Finding the Cure for Today's Social Ills
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Dr. Singh:  So there is an ascending process of gaining knowledge and a descending process?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes. The ascending process will never be successful because it relies on information gathered through the senses, and the senses are imperfect. So we accept the descending process.
God cannot be known by the inductive process. Therefore He is called  adhokṣaja , which means “unknowable by direct perception.” The scientists say there is no God because they are trying to understand by direct perception. But He is  adhokṣaja ; therefore the scientists are ignorant of God because they are missing the method of knowing Him. In order to understand transcendental science, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master, hear from him submissively, and render service to him. Lord Kṛṣṇa explains this in the  Bhagavad-gītā  [4.34]:  tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā .
Dr. Singh:  There is a scientific journal called  Nature . It contains articles concerning natural products like plants and animals, but it does not mention God—only nature.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  We may correctly observe that plants are being produced by nature, but we must ask, “What has produced nature?” To ask  this  question is intelligence.
Dr. Singh:  The scientists don't think about that.
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  So they are fools. As soon as we speak of nature, the next question should be, “ Whose nature? ” For instance, I speak of  my  nature, and you speak of  your  nature. Therefore, as soon as nature is mentioned, the next inquiry should be, “ Whose nature? ”
Nature means energy, and as soon as you speak of energy, you must accept that there is a source of that energy. For example, the source of electric energy is the electric powerhouse. Electricity is not produced automatically. We must install a powerhouse and a generator. Similarly, in the  Vedas  it is said that material nature is working under Kṛṣṇa's direction.
Dr. Singh:  So do you mean to say that science has started from an intermediate point—not from the original point?
Śrīla Prabhupāda:  Yes, that is it exactly. They are ignorant of the origin. The scientists start from one point—but where does that point come from? That they do not know, in spite of vast research. One has to accept that the original source is God, who is full of all mystic powers and from whom everything emanates. He Himself says in the  Bhagavad-gītā  [10.8]:  aham sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvam pravartate , “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.” Our