Śyāmasundara: He says that because... A human being has numerous possibilities open to choose from-different kinds of being for himself. He can choose different kinds of being for himself.
Prabhupāda: Mm.
Śyāmasundara: The possibilities of becoming this or that are his. He can choose. He can elect what he wants to be in the future.
Prabhupāda: That is also not proof. As soon as he gets a body, his thing is settled up. Just like you have got this body—white body. You cannot become black body. Or a man who has got black body, he cannot become white man. This is wrong philosophy. How you can settle up? Because he is considering the of body, he is considering the existence means the manufacture of the body from the womb of mother up to the destruction of the body. So this body, as it is made, there are different types of body. So that cannot be changed.
Śyāmasundara: What about if someone can choose to become a doctor or a lawyer or a physician or anything like that.
Prabhupāda: That is quality; that is not the body.
Śyāmasundara: No. He doesn't say body, he says that he can choose his different kinds of being, how he will be, whether he will be a lawyer or a doctor, like that. He can be good, he can be bad...
Prabhupāda: First thing is that if he has no clear idea of existence, then what he can be, that will depend on the idea of existence. So as he is thinking of to become doctor or lawyer and teacher, similarly he should know that he eternally exists, then he can also make a program what he can become next time.
Śyāmasundara: He says that that is the essence of existence, that we can become something which we choose, of our own choosing.
Prabhupāda: That means he is talking of this existence. According to him, the existence finishes after death. That is poor fund of knowledge.
Śyāmasundara: No. He doesn't make that judgment. He simply says that the living entities are motivated by that feeling, that they will die. He doesn't say whether there is life or death.
Prabhupāda: That means he has no knowledge. We say that he does not die, he exists eternally. That is our philosophy.
Śyāmasundara: He doesn't make a judgment if there is life after death or not, he's simply like a psychologist examines what motivates people's behavior or...
Prabhupāda: No. If you do not know whether he exist in the future or not... Just like a child, if he knows that "I shall exist as an old man," then there is question of what I shall become. If he does not know whether he'll exist or not, then what is the idea of becoming a teacher, or I can become (indistinct). First of all you should know that I exist only for this duration of life or I exist forever. That is real philosophy. Real philosophy is, "I exist forever." That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like I existed as a small baby, I existed as a boy, I existed as a young man. I remember all those existences, although the body is finished. Therefore the conclusion is that I shall exist when this body is finished. That is real knowledge. And it is common sense. If I existed as this child, I existed as a baby, I existed as a boy, I existed as a young man, and I am existing as old man, so why not I shall exist when this body is finished? In this life I experience so many bodies, they have left, they are no longer existing, but I see that I am existing; therefore why shall I not see that I will exist after the death. What do you think?
Devotee: What do I think?
Prabhupāda: Yes. You are understanding what I am speaking?
Devotee: Hm. Actually I am sort of in awe of (indistinct), but I enjoy listening. (indistinct)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He said he was being in awe of being with you, but he wasn't listening to the words.
Prabhupāda: Thank you. All right. Then, this is the idea of existence. Therefore the philosophy is that I shall not be very much interested what I am going to become in this life. My philosophy should be that as I am eternally existing, what is my eternal occupation. That is philosophy.