Just like an unconscious man is without any consciousness, but he has got the life—the soul is there—similarly, in the other species of life, although the soul is there, it is not . . . the soul is not speaking. The outward, the influence of the soul . . .
(aside) What is this?
That means the soul is not manifested there fully. Labdhvā sudurlabham (SB 11.9.29). That is being manifested from aquatic life to plant life, then in insect life, then bird's life, then beast's life, at last human life. Out of human life, there are civilized life, uncivilized life. And out of the civilized life, there are atheists and theists, and those who are actually developed conscious. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The consciousness is developing from the lowest status of living condition, aquatic, then plants, trees, then insects, flying insects, then birds, then four-legged beasts, so many, then two hands, two legs, gorilla.
Similarly, human, uncivilized, then civilized, Āryans, then our Vedic knowledge. In this way consciousness is increasing. That is the real evolutionary theory. Darwin has simply taken some imaginative . . . he might have taken from Padma-Purāṇa.
In Padma-Purāṇa these are very nicely explained, how many species of life are there. They have given account, "So many species in water." Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "Nine hundred thousand species in water." Sthavarā lakṣa-viṁśati: "Trees and plants, there are two millions." Exact number.
Now, if you are scientist, if you are botanist, if you are physiologist, you can try it and see. But these are already there. Mānuṣāḥ catur-lakṣāṇi: "The human species, there are also 400,000's." So out of this, the Āryan family, the civilized man, the Āryan families are understood to be the highest civilized