Text 18] The Birth of Lord Krsna 223

vindnuvadam na ca tan manisitam
samyag yatas tyaktam upddadat puman

yah—anyone who; dtmanah—of his own real identity, the soul;
drsya-gunesu—among the visible objects, beginning with the body;
san—being situated in that position; iti—thus,; vyavasyate—continues
to act; sva-vyatirekatah—as if the body were independent of the soul;
abudhah—a rascal; vind anuvadam—without proper analytical study;
na—not; ca—also; tat—the body and other visible objects; manisitam—
such considerations having been discussed; samyak—fully; yatah—be-
cause he is a fool; tyaktam—are rejected; upddadat—accepts this body
as reality; pumaén—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 con-
clusion 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 ele-
ments. 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 wihout the soul have therefore been
described here as abudhah, foolish rascals.
