Material science

Expressions researched:
"material science" |"material sciences" |"materialist science" |"materialistic science"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 7.4, Purport:

In the material energy, the principal manifestations are eight, as above mentioned. Out of these, the first five manifestations, namely earth, water, fire, air and sky, are called the five gigantic creations or the gross creations, within which the five sense objects are included. They are the manifestations of physical sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Material science comprises these ten items and nothing more. But the other three items, namely mind, intelligence and false ego, are neglected by the materialists.

SB Preface and Introduction

SB Preface:

Disparity in human society is due to lack of principles in a godless civilization. There is God, or the Almighty One, from whom everything emanates, by whom everything is maintained and in whom everything is merged to rest. Material science has tried to find the ultimate source of creation very insufficiently, but it is a fact that there is one ultimate source of everything that be. This ultimate source is explained rationally and authoritatively in the beautiful Bhāgavatam, or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.3.22, Purport:

Sometimes great demons and atheists like Rāvaṇa and Hiraṇyakaśipu and many others become very famous due to advancing material civilization by the help of material science and other activities with a spirit of challenging the established order of the Lord.

SB 1.7.27, Purport:

The subtle science of chanting hymns is also material, but it has yet to be known by the modern material scientists. Subtle material science is not spiritual, but it has a direct relationship with the spiritual method, which is still subtler.

SB 1.7.37, Purport:

He who gives permission, he who kills the animal, he who sells the slaughtered animal, he who cooks the animal, he who administers distribution of the foodstuff, and at last he who eats such cooked animal food are all murderers, and all of them are liable to be punished by the laws of nature. No one can create a living being despite all advancement of material science, and therefore no one has the right to kill a living being by one's independent whims.

SB 1.10.25, Purport:

The material world is created to satisfy the whims of the nitya-baddha, or everlasting conditioned souls, just as naughty boys are provided with playing cradles. Otherwise, there was no need of the material world. But when they become intoxicated with the power of material science to exploit the resources unlawfully without the sanction of the Lord, and that also only for sense gratification, there is necessity of the Lord's incarnation to chastise the rebellious and to protect the faithful.

SB 1.11.34, Purport:

Those who are very materialistic, always hankering after material power and strength, are undoubtedly fools of the first order because they have no information of the living energy, and being ignorant of that supreme spiritual science, they are absorbed in material science, which ends with the end of the material body.

SB 1.14.10, Purport:

Material advancement of civilization means advancement of the reactions of the threefold miseries due to celestial influence, earthly reactions and bodily or mental pains. By the celestial influence of the stars there are many calamities like excessive heat, cold, rains or no rains, and the aftereffects are famine, disease and epidemic. The aggregate result is agony of the body and the mind. Man-made material science cannot do anything to counteract these threefold miseries. They are all punishments from the superior energy of māyā under the direction of the Supreme Lord.

SB 1.18.6, Purport:

In modernized human society there are great advancements of material science, and they have invented the radio to distribute sound in the air. So instead of vibrating some nuisance sound for sense enjoyment, if the state arranges to distribute transcendental sound by resounding the holy name, fame and activities of the Lord, as they are authorized in the Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then a favorable condition will be created, the principles of religion in the world will be reestablished, and thus the executive heads, who are so anxious to drive away corruption from the world, will be successful.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.1.4, Purport:

No one will survive in this struggle with material nature. The history of human society definitely proves it, yet the foolish people still suggest that in the future they will be able to live perpetually, with the help of material science. This poor fund of knowledge exhibited by human society is certainly misleading, and it is all due to ignoring the constitution of the living soul.

SB 2.2.3, Purport:

The buildings, furniture, cars, bungalows, mills, factories, industries, peace, war or even the highest perfection of material science, namely atomic energy and electronics, are all simply bewildering names of material elements with their concomitant reactions of the three modes.

SB 2.2.19, Purport:

Material desires are based on the false ego of the living being and are exhibited by his childish and useless activities to conquer the laws of material nature and by his desire to lord it over the resources of the five elements. With such a mentality, one is led to believe in the strength of material science, with its discovery of atomic energy and space travel by mechanical vehicles, and by such tiny advancements in material science the false egoist tries to challenge even the strength of the Supreme Lord, who can finish all man's tiny endeavors in less than a second.

SB 2.2.26, Purport:

In the creation of the Lord there are many wonderful things we can see with our own eyes every day and night, but we are unable to reach them equipped by modern materialistic science. We should not, therefore, depend on the fragmentary authority of materialistic science for knowing things beyond the range of scientific purview. For a common man, both modern science and Vedic wisdom are simply to be accepted because none of the statements either of modern science or of Vedic literature can be verified by him. The alternative for a common man is to believe either of them or both of them. The Vedic way of understanding, however, is more authentic because it has been accepted by the ācāryas, who are not only faithful and learned men, but are also liberated souls without any of the flaws of conditioned souls. The modern scientists, however, are conditioned souls liable to so many errors and mistakes; therefore the safe side is to accept the authentic version of Vedic literatures, like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is accepted unanimously by the great ācāryas.

SB 2.3.2-7, Purport:

No one wants to change his birthright, no one wants to meet death, no one wants to be old or invalid, and no one wants diseases. But these problems are solved neither by the grace of any demigod nor by the so-called advancement of material science.

SB 2.3.11, Purport:

The worshipers of the demigods have one facility more than the unbelievers due to their being convinced of the Vedic version, by which they can get information of the benefit of worshiping the Supreme Lord in the association of the devotees of the Lord. The gross materialist, however, without any faith in the Vedic version, remains eternally in darkness, driven by a false conviction on the basis of imperfect experimental knowledge, or so-called material science, which can never reach into the realm of transcendental knowledge.

SB 2.3.18, Purport:

The modern man wants to live forever by the advancement of material science, and there are many foolish theories for prolonging life to the maximum duration. But the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam affirms that life is not meant for so-called economic development or advancement of materialistic science for the hedonistic philosophy of eating, mating, drinking and merrymaking. Life is solely meant for tapasya, for purifying existence so that one may enter into eternal life just after the end of the human form of life.

SB 2.3.21, Purport:

A foolish, puffed-up man defies the science of God and says that God has no meaning for him, but when he is in the grip of God's law and is caught by some disease like cerebral thrombosis, that godless man sinks into the ocean of nescience by the weight of his material acquisition. Advancement of material science without God consciousness is a heavy load on the head of human society, and so one must take heed of this great warning.

SB 2.6.26, Purport:

Fruitive action is being carried on by the help of material science and to a little extent by gross material help, but the materialists await a still more subtle advancement in the process of vibrating sounds on which the Vedic hymns are established. Gross material science cannot divert the real purpose of human life.

SB 2.6.34, Purport:

Anyone, therefore, who is earnestly serious in heart and soul about being in intimate touch with the Personality of Godhead in the relationship of transcendental loving service will always be infallible in words and action. The reason is that the Supreme Lord is Absolute Truth, and anything earnestly dovetailed with the Absolute Truth attains the same transcendental quality. On the other hand, any amount of mental speculation on the strength of material science and knowledge without any bona fide touch with the Absolute Truth is sure to be a mundane untruth and failure, simply due to not being in touch with the Absolute Truth.

SB 2.9.35, Purport:

The vision of the devotees is not ordinary; it is purified by the process of devotional service. In other words, as the universal elements are both within and without, similarly the Lord's name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage, etc., as they are described in the revealed scriptures or as performed in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, far, far beyond the material cosmic manifestation, are factually being televised in the heart of the devotee. The man with a poor fund of knowledge cannot understand, although by material science one can see things far away by means of television. Factually, the spiritually developed person is able to have the television of the kingdom of God always reflected within his heart. That is the mystery of knowledge of the Personality of Godhead.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.5.26, Purport:

When the cosmic creation is manifested, the living entities are directly supplied from the Lord; they are never products of material nature. Thus, no scientific advancement of material science can ever produce a living being. That is the whole mystery of the material creation.

SB 3.21.21, Purport:

When one obtains real knowledge, he becomes theoretically one with the Supreme, and when he actually begins the service of Brahman, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is not only liberated but situated in his spiritual life. Similarly, for those who want to lord it over material nature, there are so many departments of material enjoyment; material knowledge and material science are available, and the Lord provides for persons who want to enjoy them.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.11.23, Purport:

The material scientist can simply study the partial understanding of the varieties of energies; he can take up one of the energies and try to understand it with limited knowledge, but still it is not possible to understand the Absolute Truth in full by dint of material science. No material scientist can foretell what is going to happen in the future.

SB 4.20.26, Purport:

History reports that the Americans and Europeans proved their capability when they were anxious to expand colonization, but at the present time, being contaminated by the advancement of material science, their sons and grandsons are turning into reprobates.

SB 4.21.34, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead's deep scientific knowledge is concentrated to the supreme point. For example, medical science knows some things superficially, but doctors do not know exactly how things happen in the body. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, knows everything in detail. Therefore His knowledge is vijñāna-ghana because it does not have any of the defects of material science.

SB 4.27.27, Purport:

Under illusion people think that material opulence will save them, but although there has been much advancement in material science, the problems of human society—birth, death, old age and disease—are still unsolved.

SB Canto 9

SB 9.3.11, Purport:

In every department of material science, there is a perfection to be achieved, and to achieve it one must consult the Vedic literature. The highest perfection is to become a devotee of the Lord. To attain this perfection, one must consult Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is understood to be the ripe fruit of the Vedic desire tree (nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam (SB 1.1.3)).

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.91, Purport:

One German scholar who became a devotee of Godhead in India said that material science had already made laudable progress in duplicating the mystic powers of the yogīs. He therefore came to India not to learn the methods of the yogīs' mystic powers but to learn the path of transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord, as mentioned in the great scripture Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

CC Adi 1.91, Purport:

Mystic powers can make a yogī materially powerful and thus give temporary relief from the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease, as other material sciences can also do, but such mystic powers can never be a permanent source of relief from these miseries.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 1:

Aṇimā-siddhi refers to the power by which one can become so small that he can enter into a stone. Modern scientific improvements also enable us to enter into stone, because they provide for excavating so many subways, penetrating the hills, etc. So aṇimā-siddhi, the mystic perfection of trying to enter into stone, has also been achieved by material science.

Easy Journey to Other Planets

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

The perfection of love of God by a devotee actually situates him on the spiritual platform, even though he may still maintain a gross material body. He becomes like a red-hot iron which, when in contact with fire, actually ceases to be iron and acts like fire. These things are made possible by the Lord's inscrutable and inconceivable energy, which material science has not the scope to calculate.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

Emperor Ambarīṣa adopted all the above nine items, and he attained perfect success. It was he who engaged his mind on the lotus feet of the Lord, his voice in describing the spiritual world, his hands in cleansing the temple of the Lord, his ears in submissively hearing the words of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, his eyes in viewing the Deities of the Lord, his body in touching the bodies of the devotees, his nostrils in smelling the flowers offered to the Lord, his tongue in tasting the food offered to the Lord, his legs in visiting the temple of the Lord, and all the energy of his life in executing the services of the Lord without in the least desiring his own sense gratification. All these activities helped him attain the perfect stage of life which defeats all dexterities of material science.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

Bhakti-yoga is the eternal religion of man. At a time when material science predominates all subjects—including the tenets of religion—it would be enlivening to see the principles of the eternal religion of man from the viewpoint of the modern scientist.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

Materialistic science may one day finally discover the eternal anti-material world which has for so long been unknown to the wranglers of gross materialism. Regarding the scientists' present conception of antimatter, the Times of India (Oct. 27, 1959) published the following news release:

Stockholm, Oct. 26, 1959-Two American atomic scientists were awarded the 1959 Nobel Physics Prize today for the discovery of the antiproton, proving that matter exists in two forms—as particles and antiparticles. They are Italian—born Dr. Emillo Segre, 69, and Dr. Owen Chamberlain, born in San Francisco.... According to one of the fundamental assumptions of the new theory, there may exist another world, or an anti-world, built up of antimatter. This anti-material world would consist of atomic and subatomic particles spinning in reverse orbits to those of the world we know. If these two worlds should ever clash, they would both be annihilated in one blinding flash.

Easy Journey to Other Planets 1:

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. Master yogīs who control the anti-material particle within the material body by practice of mystic powers can give up their material bodies at will at a certain opportune moment and can thus enter the anti-material worlds through a specific thoroughfare which connects the material and anti-material worlds.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 87:

Śrī Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung that persons who do not take to the devotional service of the Lord but are attracted to the process of philosophical speculation and fruitive activities drink the poisonous results of such actions. Such persons eat all kinds of obnoxious things, such as meat, and take pleasure in alcohol and other intoxicants, and after death they are forced to take birth in lower species of life. Materialistic persons generally worship the transient material body and forget the welfare of the spirit soul within the body. Some take shelter of materialistic science to improve bodily comforts, and some take to the worship of demigods to be promoted to the heavenly planets. Their goal in life is to make the material body comfortable, but they forget the interest of the spirit soul. Such persons are described in the Vedic literature as suicidal, because attachment for the material body and its comforts forces the living entity to wander through the process of birth and death perpetually and suffer the material pangs as a matter of course. The human form of life is a chance for one to understand his position. Therefore the most intelligent person takes to devotional service just to engage his mind, senses and body in the service of the Lord without deviation.

Krsna Book 88:

Since this material world is a product of the three qualities of material nature, all varieties of manifestations come from those three qualities. With the aid of materialistic science, modern civilization has created many machines and comforts, yet they are only varieties of the interactions of the three material qualities. Although the devotees of Lord Śiva are able to obtain many material acquisitions, we should know that such devotees are simply collecting products manufactured by the three qualities. The three qualities are again subdivided into sixteen, namely the ten senses (five working senses and five knowledge-acquiring senses), the mind, and the five elements (earth, water, air, fire and sky). These sixteen items are extensions of the three qualities. Material happiness or opulence means gratification of the senses, especially the genitals, the tongue and the mind. By exercising our minds we create many pleasurable things just for enjoyment by the genitals and the tongue. The opulence of a person within this material world is estimated in terms of his exercise of the genitals and the tongue, or, in other words, how well he is able to utilize his sexual capacities and how well he is able to satisfy his fastidious taste by eating palatable dishes. Material advancement of civilization necessitates creating objects of enjoyment by mental concoction just to become happy on the basis of these two principles: pleasures for the genitals and pleasures for the tongue.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.4:

In other countries, especially in the Occident, tremendous progress has been a made in the various fields of material science—but it is all based on the material mind and body, which are creations of māyā, the illusory potency.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.10:

Alas! If only a devotee of the Lord had been present there, the villagers' devotion would not have been molested. The neophyte devotees' tender devotion is always susceptible to damage. But bread, after all, does came from God, and not from the atheists. If those villagers had been more conversant with the scriptures, the atheists would never have been successful in their evil plan. The simple villagers were illiterate, and hence they had no idea that the Supreme Lord alone can give them food. If the earth did not produce grain, then the atheists, despite their advanced material science, could never make bread or other foods.

Message of Godhead

Message of Godhead 1:

This kṣetrajña is the living spirit, whereas the kṣetra is the material which is lorded over. Physics, chemistry, astronomy, pharmacology, economics, sexology, and other material sciences deal with the materials of kṣetra. But the science that deals with spiritual existence—pertaining to kṣetrajña—is called transcendental knowledge.

Message of Godhead 1:

That this minute living spark, the spirit, is not a material thing is proved by the fact that no material scientist has ever been able to create the living spark by any combination or quantity of material substances. Experienced material scientists have been obliged to accept the fact that the living spark cannot be duplicated by material science.

Message of Godhead 1:

There is much advancement of material science all over the world, but regrettably, these advanced scientists have made no attempt to understand the living spark, the spirit, which is always the most important subject. This is our gross ignorance. This is our helplessness.

Message of Godhead 2:

Factually, also, in no country other than India have the great sages endeavored so much for the realization of the spirit self. It is admitted that in the Western countries the people have done their best to advance in the culture of material science, centered on the material body and mind.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 11, Purport:

The law of nature, however, does not allow anyone immunity from old age, disease or death. Nor has the advancement of material knowledge solved these problems. Material science can discover the nuclear bomb to accelerate the process of death, but it cannot discover anything that can protect man from the cruel hands of old age, disease and death.

Sri Isopanisad 14, Purport:

By its so-called advancement of knowledge, human civilization has created many material things, including spaceships and atomic energy. Yet it has failed to create a situation in which people need not die, take birth again, become old or suffer from disease. Whenever an intelligent man raises the question of these miseries before a so-called scientist, the scientist very cleverly replies that material science is progressing and that ultimately it will be possible to render man deathless, ageless and diseaseless.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :

That is the instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, that this science of Bhagavad-gītā has to be accepted by disciplic succession. That is the way of accepting any scientific thing. Just like even in material science, suppose if you have to become medical practitioner or a lawyer. So you have to study the law books by the previous lawyers, by the judgments of the courts.

Lecture on BG 1.20 -- London, July 17, 1973:

Bhakti, the whole devotional service program, means hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam. So Arjuna was meant for serving Kṛṣṇa, because he is bhakta. Kṛṣṇa has already addressed him, bhakto 'si, priyo 'si, rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam: (BG 4.3) "My dear Arjuna, I am speaking to you the mystery of Bhagavad-gītā." It is a mystery. Mystery means very complicated; no ordinary man can understand. Therefore it is called mystery, rahasyam. But not ordinary rahasyam, uttamam. Uttamam means transcendental, not covered with darkness of material science. But it is brilliant, daivam, divyam. Rahasyam.

Lecture on BG 1.24-25 -- London, July 20, 1973:

People are searching after God. But actually there is the planet where God lives, Kṛṣṇa lives. But you have got your machine, aeroplane, sputnik. You can reach there, but you cannot reach even the highest planet, even on this material planet, material universe. Everyone sees. We see the stars or planets. Now you have got the machine; you go there. No. You cannot go. You are so limited. Even you cannot go to the moon planet, which is so nearest. You cannot go. But still, we are proud of our these airplanes, sputniks. We are thinking, "Now we have become God." These rascals they do not know what is God. They are all rascals. They have no idea what is God. Therefore they have accepted another rascal as God. This is going on. You cannot reach. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām, so 'pyasti yat prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve (Bs. 5.34). Śāstra gives you. Just like your material science also gives you information that there is one planet, highest planet, and one can go there by sputnik in forty thousands of years. So who is going to live forty thousand years to reach there? But they have got theoretically all these things. The highest planet. Material. That is not spiritual.

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

So those who are not in knowledge of the spirit soul, they are very irresponsibly prolonging his life in material activities. Material science could not find out the spirit soul within the body because the magnitude, the dimension of the spirit soul, is very, very small.

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

Bālāgra means the tip of your hair. Divide into ten thousand parts. That one part is the dimension of the soul. That is there within the body. So material science has no such instrument or perfection of study that they can see such a small particle. Therefore these foolish people say there is no soul, but the practical application—the soul is there; therefore the consciousness is there; therefore the body is working in order. The soul is minus, the consciousness is minus—this body is a lump of matter.

Lecture on BG 2.18 -- London, August 24, 1973:

You can simply understand by consciousness. Just like when Caitanya Mahāprabhu fainted in the Jagannātha temple, Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya examined that there was no consciousness. Even the abdomen was not moving. When you actually you have consciousness and you breathe, the abdomen moves. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu's abdomen was tested by Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. It was also not moving. So he thought that "This sannyāsī might have died." But he again tried. He brought a little cotton swab and put before His nostril, and when he saw the swab, the fibers little moving, then he became hopeful, yes. So everything has got a different type of calculation, measurement. But so far the soul is concerned, it is said here, aprameyasya, there is no source of measurement. There is no source. Therefore, the so-called materialist science, they say there is no soul. No, there is soul. This is the proof there is soul. This is the proof. What is that proof? First of all there is consciousness. This is the proof. But you cannot measure. The place is also located. The soul is there in the heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61).

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

You can spoil your energy for making this material world very comfortable or you may live for some years very comfortably, but cruel death will come and snatch from comfortable position and put you into another position which is beyond your control. You cannot say that "I have made my position very secure. I am very comfortable with great endeavor by advancement of economic development, by advancement of material science. Let me remain here. I am very happy." The time will say, "No, that will not be allowed. You must leave immediately, immediately, without delay."

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

But what is there within the sun planet, nobody has explained so far material science is concerned, but from Vedic literature we have got information of the sun planet also, that there is a supreme deity which is known as the sun-god, and all the inhabitants there, they have got their body of fire, and the whole planet is fiery. That is also material. There is no reason to disbelieve it because the whole material word is composed of five elements, that inferior nature: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, ego, intelligence. So you will find different planets also. Some planet is predominated with earth; some planet is predominated with water; some planet with fire, just like this. So the sun planet is predominated with fire. Fire is also matter. It is also material.

Lecture on BG 4.34 -- Questions & Answers -- August 14, 1968, New York:

Brahman and Supersoul, we have been discussing this morning... Perhaps just we began the verse and you have forgot. Just like myself, I am soul, the spiritual soul. My place is within this heart. Now, in the medical science, they have found it that the heart is the center of all vitality of this body. Modern materialistic science they have found that whatever we are eating, it is going to the stomach and it is being transformed into various types of secretions, and the important secretion is coming to the heart and it is becoming red by coming to the heart. Then again from the heart there are many veins; it is being distributed to different parts of the body. So... But they could not found that where is the point wherefrom this vitality is coming. Wherefrom this vitality is coming? They could not find it. They have localized that here is the source of all energy.

Lecture on BG 4.34-38 -- New York, August 17, 1966:

We are put into such a condition that however scientifically we may try to keep an youthfulness by so many medicines, injection, and so many things which we have, I mean to say, invented by our advancement material science, but death is sure. This body... Antavanta ime dehāḥ. The body must be finished.

Lecture on BG 4.37-40 -- New York, August 21, 1966:

In the Siddhaloka planet there are also living entities or human being like us. But they are so powerful that, without any help of airplane or without any help of sputnik, they can travel from one planet to another. We have got this information. So our... When we are free from this material bondage, we have no information how much powerful we are. We are satisfied here by manufacturing something, sputnik, that we are very much satisfied that we have advanced so much in material science without knowing that without any help of this sputnik and aeroplane, I can travel all planets. That potency I have got.

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

Now, people think, think that they have made very much advance in the material science. Well, actually, if we scrutinizingly study how much advancement they have made, then we can know that practically we have been more illusioned than we have made advancement.

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

Now, seven hundred years before, people were dying. Death was there. So has the advancement of material science during the seven hundred years, has stopped death? No. That is not possible. People were suffering from diseases seven hundred years before. Then has the material science so much advanced, stopped diseases? No. People were embarrassed with increase of population. Has that been stopped? No. People were embarrassed with so many death rate. Has that been stopped? No. That is now... Now, seven hundred years before, the sun was rising on the eastern side. Has the material science stopped the sun rising on the eastern side? Has it gone to the western side? No. Then what is this advancement? Simply defying the existence of God, is that the advancement of knowledge?

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

We are embarrassed with the material miseries of life. That has not been solved. The major questions have been set aside. Simply by thinking that "There is no God. We are God. Science is everything," oh, do you think that is advancement of knowledge? No. So therefore ajñānena āvṛtaṁ jñānam. This is, this sort of advancement of knowledge in the material science is also another type of ignorance.

Lecture on BG 5.14-22 -- New York, August 28, 1966:

So jñānena, by spiritual advancement of knowledge, when you are advancing in spiritual advancement of knowledge, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our, this ajñāna, or ignorance, that "I am the product of this material world," and therefore identifying myself with this body extensively and, I mean to say, centrally also... When we are not so much advanced in the material science we think extensively for other also to be in that category of knowledge. So jñānena tu ajñānaṁ yeṣāṁ nāśitam ātmanaḥ. Any person who has advanced in the spiritual knowledge, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then his, that covering of material knowledge is dissipated.

Lecture on BG 5.22-29 -- New York, August 31, 1966:

Now, this tape recorder is advancement now of material science. We should think, "Oh, this is the property of Kṛṣṇa." Let it be utilized in the propaganda work for Kṛṣṇa's service. That is proper utilization.

Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:

This material life means sense gratification. That's all. The sum and substance of materialistic life means sense gratification. Therefore advancement of material science means giving you products for your sense gratification. Unnecessarily, so many things are produced just to satisfy my senses. That is the material advancement.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1968:

You have to make your mind attached to something. But if you make your mind attached to something nonsense, then the same thing, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), birth, death, old age, disease. You have to suffer. You have to suffer. Your science, your material science, or nothing... No. Nobody can make any solution of these sufferings. But if you want real solution, permanent solution, permanent life, then you become attached to Kṛṣṇa. Simple method.

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

Prakṛti means energy. So, because we are in the material world, our material science is simply studying the material energy of Kṛṣṇa. Physical, chemical, light, sound, these are the subject matter of the scientists to understand. But they do not know wherefrom these material elements come.

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

The material energy is coming through the breathing of Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is lying down in the Kāraṇa, Causal Ocean. So, from the breathing there is sound. From the ether, the sound comes—this is scientific—and from the sound, the air comes, the fire comes, then water comes, then the earth comes. The earth is the last, gross element in the material science.

Lecture on BG 7.14 -- Hamburg, September 8, 1969:

Nobody wants to die, but death comes and captures him, just like President Kennedy, within a second: (snaps his finger) "Leave this position." Forced. Submit. "Yes. What can I do?" No scientific advancement of knowledge. Of course, this is also another science, Kṛṣṇa science. But we understand scientific knowledge, this material scientists, material science. They are also trying. The Russians sometimes say that "Time will come when science will solve the problems of death. Nobody will die." Let them think like that, but it is not possible.

Lecture on BG 7.28-8.6 -- New York, October 23, 1966:

So we materialists, we don't take into consideration that birth, death, disease and old age are the greatest miseries of our life due to our ignorance. But this ignorance has to be removed if one has to become out of these clutches of birth, death, old age and disease. This is not possible to remove by the so-called material science. Material science cannot remove these miseries.

Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:

So Kṛṣṇa says, avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim (BG 8.21). That nonmanifested... Because in the material eyes, material science... It is not possible to, I mean to say, disclose by material science. What is material science? We cannot go even to this moon planet, what to speak of the spiritual planet. It is not possible.

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:

If you want to become free from this inauspicious kind of life, then you should learn the science which Kṛṣṇa is teaching, jñānaṁ vijñāna, not this vijñāna, the so-called materialistic science. You should learn the real science, sa-vijñāna. That is how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, how to become not envious to Kṛṣṇa. This is a great science. We have to learn. And that is spoken in this chapter, Ninth Chapter, the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you become expert in that science, then you become free from this inauspicious science, this material science.

Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Vrndavana, April 17, 1975:

And yaj jñātvā. If you learn this science, yaj jñātvā mokṣyase aśubhāt, the result is you become liberated from this aśubha, inauspicious condition of life, aśubha. What is that inauspicious condition of life? This materialistic life. If you want to get out of this materialistic way... This is aśubha. There is no śubha. People are thinking, "We shall make it śubha." Śubha means auspicious by material adjustment. By having nice car, nice road, skyscraper building and so many machine and bodily comforts which is known as material advancement. But the śāstra says it is all inauspicious, all inauspicious. If you want to become free from this inauspicious kind of life, then you should learn the science which Kṛṣṇa is teaching, jñānaṁ vijñāna, not this vijñāna, the so-called materialistic science. You should learn the real science, sa-vijñāna. That is how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, how to become not envious to Kṛṣṇa. This is a great science. We have to learn. And that is spoken in this chapter, Ninth Chapter, the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you become expert in that science, then you become free from this inauspicious science, this material science. Thank you very much.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, jaḍa vidyā sab māyāra vaibhava. By advance of material science you are simply increasing the paraphernalia of this māyā, illusory energy. Jada-vidyā, māyāra vaibhava, tomāra bhajane bādhā. The more one become materialistic scientist, he, he defies God: "That is not. We, we believe in science, believe in science."

Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Calcutta, March 9, 1972:

Within the sun globe there is sun-god, Vivasvān. He is a person. And there is also other living entities, their, all their bodies are made of fire. Here in the material science, they sterilize. They, they are under the impression that when there is too strong temperature, the microbes die, or when there is too cold, the microbes die. There are two kinds of sterilization: either by increasing the heat or decreasing the heat, below zero. But Bhagavad-gītā, from Bhagavad-gītā we understand, adāhyo 'yam: soul is never killed in fire, neither it is killed by extreme coldness.

Lecture on BG 9.4-7 -- New York, November 24, 1966:

The Lord says that "All the universal planets, they are resting on My energy." The weightlessness energy, according to the modern materialistic science, how it is possible? That weightlessness we cannot manufacture. It is by nature's law, or, of course, modern scientists, they take nature as the Supreme, but Bhagavad-gītā, or the persons who are theistic, they do not take nature as the Supreme. Supreme is the Lord. Behind the nature there is Lord.

Lecture on BG 13.6-7 -- Montreal, October 25, 1968:

So we may be very proud of advancement of knowledge, but actually we are not yet advanced, so far material science is concerned, to understand the basic principle of the moving force which is moving this body, the... On account of the presence of the soul, we have got so much intelligence, we have got so much thoughtful, psychological effect. So many things wonderful they are. But as soon as the soul is not there, everything collapses.

Lecture on BG 13.6-7 -- Montreal, October 25, 1968:

In India, of course, we heard so many news that "In America they have produced life in chemical laboratory." And sometimes they say, "In Russia they are trying." But this is not possible. Nobody has found. And greatest scientists, they have admitted that the problem of life is beyond the scope of material science.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.17 -- San Francisco, March 25, 1967:

Consciousness is the symptom of my real identity. I am pure soul. I am merged within this material body... And the modern material science, they have no stress of it. Therefore they are sometimes misled about this understanding of the spirit soul. But the spirit soul is a fact. And everyone can understand by the presence of consciousness. Any child can understand.

Lecture on SB 1.5.2 -- Los Angeles, January 10, 1968:

There is so much advancement of scientific research, result, economic. Of course, in India there may be poverty-stricken, but in your country, you have got ample, everything ample. But still, a section is confused and frustrated. Why? The same position as Vyāsadeva, who was not satisfied even after producing so many variety of literatures in material science and philosophy and religion and... Everything was complete. So therefore Nārada Muni is asking, "My dear Vyāsadeva, you are great personality, but do you think as long as one is situated in the bodily plane or in the mental plane, does he derive any pleasure?" This is the question.

Lecture on SB 1.7.26 -- Vrndavana, September 2, 1976:

A perfect yogi, simply by catching the beam of sunlight, he can go to the sun planet. He can go to the moon planet. Within a second. That is called yoga-siddhi. But even if you go to the sun planet or moon planet by yoga-siddhi or material science, what is the profit? There is no profit. Kṛṣṇa says, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna: (BG 8.16) "Even if you approach the topmost planet, Brahmaloka, you have to come back again."

Lecture on SB 1.15.35 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1973:

So these rascal scientists they think that because you cannot see, there is no soul. Subtle laws he doesn't know how the soul... Soul is so minute particle: ten-thousand, one ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair. How can your material science can see or understand? Therefore they say "No soul," but the soul is there, and he is being carried.

Lecture on SB 1.15.42 -- Los Angeles, December 20, 1973:

Even for material science, you go to school, college, to learn from the authority. How you can learn about God, about soul, without approaching a proper person who knows it?

Lecture on SB 2.3.1-4 -- Los Angeles, May 24, 1972:

The real problem of life in the material world is to solve the question of birth, death, old age and disease. No one wants to change his birthright, no one wants to meet death, no one wants to be old or invalid, and no one wants diseases. But these problems are solved neither by the grace of any demigod nor by the so-called advancement of material science.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972:

But at that time, Rāvaṇa was able to make a subway from one continent to another, from Asia to Africa. And Brazil, they say, still there are big stock of gold. So Rāvaṇa utilized these gold mines for constructing his city. Svarṇa-laṅkā, "Golden Ceylon," it was known at that time. He was so advanced even in material science, even at that time.

Lecture on SB 2.3.21 -- Los Angeles, June 18, 1972:

A foolish puffed-up man defies the science of God and says that God has no meaning for him, but when is in the grip of God's law and is caught up with some disease like cerebral thrombosis, that godless man sinks into the ocean of nescience by the weight of his material acquisition. Advancement of material science without God consciousness is a heavy load on the head of human society.

Lecture on SB 2.9.2 -- Melbourne, April 4, 1972:

So this jaḍa-vidyā, this material science, expansion of material qualities, so Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says the jaḍa-vidyā, this kind of education, they are simply expansion of material qualities. And they are simply impediments for, to advancement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The more you become technologist and attached to this material world, then more you go far away from Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 3.26.11-14 -- Bombay, December 23, 1974:

So all this material scientific knowledge, they are simply interested with this body. But spiritual knowledge begins when you actually take seriously what Bhagavad-gītā says or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says or what the Vedas says. Vedas says everything, both the material and the spiritual. But for human being we are not only, we should not only be interested with the material science, but we should be interested... That is our main interest. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Material science is going on. But you study or not study, the nature is going on.

Lecture on SB 3.26.11-14 -- Bombay, December 23, 1974:

So we human being, if I study all the science, physics, chemistry, psychology, and other material science, soil expert... Soil expert means studying the earth, that's all. There are so many. So in spite of all these things, if we remain in the darkness of my spiritual identity, then I am no better than the cats and dogs. This is conclusion.

Lecture on SB 3.26.11-14 -- Bombay, December 23, 1974:

So this so-called advancement of material science means that we are kept in the darkness of spiritual knowledge. We are still in the platform of animal concept of life.

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

Become, very big scientist, very big botanist. Similarly, from other point of view, pious activities, you become very noble, a man of charity or tapasya or austerities, penance, so many things in the spiritual line, jñāna, yoga, karma. That's all right. As you deal with material science, you become big mathematician, chemist, physician, or lawyer, or so many, naturalist. Similarly, spiritually, you become karmī, jñānī, yogī. Do that. That is not discouraged. But what for you are trying? Why you are trying to become a chemist or physist or a man of charitable disposition, educationist? Why? If I ask... If anybody asks, "Why you try to become a scientist? What is the aim of your life?" What will be the answer, possible answer? The materialist will say, "For developing civilization." Developing civilization means to, in their view, developing the process of sense gratification. That's all. But śāstra says, "No, not that. That is not the aim.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-8 -- Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

Because this universe, you cannot estimate. You can see the border of the universe, the round sky, but nobody can reach there. There is no such means. The scientists calculate it will take forty thousands of years to reach there by the light year. So they are so much proud of material science. They see the sun, the moon. They cannot go there. Cannot go there. There are so many planets; we see at night. They are actually planets like this planet. But who can go there? You are so limited.

Lecture on SB 5.5.5 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

By pious activities, you can get very nice birth. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrīḥ (SB 1.8.26), four kinds of material gain: to get birth in a very aristocratic family or rich family, janma, aiśvarya, to become very learned scholar, śruta, and śrī, very beautiful. Just like you American people or Western people, you are supposed to be very learned, advanced in material science, also good-looking and richer than other countries, janma aiśvarya, or birth in a very powerful nation or family. This can be accepted—due to your past pious activities.

Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- Los Angeles, June 26, 1975:

Material science also accept that everything in this material world, they are generated by the heat and light of the sun. So as you have got experience, on account of the sunlight the whole universe is going on—you have seen that machine, when that is heated, it is running—so similarly, the real shine is brahmajyoti, brahmajyoti, that impersonal Brahman.

Lecture on SB 7.6.6-9 -- Montreal, June 23, 1968:

Science of God is not sentiment. It is science. It is... Actually it is science, the science of sciences. Every science takes his, what is called, data, from this science. Just the material science begins from the sunshine, but the sunshine is based on this science, God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 7.6.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 28, 1976:

So in the modern age, advancement of material civilization, they also do not care for these siddhis, material siddhis. Just like laghimā. Laghimā-siddhi, the yogis, they become so light that they can float in the air. So nowadays you have got airplane. The yogi can float alone in the air. Now five hundred passengers, they can float in the air. So there is no need of such yoga, yoga-siddhi. The science, the material science of craftsmanship, mechanical, they have done it. Or formerly these things were very magical.

Lecture on SB 7.7.22-26 -- San Francisco, March 10, 1967:

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.

Lecture on SB 7.9.9 -- Montreal, July 4, 1968:

However you may be great in material science, knowledge, opulence, economic development, or everything, but if you want to see God, then you have to accept this process, bhakti. In the Bhagavad-gītā also the same thing affirmed. Not only in the Bhagavad-gītā—in all Vedic scriptures the same thing is affirmed. Simply if you want to see God, if you want to make your relationship with God, then it is bhakti.

Lecture on SB 7.9.19 -- Hamburg, September 7, 1969, (with German Translator):

Similarly you, as spark of the Supreme soul... The dimension is also mentioned. It is ten-thousandth portion of the tip of your hair. One ten-thousandth portion. That small particle is your identification. The medical science or the material science cannot find out that small particle of soul by any means. Therefore they decline to accept the existence of the soul. But from authoritative Vedic literature we get this information that the soul is there.

Lecture on SB 7.9.49 -- Vrndavana, April 4, 1976:

The Viṣṇu, Kṣirodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, He is also partial expansion of Kṛṣṇa, and from Kṣirodakaśāyī Viṣṇu the Viṣṇu is all-pervading. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati: (BG 18.61) the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is staying in everyone's core of heart, hṛd-deśe. It is... There is no hide and seek. Hide and seek. It is clearly stated that "This Paramātmā, Viṣṇu, is staying, hṛd, hṛd-deśe, in the heart." Therefore heart is always palpitating. And the jīvātmā is also there and... Then when the jīvātmā leaves this body, that is called heart failure. That is heart failure. Heart is palpulating, but as soon as the jīvātmā goes, heart fails. And these materialist science, they cannot give any cause. They are giving, what is that, oxygen gas and every minute injecting to keep the palpitation of the heart, throbbing of the heart, continuous. But how they can do it? As soon as the living soul departs from the heart there is no more palpitating. It is simply a lump of matter. That requires intelligence, that this matter is never the living soul.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 9, 1972:

Pradyumna: "There are many instances, especially in India, where these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs descend to the material platform again. But a person who is fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness will never return to any sort of material platform. However alluring and attracting they may be, he always knows that no material welfare activities can be compared with the spiritual activity of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The mystic perfections achieved by actually successful yogis are eight in number. Aṇimā-siddhi refers to the power by which one can become so small that he can enter into a stone. Modern scientific improvements also enable us to enter into stone because they provide for excavating so many subways, penetrating the hills, etc. So aṇimā-siddhi, the mystic perfection of trying to enter into stone, has also been achieved by material science. Similarly, all of the yoga siddhis, or perfections, are material arts."

Prabhupāda: Yoga siddhis, they are simply material arts. Just like one example is given, that aṇimā siddhi, aṇimā siddhi means to enter into the stone. So we see in the Western countries they are boring big, big hills and entering in the stone. So that aṇimā siddhi is being possible, is made possible by modern scientific research. So all the siddhis, aṣṭa siddhi, aṇimā, laghimā, prāpti, prākāmya, īśitā, vaśitā, these all siddhis are material. They are not spiritual. But people do not know what is spiritual perfection. They become amazed by seeing some magic by these yogic arts. They're simply material arts.

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad Invocation Lecture -- Los Angeles, April 28, 1970:

Everything in this material world, it has got a fixed time. And within that fixed time there are six kinds of changes. First birth, then growth, then to stay, then to produce by-product, then dwindling, then vanish. This is the law of material nature. This flower takes birth, just like a bud, then grows, then stays for two, three days, then it produces a seed, by-product, then dries up gradually, then finish. (aside:) You sit down like this. So this is called ṣaḍ-vikāra, six kinds of changes. So you cannot stop this by your so-called material science. No.

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 11 -- Los Angeles, May 16, 1970:

So avidyāya, if we advance in avidyā, or material science, then we have to repeat this birth and death, birth and... And there is no guarantee where I shall get my next birth. That is not in your hand. You cannot dictate. Now you are happy American, but after quitting this body you cannot dictate, "Please give me again an American body." No. That is not possible. You may get an American body, but you may get the American animal's body. Then you are meant for slaughterhouse. So this material knowledge, this nationalism, this socialism, they are simply spoiling time.

Festival Lectures

Nrsimha-caturdasi Lord Nrsimhadeva's Appearance Day -- Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.22-34 -- Los Angeles, May 27, 1972:

Actually, superficially we see that material advancement of material science, people have got so many machines, so many facilities. But actually, they are in trouble. Just like I gave you one example: the computer machine. It can work for thousands of men. So thousands of men means the thousands of men must be unemployed. And especially in your country, they are taking advantage of this machine because the salary is If you want to pay to the worker, a big, big salary. So they want to save. They are taking machine, and they think they will save money, so many workers. But the workers are becoming unemployed. The government has to give them welfare. The government will tax. That's all.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada's Disappearance Day, Lecture -- Hyderabad, December 10, 1976:

So "Forgotten Kṛṣṇa, we fallen souls, pay most heavy the illusion's toll." Because we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa we are paying heavy, heavy toll, tax, taxation. What is that taxation? The taxation is nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). This human life is meant for understanding Kṛṣṇa, but instead of understanding Kṛṣṇa, we are understanding the so-called material science for sense gratification. This is our position. The energy which was given by nature to understand Kṛṣṇa, that is being utilized how to manufacture something for sense gratification. This is going on. This is māyā, illusion.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Address -- London, July 7, 1973:

You know the speed of mind. You can go on the mind millions of miles within a second. That science has not yet discovered, how to go in the speed of mind. The yogis know. The perfect yogis, they can travel on the speed of mind. That is also material science. So even on the speed of mind, or on the speed of the velocity of the air, if you try to go to approach God, find out where is God... And the time? Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara. Not one day, two day, or one hour, two hour, but many millions of years, koṭi-śata-vatsara. Koṭi-śata-vatsara, with the speed of mind or air velocity, if you go to find out God, still, avicintya-tattva, inconceivable, inconceivable.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation Lecture -- Caracas, February 22, 1975:

So the most important item is śravaṇam, or hearing. If you do not do anything else, if you simply sincerely hear about God, then gradually you will be God conscious. That is also true in the material science. The students go to the school, college, and hear from the professor, and gradually he becomes learned in that subject matter. Especially in this age, śravaṇam, or hearing, is very, very important.

Wedding Ceremonies

Wedding Ceremony and Lecture -- Boston, May 6, 1969:

This science of understanding God, the science of God, is a great science. People have no knowledge about it, but it is a great science. And the ways and means of understanding God is different from ordinary material science. So the ways and means and the process of understanding the science of Godhead is to hear.

General Lectures

Lecture -- San Francisco, April 2, 1968:

If we practice this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then our next life is as good as Kṛṣṇa, which means that there is no more birth, there is no more death, there is no more disease and no more old age. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that one who is intelligent, he will see four things before him. You may be very great scientist. You may be very much advanced in material science. You may be able to construct very high building, skyscrapers, and many millions of motorcars, but you have to think whether you have solved the real problem of life. The real problem of life is birth, death, disease, and old age.

Lecture -- London, September 26, 1969:

So our material knowledge, material science, our material endeavor is very, very insignificant to understand the Absolute Truth. It is almost impossible. You cannot understand even a planet, and what to speak of the Supreme.

Pandal Lecture at Cross Maidan -- Bombay, March 26, 1971:

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, jaḍa-vidyā saba māyāra vaibhava: "Advancement of material science is increasing the illusion of māyā." We are already illusioned, and if we go on increasing the illusion more and more, then we become more and more entangled. That is the nature. And so long we are illusioned, we shall put forward different theories, different philosophies, and different arguments.

Pandal Lecture at Cross Maidan -- Bombay, March 26, 1971:

Just like in the material science they are trying to go to the moon planet or other planets also by certain standard of speed in the sputnik. (aside:) It is not working? (microphone comes back on) They are finding it difficult even to go to the moon planet, which is the nearest planet to the earth. And there are innumerable other planets.

Pandal Lecture at Cross Maidan -- Bombay, March 26, 1971:

Phalgu-vairāgya means inferior renunciation, or false renunciation. And yukta-vairāgya means actual renunciation. What is that difference? Prāpañcikatayā buddhyā. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are giving up this world as false, māyā. Prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. Just like sometimes we are criticized because we are using the advantages offered by the material science. Just like I am using this microphone. So the people may criticize, "If this world is false, the material world is false, then why should I take advantage of this material product?" They expect that those who are spiritualists, they should go to Himalayas, giving up, giving up everything material and meditate in a solitary place, in snow-covered area. But Vaiṣṇava philosophy does not think like that.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 7, 1971:

Our business is, in the human form of life, how to get out of the clutches or conditions of māyā. We are actually trying to do that. All the scientific improvement, material advancement of knowledge, means that we are trying to avoid the conditions imposed by material nature. That is actually we are doing. Why you have invented this electric fan? Call it, that is material science improvement. Because in the excessive heat we are troubled. And wherefrom this excessive heat comes? It comes from the material nature. Therefore our struggle for existence is to fight with the impositions of the material nature. So Kṛṣṇa says that in this way fighting, you cannot get out of the clutches of māyā.

Lecture at Wayside Chapel -- Sydney, May 13, 1971:

One Russian scientist said that "By material science we shall be able to keep this body forever." They may say like that, but in the history we do not find any evidence that anyone has ever been able to keep this body forever, immortal. That is not possible.

Lecture What is a Guru? -- London, August 22, 1973:

So is there any science to give knowledge how one becomes immortal? Yes, there is. You can become immortal. Not in this material science; not in the so-called universities. But there is knowledge in the Vedic scripture by which you can become immortal. That is better position. No more death, no more birth, no more old age, no more disease. So guru's task is very great responsibility. He has to guide the disciple how to make him quite eligible candidate to get the perfect position, immortality, back to home, back to Godhead.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Prabhupāda: Real activity, just like modern science, they are concerned with the material science, seeing the activity, they are saying it is by nature it is going; rather, a fruit is coming out, a flower is coming out, this is, there is activity. So one should know what is the cause of this activity. They think that it is automatically coming, by nature, nature. They cannot explain. That is not philosophy. But we have to see wherefrom this activity comes. We get answer from Bhagavad-gītā that behind all these material activities there is a brain, there is a... That is God. Just like this machine is working, acting. It is talking. As soon as you press one button it's talking. But a child will say, "Oh, how wonderful this machine is talking." This is childish. One who has got sense, he'll know this talking is not coming automatically. Somebody has talked, and it is simply a record. That is intelligence. So wherefrom the activity is coming?

Philosophy Discussion on Edmund Husserl:

Śyāmasundara: So in order to understand anything, I have to consult Vedic scriptures.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the process: tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). So to understand anything, that is the Vedic process: either material science or spiritual science, you must approach the guru. And that is being followed everywhere. You cannot become botanist by speculating at home.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Prabhupāda: No. That is another thing, material science. Material science. But when people come from West to India, they do not come here to learn material science. They come here to understand what is God, these things.

Philosophy Discussion on Karl Marx:

Hayagrīva: Well, evidently Marx never got over the antagonism between his father and his mother—his mother who was Jewish and his father who was a Christian convert. He says, "As soon as Jew and Christian recognize their respective religions, there is nothing more than different stages of evolution of the human spirit, as different snakeskins shed by history, and recognize man as the snake who wore them. They will no longer find themselves in religious antagonism but only in a critical scientific and human relationship. Science constitutes their unity. Contradictions in science, however, are resolved by science itself." So that, in other words, science, material science, is to replace this religion, and religion is to be shed by mankind just as a snake sheds its skin. And in this way the antagonisms created between Jew and Christian or, or Hindu and Muslim are reconciled.

Prabhupāda: Reconciled can be only when you actually know what is God. Simply by stamping oneself Christian, Jewish, or Hindu and Muslim, without knowing who is God and what is his desire, that will naturally create antagonism. Therefore the conclusion is, as Mr. Marx giving stress on science, so we should understand scientifically what is religion, what is God. Then this antagonism will stop.

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

Śyāmasundara: We notice that in all human entities there is an urge to advance or improve oneself, to become something more.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. That I have already explained. Because all living entities have come into this material world, their propensity is to enjoy. Enjoy. So he is enjoying one standard of life in one stage of life. But he wants more, better standard. Better standard. The spirit is enjoyment. That is the disease of material science.

Philosophy Discussion on Plotinus:

Prabhupāda: That means, what he called three stages, karmī, jñānī, yogi. That karmīs, they are trying to improve their condition by this material science and material advancement of education, and some of them are trying to go the heavenly planets by pious activities. These are karmīs. And higher than the karmīs are the jñānīs. They are speculating on the Absolute Truth by their education and coming to the conclusion that God is impersonal; when we merge into that impersonal feature, that is our liberation. And the yogis, they are trying to get some mystic power by practicing mystic yoga system—wonderful power, aṣṭa-siddhi, eight kinds of perfection: to become lighter than the lightest, to become smaller than the smallest, to become bigger than the biggest. Whatever they like, they can get. They can subdue anyone, bring under his control with that yogic (indistinct). But real yoga means to see the Supreme within the core of the heart.

1970 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 13, 1970, Indore:

Prabhupāda: So why they should go to the yoga system? The science is more advanced. Before flying in the sky by a yogi he has to press his nose for so many years and the science has given us the airplane. He can purchase ticket, immediately fly. (laughter) What is use of pressing nose?

Yamunā: You explain that in Bhāgavatam.

Prabhupāda: Yes. What is the use, wasting time?

Revatīnandana: (indistinct) about when you walk on the water, walking on the water is a bogus thing (indistinct) two cent yogi because for two cents he could have taken (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: That's all. If that is the ultimate end of life, to walk on the water or to fly in the sky, so science has given them all opportunity. And the material science is so advanced, that all this yoga system is now almost accomplished because that is material only, material prosperity.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

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

Prabhupāda: But you cannot say that sunshine is not sun. But without sun, where is the sunshine? So you cannot say sunshine is not sun. But at the same time it is not sun. It is sun and not sun, both. That is our philosophy. Acintya-bhedābheda, inconceivable. In the material science you cannot conceive that a thing simultaneously positive and negative. That you cannot think. That is inconceivable energy. And because everything is Kṛṣṇa's energy, Kṛṣṇa can manifest Himself from any energy, and act.

Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles:

Jayatīrtha: The advancement of material science really means to complicate the problems of life.

Prabhupāda: That's all, increasing the problem. They have to dig out petroleum oil from the midst of the ocean. Is it easy job?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: For the pleasure's sake, they are spoiling the human facilities. This is their intelligence. Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says: jaḍa-vidyā jato māyāra vaibhava tomāra bhajane bādhā, anitya saṁsāre moha janamiyā jībake karaye gādhā. This jaḍa-vidyā, this material science, is simply a hindrance to our progress of spiritual life. All these rascal scientists, they'll deny God. That is their business. Just like you said yesterday that somebody was accepting God, and the other scientists, they thought: "No, it is insult." So already they are in oblivion. They cannot understand what is God. And these rascals are making them more and more rascals. "There is no God." By their scientific research, the rascals are becoming more rascals.

Room Conversation with Sir Alistair Hardy -- July 21, 1973, London:

Sir Alistair Hardy: Well, I'd very much like to have records of experience, accounts of present-day experience. Although as I say, at the moment I'm rather tending to concentrate on the western. I'm hoping to get scholars who are really Sanskrit scholars and those people who can really understand the language of oriental affairs.

Prabhupāda: No, first thing is: this, this is a different science. Science of God is not material science. Simply material, academic career will not help.

Sir Alistair Hardy: No, no. I agree.

Revatīnandana: "Eastern-Western" will not help.

Sir Alistair Hardy: No, I get example (?) to both, both from the East and the West.

Prabhupāda: Simply by becoming Sanskrit scholar or Latin scholar, it is not sufficient. He must be God-realized, purified.

Morning Walk -- December 7, 1973, Los Angeles:

Yaśomatīnandana: Prabhupāda, it's like the barber giving opinion on the science of medicine. It's like barber giving opinion on the science of medicine. Because the materialistic person, they claim to be expert of material science, and still, they want to give opinion on the spiritual science.

Prabhupāda: No, no, they are not even expert of material science. They are expert in bluffing others things with jugglery of words. That's it.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1974, Bombay:

Devotee: Are we giving the knowledge?

Devotee (2): Giving knowledge about science.

Prabhupāda: Oh.

Yaśomatīnandana: He means material science.

Prabhupāda: Material science? No, no, I am talking of Kṛṣṇa science.

Indian man (2): About the existence of God?

Prabhupāda: Not only existence. What is God, first of all. He must exist. Otherwise, where there is question of "What is God?" So what is the nature of God, what is our position, what is our relationship with God, what is our duty, and what is the goal of life, these things are very thoroughly discussed in Bhagavad-gītā.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Garden Conversation with Dr. Gerson and devotees -- June 22, 1975, Los Angeles:

Dharmādhyakṣa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, in these psychological tests the thing is not that... There's some defects... Naturally there's some defects...

Prabhupāda: There must be. Material science means defective.

Morning Walk -- October 18, 1975, Johannesburg:

Prabhupāda: Jada vidyā means material education, the so-called material science. So jada vidyā. Vidyā means education, so this expansion of knowledge means expansion of the influence of māyā. Jada vidyā saba māyāra vaibhava. And the result is tomāra bhajane bādhā. People will forget God. With the advancement of so-called material science or material knowledge, the result will be that people will forget God.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 21, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Yes, Gurukula, Gurukula education.

Rāmeśvara: Still we'll be teaching subjects like history and math.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Without teaching, how the human society will exist? There must be.

Hari-śauri: No, he's talking about some of the subjects they teach now.

Rāmeśvara: Material science as well as spiritual science?

Prabhupāda: No. No, no. There is no need of so-called material science—how to kill children in the womb. These things will be kicked out. Nonsense.

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru -- Bombay 4 August, 1958:

If the aim of spiritual realization is missed, the whole plan of materialism is sure to be frustrated and that is the law of Nature. The law of nature is so made by a superior authority and no body can surpass the intricacies of material nature simply by partial adjustment of material science. The history of the West beginning from the time of the Greeks and the Romans down to the modern age of atomic war—is a continuous chain of sense gratificatory materialism and the result is that the westerners were never in peace within the memory of 3000 years of historical records. Neither it will be possible for them at any time in future to live in peace till the message of spiritualism just suitable to the present age does not reach their heart.

Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru -- Bombay 4 August, 1958:

My humble advice to you, as I am your old friend from Allahabad, is that you should now take leave form you present responsibility of Prime ministership and as you are a popular gentleman of the world you can just engage the rest of your most valuable life in this organized spiritual movement to achieve the aim of your life which is yet to be known by the __ the world. By pushing on this authorized spiritual movement you can make a real adjustment of the western material science combined with Indian way of spiritual realization.

Letter to Sir -- Unknown Place May 1964:

You, gentlemen, of the Western Countries have seen much about material science and yet peace is not within your control. In most cases you may be feeling the want of peace although you have enough in the matter. This basic defect of materialism remains undetected by the misleaders of India and therefore they are not serious about going BACK TO GODHEAD the ultimate aim of life's journey.

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Mario Windisch -- Los Angeles 25 February, 1968:

A living entity is factually a spirit soul whose eternal position is knowledge and blissfulness. Material knowledge, however advanced it may be, cannot award blissfulness, which is the demand of the spirit soul. That blissfulness is being searched for by the materialist by advancement of material science, but they cannot find it in such a way.