The sparks fall into different conditions and retain more or less of their original brilliance. Some sparks fall onto dry grass and thus ignite another big fire. This is a reference to the pure devotees who take compassion on the poor and innocent living entities. The pure devotee ignites Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the hearts of the conditioned souls, and thus the blazing fire of the spiritual world becomes manifest even within this material world. Some sparks fall onto water; they immediately lose their original brilliance and become extinct. They are comparable to the living entities who take their birth in the midst of gross materialists, in which case their original Kṛṣṇa consciousness becomes extinct. Some sparks fall to the ground and remain midway between the blazing and extinct conditions. Thus some living entities are without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, some are between having and not having Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and some are actually situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The demigods in the higher planets—Lord Brahmā, Indra, Candra, the sun-god and various other demigods—are all Kṛṣṇa conscious. Human society is between the demigods and the animals, and thus some are more or less Kṛṣṇa conscious, and some are completely forgetful of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The third-grade living entities, namely the animals, beasts, plants, trees and aquatics, have completely forgotten Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This example stated in the Vedas regarding the sparks of a blazing fire is very appropriate for understanding the condition of different types of living entities. But above all other living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, or Puruṣottama, who is always liberated from all material conditions.
Extinct
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
Six kinds of opulences, namely wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, are all originally the different attributes pertaining to the Absolute Personality of Godhead. The living beings, who are part-and-parcel entities of the Supreme Being, have all these attributes partially, up to the full strength of seventy-eight percent. In the material world these attributes (up to seventy-eight percent of the Lord's attributes) are covered by the material energy, as the sun is covered by a cloud. The covered strength of the sun is very dim, compared to the original glare, and similarly the original color of the living beings with such attributes becomes almost extinct. There are three planetary systems, namely the lower worlds, the intermediate worlds and the upper worlds. The human beings on earth are situated at the beginning of the intermediate worlds, but living beings like Brahmā and his contemporaries live in the upper worlds, of which the topmost is Satyaloka. In Satyaloka the inhabitants are fully cognizant of Vedic wisdom, and thus the mystic cloud of material energy is cleared.
SB Canto 2
The devotees are interested only in seeing that the people in general are not misguided by political propaganda and in seeing that the valuable life of a human being is not spoiled in following a type of civilization which is ultimately doomed. If the politicians, therefore, would be guided by the good counsel of the devotees, then certainly there would be a great change in the world situation by the purifying propaganda of the devotees, as shown by Lord Caitanya. As Śukadeva Gosvāmī began his prayer by discussing the word yat-kīrtanam, so also Lord Caitanya recommended that simply by glorifying the Lord's holy name, a tremendous change of heart can take place by which the complete misunderstanding between the human nations created by politicians can at once be extinguished. And after the extinction of the fire of misunderstanding, other profits will follow. The destination is to go back home, back to Godhead, as we have several times discussed in these pages.
SB Canto 3
Both the Kauravas and the Yādavas were relatives of Vidura, and Vidura heard of their extinction due to fratricidal war. The comparison of the friction of forest bamboos to that of passionate human societies is appropriate. The whole world is compared to a forest. At any moment there may be a flare-up of fire in the forest due to friction. No one goes to the forest to set it on fire, but due only to friction between bamboos, fire takes place and burns an entire forest. Similarly, in the greater forest of worldly transaction, the fire of war takes place because of the violent passion of the conditioned souls illusioned by the external energy. Such a worldly fire can be extinguished only by the water of the mercy cloud of saints, just as a forest fire can be extinguished only by rains falling from a cloud.
SB Canto 4
The higher authorities, as appointed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are Lord Brahmā and all other Prajāpatis and Manus. Thus from the beginning of creation it can be seen that the first creature is the most intelligent. It is not that so-called modern intelligence has developed by the gradual process of evolution. As stated in Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, there is a gradual evolutionary process, but it is not the body that is evolving. All the bodily forms are already there. It is the spiritual entity, or spiritual spark within the body, that is being promoted by the laws of nature under the supervision of superior authority. We can understand from this verse that from the very beginning of creation different varieties of living entities were existing. It is not that some of them have become extinct. Everything is there; it is due to our lack of knowledge that we cannot see things in their proper perspective.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, is not like a material object that can be known by experimental knowledge or sense perception. In the Nārada-pañcarātra this fact has been explained by Nārāyaṇa Himself to Lord Śiva. But Śaṅkarācārya, the incarnation of Śiva, under the order of Nārāyaṇa, his master, had to mislead the monists, who favor ultimate extinction. In the conditioned stage of existence, all living entities have four basic defects, of which one is the cheating propensity. Śaṅkarācārya has carried this cheating propensity to the extreme to mislead the monists.
CC Antya-lila
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
The personified Vedas continued by saying that the Supersoul and the individual soul, or Paramātmā and jīvātmā, cannot be equal in any circumstance, although both of them sit within the same body, like two birds sitting in the same tree. As declared in the Vedas, these two birds, although sitting as friends, are not equal. One is simply a witness. This bird is Paramātmā, or the Supersoul. And the other bird is eating the fruit of the tree. That is the jīvātmā. When there is cosmic manifestation, the jīvātmā, or the individual soul, appears in the creation in different forms, according to his previous fruitive activities, and due to his long forgetfulness of real existence, he identifies himself with a particular form awarded to him by the laws of material nature. After assuming a material form, he is subjected to the three material modes of nature and acts accordingly to continue his existence in the material world. While he is enwrapped in such ignorance, his natural opulences become almost extinct. The opulences of the Supersoul, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, however, are not diminished, although He appears within this material world. He maintains all opulences and perfections in full while keeping Himself apart from all the tribulations of this material world. The conditioned soul becomes enwrapped in the material world, whereas the Supersoul, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, leaves it without being affected, just as a snake sheds his skin. The distinction between the Supersoul and the conditioned individual soul is that the Supersoul, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, maintains His natural opulences, known as ṣaḍ-aiśvarya, aṣṭa-siddhi and aṣṭa-guṇa.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). Śūdra means they earn their livelihood by serving others. And in the Kali-yuga, in this age, ninety-nine percent or at least ninety percent, they live by serving others. Therefore it is said, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In the Kali, in this age, almost everyone is śūdra." There is no brāhmaṇa, no kṣatriya, no vaiśya. Of course, there are vaiśyas. Factually, at the present moment the population are the vaiśyas and the śūdras. And there is fight, that your American nation, they are vaiśyas, and the Russians, they are śūdras. So there is always fight between the vaiśyas and śūdras. Actually, there is no brāhmaṇa or kṣatriyas. They are extinct. And because the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas are extinct, therefore social orders are in chaos. There is no brain; there is no good administration. That's all. Without kṣatriya, there cannot be any good administration, and without brāhmaṇa, there is no good brain. Therefore we pray to Kṛṣṇa, namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca, kṛṣṇāya govindāya...
- namo brahmaṇya-devāya
- go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca
- jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya
- govindāya namo namaḥ
So this is very important. We are worshiping, offering our respect to Kṛṣṇa, as brahmaṇya-deva. Brahmaṇya-deva means "the Lord who is worshiped by the brāhmaṇas." So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not for the śūdras. Kṛṣṇa conscious... One who is elevated to the standard of becoming brāhmaṇa, they can become Kṛṣṇa conscious. But by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, every one comes to the stage of brahminical standard.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
So far Buddha is concerned, he's also considered śaktyāveśa avatāra. He preached this nirvāṇa philosophy. Although he did not speak about God, because it is considered that he was himself God, but the people amongst whom he preached, they were mostly atheistic people; therefore he did not preach about God. But he did not deny also. He simply wanted to make extinction of this present worldly activities. That was, yes... Nirvāṇa. And he represented the sacrifice of renouncement. He..., you may remember that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, out of His six opulences, one opulence is renouncement. So Lord Buddha's life is renouncement. He was prince. He, he was in a very young time. He renounced the world and underwent severe penances. These are the symptoms by which we can understand that he's also śaktyāveśa avatāra. And the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ mama tejo-'ṁśa-sambhavam. Anyone, not only Lord Buddha or others, but anyone, Lord, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, anyone who has got some extraordinary power, uncommon power, he's to be considered vibhu. Śaktyāveśa avatāra, there are two kinds, one directly empowered for particular mission, comes from the transcendental spiritual sky, and others, those who are in this material world, but they have got some specific power, uncommon power, not found in ordinary man. They are called vibhūti. This vibhūti (is) explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ mama tejo-'ṁśa sambhavam. That is out of the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
So real identity is in the Vedic literature we find that just like the fire, big fire, and the sparks of the fire, they are of the same quality, but the small spark, when he goes out of the fire and falls elsewhere, then, at that time, its fiery quality becomes covered. So this covering becomes manifest according to different qualities. Just like the fire. If a fire spark, if it drops on the water, then it is, it assumes completely extinguished. Similarly, the living entity, although qualitatively the fire, with God, when it contacts the modes of ignorance, his spiritual quality becomes almost extinct. When he is on the land, not on the water, then there is something, heat. Similarly, when the living entity is in the rajo-guṇa, the quality of passion, there is some hope. And when the living entity is in goodness... Just like the same spark, if it drops on the grass, dry grass, then the same spark of fire ignites another fire, another blazing fire. Similarly, if one is in goodness, then he can create a spiritual association. Just like the same example, that the small spark of fire, if it falls in favorable circumstances, or in dry grass, then it can ignite fire.
General Lectures
In the Brahma-saṁhitā we understand the movements of the sun:
- yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ
- rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ
- yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
The meaning of this verse is that "I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead Govinda, asya ajñayā, by whose order this sun, which is considered to be the king of all planets..." Sun is the king of all planets. That is a known fact. Without sun, all these planets, they cannot live. Without sunshine, their life will be extinct. Therefore sun is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, rājā samasta-grahāṇām, of all the planets. And aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ means unlimited heat, fire. Unlimited fire. Nobody knows what is the source of this fire, but there is unlimited fire. Some ninety-three millions miles away from this planet, still, the heat is sometimes unbearable. Just see what is the fire. And it is so many times, fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet, earthly planet. So Brahma-saṁhitā says in spite of the sun's so many, I mean to say, high qualification, it is moving under the order of Govinda. Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro. It has got its own orbit, it is moving, kāla-cakro. Kāla-cakro means limited. Nobody is unlimited.
Just like in Europe, that Hitler, he wanted supremacy over Europe, and he fought very valiantly. But at the end he became vanquished. Similarly, in the material world we have got so many desires and we want to fulfill it—and for which we work very hard. But at the end it becomes frustrated. That is the nature of the material world. You cannot have anything here permanent, however hard you work... You may achieve that. Not only in this material world. Even you achieve the liberation, perfectional stage, as the impersonal philosophers want. They want nirvāṇa. Just like Buddhists, they want nirvāṇa, extinction of this material conditional life. That is called nirvāṇa. And the Māyāvādī philosophers, impersonalists, they want not only extinction of these material pangs but they want to be situated in spiritual consciousness only. But our Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that you cannot keep yourself in spiritual consciousness unless you are fully engaged in spiritual activities. That is the perfect philosophy.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: But evolution we accept. Evolution we accept but it is not that there was no existence of human being. That we do not accept. Evolution we accept. Just like my childhood manifestation is extinct but there are many other child. Same time. So our point is all the species of life, they are existing simultaneously. Evolution there is, we accept that but it is not that one is missing, one has gone away, and another is come, ten million, thirty millions there was no human being. This is all nonsense. He cannot find in the layer, that is not evidence.
Śyāmasundara: For instance, there's no dinosaurs existing now. They're extinct now but where are they gone? Some other planets then? Is there some...?
Prabhupāda: No. Not in this planet, he has no chance to see it.
Śyāmasundara: There's dinosaurs existing on this planet?
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, he has no chance to see it, or it is imagination only.
Śyāmasundara: That's very hard to accept. What about the dodo? It was a giant bird...
Prabhupāda: Our proposition is that there is an evolutionary process from aquatics to birds here, plants life, then insect life, then bird's life, then animal life, then human life. So this is a evolutionary process, we accept but it is not that one is extinct, another is surviving. All of them are existing simultaneously.
Śyāmasundara: But they are not all present at this particular moment on this planet, are they?
Prabhupāda: Particular, it is not that he has seen all the planets or all the universes. What he has seen?
Śyāmasundara: That's what I mean. They may be extinct on this planet but on some other planet they...
Prabhupāda: At least he has no power to see everything. That is a fact. He's not so powerful that he can see everywhere and everything. That you have to accept. He has limited power to see. By that limited power to see he cannot conclude that one species (is) extinct. That is not possible. No scientist will accept that. After all, your senses by which you are (indistinct), they're limited. So how you can say, "This is finished," or "This is that." That is not to be accepted. Because your senses are imperfect. You cannot see. You cannot search out. Have you searched out all the earthly layers or the 25,000 miles everywhere? That is not possible for you. The whole earthly planet is circumference is 25,000 miles, radius how many, has he discovered that all the places?
Śyāmasundara: No. But dinosaurs...
Prabhupāda: But simply by dinosaur missing you cannot say that what about other all species of life, other.
Śyāmasundara: Many, many, many, many are extinct, according to...
Prabhupāda: I am accepting many are extinct, but the evolutionary process, it means one extinct, and another comes. But we see that the monkey, from monkey, man comes. The monkey is there and man is there. The monkey is not finished.
Śyāmasundara: Oh, I remember last time when we discussed this, you said, "Well, then, why don't we see men coming out of monkeys still?"
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śyāmasundara: "Why hasn't some man been born out of a monkey?"
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Śyāmasundara: "In our experience..."
Prabhupāda: The monkey is existing, the man is existing.
Śyāmasundara: I accept that. But I want to understand that the theory of evolution is that...
Prabhupāda: Theory of evolution we accept.
Śyāmasundara: ...from simple forms of life, more complex forms evolve.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That's all right. But they are all existing still. They are not extinct. That is the point.
Śyāmasundara: All right. But on this planet, now if we could examine this planet...
Prabhupāda: Again you come to this planet. Why you are sticking to this planet?
Karandhara: Appearing and disappearing according to the seasons.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like this Los Angeles City, there is a havoc of flood from the ocean and all men die. That does not mean extinct; the men are there somewhere else. You cannot say that human species is now extinct, because your study is limited.
Śyāmasundara: Supposing one man is particularly adapted, and he is smart, intelligent, and he survives when everything else is killed...
Prabhupāda: That he may survive, that we don't disagree.
Śyāmasundara: But he would say that that man passes on his superior traits to his children, and it's another species.
Prabhupāda: No. He survives, but many other men like him, they are existing somewhere. He may survive of this catastrophe, but that does not mean that other men are all extinct. You cannot say that. In these circumstances this man may survive or may not survive, but man is existing somewhere else.
Prabhupāda: He survives means... He survives means that even if he's dead, that does not mean that the species is dead. There is another human being in another part of the world.
Śyāmasundara: I accept that, but I mean I want to...
Prabhupāda: So you say that because he does not survive, the whole species is extinct.
Śyāmasundara: No. But he survives..., one man survives because he is able to breathe in the water.
Śyāmasundara: His finding is that new types of species will come out, which will be better adapted. The swans, if it becomes too cold, they will die.
Prabhupāda: They are better than us, than human being?
Atreya Ṛṣi: What the theory is Prabhupāda is that, for example, if there are many, many swans living in one place, those who cannot adjust will be extinct after many, many years, and those who can adjust will live. In effect, what he tried to prove was that Kṛṣṇa's law, nature's law, is perfect. But he was missing Kṛṣṇa. In other words, what the proof is very scientific, but it is lacking.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He is adding zero, without one.
Atreya Ṛṣi: That's right, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Therefore the value remains zero. He couldn't find the one, so that the value of the zeroes at once increases.
Hayagrīva: This is Schopenhauer. For Schopenhauer happiness is inactive satisfaction, inactivity, nirvāṇa. The will to live is the irrational urge...
Prabhupāda: What does he give..., what does he explain about the nirvāṇa? What?
Hayagrīva: The will to live is the irrational urge that brings about all suffering. And his is a philosophy of extinction. Now in his first book, The World Is Idea, he ascribes to the philosophy of māyā, like a Māyāvādī. He writes, "The Vedas and Purāṇas have no better simile than a dream for the whole knowledge of the actual world, which they call the web of māyā, and they use none more frequently." From this Schopenhauer concludes that life is a long dream. "What is this world of perception besides being my idea? Is that of which I am conscious only as idea exactly like my own body, of which I am doubly conscious, in one aspect as idea, in another aspect as will?" So from this he concludes that life is a projection of the will.
Prabhupāda: This material life?
Hayagrīva: Material life is a projection of the will.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he has read it. It is taken from Indian... It is called vāsanā. Vāsanā means desire. So that desire, material desire, but the living entity cannot be desireless. Desireless..., nirvāṇa means material desires finished. But because living entity is eternal spiritual being, he is, he has got spiritual desire. Now it is covered. The desire is there, desire is constant companion, but because it is materially covered, we are thinking this temporary world as reality, and it is not reality; therefore it is changing. We are having different types of desires according to the body we get, and the soul is transmigrating in this material world from one body to another, and he is creating a certain type of desires, will. And to fulfill that will he is getting a different type of body by the Supreme Will. He is willing, and the Supreme Will, God, Kṛṣṇa, understanding his will, giving him facility to accept a certain pattern of circumstances, body, to fulfill his particular desire. That is going on.
Prabhupāda: So this is going on. He is getting, therefore, different types of body.
Hayagrīva: He says we go..., there's a constant transition from desire to satisfaction and from satisfaction to a new desire, a rapid course of which is called happiness, and the slow course sorrow, and does not sink into that stagnation that shows itself in fearful boredom that paralyzes life. So it's this flux from desire to satisfaction that characterizes the will's activities in the phenomenal world. But for Schopenhauer, outside of all of this flux there is only..., the only solution is nirvāṇa or extinction.
Prabhupāda: No, that is not the fact. One has to study that willing and satisfaction of the willing. So behind this willing and satisfaction of willing there is the person who is willing. He does not take that person into consideration.
Hayagrīva: No.
Prabhupāda: He takes only that the willing and satisfaction willing, that is the only business. But he does not see the person who is willing. That is his defect.
Hayagrīva: Supreme Person.
Prabhupāda: Not Supreme Person.
Hayagrīva: Is this kind of extinction the purpose behind chastity?
Prabhupāda: Behind the willing activities there is a person who is willing. So simply by negation of this temporary willing will not help him. He has to will reality. That is eternal willing. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He has been willing his sense satisfaction, material world, because he does not know there is another field of willing. So the same willing, when he will satisfy the senses of the Supreme, that is his eternal willing. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Because when he analyzes, comes to the real knowledge, he finds himself that he is eternal servant of God. As such, when willing will be concentrated how to serve God, that is his real position of life—eternity, knowledge and bliss. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Hayagrīva: Yes, further, further. "More," "When we have investigated..."
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hayagrīva: "...further, it will appear to us in a still," that is suicide, "that death is not extinction."
Prabhupāda: Then after death there is life. As soon as there is life, there is desire, willing.
Hayagrīva: Yes. He says that so; therefore that's no solution. He says that death and life are integral.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Hayagrīva: That they are comp..., they go together, death...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hayagrīva: ...and life.
Prabhupāda: Because the will is there, therefore death is not stoppage of life. He gets another life, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So this proves that the life or the person who is willing, desiring, he is eternal, but he does not know what should be his eternal willing. That is his defect. So we are teaching this. His eternal willing is that he should always will to serve Kṛṣṇa. Then he will be happy.
Prabhupāda: That's all, then commit it immediately. Why you are writing so many book? Commit suicide, that everyone can do that.
Hayagrīva: After, after having sex, most people simply go to sleep, and he felt that this was the, sort of the ultimate extinction.
Prabhupāda: That means Freud is a most imperfect person. He is taking sex as very important thing, which the dog enjoys. As a dog's life and a hog's life, the hog has got very good facility. The monkey has got very good facility for sex life, and he is thinking this is ultimate goal, and then sleep. So that is going on. So if sex life is so big thing, the hogs, they have got good facility. The pigeons, they have got very good facility. I think every hour they have four times sex life, these pigeons. So if that is, then you become a pigeon. You pray to God that "Make me a pigeon, make me a hog." Why you are becoming philosopher? Now our philosophy is different—not to become a pig. Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye (SB 5.5.1). The life simply for sense gratification, and for that purpose working so hard, but that is the business of the pig. That is not the business of the human being. Human being is tapasya. Tapasya means stop sex life. That is tapasya. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13). So our philosophy is different from his philosophy. And actually we are suffering. The pig has got good facilities for sex. Does it mean that is ideal life, eating stool and having sex without discrimination? They have no discrimination, whether mother or sister or daughter. That is hog life. So if sex life is final pleasure, then hog is in the greatest pleasure. He has no social obligation. He has no discrimination. But our philosophy says "Don't become a hog, become a sane man." There, there, there is a difference between his philosophy and our philosophy.
Hayagrīva: He says the grandeur of Indian religion and poetry as well as Indian philosophy have been acknowledged especially in their rejection and sacrifice of the senses. Now his conception is typical nineteenth century...
Prabhupāda: He has no study of the Vedic literature; still he poses himself to remark on the Vedic literature. That is his ignorance.
Hayagrīva: He considers the goal of Indian philosophy to be spiritual as well as physical extinction. Nirvāṇa.
Prabhupāda: Physical extinction, everyone says that—even Christian religion says—you go to hell, go to heaven. So who goes to heaven? Who goes to heaven? What is the qualification? Reasonably, one who has given up this physical.
Hayagrīva: He says spiritual extinction as well as physical, nirvāṇa.
Prabhupāda: But then he has no idea what is spiritual. Spiritual is eternal, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). How does it, spiritually... Spirit is also annihilated, then where is the difference between matter and spirit? Imperfect knowledge. And still they are big philosopher. Scanty knowledge.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: They have got personality, all the living entities coming out, the microbes. They have got their personality. If they're moving in this way, you stop. They'll move in this way.
"There is some block. Let me go this side." So there is personality.
Karandhara: But in the dead body, there's no personality.
Prabhupāda: That means that individual person has left. That is the proof, that is the proof of individual soul. Just like there are so many plants of the same species. One is dead. That individual plant is dead, but other species are living. It is not extinct. How can you say the species is extinct? How you can say? Darwin's forefather might be extinct. But the monkeys are there. What is the time?
Brahmānanda: Six-thirty.
Karandhara: Six thirty-five.
Prabhupāda: Hmm. We can walk little more.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: He have to accept so much dowry, how many thousands horses?
Girirāja: Fifteen thousand.
Prabhupāda: So who will take dowry like this? (laughing) And how many? Four hundred elephants. Who can maintain four hundred elephants? Nowadays horses and elephants are not selling because nobody can maintain. Yes.
Yaśomatīnandana: Only the zoos.
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...animal-eaters, later on, they will not find animals to eat. They will eat themselves. Because animals are not being maintained, they may be, according to Darwin's theory, extinct.
Satsvarūpa: In the US and everywhere they maintain them just for slaughter. So will that dwindle out?
Prabhupāda: Yes, slaughtering, slaughtering. When there will be no more, where this question of slaughtering?
Yaśomatīnandana: Yes. When there are no more animals, where will reproduce?
Prabhupāda: They maintain elephant also for slaughtering?
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Bahulāśva: That verse about how wood is better than raw earth and fire is better than wood?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Fire is better than smoke. Smoke is better than wood. Wood means tamo-guṇa. And smoke means rajo-guṇa, "Now it is coming." And fire means sattva-guṇa. So you have to go still above. That is called śuddha-sattva-guṇa. Here, simply blazing fire, it may also extinguish, but the platform where it is never extinguished, that is spiritual platform. That is spiritual. That is not material. Not only fire, but ever-blazing fire. That is spiritual platform. You cannot stop even, "Oh, here is now fire." It must be ever-blazing fire. Then it will act. But that is said when there is no chance of extinction. Nitya-yukta upāsate. That is stated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, nitya-yukta, ever-existing, eternal. That is wanted. Sometimes our devotees fall down because he has not come to that platform, ever-existing. Therefore the fire extinguished. That is possible, but everyone should be very, very careful that the fire may not be extinguished. Then again māyā. There are two things: Kṛṣṇa and māyā. If Kṛṣṇa fire is extinguished, then māyā, ignorance, darkness. Two things.
- kṛṣṇa-bhuliyā-jīva bhoga-vāñchā kare
- pāśate māyāra tare jāpaṭiyā dhare
As soon as you forget Kṛṣṇa, then māyā is there, "Yes, please come here." Finished. There is no two, er, three. māyā, Kṛṣṇa. If you are not in Kṛṣṇa, then you are in māyā. And if you are in Kṛṣṇa, there is no māyā. Yāhān kṛṣṇa, sūrya-tāhān, nāhi māyāra adhikāra. That is our Back to Godhead motto, "Where there is Kṛṣṇa, there is no nescience."
Harikeśa: They like to think that everything evolved so they can think that eventually...
Prabhupāda: What is the...? Why you do not manufacture something that everything will evolve? Why you have to search out for petrol? Let petrol evolve within your car. Make such arrangement. Why you are anxious to get petrol from Arabia? Evolve petrol. Make some scientific discovery that petrol is evolving, so when the machine is going on, petrol is also evolving. Then you are scientist. Evolve. The theory of evolve will come. But you cannot do that. Why do you say nonsense? Darwin's theory—"extinct." Now he is extinct. Does it mean so many other Charles are also extinct? There are many thousands of Charles Darwins. They are existing. So where is his theory of extinction? He is a man. He is no longer existing. And so many millions and millions of men are existing. Where is the question of extinct?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, they found that certain species of life...
Prabhupāda: But he belongs to some species, English species, but he is gone. Does it mean the English species is gone? These rascals, they are big scientist and we have to accept them. (break) As a person, he is extinct. Does it mean that the English people are extinct?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: No.
Prabhupāda: Then? Why does he say "extinct"? These cheaters, they cheat themselves and bluff others and mislead the people. This is their position. We want at least that people may not be bluffed by these rascals and waste their time. That we want, that much. They may say that "You are not scientist." Yes, I am not scientist, but I can request you that don't be bluffed by this nonsense. That much I can say. I can prove that he is a nonsense. Why you are wasting time after them? Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)...their folly, European men. Where the American men will go? (laughter) Just see. (break) ...from India they made Indian center, and they conquered both sides—Far East, Middle East, Africa—with Indian soldiers. They organized Indian soldiers and Sikhs and Gurkhas, and they employed them for extending their empire. British soldier does not mean... Maybe two, one or two British commanders, but real soldiers were Indians.
Devotee (3): The Indian soldiers were known as the Gurkhas.
Prabhupāda: Gurkhas and Sikhs.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: You can make it red.
Dr. Patel: Now, sir, they think the body does not extinct with the stoppage of the heart, but it gets extinct after complete disorganization of the brain or what we call...
Prabhupāda: That means mūḍha. You are mūḍha, again mūḍha. Double mūḍha. (laughter)
Dr. Patel: Both, they come to mūḍha. Now rascal become...
Prabhupāda: Means when he becomes double mūḍha he becomes rascal. (laughter) Single mūḍha is tolerable, and double mūḍha means mūḍha. Double M.A. Double M.A. means double rascal.
Dr. Patel: Up to this, sir, heart transplant, I mean, surgery...
Prabhupāda: (Hindi) All mūḍhas. (Hindi) Apareyam. Immediately Kṛṣṇa says, but this rascal will not accept. He immediately says, "This you are analyzing, but these things, these material things—apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā (BG 7.5). There is another thing." But that they will not accept. Therefore mūḍha. Kṛṣṇa says very clearly, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā. What is that? Jīva-bhūta. That living entity. So clearly said, but they are so mūḍha, they will not accept.
Prabhupāda: Not gigantic. There are bones. But that animal is still there, whalefish.
Rāmeśvara: Whalefish.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Very big body.
Rāmeśvara: Some have become extinct.
Prabhupāda: Why they should be extinct?
Hṛdayānanda: No longer on the earth.
Rāmeśvara: No longer on this planet.
Prabhupāda: (too much noise) Not necessarily. They are within the ocean.
Prabhupāda: You convince your countrymen that "It is a great sinful activity that you are killing your mother. You stop this. If you want to eat meat, you can eat some other, nonimportant animals. There are so many." The Chinese they are eating rats also. Cats, rats, everything.
Devotee: Monkeys.
Prabhupāda: Monkeys also. So monkey's the forefather of Darwin. Better kill them so that there is no opportunity of criticism that "You are coming from monkey." You extinct this species. It is rather insulting. If I say that you are descendant of monkey, then it is insult. So extinct this monkey. I don't think there is monkey here. Africa there is monkey. You have been in Africa? There are monkey-eating birds. Top of the tree, monkey, they catch up on the head and drop it from high. And then they take it. (pause) There was a boat which belonged to this house. I think he has sold it.
Mādhavānanda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: There was no objection.
Prabhupāda: That is day. Such devastation takes place during Brahmā's day. Fourteen Manus.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Do we know that in detail, Śrīla Prabhupāda? What type of species are extinct? Not all the species extinct. As it is during Brahmā's day, that partial annihilation, devastation, now some species are extinct?
Prabhupāda: No species extinct. What you are reading? This is garbage.(?)
Svarūpa Dāmodara: The physical forms.
Prabhupāda: No, nothing is extinct. Everything is going on.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They say they have all the bones.
Prabhupāda: No, they are describing maybe another animal. That is existing. That is Timiṅgila, they can swallow up big, big whale fishes. That big, bones, they are living still. Nothing is extinct. They are already there.
Rūpānuga: Did these dinosaurs exist, or is it just their imagination?
Prabhupāda: The big animal exists. I call it dinosaur or finosaur, that is your choice. Big animals existing. Timiṅgila, I said the name, Timiṅgila, still exist.
Rūpānuga: Still exist.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. They are always existing. Water elephants. There are elephants in water. Everything.
Rūpānuga: So there is no such thing as extinction.
Prabhupāda: No extinction, there is no question of extinction.
Prabhupāda: They claim everything. That is... There is no question.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: (indistinct) fossil, they are called fossil record.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. You can get a dead animal's body, but what is that?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They claim that many species are extinct.
Prabhupāda: How they are extinct?
Hari-śauri: Well, like, they say that within modern history,
Prabhupāda: First thing is they are all imperfect speculators. So what is the value of their sport? We don't take any value of it.
Rūpānuga: They don't know where these animals are, that's all.
Prabhupāda: They, simply like child, they are speculating. If he's imperfect, then what is the value of his speculation? There is no value.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is it true that there were big dinosaur bodies?
Prabhupāda: If they were, it is still now.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, wow.
Prabhupāda: We don't say it is extinct.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But you've explained that even if not here then it must be on another planet.
Prabhupāda: Yes, another. This planet, what you have seen?
Rāmeśvara: That's the point, what we have seen about this planet?
Devotee (1): Could still be here. They found one in, where is that? In Ireland?
Prabhupāda: Cannot be extinct, that is not possible.
Devotee (1): In that lake?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But do you think they were on this planet?
Prabhupāda: No, no, may be on this planet, but it doesn't matter that it is extinct. You have not seen.
Indian man (4): Those that have become extinct, dinosaurs and those...
Prabhupāda: That is rascals' theory. Nothing extinct.
Indian man (4): This is not correct.
Prabhupāda: No. Just like he says that man comes from monkey. Monkey is extinct? Where is the question of extinction? There is no question of extinction. There are different species of life, and according to your karma... Just like there are first-class, second-class, third-class compartments. If you pay for the first-class, you enter into first-class. You cannot say that third-class is extinct. According to your karma... Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). According to... As you pay. If you pay for third-class, you enter into third-class compartment. If you pay for first-class, you enter into first-class. So it is according to your karma you'll get a body. Why it should be extinct?
Indian man (4): Because it is extinct. We find there are those... fossilized...
Prabhupāda: You do not find. This is only... You simply repeat Darwin, that's all. You do not find. You do not see anything. You simply hear from Darwin. You have taken Darwin as your authority. But you don't take authority, Vedas. That is your fault.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Śatadhanya: You are compassionate.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Tathā vinoda(?). I have done on reality. I want to establish reality, not imagination. What is the use of giving some imaginative idea, just like this rascal Darwin? Everything rascal. No practical value. And he has written volumes of books, and people are accepting: "From monkey, man has come. That's all." But monkey is there; man is there. Where monkey is extinct? The whole theory is absolutely bogus, and people have accepted it. I never believed that. Anthropo... Anthropomor... No? The...?
Upendra: Anthropomorphism.
Prabhupāda: And... What do you call, this science?
Śatadhanya: Anthropology.
Correspondence
1975 Correspondence
Mundane archeologists are mistaken because they say from monkey the human beings have come into existence, but at the present moment both the human being and the monkey are existing. The monkey is not extinct. So these theories are not correct. Nobody has seen a monkey giving birth to a human being. As the monkey and the human being are existing side by side at present, so for millions of years they were existing like this. That is our theory. The modern material archeology has no meaning for us. Our realization is depending on the spiritual platform. Transmigration of the soul does not depend on history.
| Page Title: | Extinct |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 23 of Feb, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=4, CC=2, OB=2, Lec=19, Con=14, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 42 |