We kick out Darwin's philosophy. The more we kick out Darwin's philosophy, the more we advance in spiritual consciousness.

What kind of authority was Darwin?

The Catholic Church never condemned Darwin

Darwin's philosophy kicked out

DR. SINGH: If a human being doesn't attain liberation, does he have to pass through all 8,400,000 species of life before again coming to the human form?

PRABHUPADA: No, only in the lower forms of life does the living entity progress step by step, according to the laws of nature. In the human form of life, he is endowed with developed consciousness—he has discretion. Therefore if he is advanced in consciousness, he is not going to get the body of a dog or cat; he will get another human body.

prapya punya-kritam lokan
ushitva shashvatih samah
shuchinam shrimatam gehe
yoga-bhrashto 'bhijayate [Bhagavad-gita 6.41]

The word yoga-bhrashtah refers to someone practicing yoga who somehow or other could not fully succeed. There's no question of evolution here; he is again awarded a human body. He does not get a cat's body or a dog's body. As with the apartments we were discussing, if you can pay more, you get a nicer apartment. You do not have to come to the lower-class apartment first.

DR. SINGH: What you have been saying completely contradicts Darwin's theory of evolution.

PRABHUPADA: Darwin is a rascal. What is his theory? We kick out Darwin's philosophy. The more we kick out Darwin's philosophy, the more we advance in spiritual consciousness.

DR. SINGH: Many scientists doubt Darwin's theories. But Darwin's supporters say that life started from matter and evolved from unicellular organisms to multicellular organisms. They believe that higher species like animals and men did not exist at the beginning of creation.

PRABHUPADA: Darwin and his followers are rascals. If originally there were no higher species, why do they exist now? Also, why do the lower species still exist? For example, at the present moment we see both the intellectual person and the foolish ass. Why do both these entities exist simultaneously? Why hasn't the ass form evolved upward and disappeared? Why do we never see a monkey giving birth to a human? The Darwinists' theory that human life began in such and such an era is nonsense. Bhagavad-gita says that you can directly transmigrate to any species of life you like, according to your efforts. Sometimes I travel to America, sometimes to Australia and sometimes to Africa. The countries already exist. I am simply traveling through them. It is not that because I have come to America, I have created or become America. And there are many countries I have not yet seen. Does that mean they do not exist? The scientists who support Darwin are nonsensical.

Bhagavad-gita clearly says that all the species exist simultaneously, and that you can go to whichever species you like. You can even go up to the kingdom of God, if you so desire. All this is declared in Bhagavad-gita by Lord Krishna.

Darwin criticized as a speculator

PRABHUPADA: The modern scientists, they are of opinion that life comes from matter. We say, "No, life comes from life. Matter comes from life." This is satyam. I do not know how they get Nobel Prize, putting forward a false theory that life comes from matter. So why don't you produce life in the laboratory? Matter is there. Chemicals are there. You mix them and produce a life. When some such chemist is inquired, "Whether you can produce life if I give you the chemicals?" they will immediately say, "That I cannot say." Then why do you speak like that? So this is asuric [demonic]. If they accept that everything comes from the living being, then they will have to accept God. So they want to avoid this: "Everything matter." But that is not the fact. Origin is life. That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita. Krishna says, aham sarvasya prabhavah [Bg. 10.8]. Krishna is life. He's not dead matter.

Now, what to speak of Krishna, you can, if you think of yourself, [contemplate] this material body, how it has developed, such big body? Because the living spark is there. The gigantic material thing grows on the basis of spirit soul. We can understand that. The spirit soul is the basis. Our body, very small particle, spiritual particle, takes shelter in the womb of the mother, and gradually the living spark develops this body. That is our practical experience. And if, some way or other, the living spark is gone... Suppose a dead child is born. It will not grow. It will not change. So this is very simple thing, that on this living being the matter grows, not from matter living being comes in. So we have written a small pamphlet, and in German language it is already published. People are very gladly accepting, reading this book. [Aside, to disciple:] What is the name you have given?

HANSADUTTA: Life Comes From Life.

PRABHUPADA: No, German name?

HANSADUTTA: Leben Komt von Leben.

PRABHUPADA: So, na satyam teshu vidyate. The demonic people, they do not have the truth. Only on false theory, the Darwin's theory... We have commented upon Darwin's theory also in our book, Scientific Basis of Krishna Consciousness. Dr. Svarup Damodar Brahmachari, he has written a small booklet. He has criticized Darwin very strongly, that he is a speculator. A speculator cannot give you truth. That is not possible. By speculation you cannot say, "Two plus two equal to five." That is not science. "Two plus two equal to four," that is everywhere. And if you speculate, "No, two plus two equal to five," or "two plus two equal to three," that is not science. So scientific basis means it should be fact, not speculation, mano-dharma. Mano-dharma means speculation.

Therefore shastra says, harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna mano-rathenasati dhavato bahih [SB 5.18.12]. Harav abhaktasya, one who is not of divine nature or a devotee of the Lord, he has no qualification. "Oh, he's MA, PhD." No, he has no qualification. "Why?" Now, mano-rathena, he is simply speculating. He has no truth. How by speculation...? Every one of us, we are imperfect. We are very much proud of our eyes: "Can you show me?" What qualification your eyes have got that you can see? He does not think that, that "I have no qualification; still, I want to see." These eyes, oh, they are dependent on so many condition. Now there is electricity, you can see. As soon as there is electricity off, you cannot see. Then what is the value of your eyes? You cannot see what is going on beyond this wall. So don't believe your so-called senses as the source of knowledge. No.

The source of knowledge should be by hearing. That is called shruti. Therefore Vedas' name is shruti. Shruti-pramana. Just like a child or a boy wants to know who is his father. So what is the evidence? That evidence is shruti, hearing from the mother. Mother says, "He is your father." So he hears; he does not see how he became his father. Because before his body was constructed the father was there, how could he see? So by seeing, you cannot ascertain who is your father. You have to hear from the authority. The mother is the authority. Therefore shruti-pramana: the evidence is hearing, not by seeing.

Seeing... Our imperfect eyes... There are so many obstacles. So similarly, by direct perception, you cannot have the truth. Direct perception is speculation. Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is speculating what is Atlantic Ocean. He is in the well, three feet well, and some friend inform him, "Oh, I have seen vast water." "What is that vast water?" "Atlantic Ocean." "How big it is?" "Very, very big." So the Dr. Frog is thinking, "Maybe four feet. This well is three feet. It may be four feet. All right, five feet. Come on, ten feet." So in this way, speculating, how the frog, Dr. Frog, will understand Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean? Can you estimate the length and breadth of the Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, by speculation? So by speculation, you cannot have. They are speculating so many years about this universe, how many stars are there, what is the length and breadth, where is the... Nobody knows anything even of the material world, and what to speak of the spiritual world? That is beyond, far beyond.

Paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktat sanatanah [Bg. 8.20]. You'll find in the Bhagavad-gita. There is another nature. This nature, what you see, the sky, a round dome, that, above that, there are layers of five elements again. This is the covering. Just like you have seen the coconut. There is hard covering, and within the covering there is water. Similarly, within this covering... And outside the covering there are five layers, thousand times bigger than the one another: Water layer, air layer, fire layer. So you have to penetrate all these layers. Then you will get the spiritual world. All these universes, unlimited number, koti. Yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti [Brahma-samhita 5.40]. Jagad-anda means the universe. Koti, many millions clustered together—that is material world. And beyond that material world there is spiritual world, another sky. That is also sky. That is called paravyoma. So by your sense perception you cannot estimate even what is there in the moon planet or sun planet, this planet, within this universe. How you can understand the spiritual world by speculation? This is foolishness.

Therefore shastra says, achintyah khalu ye bhava na tams tarkena yojayet. Acintya, which is inconceivable, beyond your sense perception, don't try to argue and understand it and speculate. This is foolishness. It is not possible. Therefore we have to go to the guru. Tad-vijñanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet, samit-panih shrotriyam brahma-nishtham [Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.12]. This is the process. But the demons, they do not know, this process. They speculate; they manufacture. Simply by jugglery of words they manufacture their truth.

Darwin not an authority

In the material world, the word mahatma is understood in different ways by different religionists. Mundaners also come up with their different angles of vision. For the conditioned soul busy in sense gratification, a mahajana is recognized according to the proportion of sense gratification he offers. For instance, a businessman may consider a certain banker to be a mahajana, and karmis desiring material enjoyment may consider philosophers like Jaimini to be mahajanas. There are many yogis who want to control the senses, and for them Patañjali Rishi is a mahajana. For the jñanis, the atheist Kapila, Vasishtha, Durvasa, Dattatreya and other impersonalist philosophers are mahajanas. For the demons, Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu, Ravana, Ravana’s son Meghanada, Jarasandha and others are accepted as mahajanas. For materialistic anthropologists speculating on the evolution of the body, a person like Darwin is a mahajana. The scientists who are bewildered by Krishna’s external energy have no relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet they are accepted by some as mahajanas. Similarly, philosophers, historians, literary men, public speakers and social and political leaders are sometimes accepted as mahajanas. Such mahajanas are respected by certain men who have been described in Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.3.19):

shva-vid-varahoshtra-kharaih samstutah purushah pashuh
na yat-karna-pathopeto jatu nama gadagrajah

“Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna, the deliverer from evils.”

Thus on the material platform animalistic leaders are worshiped by animals. Sometimes physicians, psychiatrists and social workers try to mitigate bodily pain, distress and fear, but they have no knowledge of spiritual identity and are bereft of a relationship with God. Yet they are considered mahajanas by the illusioned. Self-deceived persons sometimes accept leaders or spiritual masters from a priestly order that has been officially appointed by the codes of material life. In this way, they are deceived by official priests. Sometimes people accept as mahajanas those who have been designated by Srila Vrindavana dasa Thakur as dhanga-vipras (imposter brahmanas). Such imposters imitate the characteristics of Srila Haridas Thakur, and they envy Haridas Thakur, who was certainly a mahajana. They make great artificial endeavors, advertising themselves as great devotees of the Lord or as mystic hypnotists knowledgeable in witchcraft, hypnotism and miracles. Sometimes people accept as mahajanas demons like Putana, Trinavarta, Vatsa, Baka, Aghasura, Dhenuka, Kaliya and Pralamba. Some people accept imitators and adversaries of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, such as Paundraka, Srigala Vasudeva, the spiritual master of the demons (Sukracharya), or atheists like Charvaka, King Vena, Sugata and Arhat. People who accept such imitators as mahajanas have no faith in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rather, they accept godless cheaters who present themselves as incarnations of God and cheat foolish people within the material world by word jugglery. Thus many rascals are accepted as mahajanas. It is those who are devoid of devotional service who sometimes mistakenly accept persons with mundane motives as mahajanas. The only motive must be krishna-bhakti, devotional service to the Lord. Sometimes fruitive workers, dry philosophers, nondevotees, mystic yogis and persons attached to material opulence, women and money are considered mahajanas. But Srimad-Bhagavatam (6.3.25) gives the following statement about such unauthorized mahajanas:

prayena veda tad idam na mahajano ‘yam
devya vimohita-matir bata mayayalam
trayyam jadi-krita-matir madhu-pushpitayam
vaitanike mahati karmani yujyamanah

In this material world, karmis (fruitive actors) are accepted as mahajanas by foolish people who do not know the value of devotional service. The mundane intelligence and mental speculative methods of such foolish people are under the control of the three modes of material nature. Consequently they cannot understand unalloyed devotional service. They are attracted by material activities, and they become worshipers of material nature. Thus they are known as fruitive actors. They even become entangled in material activities disguised as spiritual activities. In the Bhagavad-gita such people are described as veda-vada-ratah, supposed followers of the Vedas. They do not understand the real purport of the Vedas, yet they think of themselves as Vedic authorities. People versed in Vedic knowledge must know Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vedaish cha sarvair aham eva vedyah. (Bg. 15.15)

In this material world a person may be famous as a karma-vira, a successful fruitive worker, or he may be very successful in performing religious duties, or he may be known as a hero in mental speculation (jñana-vira), or he may be a very famous renunciant. In any case, Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.23.56) gives the following opinion in this matter:

neha yat karma dharmaya na viragaya kalpate
na tirtha-pada-sevayai jivann api mrito hi sah

“Anyone whose work is not meant for elevating him to religious life, anyone whose religious ritualistic performances do not raise him to renunciation, and anyone situated in renunciation that does not lead him to devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be considered dead, although he is breathing.”

The conclusion is that all pious activity, fruitive activity, religious principles and renunciation must ultimately lead to devotional service. There are different types of processes for rendering service. One may serve his country, people and society, the varnashrama-dharma system, the sick, the poor, the rich, women, demigods and so on. All this service comes under the heading of sense gratification, or enjoyment in the material world. It is most unfortunate that people are more or less attracted by such material activity and that the leaders of these activities are accepted as mahajanas, great ideal leaders. Actually they are only misleaders, but an ordinary man cannot understand how he is being misled.

Narottama das Thakur says, sadhu-shastra-guru-vakya, chittete kariya aikya: “One should accept as one’s guide the words of the sadhus, the shastra and the guru.” A sadhu is a great personality like Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the shastrasare the injunctions of revealed scriptures, and the guru, or spiritual master, is one who confirms the scriptural injunctions. Accepting the guidance of these three is the actual way of following the great personalities (mahajanas) for real advancement in life (mahajano yena gatah sa panthah [Cc. Madhya 17.186]). A man covered by illusion cannot understand the proper way; therefore Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, dharma-sthapana-hetu sadhura vyavahara: “The behavior of a devotee is the criterion for all other behavior.” Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself followed the devotional principles and taught others to follow them. Puri-gosañira ye acharana, sei dharma sara. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally followed the behavior of Madhavendra Puri and advised others to follow his principles. Unfortunately, people have been attracted to the material body since time immemorial.

yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatradishu bhauma ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhichij
janeshv abhijñeshu sa eva go-kharah

“A human being who identifies this body made of three elements with his self, who considers the by-products of the body to be his kinsmen, who considers his land of birth worshipable, and who goes to a place of pilgrimage simply to take a bath rather than meet men of transcendental knowledge there is to be considered like an ass or a cow.” (SB 10.84.13)

Those who accept the logic of gaddalika-pravaha and follow in the footsteps of pseudo mahajanas are carried away by the waves of maya. Bhaktivinoda Thakur therefore warns:

miche mayara vashe, yaccha bhese’,
khaccha habudubu, bhai
jiva krishna-dasa, e vishvasa,
ka’rle ta’ ara duhkha nai

“Don’t be carried away by the waves of maya. Just surrender to the lotus feet of Krishna, and all miseries will end.”

Those who follow social customs and behavior forget to follow the path chalked out by the mahajanas; thus they are offenders at the feet of the mahajanas. Sometimes they consider such mahajanas very conservative, or they create their own mahajanas. In this way they ignore the principles of the parampara system. This is a great misfortune for everyone. If one does not follow in the footsteps of the real mahajanas, one’s plans for happiness will be frustrated. This is elaborately explained later in the Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya-lila (Chapter Twenty-five, verses 55, 56 and 58). It is there stated:

parama karana ishvare keha nahi mane
sva-sva-mata sthape para-matera khandane
tate chaya darshana haite ‘tattva’ nahi jani
‘mahajana’ yei kahe, sei ‘satya’ mani
shri-krishna-caitanya-vani—amritera dhara
tinho ye kahaye vastu, sei ‘tattva’—sara

People are so unfortunate that they do not accept the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Instead, they want to be supported by so-called mahajanas, or authorities. Tate chaya darshana haite ‘tattva’ nahi jani: we cannot ascertain the real truth simply by following speculators. We have to follow the footsteps of the mahajanas in the disciplic succession. Then our attempt will be successful.

Sri-krishna-chaitanya-vani—amritera dhara: “Whatever is spoken by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is an incessant flow of nectar.” Whoever accepts His words as reality can understand the essence of the Absolute Truth.

No one can ascertain the Absolute Truth by following the philosophy of Sankhya or the yoga system of Patañjali, for neither the followers of Sankhya nor the yogis who follow Patañjali accept Lord Vishnu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead (na te viduh svartha-gatim hi vishnum [SB 7.5.31]). The ambition of such people is never fulfilled; therefore they are attracted by the external energy. Although mental speculators may be renowned all over the world as great authorities, actually they are not. Such leaders are themselves conservative and not at all liberal. However, if we preach this philosophy, people will consider Vaishnavas very sectarian. Srila Madhavendra Puri was a real mahajana, but misguided people cannot distinguish the real from the unreal. But a person who is awakened to Krishna consciousness can understand the real religious path chalked out by the Lord and His pure devotees. Sri Madhavendra Puri was a real mahajana because he understood the Absolute Truth properly and throughout his life behaved like a pure devotee. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu approved the method of Sri Madhavendra Puri. Therefore, although from the material viewpoint the Sanodiya brahmana was on a lower platform, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu considered him situated on the highest platform of spiritual realization.

Srimad-Bhagavatam (6.3.20) states that there are twelve mahajanas: Brahma, Narada, Shambhu, the four Kumaras, Kapila, Manu, Prahlada, Janaka, Bhishma, Bali, Shukadeva and Yamaraja.

To select our mahajanas in the Gaudiya-sampradaya, we have to follow in the footsteps of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His representatives. His next representative is Sri Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, and the next representatives are the six Gosvamis—Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatana, Bhatta Raghunatha, Sri Jiva, Gopala Bhatta and Dasa Raghunatha. A follower of Vishnu Svami was Sridhara Svami, the most well known commentator on Srimad-Bhagavatam. He was also a mahajana. Similarly, Chandidasa, Vidyapati and Jayadeva were all mahajanas. One who tries to imitate the mahajanas just to become an imitative spiritual master is certainly far away from following in the footsteps of the mahajanas. Sometimes people cannot actually understand how a mahajana follows other mahajanas. In this way people commit offenses and fall from devotional service.