“Doctors, Medical men, Scientists, they cannot see that where is the Soul”

Prabhupada, Vrindavana, November 7, 1976: […] So the soul is so subtle, you cannot see. You cannot see sky, and still finer is the mind, still finer is intelligence, and still finer, the soul. So how can you see? With your gross eyes it is not possible. Therefore they are bewildered, how the soul is being transferred from one body to another. They see the gross body. Krishna says, na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20], tatha dehantara praptih. But doctors, medical men, scientists, they cannot see that where is the soul, how the soul is transmigrating. These are all durvibhavya, inconceivable.

Therefore we have to hear from the authorities, from Krishna, that there is soul; there is atma; there is transmigration. And everything, what is spoken in the sastra, they are fact, but we do not consult sastra. We become scientists. We become philosophers. With gross understanding, dull understanding, poor understanding, how you can understand yourself and God? So there is no question of self- realization by your gross understanding. You have to understand by hearing. Therefore to get real knowledge is not by the eyes and senses but by the ear. Therefore Vedic knowledge is called sruti. You have to receive knowledge—sruti. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12] Why? The guru means who is fully aware of the sruti, srotriyam, one who has perfectly listened to his guru. Srotriyam brahma-nistham. And by hearing only, he has become brahma-nistham, without any doubt: “Yes, there is God. Yes.” We have to approach such person who has perfectly listened to his… Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2]. So by sruti, by hearing oral reception. Just like there is practical example. Suppose you are sleeping, and somebody is coming to do you some harm, to kill you. But another person is warning you, “Please get up! Get up! Somebody is coming to kill you.” But it will act, because while other senses are practically dead, the ear is working. By hearing, you can get up. This is practical.

So at the present moment we are sleeping, sleeping in the darkness. Therefore to get knowledge we have to use our ears. Sravanam. Therefore to enter into the devotional service one has to use this ear, sravanam. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada… And sravanam about whom? Sravanam about Visnu, sravanam kirta…, sravanam. They say that “You can hear anything.” No.

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23]

This is the process. Tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet, srotriyam brahma-nistham [MU 1.2.12] These are the injunction. Adau gurvasrayam sad dharma prcchat sadhu marganu gamanam. These are the process.

So Rsabhadeva said that “I have got My body,” idam sariram, when He appears to solve our problem, whether God is personal or impersonal. Impersonal is there, there is no doubt, but what is that impersonal? Maya tatam idam sarvam jagat avyakta-murtina. That is impersonal. No, He’s Maya: “By Me.” That means His energy. His energy is distributed throughout the whole creation, cosmic manifestation. But He is still there. Maya. Unless He is there Not that because He is spread everywhere—vasudevah sarvam iti [Bg. 7.19]— it does not mean He is finished. That is material understanding. In the materially, if you take a piece of paper and make it a small pieces and throw it, then the original paper is no longer existing. That is material conception. But spiritual conception? Purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate. That is spiritual idea. If you take cent percent God from God, still He is cent percent. That is purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate. Isavasyam idam. So Krishna says that maya, “In My another feature, Vasudeva feature,” maya tatam idam sarvam. Everything is God, but everything is not God. That is explained by God.

maya tatam idam sarva jagat avyakta-murtina mat-sthani sarva-bhutani naham tesu avasthitah

The Mayavadis, the poor fund knowledge, they say, “Why you are worshiping God here? He is everywhere.” “He is everywhere? He is in the temple also.” “No,” they will say, “not in the temple. He is everywhere except in the temple. Don’t go to the temple.” This is rascaldom. If God is everywhere, why He is not in the temple? So this is their knowledge, poor fund of knowledge. Alpa-medhasa. Alpa- medhasa. Avajananti mam mudhah.

So God has form, but He is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha. He is not… When it is said, the nirakara, “no form,” that does not mean that He has no akara. The akara, or the form which we understand, He hasn’t got that form. He is sac-cid-ananda vigrahah [Bs. 5.1]. Otherwise how He can accept your offerings? Krishna says that patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati, tad aham asnami. He says, “I eat.” So if He has no mouth, how He can eat? And therefore the Vedic literature informs us that pasyati acaksuh: “He sees, but He has no eyes.” When the Vedic literature says that He has no eyes, that means He has no eyes like us. But He has got eyes; otherwise how He sees? Pasyati acaksuh srnoti akarnah. He can hear; otherwise what is the use of offering prayer? Yes, He hears, but akarna, not that He has got ears like you. He is in the Vaikuntha, many, many millions and trillions miles away, but still, you are offering here, “Govindam adi purusam.” He is hearing. He is here. Sarvatra pani padas tat. This thing should be understood.

And because we do not understand—everything we try to test with our limited understanding—therefore we do not believe in the activities of the Lord, and we are deceived in that way. God is all- powerful, but when we hear that God at the age of seven years age, old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill, immediately we dismiss, “Oh, this is all mythology.” Why? If He has got inconceivable power—He is all- powerful—is it very difficult for Him to lift the Govardhana Hill? “No, we don’t believe in God. Even if we believe, we want to believe in our own way.” That is bhavyam, conceivable. But He is durvibhavyam. You cannot conceive. Two contradict things. Just like here Krishna said, Rsabhadeva, that sattvam hi me hrdayam yatra dharmah. The dharma and adharma, they are two contradictory thought. But He is the source of dharma and adharma both. Janmady asya yatah [Bhag. 1.1.1]. Adharma, which we hate, that is also coming from God. Janmadya asya yatah. Otherwise… That is explained here. Prsthe. Prsthe krto me yad adharma arat. So adharma is also there in God— on the back side. So is there any difference between back side and front side? Advaya-jnana, absolute. No.

So these things have to be understood, that both dharma and adharma, they are coming from… He is the original, so… Yato va imani bhutani jayante. Everything is coming from Him. So dharma and adharma, that is duality, duality understanding within this material world. In the spiritual world there is no such thing. The dharma and adharma is the same thing because the same source.

Full Lecture: http://prabhupadabooks.com/classes/sb/5/5/19/vrndavana/november/07/1976