Prabhupāda: Development.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: . . . when a person becomes very old, he should be very intelligent.
Prabhupāda: No, no. It is a question of consciousness of the body. That does not mean when a dog becomes very old he becomes very experienced. No. Consciousness according to the body. The same theory. Because a child's body is not developed, the consciousness is also not developed.
(aside) Hare Kṛṣṇa.
And these rascals say that because the consciousness is not developed, he has no soul. Soul is there even within the tree. But because the consciousness is not developed, the sensation is less.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But still the consciousness in a particular species is developing.
Prabhupāda: Everywhere is developing consciousness. And the topmost development is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But the modern science, they say when one becomes old, the memory becomes short, and then they tend to . . .
Prabhupāda: Yes. The body has changed. Therefore you have to accept that body has changed. Therefore next conclusion is when this body is lost, he gets another body. Change of body. Seasonal changes. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa . . . that one verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Dehāntara-prāptiḥ: acceptance of another body. They, these modern scientists, they do not know this. They sometimes explain medical science that blood corpuscles are changing. Do they not?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: There are sometimes white, they say. Suppose when I am injured, by external something hurt. They say the white blood corpuscles are responsible to protect the body. But when the white blood corpuscles is not enough, then infection normally occurs.
Prabhupāda: Anyway, there is change of corpuscle. And with the change of corpuscles there is change of body. That is scientific. Therefore body is changing every moment, so why not after death? Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So consciousness is also subject to body change, change of body.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Body's circumstances, association. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. According to association, atmosphere, circumstances, the desires changes. So that is . . . desire means consciousness. Just like our boys, they had different consciousness before coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like you are also scientist, there are other scientist. But your consciousness is different from their. Therefore you could challenge him like that—if you can create life by accumulation of these facts. He says: "That I do not know." He is not confident in his science.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: He has not experienced yet. He has not seen yet.