Guest: What is the purpose of Lord for creating human life or animal life or so many things? Why . . .?
Prabhupāda: That is, that is next question, that you have to accept next body, but what kind of body you'll have? That you can see, that there are so many varieties of life, body. You have to accept one of them. Just like when you were admitted into school for education, the idea was that you'll be educated, and according to your education, there are so many posts you'll have to occupy. Just like you are lawyer, he's medical man, somebody's engineer, somebody else, somebody . . . varieties of field of activities. So according to the perfection of one's education, he has to accept one post like that. Similarly, next body means according to your karma. karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). You are preparing your next life. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- yānti deva-vratā devān
- pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
- bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni
- mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām
- (BG 9.25)
So according to your culture, your mentality, your condition of life will be at the end of your life. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram, sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (BG 8.6). The whole life, as we have thought, as we have absorbed in thought, the same mentality will be concentrated at the time of your death. So, a god's mentality or dog's mentality or hog's mentality, or . . . there are so many kinds of. So you'll get next body according to that mentality.
Guest: Yes. Can you scientifically prove this, sir? I mean is it purely a matter of belief or . . .
Prabhupāda: This is science. Our science is perfect science, because we are receiving knowledge from the perfect, Kṛṣṇa. And the so-called science is imperfect because the knowledge is received from imperfect person. However great scientist you may be, you have to admit that your senses are imperfect.
Guest: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So imperfect senses can give imperfect knowledge. That is not scientific knowledge. What you are thinking scientific knowledge, that is bogus, because the man who has given that knowledge, he's imperfect. How you can expect perfect knowledge from the imperfect person?
Guest: It's a question of degree.
Prabhupāda: Now, degree may be, but ultimately, if you are unable to give perfect knowledge, then what is the use of taking knowledge from you?
Guest: Yes, I accept that view. But how do you prove that a man . . .?
Prabhupāda: Yes, therefore you take from the perfect, Kṛṣṇa. We take from Kṛṣṇa's representative—one who speaks as good as Kṛṣṇa. That is our process. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). We don't take, don't accept knowledge from any rascal. We accept knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme. I may be rascal, but because I am receiving knowledge from the perfect, whatever we speak, that is perfect. A child may be innocent; he does not know. But he has learned that this article is called spectacle. So when he says, the child says: "Father, this is spectacle," this is perfect knowledge. Similarly, if you hear from the perfect and act accordingly, then you are perfect. Now Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: after death there is another body. So we accept it. It doesn't require any proof of so-called science, who's imperfect.