Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Srila Prabhupada Analogies

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Srila Prabhupada Analogies

 

 

On a morning walk on Venice Beach in May 1973, Srila

Prabhupada presented a number of analogies exposing

false logic.

 

Prabhupada had been explaining to Svarupa Damodara,

Brahmananda Swami, and others that each living

creature lives in a certain environment suited for it.

Therefore, we never find a frog in the ocean. This

living habit of the frog is the basis of the example

known as "the frog in the well."

 

"This example is available in the Bhagavata,

Prabhupada?" asked Svarupa Damodara.

 

"Yes," said Srila Prabhupada. "In nyaya-sastra it is

said, kupa-manduka-nyaya. Kupa means 'well' and

manduka means 'frog.' The frog in the well. Dr. Frog

is never visible in the ocean. He has never seen what

is the ocean; therefore all these scientists are

compared to frogs. They have never seen what is the

kingdom of God."

 

Srila Prabhupada then explained another logic, known

as bakanda-nyaya. "Baka means 'duck,' and anda means

'testicles of the bull.' The bull is going, and his

testicle is hanging, and the duck is following after

that. He is thinking, 'Here is a fish.' You will find

the ducks always going and wondering when the 'fish'

will drop. It will never drop, but he is going after

it. And neither is it a fish. The bakanda is

comparable to any materialist in illusion, who chases

after maya."

 

Then Prabhupada explained aja-gala-stana. "You have

seen in the goats, in the necks -- it is just like

nipples," said Prabhupada. "So if one is expecting

milk from that nipple, he is also a fool. It is not a

nipple, but it looks like one. These are illusions.

Aja-gala-stana applies to those rascals who think that

from matter, life is coming. Exactly the same, they

are thinking that here is a nipple and some milk will

come. 'Let us milk here. Maybe in the future.'

 

"Another is nagna-matrka. This means someone says,

'Mother, when you were a child you were naked; why do

you put on clothes now?' The mother was naked when she

was a child. Therefore the logic is that she should

remain naked still. If someone was not very important,

and now he has become important, the logic is, 'How

has this man become important?' Because the mother was

naked in childhood, therefore she should not put on

any garments? We change according to the

circumstances. You cannot say that this must remain

like this. So when one comes to Krsna consciousness,

that is perfect." (And one cannot say that he is

disqualified by a lower birth or bad behavior in a

previous life.)

 

"In Sanskrit logic," said Srila Prabhupada, "all these

examples are there from nature's study."

 

Morning walk, May 5, 1973, Los Angeles.

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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