Text 18]
The Birth of Lord Krṣṇa
223
vinānuvādam na ca tan manīṣitam samyag yatas tyaktam upādadat pumān
yaḥ —anyone who;  ātmanaḥ —of his own real identity, the soul;  dṛśya-guṇeṣu —among the visible objects, beginning with the body;  san —being situated in that position;  iti —thus;  vyavasyate —continues to act;  sva-vyatirekataḥ —as if the body were independent of the soul;  abudhaḥ —a rascal;  vinā anuvādam —without proper analytical study;  na —not;  ca —also;  tat —the body and other visible objects;  manīṣitam —such considerations having been discussed;  samyak —fully;  yataḥ —because he is a fool;  tyaktam —are rejected;  upādadat —accepts this body as reality;  pumān —a person.
TRANSLATION
One who considers his visible body, which is a product of the three modes of nature, to be independent of the soul is unaware of the basis of existence, and therefore he is a rascal. Those who are learned have rejected his conclusion because one can understand through full discussion that with no basis in soul, the visible body and senses would be insubstantial. Nonetheless, although his conclusion has been rejected, a foolish person considers it a reality.
PURPORT
Without the basic principle of soul, the body cannot be produced. So-called scientists have tried in many ways to produce a living body in their chemical laboratories, but no one has been able to do it because unless the spirit soul is present, a body cannot be prepared from material elements. Since scientists are now enamored of theories about the chemical composition of the body, we have challenged many scientists to make even a small egg. The chemicals in eggs can be found very easily. There is a white substance and a yellow substance, covered by a shell, and modern scientists should very easily be able to duplicate all this. But even if they were to prepare such an egg and put it in an incubator, this man-made chemical egg would not produce a chicken. The soul must be added because there is no question of a chemical combination for life. Those who think that life can exist without the soul have therefore been described here as  abudhaḥ , foolish rascals.