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Acid

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 3

SB 3.26.45, Translation and Purport:

Odor, although one, becomes many—as mixed, offensive, fragrant, mild, strong, acidic and so on—according to the proportions of associated substances.

Mixed smell is sometimes perceived in foodstuffs prepared from various ingredients, such as vegetables mixed with different kinds of spices and asafoetida. Bad odors are perceived in filthy places, good smells are perceived from camphor, menthol and similar other products, pungent smells are perceived from garlic and onions, and acidic smells are perceived from turmeric and similar sour substances. The original aroma is the odor emanating from the earth, and when it is mixed with different substances, this odor appears in different ways.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.11.17, Purport:

How the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead works within this material world is explained in this verse. Everything is happening by the energy of the Supreme Lord. The atheistic philosophers, who do not agree to accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the original cause of creation, think that the material world moves by the action and reaction of different material elements. A simple example of the interaction of elements occurs when we mix soda and acid and the movement of effervescence is produced.

SB Canto 6

SB 6.16.36, Purport:

Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of all causes, He can produce immense quantities of chemicals to create a situation for chemical evolution. We actually see that chemicals are produced from living entities. For example, a lemon tree produces many tons of citric acid. The citric acid is not the cause of the tree; rather, the tree is the cause of the acid. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of everything. He is the cause of the tree that produces the citric acid (bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 7.10)). Devotees can see that the original potencies causing the cosmic manifestation are not in chemicals but in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for He is the cause of the chemicals.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.7.23, Purport:

As previously stated, svarṇaṁ yathā grāvasu hema-kāraḥ kṣetreṣu yogais tad-abhijña āpnuyāt. An expert in the study of soil can find out where gold is and then dig there. He can then analyze the stone and test the gold with nitric acid. Similarly, one must analyze the whole body to find within the body the spirit soul. In studying one's own body, one must ask himself whether his head is his soul, his fingers are his soul, his hand is his soul, and so on. In this way, one must gradually reject all the material elements and the combinations of material elements in the body. Then, if one is expert and follows the ācārya, he can understand that he is the spiritual soul living within the body.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 7.157, Purport:

"Milk is transformed into curd by the actions of acids, yet the effect, curd, is neither the same as nor different from its cause, viz., milk. I adore the primeval Lord, Govinda, of whom the state of Śambhu is a similar transformation for the performance of the work of destruction."

CC Adi 13.117, Purport:

Ḍākinī and Śāṅkhinī are two companions of Lord Śiva and his wife who are supposed to be extremely inauspicious, having been born of ghostly life. It is believed that such inauspicious living creatures cannot go near a nima tree. At least medically it is accepted that nima wood is extremely antiseptic, and formerly it was customary to have a nima tree in front of one's house. On very large roads in India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, there are hundreds and thousands of nima trees. Nima wood is so antiseptic that the Āyurvedic science uses it to cure leprosy. Medical scientists have extracted the active principle of the nima tree, which is called margosic acid. Nima is used for many purposes, especially to brush the teeth. In Indian villages ninety percent of the people use nima twigs for this purpose. Because of all the antiseptic effects of the nima tree and because Lord Caitanya was born beneath a nima tree, Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī gave the Lord the name Nimāi. Later in His youth He was celebrated as Nimāi Paṇḍita, and in the neighborhood villages He was called by that name, although His real name was Viśvambhara.

CC Adi 16.81, Purport:

Where do all these chemicals come from? The answer is that they are produced by the inconceivable energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Living entities are part of the Supreme Godhead, and from their bodies come many chemicals. For example, the lemon tree is a living entity that produces many lemons, and within each lemon is a great deal of citric acid. Therefore, if even an insignificant living entity who is but a part of the Supreme Lord can produce so much of a chemical, how much potency there must be in the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 10.19, Purport:

Because of pure love, the devotees of Kṛṣṇa in Goloka Vṛndāvana, Vrajabhūmi, loved Kṛṣṇa as an ordinary human being like them. Yet although they considered Kṛṣṇa one of them, their love for Kṛṣṇa knew no bounds. Similarly, because of extreme love, devotees like Rāghava Paṇḍita and his sister, Damayantī, thought of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as a human being, but their love for Him was boundless. By overeating, an ordinary human being becomes prone to a disease called amla-pitta, which is a product of indigestion characterized by acidity of the stomach. Damayantī thought that such a condition would afflict Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 87:

For those who are very materialistic and cannot understand the situation of the spiritual world, the abode of Kṛṣṇa, great sages have recommended the yogic process whereby one gradually rises from meditation on the abdomen, which is called mūlādhāra or maṇipūraka meditation. Mūlādhāra and maṇipūraka are technical terms which refer to the intestines within the abdomen. Grossly materialistic persons think that economic development is of foremost importance because they are under the impression that a living entity exists only by eating. Such grossly materialistic persons forget that although we may eat as much as we like, if the food is not digested it produces the troubles of indigestion and acidity. Therefore, eating is not in itself the cause of the vital energy of life. For digestion of eatables we have to take shelter of another, superior energy, which is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā as vaiśvānara. Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that He helps the digestion in the form of vaiśvānara. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is all-pervasive; therefore, His presence in the stomach as vaiśvānara is not extraordinary.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:

Testing stone. And by seeing the color and by testing it with acid, they will immediately evaluate the big lump of gold, what is the value. Similarly, we are a small fragmental portion of God. God is suppose the lump of gold and we are a little particle of gold. So although we are little particle, by quality we are gold. God is gold, we are gold. So if you can understand your position, then you can understand God also. Just like from a bag of rice you take a few grains and see, then you can understand what is the quality of rice in the bag and you can evaluate it, price. So if you try to understand yourself, then you can understand what is God. Or other way, if you understand God, then you understand everything. One way is ascending process, one process is descending process.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:

Similarly, this material cosmic manifestation is working very nicely—the sun is rising; the moon is rising; the seasons have changes; the air is blowing; the light is there; heat is there—why? Because there is big consciousness. And that small consciousness in your body and my body, keeping this body fit, similarly, there is another, greater consciousness which is keeping this material world fit and working order. So what is this consciousness? This consciousness is the spread of the soul. Just like example: you take a small grain of arsenic acid, or potassium cyanide, you put in your tongue, immediately it spreads all over your body and you die.

Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:

These are natural instincts of all living entities, even amongst the ants these propensities are there. Those who have studied... The ants are very much fond of being intoxicated. Therefore, they find out sweet, sugar. Sweet is intoxication. Perhaps you know, all. The liquor is made from sugar. Sugar is fermented with acid, sulphuric acid, and then it is distilled. That is liquor. Therefore too much sweet eating is prohibited.

So loke vyavāya āmiṣa mada-sevā nityas tu jantuḥ. This is propensity. Material life means every living entity has got these propensities. But they have to be restricted. Pravṛttiḥ eṣaṁ bhūtānām.(?) That is natural instinct. But if you can stop them, that is your excellence. That is called tapasya. Tapasya means I have got naturally some propensity, but that is not good. Not good in this sense, if we continue that propensity, then we have to accept this material body.

Lecture on BG 2.26-27 -- London, August 29, 1973:

So Kṛṣṇa is putting forward the modern scientific view. The modern scientific view is that there is no soul. Life is generated from matter. By combination of material elements at a... Just like chemical combination. You mix acid and soda, alkaline and acid. There will be some reaction, effervescence, movement. Similarly, the Buddhist philosophy mostly, they do not believe in the existence of the soul. The Buddhist philosopher thinks that the combination of matter makes a living symptom.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, September 10, 1968:

Simply knowing that such and such chemical element mixed with such and such chemical element becomes such and such chemical element is theoretical knowledge. Oxygen and hydrogen mixed together produces water. This is theoretical knowledge. But when in the laboratory you actually act—such and such quantity of oxygen gas you mix with such and such quantity of hydrogen gas—at once there is formulation of water. As soon as you mix alkali and acid together, there is at once reaction, soda-bicarbonate. So similarly, theoretical knowledge that we have got a particular type of relationship with God, that you cannot deny. Anything, whatever you have got in your possession, you have got some particular relationship. Suppose you are Americans, we are Indian. So we have got some particular relationship with the state. I am Indian citizen, you are American citizen. So relationship must be there. You are sitting here. There is some relationship. Suppose my students, they have got relationship with me. I am their teacher, they are my disciples. Or if you are not my disciple then you are audience, I am speaker. Must be there some relationship.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

So the actual fact is from spirit soul, the energy, material energy comes out. Take for example... That I was giving, that chemicals. Now, take one lemon tree. It is a living entity, and it is producing at least hundreds of pounds of citric acid, lemons. Everyone knows. You take fifty lemons today, again take fifty lemons, and if you extract the lemons, you'll find extensive quantity of citric acid. So wherefrom the citric acid chemical comes? Because the living entity's there in the tree. Therefore the conclusion should be the chemicals come from life; life does not come from chemical. If life comes from chemical, then you produce. I give you the chemical, whatever chemicals you want. So chemical is produced. Just like you have got experience when there is perspiration. You taste the perspiration; there is salt.

Lecture on BG 7.5 -- Bombay, February 20, 1974:

Here, from the Bhagavad-gītā, you can understand that this material energy is inferior, apareyam. Apareyam. You cannot produce living force by combination of material energy. That is not possible. But they are... Because these foolish persons, they are missing the spiritual energy, they are thinking, "By chemical reaction or by combination of matter, some living force is coming out." Just like if you mix acid and alkaline, there is some reaction and there is some movement. They are thinking like that. No. It is not that. The material energy is being pushed forward by the spiritual energy. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho (BG 7.5). Jīva, living force. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho. And because the spiritual force is there, the material world is working. This is the conclusion.

Lecture on BG 9.10 -- Calcutta, June 29, 1973:

So these atheistic persons, in order to avoid Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in order to avoid Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person, they push forward this theory that life is caused by matter. But that is not the fact. There are many instances. We can give many instances that life produces matter. Life... I can give you one small example. Just take, for example, one lemon tree. Lemon tree, it is also a living entity. Because there are eight million four hundred thousand species of living entities. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Sthāvarāḥ means these trees, plants, creepers. They are two millions of varieties. So this ordinary lemon tree is producing so many lemons. And the lemon means citric acid. So if you take all these lemons, and take their juice, so one ordinary lemon tree produces tons of citric acid. It is a small living entity.

Lecture on BG 10.4-5 -- New York, January 4, 1967:

I'll give you one very nice example. This is practical. In my youthhood I was manager in a big chemical firm. So there was a sulphuric acid chamber. There was some defect. It was not working well. In that chamber sulphur is given, and it is fused, and then acid comes out. So it was not working. So there were many scientists. They were sitting, consulting books: "Oh, why it is not working?" Then the managing director, Dr. Bose... He was very intelligent man. He at once went to another firm. They were also chemical. He knew there was an ordinary worker; he was very experienced. So... He was Muhammadan. He called him at once, "Just come and see what is defect there." And he at once came and manipulated some machine—at once acid transformed. All the theoretical scientists, they sat down. So this kind of experience you'll find even an ordinary man.

Lecture on BG 10.4-5 -- New York, January 4, 1967:

I think that magazine is still current, Scientific America. Is there any magazine? Yes. In magazine I saw one picture. I think that skyscraper was beginning at that time. A man was working very heartily, and the picture is there that for manufacturing matter, a soul is being killed. You see? That is material civilization. They are giving too much stress on the matter, on the material side, but they are neglecting the spirit. That is not civilization. One should give more stress on the spiritual side because that is the active principle. So that is called knowledge. A man is to be understood in knowledge when he is giving, I mean to say, importance to the spiritual side. He is called jñānī. Otherwise they are fools. So jñānam. Jñānam means cid-acid-vastu-vivecanam, to understand what is matter and spirit.

Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Hawaii, February 4, 1975:

He's practically doing in the laboratory, that he is a spiritual soul. He is mixing the chemicals, hydrogen, oxygen, acid and alkaline. He's mixing, and there is reaction. Then something is coming out. He's doing that. Still, he says, "There is no God." What is this foolishness? Why do they say like that? Therefore they are asuras. They do not admit the existence. Big, big chemist...

Recently there is a book "Chemical Evolution." He wants to prove it, that by combination of chemicals the life has come in. That is not the fact. The fact is: life has come from life. You cannot manufacture life by combination of chemical. Chemical comes from life. In our book... What is that book? "Life Comes From Life." I have given this reason, that even though you think that chemical combination brings the living force, but the chemical is coming from life. Just like citric acid. The citric acid we see practically. There is a tree, lemon tree. This is life. The lemon tree is life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarāḥ. They are sthāvara life, non-moving life, but it is life. So from an insignificant lemon tree, tons of citric acid is coming. You have got experience. This lemon means citric acid. This chemical is coming from life. Without the tree, you cannot get this chemical, citric acid. From... Sometimes you have got experience. The perspiration is water, is coming from my body. The body is active so long I am there. So how you can say the chemical is coming from matter? No. Chemical is coming from life. Even if you accept that life is combination of chemicals, then chemical also coming from life.

Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Hawaii, February 4, 1975:

Just like acid and alkaline combine together. Just like soap. Soap is combination of acid and alkaline. The caustic soda is alkaline, and the fat is acid. So you mix this acid and alkaline—there is another product. This is chemical science. So the acid and alkaline, they also come from the, I mean to say, life. Or if it does not come from the life, the product is made by another life. Acid and alkaline does not mix together. Unless the chemist or the soap-maker brings them together and mixes, the soap does not come. So how you can say that the chemical combination is the source of life? No, that is not possible. This is right conclusion.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.8.22 -- Los Angeles, April 14, 1973:

Generally, liquid, water is taken. So liquor is also liquid. Liquor is bad because it creates intoxication. Otherwise, it is made from sugar, molasses, molasses with sulphuric acid fermented, so far I know. We were in the chemical line. Molasses fermented with sulphuric acid and then distilled. That is called spirit, or liquor. So thing is, nothing is bad, but because if a thing creates bad effects, then it is bad. Then it is bad. So I shall request even the drunkards... In your country, there are many drunkards. There is no scarcity. So if you'll kindly remember when drinking wine that this nice taste of drinking is Kṛṣṇa... Just begin with it. You'll come out one day a saintly person, Kṛṣṇa conscious. It's so nice, practical.

Lecture on SB 1.16.24 -- Hawaii, January 20, 1974:

So to increase it no credit. To decrease it is credit. That is credit. Nityā hi jantoḥ. It is already there. Pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānām. Bhūtānām means "of all living entities." Amongst the ants, they are very intoxicant. Therefore they find out sugar. The all kinds of liquor preparation is made from sugar. You know that? Sugar is fermented with acid and then distilled. It becomes liquor. And the ants are very much fond of sugar. You keep up one piece of sugar candy. Then the news will be immediately spread, and all the ant class will go there: "Here it is, sugar, yes. Gold rush." (laughter) You see? So every living entity has got a tendency for certain class of thing, especially sex and eating nonvegetarian things. If you eat vegetarian fruits and flowers and grains, you'll not eat more than you require.

Lecture on SB 3.26.32 -- Bombay, January 9, 1975:

So we have to understand that the creation actually begins in the tamo-guṇa by agitated impelled by the Bhagavat, Bhagavān. Here it is stated, vikurvāṇād bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt. Not that automatically. Just like if you take two chemicals, soda bicarb and citric acid, and mix together, make two solution, soda bicarb and citric acid, and mix together, there will be, what is called? Bubbles.

Lecture on SB 3.26.32 -- Bombay, January 9, 1975:

Therefore Viṣṇu's another name is Padmanābha. Padmanābha, He causes the lotus flower from His navel, and there is Brahmā. And then Brahmā creates whole universe. The original creator is bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt, not this material. The material, there was no existence of the material. The materials are created by the Supreme Living Being. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is to be understood. So the modern theory that the phenomenal world or this cosmic manifestation is due to chemical combination... They have written books, Chemical Evolution. The same example, that a solution of soda bicarb and solution of citric acid, mixed together, there is effervescence. But who is mixing? The mixture is bhagavad-vīrya-coditāt. This is to be understood.

Lecture on SB 3.26.42 -- Bombay, January 17, 1975:

Just like earth, water, fire, air, they are bhautika. But they are not mixing together. The original, I mean to say, manipulator is Kṛṣṇa. Just like we have got experience, I have given just now experience, that oil is there. Suppose oil is acid, and soda is called alkali. The acid is there, alkali is there, but when a person comes, mix it proportionately, it becomes another product: soap. Similarly, everything is being manufactured like that, but how it is done? That is the expert handling of the Supreme Lord. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies, subtle laws, and He is working. But still, He has nothing to do Himself. That is God. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate. Although He is handling... He is doing everything. Otherwise how it is possible? We have got experience. There is oil, and there is alkali, or soda, but they are not mixing together. For mixing together, you require another, living energy. Otherwise, automatically, there cannot be soap. The soap factory is there, but the manufacturer is also there.

Lecture on SB 3.26.45 -- Bombay, January 20, 1975:

Nitāi: "Odor, although one, becomes many—as mixed, offensive, fragrant, mild, strong, acidic and so on—according to the proportions of associated substances."

Prabhupāda:

karambha-pūti-saurabhya-
śāntogrāmlādibhiḥ pṛthak
dravyāvayava-vai...
(SB 3.26.45)

What is that? Vaiṣamyād gandha eko vibhidyate. In the previous verse the gandha, from gandha, from smell, fragrance or smell, ghrāṇas tu gandhagaḥ. So in the smelling power, nostril, they perceive different varieties. Variety is there. Although the thing is one, one Kṛṣṇa, but even in His material energy, He is perceived in varieties of things. That is the purpose of this Sāṅkhya philosophy, how one has become many.

Lecture on SB 6.1.11 -- New York, July 25, 1971:

If you want to stop some diseased condition of life, then you have to follow a regulative principle. Just like when you go to a doctor for curing some disease, he gives you some medicine and some direction also, that "You should not eat like this, you not sleep like this, you should do like this." Some do's and some do not's. That prescription is followed. So here, Śukadeva Gosvāmī gives this example that na aśnataḥ pathyam eva annam. Suppose if you have got indigestion. You cannot digest food very nicely. So you have to eat such things which are easily digestible, or which may not cause acidity, flatulence, air. The doctor prescribes. So if you neglect those principles, then how you can be cured? Similarly, if you want to eradicate your ignorance, how miserable conditions are arising, problems are arising, and you do not try to subside them with real knowledge, how there can be solution of the problems? Try to understand.

Lecture on SB 7.9.26 -- Mayapur, March 4, 1976:

Just like fire and fire, there is no reaction, but in fire and water there is reaction. Between fire and fire there is no reaction, but fire and water there is reaction. Similarly, sattva-guṇa—sattva-guṇa, there is no reaction. Tamo-guṇa—tamo-guṇa there is no reaction. It is... In English it is called incompatible. When different qualities, there is reaction, chemical reaction, acid and alkaline. Acid and acid, you mix; there is no reaction. But acid and alkaline, if you mix, there will be effervescence immediately. So kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). If one is developing tamo-guṇa, then, if he becomes, he becomes a pig next life, there is no reaction. He'll be very glad that "I am pig," "I am dog." There is no reaction. But if one is sattva-guṇa, then he cannot tolerate. Immediately obnoxious: "Oh, such a nasty condition." So I am very sorry there was no reaction in such nasty toilet room. And you are getting sacred thread, the quality of brāhmaṇa, sattva-guṇa. It is very regrettable. Nobody reacted.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 27, 1972:

Another name is hydrogeroid. That is the chemical name of mercury. You know it. Hydrogeroid? Yes. Unguentum hydrogeroid. Yes. That is another name of the mercury. Hydrogeroid. So in Sanskrit it is called rasa. Rasāyana. From mercury, rasa, the chemistry is called rasāyana-śāstra. Actually, rasāyana-śāstra, chemical composition, begins from mercury and sulphur. That is the beginning of chemical composition. So rasa-vidhānena, by chemical interaction of sulphur and mercury, if you can add tin and copper, then it becomes gold. You can manufacture gold, provided you know the process, how to mix up copper, tin and mercury. With via media of sulphuric acid. Sulphuric acid is the mother of chemicals. Without sulphur, you cannot make any chemical composition. Therefore all chemical composition are called sulphate, sulphite, like that. So Sanātana Gosvāmī gives this idea of chemical composition. It appears that he knew how to work with chemicals.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 1.9 -- Mayapur, April 2, 1975:

And the Brahma-saṁhitā is there—it is written by Brahmā. And in the Brahma-saṁhitā, the Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is mentioned, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā (Bs. 5.48). It is not that we are accepting this verse of Caitanya-caritāmṛta author. No. It is confirmed by the Vedic knowledge. This is the origin of creation, not that this chunk, or... No. Matter cannot expand. Matter, when there is reaction... Just like explosion. We have got experience that there is sometimes explosion like if you mix together two chemicals, acid and alkaline, there is explosion for the time being. But this explosion takes place when a chemist in the laboratory mixes soda, soda bicarb, and citric acid. Otherwise, it is not possible.

General Lectures

Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:

For... I've known Swami Bhaktivedanta for about three years, since he settled in the Lower East Side in New York, which was my territory and my neighborhood... (applause) It seemed to me like a stroke of great intelligence for him to come, not as an uptown swami (laughter) but a real down-home street swami, and make it on the street in the Lower East Side, as also opening a branch on Frederick Street in San Francisco, right in the center of Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, so that people who were tripping in Haight-Ashbury several years ago, coming down, wanting some, quote, "permanent—eternal reassurance," formula, ritual, magic, hope, feel, one truth, if you wish, zeroed in on the Frederick Street rugged, performed, incensed, ashram, where chanting would be heard at dawn as they were coming down off a trip all night. A great many people who were hung on acid or other varieties of chemical psychedelics found it much more stable to practice a prolonged ritual or sādhana following the instructions of Swami Bhaktivedanta, which are old, classical, Indian-style instructions for both ritual, daily living, diet, sexuality, thought consciousness, apparel, hand gestures—in other words, a very complicated ritualized yoga, a very ancient one also.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That's what the modern scientists are doing. They're trying to make life in a test tube. What they are trying to do, these so-called biochemists, at the present time, their goal is to make life in a test tube. So what they do is they are going to put so-called big molecules—they say DNA, dioxynucleic acid. This molecule is a necessary molecule for..., it's a lively thing. So they're going to make certain combinations of these molecules and put in the test tube and find out whether there is life coming out from the test tube, and then trying to prove how life was formed. But it's such a foolish idea that they will never be able to make the...

Prabhupāda: They are a set of fools. And going on under the name of scientists. Set of fools.

Philosophy Discussion on Jeremy Bentham:

Prabhupāda: This is a very nice definition. We accept it, this standard, but if you put material happiness and test by this standard, there is no happiness. There is no happiness. Therefore the conclusion should be, if we test with this acid test of happiness, it is impossible to get happiness in the material world. There is no question of happiness. These testing points are nice but as soon as we put any kind of happiness to this test, you will find it is failed. Take any standard (of) happiness, it will, neither of this test will be there. So the conclusion should be there is no happiness in the material world. These tests are applicable in the spiritual world.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Motion is interaction of the three qualities. Just like you put soda and alkali, alkali and acid together, there is a reaction, effervescence. So both of them are material, but in due course of time it reacts, and then creation takes place.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Weir of the Mensa Society -- September 5, 1971, London:

Mensa Member: Oh, it is, is it? But when we reach a point when we don't know whether there are living things or not, you know, the amino acids, and things like that or...

Dr. Weir: Well, I would take up that straight away, fundamentally, that it's perfectly correct to say it's the same size in every (indistinct) has no size.

Prabhupāda: No. It has size. We cannot measure it.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, that is cheating. That is not teaching, that is cheating. Just like the scientists said, "There was a chunk, and the creation took place, perhaps..." What is this? Simply cheating. It is not teaching, it is cheating.

Bob: Let me say what else you said this morning that was interesting. I asked him about miracles, and Prabhupāda said that only a fool would believe in miracles because... Let us say you are a child and an adult lifts this table. That's a miracle. Or you're a chemist, and you combine acid and base and make smoke, an explosion or whatever. To somebody ignorant, that's a miracle. And for everything there's a process. And so when you see a miracle, it's just ignorance of the process. So that only a fool would believe in miracles, and, you correct me if I say wrong...

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: No, that will include everything. But his aim should be how to know Kṛṣṇa.

Bob: Can a scientist teach the science of combining acid and alkaline and this kind of science with Kṛṣṇa as its object?

Prabhupāda: How it can be?

Bob: If you... When one studies science, one finds general tendencies of nature, and these general tendencies of nature point to a controlling force.

Prabhupāda: That I was explaining the other day. Where? In Madras, or where? "Who has supplied these chemicals?"

Śyāmasundara: Ah, in Madras.

Prabhupāda: I asked one chemist that according to chemical formula, hydrogen and oxygen mixed, it becomes water. Is it not?

Bob: That's true.

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Bob: And should one bother teaching that if you combine acid and alkaline...

Prabhupāda: The same thing, the same thing, that now we have to..., that... There are so many effervescence. So, who is performing it? Who is supplying the acid and alkaline? (pause)

Bob: So this comes from the same source as the water.

Prabhupāda: Um hmm. Yes. Water you cannot manufacture unless you have got hydrogen and oxygen. So here is a vast... Not only this Atlantic or Pacific, there are millions of planets, and there are millions of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. So who created this water with hydrogen and oxygen, and how it was supplied? That is our question. Somebody must have supplied; otherwise how it came to existence?

Bob: But should it also be taught how you make water from hydrogen and oxygen? The procedure of burning them together, should this also be taught? That if you burn hydrogen and oxygen together...

Prabhupāda: That is secondary.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Karandhara: They say they have almost proof that some acids, they make some acids and it's almost like an animal. Just about, not quite, but almost.

Prabhupāda: Asses, asses?

Karandhara: Amino acids.

Brahmānanda: Asses.

Karandhara: They say if they isolate certain amino acids, it's almost like...

Svarūpa Dāmodara: They're almost like components of protein.

Karandhara: They're almost like little animals, little cells. Not quite but almost. So they say that because that matter is almost like a little animal, therefore there must be just one little missing link, one chemical you can add, they're trying to isolate it.

Prabhupāda: That missing link is kicking you. That missing... Here, you say, you take this missing link.

Morning Walk -- April 27, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. It reacts with the sodium, in the water, sodium in the water, in salt, that sodium reacts with silicic acid. So from sodium silicate, that becomes sand.

Karandhara: It's not rocks pounded down?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, rocks? Oh... No, we can make silicate very easily just by mixing the alkali, sodium and then acid, is just the reaction between the acid in the base. So forming an acid...

Prabhupāda: So far we know, there is this sand, combined with silicate of soda, makes glass.

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: He said that there are twenty amino acids, twenty of them which are necessary for the maintenance of life, the living entities. So he was discussing how these amino acids are formed before the dawn of creation, and he had so many theories, all nonsense.

Prabhupāda: So did you not protest?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Then there was... After his lecture... It was a one hour long seminar, and there was question and answer. So they invited questions. Nobody asked.

Prabhupāda: So you did not ask?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, I asked later on. I asked, that "Your topic is about origin of life, but you are not talking about the origin of life. So there is no basis of your argument."

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Morning Walk -- May 2, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Then I asked, "Supposing I give you the chemical materials, say, the molecules likes amino acids and the big molecules like DNA and RNA..." These are the molecules, which they think necessary for the maintenance of life. "Supposing I give you all these chemical compounds, then do you think that you will be able to put life into it. If you get all the chemical materials necessary, but will you be able to put life into it?" Then he said, "I do not know."

Prabhupāda: Then why you are talking nonsense? (laughter) Then? People did not laugh?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. No, everybody was silent. Everybody was silent because everybody believes that life started from matter, all the, in the audience. So I said that "Your basis means life started from matter. That means..." He was saying that when the earth, before the life started, there was no living entities on earth. Then I said, "How do you know there is no living entities on earth?" Then he could not answer.

Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, everything. Mountains have been described in the Bhāgavata as the bones of God. These grasses are described as hairs on the body of God. These holes, there are holes, we saw that. They have been described as oceans. So in this way, this virāṭ, the biggest body. As the smallest body is producing chemical, similarly the biggest body also, producing chemical. A small tree, lemon tree, how many pounds of the citric acid it is produced?

Paramahaṁsa: I do not know.

Prabhupāda: No, producing, you know.

Morning Walk -- December 3, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, that chemical evolution is part of life demonstration. That I have already explained. Just like the chemical, citric acid, coming from lemon tree, a life. It is coming. So all chemicals are being produced... Just like in your body, in my body, there are so many chemicals. Because the body is there, the chemicals are coming. In my urine you will find so much, so many chemicals. In my stool you will find so many chemicals. Wherefrom the chemicals coming? Daily, enzymes, so many other chemicals are coming. Simply the medical man analyzes the urine, and so many chemicals are there. Wherefrom it came? Because I am living entity, the chemicals are coming in my urine, in my stool, in my cough, in my secretion. It is coming. Therefore it is concluded that chemicals are produced by life, not life is produced by chemicals.

Morning Walk -- December 3, 1973, Los Angeles:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So in due course if they create these amino acids, there are 20 amino acids which are necessary for the body, for the material body.

Prabhupāda: But it is already created. What is your credit?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: But they want to do it themselves.

Prabhupāda: You may do, but already... Just like there is a soap factory. You start another soap factory. So what is your credit? It is already there.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Scientists -- July 2, 1974, Melbourne:

Dr. Harrap: There is a certain difference here in that milk that we get from cows has a very low proportion of what we call polyunsaturated fatty acids, only about two per cent, whereas in human milk this is about ten or twelve percent. It's a much higher level. So milk from cows, which are ruminants, is quite a lot different from the milk that we get from the non-ruminants, and of course, humans are non-ruminants.

Prabhupāda: But I think there is a book, "Miracles of Milk," written by one American gentleman. He has greatly valued the milk and milk products. Similarly, we Indians, we give very, very importance to milk and milk products.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 27, 1975, Tokyo:

Prabhupāda: Ah, jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8). There is no God, it has come automatically by interaction. But even it is so, how the interaction is taking place? That is intelligence. Interaction, just like acid and alkali. Just like oil and caustic soda. These are two chemicals and mixing them, interaction, the result is soap. Accepting this principle, but there must be a mixer, a person who is mixing. Otherwise, how the soap and oil is being mixed? The soap is there and the oil is there and the caustic soda is also there, that is material ingredient. But they are not coming together automatically. That is not possible. Where is the evidence? There are so many soap factories, and let them keep oil and caustic soda and there is no question of labor, let them become soap. Where is that evidence? But these rascals say like that. Aparaspara sambhūtam. Interaction of the two things. But where is the interaction of two things unless it is arranged by some third element? Where is the evidence? So these are foolish theories, that there is no God, things are taking place automatically and things are coming out, these are all foolish theories. There is no evidence. Pramāṇa, there must be evidence. Otherwise... Just like science means simply not to see observation that things are taking place, but experiment. It must be substantiated by experiment. Just like theoretically everyone knows that two chemicals, soda and alkali, mixes together and there is interaction, effervescence. But who is mixing the soda and alkali, er, alkali and acid? There must be.

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- February 28, 1975, Atlanta:

Vīra-lakṣmaṇa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the scientists, they've reported in one journal of theirs that by taking some chemicals of methane, ammonia and carbon and injecting it with electricity, that equation or that formula equates them to an energy that is called amino acid in due course of time. That is, they say, the building blocks of life, of protein.

Prabhupāda: So why do they not do that?

Vīra-lakṣmaṇa: They've made an experiment...

Prabhupāda: That means they are not in knowledge. That I am speaking, the barking dog. First of all make experiment, produce life. Then come and say. Otherwise don't bark like a dog, imitation. Simply big, big words. Produce. Our theory is that... In the śāstra it is said harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam, kalau nāsty eva nās... (CC Adi 17.21). That practical proof we are giving, that these Europeans, Americans, they are simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and how they are coming out, this practical proof. They did not know five or six years ago what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa's name. But we are taking the conclusion of the śāstra: in this age, if one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, he becomes spiritualized. That is becoming, practically. It is not theory. How so many devotees are in this Atlanta, here? Anywhere, wherever we have started, how they have become devotee? Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "You follow this formula and you will become God conscious." That is being practically proved. It is not theory. So that is Vedic knowledge. You adopt Vedic knowledge and get the result, not that "This ammonia, this chemical, that chemical, but I cannot do anything."

Room Conversation with Svarupa Damodara -- March 1, 1975, Atlanta:

Prabhupāda: Body forms... As soon as there is life, body will form by nature's arrangement.

Mādhava: May their theory be right? Like they say they come from amino acids and so many things. But...

Prabhupāda: That may be or may not be. Who cares for them? It is being already done.

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1975, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: Yes. The mystic power producing tons of citric acid.

Trivikrama: Citric acid.

Prabhupāda: Yes, lemon juice. Acintya-śakti, inconceivable power. The cow, eating grass, producing milk—this is inconceivable power. Can you produce milk from the grass? But how the cow is producing? Hmm? Answer this. You eat grass and produce milk. Give your wife grass and let her produce milk. (break) Your question is answered? Eh?

Satsvarūpa: Well, it's answered, but they would say that our saying that... You said... I said, "Where did God come from?" You say that is the definition of God.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Morning Walk -- July 19, 1975, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: No, you add mercury, then give. The kāvirājī medicines, they mix mercury and sulphur, and then tin, and some other medicine, that make makaradhvaja, and it looks like gold. Svarṇa-sindhura, the name is svarṇa-sindhura, "vermillion of gold." That is a medicine. It looks like gold. The some medicine, they mix mercury and sulphuric acid first of all, and then with some other thing. Mercury cannot be directly heated. It must be mixed with sulphuric acid.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What happens when it is directly heated?

Prabhupāda: It will immediately blow.

Paramahaṁsa: Sulphuric acid is also poisonous.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So it blows up as soon as it's heated.

Paramahaṁsa: Well, it's not a medicine then. You don't...

Prabhupāda: No, they use as medicine, mercury mixed with sulphur.

Morning Walk -- July 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Rādhāvallabha: Scientists have done another test where they think... The scientists are doing tests where their opinion is that from certain acids life is coming. So they think that this can only happen...

Prabhupāda: Asses?

Rādhāvallabha: Acids, nucleic acids. So their opinion is that this can only occur in an atmosphere of methane. So they have understood from their telescopes that Jupiter has methane in its atmosphere, so therefore they say, "Very soon Jupiter will have life."

Prabhupāda: Very soon? Not now? They have got advance. Yes. (chuckles) Most of the scientists, they think only living beings are on this planet, and all, they are vacant. They say.

Morning Walk -- July 24, 1975, Los Angeles:

Rādhāvallabha: Śrīla Prabhupāda, in Svarūpa Dāmodara's book he gave the example that "Why does the red apple fall off the tree but not the green apple?" So the scientists say that when the apple gets ripe, certain acids rise in the stem and weaken it and it falls off the tree. There's no need for God or anything like that. It's automatic.

Prabhupāda: No, no, there is no question of God, but with the gravitation why the green apple is not drawn downward?

Rādhāvallabha: Because the stem is very strong on a green apple, but on a red apple it is weak.

Prabhupāda: That means it is conditional; gravitation works on condition. It is not final. Under certain condition it works. Therefore, then you have to accept condition. Under such and such condition it falls.

Morning Walk -- July 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Rādhā-vallabha: Well, they say originally chemicals. Originally very complex chemicals, acids...

Prabhupāda: Very complex again. So they cannot understand. So complex that they cannot understand. So what is the use of such theory?

Rādhā-vallabha: Well, they say these complex chemicals came from the simplest chemicals.

Prabhupāda: Wherefrom?

Rādhā-vallabha: Well, they say in space there are many, many particles.

Prabhupāda: How the space came?

Rāmeśvara: That's eternal. They say it's eternal. They say the space and the dust...

Prabhupāda: Then why do you bother? Stop speculating. Everything is eternal. Why do you bother yourself to find out something new?

Rāmeśvara: To control. To gain control.

Morning Walk -- July 25, 1975, Los Angeles:

Rādhā-vallabha: (break) ...scientist named Fox who has. They have conjectured that these original very complex nucleic acids have created life. So he has taken these acids in a big test tube...

Prabhupāda: I say (?) "Fox, go to the forest. (laughter) And cry there." Yes, we treat them as foxes and jackals, that's all, not even human beings. Why they waste time in this way and people are enamored by them? That is... Just like you were talking about space meeting. What they have gained out of it? And people are enamored to talk about them, write in the newspaper or make a subject matter. And then all of a sudden death comes, "Get out," finished. You see? How foolish they are. So, Hayagrīva prabhu, how you are feeling?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Hayagrīva.

Morning Walk -- November 21, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Molasses. Ferment molasses with sulphuric acid and then distill. It is wine, liquor. People are producing unnecessary quantity of sugarcane; therefore the drinking habit is increasing. Because from sugar the molasses is the by-product, so they have to use. They are finding out what is next industry, and the next industry is liquor, wine. So when they produce more wine, then they must sell, and the people must drink. This is going on, one after another. And in Hawaii, Mauritius and in so many other places we see they have produced unnecessary quantity of sugarcane. And then molasses... (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. And then wine, and they must be sold.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 5, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes, "always there," but there must have been creation of these elements. Just like in the laboratory, you... Soda bicarb. Carbonate mixed with soda makes soda bicarb. Sulfuric acid. You take sulphur and turn into acid by mixing with something else. That is going on.

Morning Walk -- March 26, 1976, Delhi:

Cyavana: They use amino acids and water and electricity.

Prabhupāda: Bluffing.

Cyavana: But this gave great strength to their theory that life can come from matter because they created a one-celled amoeba. They say they created it, that life actually came into it.

Prabhupāda: They said everything, but where is the proof?

Cyavana: Well, the scientists saw it.

Prabhupāda: Saw it? Now show us. They saw it at their home.

Morning Walk -- April 16, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: DNA, that is biochemistry. DNA. (laughs) (Hindi?) This DNA and RNA, these are the special nucleic acids. They actually have the power to procreate new cells. These our Indian..., that, those scientists have.... (laughter) Because I am.... In fact, that company.... I got that bad company just now, this.... So I say "Indian." Very good joke. RNA and DNA are nothing, but we don't know how they work even now. A lot of research is going on.

Prabhupāda: Our study should be that these things we cannot explain, but these things are there, so there is a great scientist. That's it. That much understanding is good. You go on analyzing one after another, so you do not come to the final conclusion. But you see actually it is existing, so it has been done by a great scientist. That is wanted.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Now understanding these basic differences, to study the origin of life has some meaning. But scientists studying the origin of life, they have no idea about these fundamental differences. So they claim that life actually is a manifestation of matter. In other words, life comes from molecules. They call it "molecule to man" theory. That we will see in the next slide. Now in this slide the molecules is called primordial chemical soup. Now these chemicals are supposed to be formed from simple, reduced substances like water and ammonia and carbon and hydrogen compounds. They are called hydro-carbons. Now these somehow, under the action of ultra-violet radiation or cosmic force, they combine together and form these amino acids. Now these amino acids, in due course of time, form the polymers called proteins. And similarly, several polymeric compounds develop and, given a long period of time, we've shown there chance and given a long period of time, then it's going to bring life, it's going to give life. That is the fundamental background of the scientific study of origin of life. This is what they have proposed. These molecules, somehow they combine, given enough length of time, billions of years as the time period, and then it's bound to happen. They say, given enough length of time...

Prabhupāda: Provided he lives billions of years. But he's finished within fifty years. (laughter) And his theory remains. The rascal cannot remain more than fifty years, and he's talking of billions of years. This is the defect. Who will see after billions of years? He is finished within hundred years. These are theories only. We see practically. Egg appears like chemical combination, but if you give, proper fermentation will come, fermentation?

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: So this is actually the first step of protein synthesis. In order to make proteins, this messenger RNA has to be transcribed from this DNA molecule. In the next step you'll see the final step for protein synthesis. Now there are also RNA's—they are called transfer RNA, those white-colored, white and yellow-colored things. (laughter) Each of them has to bring a specific amino acid, coded to a specific code, three base codes, base pair. Now each of them has to bring a specific amino acid and to put it together in a very specific manner. They cannot scramble. Because if it scrambles there's not going to be...

Prabhupāda: Again mistake, again mistake.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So it cannot happen.

Prabhupāda: Just rightly. So much direction is there, perfect.

'Life Comes From Life' Slideshow Discussions -- July 3, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. So like that, then, when the..., once they bring these amino acids one by one, then they stick together, and that also process is done by enzymes. There are so many steps involved, and very intricate. It is actually done by a catalyst called enzymes. Enzymes are also very big molecules, actually they are also proteins, and in each step the enzymes are so specific that they do only one specific function just for the right purpose, and once this is done then slowly the protein separates at the right time and with the proper length and proper number of amino acids. In this way, actually we can prove in every case that...

Prabhupāda: Perfect direction.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, the direction of the Supersoul is a necessity. In whatever condition we look at, even in the molecules.

Prabhupāda: So nice management, there must be nice direction.

Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: Bacteria. Lactic acid. Bacteria.

Rūpānuga: I've seen that these cattle that are raised for eating, they are not like dairy cows. Dairy cows are much cleaner. Beef cattle are very dirty animals. They have no clean habits. They are almost like pigs.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Still, they should be protected, though. They should be used for plowing.

Prabhupāda: No, if they are not cows, there is no need of protection. When gives milk, that is cow.

Room Conversation -- July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Prabhupāda: So you try to understand this, everything will be clear. Material energy has no power to create. It is this glance that makes material energy energetic. Chemical combination, that alkaline and acid, they create some agitation, effervescence, but it is done by the chemist. He mixes the two liquids and there is effervescence. It is like that. So you read that chapter carefully. You'll solve your problem.

Morning Walk -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

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.

Morning Walk -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

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, for 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.

Morning Walk -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

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.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- December 26, 1976, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Only tired feel? (break) ...or may be due to poverty of heart action, or it may be due to some inaction on the part of the kidney or some collection of some obnoxious substances in the blood. That is why we must have an analysis done. So for a right understanding, we can advise you what to do. Anyone can write analysis, acidity and (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Now, everything is less.

Dr. Patel: Then you stay here. And you're completely home, without anything. You are not prepared to... This is...

Prabhupāda: As soon as this building is, I will take. (?)

Dr. Patel: We listen to you, but you don't listen. That is the misfortune of ours. Huh?

Prabhupāda: Actually, I have got so many engagements. Actually, I have got engagement in Bhuvaneśvara...

Dr. Patel: And you are going to Bhuvaneśvara after fifteen days, no?

Prabhupāda: ...Calcutta, in Allahabad, then Māyāpur, then Vṛndāvana, then Bombay.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 1, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: That I have already discussed, that from orange tree you can get that acid, citric acid?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Citric acid.

Prabhupāda: But from citric acid, you cannot get orange tree. That is not possible. A living tree can produce citric acid chemical, but citric acid cannot produce a living... Therefore chemical comes from living being, not the living being comes from the chemical. This is the conclusion.

Conversations with Kirtana Groups -- May 29, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Silica. What is silica?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Silica contains one atom of silicon and two atoms of oxygen, but in the case of an acid, it contains two atoms of hydrogen.

Prabhupāda: Acid is liquid.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Silicic acid?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Silicic acid, it forms with water and silicon.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So... And without water, where silica comes? They are all rascals. Wherever there is silica, there must be water, dried up or existing.

Room Conversations Bangladesh Preaching/Prabhavisnu Articles by Hamsaduta -- August 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "The Nobel Prize-winner in synthesizing amino acids..."

Prabhupāda: Nobel Prize-winner, another rascal has given him a Nobel Prize. He's a rascal; another rascal has given. Suri sākṣī mātāla.(?) In the liquor house the witness is the drunkard. What is value of the witness of a drunkard? Do you know suri sākṣī mātāla? There is some incident within the liquor shop, and the proprietor of the liquor shop has brought some witnesses. All of them are drunkards. (laughter) So what is value of this? Suri sākṣī mātāla. As soon as you are drunkard, immediately they are rejected. Surā dekhi nā saya nā.(?) The proprietor of the liquor shop has no more witness than the drunkard.

Room Conversation -- October 11, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just like soda, acid and soda. Mix together. There will be effervescence. That is matter. And life means gives impetus: "Do this." It is not comparable(?) thing.

Upendra: Time for giving him this juice, so... (break)

Prabhupāda: A child can speak sensibly, "Mother, give me this." But soda, alkaline and acid, mixed, it can give some dead effervescence.

Correspondence

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Jadurani -- Calcutta 18 February, 1972:

(12) Agitation of time is just like a water pot put on the fire, and after some time becomes boiled; when it comes to this boiling point, that is agitation. Or, with chemicals, if alkaline and acid mixed, there is effervescence or agitation.

1973 Correspondence

Letter to Revatinandana -- Mayapur 5 June, 1973:

Yes, your article is very nice. It is very important that we now expose the nonsense theories of these rascal scientists who assert that life comes from matter. They say that life comes from some chemicals, but they cannot say wherefrom these chemicals have come. Actually, if we examine carefully, chemicals are coming from life, not life from chemicals. Just like the lemon tree. It is producing so many lemons. In each lemon there is so much citric acid. So, due to the presence of life, so many chemicals are being produced. Also, I have experienced, that one of my toenails has come off due to infection, but now my body is replacing that nail with another one of the exact size and shape as the one I have lost.

Page Title:Acid
Compiler:Rishab, Mayapur
Created:14 of May, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=4, CC=4, OB=1, Lec=26, Con=38, Let=2
No. of Quotes:75