Prabhupāda: Our, our basic knowledge is on the Vedic principle, that whatever . . . just like we are explaining now, veda-vihito dharmaḥ. We have to understand everything from the Vedas, from this Vedic knowledge. So anything which does not speak accor . . . in terms of the Vedic formula, we do not accept such knowledge as valid.
Reporter: Okay.
Prabhupāda: But practically you are seeing that. But . . .
Reporter: Would you accept conclusions from science that . . . only if it agreed with the Vedic scriptures?
Prabhupāda: First of all is that . . . as you say science, what do you mean by science? Can you explain?
Reporter: Well, what the . . . the best conclusions of the best people in science.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That's all right, but what is the best conclusion?
Reporter: Well, rely on their opinions.
Prabhupāda: That is opinion. The opinion is changing. How you can rely? That is not fixed up. So what is this opinion? What is the value of this opinion?
Reporter: Well . . .
Prabhupāda: You give some opinion, and after some years you change it. So what is the . . . how can I rely on your opinion?
Reporter: Would Darwin's theory of evolution and other evolutionary theories . . .
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, if it is being changed every year or every ten years, then what is the value of this opinion? There is no value.
Reporter: Well, but religious thought in India has changed over the years too.
Prabhupāda: No. Nothing. We do not change. Just like your Bhagav . . .
Reporter: Well, others . . .
Prabhupāda: Bhagav . . .
Reporter: Others change.
Prabhupāda: Ah, others may deviate, that is another thing. But the system is not that. You cannot deviate from the Vedic injunction, that if you have to follow the ācāryas, just like India is obeying. The mass population or the sane population, they are following the ācāryas. ācāryas means great teachers, bona fide teachers—perhaps you have heard their name—just like Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Lord Caitanya. So they are followed, and they are of the same opinion. Millions of years ago, what was the opinion, and that opinion is still there. Ācchā, take for Bhagavad-gītā. And that is . . . not a single Indian who does not accept Bhagavad-gītā as authority. This is besides the foreigners who also take interest so much in Bhagavad-gītā. So far Indians are concerned, even some of the Muhammadans. So apart from Muhammadans, those who are claiming as Hindu, they all accept the authority of Bhagavad-gītā. So this Bhagavad-gītā, they might have changed, but that is not acceptable.