid and alkaline, they also come from the, I mean to say, life. Or if it does not come from the life, the product is made by another life. Acid and alkaline does not mix together. Unless the chemist or the soap-maker brings them together and mixes, the soap does not come. So how you can say that the chemical combination is the source of life? No, that is not possible. This is right conclusion.
Just like in the chemistry there is analytical study, whether it is pure or not. So every chemical has got characteristics, Its color, its formation, its taste, so many things. Those who are chemists, they know how to test. So when the characteristic and the test of the chemical is found as "Yes, it is according to the standard," then it is accepted as a pure chemical, and it can be used for the purpose. And if it is adulterated... Everything... We are cooking food. If the ghee is pure, then taste is different. If the ghee is impure, the taste is different. And if it is not ghee at all. oil, the taste is different. It is like that.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Our bhāgavata-dharma can explain how, simply by desiring, there is creation. So here it is said: chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ. Chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ. One, by this, following this bhāgavata-dharma, studying from Bhāgavata, the ultimate knowledge of everything, one can become completely doubtless that God is a person, He is sentient, He is the supreme director, He's the supreme knower, He's the supreme physist, the supreme chemist—everything, supreme.
Here it is said that idaṁ hi puṁsas tapasaḥ... Every knowledge... Just like here is our Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara. He has got the doctorate title. We have seen your book. It is a learned scholarship, research work. So that is nice. But he has admitted the original cause is Kṛṣṇa. So we are asking everyone that "Whatever knowledge you have got..." It doesn't matter whether you are a chemist or physicist or an engineer or medical man... Any... There are so many. Lawyer, politician. So many departmental knowledge. So one becomes doctor and expert by high research work.
Everything is there. Sarva-kāma-dughā-mahī. Everything is within the earth. But you cannot take out. It is Kṛṣṇa. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got this power to exact, to extract puṇya-gandha through the rose flower. You haven't. You may be very big chemist, but you cannot do that. So in this way, if we study Kṛṣṇa, if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then your life is successful. That we are teaching. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And the śāstras will help you.
You may be very big man, politician or philosopher or chemist or physicist. So many we are; we are occupied. So why you should become big man? What is the purpose? The purpose is to understand Kṛṣṇa. Intelligent. So whatever talent you have got, it doesn't matter. Whatever you may be. You may be engineer. But if you are intelligent actually, through engineering, you'll describe Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa is the greatest engineer so that He's keeping all the planets floating in the air. That is engineer. You cannot do it. He is keeping... Gām āviśya (BG 15.13). He has said. Aham ojasā dhārayāmi, Kṛṣṇa says. So we have to understand Kṛṣṇa like that. Kṛṣṇa says like that, "I am keeping all these planets floating." Now, if you are a physicist, then you try to understand how Kṛṣṇa is keeping them floating. That is your perfection. That is your perfection. If you remain a physicist or chemist and don't understand Kṛṣṇa, it is a waste of time. It is waste of time.
We are divisioned. Either you take it varṇa, āśrama, or by occupation, anything, there must be some division, not that everyone is the same. Somebody is engineer. Somebody is medical man. Somebody is chemist. Somebody is philosopher. Somebody is brāhmaṇa. Somebody is śūdra. You take. Division must be there. It is not possible to make everyone all the same. That is rascaldom. That is, means, they have no knowledge. Just like the communists. They tried to make one. They failed. That is not possible. Still, they are going on: "Laborer class and the manager class." Why you make two? So if instead of two, if we make four, what is the difference in philosophy? They could not do it. That is not possible. There must be, because Kṛṣṇa says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam: (BG 4.13) "The four divisions is created by Me." How you can nullify Kṛṣṇa's creation? That is not possible. So division may be there. It doesn't matter. That is created by Kṛṣṇa. But still, there can be oneness. What is that? Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). Everyone try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Then it is oneness.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Prabhupāda: So immediately there will be precipitation and all the muddy things will be collected, and the water will be clear, original. So we are discussing about the muddy atmosphere. Things are there, sinful, muddy. But there is process also, how to counteract it. The process is also prescribed there. So at the present moment the whole world is muddy, but you cannot clear this muddy situation by adding more mud. They are trying to do that. They are not trying. The, there is Vedic method also, like that, that if you have done something wrong, you do another wrong thing. That is called prāyaścitta. Prāyaścitta. But Bhāgavata does not accept this kind of prāyaścitta.
Just like potassium cyanide. The chemical examiners have not experienced what is the taste. Because as soon as you taste, you finish. Potassium cyanide. You know this. So therefore in the chemical there is not mention, "the taste of the potassium cyanide." Nobody has still tasted. So there is a Hindi word in India, delhika lāḍu yakaya abhipataya ya lakaya abhipataya...(?) There is a delhika lāḍu. You make lāḍu. So delhika lāḍu. It is very slang language. Delhika lāḍu yakaya abhipastya. Delhika lāḍu is so made that one who has tasted it, he laments, and who has not tasted, he laments. Both of them. So this potassium cyanide is like that, a chemical. The chemists, because they do not know what is the taste, so they say that "We do not know. Analysis is imperfect." And those who have tasted, they cannot say. They are finished. (laughter) So this is the position.
Just like educational system: "Here is law class. Here is botany class. Here is chemist class." Whatever you are prepared to accept, you can accept. But these qualities must be there. The... Not that because it is impossible to become truthful, therefore truthfulness should be rejected altogether. No. One section must be there. That is the qualification of a brāhmaṇa, satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavam. But these qualities must be there in the society, some way or other. And they should cooperate. That is the perfection of society.
Just like the chemist or physicist, they are also analyzing the material elements within the laboratory. But that does not mean they are going to all be liberated at the end of life. No. Or if you want to be liberated... Because after all, you are spirit soul. You are entangled with these twenty-four elements. So your real business is how to get out of it. That is wanted. Suppose if you are a diseased fellow, or you analyze the disease. Just like in the, what is called, pathology. It is called pathology. The doctor examine your blood and he finds out, "This is infection, that is infection, this is this, this is this." That's all right. But simply by understanding the blood analysis, pathology, does not mean it is cured. The cure is different. Similarly, these sāṅkhya-yogī philosophers, they may analyze very critically. Even they can count the atoms which is composing this whole material atmosphere. But that does not mean you have understood the original force which has created all these things. That is discussed here. Etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyām. So you become a very big scientist, very big physicist, chemist. That is all right. But you must know how to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of your death.
So the living entities, being enamored or illusioned by the activities of this material nature, they are studying the material nature as Sāṅkhya philosopher, as scientist, as mathematician, as chemist, as physist. They are all studying only these twenty-four elements, not beyond that. Beyond that is the soul, and beyond that is the Supersoul. When one can understand not only to study the material composition of the body but the moving spirit of the body, that is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā lesson, beginning, that "Don't be simply misled by studying the material elements of the body, but within the body there is the living force, living entity." Just try to understand that. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā (BG 2.13).
There is effervescence. So that effervescent takes place not due to this chemical but due to the chemist who mixes together. Then effervescence takes place, and then the action comes in contact. So modern scientists, they are being unable to see that who is mixing the chemical. Because Kṛṣṇa says, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25), therefore the scientist cannot see bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt. They cannot see. They are seeing simply two mixture and mixed together. It is mixing by certain person, but who is mixing, that they cannot see. But that is bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Prakṛti is working, interaction of two chemicals or many chemicals. They are accepting it that the chemicals were already there.
Any metal you strike together, there will be śabda. Rūpa, rasa, gandha. There is smell. You see so many plants are growing, flowers. Wherefrom they are getting this scent? You see? You getting from the earth. The bad smells and good smell, everything is coming from the earth. And where is the chemist that they can take out rose scent from earth? That is not possible. But there is. There is no doubt about it. Otherwise wherefrom the scent is coming? The rose flower, you are smelling so nicely, but where it has got this smell? From the earth. The earth is there. Rūpa, rasa, gandha, śabda, and sparśa. Then, in the water, one thing is minus. And then, in the fire, two things are minus. And from the air, three things are minus. And from the sound, four things are minus. Only sound is there. The sound is the original cause of this creation where we are materially bound up.
So we have to understand, as Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām: "I am the seed." Such subtle things, how it is coming out? In the small seed what is the chemical composition? You put the seed, sow the seed, anywhere and put little water, that tejo-vāri-mṛd-vinimayaḥ, but the things are coming out differently. How the variety is possible? Therefore we cannot mix up. There is rose scent within the earth. Otherwise wherefrom the rose is getting its scent? There is. Puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca. Pṛthivyām, on this earth, there are potency of different flavor, different taste. Now let the chemist come and take the earth and make different taste. That is not possible. That is not... Therefore you cannot simply say that prakṛti is the cause of everything, no. Prakṛti is there, the same water. Prakṛti means earth, water, air, fire. The same water is there, the same fire is there, same water is there, and same earth is there. So why varieties are coming? You take from the water, from the earth, varieties of smell, varieties of taste. So that you cannot do. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
As you deal with material science, you become big mathematician, chemist, physician, or lawyer, or so many, naturalist. Similarly, spiritually, you become karmī, jñānī, yogī. Do that. That is not discouraged. But what for you are trying? Why you are trying to become a chemist or physist or a man of charitable disposition, educationist? Why? If I ask... If anybody asks, "Why you try to become a scientist? What is the aim of your life?" What will be the answer, possible answer? The materialist will say, "For developing civilization." Developing civilization means to, in their view, developing the process of sense gratification. That's all. But śāstra says, "No, not that. That is not the aim. You become a great scientist. There is no harm. But why you should become a scientist?"
Hari-toṣaṇam is the ultimate goal. Sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā... Sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya (BG 18.46). You become a chemist; it doesn't matter. You become physicist, mathematician. It doesn't matter. Unfortunately, due to the Kali-yuga, as soon as one become a big chemist, doctor of chemistry, he says, "I am God. There is no need of God." As soon as the little... Svapari jala-matrena phala phariyate.(?) You'll see the small fishes. They are practically on the edge of the water and making, "fut, fut, fut." The big fishes, they are down the water. So these so-called material chemists, they are nothing, a small fish. Those who are big chemist, big scientist... Just like Professor Einstein. He used to accept how God's brain is working. He appreciated. He was a great scientist. And the ordinary scientist also, they think that "Now we are able to do everything without God. Therefore we are bigger than God." That is not fact.
So these rascals, the chemists, they are trying to manufacture living being within test tube, and they are becoming very famous: "Oh, now they are making life in the..." Rascal, there are so many hundreds and millions of life are there, every day being created. What credit you'll get if you manufacture a life within test tube? But the rascals, they are: "Oh, scientists. He is now going to manufacture life." "No, show me how made..." "Yes, we are trying. It will be in future." Yes. Our Svarūpa Dāmodara... There was one professor. He came to California. He was speaking how from matter life can be there. He has written one volume, book, and he has got Nobel Prize, and the book's name is Evolution of Chemicals and Life. So he is also doctor in chemistry, our Svarūpa Dāmodara. He was also present there. As soon as he asked, "Sir, if I give you the chemicals, can you manufacture life?" at that time he said, "That I cannot say." "Why you cannot say? You are speaking that 'Combination of chemical brings in life.' " We are writing one book that life is from life, not from matter. That is not possible. These rascals are simply bluffing that "From chemicals life can be manufactured." No. We challenge.
One ten-thousandth part of the hair, we cannot see—the tip of the hair is so small—and divided into ten-thousandth part. That one part is dimension of the soul. Everything is there in the śāstra, Upaniṣads. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca jīvaḥ bhāgo sa vijñeyaḥ (CC Madhya 19.140), and... It is very powerful. We can take the example that very minute quantity of potash cyanide. There is no taste. In chemical analysis there is a taste. So up to date, nobody has tasted potash cyanide, because as soon as chemist will taste, immediately, he'll not be able to say what is this.
I know in Allahabad there was a doctor, Kabhir, a Dr. Kabhir. And because in my previous household life I was a chemist and druggist, I was supplying medicine, so he was my customer. So he had that... This Dr. Kabhir was a compounder. Later on he practiced. So he had very, very big prac... He was my biggest customer. He was purchasing medicine like anything. But he had experience. He learned from an experienced doctor. He cannot be called a bogus, because whatever he learned, he was... But generally, one who is not a bona fide doctor, he is called a quack. So anything, experience required, not that you have to go to the medical college. If you are trained under a bona fide doctor, then also you can get the quality of a doctor. Similarly, the whole thing is tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). One should go to the bona fide spiritual master to learn this transcendental science.
Everyone is engaged in a particular type of occupational duty. Never mind what is that occupation. You may be a religious priest, you may be a politician, you may be a nationalist, you may be a chemist, you may be a physist(physicist), you may be a philosopher, you may be a businessman, engineer, whatever you may be. It doesn't matter. You may be Christian, you may be Hindu, you may be dark, you may be white, whatever is there. You have got a particular type of duty. Nobody is without any occupation. Everyone is engaged some sort of duty. The storekeeper is engaged in his business, the factory man is engaged in his business, the lawyer is engaged in his business. Everyone. Sūta Gosvāmī said, ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. There are different kinds of duties according to the different division of the human society. That is a fact. Nobody can deny it. But how one can understand that the duty he is performing is successful? How one can understand? What is the test? You may be whatever you are doing, that doesn't matter. But how it is tested, that whatever you have done in your whole life, it has become successful. The test is, according to Bhāgavatam, svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja is giving very nice example that, svarṇaṁ yathā grāvasu hema-kāraḥ. Hema-kāraḥ means goldsmith, not goldsmith. Goldsmith is manufacturer of gold ornaments. Hema-kāraḥ means gold expert, you can say. He can find out in the soil where there is gold mine. Still there are. I know when I was managing Dr. Bose's laboratory, one chemist, Chandra Bhusan Vadery (?), he was a well known chemist in Calcutta. So, one Marwari gentleman was after him. He said that "I know how to find out gold mine." So, the Marwari gentleman spent after him lakhs of rupees and he said that "Here there is gold," but unfortunately gold was not found. (chuckles) And the gentleman lost so much money. So, but there are experts otherwise how gold mines are found out? There are experts. So here it is said... It is not new thing. Prahlāda Mahārāja said that this art is known millions and millions of years ago. It is not that the modern science has discovered airplane, modern science has discovered how to go to other planet and they have mining industry, no. These are all known. There is no question of modern science. Now, otherwise how Prahlāda Mahārāja gave this example? Vivikta, viviktatma jnana, jnani napi bhavena brahmata praktikasam syat (?).
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
One doctor, Mr., Dr. Goshal, he is a medical college chemist. He analyzed this cow dung and found all antiseptic properties in cow dung. So this is Vedic injunction. Whatever is there, it is already tested, it is already experimented. You have simply to accept. Don't try to argue. This is acceptance of Vedānta-sūtra. Not that "Oh, I have got to serve some purpose, political purpose. So I'll have to prove from Bhagavad-gītā there is nonviolence." In our country, Gandhi, he was supposed to be a great student of Bhagavad-gītā. He wanted to prove that there... (break) ...by violence. So he was killed. How you can prove Bhagavad-gītā nonviolence? There is tacit order, "You must fight. The other party is impious. So you must fight." These are the injunction. You cannot change. That is not Vedānta-sūtra.
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
Just like soda bicarb: the color is like this, the constitution is like this, the reaction is like this, the taste is like this. So a chemist in the laboratory corroborate the characteristic, then accept it, "Yes, it is soda bicarb." Similarly, if you want to know God, of if you want to see God, then first thing is that you must know what is the characteristics of God. Otherwise, if you go to another rascal and you ask him, "Can you show me God," and he shows you something nonsense, you accept it God, is that very nice thing? This is going on. "I want to see God." What qualification you have got to see God? He does not consider his qualification that "Whether I can see God?"
Arrival Addresses and Talks
The big, big chemist, big, big scientists, they are trying to create living entities. Their theory is: "By chemical evolution there is living symptoms." But it is not possible. The soul is different from these material elements. Soul is different from the material elements. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find the... First of all, material elements, they have been described, Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca, bhinnā me prakṛti aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jaga.... Jīva-bhūta (BG 7.5), the living entity, is completely different from this matter.
General Lectures
If you feel some necessity and there is a chance by physical labor(?)... The rascal does not know the chance is not the physical. The chance is given by Kṛṣṇa, that "You are so much anxious for this? All right, here is the way. You come on." They take it: "It has taken by chance, accident, accidental." There are many chemists who are discovering many compositions, mixing this liquid in a test tube. All of a sudden they see it has come successful—they take it as chance. So therefore their rascal brain cannot understand that it is the chance... It is not chance. It is an opportunity given by Kṛṣṇa to you: "You are so much laboring hard. All right, do it." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15), in the Bhagavad-gītā: "I give you. I give that intelligence." They take it as chance. There is no question of chance. There is no question of chance. When you become perplexed, you want to do something, Kṛṣṇa gives you the opportunity: "All right, do it like this." That is His mercy.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: If we listed for some conditions that it must weigh a certain amount, it must have a certain color, it must have a certain texture, like that...
Prabhupāda: That is already there. Those who are chemists, they know what is the characteristics of gold. That is already there, recorded. So what does he want?
Śyāmasundara: This is part of his system for analyzing what is true or untrue.
Prabhupāda: That analysis is there. It may not be with me, it may not be with you, but it is already there. But what he will do with that analysis? What is his aim?
Śyāmasundara: Well, we can satisfy his conditions and then determine if it is true that this ring is gold.
Prabhupāda: Yes. There are so many conditions. After, at the end, the conditions come to atom, atomic theory. But the atom is also conditioned, aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu cayāntara-stham. Kṛṣṇa is within the atom also; therefore the atom is not absolute or independent. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate fact.
Śyāmasundara: There is a basic element-gold.
Prabhupāda: Not basic. It is a combination of different elements, different metals.
Śyāmasundara: According to the chemists, there are 108 basic elements, and gold is one of them.
Prabhupāda: That may be, but I say that what you call gold is a combination of other metals. So gold, this is not absolute. This is relative. Because other metals have combined together, it is now known as gold. Similarly, the whole world is combination of different material elements, and the gross elements are this earth, water, fire, air, ether.
Śyāmasundara: What about..., they say that there is a basic atom called a hydrogen atom.
Prabhupāda: Whatever you will call it, it is also matter. The minute particles are matter. That's all.
| Page Title: | Chemist (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 18 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=46, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 46 |