Prabhupāda: One becomes qualified by one stroke of bhakti to Vāsudeva. Just like the sunrise immediately dissipates the fog. Aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. In the Kali-yuga, this one item of bhakti can make one perfectly fit candidate to pass the examination. Aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ. What is this nonsense life? There is no tapasya, no spiritual culture; simply like cats and dogs. Last night I was reading, Vāmanadeva created a planet, Sutala, in which Viśvakarmā was ordered to construct big, big houses, palaces, better than in the heavenly planet. And these rascals are going and seeing simply rocks and sand. And what about these palaces and . . .?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: In Koran it is described that there is a very dangerous bridge that one has to pass.
Prabhupāda: Which is described in the Vedas, Vaitaraṇī, cross from the material to the spiritual world.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes. And it is fire in both sides, and it is like a razor edge, it could be very thin. And the saintly persons close their eyes and pass it. Kṛṣṇa makes them pass.
Prabhupāda: Similar description is there, bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām (SB 10.14.58). Bhavāmbudhiḥ, the great ocean of material nescience, it becomes vatsa-padam, just like the water containing in the hoof impression of a calf. Bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ param. Exactly animal civilization. Animal does not know what is future, what is past, what is going to happen—nothing. The human civilization has become like that. Professor Kotovsky said: "Swāmījī, after finishing this body, everything is finished." He's a big professor in Moscow. This is their civilization. What do they explain about the lower animals? Wherefrom they come, the birds, beasts, trees, insects?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Where, in Koran?
Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say the modern scientists.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Modern scientists. One theory is the evolutionary process.
Prabhupāda: So wherefrom evolution begins?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: They don't know how it began. Some say it came from water. Just . . . how does life begin? Nobody really knows.
Hari-śauri: They say there has to be certain combination of gases—ammonia, and there has to be water, some hydrogen.
Prabhupāda: They cannot make this gas and combine?
Hari-śauri: This is the way they are testing for life on Mars. This is one of the tests.
Prabhupāda: No, why Mars? In their laboratory they can make gas and mix.
Hari-śauri: Well, they say that they've made amino acids.
Prabhupāda: They cannot make?
Hari-śauri: They've made that, they say.
Prabhupāda: But they cannot produce life.
Hari-śauri: They haven't succeeded in having it develop any further than that.
Prabhupāda: They have not succeeded in a thing which they proposed as the origin of life. This is going on.
Hari-śauri: I remember they showed that experiment on TV on a science program, and they said: "Now we've discovered how to make life." And they showed this chamber, and they put these gases in and an electrical spark.
Prabhupāda: And there was life? No.
Hari-śauri: And they made these amino acids. So they said: "We've created life. Now it won't be long before we can develop . . ."
Prabhupāda: And you have to wait one million years. (japa)
Ātreya Ṛṣi: Is it true, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that Kṛṣṇa is testing us every day? We're having tests, opportunities . . .
Prabhupāda: No, just like if you want responsible post, then there is question of test. If you want to become a vagabond, remain vagabond. Where is question of test?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: No, for devotees.
Prabhupāda: Ah, devotees there is test. For devotees there is test. We see from the devotee's life, Prahlāda Mahārāja, how much severe test he had to pass through. Bali Mahārāja, Nārada Muni.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: And the most advanced the devotee is, the more severe the test is, the more chance.
Prabhupāda: No, after you pass the examination, there is no more test. But before coming to the post of recognized devotee, Kṛṣṇa tests very severely. That one has to pass.
Hari-śauri: I read once in the Bhāgavatam in one of your purports, you said that māyā is there to test the sincerity of the candidate.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We see from the life of Bali Mahārāja, how he was put into difficulty. Even his spiritual master cursed him. (break) . . . put into test and still he remains in his determination, then he's passed. That is very natural. And there is a word, "acid test"?
Hari-śauri: Yes.
Prabhupāda: For ascertaining real gold, the acid test one has to pass to become real gold.