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Frog's calculation

Expressions researched:
"Dr. Frog is calculation" |"Frog calculation" |"Frog calculation" |"Frog's calculation" |"calculated by the frog" |"calculation the frog" |"frog in the well to calculate the measurement of the Pacific Ocean" |"frog is calculating" |"frog lives within the well, and he's calculating" |"frog philosophy. Frog philosophy" |"frog philosophy. Frog's calculation" |"frog philosophy? He's calculating" |"frog within the well, he is calculating" |"frogs in the well, and they are calculating"

Notes from the compiler: "frog* calcula*"/8

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 3

SB 3.6.10, Purport:

One cannot perceive the transcendental name or form of the Lord by mental speculation. The mundane Ph.D.'s are completely unable to speculate on the Supreme with their limited senses. Such attempts by the puffed up Ph.D's are compared to the philosophy of the frog in the well. A frog in a well was informed of the gigantic Pacific Ocean, and he began to puff himself up in order to understand or measure the length and breadth of the Pacific Ocean. Ultimately the frog burst and died. The title Ph.D. can also be interpreted as Plough Department, a title meant for the tillers in the paddy field. The attempt of the tillers in the paddy field to understand the cosmic manifestation and the cause behind such wonderful work can be compared to the endeavor of the frog in the well to calculate the measurement of the Pacific Ocean.

SB 3.6.40, Purport:

The froggish calculator may raise the objection that if the Absolute is unknowable even by the controlling deities of speech, mind and ego, namely the Vedas, Brahmā, Rudra and all the demigods headed by Bṛhaspati, then why should the devotees be so interested in this unknown object? The answer is that the transcendental ecstasy enjoyed by the devotees in delineating the pastimes of the Lord is certainly unknown to nondevotees and mental speculators. Unless one relishes transcendental joy, naturally one will come back from his speculations and concocted conclusions because he will see them as neither factual nor enjoyable. The devotees can at least know that the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu, as the Vedic hymns confirm: oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ. Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) also confirms this fact: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ. By culture of Vedic knowledge one must know Lord Kṛṣṇa and should not falsely speculate on the word aham, or "I."

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972:

So Arjuna was calculating as a human being about Kṛṣṇa. That was his mistake. That was his not mistake. That was his inquiry to clear the mistake of our. We mistake Kṛṣṇa as one of us. Because Kṛṣṇa comes down as human being, we, due to our lack of knowledge, poor fund of knowledge, we think Kṛṣṇa is as good as we are. But actually it is not. Kṛṣṇa is God. We are ordinary living entities. His knowledge, His power of remembrance, His power of knowing everything perfectly is different from our knowing. But unfortunately we think, "God may be little greater than me." That is that Dr. Frog philosophy. We have explained several times. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. The frog within the well, he is calculating the dimension of Pacific Ocean. So by this dog, frog philosophical way, we can, we cannot understand what is God. We must receive the knowledge from God Himself, or from a person who knows God. Otherwise, there is no possibility. Now, according to māyā..., Māyāvāda philosophy, they say that there is no duality. It is a kind of illusion that we see difference between God and ourself. That is māyā. Then Kṛṣṇa is not advocating herewith about the impersonal feature of the Lord.

Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966:

The frog philosophy is that a frog in the well, he was informed about the Atlantic Ocean by his friend, and the frog inquired from him, "Oh, what is that Atlantic Ocean?" "Oh, it is a huge, vast span of water." Now, the frog is in the well, he is thinking, "Oh, it may be double than this well or it may be triple than this well, or a hundred times," in this way, calculating. But do you think by such calculation the frog will ever come to the conclusion how length and breadth is of Atlantic Ocean? So this is all frog philosophy. We are very tiny. Our knowledge, power of speculating, is limited always. So we cannot speculate about the Supreme. It is a useless waste of time. Therefore Bhāgavata says, "You give up this. You give up this process of speculating." Jñāne prayāsam udapāsy a: "Give it up." Then what is next? "Now, be submissive. Be submissive." Then? "All right, let me become submissive. Then next?" Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām: "You just try to understand, just try to hear the message of God."

Lecture on BG 9.7-10 -- New York, November 25, 1966:

Here, we find in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says, mayādhyakṣeṇa: (BG 9.10) "Under My superintendence." So we have to accept it. Unless you prove that anything, any material happenings, can take place without a spiritual brain behind it... Then you can say, "Oh, there is no God. There is no God. There is no brain." But you cannot prove anything wonderful without a brain behind it. How can you say that these wonderful happenings in the material nature is going on without any brain behind it? Because we cannot conceive how much big brain that is, therefore we set aside, dismiss, "Oh, there is brain." Because our brain is tiny, we cannot think of... The same philosophy, frog philosophy. Frog's calculation of Atlantic Ocean. Avan mānasa-gocaraḥ. In the Vedic literature it is said that we cannot describe it by our words. We cannot think of it with our mind. Inconceivable. Inconceivable. Because it is inconceivable, therefore we say it is void. No, this is not void. The ultimate cause cannot be void. How it can be void? Do you think from void something comes out? Do you think your body has come from something void? No. Behind this body is your father, your mother. How can you say that everything has come out of void. This is all, I mean to say, less intelligence. Whoever says like that, they are called asuras or less intelligent. Less intelligent persons, they become asuras because they cannot calculate. They cannot think of. Their brain does not provide provision to think of all these things, a dull brain.

Lecture on BG 13.17 -- Bombay, October 11, 1973:
Even God fully represented in every atom, still, He is pūrṇa. That is... One minus one equal to one. And one plus one equal to one. That is Absolute idea. But we calculate from materialistic point of view. As we with our tiny brain, we think like that. Therefore Jīva Gosvāmī says, "Unless you accept inconceivable power of the Supreme Lord, you cannot understand God. That is not possible." If your compare with your conceivable power, that "God may be like this..." That Dr. Frog's calculation of the Atlantic Ocean. That story you know, frog, frog philosophy. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. A frog lives within the well, and he's calculating the length and breadth of the Atlantic Ocean. How it is possible? It is not possible. So we are the frogs in the well. We have got limited capacity to understand. Our senses are limited. We are thinking Kṛṣṇa, or God, also, He is also limited. This is our fault. This is called poor fund of knowledge. You cannot compare with God. But the Māyāvādī philosophers speculate like that and spoil their own time as spoils others'. But that is not possible.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Los Angeles, August 28, 1972:

So, Kṛṣṇa is adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means beyond our sense perception. Therefore we have to know Kṛṣṇa from Kṛṣṇa, not by our speculation. Kṛṣṇa may... That is frog philosophy. Frog philosophy. He's simply calculating with reference to his teeny well, three feet. So if we want to speculate, what experience we have got, what knowledge we have got that we can speculate to understand the supreme, all-pervasive, Supreme Personality of Godhead? That is not possible. Therefore His name is Adhokṣaja. If you want to know Kṛṣṇa, then you have to take to this process of devotional service, rendering service unto Him. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). Bhejire, bhejire, bhaj-dhātu. Bhaja means sevā. So bhejire. You have to take to this devotional service. And Kṛṣṇa also says bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). He doesn't say by knowledge or by work or by yoga, mystic yogic power, one can understand God. No. That is not possible. These are all akṣaja, within the range of our sense perception. But bhakti is not within the range. Bhakti is the transcendental process. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). Jñāna and karma, knowledge and fruitive activities, they are of this material world. And anyābhilāṣitā—they're all of this material world, anyābhilāṣitā, desiring other than Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Hawaii, March 21, 1969:

So this is all expansion. Try to understand how Kṛṣṇa... Because we have got very limited knowledge. Ātmavat manyate jagat. The same Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is calculation in his own way, and he is puzzled how there can be an Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean. Because he has never experienced, he has no idea, he is thinking, "This three feet water expansion, that is very big water." So our folly is that we are trying to study Kṛṣṇa, or God, by our own standard, frog standard. We do not know how great Kṛṣṇa is, how His potency is great, how He is manufacturing, how He is... Because we think, "If we have to manufacture something, I require some tools, I require some energy, I require some ingredients. I have to collect it. Then I can make." Therefore we are surprised, "How Kṛṣṇa can make, or how God can create, this universe? Where is that instrument? Where is that ingredient?" They cannot. They are thinking in that way, that "I require instrument. Kṛṣṇa requires the hammer and the saw to manufacture this comic manifestation." I am thinking in that way. Therefore I cannot believe it, how the cause of this cosmic manifestation can be a person. They are thinking imperson. Impersonal bigness, they think it is very important. Actually, it has no value. Background is person. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭha: "The impersonal Brahman, I am the cause. I am the source of impersonal Brahman."

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

These are inconceivable energies. And foolish rascals, they claim that "I am God." You see. God is not so cheap. One must know the science of God, how great is God. We cannot calculate. Those who cheaply take God, "God might be like me, you," just frog philosophy. The same frog philosophy. The frog is calculating the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean, keeping itself in the well. You see. So similarly, these rascals, they are frogs in the well, and they are calculating the estimation of the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean and claiming themselves as God.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968:

We are publishing one article, "Dr. Frog." Dr. Frog means... Perhaps you know, everyone. The frog lives in a well. That is only a few feet. And one, another frog, he's giving information to his friend in the well, "My dear friend, I have seen a vast water, Atlantic Ocean." But this frog has never seen Atlantic Ocean. He's calculating, "It may be so much big. It may be so much big. It may be so much big." So how this infinity can be calculated by the frog? So those who are calculating infiniteness of this tiny soul, they're all Dr. Frogs. You are not infinite. You are finite. How you can be infinite? You can be infinite only when you dovetail yourself with the infinite. Individually you are finite. That is the position, real position. In the Bhagavad-gītā in the Fifteenth Chapter... You have read Bhagavad-gītā? So did you not read this verse in the Fifteenth Chapter, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ jīva-loka sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7)? Have you read this? That "These living entities, they're My parts and parcels, fragmental parts." So you are... God is infinite. You are infinitesimal part and parcel. So how you can be infinite?

Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969:

So we teach all these things to our students who are going to be Kṛṣṇa conscious (reading:) "ISKCON members talk about serenity, tranquillity and bliss." That is already explained. If I am trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then I am a sane man. I am not a madman because I know what is my position, what is God, what are other living entities, what is this world, what is this material nature, what is this time, what are these activities. This knowledge is in full because Kṛṣṇa consciousness teaches all these things, what is God, what you are, and then what is this nature, beyond the nature, what other things are there. Those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they do not know. They are frogs of the well, simply calculating, "This three feet, water, space, is my habitation." And when he's given information of the Atlantic Ocean, he does not believe. "Oh, there is Atlantic Ocean? What is that nonsense?" "Oh, it is very, very big," somebody says. He's simply calculating his well water. "Oh, it may be four foot?" "No, very big." "All right, ten feet? How...?" He's calculating, this. These materialistic scientists, they are simply speculating like the frog in the well. They do not know; neither they have means. But a Kṛṣṇa conscious person knows. He gets information from Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture Excerpt -- New York, April 12, 1969:

Even you don't take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, don't be misled by cheap Gods. That is our request. God is great, and try to understand how great He is. That description you'll get in Vedic literature sufficiently, how great He is. Don't be satisfied simply by understanding that God is great. That's nice, but as far as possible try to understand how great He is. Then you will not accept any cheap God. Otherwise you'll simply speculate on frog philosophy. You know that frog philosophy? He's calculating the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean from the small well. Somebody's saying there is Atlantic Ocean, very great, and the frog has never seen the Atlantic Ocean. He is always in the well. He says, "How great? It is three feet? It may be ten feet?" "No, sir, it is very great." "All right. Hundred feet." "No, it is very great." "All right. Thousand feet." So go on. Where is the comparison of Atlantic Ocean within the well? (chuckling) So these rascals are calculating, speculating about God, how great He is by three feet, six feet, or ten feet, or hundred feet, thousand feet, like that. But He is greater than all your calculation, all your measurement. Avāṅ-mānasa-gocaraḥ. You cannot calculate how He's great. Simply you accept His greatness and surrender. That's your business. You just calculate yourself. Your infinitesimal identity is very small. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadha kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). Just divide the tip of your hair (in) ten thousand parts, and that one part is your identification, spiritual measurement.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:
Prabhupāda: So in this, on this platform, mostly the philosopher, scientist, they are Dr. Frogs. So their calculation is not correct. So whatever they cannot calculate, they take it as myth, imagination, that just a foreign. Even for ordinary human being to think of Brahmā's duration of life, huh, forty-three hundred thousand multiplied by one thousand, and that becomes twelve hours of Brahmā, because it is beyond your calculation, he thinks it imaginary. So unless one has got thorough knowledge of the whole universe, so for him it is imaginary. But it..., one man's imaginary may be a fact to the other man. It depends on the knowledge. So unfortunately, the so-called scientists, philosophers on this planet, they are thinking in their own terms and they are taking it final. So they must think other things as mythological, imaginary. But actually that is not the fact.

Hayagrīva: Dewey was an American writing in the early part of the twentieth century, and he writes, "Logic demands that in imagination we wipe the slate clean and start afresh by asking what would be the idea of the unseen." In other words, he feels that it's time to set aside the orthodox, what he calls superstitious religions, and create a new religion. In other words, we must define God and religion anew.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:
Prabhupāda: Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). That is Vaiṣṇava. Even if you are sinful... For a married woman who goes to another man, it is sinful, but because they are going to Kṛṣṇa, so Kṛṣṇa makes them pure, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. Therefore the transgression, according to the, if you are sinful, becomes purified in touch with Kṛṣṇa. As the example is very nice, (indistinct). Yan-nāma-śruti-mātreṇa pumān bhavati nirmalaḥ: simply by chanting Kṛṣṇa's name one becomes purified. How the gopīs can remain impure, in touch with Kṛṣṇa? Simply in touch with His holy name one becomes pure, and they are directly in touch with Kṛṣṇa, how they can be impure? So one who does not know the science of Kṛṣṇa, they say like that, "Oh, why (indistinct)?" They want to give direction to God. They think that God should be under their rules and regulations; therefore they dare to question Kṛṣṇa's activities. Kṛṣṇa therefore says in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Whatever He does, that is transcendental, but one must know tattvataḥ, in truth. And as soon as he knows it, he becomes liberated. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). So one should know Kṛṣṇa in truth, not superficially, and comparing oneself to Kṛṣṇa. No, Kṛṣṇa is... "He (is) a man like me, maybe little wiser, that's all." Dr. Frog calculation. Atlantic Ocean from the well, three-feet well. You see.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London:

David Lawrence: Yes, I must admit I was amazed at that reference, reading that yesterday.

Prabhupāda: That frog philosophy is going on. Dr. Frog. He's simply calculating the well, that's all. How there can be Atlantic Ocean? That is frog philosophy. You know frog philosophy? Yes?

David Lawrence: Yes.

Prabhupāda: You know? I don't think you know. Who can explain what is that frog philosophy?

Śyāmasundara: Frog philosophy is trying to imagine the size of the Atlantic Ocean never having left my well.

Morning Walk -- December 16, 1973, Los Angeles:

Viśvareta: Scientists, they have their mental process, but what is our process to understand this knowledge?

Prabhupāda: Ascending. Ah, descending, not ascending. We have to take knowledge from superior. We should not try ourself to know. That will be imperfect. Avaroha-patha. Just like we're receiving knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. We are not researching. Those who are researching, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. They understand Kṛṣṇa as ordinary human being, maybe little learned. That's all. The Dr. Frog's calculation of Atlantic Ocean. That's all. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ (BG 9.11). (break) ...automatically. You see? But he does not know that behind this automation there is brain. He'll see, "Oh, how nice." That's all. Similarly, child-like scientist, they will say, "Everything is going on automatically." (break) ...but there is brain behind that.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 6, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Who says? The fools say. There are consciousness. There are so many birds flying from one planet...

Hṛdayānanda: Higher up.

Prabhupāda: Higher means it is higher for you because you are so dwarf. You are so dwarfed, you'll find that this tree is very big tree. You see? A small dwarf man, a pigmy, he'll say, "Oh, it is a big tree." So it is all relative. What is called? Relative world? Higher and lower, this is all relativity. You are so low that you see a tiny thing very high. It is due to your lowerness. Where there is no tree, these trees will be considered: "Oh, very high tree." So your scientists and your appreciator, all, they are like tiny dwarfs. What do they know about the universal affair? That is their fault. They are so small... That, the same example, Dr. Frog, calculating Atlantic Ocean. This is the fault. They do not consider their position. Just like there are thousands of ants. We can immediately kill them. And they are thinking they are very big, the ants, that "We are very busy. We are very big." So these rascals' position is like that. If the devatās in higher planets like, all the population of this material, this earth, they can kill like this-finish. Just like we can kill the ants.

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

Prabhupāda: Just suppose here are stones, there are pearls. You cannot imagine.

Hari-śauri: Lying on the roadside. (break)

Prabhupāda: ...Western scientists, philosophers, they are all Dr. Frogs. They simply calculating three feet water, that's all. As soon as you speak to them about Atlantic Ocean, they say, "Oh, it is impossible." Froggish brain. (break) ...word has come, kūpa-māṇḍūkya-nyāya, the frog in the well.

Hari-śauri: Prabhupāda, is that example also given in the Bhāgavatam? Frog in the well? Sometimes you use all these different examples, and they are all there in the Bhāgavatam. I was just wondering if this frog in the well was also there.

Prabhupāda: No.

Page Title:Frog's calculation
Compiler:Sahadeva, Serene
Created:06 of May, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=2, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=12, Con=4, Let=0
No. of Quotes:18