Today as I was driving home from the hospital, (I had some blood drawn), this question popped into my mind: “What is life?”. I saw some patients there, which appeared on the verge of death. I thought of my own mortality, we are born, live for sometime, and eventually die. So what is this life?
Just for fun I asked Google this question ‘what is life’ and got this ridiculous answer: “Life is the quality or condition that distinguishes living organisms (plants, animals, humans, and microorganisms) from inorganic matter and dead bodies. (Google search) I almost laughed out loud. Oh ya, that really tells me everything.
Then I remembered a book “Life comes from Life” that was published by the BBT back in 1979, based on morning walks by Srila Prabhupada.
“…This book is based on taped morning-walk conversations that Śrīla Prabhupāda had with some of his disciples during 1973, in the Los Angeles area. On those mornings when he focused on science, Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke mainly with his disciple Thoudam D. Singh, Ph.D. An organic chemist, Dr. Singh had directed the Bhaktivedanta Institute, an international center for advanced study and research in science, philosophy and theology.” (from forward)
I never really read that book, because my mind was not scientifically inclined. But from the Bhagavad-gita I learned these verses:
As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change. (Bg. 2.13)
For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. (Bg. 2.20)
I you would be interested in reading this small book the link is: http://prabhupada.io/books/lcfl
We have included in today’s post the forward from this important book.
“Life Comes From Life”
Forward
For people who have come to accept every pronouncement of modern scientists as tested and proven truth, this book will be an eye-opener. Life Comes From Life is an impromptu but brilliant critique of some of the dominant policies, theories and presuppositions of modern science and scientists by one of the greatest philosophers and scholars of the century, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vivid analysis uncovers the hidden and blatantly unfounded assumptions that underlie currently fashionable doctrines concerning the origins and purpose of life.
This book is based on taped morning-walk conversations that Śrīla Prabhupāda had with some of his disciples during 1973, in the Los Angeles area. On those mornings when he focused on science, Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke mainly with his disciple Thoudam D. Singh, Ph.D. An organic chemist, Dr. Singh presently directs the Bhaktivedanta Institute, an international center for advanced study and research in science, philosophy and theology.
Each day, wherever in the world he happened to be, Śrīla Prabhupāda would go out for a lengthy stroll in the chill quietude of the early morning, and cloaked in a warm wrap, he would share intimate moments with a small group of students, disciples and special guests. Some mornings found him immersed in contemplation or quiet appreciation of the surroundings, and little dialogue emerged. At other times he spoke at great length, and often with considerable intensity, on various subjects. During these animated discourses he demonstrated that philosophical analysis need not be a dull, abstruse affair, but can be a dynamic cutting edge into every sphere of life. Nothing could escape his keen intellect, deep spiritual insight and uncommon wit. Rejecting superficial and dogmatic thinking, he edified, challenged, cajoled, charmed and enlightened his students, and he carefully guided them to increased insight and understanding.
Śrīla Prabhupāda (1896-1977) is an internationally recognized author, scholar and spiritual preceptor, and he is widely esteemed as India’s greatest cultural ambassador to the world. In Life Comes From Life, Śrīla Prabhupāda takes the role of philosopher—social critic. With philosophical rigor, profound common sense and disarming frankness, he exposes not only modern science’s methodological shortcomings and unexamined biases but also the unverified (and unverifiable) speculations that scientists present to the trusting public as known fact. Thus Śrīla Prabhupāda breaks the spell of the materialistic and nihilistic myths which, masquerading as science, have so bewitched modern civilization.
—The Publishers
