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Srila Prabhupada[Posted Mar 16, 2009]

Creation by Remote Control



A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Too quick to dismiss the cause behind the process?
Charles Darwin Scientific American Feb 12, 2009 - CHRISTOPH MARTY

Darwin on a Godless Creation: "It's like confessing to a murder"



200 years after the birth of Charles Darwin, his theory of evolution still clashes with the creationist beliefs of some organized religions. For him personally, it meant the end of his belief in creation by God.

...According to his convictions, all living things descended from a common ancestor. And that species were not to be attributed to God's endless creativity, but were the product of a blind, mechanical process that altered them over the course of millions of years. This alone was pure heresy. Darwin even nursed doubts about the very survival of human beings.
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Postdated check
Perverted Reflection A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

KARANDHARA: Modern proponents of Darwinism say that the first living organism was created chemically. PRABHUPADA: And I say to them, "If life originated from chemicals, and if your science is so advanced, then why can't you create life biochemically in your laboratories?" KARANDHARA: They say they will create life in the future. PRABHUPADA: What future? When this crucial point is raised, they reply, "We shall do it in the future." Why in the future? That is nonsense. "Trust no future, however pleasant." If they are so advanced, they must demonstrate now how life can be created from chemicals. Otherwise what is the meaning of their advancement? They are talking nonsense. KARANDHARA: They say that they are right on the verge of creating life. PRABHUPADA: That's only a different way of saying the same thing: "In the future." The scientists must admit that they still do not know the origin of life. Their claim that they will soon prove a chemical origin of life is something like paying someone with a postdated check. Suppose I give you a postdated check for ten thousand dollars but I actually have no money. What is the value of that check? Scientists are claiming that their science is wonderful, but when a practical example is wanted, they say they will provide it in the future. Suppose I say that I possess millions of dollars, and when you ask me for some money I say, "Yes, I will now give you a big postdated check. Is that all right?" If you are intelligent, you will reply, "At present give me at least five dollars in cash so I can see something tangible." Similarly, the scientists cannot produce even a single blade of grass in their laboratories, yet they are claiming that life is produced from chemicals. What is this nonsense? Is no one questioning this? more

Analogy of the potter and potter's wheel


excerpt from Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.11.17, text & purport
My dear Dhruva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is uncontaminated by the material modes of nature. He is the remote cause of the creation of this material cosmic manifestation. When He gives the impetus, many other causes and effects are produced, and thus the whole universe moves, just as iron moves by the integrated force of a magnet.

PURPORT
How the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead works within this material world is explained in this verse. Everything is happening by the energy of the Supreme Lord. The atheistic philosophers, who do not agree to accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the original cause of creation, think that the material world moves by the action and reaction of different material elements. A simple example of the interaction of elements occurs when we mix soda and acid and the movement of effervescence is produced. But one cannot produce life by such interaction of chemicals. There are 8,400,000 different species of life, with different wishes and different actions. How the material force is working cannot be explained just on the basis of chemical reaction. A suitable example in this connection is that of the potter and the potter's wheel. The potter's wheel rotates, and several varieties of earthen pots come out. There are many causes for the earthen pots, but the original cause is the potter, who sets a force on the wheel. That force comes by his superintendence. The same idea is explained in Bhagavad-gita—behind all material action and reaction there is Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna says that everything depends on His energy, and yet He is not everywhere. The pot is produced under certain conditions of action and reaction of material energy, but the potter is not in the pot. In a similar way, the material creation is set up by the Lord, but He remains aloof. As stated in the Vedas, He simply glanced over it, and the agitation of matter immediately began.

In Bhagavad-gita it is also said that the Lord impregnates the material energy with the part-and-parceljivas, and thus the different forms and different activities immediately ensue. Because of the different desires and karmic activities of the jiva soul, different types of bodies in different species are produced. In Darwin's theory there is no acceptance of the living entity as spirit soul, and therefore his explanation of evolution is incomplete. Varieties of phenomena occur within this universe on account of the actions and reactions of the three material modes, but the original creator, or the cause, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is mentioned here as nimitta-matram, the remote cause. He simply pushes the wheel with His energy. According to the Mayavadi philosophers, the Supreme Brahman has transformed Himself into many varieties of forms, but that is not the fact. He is always transcendental to the actions and reactions of the material gunas, although He is the cause of all causes. Lord Brahma says, therefore, in the Brahma-samhita (5.1):

ishvarah paramah krishnah
sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam

There are many causes and effects, but the original cause is Sri Krishna.


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