Even the most erudite mundane scholar cannot approach the transcendental plane unless he submits himself to transcendental sound with a receptive mood, for in that mood only can one realize the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. What will be described herein, therefore, has nothing to do with the experimental thoughts created by the speculative habits of inert minds. The subject matter of this book is not a mental concoction but a factual spiritual experience that one can realize only by accepting the line of disciplic succession described above. Any deviation from that line will bewilder the reader's understanding of the mystery of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which is a transcendental literature meant for the postgraduate study of one who has realized all the Vedic literatures such as the Upaniṣads and Vedānta-sūtra and their natural commentaries such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad-gītā.
Experimental
Expressions researched:
"experimental"
|"experimentally"
|"experimentation"
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 2
The spiritual quality of the seer is manifest in our dissatisfaction with the limited state of materially conditioned existence. That is the difference between spirit and matter. There are some less intelligent arguments that matter develops the power of seeing and moving as a certain organic development, but such an argument cannot be accepted because there is no experimental evidence that matter has anywhere produced a living entity. Trust no future, however pleasant. Idle talks regarding future development of matter into spirit are actually foolish because no matter has ever developed the power of seeing or moving in any part of the world. Therefore it is definite that matter and spirit are two different identities, and this conclusion is arrived at by the use of intelligence. Now we come to the point that the things which are seen by a little use of intelligence cannot be animate unless we accept someone as the user of or director of the intelligence. Intelligence gives one direction like some higher authority, and the living being cannot see or move or eat or do anything without the use of intelligence. When one fails to take advantage of intelligence he becomes a deranged man, and so a living being is dependent on intelligence or the direction of a superior being. Such intelligence is all-pervading. Every living being has his intelligence, and this intelligence, being the direction of some higher authority, is just like a father giving direction to his son. The higher authority, who is present and residing within every individual living being, is the Superself.
So we cannot deny the existence of the ocean of milk as stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam unless and until we have experimentally seen all the planets hovering in space. Since such an experiment is not possible, naturally we have to accept the statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it is because it is so accepted by spiritual leaders like Śrīdhara Svāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī, Viśvanātha Cakravartī and others. The Vedic process is to follow in the footsteps of great authorities, and that is the only process for knowing that which is beyond our imagination.
The primeval Lord, being all-powerful, can do whatever He likes, and therefore His assuming the incarnation of a tortoise or a fish for serving a particular purpose is not at all astonishing. Therefore we should not have any hesitation whatsoever in accepting the statements of the authentic scriptures like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
SB Canto 4
This uncommon feature of the Lord should convince even materialistic persons who want to speculate to the limit of their material senses. The activities of the Lord are pleasing to experimental vision also, but impersonalists will not believe in His identity because they study the personality of the Lord by comparing their personality to His. Because men in this material world cannot lift a hill, they do not believe that the Lord can lift one. They accept the statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be allegorical, and they try to interpret them in their own way. But factually the Lord lifted the hill in the presence of all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, as corroborated by great ācāryas and authors like Vyāsadeva and Nārada. Everything about the Lord—His activities, pastimes and uncommon features—should be accepted as is, and in this way, even in our present condition, we can understand the Lord. In the instance herein, King Indra confirmed: "Your presence with eight hands is as good as Your presence with four hands." There is no doubt about it.
SB Canto 5
Lord Brahmā, the supreme person within this universe, said: My dear Priyavrata, kindly hear attentively what I shall say to you. Do not be jealous of the Supreme Lord, who is beyond our experimental measurements. All of us, including Lord Śiva, your father and the great sage Mahārṣi Nārada, must carry out the order of the Supreme. We cannot deviate from His order.
When we see a body full of spiritual energy, it is very difficult for us to understand how the spiritual energy can have a body. It is said that Lord Ṛṣabhadeva's body is completely spiritual; therefore for a materialistic person, it is very difficult to understand. For a materialistic person, the completely spiritual body is inconceivable. We have to accept the version of the Vedas when our experimental perception cannot understand a subject. As stated in Brahma-saṁhitā: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). The Supreme Lord has a body with form, but that body is not composed of material elements. It is made of spiritual bliss, eternity and living force. By the inconceivable energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord can appear before us in His original spiritual body, but because we have no experience of the spiritual body, we are sometimes bewildered and see the form of the Lord as material. The Māyāvādī philosophers are completely unable to conceive of a spiritual body.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
What is impossible for man on earth is easy for the demigods in heaven because of their different bodies. Similarly, to see the Supreme Lord one must have the spiritual eyes of devotional service. The Personality of Godhead is unapproachable by those who are habituated to speculation about the Absolute Truth in terms of experimental scientific thought, without reference to the transcendental vibration. The ascending approach to the Absolute Truth ends in the realization of impersonal Brahman and the localized Paramātmā but not the Supreme Transcendental Personality.
Therefore without Nārāyaṇa, all other causes are useless, just as the potter's wheel and tools are useless without the potter himself. Since materialistic scientists ignore the Personality of Godhead, it is as if they were concerned with the potter's wheel and its rotation, the potter's tools and the ingredients for the pots, but had no knowledge of the potter himself. Therefore modern science has created an imperfect, godless civilization that is in gross ignorance of the ultimate cause. Scientific advancement should have a great goal to attain, and that great goal should be the Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that after conducting research for many, many births, great men of knowledge who stress the importance of experimental thought can know the Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes. When one knows Him perfectly, one surrenders unto Him and then becomes a mahātmā.
“In the Vedas and Purāṇas there are injunctions declaring that if one can revive a living being, one can kill it for experimental purposes.
CC Antya-lila
The pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa are uncommonly full of transcendental potency. It is a characteristic of such pastimes that they do not fall within the jurisdiction of experimental logic and arguments.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Easy Journey to Other Planets
The process of entering into the anti-material worlds differs from materialistic processes. The individual living being can very easily enter the anti-material world by practicing anti-material activities while residing in the material world. But those who are truly gross materialists, who depend on the limited strength of experimental thought, mental speculation and materialistic science, find great difficulty in entering the anti-material worlds. The gross materialist may try to approach the anti-material worlds by endeavoring with spaceships, satellites, rockets, etc., which he throws into outer space, but by such means he cannot even approach the material planets in the higher regions of the material sky, and what to speak of those planets situated in the anti-material sky, which is far beyond the material universe. Even the yogīs who have perfectly controlled mystic powers have great difficulty entering into that region.
Sri Isopanisad
He received this Vedic knowledge and imparted it to Nārada and other disciples and sons, and they also distributed it to their disciples. In this way, the Vedic knowledge comes down by disciplic succession. It is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā that Vedic knowledge is understood in this way. If you make experimental endeavor, you come to the same conclusion, but just to save time you should accept. If you want to know who your father is and if you accept your mother as the authority, then whatever she says can be accepted without argument. There are three kinds of evidence: pratyakṣa, anumāna and śabda. Pratyakṣa means "direct evidence." Direct evidence is not very good because our senses are not perfect. We are seeing the sun daily, and it appears to us just like a small disc, but it is actually far, far larger than many planets. Of what value is this seeing? Therefore we have to read books; then we can understand about the sun. So direct experience is not perfect. Then there is anumāna, inductive knowledge: "It may be like this"—hypothesis.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Viṣṇujana: Purport: "As described above, the magnitude of the soul is such that for our material calculation he cannot be detected even by the most powerful microscope. Therefore he is invisible. As far as his existence is concerned, nobody can establish his experimental stability beyond the proof of śruti, or Vedic wisdom."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Now here Kṛṣṇa says that "Don't care for this body. There is soul." That is śruti. Śruti means you hear from Kṛṣṇa; then you understand. Otherwise there is no possibility to understand. The same example, as I have several times said, that who is your father? That you can under(stand) simply by hearing from your mother. That's all. The mother says, "He is your father." What is the evidence? Hearing from the mother. That's all. Similarly anything spiritual, spiritual identity, spiritual God, spiritual kingdom, you have to learn simply by hearing from authorities. There is no other process. There is no other second process. Simply we have to hear.
"Our parents have made the position of the world so unsafe. So we do not know when we shall, our this body will be finished. So better to enjoy this bodily sense gratification as far as possible quickly." Is not that theory you were telling me? Huh? Is it a fact they are thinking like that? Oh, now, see this nonsense. Now supposing there is soul... And why not suppose? Because experimentally you have not proved that by chemical combination you can produce such moving things.
So more or less, the modern civilization is in darkness. That is the treatment of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Lokasyājānata. All the people of the world, they are rascals and fools. That is the statement in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto. Vyāsadeva wrote the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and the introductory portion is stated like this, you have seen, that by his devotional meditation he saw Kṛṣṇa and His material energy also.
If the cyclist catches the motorcar, he can also proceed with the same speed, sixty miles' speed, without even pedalling. Similarly, if we can join our consciousness with the supreme consciousness, then our whole life becomes successful. That is the point. Now, how to join it? The religion. The whole worldly religious process is the same, I mean to say, experimental or formulas or rituals so that one may become dovetailed with the supreme consciousness. Every religion. But if we become attracted by the rituals only or formulas, and quarrel on that point that, "Oh, my Bible says like this," or I say, "No, my Vedas says like this," and the Muslim, Musselman, says that "No, my Koran says like this. Your is not right," then we become attached to the rituals only. We forget, we forget the right point. The right point is... The whole process is how to dovetail, how to dovetail myself with the supreme consciousness.
We simply know that there are some fishes and crocodiles or sharks in the water, but śāstra, Vedic śāstras, they give definite information, how many forms and varieties of life are there within the water: 900,000. How many we have seen? Our scientists, our botanists, how many they have seen? So actually you cannot have perfect knowledge by the experimental method.
Now, if I say... I don't say, but the śāstra says there are 900,000 forms of aquatics. So you cannot say no because you have no experience. You have no experience. But from the śāstra, Vedic literature, we get this information, Padma Purāṇa. We are not speaking unauthorizedly. The śāstras are accepted by the ācāryas, the great teachers. And we get knowledge from the śāstra. I may be imperfect, but I get knowledge from the perfect source. That is perfect knowledge.
Recently, I may say, in California University, one learned professor came there to speak about the evolutionary theory of chemicals, and he said that life is produced, perhaps you know, from four chemicals. But when one student he said that "If I supply these four chemicals, whether you can produce life?" In answer to this, he said, "That I cannot say." That is imperfect knowledge. If you say, "Life is produced from chemicals," then you must make experimental demonstration, by mixing those chemicals, you produce life. That is called vijñānam, practical demonstration. Otherwise it is not perfect. Scientific knowledge means observation, then experiment. If you fail in your experiment, that is not scientific knowledge. It must be experimented.
These are... These descriptions are there in the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, very nicely, you consult.
So that knowledge is perfect because experimentally... Science means observation and experiment. If you are observing something, then you must experiment. Jñānaṁ vijñānam. In the previous verses we have already studied that jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam (BG 7.2). Jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam. Theoretical knowledge, that is observation. And sa-vijñānam means experiment. If you say, if you have observed that life is produced of chemical, then make experiment. Then it is science; otherwise it is hodge-podge. It has no meaning. Life is never produced of matter; matter is produced out of life. This is the... Therefore we are fragmental matter, life. We living entities, small portion, very small portion. That is also given in the śāstras:
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
We cannot take Kṛṣṇa as one of the created beings like us. We are all created beings. But Kṛṣṇa is not created. He is above creation. Before creation, He was existing; therefore His existence is not within this creation. That is adhokṣaja. Within this creation we can understand by experimental science, but which is beyond this creation, because we cannot reach there, adhokṣaja... Because we take everything by direct perception, but that is beyond direct perception. Adhokṣaja. Kṣemāya kalpante ye 'nu tān iha. That is our real benefit, adhokṣaja. In the beginning also of this chapter it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). The same word, adhokṣaje. Ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. If you want real happiness, then you engage yourself in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṣemāya. Then you'll be happy. And if you take to other demigods, those who are material, that will not be your perfect happiness or permanent happiness.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: I said there is always some statistical factor, which is called error. (laughter) Error is always slipping in.
Prabhupāda: So nobody can be perfect. Therefore all these so-called perfect leaders, they should close their business. (laughter) It is already experimental, all nonsense. Come to Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and chant. That's all right. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
They'll do it. They don't care anything. "Oh, I can satisfy my senses by this way. Never mind. Oh, we don't care for God, don't care for sin or hell or this or that. They are all simply allegory." Hedonism.
So whatever "ism"—"ism" is nowadays there—they were all experimental in Indian philosophy. Just like Cārvāka Muni. He was atheist. Amongst the sages there are atheist philosophers also, as in the modern days there are atheist philosopher also. So this Cārvāka Muni, he said, ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. Ghṛtam. Ghṛtam means butter, clarified butter. If you want to have very palatable dishes, then you require ghee. Without ghee, you cannot make. Either sweetball or kacuris, srngara,(?) so many nice things. So we require sweetball. So... And in India, of course, they wanted palatable dishes, but not otherwise it is made of ghee. But too much eating of these palatable dishes is not good. That makes our senses very strong.
"You do not instruct anything which is manufactured by you. Do not instruct all these..." Because you are imperfect. You have manufactured all your theories. They are imperfect. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). This is perfection. If you say Kṛṣṇa's upadeśa, instruction, then it is perfect. And if you say your experimental instruction, that is imperfect.
Here it is said that idaṁ hi puṁsas tapasaḥ... Every knowledge... Just like here is our Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara. He has got the doctorate title. We have seen your book. It is a learned scholarship, research work. So that is nice. But he has admitted the original cause is Kṛṣṇa. So we are asking everyone that "Whatever knowledge you have got..." It doesn't matter whether you are a chemist or physicist or an engineer or medical man... Any... There are so many. Lawyer, politician. So many departmental knowledge. So one becomes doctor and expert by high research work. For the last...
If you are put into the mother dog, then you develop the body of a dog. And if you are put in the mother god, then you develop the body of a god. This the process. Daive, uh, daiva-netreṇa. That carrying out, from this body to another body, that is not in your hands. That is not scientific, scientist's hand or experimental, I say, philosopher's hand. It is completely under the hand of the material nature. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says that daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). The material nature is so powerful that your so-called fighting against the material nature is simply waste of time. You cannot. You cannot, by material science, transfer yourself from this planet to another planet or according to your desire. No. That will be managed by laws of nature, material nature. So you are transferred. You are transferred to a certain body, and you develop a similar body, and then you come out and enjoy. Because you wanted to enjoy certain type of things, so unless you have got certain type of body...
Festival Lectures
So try to be not imitator, but follower. Don't try to imitate: "Oh, Prahlāda Mahārāja was thrown into boiling oil. Let me try, fall into the boiling oil." No. That is imitation. Just first of all you become like Prahlāda Mahārāja, then that will be possible. Don't try to make experimental. (laughter) That is not good. But follow, try to follow. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Mahājanas, great personalities, what they have done, you cannot imitate them. You have to follow them. You have to follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa or His representative, but you cannot imitate them. Then you'll fall down. Anusaraṇa. Not anukaraṇa. Anukaraṇa means imitation; but anusaraṇa, follow. So what Prahlāda Mahārāja did, that we have to follow his example. His example was that in spite of continuous torturing by his father, he never forgot Kṛṣṇa. This we have to follow. In spite of all kinds of inconveniences and torture by the atheist class of men, we shall never forget Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
General Lectures
That is finished now. You have to take this mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And you'll find it that very soon you are coming to the light.
So I do not wish to take much of your time, but simply I want to impress upon you that this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is so nice that if you give in an experimental way... You can see. You chant for at least one week and you see how much you have changed. So these boys, they are chanting in the street. We have got many branches in your country, one in London, one in Germany, and everyone is taking part. It is increasing. So we don't charge anything, neither you have got any loss. If there is any profit, you can try it, but there is no loss. That is guaranteed. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
And the bhakti-yoga means this śravaṇam. The first thing is śravaṇa and kīrtana. You simply chant and hear, simple process. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and hear. Immediately you become benefited, immediately, and you get ecstasy. So our humble request is that this is very simple process, recommended process, approved process, and experimental process. If you try it without any loss, but with a prospect of a great gain, then you are requested that you can accept it.
Nobody is absolute. However you may be great in the estimation of others, you will find somebody is greater than you, and somebody is lower than you, and somebody is equal to you. But so far the greatest Absolute Personality of Godhead is concerned, na tasya samaḥ adhikaś ca dṛśyate. By experimental study, by research work by great saintly persons, sages, they have concluded, na tasya samaḥ adhikaś ca dṛśyate: "Nobody is found samaḥ," means "equal to Him, or adhikaḥ." Adhikaḥ means greater. That is the experience. And still, He has nothing to do. Na tasya kāryaṁ kāraṇaṁ ca vidyate. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). "His energies are multi, multifarious, various kinds of energy." And the energies are working so nicely as if, svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca, natural gift, knowledge, art, svā bala-kriyā, and strength. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā. Just like you are artist. You are painting one picture, one flower, very nice flower.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: All right. So let's say no one has ever seen a...
Prabhupāda: No, no. That is another thing. You cannot say which you have never seen, at least. Because yours is experimental, I may say, but you at least, cannot say like that.
Śyāmasundara: I have excavated in all parts of the world, and every time I go to the...
Prabhupāda: No. You have not excavated all parts of the world. That is another nonsense. You have not done this.
Śyāmasundara: Well, on seven continents I have excavated...
Prabhupāda: But that seven continents is not the whole world. That is our charge. That you are claiming that you have excavated all. We say no, not even an insignificant portion. So your knowledge is limited. (indistinct) they say the same (indistinct), Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is limited within the three-feet well. If he says "I have seen everything," that is not acceptable.
Prabhupāda: They accept blind men leading them.
Karandhara: They say the empiric mind just, you cannot accept revelation, that revelation isn't experimental to our limited knowledge, or to our knowledge. The hard-core scientist doesn't want to listen to revelation or what he considers theoretical spiritual knowledge, because he can't examine it or experiment with it himself; therefore he considers it a waste of time. If he can't see it or understand it with his mind, he doesn't think that it has any bearing or importance.
Prabhupāda: So scientific brain means ultimately becoming a fool. He'll talk all nonsense. Once he is recognized scientist, then he can talk all nonsense, and the people accept it as scientific truth.
Śyāmasundara: He puts forward five steps for solving problems. (aside conversation-indistinct) The first step is, he says, to observe a problem and think of its nature. The second step is intellectualize the problem further: to analyze the total of difficulties. Three, you make hypothesis which constitutes possible solutions. Four, you analyze these hypotheses in the light of past experience. And five, you put these possible solutions into practice experimentally, and to ascertain the results in actual experience. So his method is that... So the idea is that problems are only solved when the possible solutions are put into practice and we experiment and get a result. Then we find solutions to problems. But not simply by theorizing, but by practice.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So our process of solving problems is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). So we take Kṛṣṇa's shelter and our problems are solved. As it is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, He is the reservoir of all mystic power, yogeśvara. So Bhakta's business is instead of endeavoring to become a yogi, he takes shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is yogeśvara, the master of all mystic power. We take it that this is the solution of our problems. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te, instead of... I was reciting the verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, bālasya neha saranay vicinvam (?). So there are different kinds of methods of solving the problems. The best method is to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa, and all problems are solved.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. But they are rascal. It is not the brain that is working. It is the spirit soul that is working. The same thing: the computer machine. The rascal will think that a computer machine is working. No. The man is working. He pushes the button, then it works. Otherwise, what is the value of this machine? You keep the machine for thousands of years, it will not work. When another man will come, put the button, then it will work. So who is working? The machine is working or the man is working? And the man is also another machine. And it is working due to the presence of Paramātmā, God. Therefore, ultimately, God is working. A dead man cannot work. So how long a man remains living? So long the Paramātmā is there, ātmā is there. Even the ātmā is there, if Paramātmā does not give him intelligence, he cannot work. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). God is giving me intelligence, "You put this button." Then I put this button. So ultimately Kṛṣṇa is working. Another, untrained man cannot come and work on it because there is no intelligence. And a particular man who is trained up, he can work. So these things are going on. Ultimately comes to Kṛṣṇa. What you are researching, what you are talking, that is also Kṛṣṇa is doing. Kṛṣṇa is giving you in... You, you prayed for this facility to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is giving you. Sometimes you find accidentally the experiment is successful. So when Kṛṣṇa sees that you are so much harassed in experimental, "All right do it." Just like Yaśodā Mā was trying to tie Kṛṣṇa, but she could not do.
Prabhupāda: Two.
Professor: Two. The first...
Prabhupāda: First initiation, experimental...
Professor: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Then, as he practices, becomes more purified, then second initiation. Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī-mantra. But the first initiation, according to Jīva Gosvāmī, that is sufficient. Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, that is sufficient. But still, to purify them more, the second initiation, Gāyatrī, is given. So we are creating brāhmaṇas in the western countries. Yes.
Haṁsadūta: 1966, in New York City. The teachings are standard, the teachings of this movement are standard, coming down from the original source, Kṛṣṇa, the original speaker. So it is very scientific. It's not manufactured. Today's science... Just like psychoanalysis, so many things, they are created recently. And so there are so many experiments and theories changing every day. But Kṛṣṇa consciousness is different in that it is the standard science for understanding the self. It's been practiced for hundreds, thousands, thousands years. And it has been proved successful by the ācāryas or the saintly teachers. So the same thing which was practiced many, many hundreds and thousands of years ago is being practiced today, and the same result is being achieved. This is the difference between Kṛṣṇa consciousness and..., Kṛṣṇa conscious science, spiritual science, and material science. The spiritual science requires no speculation or experimentation. But one has to accept it from the right, the authorized source.
Dr. Hauser: Yes. And it was that point I was taking up here, that for some people, accepting things...
Haṁsadūta: Everyone has to accept some, somebody. They either accept you or their mother, their father, somebody. At every moment, some, someone has to be accepted as authority for something. So what is the best authority? This should be the question. If I have to accept some authority, either here or there, then which is the best authority? This should be the point. Are you the best authority or this man or this man or this man...? Or who should be the best authority? The best authority is that authority which is perfect. That is God. God is perfect. So this is our, our, this is the foundation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that God, He is perfect. Whatever He gives as instruction, that should be accepted. But if we don't agree to that, then we have to take instruction from someone else. And that is bound to be imperfect. Isn't it? Because we are working with imperfect senses, seeing, hearing. So whatever our conclusions may be, they're going to imperfect.
Prabhupāda: Because it has began from imperfect. Therefore conclusion must be imperfect.
Karandhara: That intelligence is defective
Prabhupāda: No, no, my senses are defective. But the source from which I know, that is not defective. I cannot experimentally know who is my father. But the source from whom I understand, that is perfection.
Yaśomatīnandana: In other words they'll get confirmation within their heart. They'll be satisfied, that "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is God," if they are sincere.
Prabhupāda: Yeah. If they are sincere. That is the budha. Budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ (BG 10.8). Others, rascals cannot (indistinct). Mūḍha narādhama. They cannot.
Devotee (2): They'll say you're sincerely brainwashed.
Prabhupāda: Ah?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Because they will say that they have a..., they are trying to find out experimental things.
Prabhupāda: You have not found out, that's a fact. As I have not found, therefore you are equally fool like me. Don't pose yourself better than me.
Karandhara: If we're both fools...
Yaśomatīnandana: But at least we are accepting some authority which is supposedly very authorized by great saints, sages...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Karandhara: They have also great authorities.
Prabhupāda: And all the authorities... No, therefore these persons who do not accept authority, they're rascal.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But they want experimental knowledge.
Prabhupāda: Yes, this is experimental.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They say, "It cannot be proved."
Prabhupāda: No, why not proved? Just like I gave you the... this water, this sand, it is practical. Now you must know somebody has made it.
Karandhara: Well, the difficulty is, in a group of atheists, you can't prove God no matter what you say.
Prabhupāda: No, atheists, kick them on their face. Atheists, they are... Those who are reasonable, that everything see, that somebody has made. So this sand is also made by somebody, the water is also made by somebody, the sky is also made by somebody. Now you find out who is that somebody. That is knowledge.
Prabhupāda: So how it so happens?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Because they say something which cannot be proved by experimental science, that does not work, calling science.
Prabhupāda: So then how do you say that life is from matter? That cannot be proved by experiment.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is why they are going to prove it. They are trying to prove it.
Prabhupāda: Then again, "going to prove." They cannot prove, they'll not not admit it.
Sujit: See, astrology, I think, what he said is half true. Astrology is a science but it is not an exact science like mathematics and chemistry.
Prabhupāda: No, No, it is mathematics. Astrology is simply based on mathematics. Exactly.
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Sallaz: And our last official result is, of course, a scandal for the orthodox world. We did transmute matter from one to another. We achieved transmutation like alchemists in the Middle Age, you see. And a single element which is called iron, we make from it chrome which is another single element. And it is so revolutionary that we had the experimentation made completely not from our side but from official organization in France. (French)
Yogeśvara: What he says is that the final conclusion of their research work has been...
Dr. Sallaz: One of them.
Yogeśvara: One of their conclusions has been to be able to make one element to change into another element. They were able to take iron and transform it into chrome by chemical process, almost like alchemy, he says. And this was very startling for the scientific world.
Dr. Sallaz: Result. Result, only with physical heat, eight hundred, and pressure, only this. No laser, no atomic energy, nothing at all. Simply by natural measures.
Prabhupāda: We can give you one information, that metals like bell metal. Bell metal is combination of...? What is called? Tin? Tin? What is another name of tin?
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Guest (1): There are a number of projects and there are a number of disciplines in which people work. Mine is experimental nutrition.
Prabhupāda: So you are also believing that life comes from matter? (laughter)
Guest (1): No, I don't think we think in those directions at all. We simply just conduct experiments, not knowing what they will lead to and try to describe whatever we see under the microscope. (indistinct) chemical matters that we use.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But I think you have assumed that Darwin's theory or theory of evolution is already there and even to study something intermediate, higher levels, evolution is all right but...
Prabhupāda: Basic means evolution.
Prabhupāda: Coma.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Many of the scientists actually believe in God, and they think that by experimentation, they'll come to understand God more and more.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. That we admire, that you are trying to understand God. But there is no God, and they are becoming God—that is nonsense.
Rāmeśvara: Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Hm.
Rāmeśvara: Some people say that Darwin was paid by the British...
Prabhupāda: Yes, I said.
Guest: If some definite example is there, then they will immediately copy. See, they are copy-minded. If suppose we open up a temple here and the conditions here improve, automatically everybody'll take up. So we will see next year. Automatically when things are done by copying, they would like to go by the copy method, not by experimentation. So if our temples are successful in Māyāpur and Hyderabad and everywhere, farms are attained, and if they are able to produce better things, they will understand, "Oh, because of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, people are becoming more prosperous." Automatically they will come therefore.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes, that is also nice. (break) We have no factory; we have no business.
Guest: People are wondering now. They are asking me.
Prabhupāda: So why they do not imitate this?
Prabhupāda: Yes. He is making the theory that life has come from chemicals by chemical combination, chemical evolution. Darwin's theory is also of that. This is their... Big, big scientists, they are so fool that life has come from matter. Where is the proof? He was lecturing in California University, and there was one student. He is my disciple. He challenged him that "If you get the chemicals, whether you can manufacture life?" That answer was, "That I cannot say." Why? You are putting this theory, that life has come from chemicals. So science means observation and experiment. Now experimentally prove that the chemicals have produced a life.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. We invite. As soon as they have got a leisure hour, let them come and live with us for one week and see the result. They can remain forever. It doesn't matter. But for experimental sake they can come, live with us and associate with us. It is not difficult. And we invite everyone. We have no such discrimination that black, white, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, no. Anyone. It is universal. Because we consider every living entity is part and parcel of God. That is a fact. We are teeny gods, part and parcel. The same quality we have got—in minute quantity. Quality is the same, quantity is less. So God is good, so we are also good. But we have become bad under circumstances. Just like under infection, one becomes diseased. So if we cure that infection, again he becomes good. So it is the curing process. It is not an external artificial thing, imposed upon somebody, no. His goodness is there. Just like generally a man is healthy, but by infecting some disease he becomes diseased. So this material way of life is a kind of infection. So we have to cure that. And this is our process. And it has become successful. So therefore this problem of your country... I was this morning also lecturing that "You take up this movement very seriously and save your country." And if you save America, means you save the whole world because others are following America. So you can do it very easily.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yesterday the mayor of this place came. Here is a house vacant. So if we get this house, then we can begin in a mass scale. The America is not poor. So at least on experimental stage the government or the municipality can give us this house and arrange for some prasādam. Simple prasāda we give, not costly. We don't use meat or anything.
Lt. Mozee: Yes, sir.
Prabhupāda: Vegetable, grains, that's all. But something must be given. This is our program. So I saw yesterday the mayor. He came also very kindly. And you have come. So you consult yourself. This place or any place, give us some facility and see the result.
Lt. Mozee: Would you say that it should be done in an area of affluence or an area of poverty to begin with?
Prabhupāda: No, we have no distinction, such, but a place which is easily available for all kinds of men, that is very nice. There is no such condition that the only poor man will take benefit and the rich man, they do not require. Everyone requires. Do you think that the criminality is only in the poorer section?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. (break)
Siddha-svarūpa: The psychologists feel limited by the particulars means of experimentation that have already been used by other psychologists.
Prabhupāda: What experiments they have made?
Siddha-svarūpa: Well, these particular tests and so on that they're using. So it seems that he ought to change. Because somebody started doing that, right? I mean, they didn't always use those tests. They always change different kinds of tests and everything. Instead of being limited, he should offer a new method of observation, a new method of tests.
Prabhupāda: It is simple, but because of their bad education, they cannot understand the simple thing.
Bahulāśva: They want everything complicated.
Prabhupāda: That is wanted.
Prof. Olivier: How to get him to voluntarily make this experiment, because this is what you were saying. Any scientific development rests on experimentation. The challenge to experiment...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prof. Olivier: ...is there. God does not deny anybody the privilege of experimenting.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prof. Olivier: And especially the youth at university, as I have always indicated and I tell them every year that they’ve got to experiment with the spirit to the same extent that they experiment in their laboratories with pieces of animal tissues or grass or what it is that they’ve got to analyze. But the real tragedy is that we have wandered away so far from the spirit and from the spiritual laboratory...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: And these childish activities are taken as scientific advancement.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Is there a Vedic definition of science?
Prabhupāda: Vijñāna. Jñāna-vijñāna. (break) ...not this science, experimental. That is not science. Vedic knowledge is science.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So there is no experimental science in Vedic culture.
Prabhupāda: Experimental science is condemned. What you will make, ex... You are imperfect. What is the value of your experiment? Therefore it is rejected. Whatever you'll do, that is imperfect. First of all you become perfect; then you make experiment. But you are... You remain imperfect, and you making experiment. What is the value of it? (break) ...is no experimental knowledge. All established truth. That is vijñāna, or science.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But you make experiment; you will find it all right. So we save time. (break) ...no experiment. (break) ...experiment has become successful? Hm?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, they've cured certain diseases by experimentation.
Prabhupāda: That is success? You stop disease. What is this, "cure disease"? Malaria, if it is not here, it is somewhere there. And if I am not suffering from malaria, I am suffering from syphilis. So what is this cure, experiment? Disease must be there. So you stop it. Then it is success.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So it is not possible to stop disease.
Prabhupāda: No. How it is possible?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...experimentation, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Science is based on experimentation. They will argue, "So how can we experiment with the theories that you are putting forward?"
Prabhupāda: Our theory or your theory?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Your theory. Our theory.
Prabhupāda: What is that "our theory"?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: That the soul is the life force.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: You can... First of all you be beaten with shoes. That's all. Then you can.
Harikeśa: No, we've actually done it. We've changed some genes and made some people better. By experimentation we can make people...
Prabhupāda: And your big, big cities are full with hippies. You cannot induce them to give up their LSD, and you are making better men. Better men is going to become worse. Just see how cheating.
Harikeśa: Oh, you mean once we make the better men they'll just degrade again.
Prabhupāda: Simply bogus propaganda. (break)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: ...that their educational system has failed. Therefore they...
Prabhupāda: Yes. They should close the universities and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So by birth they want to make better men. They can't make them by culture.
Dr. Patel: About what?
Prabhupāda: Anything. The world.
Dr. Patel: There are two types of experiments, sir, according to me. I may be wrong and I am open to correction. One experimentation with the crude world; another experiment with your own mind. Which type of experiment we want?
Prabhupāda: No, mind we reject immediately.
Dr. Patel: How?
Prabhupāda: Because it is not truth. It is accepting, it is rejecting.
Dr. Patel: Man sai eva (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Mind's business is to accept and reject. Therefore it is not truth.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa! ( to passerby) (Hindi ) Are you all right?
Dr. Patel: All these sciences, mathematics, chemistry, physics, they have really been advanced by experimentation only. Because we did not know what the truth is behind all these natural phenomena, and we tried to find out the real, how the natural phenomena are, I mean, happening, and that is what the experimentation of the human race was searching out the truth...
Prabhupāda: That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā, tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam. Tattva-jñānārtha-darśana.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he is concentrated. Just like our bhakti. Bhakti means we know, "Here is God: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28)." So there is no question of experimenting. Now we are known, we are concentrating how to satisfy. There is no question of experimentation.
Dr. Patel: But the physical scientists' method, chemistry, biology, is, I mean, this physics, they have to experiment in their.... They are nothing but the finding out the truth behind the phenomena, the material phenomena. That is what I mean.
Prabhupāda: Phenomena is changeable, always changing. Just like this samudra—sometimes here, sometimes there.
Dr. Patel: Yes, right, sir. But why the samudra changes? We go into there, into deep depth of that...
Prabhupāda: That is good idea. But who is the worker, he does not know. Write small pamphlet. Just like our Svarūpa Dāmodara has written small pamphlet. People, general people, they're also rascals, andhā. They can accept these rascals. But why we shall accept?
Harikeśa: This is experimental philosophy.
Prabhupāda: But that.... Experimental philosophy means rascaldom. You do not know actually what is the fact. Then you make experiment. That means you are rascal.
Harikeśa: I meant that this thesis, antithesis...
Prabhupāda: Just like Kṛṣṇa does not say, "Make an experiment." He says the fact: asmin dehe dehinaḥ. "The proprietor of the body is within this body." There is no question of experimenting.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Pañca-draviḍa: They only accept...
Prabhupāda: That is not scientist, that he..., "maybe, perhaps..." That is not scientist.
Pañca-draviḍa: Well, they only accept what they can confirm by experimentation.
Prabhupāda: That means their experiment is not perfect. Their observation is not perfect-vague idea. So how he can become a scientist? That is no scientist.
Pañca-draviḍa: What is the position of one who accepts God, that there is.... (break) (end)
Prabhupāda: There is only one way. Just like the spirit soul is within you and within me. Your skin may be white, my skin may be colored, but within, the spirit soul, what is there in you, that is in me also. There is not change on account of the body. Therefore to understand that spirit soul, there is only one way. There is no second way. Because it is not experimental; it is already there. If it is based on experiment and observation, then my experiment, your experiment may be different. But it is a fact that the soul is there, and as soon as the soul is gone from the body, the body is a dead lump of matter. That you have to understand. And any gentleman, any sensible man can understand it, that soul is there although we are changing body. Just like you were a child. That's a fact. But where is that child's body? Now your body's different. Is it not a fact? What do you think? So where is that body, your child's body?
Sadāpūta: This slide shows..., these are the laws of nature according to physicists. And the point we make is that this is their understanding of the final cause of things, and it's very limited. Actually, on this one page, these equations describe everything that goes into all the actions and interactions of chemistry according to their present understanding. And, so there are two main points to make about this. Number one, these are very..., these laws describe very simple forces, pushes and pulls between atoms and things like that. And so intuitively it is very hard to imagine why such simple forces should cause anything complex to organize itself together. Now the scientists customarily make the assertion that laws like this are universal, but one thing we can notice is they have no proof of that. These laws which they say are universal are only studied in certain limited experimental situations with inanimate matter, and then they extrapolate and they say that they apply to everything. But actually the equations are so hard to solve even for reasonably simple molecules that they can't actually test out their assertion. So it's actually just a bluffing statement. So in this slide we wanted to point out how limited these laws are, how limited their concept of the laws of nature is. The next slide, according to the scientist's idea, there are two things going on—these laws and also chance. So this is a calculation showing what happens if you just have chance acting to form one of these proteins that Svarūpa Dāmodara was talking about, and you can calculate... Actually here you calculate, suppose you threw a protein together at chance—and here we even allow a ten percent error, you're allowing to get it wrong among ten percent of the proteins—but still chance comes out to ten minus two-hundred-and forty-fourth-power. Now the scientists are always saying if you wait for a long enough time, even something very unlikely can happen; but here we have a calculation of how long you'd have to wait, according to mathematics and the probability theory, and even if you assume an unrealistically high rate of forming proteins at random, still you'd have to wait, according to this, ten to the hundred-and-sixty-seventh-power billion years. And that's a little bit too long. (laughter)
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is mathematics.
Prabhupāda: Then this is going on. They cannot do anything, and still they are drawing high salary. Especially when they say that life is made of chemicals and they cannot experimentally prove it. How bluffing it is. We say a simple thing, that "Don't talk of big, big life. You just produce from the egg, because egg you require so many chicken to cut their throat. So produce it from chemicals." Why do they not do it? Is anyone to answer this? If life is chemical combination, you see in the egg there is some white substance, some yellow substance, so you analyze and find out what are the chemicals and combine it and color it yellow and pack up in a cellulose cover, and then put it, bring life. Why they cannot do it? Where is the science? Simply talking big, big words? What do you think? Am I right or wrong?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Experimentation?
Prabhupāda: No, no, in science there are two con..., theoretical and practical. So theoretical knowledge is no perfect. When you bring it in practical action, then it is science. In the scientific laboratory, they do not simply theorize; they test it in the laboratory. That is science. If you cannot test it by combination of the chemicals which you have analyzed in your..., then it is failure, is it not?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Here is a scientist. You have not studied properly. That is defect. So why defective knowledge you are declaring as knowledge? That is cheating. When you have perfect knowledge, then you declare. That is science.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is good.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Very good. Then there is a part called "Hare Kṛṣṇa Meditation." "The Hare Kṛṣṇaś practice bhakti, the yoga of devotion. They have their mahāmantra, continual recitation of which will have a meditative effect. By integrating recitation of the mantra with a life of rigidly formulated devotional activities, it would seem that devotees actually live their meditation. Such a life of living meditation is not without parallel in secular fields. It is believed that the spiritual form of alchemy served this purpose; that is, an alchemist repeated the same experimental routine over and over until it became automatized, though still requiring some slight personal involvement." He's getting a little far out here. "It was expected that the result..." Anyway, "...practitioners of Western magical disciplines sought for similar results. Meditation takes effect in terms of the ambiance in which it is practiced. In the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement there are certain to be transcendental experiences.
Prabhupāda: Then be beaten with shoes. When you're successful, then say. Otherwise, I shall beat you with shoes. That's all. That is your punishment. You have not come to the experimental stage, and you are talking, "This is science." Science is experiment and observation. Unless the experiment is practical, practical science... It will be accepted as science when the experiment is successful. Not before that. That is scientific method. First of all, observe. It may be happening like this. But that "maybe" should be confirmed by experiment. Then it is science. Even in colleges there is practical examination. Theoretical and practical. So unless... "We are trying." Everyone will say, "I am trying." "I am trying to become millionaire." When you become millionaire, then say that you are millionaire. You are trying for becoming millionaire and you say, "I am millionaire." What is this nonsense? Huh?
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is our basic principle of knowledge, that every one of us is defective. So you cannot give us complete knowledge. It is not possible. We must receive knowledge from the perfect without defects.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So we were bringing that and answering, not answering directly, but saying that whatever we see, whatever we find by experimental science, by these instruments, we see something, but how do we know that... Our matter of receiving knowledge is by itself defective.
Prabhupāda: Defective, yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Because actually there are many defects in science.
Prabhupāda: So they do not challenge you that "How your knowledge is perfect?" They do not challenge that?
Prabhupāda: That means they have to accept two things—material and spiritual. (break) ...little difficult. Therefore we have to understand from the authority. The same argument, that you have to understand who is your father from the mother. There is no other... (break) ...Kṛṣṇa says in the beginning, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: (BG 2.13) "The real living being is within this body, and he's changing." We have to accept. There is no experimental... (break) Because they are not sober... A sober man does not hesitate. Accept. Dhīras tatra... Therefore this word has been used. Rascal cannot understand. So indirectly one who does not understand, he's a rascal number one. That's all.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They have the demoniac mentality.
Prabhupāda: No, we can prove. Just that... Our argument is that this is beyond our experimental. Therefore you have to hear from the authority. That is our proof. Just like you cannot make an experiment who is your father, but you have to hear from your mother. That is the only way. There is no second alternative.
Satsvarūpa: Śabda-pramāṇa.
Prabhupāda: Śabda-pramāṇa. Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: There is another very strange statement in this regard saying that though we cannot prove something by experiment, but sometimes it is convenient to assume that way.
Prabhupāda: Yes, it is very good argument, that these rascals have never produced life, and why do they say like that? It's good argument because they say that "We have not seen; therefore we don't believe." They're experimental. But you have not experimented. Why you push? Why you brainwash my brain?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: According to this logical positivism, you can say that it is convenient to say that man has arisen from apes, but that is not the truth.
Prabhupāda: There is no experiment.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: There's no experiment, but it is convenient to assume according to this logic, but that's not a fact.
Prabhupāda: But why the modern ape is not producing any human being?
Devotee (1): ...possibility that there is a soul and that there is a God. But when... I showed them a Fifth Canto, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and they were reading about the structure of the universe in the Bhāgavatam, and this was completely opposite to all their experiments. So if this is actually a fact, then why can't it be proved experimentally that the Bhāgavatam statements on the origin of the universe and so on are correct?
Prabhupāda: It is correct. How they can prove it is incorrect?
Devotee (1): Well they say that by mathematics we can prove the position...
Prabhupāda: So we have got our mathematics also. (break) ...workers. In the beginning I was alone. Now we have got so many things. So we shall come out triumphant.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That's Prabhupāda's mercy.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. And he actually was very interested, and he told me to write about Mandeha(?), the director, so that they can make arrangements and so we can speak. So I just had few hours, and I wanted to go to the Indian school for experimental medicine that is in Jadavpur. I know the director. The director is from Calcutta University, and I just about to see him, but I couldn't see him. I didn't have the time. But we have, I think, plenty of scope, doing these things on a wider scale.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: And I also published this little concept about what these, all these lectures is about. So it says, "Announcing a worldwide lecture tour on the origin of life and matter, sponsored by Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies, Founder-Ācārya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda." And then I give a whole series from here to here, and I also give the topics and...
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Once I gave a lecture at Emory University to the scientific community, and I tried to introduce this bhakti-yoga in a scientific language and found it difficult, but I tried to bring the idea by comparing that an electron... In order to study an electron, we actually take advantage of a field where an electric current can be generated. Otherwise the property of electron cannot be studied in a scientific experiment. Similarly, we established that ātmā, being nonphysical and nonchemical, is spiritual and also has personal character. We must take advantage of a personal feature where one can have direct relationship between this individual ātmā, and there should be also a supreme ātmā. And the relationship of the study of this will be the experimental study, and that experiment is bhakti-yoga.
Prabhupāda: I have several times stressed that living being is a sample of God. If you study living being, you understand God.
Correspondence
1969 Correspondence
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 10, 1969, and I have noted the contents with appreciation. If you have received any letter from Bhurijana in North Carolina, then you can immediately go there. It is on experimental basis for now. If you are successful, it is Krishna's Grace, and I hope that certainly you shall be successful. There are so many students there, and perhaps there is no other organization of this nature. So you shall go there simply to perform kirtana, read from Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and try to sell at least one copy to each student of our Back To Godhead. That will make our propaganda successful.
I thank you very much for your letter (F-54/103) dated February 6, 1969. Regarding the letter of credit, I beg to inform you that I have got good accounts in some of the very respectable banks in America in which there are branches in Calcutta. I am sending herewith one letter of declaration from the Bank of America as well as from the First National City Bank of America for your kind perusal. So, for experimental sake, if you immediately dispatch the following goods and ship them to Los Angeles, your bills with bill of lading will be presented to the Bank of America and will at once be honored. For the time being you can ship the goods by any suitable steamer company to Los Angeles.
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your kind letter (#F-54/117) dated February 15, 1969. I have duly replied your previous letter dated February 6, 1969, and I placed with you an experimental order. Many such orders will follow this from London and Germany when I get there in the month of April next. So you will have no difficulty for your payment. We are dealing with you since I have come to this country in 1965 and many times I have sent you money in advance, so you can rest assured about your monetary position, and you can go on executing our order as advised in my letter dated February 17, 1969.
Regarding the World Sankirtana Party, that is my long-cherished idea, and I wish to see it fulfilled as soon as possible. But do not count on others. If somebody comes forward to help us, that is welcome. But if we at all take the job, we must take it on our own strength. For experimental sake, you can seek out for an agent who can arrange for our Sankirtana Party moving in all the states of America, and then we can think of touring all over the world.
1970 Correspondence
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 10 March, 1970, along with the check for $50, and thank you very much for the same. I am pleased to see the newspaper clipping from San Jose State College newspaper, and learn that the students are already attending your Bhagavad-gita class at the Experimental College.
I am also very much pleased to have your report of progressing the public interest in Krsna Consciousness. The secret of success will depend on yourself keeping on the spiritual strength by regularly chanting and following the regulative principles, and side by side you have to act on preaching the gospel, and it will go on without any impediment.
1971 Correspondence
That is not in the power of GBC. Tamala should not do like that. The GBC men cannot impose anything on the men of a center without consulting all of the GBC members first. A GBC member cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of his power. We are in the experimental stage but in the next meeting of the GBC members they should form a constitution how the GBC members manage the whole affair. But it is a fact that the local president is not under the control of the GBC. Yes, for improvement of situations such as this I must be informed of everything.
1973 Correspondence
On the recommendation of Govinda Das I have duly accepted you as my disciples.
Human life begins when there is systematic education in the science of God consciousness. Just some days ago I was discussing with Professor Alister Hardy—Head of Religious Experimental research unit Oxford, it was his opinion that the problems of human life are over-population, environmental pollution etc.. But from Bhagavad-gita we understand that God is the father of all living beings, so the father must be competent to provide for all the children, and in the case of the Supreme Father this is actually so—we get it from Vedic Literature "nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)—Amongst all the Eternals there is one chief Eternal Being and he is engaged in supplying and fulfilling the desires of all the others." Therefore our conclusion was that the real problem is not over-population or pollution, malnutrition etc., but the actual problem is Godlessness.
1975 Correspondence
We are selling 30-40 lakhs around the world so we shall expect at least sales in India of one lakh per month of Rupees.
So on experimental stage we can make them the exclusive sales agent for six months to one year, if they can guarantee a certain reasonable amount of monthly order. If the agree to Rs. 1 lakh per month than for the first four months they must pay us Rs. 50,000/- per month and then Rs. 1 lakh per month upon delivery. Yes, you can print small books as much as possible. The paper sample you sent in your last letter is all right if it is acceptable for the Indian book market. If the sales will go on, even if the paper is inferior, then it is all right. S. Chand Co. they are able to sell 1 lakh of Rs. of our books per month.
| Page Title: | Experimental |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 14 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=5, CC=5, OB=2, Lec=18, Con=38, Let=8 |
| No. of Quotes: | 76 |