Śyāmasundara: So then this philosophy of Leibnitz is not correct.
Prabhupāda: No.
Śyāmasundara: Because he says in matter there is also this kind of individuality.
Prabhupāda: That individual is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa knows that so many atoms will be combined, then another thing will be formed. It is not the individual soul but Kṛṣṇa directly.
Śyāmasundara: But when you come to the living entities, then the individual soul is also there.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Within the body. Both of them—Kṛṣṇa is also there, and the individual soul is also there.
Śyāmasundara: He says that the definition of substance is a being capable of action. Substance means to be capable of action, and that existence means action.
Prabhupāda: Substance is original. Other things are categories.
Śyāmasundara: So being capable of action, is that a good definition of substance?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Substance means the original cause, so He is completely able to act.
Śyāmasundara: He says to be is to be active.
Prabhupāda: Yes, to be means to be active. Without activity, what does it mean to be?
Śyāmasundara: He says that these monads change in their appearances because the inner desire impels it to pass from one phenomenal representation to another.
Prabhupāda: The monad does not change, but his mind has changed. But I do not know what this means, monads. He is complicating. He cannot express what is this monad.
Śyāmasundara: Monad is very vague. It means a small unit of oneness or unity, which is the substance behind everything else, even the atom.
Prabhupāda: That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is fully independent.