Prabhupāda: These are the statements of Kṛṣṇa. Now the constitution of the soul… So far materialists are concerned, they cannot even find out where is the soul. Therefore there are so many theories. Actually, they cannot find out where the soul is situated because material senses cannot approach. The measurement of the soul is stated in the Vedic literature as one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. So there is no possibility of understanding what is soul by material scientists. The only process is to take it from higher authorities like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa here gives definition of the soul. So we have to accept it. And not blindly accept it, but try to understand as far as possible with your arguments and reason, but this is the actual fact. What is that statement? The soul, definition of soul, Kṛṣṇa is giving?

Prabhupāda:

Prabhupāda: Because, we are actually spirit soul we are not this body. But, our present civilization is going on, on the concept of this body. That I’m this body, and therefore I’m thinking I’m Indian, you are thinking you are American, somebody is thinking something else. This is our body. Just like I give you an example. Suppose you have got this striped coat. I cannot address you Mr. striped coat. [laughs] Similarly, but we are actually being addressed like that. We are identified with this body, and the body is considered as the dress, and the person who is dressed, that is within. Just like this child, this is a dress. Now, after some days this dress will be changed to another dress. After some time another dress, another dress. This body is dress, we should always [indistinct], but the person who is putting on the dress… Just like I can remember my childhood state, dress and condition, my youthhood condition. So many things I remember. So although the body has changed—either you say it has grown or changed—I am the same. Therefore conclusion should be that after giving up this dress, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ, I must have another body. This is the proof of immortality of the soul and transmigration from one body to another. Now, there are 8,400,000’s of different dresses. There are 900,000 dresses within the water, then plants and trees, then insect, then birds. This is evolution, or different dresses. The spirit soul is passing through different ...

Prabhupāda: So there were six questions by Arjuna: kṣetra, kṣetra-jña, jñānam, jñeyam, prakṛti, puruṣa. Six questions. So Kṛṣṇa has already replied what is kṣetra, kṣetra-jña, and what is the process of knowledge and what is the object of knowledge. Now He is beginning to explain what is this material nature and what is these living entities. Material nature, prakṛti, is enjoyable. Prakṛti means enjoyable. And puruṣa, puruṣa means enjoyer. Just like in our present condition we accept the female as the fair sex, enjoyable. And we, male, we think we are enjoyer. By nature the females, they are by nature apt to dress attractively, and the puruṣa is attracted. So this prakṛti and puruṣa. Actually, none of us are puruṣa. This conception of puruṣa, enjoyer, that is there in so-called woman and so-called man. The man also wants to enjoy. Not only man; every living entity—cats, dogs, trees, aquatics, everyone. Because this material world means all the living entities, beginning from Lord Brahmā down to the smallest ant, they are seeking after enjoyment. Puruṣa. That is puruṣa spirit. One who is seeking for enjoyment is called puruṣa.

Out of the twelve authorities of śāstra, Brahmā is the origin, and he has been explained as Svayambhū, Ātma-bhū, like that. So this is the Supreme Personality’s omnipotency. He does not require the help of another woman to beget child. Even Brahmā, he has given birth to so many children, not through woman but from his different parts of the body. So this we cannot conceive, because we are materially impeded. We cannot understand this is possible. So possibility and impossibility does not depend on our understanding. We have to take knowledge from the authority. Here, in the Vedic literature, we understand that Brahmā was born directly from the father. So we have to accept it. That is called Vedic knowledge. You cannot argue. That is possible. That is omnipotency. All potencies are there. So Brahmā was approached by the earth, mother earth. She felt overburdened by the sinful activities of the demons. So Brahmā approaches Nārāyaṇa, er, Viṣṇu. Not directly he can see, but he can stand on the bank of the ocean of milk, and from there he can submit his petition. And Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu gives His order. So once upon a time, when the whole world was overburdened—this is the history of Kṛṣṇa’s birth—so the earthly planet approached Brahmā to appeal to Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu to have His incarnation to diminish the burden of the world. The world is, of course, it is very heavy. We can understand there are so many oceans and so many big, ...

Prabhupāda: …so on account of exploitation by the superior energy, the living entity, the material energy becomes important. So the Vedic civilization is for fulfilling the mission of the spiritual energy. And the modern civilization is to become entangled in the activities of this material energy. Entangled…, I have used this word “entangled” because we are becoming entangled in this material energy by changing this body. Now I have got this human form of body, and according to my work I’ll get next another body. That body is not guaranteed that I shall get human form of body. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, tathā dehāntara-prāptir: “You’ll get another body.” Just like I am old man. I shall die, or I shall change body. Death means I will change the body. Just like I have changed my body many times. When I was in the womb of my mother the first day after the sex, my body was just like a pea. These are…, these information are there in the Vedic literature. The secretion from the father and mother combine together, they become emulsified, and it forms a substance like a pea. Within that pea, the living spirit soul is there. Then it develops. The pea develops. Then there becomes holes, nine holes. We have got nine holes: this nostril, the ear, mouth, the eyes, the genital, the rectum, the navel. We have got nine holes. These nine holes develop. In this way, the body is formed. In seven months’ time, the body gets consciousness back. Before that it is ...

Prabhupāda: Then you’ll… Then what you have not seen, how you can suggest? What is not in your experience, how you can suggest? Then anyone will suggest any nonsense, and we will have to accept? Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: So that is the rascaldom. Prabhupāda: That is rascaldom. How you can suggest? Harikeśa: Even he says it was just a theory. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But now, Prabhupāda, they say that they have been to the moon, and we’re saying that the moon is so far away. And they have their pictures also to prove it. Prabhupāda: Picture you can manufacture here. Harikeśa: And they have earth dust as if it came from the moon. Prabhupāda: And the other scientist says this kind dust can be had here. So what is the proof they went there? It can be collected here. Harikeśa: And their dust does not reflect. They say the moon is reflective, but the dust and the pictures, it was all dark gray. No reflection. Prabhupāda: So therefore if I say that they did not go to the moon, how they can support? Harikeśa: They cannot prove. They are so clever and sophisticated with their nonsense, they can even make the astronauts believe… Prabhupāda: Therefore I asked you to ask them, “Why Sunday first and Monday next?” Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It’s very conceivable that they could have tricked everyone. They simply have a video. They go up in a space ship around. They simply show a film from the space ship back to the earth, how they were practicing in the ...

There is a place, Śamyāprāsa, above Haridvāra, there Vyāsadeva’s āśrama was situated on the river Brahmanadī, Sarasvatī, on the eas…, western side, paścime taṭe. Ṛṣīṇāṁ satra-vardhanaḥ: there all the great sages and saintly persons used to perform sacrifice. Tasmin āśrame…, tasmin sva āśrame vyāso badarī-ṣaṇḍa-maṇḍite: the āśrama was surrounded by berry trees, badarī-ṣaṇḍa. Ṣaṇḍa means trees. Āsīno ‘pa upaspṛśya praṇidadhyau manaḥ svayam. So in that āśrama… Formerly, big, big saintly persons, they used to live in forest āśrama. Now they have to come far away from āśrama to South Africa, because people have forgotten. Formerly, big, big persons, they used to visit the āśrama, but nowadays people are not interested. Anartha. They are captivated by the material, external energy. It is said that… Not only now, formerly also, but formerly the number of people who were not interested were very, very small. At the present moment, the number of interested people are very, very small. That is the difference, Kali-yuga. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He inaugurated this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that people in this age are no more interested in their value of life. They are in darkness. Therefore Vaiṣṇava, under the instruction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, should go door to door, country to country, town to town, and preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness for their benefit.

Prabhupāda:

Prabhupāda: That is special advantage of this age. People are very much fallen from spiritual standard, and to fall down from the spiritual standard means to spoil the humanity. There is no education on this point. That is Vedic culture. Most of them, they do not believe that there is soul, spirit soul, and human life is meant for understanding it and make progress on that platform. Most of them, they do not know. There is no education, I think. Everyone reads Bhagavad-gītā, mostly, but they do not understand the first lesson, dehino ‘smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Nobody understands. What is your understanding about this transmigration of the soul?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How are you feeling this morning, Śrīla Prabhupāda? You haven’t passed any urine for quite awhile. What is the reason for that? Prabhupāda: I think I have. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. According to the chart, you haven’t passed any urine for about eight or nine hours, ten hours, nearly ten hours. Prabhupāda: I am trying to pass urine. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Have you tried? You feel like it now? You want to try? I’ll fix up the bottle. Okay. [break] [kīrtana] Yes, Prabhupāda? It’s Tamāla Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda: That sweet lemon juice. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You want some? Okay. [aside:] Sweet lemon juice. Tell Bhakti-caru. It’s coming in one second, Śrīla Prabhupāda. [break] Prabhupāda: Very good. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: He liked that, those lemons, sweet lemons. Here’s Bhakti-caru. Bhakti-caru: Śrīla Prabhupāda? Prabhupāda: Hmm. Today I like to take ḍāl-roṭī. Bhakti-caru: Ḍāl-roṭī? Ācchā, Śrīla Prabhupāda. [Bengali] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Here’s Pisimā. You want to see her? Prabhupāda: She cannot hear me. Bhakti-caru: [Bengali] Prabhupāda: [Bengali with Bhakti-caru and Pisimā] Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda liked that fruit juice. Prabhupāda: [Bengali with Bhakti-caru] [indistinct background discussion among devotees] Bhakti-caru: [Bengali to Pisimā] Pisimā knows a nṛsiṁha-mantra. Prabhupāda wants that she chants that mantra. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: While she’s cooking. ...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I’ll be in the next room, Śrīla Prabhupāda. [break] Shall I get the report? You want me to get the report of the astrologer? Prabhupāda: Hmm. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Okay. Here’s Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda: So the final inauspicious day is not come yet. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Final inauspicious day? Prabhupāda: Means death. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: What does that mean? The final inauspicious date? Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the… That means death. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Fatal day. Prabhupāda: Yes. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I’ll just look. [pause] What does this mean, “Ketu Mahādaśā”? What is the meaning of that, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Prabhupāda: Ketu, the most inauspicious. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Most inauspicious? Well, it says, “You’re presently undergoing the fag end of Ketu Mahādaśā, and it will last until 13th of January, 1978.” I mean, it mentions a lot of things here. I don’t understand these astrological terms. I could read them to you. If you understand them, I can read them to you. I don’t understand them. Just like I just mentioned Ketu Mahādaśā. To me that didn’t mean anything, ‘cause I didn’t understand it. Bhakti-caru: Pradyumna understands. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Where is he? Jayādvaita: In the reception room. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Should I read these out loud to you? Should I read these things to you? Prabhupāda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So the word meaning you’ll be able to translate into English? Pradyumna: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda: Then I can explain the translation. Pradyumna: Yes. Prabhupāda: The… Kṛṣṇa has become everything. After Brahmā has stolen the original cowherds boys and cows and calves, Kṛṣṇa has expanded Himself. So on account of Kṛṣṇa’s expansion, the cowherdsmen got a special attraction. First of all they were angry. The cowherdsmen were on the top of the hill. They did not like to come down. But on account of Kṛṣṇa, the boys were very, very attracted, and they immediately come down with special affection. Is it explained? Pradyumna: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda: It will help? Eh? Pradyumna: Yes, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda: So you can do that. Pradyumna: Yes. We can do every verse like this, yes. Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Little by little, few verses at a time throughout the day, the Bhāgavata will be completed.