View source for The logic of the frog in the well

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{{terms|"A Dr. Frog. He is thinking"|"A frog from within the well"|"A frog lives within the well"|"A frog, whose life is within the well"|"Because you are the frog of the well"|"Dr. Frog calculation"|"Dr. Frog is limited within the three-feet well"|"Dr. Frog is speculating what is Atlantic Ocean"|"Dr. Frog is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean"|"Dr. Frog is within the well, three feet length"|"Dr. Frog knows that"|"Dr. Frog of the well"|"Dr. Frog thinks that this three feet dimension of the well is all in all"|"Dr. Frog's understanding"|"Dr. Frog, from within the well"|"Frog is in the well"|"Frog philosophy"|"Frog philosophy, he has got experience of three-feet well"|"Kupa means well, and manduka means the frog"|"The frog lives in a well"|"The frog within the well"|"The frog-philosopher"|"This small well is everything"|"a frog in a three-foot well"|"a frog in the well"|"frog in the well"|"frogs of the well"|"just like a frog's trying to measure the Atlantic Ocean"|"the frog in the well"|"the frog's speculation within the well"|"the logic of the frog in the well"|"you can go on imagining, Dr. Frog"}}
{{notes|Story: Dr. Frog. VedaBase query: "frog well"@20)}}
{{compiler|Sahadeva|MadhuGopaldas}}
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{{first|20May09}}
{{last|28Feb13}}
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[[Category:Frog|2]]
[[Category:Within|2]]
[[Category:Wells|2]]
[[Category:Frog Philosophy|2]]
[[Category:Frog in the Well Logic‎|2]]
[[Category:Prabhupada's Analogies|2]]
[[Category:Prabhupada's Stories|#]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1966 - 1977]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1966]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1968]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1969]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1971]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1972]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1973]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1974]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1975]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1976]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, Bhagavad-gita As It Is]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, Srimad-Bhagavatam]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, General]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Morning Walks, 1966 - 1977]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Morning Walks, 1973]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Morning Walks, 1975]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Morning Walks, 1976]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Room Conversations, 1966 - 1977]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Room Conversations, 1976]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Room Conversations, 1977]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in India, Hyderabad]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in USA, New York]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in Australasia, Melbourne]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in India, Bombay]]
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[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in Africa, Kenya - Mombassa]]
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[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in USA, Hawaii]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in USA, Atlanta]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in India, Nellore]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in Europe, England - London]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in Africa, Mauritius]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in Asia, Iran - Tehran]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Stories]]

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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam" class="section" sec_index="1" parent="compilation" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam"><h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
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<div id="SB_Canto_2" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 2"><h3>SB Canto 2</h3>
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<div id="SB2510_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_2" book="SB" index="131" link="SB 2.5.10" link_text="SB 2.5.10">
<div class="heading">"The frog in the well" logic illustrates that a frog residing in the atmosphere and boundary of a well cannot imagine the length and breadth of the gigantic ocean.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 2.5.10|SB 2.5.10, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Whatever you have spoken about me is not false because unless and until one is aware of the Personality of Godhead, who is the ultimate truth beyond me, one is sure to be illusioned by observing my powerful activities.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>"The frog in the well" logic illustrates that a frog residing in the atmosphere and boundary of a well cannot imagine the length and breadth of the gigantic ocean. Such a frog, when informed of the gigantic length and breadth of the ocean, first of all does not believe that there is such an ocean, and if someone assures him that factually there is such a thing, the frog then begins to measure it by imagination by means of pumping its belly as far as possible, with the result that the tiny abdomen of the frog bursts and the poor frog dies without any experience of the actual ocean. Similarly, the material scientists also want to challenge the inconceivable potency of the Lord by measuring Him with their froglike brains and their scientific achievements, but at the end they simply die unsuccessfully, like the frog.</p>
<p>Sometimes a materially powerful man is accepted as God or the incarnation of God without any knowledge of the factual God. Such a material assessment may be gradually extended, and the attempt may reach to the highest limit of Brahmājī, who is the topmost living being within the universe and has a duration of life unimaginable to the material scientist. As we get information from the most authentic book of knowledge, the Bhagavad-gītā ([[Vanisource:BG 8.17 (1972)|BG 8.17]])), Brahmājī's one day and night is calculated to be some hundreds of thousands of years on our planet. This long duration of life may not be believed by "the frog in the well," but persons who have a realization of the truths mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā accept the existence of a great personality who creates the variegatedness of the complete universe. It is understood from the revealed scriptures that the Brahmājī of this universe is younger than all the other Brahmās in charge of the many, many universes beyond this, but none of them can be equal to the Personality of Godhead.</p>
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<div id="SB21042_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_2" book="SB" index="363" link="SB 2.10.42" link_text="SB 2.10.42">
<div class="heading">The frog in the well cannot even think of the sea, and when such a frog is informed of the greatness of the sea, it takes the conception of the sea as being a little greater than the well.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 2.10.42|SB 2.10.42, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Conceptions of the material world such as good and bad, lower and upper, important and insignificant, are estimations of the material energy, and the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all such conceptions. The words paraṁ bhāvam, or transcendental nature, can never be compared to the material conception. We should not forget that the potencies of the Almighty Lord are always the same and do not decrease because the Lord assumes the form of a lower animal. There is no difference between Lord Śrī Rāma, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His incarnations as a fish and hog. He is all-pervading and simultaneously localized at any and every place. But the foolish person with a poor fund of knowledge, for want of that paraṁ bhāvam of the Lord, cannot understand how the Supreme Lord can take the form of a man or a fish. One compares everything to one's own standard of knowledge, as the frog in the well considers the sea to be like the well. The frog in the well cannot even think of the sea, and when such a frog is informed of the greatness of the sea, it takes the conception of the sea as being a little greater than the well. As such, one who is foolish about the transcendental science of the Lord will find it difficult to understand how Lord Viṣṇu can equally manifest Himself in every society of living entities.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_3" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 3"><h3>SB Canto 3</h3>
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<div id="SB3610_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="204" link="SB 3.6.10" link_text="SB 3.6.10">
<div class="heading">A frog in a well was informed of the gigantic Pacific Ocean, and he began to puff himself up in order to understand or measure the length and breadth of the Pacific Ocean. Ultimately the frog burst and died.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.6.10|SB 3.6.10, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Due to a poor fund of knowledge, the mental speculators try to bring the Supreme within the purview of words and minds, but the Lord refuses to be so intelligible; the speculator has no adequate words or mind to gauge the infinity of the Lord. The Lord is called adhokñaja, or the person who is beyond perception by the blunt, limited potency of our senses. One cannot perceive the transcendental name or form of the Lord by mental speculation. The mundane Ph.D.'s are completely unable to speculate on the Supreme with their limited senses. Such attempts by the puffed up Ph.D's are compared to the philosophy of the frog in the well. A frog in a well was informed of the gigantic Pacific Ocean, and he began to puff himself up in order to understand or measure the length and breadth of the Pacific Ocean. Ultimately the frog burst and died. The title Ph.D. can also be interpreted as Plough Department, a title meant for the tillers in the paddy field. The attempt of the tillers in the paddy field to understand the cosmic manifestation and the cause behind such wonderful work can be compared to the endeavor of the frog in the well to calculate the measurement of the Pacific Ocean.</p>
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<div id="SB3635_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="229" link="SB 3.6.35" link_text="SB 3.6.35">
<div class="heading">The frog-philosopher wanted to estimate the length and breadth of the Pacific Ocean by his experience of a well three cubic feet large, and thus he began to puff himself up to become as big as the Pacific Ocean, but at last he burst and died by this process.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.6.35|SB 3.6.35, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O Vidura, who can estimate or measure the transcendental time, work and potency of the gigantic form manifested by the internal potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>The froggish philosophers may go on with their mental speculations on the subject matter of the virāṭ, the gigantic form exhibited by the yogamāyā internal potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but factually no one can measure such a vast exhibition. In Bhagavad-gītā ([[Vanisource:BG 11.16 (1972)|BG 11.16]]), Arjuna, the recognized devotee of the Lord, says:</p>
:aneka-bāhūdara-vaktra-netraṁ
:paśyāmi tvāṁ sarvato 'nanta-rūpam
:nāntaṁ na madhyaṁ na punas tavādiṁ
:paśyāmi viśveśvara viśva-rūpa
<p>"O my Lord, O gigantic viśva-rūpa form, O master of the universe, I see innumerable hands, bodies, mouths and eyes in all directions, and they are all unlimited. I cannot find the end of this manifestation, nor do I see the middle, nor the beginning."</p>
<p>Bhagavad-gītā was specifically spoken to Arjuna, and the viśva-rūpa was exhibited before him at his request. He was awarded the specific eyes to see this viśva-rūpa, yet although he was able to see the Lord's innumerable hands and mouths, he was unable to see Him completely. Since Arjuna was unable to estimate the length and breadth of the potency of the Lord, who else would be able to do so? One may only indulge in miscalculation like the frog-philosopher. The frog-philosopher wanted to estimate the length and breadth of the Pacific Ocean by his experience of a well three cubic feet large, and thus he began to puff himself up to become as big as the Pacific Ocean, but at last he burst and died by this process. This story is applicable to the mental philosophers who, under the illusion of the Lord's external energy, indulge in estimating the length and breadth of the Supreme Lord. The best path is to become a cool-headed, submissive devotee of the Lord, try to hear about the Lord from the bona fide spiritual master, and thus serve the Lord in transcendental loving service, as suggested in the previous verse.</p>
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<div id="SB3638_2" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="232" link="SB 3.6.38" link_text="SB 3.6.38">
<div class="heading">These philosophers, like the frog in the well who tried to estimate the measurement of the Pacific Ocean, like to take trouble over fruitless mental speculation instead of taking instructions from devotees like the original poet, namely, Brahmā.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.6.38|SB 3.6.38, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O my son, the original poet, Brahmā, after mature meditation for one thousand celestial years, could know only that the glories of the Supreme Soul are inconceivable.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>There are some froggish philosophers who want to know the Supreme Soul by means of philosophy and mental speculation. And when the devotees, who are to some extent in knowledge of the Supreme Lord, admit that the glories of the Lord are inestimable or inconceivable, the froggish philosophers adversely criticize them. These philosophers, like the frog in the well who tried to estimate the measurement of the Pacific Ocean, like to take trouble over fruitless mental speculation instead of taking instructions from devotees like the original poet, namely, Brahmā. Lord Brahmā underwent a severe type of meditation for one thousand celestial years, yet he said that the glories of the Lord are inconceivable. Therefore what can the froggish philosophers hope to gain from their mental speculations?</p>
<p>It is said in the Brahma-saṁhitā that the mental speculator may fly through the sky of speculation with the velocity of the mind or the wind for thousands of millions of years, and still he will find it inconceivable. The devotees, however, do not waste time in such vain searching after knowledge of the Supreme, but they submissively hear the glories of the Lord from bona fide devotees. Thus they transcendentally enjoy the process of hearing and chanting.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_4" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 4"><h3>SB Canto 4</h3>
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<div id="SB41123_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="483" link="SB 4.11.23" link_text="SB 4.11.23">
<div class="heading">The story is that a frog in a three-foot well wanted to calculate the length and breadth of the Atlantic Ocean on the basis of his knowledge of his own well. But it was an impossible task for Dr. Frog.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.11.23|SB 4.11.23, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The Absolute Truth, Transcendence, is never subject to the understanding of imperfect sensory endeavor, nor is He subject to direct experience. He is the master of varieties of energies, like the full material energy, and no one can understand His plans or actions; therefore it should be concluded that although He is the original cause of all causes, no one can know Him by mental speculation.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>The question may be raised, "Since there are so many varieties of philosophers theorizing in different ways, which of them is correct?" The answer is that the Absolute Truth, Transcendence, is never subject to direct experience or mental speculation. The mental speculator may be called Dr. Frog. The story is that a frog in a three-foot well wanted to calculate the length and breadth of the Atlantic Ocean on the basis of his knowledge of his own well. But it was an impossible task for Dr. Frog. A person may be a great academician, scholar or professor, but he cannot speculate and expect to understand the Absolute Truth, for his senses are limited. The cause of all causes, the Absolute Truth, can be known from the Absolute Truth Himself, and not by our ascending process to reach Him. When the sun is not visible at night or when it is covered by a cloud in the day, it is not possible to uncover it, either by bodily or mental strength or by scientific instruments, although the sun is there in the sky. No one can say that he has discovered a torchlight so powerful that if one goes on a roof and focuses the torchlight on the night sky, the sun will then be seen. There is no such torchlight, nor is it possible.</p>
<p>The word avyakta, "unmanifested," in this verse indicates that the Absolute Truth cannot be manifested by any strain of so-called scientific advancement of knowledge. Transcendence is not the subject matter of direct experience. The Absolute Truth may be known in the same way as the sun covered by a cloud or covered by night, for when the sun rises in the morning, in its own way, then everyone can see the sun, everyone can see the world, and everyone can see himself. This understanding of self-realization is called ātma-tattva. Unless, however, one comes to this point of understanding ātma-tattva, one remains in the darkness in which he was born. Under the circumstances, no one can understand the plan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is equipped with varieties of energies, as stated in the Vedic literature (parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 13.65|CC Madhya 13.65, purport]]). He is equipped with the energy of eternal time. Not only does He have the material energy which we see and experience, but He has also many reserve energies that He can manifest in due course of time when necessary. The material scientist can simply study the partial understanding of the varieties of energies; he can take up one of the energies and try to understand it with limited knowledge, but still it is not possible to understand the Absolute Truth in full by dint of material science. No material scientist can foretell what is going to happen in the future. The bhakti-yoga process, however, is completely different from so-called scientific advancement of knowledge. A devotee completely surrenders unto the Supreme, who reveals Himself by His causeless mercy. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam. The Lord says, "I give him intelligence." What is that intelligence? Yena mām upayānti te. The Lord gives one the intelligence to cross over the ocean of nescience and come back home, back to Godhead. In conclusion, the cause of all causes, the Absolute Truth, or Supreme Brahman, cannot be understood by philosophical speculation, but He reveals Himself to His devotee because the devotee fully surrenders unto His lotus feet. Bhagavad-gītā is therefore to be accepted as a revealed scripture spoken by the Absolute Truth Himself when He descended to this planet. If any intelligent man wants to know what God is, he should study this transcendental literature under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. Then it is very easy to understand Kṛṣṇa as He is.</p>
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<div id="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" class="section" sec_index="2" parent="compilation" text="Sri Caitanya-caritamrta"><h2>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta</h2>
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<div id="CC_Madhya-lila" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" text="CC Madhya-lila"><h3>CC Madhya-lila</h3>
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<div id="CCMadhya8193_0" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="1597" link="CC Madhya 8.193" link_text="CC Madhya 8.193">
<div class="heading">It is just like a frog’s trying to measure the Atlantic Ocean by imagining it so many times larger than his well.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 8.193|CC Madhya 8.193, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Since material philosophers are situated in the material conception of life, they are unable to realize the spiritual prema-vilāsa-vivarta. They cannot accommodate an elephant upon a dish. Similarly, mundane speculators cannot capture the spiritual elephant within their limited conception. It is just like a frog's trying to measure the Atlantic Ocean by imagining it so many times larger than his well. Materialistic philosophers and sahajiyās cannot understand the talks between Rāmānanda Rāya and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu concerning the pastimes of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. The only tendency of the impersonalists or the prākṛta-sahajiyās is to face the platform of impersonalism. They cannot understand spiritual variegatedness. Consequently, when Rāmānanda Rāya attempted to sing his own verses, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stopped him by covering his mouth with His own hand.</p>
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<div id="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" class="section" sec_index="3" parent="compilation" text="Other Books by Srila Prabhupada"><h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<div id="Renunciation_Through_Wisdom" class="sub_section" sec_index="5" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Renunciation Through Wisdom"><h3>Renunciation Through Wisdom</h3>
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<div id="RTW27_0" class="quote" parent="Renunciation_Through_Wisdom" book="OB" index="19" link="RTW 2.7" link_text="Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.7">
<div class="heading">No matter how big a thinker a tiny living entity may be, all his activities are limited by mundane boundaries, just as a frog in the well can never comprehend that such a thing as an ocean exists outside his little domain.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:RTW 2.7|Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.7]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Compared to other species, human beings are certainly endowed with good intelligence, yet unless they are devotees of the Lord, all their thinking is limited within mundane boundaries. Therefore it is impossible for the mundane mind to approach the transcendence. But instead of surrendering to the Supreme Lord or His representative, the empirical philosophers try to explain away as "unmanifest" that which is beyond their mundane minds. This is known as the logic of the frog in the well.</p>
<p>No matter how big a thinker a tiny living entity may be, all his activities are limited by mundane boundaries, just as a frog in the well can never comprehend that such a thing as an ocean exists outside his little domain. He refuses to acknowledge that a mass of water infinitely bigger than his tiny puddle can at all be possible. Similarly, we are trapped in the dark well of our body and mind. And although we may try hard through yoga or empirical speculation to overcome our limitations, no matter how erudite we are it is impossible to reach beyond the limitations of our self-made well.</p>
<p>So, who can bring us news of the great ocean? Is there any record of how long we have been struggling in the water to stay afloat in the well of this material world, sometimes going up to the higher planets, sometimes coming down? Only the Supreme Lord Himself or His empowered representative can possibly free us from confinement in this dark well. Under their guidance we can come to know of the limitless ocean of the spiritual sky. This process—hearing from higher authorities—is called the deductive, or descending, process of knowledge. It is the only authorized way to learn transcendental knowledge. By this method alone is eternal truth transmitted.</p>
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG212HyderabadNovember171972_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="54" link="Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972">
<div class="heading">We have explained several times. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. The frog within the well, he is calculating the dimension of Pacific Ocean. So by this dog, frog philosophical way, we can, we cannot understand what is God.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972|Lecture on BG 2.12 -- Hyderabad, November 17, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So Arjuna was calculating as a human being about Kṛṣṇa. That was his mistake. That was his not mistake. That was his inquiry to clear the mistake of our. We mistake Kṛṣṇa as one of us. Because Kṛṣṇa comes down as human being, we, due to our lack of knowledge, poor fund of knowledge, we think Kṛṣṇa is as good as we are. But actually it is not. Kṛṣṇa is God. We are ordinary living entities. His knowledge, His power of remembrance, His power of knowing everything perfectly is different from our knowing. But unfortunately we think, "God may be little greater than me." That is that Dr. Frog philosophy. We have explained several times. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. The frog within the well, he is calculating the dimension of Pacific Ocean. So by this dog, frog philosophical way, we can, we cannot understand what is God. We must receive the knowledge from God Himself, or from a person who knows God. Otherwise, there is no possibility. Now, according to māyā..., Māyāvāda philosophy, they say that there is no duality. It is a kind of illusion that we see difference between God and ourself. That is māyā.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG223HyderabadNovember271972_1" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="86" link="Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972">
<div class="heading">A frog philosophy. The Dr. Frog. Frog is considering, "Atlantic Ocean may be a little bigger than the well." Because he is living always. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya It is, Sanskrit it is called kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Kūpa means well, and maṇḍūka means the frog. The frog is perpetually within the well, and if somebody informs him that there is another big span of water, Atlantic Ocean, he simply calculates that "It may be a little more than this well, little more than this well."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972|Lecture on BG 2.23 -- Hyderabad, November 27, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So actually, the ultimate, the last word of the Absolute Truth is person. But, but unfortunately, those who are mūḍhas, or less intelligent, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam ([[Vanisource:BG 9.11 (1972)|BG 9.11]]), "Oh, Kṛṣṇa? He may be God, but He has become a person, taking the help of māyā." This is Māyāvāda philosophy. They are studying māyā; they put God also within māyā. This is Māyāvāda philosophy. But God is not māyā. God is never covered by māyā. Kṛṣṇa says that mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: ([[Vanisource:BG 7.14 (1972)|BG 7.14]]) "Anyone who surrenders unto Me, he becomes free from the clutches of māyā." How Kṛṣṇa can be within māyā? That is not very good philosophy. Simply by surrendering unto Kṛṣṇa, you become free from māyā. How the person, the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, can be within māyā? Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 9.11 (1972)|BG 9.11]]). They do not know how much potential the Lord is, how much powerful He is. They are comparing the power of the Supreme Lord with his own power. A frog philosophy. The Dr. Frog. Frog is considering, "Atlantic Ocean may be a little bigger than the well." Because he is living always. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya It is, Sanskrit it is called kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Kūpa means well, and maṇḍūka means the frog. The frog is perpetually within the well, and if somebody informs him that there is another big span of water, Atlantic Ocean, he simply calculates that "It may be a little more than this well, little more than this well." But he cannot understand how great He is. So God is great. We cannot understand how great He is! That is our folly. We are simply calculating: "He may be one inch greater than me. Or one foot greater than me." That is mental speculation. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye: ([[Vanisource:BG 7.3 (1972)|BG 7.3]]) "Out of many millions of men, one may try to make his life successful, understanding the Absolute Truth." And yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 7.3 (1972)|BG 7.3]]).</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG41DelhiNovember101971_2" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="132" link="Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971" link_text="Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971">
<div class="heading">Another frog friend comes and informs the frog in the well, "My dear friend, today I have seen a very big span of water, Pacific Ocean." So the frog in the well, he considers that Pacific Ocean may be four feet. "My water is three feet, so Pacific Ocean may be four feet."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971|Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">By speculating, you cannot understand God. That is not possible. He's so great, our speculating power is very poor.</p>
<p>In Sanskrit there is a logical conclusion, Dr. Frog. A frog within the well. You know, well, a three-feet circumference, and there is a frog. Another frog friend comes and informs the frog in the well, "My dear friend, today I have seen a very big span of water, Pacific Ocean." So the frog in the well, he considers that Pacific Ocean may be four feet. "My water is three feet, so Pacific Ocean may be four feet." So, he replied to his friend, "Is that Pacific Ocean four feet?" "No, no it is very big." "All right, five feet?" "No, no, it is very big." "All right, six feet!" (laughter) So in this way, if we speculate about God—one feet more—God may be little stronger than me, or richer than me, little. Or more rich, more rich. In this way you cannot speculate. What will he know, the frog, about the Pacific Ocean. Similarly, all our philosophical speculation about God, is the speculation of the frog within the well. Because our brain cannot accommodate what is greatness. So, in that way we cannot understand what is God. The process should be attempted.</p>
<p>The process is bhakti, devotion. As it is advised in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ([[Vanisource:BG 18.66 (1972)|BG 18.66]]).</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG7814NewYorkOctober21966_3" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="277" link="Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966">
<div class="heading">The frog philosophy is that a frog in the well, he was informed about the Atlantic Ocean by his friend, and the frog inquired from him, "Oh, what is that Atlantic Ocean?" "Oh, it is a huge, vast span of water." Now, the frog is in the well, he is thinking, "Oh, it may be double than this well or it may be triple than this well, or a hundred times,"
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966|Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">When the eighth stage, when Rāmānanda Rāya cited one verse from the Vedic literature... This literature is</p>
:jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
:jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
:sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
:ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām
:([[Vanisource:SB 10.14.3|SB 10.14.3]])
<p>The purport of this verse is that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya: "One should give up his unnecessary endeavor for philosophical speculation about God." One should give it up, jñāne prayāsam, because by speculation you cannot reach to the ultimate truth. How far... How can you... Just suppose we are speculating... Very great scientists are speculating about the nature of the moon from here. But they are speculating. They have not come to any conclusion. So you go on speculating, which you have no experience. You go on speculating, but the real nature of that thing will never come to you.</p>
<p>So jñāne prayāsam. Especially for understanding God, or God consciousness, speculation is useless. So Lord Caitanya, I mean to say the Bhāgavata, says that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya, that that sort of endeavor, speculating, should be given up. Namanta eva: "You just become submissive." Just become submissive, that "What I am? I am insignificant creature in this universe." This world, this earth, is an insignificant point in the universe. And within this earth, the America is a small spot. And within America, this New York City is another small spot. And in this New York City, I am there. So what is my importance? So we should understand that we are very insignificant in comparison to the creation of the whole cosmic situation and God. So we should be very submissive. We should understand our position. Artificially, we should not be puffed up, the frog philosophy.</p>
<p>The frog philosophy is that a frog in the well, he was informed about the Atlantic Ocean by his friend, and the frog inquired from him, "Oh, what is that Atlantic Ocean?" "Oh, it is a huge, vast span of water." Now, the frog is in the well, he is thinking, "Oh, it may be double than this well or it may be triple than this well, or a hundred times," in this way, calculating. But do you think by such calculation the frog will ever come to the conclusion how length and breadth is of Atlantic Ocean? So this is all frog philosophy. We are very tiny. Our knowledge, power of speculating, is limited always. So we cannot speculate about the Supreme. It is a useless waste of time.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG81415NewYorkNovember161966_4" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="291" link="Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966">
<div class="heading">A frog is measuring the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean. You see? A frog, whose life is within the well, three feet, three cubic feet, measurement, he's trying to measure what is the length and breadth of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966|Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">God, Kṛṣṇa, is called Ajita. Ajita means nobody can conquer God. Therefore His name is Ajita. Just like God has innumerable... He is unlimited, and His functions and activities are unlimited. And according to His activities, His names are also unlimited. So this is one of the names, Ajita. Ajita means "the personality who is never conquered." Nobody can conquer Him. Therefore His name is Ajita. So there is a very nice verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,</p>
:jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
:jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
:sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
:ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām
:([[Vanisource:SB 10.14.3|SB 10.14.3]])
<p>Brahmā is praying Lord Kṛṣṇa in this way, that "A person," jñāne prayāsam udapāsya, "giving up the futile endeavor to understand the Supreme by one's limited knowledge..." Give. Give up this attempt. Jñāne prayāsam. Jñāne prayāsam means that the theosophists, the philosophers, they are trying years after years, life after years—"What is God? What is God? What is the Absolute Truth?" Just like we throw sputniks—"How much the space is length and breadth?" This is frog philosophy. Just like several times I have recited: A frog is measuring the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean. You see? A frog, whose life is within the well, three feet, three cubic feet, measurement, he's trying to measure what is the length and breadth of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Similarly, our attempt to measure how far this outer space is—just like that, futile. And what to speak of this, speak of this space, our measurement of our limited knowledge... With the limited knowledge, if we want to know how far, how much long and short is God, it is a futile attempt, futile at... It is not possible. So Bhāgavata recommends, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya: "Just give up this nonsense habit, to measure the Supreme." It is not possible.</p>
<p>So jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. A person who has taken this determination, that "It is futile. It is useless to try to understand what is God by my limited knowledge," he's a..., he's an intelligent man who takes this decision. So jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva: "Just become submissive. Just try to understand your position that you are very insignificant segment in this material world or in the creation." Namanta eva: "Just become submissive." Jñāne prayāsam: "Giving up this endeavor to understand the Supreme by one's limited knowledge and just become submissive."</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG94MelbourneApril221976_5" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="307" link="Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976" link_text="Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976">
<div class="heading">You cannot become Dr. Frog within the well and try to understand Atlantic Ocean. That is not possible. Here the defect is, one is a small frog in the well and he is trying to understand the Atlantic Ocean. Three feet water. His jurisdiction is three feet water, and he is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976|Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">If we read chapter after chapter very nicely, then we come gradually to the perfection of knowledge. Now, here Kṛṣṇa says, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā. Everything, whatever you see, material or spiritual, that is Kṛṣṇa. Sarvam means everything. So Kṛṣṇa said that "I am spread all over the universe." Or, if you expand more, "That is my avyakta, nonmanifested form." Nonmanifested form.</p>
<p>The example is given just like the sunshine. What is the sunshine? The sunshine is illumination and the heat also, heat and light, sunshine. Now if you go to the sun planet, then what is there? Heat and light. And if you enter into the sun planet and see the person, the supreme personality within the sun... There is a supreme person. We do not know, but we understand from Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa says, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam ([[Vanisource:BG 4.1 (1972)|BG 4.1]]). He talked with the sun-god, so there is sun-god. There is god, or the president, you may say, president of the planet. And if the president is there, the government is there. There are living entities. In everywhere there are living entities. Don't think that you are simply here in this planet, and there is no living entity. It is wrong conception, foolish conception. So the president of the sun planet, He is the original person from where this sunshine and heat is coming. He is the person. And the population there, they are made so that their bodily effulgence is the heat and light, and that is being manifested in the sun globe.</p>
<p>So if we accept Kṛṣṇa's authority, then we can understand the sun globe, which the scientists are trying to understand but they have failed. But if we believe the words of Kṛṣṇa, then from here you can study what is the sun globe. This is a fact. You cannot imagine. You are tiny. You cannot become Dr. Frog within the well and try to understand Atlantic Ocean. That is not possible. Here the defect is, one is a small frog in the well and he is trying to understand the Atlantic Ocean. Three feet water. His jurisdiction is three feet water, and he is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean. That is the defect. For Atlantic Ocean you have to understand one has seen the Atlantic Ocean. Then you can understand.</p>
<p>Therefore Bhagavad-gītā recommends,</p>
:tad viddhi praṇipātena
:paripraśnena sevayā
:upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
:jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
:([[Vanisource:BG 4.34 (1972)|BG 4.34]])
<p>Tattva-darśī, one has seen the truth. So here you have no difficulty. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person. He knows everything. You take the information, knowledge, from Kṛṣṇa. Then your life will be successful. That is the propaganda of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Thank you very much.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG1317BombayOctober111973_6" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="365" link="Lecture on BG 13.17 -- Bombay, October 11, 1973" link_text="Lecture on BG 13.17 -- Bombay, October 11, 1973">
<div class="heading">That story you know, frog, frog philosophy. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. A frog lives within the well, and he's calculating the length and breadth of the Atlantic Ocean. How it is possible? It is not possible. So we are the frogs in the well. We have got limited capacity to understand.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 13.17 -- Bombay, October 11, 1973|Lecture on BG 13.17 -- Bombay, October 11, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The Veda says that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). You take the full God, full... Even God fully represented in every atom, still, He is pūrṇa. That is... One minus one equal to one. And one plus one equal to one. That is Absolute idea. But we calculate from materialistic point of view. As we with our tiny brain, we think like that.</p>
<p>Therefore Jīva Gosvāmī says, "Unless you accept inconceivable power of the Supreme Lord, you cannot understand God. That is not possible." If your compare with your conceivable power, that "God may be like this..." That Dr. Frog's calculation of the Atlantic Ocean. That story you know, frog, frog philosophy. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. A frog lives within the well, and he's calculating the length and breadth of the Atlantic Ocean. How it is possible? It is not possible. So we are the frogs in the well. We have got limited capacity to understand. Our senses are limited. We are thinking Kṛṣṇa, or God, also, He is also limited. This is our fault. This is called poor fund of knowledge. You cannot compare with God. But the Māyāvādī philosophers speculate like that and spoil their own time as spoils others'. But that is not possible.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG167HawaiiFebruary31975_7" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="390" link="Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975" link_text="Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975">
<div class="heading">Direct perception is speculation. Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is speculating what is Atlantic Ocean. He is in the well, three feet well, and some friend inform him, "Oh, I have seen vast water." "What is that vast water?" "Atlantic Ocean." "How big it is?" "Very, very big." So the Dr. Frog is thinking, "Maybe four feet. This well is three feet. It may be four feet. All right, five feet. Come on, ten feet."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975|Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Hawaii, February 3, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Every one of us, we are imperfect. We are very much proud of our eyes: "Can you show me?" What qualification your eyes have got that you can see? He does not think that, that "I have no qualification; still, I want to see." These eyes, oh, they are dependent on so many condition. Now there is electricity, you can see. As soon as there is electricity off, you cannot see. Then what is the value of your eyes? You cannot see what is going on beyond this wall.</p>
<p>So don't believe your so-called senses as the source of knowledge. No. The source of knowledge should be by hearing. That is called śruti. Therefore Vedas' name is śruti. Śruti-pramāṇa, śruti-pramāṇa. Just like a child or a boy wants to know who is his father. So what is the evidence? That evidence is śruti, hearing from the mother. Mother says, "He is your father." So he hears; he does not see how he became his father. Because before his body was constructed the father was there, how could he see? So by seeing, you cannot ascertain who is your father. You have to hear from the authority. The mother is the authority. Therefore śruti-pramāṇa: the evidence is hearing, not by seeing. Seeing... Our imperfect eyes... There are so many obstacles. So similarly, by direct perception, you cannot have the truth.</p>
<p>Direct perception is speculation. Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is speculating what is Atlantic Ocean. He is in the well, three feet well, and some friend inform him, "Oh, I have seen vast water." "What is that vast water?" "Atlantic Ocean." "How big it is?" "Very, very big." So the Dr. Frog is thinking, "Maybe four feet. This well is three feet. It may be four feet. All right, five feet. Come on, ten feet." So in this way, speculating, how the frog, Dr. Frog, will understand Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean? Can you estimate the length and breadth of the Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, by speculation? So by speculation, you cannot have. They are speculating so many years about this universe, how many stars are there, what is the length and breadth, where is the... Nobody knows anything even of the material world, and what to speak of the spiritual world? That is beyond, far beyond.</p>
<p>Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ BG 8.20 . You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā. There is another nature. This nature, what you see, the sky, a round dome, that, above that, there are layers of five elements again. This is the covering. Just like you have seen the coconut. There is hard covering, and within the covering there is water. Similarly, within this covering... And outside the covering there are five layers, thousand times bigger than the one another: Water layer, air layer, fire layer. So you have to penetrate all these layers. Then you will get the spiritual world. All these universes, unlimited number, koṭi. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40) . Jagad-aṇḍa means the universe. Koṭi, many millions clustered together, that is material world. And beyond that material world there is spiritual world, another sky. That is also sky. That is called paravyoma. So by your sense perception you cannot estimate even what is there in the moon planet or sun planet, this planet, within this universe. How you can understand the spiritual world by speculation? This is foolishness.</p>
<p>Therefore śāstra says, acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. Acintya, which is inconceivable, beyond your sense perception, don't try to argue and understand it and speculate. This is foolishness. It is not possible. Therefore we have to go to the guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet, samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). This is the process.</p>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonSB1222LosAngelesAugust251972_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="87" link="Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Los Angeles, August 25, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Los Angeles, August 25, 1972">
<div class="heading">Everyone thinks that frog philosophy. Frog philosophy, he has got experience of three-feet well, and he has been informed that there is Atlantic Ocean. He's simply imagining, "How it is possible?
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Los Angeles, August 25, 1972|Lecture on SB 1.2.22 -- Los Angeles, August 25, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Our bhāgavata-dharma can explain how, simply by desiring, there is creation. So here it is said: chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ. Chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ. One, by this, following this bhāgavata-dharma, studying from Bhāgavata, the ultimate knowledge of everything, one can become completely doubtless that God is a person, He is sentient, He is the supreme director, He's the supreme knower, He's the supreme physist, the supreme chemist—everything, supreme.</p>
<p>Just like Kṛṣṇa lifted the mountain, giri-bara-dhārī. Jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-bihārī gopī-jana-vallabha giri-bara-dhārī. When there was torrents of rain, Vṛndāvana was being overflooded, and all the inhabitants became so much disturbed. They were seeing to, looking to Kṛṣṇa, because they did not know anything beyond Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa said, "Yes, I am lifting this mountain. Let it become a big umbrella of the whole state, or whole village." The atheist will say these are all stories. No. They're not stories. Because God is supreme, He is supreme physist, He knows how to make this mountain weightless. He knows the art. Just like so many gigantic planets are floating in the sky. That is a fact. Now who is floating? You cannot float even a small thing in the air, but such gigantic... Not only one, millions and trillions, they are floating. Who has made it possible, floating? So, God can do that. Therefore He is called all-powerful, the great.</p>
<p>So if Kṛṣṇa is God, then floating or make this mountain weightless, is it very difficult task for Him? No. He entered the ocean. Unless He knows the physical laws how to enter the ocean... It is technique only. Modern scientists, they are also entering, by machine. They're floating by machine. That is also physical science. So, if you know the physical science still more perfectly, you can float in the air without machine, you can enter within the water without machine, you can lift the mountain without machine. It is a question of perfect knowledge. (knocking sound) What is that knock, sound?</p>
<p>So here it is said that when you are actually advanced in spiritual knowledge, in devotional service, then chidyante sarva-saṁśayaḥ. Saṁśaya means doubtfulness. Sometimes... Yes. Generally, "Oh, these are stories. Kṛṣṇa lifted a mountain." Because atheists say and we say, "Yes, maybe." But no. You must be firmly convinced, yourself, if you are Kṛṣṇa conscious, that "Yes, Kṛṣṇa did it." It is possible because He knew the physical science very perfectly. He knows and He, He can know, He can do it. One thing into another. Just like electrician, he can turn cooler into heater, heater into cooler. Because he knows the science. You cannot do that. So don't study Kṛṣṇa thinking yourself as Kṛṣṇa, that "I am also Kṛṣṇa." No. That is the defect. Everyone thinks that frog philosophy. Frog philosophy, he has got experience of three-feet well, and he has been informed that there is Atlantic Ocean. He's simply imagining, "How it is possible? How it is possible?" He is thinking maybe little more, four feet, five feet, six feet, ten feet, and as soon as ten feet he's burst. Because he has no more knowledge. But how the three-feet well can be compared with the Atlantic Ocean? That he does not know.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1225LosAngelesAugust281972_1" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="93" link="Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Los Angeles, August 28, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Los Angeles, August 28, 1972">
<div class="heading">Frog philosophy. He's simply calculating with reference to his teeny well, three feet. So if we want to speculate, what experience we have got, what knowledge we have got that we can speculate to understand the supreme, all-pervasive, Supreme Personality of Godhead? That is not possible.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Los Angeles, August 28, 1972|Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Los Angeles, August 28, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So, Kṛṣṇa is adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means beyond our sense perception. Therefore we have to know Kṛṣṇa from Kṛṣṇa, not by our speculation. Kṛṣṇa may... That is frog philosophy. Frog philosophy. He's simply calculating with reference to his teeny well, three feet. So if we want to speculate, what experience we have got, what knowledge we have got that we can speculate to understand the supreme, all-pervasive, Supreme Personality of Godhead? That is not possible. Therefore His name is Adhokṣaja. If you want to know Kṛṣṇa, then you have to take to this process of devotional service, rendering service unto Him. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). Bhejire, bhejire, bhaj-dhātu. Bhaja means sevā. So bhejire. You have to take to this devotional service. And Kṛṣṇa also says bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 18.55 (1972)|BG 18.55]]). He doesn't say by knowledge or by work or by yoga, mystic yogic power, one can understand God. No. That is not possible. These are all akṣaja, within the range of our sense perception. But bhakti is not within the range. Bhakti is the transcendental process. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). Jñāna and karma, knowledge and fruitive activities, they are of this material world. And anyābhilāṣitā—they're all of this material world, anyābhilāṣitā, desiring other than Kṛṣṇa.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB137LosAngelesSeptember131972_2" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="105" link="Lecture on SB 1.3.7 -- Los Angeles, September 13, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.3.7 -- Los Angeles, September 13, 1972">
<div class="heading">So when we speak of "God is great," we cannot imagine how great He is. We apply frog philosophy, Dr. Frog's philosophy. Dr. Frog thinks, because he is in the well of three feet, if he is given the information, "Oh, there is a big mass of water, Atlantic Ocean," he cannot believe it.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.3.7 -- Los Angeles, September 13, 1972|Lecture on SB 1.3.7 -- Los Angeles, September 13, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So when we speak of "God is great," we cannot imagine how great He is. We apply frog philosophy, Dr. Frog's philosophy. Dr. Frog thinks, because he is in the well of three feet, if he is given the information, "Oh, there is a big mass of water, Atlantic Ocean," he cannot believe it. He will think in terms of the well. The well is three feet. So he may think, "All right, Atlantic Ocean may be four feet. All right, five feet. Come on. All right, six feet." So this Dr. Frog's philosophy. The so-called rascal philosophers and scientists, they are calculating God's creation. One of the universes is resting on Anantadeva's hood just like a mustard seed.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1819ChicagoJuly51974New2003_3" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="202" link="Lecture on SB 1.8.19 -- Chicago, July 5, 1974 (New-2003)" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.8.19 -- Chicago, July 5, 1974 ">
<div class="heading">Suppose a frog is informed "Mr. Frog, Dr. Frog, (laughter) I have seen a big, vast mass of water." "What is that?" "Atlantic Ocean." "How big is it?" "Very, very big." Maybe, he is in the three-feet well. "Four feet?" "No, no, very, very big." "Five feet?" "No, very big." "Six feet?" (laughter).
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.8.19 -- Chicago, July 5, 1974 (New-2003)|Lecture on SB 1.8.19 -- Chicago, July 5, 1974 ]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Peace will be possible when you develop your loving propensity for the Adhokṣaja, who is beyond your senses. Therefore those who are duṣkṛtinaḥ, mūḍhāḥ-many languages have been used in the Vedas they do not know what is the aim of life, they are simply thinking "I am this body," then this kind of thought is there in the dogs and cats also. He is also thinking "I am this body." So, this modern civilization is big dog civilization, that's all. That is not human civilization. Human civilization means that he must be interested to know Kṛṣṇa and God. That is human civilization.</p>
<p>So, māyā-javanikācchannam ajñādhokṣajam avyayam. Avyayam means imperishable. Avyayam na lakṣyase, they cannot see. Na lakṣyase, observed, cannot be observed by them, na lakṣyase. Mūḍha, again the same word is used, mūḍha. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā. This word is used.</p>
<p>One who does not know what is God, and what is his relationship with God, he is a mūḍha. In so many places, there are so many śāstras you will find this word mūḍha. Here it is said, na lakṣyase mūḍha. Mūḍha-dṛśa, whose sense perception is just like blind man. A blind man is given a elephant, an elephant. Now, "Mr. Blind Man, just understand what is this." So, he is blind, he simply, I mean to say, moves his hand over the leg. "Sir, it is a column. It is a big column." So blind man, he cannot see; he thought that elephant is big column. So anyone who is speculating about God, he is the blind man studying the elephant, like that. Or the frog in the well studying Atlantic Ocean. What he will understand? Suppose a frog is informed "Mr. Frog, Dr. Frog, (laughter) I have seen a big, vast mass of water." "What is that?" "Atlantic Ocean." "How big is it?" "Very, very big." Maybe, he is in the three-feet well. "Four feet?" "No, no, very, very big." "Five feet?" "No, very big." "Six feet?" (laughter) How he will understand the Atlantic Ocean? He can simply imagine, maybe three-feet, four-feet, five-feet well. But beyond all feet, that he cannot understand. Because of mūḍha-dṛśa, the direct perception, and he is a rascal.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB32537BombayDecember61974_4" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="458" link="Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974" link_text="Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974">
<div class="heading">The frog in the well is thinking of the Atlantic Ocean. He has never seen Atlantic Ocean. He's speculating. Some friend told him, "My dear friend, frog in the well, I have seen a vast mass of water." "What is that?" "Now, Atlantic Ocean." "What is that Atlantic Ocean?" "Very great mass of water." "Oh? Bigger than this well? Maybe four feet or ten feet or...?"
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974|Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">You just capture Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa, how He can be captured? Kṛṣṇa can be captured by your bhakti. Otherwise, He's very, very, crafty. You cannot capture Him. It is not possible. Ajita. If anyone wants to conquer over Kṛṣṇa, that is not possible. That is... Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Ajita. Nobody can conquer over. You find from the history Mahābhārata. Mahābhārata means the greater history of India. Mahā, mahā means greater. As you like "Greater Bombay," similarly, Mahābhārata means "Greater Bhārata." Don't think of this Bhārata, three-feet Bhārata. No. The whole planet was Bhāratavarṣa. That is called Mahābhārata, Greater Bhārata. Everyone was being controlled by the emperor in Hastināpura, the Pāṇḍavas. So in that history you find Kṛṣṇa has so many dealings in Mahābhārata, but He was never conquered by anyone. Therefore His name is Ajita. But you can conquer over this Ajita. Ajita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām. By whom? Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Namanta. Namanta eva. This is the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that don't try foolishly to speculate about God. Stop this foolishness. The same example: the frog in the well is thinking of the Atlantic Ocean. He has never seen Atlantic Ocean. He's speculating. Some friend told him, "My dear friend, frog in the well, I have seen a vast mass of water." "What is that?" "Now, Atlantic Ocean." "What is that Atlantic Ocean?" "Very great mass of water." "Oh? Bigger than this well? Maybe four feet or ten feet or...?" In this way, if you speculate, you will never understand what is God.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB32537BombayDecember61974_5" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="458" link="Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974" link_text="Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974">
<div class="heading">"If you think that you are very learned scholar, you are very advanced in knowledge, and you can manufacture what is God, give up this foolishness first of all. Don't make this foolishness." Jñāne prayāsam. Oh, what is your knowledge? Limited. Kūpa-maṇḍūka, the frog in the well. How you can imagine? Simply by imagination? Is imagination God?
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974|Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">If you want to understand God, then try to understand from God Himself. He knows. Just like if you speculate of a big man, a neighbor, a friend, that "What is his wealth? Oh, he appears to be very rich man and very strong man, very influential man." And these are the opulences: very beautiful, very wise. So you can calculate. But if you make friendship with that gentleman and if he speaks about himself, then you can understand what he is. :Then how you can understand God, Kṛṣṇa, by speculation? This is foolishness. Therefore, śāstra advises you that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya: "If you think that you are very learned scholar, you are very advanced in knowledge, and you can manufacture what is God, give up this foolishness first of all. Don't make this foolishness." Jñāne prayāsam. Oh, what is your knowledge? Limited. Kūpa-maṇḍūka, the frog in the well. How you can imagine? Simply by imagination? Is imagination God? Can you create? The Māyāvādīs say that "We can imagine God. God, it is so great that it is not possible to understand the Brahman, but we can imagine some form." This is Māyāvādī philosophy. This imagination will not... You cannot imagine God. God is fact. God is not subjected to your imagination. And your senses are imperfect. How long you will simply speculate? Give up this practice, foolishness. Don't... Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya nam... Just become submissive. Jñāne prayāsam udapā..., namanta eva: "Be submissive." That is bhakti-mārga. Bhakti-mārga is submissive.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB32615BombayDecember241974_6" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="476" link="Lecture on SB 3.26.15 -- Bombay, December 24, 1974" link_text="Lecture on SB 3.26.15 -- Bombay, December 24, 1974">
<div class="heading">Don't try to bring Kṛṣṇa within your speculative knowledge. Speculative knowledge, how can you go? That is Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog cannot... Frog is in the well, three-feet well, and how he can imagine about the Atlantic Ocean? It is not possible.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 3.26.15 -- Bombay, December 24, 1974|Lecture on SB 3.26.15 -- Bombay, December 24, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Adhokṣaja means beyond, avan manasa-gocaraḥ, beyond the reach of our thinking, speculation.</p>
<p>So Kṛṣṇa is always nirguṇa in any condition, any circumstances. But those who are mūḍhas, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam ([[Vanisource:BG 9.11 (1972)|BG 9.11]]). But because Kṛṣṇa incarnates or comes, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham, He comes, we think, because we are foolish person, mūḍha, we think that "Kṛṣṇa is also one of us." That is not the fact. Saguṇa Brahman, nirguṇa Brahman, we should distinguish, that Kṛṣṇa is always nirguṇa Brahman, but we are saguṇa Brahman. We are Brahman, but because we are not Para-brahman or Supreme Brahman, we are subjected, we are prone to be covered by these material qualities. Therefore our business is again to recover ourself from these twenty-five elements, material elements. And that is only possible, as it is prescribed by Kṛṣṇa, sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate. What is that? Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). You just engage yourself in bhakti-yoga process, mām avyabhicāreṇa, without any mixture, without any deviation. And how it can be, deviation? Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11), without any material desire, without any motive. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 19.167|CC Madhya 19.167]]), not mixed up with fruitive activities or speculative knowledge-pure, simple.</p>
<p>You cannot bring Kṛṣṇa under your speculative knowledge, avan manasa-gocaraḥ, because He is beyond the scope of the activities of the mind, Adhokṣaja. Therefore don't try to bring Kṛṣṇa within your speculative knowledge. Speculative knowledge, how can you go? That is Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog cannot... Frog is in the well, three-feet well, and how he can imagine about the Atlantic Ocean? It is not possible. Avan manasa-gocaraḥ. So don't try to speculate upon God. You will never find God. If you want to go by the speculative knowledge, trying to find out what is God just like the theosophist and many other societies—they do that, speculating—you cannot reach God by speculation. That is not. Because your senses are limited. How you can reach God, the unlimited, by speculative knowledge? That is not possible.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB6132SuratDecember161970_7" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="653" link="Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- Surat, December 16, 1970" link_text="Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- Surat, December 16, 1970">
<div class="heading">The frog in the well, he cannot understand beyond that well. Similarly, these materialistic persons, frog, they cannot understand that there is a Pacific Ocean, or spiritual world. They are satisfied with this well, three-cubic-feet well. That's all.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- Surat, December 16, 1970|Lecture on SB 6.1.32 -- Surat, December 16, 1970]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So here is a description of the Vaikuṇṭha-puruṣā. Sarve padma-palāśākṣāḥ: "Your eyes are so beautiful, just like petals of the lotus flower." And pīta-kauśeya-vāsasaḥ. Saffron and yellow. These two kinds of colors of garments because... Those who are Māyāvādīs, impersonalists, they cannot understand that there is another spiritual world and there are spiritual planets, and their inhabitants, their bodily features are like this, their dress are like... Everything is there. But unfortunate persons, they cannot understand. They think everything is here. They are that kūpa-maṇḍūka, frog philosophy, that the frog in the well, he cannot understand beyond that well. Similarly, these materialistic persons, frog, they cannot understand that there is a Pacific Ocean, or spiritual world. They are satisfied with this well, three-cubic-feet well. That's all. And simply imagining, "God may be like this, may be like this, may be like this, and therefore I am God." So God is so easy that "Everyone is God. God is loitering in the street as daridra. God as Nārāyaṇa has become that poor, and I am so rich that I can provide Nārāyaṇa also." This is going on.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB771920BombayMarch181971_8" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="774" link="Lecture on SB 7.7.19-20 -- Bombay, March 18, 1971" link_text="Lecture on SB 7.7.19-20 -- Bombay, March 18, 1971">
<div class="heading">Dr. Frog PhD., he's thinking in his own way. Dr. Frog thinks that this three feet dimension of the well is all in all, there cannot be anything. These rascal philosopher and rascal scientist, they think in that way, Dr. Frog.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 7.7.19-20 -- Bombay, March 18, 1971|Lecture on SB 7.7.19-20 -- Bombay, March 18, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The material scientists, they have no information of ātmā. Therefore they think that in the moon planet there is no life, in the sun planet there is no life. Simply... This is kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Dr. Frog PhD., he's thinking in his own way. Dr. Frog thinks that this three feet dimension of the well is all in all, there cannot be anything. These rascal philosopher and rascal scientist, they think in that way, Dr. Frog. There cannot be Atlantic Ocean. That three feet dimension, well water is sufficient. Therefore we have to receive knowledge from authorities. We cannot speculate. Speculation will not help us in approaching the real destination.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB773031MombassaSeptember121971_9" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="778" link="Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971" link_text="Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971">
<div class="heading">Dr. Frog is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean comparing with his three-feet well, that's all. When he is informed that there is Atlantic Ocean, he's simply comparing with his limited space. It may be four feet, or it may be five feet, it may be ten feet, because he is within the three feet.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971|Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Kṛṣṇa is never morose or full of anxiety. Why? Why God should be full of anxiety? Kṛṣṇa, you will never find that He is in meditation. Whom He will meditate? He is the Supreme Personality of God Himself. You will find Lord Siva is in the pose of meditation, but you will never find Kṛṣṇa in meditation. Therefore, He is the Supreme Lord. And He says personally that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya ([[Vanisource:BG 7.7 (1972)|BG 7.7]]). "Dhanañjaya, Arjuna, just take it from Me. There is no other superior authority than Me." And that's a fact. So when Kṛṣṇa was present on this planet, He showed that nobody in the history of the world is superior than Kṛṣṇa. He showed as much as possible you can understand. Otherwise, still He has got immense power, unlimited power. So the point is Prahlāda Mahārāja is trying to convince his demon... The demons cannot understand that the God can be a person. That is demoniac. They cannot... Because they cannot understand, the difficulty is a demon tries to understand God, comparing with himself.</p>
<p>Dr. Frog, that the story of Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean comparing with his three-feet well, that's all. When he is informed that there is Atlantic Ocean, he's simply comparing with his limited space. It may be four feet, or it may be five feet, it may be ten feet, because he is within the three feet. His friend informed, "Oh, I have seen a reservoir of water, vast water." So that vastness, he is just conjecturing, "How much the vastness may be? My well is three feet, it may be four feet, five feet," now he is going on. But he may go on millions of millions of feet it is still it is greater. That is another thing. Therefore, atheistic persons, demons, they think in their own way that God, Kṛṣṇa may be like this, Kṛṣṇa may be like this, Kṛṣṇa may be like this. Generally they think that Kṛṣṇa are I. How they say? Kṛṣṇa is not great. They do not believe that God is great. He thinks that God is as good as I am, I am also God. This is demonic.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB773031MombassaSeptember121971_10" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="778" link="Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971" link_text="Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971">
<div class="heading">Dr. Frog is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean comparing with his three-feet well, that's all. When he is informed that there is Atlantic Ocean, he's simply comparing with his limited space. It may be four feet, or it may be five feet, it may be ten feet, because he is within the three feet. His friend informed, "Oh, I have seen a reservoir of water, vast water." So that vastness, he is just conjecturing, "How much the vastness may be? My well is three feet, it may be four feet, five feet," now he is going on.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971|Lecture on SB 7.7.30-31 -- Mombassa, September 12, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The demons cannot understand that the God can be a person. That is demoniac. They cannot... Because they cannot understand, the difficulty is a demon tries to understand God, comparing with himself.</p>
<p>Dr. Frog, that the story of Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is trying to understand Atlantic Ocean comparing with his three-feet well, that's all. When he is informed that there is Atlantic Ocean, he's simply comparing with his limited space. It may be four feet, or it may be five feet, it may be ten feet, because he is within the three feet. His friend informed, "Oh, I have seen a reservoir of water, vast water." So that vastness, he is just conjecturing, "How much the vastness may be? My well is three feet, it may be four feet, five feet," now he is going on. But he may go on millions of millions of feet it is still it is greater. That is another thing. Therefore, atheistic persons, demons, they think in their own way that God, Kṛṣṇa may be like this, Kṛṣṇa may be like this, Kṛṣṇa may be like this. Generally they think that Kṛṣṇa are I. How they say? Kṛṣṇa is not great. They do not believe that God is great. He thinks that God is as good as I am, I am also God. This is demonic.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB798SeattleOctober211968_11" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="797" link="Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Seattle, October 21, 1968" link_text="Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Seattle, October 21, 1968">
<div class="heading">God's creation is very variety. So we should not think that this is all in all. This is that Dr. Frog's knowledge. Dr. Frog knows that "This small well is everything." He has no knowledge of the Pacific Ocean
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Seattle, October 21, 1968|Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Seattle, October 21, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">We... What knowledge we have got? But we have to take knowledge from the śāstra. Therefore Vedānta-sūtra says, śāstra-cakṣuṣat. You have to understand, you have to gather your knowledge from authentic scripture, not by experimental knowledge. Experimental knowledge cannot be perfect because our instruments of acquiring knowledge are imperfect. So however we may tackle these instruments perfectly in our way, basically they are imperfect. Therefore perfect knowledge you cannot have. If you want to have perfect knowledge, then you have to understand this authoritative scripture. Just like here, in this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we understand that there is Brahma, or the demigods, and the siddhaḥ. So we have to accept. You cannot understand these things by experimental knowledge. Simply as it is. Therefore I am presenting this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Then you understand. That is knowledge, perfect knowledge. Otherwise, if you interpret, if you don't believe, then you don't get. There is no other way. The same example. Just like—I am repeating again—that if you want to know who is your father, the only witness is your mother. Higher evidence is final. If we want to make experiment who is your father, that is not possible. That experimental knowledge is not possible. You have to accept. Similarly, for perfect knowledge of the father or perfect knowledge of the Supreme, you have to accept the version, supreme version of Vedas. Then it is perfect.</p>
<p>So there are many different planets within this universe and beyond this universe, spiritual planets. Keśava tuar jagata vicitra. God's creation is very variety. So we should not think that this is all in all. This is that Dr. Frog's knowledge. Dr. Frog knows that "This small well is everything." He has no knowledge of the Pacific Ocean. Similarly, these Dr. Frogs of this material world, they are thinking this planet is all in all. And 25,000 miles up this planet, that is all space. No.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB7948VrndavanaApril31976_12" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="854" link="Lecture on SB 7.9.48 -- Vrndavana, April 3, 1976" link_text="Lecture on SB 7.9.48 -- Vrndavana, April 3, 1976">
<div class="heading">You know the story, the frog within the well. So some friend says that "I have seen a great mass of water, Atlantic Ocean." And how he can imagine what is Atlantic Ocean? He is thinking, "That water may be like this well, three feet. All right, accept four feet. Accept five feet. I can..." These rascals who does not know Kṛṣṇa, they think, "All right, Kṛṣṇa may be a little more intelligent than me. That's all."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 7.9.48 -- Vrndavana, April 3, 1976|Lecture on SB 7.9.48 -- Vrndavana, April 3, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Gradually, as we advance, we can understand that how Kṛṣṇa is all-pervasive. And something is described in the Bhagavad-gītā... You cannot say that "I have not seen Kṛṣṇa." This is, I mean to say, foolishness. They say, "Can you show me Kṛṣṇa?" But thing is that he has no eyes to see Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa can be seen. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). If you increase your love for Kṛṣṇa, then you can see Kṛṣṇa every moment, everywhere. That is the way. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. Those who are advanced, saintly persons, they see always Kṛṣṇa. That stage you have to reach. That is the idea. Sarvaṁ tvam eva saguṇo viguṇaś ca bhūman. Bhūman means the great. That is greatness of Kṛṣṇa. "God is great." We should understand how great He is. This is the understanding of His greatness. Bhūman. If simply we say God is great and kūpa-maṇḍūkya-nyāya... You know the story, the frog within the well. So some friend says that "I have seen a great mass of water, Atlantic Ocean." And how he can imagine what is Atlantic Ocean? He is thinking, "That water may be like this well, three feet. All right, accept four feet. Accept five feet. I can..." These rascals who does not know Kṛṣṇa, they think, "All right, Kṛṣṇa may be a little more intelligent than me. That's all." In this way they are thinking.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Lectures" text="Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures"><h3>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureonCCAdilila7108SanFranciscoFebruary181967_0" class="quote" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Lectures" book="Lec" index="35" link="Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967" link_text="Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967">
<div class="heading">We judge the Supreme in the same philosophy, frog philosophy. "Atlantic Ocean? Oh, it may be a little bigger than this well. That's all." So our calculation of God is always like that. "Kṛṣṇa, He looks like us, just like a man. So what is there? He may be a little powerful than me."
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967|Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.108 -- San Francisco, February 18, 1967]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt. This viṣaya, this material enjoyment, is provided by the laws of nature everywhere. Don't think that it is in the human society there is love and there is male-female combination. No. Everywhere. That is nature's arrangement. Viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt. Therefore Bhāgavata asks everybody that "Don't be after viṣaya. Viṣaya is already arranged. Accept it as it is." But tūrṇaṁ yateta na mṛtyuṁ pateta yāvat niḥśreyasāya: "Your endeavor should be how to elevate yourself spiritually. Don't bother about viṣaya. Viṣaya is already arranged by nature's way." So patiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ parastāt. No. He's also, God is also, as we are given the chance of becoming husband, similarly, He's the supreme husband. Supreme husband. Now, if He's the supreme husband and if He marries sixteen thousand wives, it is very difficult for Him? It is not at all difficult. So people do not understand, do not consult this Vedic literature, how it is stated the Supreme. How one can become Supreme? The Supreme... We judge the Supreme in the same philosophy, frog philosophy. "Atlantic Ocean? Oh, it may be a little bigger than this well. That's all." So our calculation of God is always like that. "Kṛṣṇa, He looks like us, just like a man. So what is there? He may be a little powerful than me. All right, He has spoken Bhagavad-gītā. All right. He's little more wiser than us." So we always compare with us. But it is not. He's supreme. We have no idea of the Supreme. Therefore we forget personality.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonCCMadhyalila20385394NewYorkJanuary11967_1" class="quote" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Lectures" book="Lec" index="100" link="Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967" link_text="Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967">
<div class="heading">Those who cheaply take God, "God might be like me, you," just frog philosophy. The same frog philosophy. The frog is calculating the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean, keeping itself in the well.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967|Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.385-394 -- New York, January 1, 1967]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">One must know the science of God, how great is God. We cannot calculate. Those who cheaply take God, "God might be like me, you," just frog philosophy. The same frog philosophy. The frog is calculating the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean, keeping itself in the well. You see. So similarly, these rascals, they are frogs in the well, and they are calculating the estimation of the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean and claiming themselves as God.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonCCMadhyalila226NewYorkJanuary81967_2" class="quote" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Lectures" book="Lec" index="108" link="Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.6 -- New York, January 8, 1967" link_text="Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.6 -- New York, January 8, 1967">
<div class="heading">The other class, who are just like in the river fishes, they are called nitya-baddha. Their, I mean to say, limited sphere in the river or in the pond or in the well... The frog philosophy. They are expanding themselves, frogs: "How much great is Atlantic Ocean?" So they are called conditioned soul.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.6 -- New York, January 8, 1967|Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 22.6 -- New York, January 8, 1967]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Now, this energy manifested as the living entities, they are also two kinds. What are they? Eka-nitya-mukta. One class of living entities, they are eternally liberated. Just like the fishes in the ocean. Take the ocean as the place of liberation. Sometimes the example is given that as the rivers glide down to the ocean and the water is become one... That's all right. That oneness... This is impersonal conception. Everyone goes and mixes as every river goes down to the ocean, and there is no more distinction which is the river water and which is the ocean water. They become one. That is the monistic philosophy. But Vaiṣṇava philosophy goes farther, that "Why you are satisfied with the water? Why don't you see within the water?" Within the water you will find there are big, big fishes and aquatic animals. They keep their separate identity, and they enjoy in the ocean. The foolish persons, they are satisfied that "I am in the ocean now." That is the less intelligence. Go deep into the ocean and see what is going there. Similarly, those who are satisfied simply by merging into the spiritual existence, impersonalists, they are less intelligent. They have no intelligence to see that within the ocean there is individual expansion, individual life, and they are enjoying. Similarly, in the spiritual sky there is individuality. That individuality is there. And that individuality is reciprocated between Kṛṣṇa and the individual souls. They are called nitya-mukta, eternally liberated. And the other class, who are just like in the river fishes, they are called nitya-baddha. Their, I mean to say, limited sphere in the river or in the pond or in the well... The frog philosophy. They are expanding themselves, frogs: "How much great is Atlantic Ocean?" So they are called conditioned soul. Those who are in this material world, although they are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord energy, but because they are conditioned in this material contamination, they are called, I mean to say, conditioned, conditioned by the laws of nature.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="General_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="11" parent="Lectures" text="General Lectures"><h3>General Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureSeattleOctober91968_0" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="23" link="Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968" link_text="Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968">
<div class="heading">The frog lives in a well. That is only a few feet. And one, another frog, he's giving information to his friend in the well, "My dear friend, I have seen a vast water, Atlantic Ocean." But this frog has never seen Atlantic Ocean. He's calculating, "It may be so much big. It may be so much big. It may be so much big."
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968|Lecture -- Seattle, October 9, 1968]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Young man (6): Don't you think that since there are people of different temperaments, different kinds of people, that... How should I say it? Don't you think that by denying rāja and jñāna and some of the other yogas that you're denying the infinite aspect of mankind? Don't you think that by asserting bhakti-yoga as the only way that you're saying that...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Infinite aspect. We are publishing one article, "Dr. Frog." Dr. Frog means... Perhaps you know, everyone. The frog lives in a well. That is only a few feet. And one, another frog, he's giving information to his friend in the well, "My dear friend, I have seen a vast water, Atlantic Ocean." But this frog has never seen Atlantic Ocean. He's calculating, "It may be so much big. It may be so much big. It may be so much big." So how this infinity can be calculated by the frog? So those who are calculating infiniteness of this tiny soul, they're all Dr. Frogs. You are not infinite. You are finite. How you can be infinite? You can be infinite only when you dovetail yourself with the infinite. Individually you are finite. That is the position, real position.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureHawaiiMarch231969_1" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="40" link="Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969" link_text="Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969">
<div class="heading">Those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they do not know. They are frogs of the well, simply calculating, "This three feet, water, space, is my habitation." And when he's given information of the Atlantic Ocean, he does not believe. "Oh, there is Atlantic Ocean? What is that nonsense?"
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969|Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">To become devotee of the Lord is not so easy. These are the conditions. The beginning is joyfulness. The second stage: no want, no lamentation. "My father is Kṛṣṇa, so I'll be fully sup..." Just like a child. He knows, "My father is there. I have no want." Everything is there. Prasannātmā. "Why shall I hanker him? My father..." (break) ...is now diseased. He's now lunatic. Similarly, tiger is my brother, but not that because originally he's my brother, I shall go and embrace. No. I shall be careful. But not that I shall kill. Why shall I kill? He's not coming to encroach upon my property. He's living in the jungle. Why shall I go and kill a tiger? This is all nonsense, lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He has not done any harm to you. He is living in his own jurisdiction. He is uncivilized. He is ferocious. God has given him direction: "Oh, you live here. You don't go there." That's all right. And why should you go to kill a tiger? He's not coming to encroach him. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Why should I kill unnecessarily an animal? We have got so many nice foodstuff. Kṛṣṇa has given me grains, fruits, milk. The cows, they are supplying tons of milk, but they are not claiming, "It is my milk. I shall drink." No. It is giving to you, as mother gives. And we are killing cows, killing mothers. This is lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.</p>
<p>So we teach all these things to our students who are going to be Kṛṣṇa conscious (reading:) "ISKCON members talk about serenity, tranquillity and bliss." That is already explained. If I am trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then I am a sane man. I am not a madman because I know what is my position, what is God, what are other living entities, what is this world, what is this material nature, what is this time, what are these activities. This knowledge is in full because Kṛṣṇa consciousness teaches all these things, what is God, what you are, and then what is this nature, beyond the nature, what other things are there. Those who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they do not know. They are frogs of the well, simply calculating, "This three feet, water, space, is my habitation." And when he's given information of the Atlantic Ocean, he does not believe. "Oh, there is Atlantic Ocean? What is that nonsense?" "Oh, it is very, very big," somebody says. He's simply calculating his well water. "Oh, it may be four foot?" "No, very big." "All right, ten feet? How...?" He's calculating, this. These materialistic scientists, they are simply speculating like the frog in the well. They do not know; neither they have means. But a Kṛṣṇa conscious person knows. He gets information from Kṛṣṇa.</p>
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</div>
<div id="LectureExcerptNewYorkApril121969_2" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="44" link="Lecture Excerpt -- New York, April 12, 1969" link_text="Lecture Excerpt -- New York, April 12, 1969">
<div class="heading">You know that frog philosophy? He's calculating the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean from the small well. Somebody's saying there is Atlantic Ocean, very great, and the frog has never seen the Atlantic Ocean. He is always in the well. He says, "How great? It is three feet? It may be ten feet?" "No, sir, it is very great." "All right. Hundred feet." "No, it is very great." "All right. Thousand feet." So go on.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture Excerpt -- New York, April 12, 1969|Lecture Excerpt -- New York, April 12, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So that God, that Mahā-Viṣṇu, is stated (He) is one portion of the portion of Kṛṣṇa. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṇur mahān (Bs. 5.48). He is called Mahā-Viṣṇu. Viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo. This Mahā-Viṣṇu is portion of the portion of Kṛṣṇa. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. In this way, there are different description of God, how great He is. That greatness cannot be had by any nonsense rascal. You see. So don't be misled in that way. Even you don't take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, don't be misled by cheap Gods. That is our request. God is great, and try to understand how great He is. That description you'll get in Vedic literature sufficiently, how great He is. Don't be satisfied simply by understanding that God is great. That's nice, but as far as possible try to understand how great He is. Then you will not accept any cheap God. Otherwise you'll simply speculate on frog philosophy. You know that frog philosophy? He's calculating the length and breadth of Atlantic Ocean from the small well. Somebody's saying there is Atlantic Ocean, very great, and the frog has never seen the Atlantic Ocean. He is always in the well. He says, "How great? It is three feet? It may be ten feet?" "No, sir, it is very great." "All right. Hundred feet." "No, it is very great." "All right. Thousand feet." So go on. Where is the comparison of Atlantic Ocean within the well? (chuckling) So these rascals are calculating, speculating about God, how great He is by three feet, six feet, or ten feet, or hundred feet, thousand feet, like that. But He is greater than all your calculation, all your measurement. Avāṅ-mānasa-gocaraḥ. You cannot calculate how He's great. Simply you accept His greatness and surrender. That's your business. You just calculate yourself. Your infinitesimal identity is very small. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadha kalpitasya ca ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 19.140|CC Madhya 19.140]]). Just divide the tip of your hair (in) ten thousand parts, and that one part is your identification, spiritual measurement.</p>
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</div>
<div id="LectureBombayMarch181972_3" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="104" link="Lecture -- Bombay, March 18, 1972" link_text="Lecture -- Bombay, March 18, 1972">
<div class="heading">Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya, Dr. Frog philosophy. A frog from within the well, he's trying to study Atlantic Ocean. This is a logic given in the Nyāya-śāstra. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. What he'll study about the Atlantic Ocean? One who has got knowledge, three-feet knowledge in the well, what idea he'll get about Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean?
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture -- Bombay, March 18, 1972|Lecture -- Bombay, March 18, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So try to understand the Bhāgavata. Try to understand Vedānta philosophy. Unfortunately, when we study Bhāgavata we immediately jump over Kṛṣṇa-līlā with the gopīs. That is not the process. The process is first of all you try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Without understanding Kṛṣṇa, which is very difficult subject matter... Kṛṣṇa says that yatatām api siddhānām kaścid māṁ vetti tattvataḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 7.3 (1972)|BG 7.3]]). So the preliminary study of Kṛṣṇa is Śrīmad, er, Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa explains Himself. (aside:) Give me water. (coughs) In the Seventh Chapter, we shall begin from tomorrow morning, the study of this Bhagavad-gītā in the morning. Please try to come. Kṛṣṇa is giving personally instruction. You cannot understand God, Kṛṣṇa, by your mental speculation. (coughs) That is called Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya, Dr. Frog philosophy. A frog from within the well, he's trying to study Atlantic Ocean. This is a logic given in the Nyāya-śāstra. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. What he'll study about the Atlantic Ocean? One who has got knowledge, three-feet knowledge in the well, what idea he'll get about Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean? As it is not possible simply by imagination, simply, similarly, if you try to understand about God, or Kṛṣṇa, by your mental speculation, it will be simply a waste of time. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo (Sanskrit). That is already forbidden, that "You cannot understand by your great brain." What brain you have got? Teeny brain. You cannot compare your brain with God's brain. You are very proud by flying a sputnik in the sky. That's all right. You have got good brain. But there is another personality who has got brain who is floating millions and trillions of planets as weightlessness in the sky. So you cannot compare your brain with that brain, but there is a brain.</p>
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</div>
<div id="SundayFeastLectureAtlantaMarch21975_4" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="154" link="Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975" link_text="Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975">
<div class="heading">We have no idea what is meant by "all-powerful." We think that all-powerful means "I am so much powerful. He may be ten times powerful than me." Or somebody says, "twenty times." "All right, let us compromise. Fifty times." (laughter) This kind of speculation is like the frog's speculation within the well.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975|Sunday Feast Lecture -- Atlanta, March 2, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">God... In many religions they have got different names of God. And in Vedic scripture there are many demigods and incarnation of God. But Kṛṣṇa is the original name of God. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam ([[Vanisource:SB 1.3.28|SB 1.3.28]]). There is list of incarnations, and in the conclusion the śāstra says, "In this long list there are many names, but the name 'Kṛṣṇa' is particularly to be noted, that He is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead." "God" means He is not like us. He can expand Himself. Even the yogis, some of the yogis, not these ordinary third-class yogis, but those who have attained yogic perfection, they can expand the body in at least up to eight. The yogis can do that. There are instances. So if an ordinary yogi can do that, just imagine how much potential there is of the Supreme Lord. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati: ([[Vanisource:BG 18.61 (1972)|BG 18.61]]) "My dear Arjuna, the Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, in every one living being's heart." You just imagine how many living entities are there. They cannot be counted. Jīva-bhago sa vijñeyaḥ sa anantaya kalpate. But there are many million, trillions. Even million, trillions is insufficient. There is no counting. There are so many living entities, and they are all part and parcel of God. Just like the sunshine and sun globe and the sun-god. The sun-god is within the sun globe, and the inhabitants of the sun globe, they are all very glowing, luminous. On account of their bodily glowing, the whole sun planet is glowing. On account of the sun planet glowing, the sunshine, which is reaching us from 93,000,000's of miles—we feel the heat and the light. This is an ordinary material thing. So just imagine what is the potential of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.</p>
<p>So we cannot imagine what is the potential power, energy of the Supreme Person, just like we cannot estimate what is the temperature of the sun globe, sun-god. It is in our front. We have got aeroplanes. We can go there. But before going there we will be finished, the temperature is so high. Everyone knows it. So if the ordinary sun-god or sun globe is such high temperature, how much higher temperature is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His potency, His power. We say God is almighty, all-powerful, but we have no idea what is meant by "all-powerful." We think that all-powerful means "I am so much powerful. He may be ten times powerful than me." Or somebody says, "twenty times." "All right, let us compromise. Fifty times." (laughter) This kind of speculation is like the frog's speculation within the well. There is a frog within the well, and one of his friends came to him, "My dear friend, I have seen a vast mass of water, Atlantic Ocean." "What is that Atlantic Ocean?" "It is vast." "How much? Maybe ten times more than this? Or twenty times? Come on." (laughter) "No, no. It is very, very vast." So these rascal speculation of God is like that the speculation of the frog about Atlantic Ocean. These mundane philosopher, scientists, they are thinking of God in that way, the Dr. Frog's philosophy. The Dr. Frog's philosophy will not help you to understand what is God.</p>
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</div>
<div id="LectureNelloreJanuary41976_5" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="167" link="Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976" link_text="Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976">
<div class="heading">Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Just like a frog in the well is informed by his friend, "My dear friend, Mr. Frog, or Dr. Frog, I have seen a big, vast mass of water, Atlantic Ocean." The frog, he has never seen the Atlantic Ocean. So he is speculating, "Atlantic Ocean? The well is three feet round. It may be four feet."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976|Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">If I am equal to God or if I am God, then how I have become a dog? So this is a controversial going on. But from Bhagavad-gītā, as God explains Himself, He says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya ([[Vanisource:BG 7.7 (1972)|BG 7.7]]). He is the Supreme. And in the Brahma-saṁhitā described by Lord Brahmā, he says,</p>
:īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
:sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
:anādir ādir govindaḥ
:sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
:(Bs. 5.1)
<p>Kṛṣṇa also said. The Vedānta says that the Absolute Truth is that from where everything emanates, janmādy asya yataḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.1.1|SB 1.1.1]]). And Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: ([[Vanisource:BG 10.8 (1972)|BG 10.8]]) "I am the origin of everything." Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate, iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ.</p>
<p>So we have to follow mahājana because we are tiny living entities. We cannot speculate. This is nonsense. Speculation is nonsense. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso (Bs. 5.34). If we speculate we shall never reach the Absolute Truth. That is not possible. But power is very limited. How long I shall speculate? This is called kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Just like a frog in the well is informed by his friend, "My dear friend, Mr. Frog, or Dr. Frog, I have seen a big, vast mass of water, Atlantic Ocean." The frog, he has never seen the Atlantic Ocean. So he is speculating, "Atlantic Ocean? The well is three feet round. It may be four feet." "No, no. It is very..." "All right, five feet? Six feet? Ten feet?" So how long he will speculate? There is no comparison. Similarly, the greatness of God we cannot speculate. That is not possible.</p>
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</div>
<div id="Philosophy_Discussions" class="sub_section" sec_index="13" parent="Lectures" text="Philosophy Discussions"><h3>Philosophy Discussions</h3>
</div>
<div id="PhilosophyDiscussiononCharlesDarwin_0" class="quote" parent="Philosophy_Discussions" book="Lec" index="5" link="Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin" link_text="Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin">
<div class="heading">You are claiming that you have excavated all. We say no, not even an insignificant portion. So your knowledge is limited. (indistinct) they say the same (indistinct), Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is limited within the three-feet well. If he says "I have seen everything," that is not acceptable.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin|Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Śyāmasundara: I have excavated in all parts of the world, and every time I go to the...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No. You have not excavated all parts of the world. That is another nonsense. You have not done this.</p>
<p>Śyāmasundara: Well, on seven continents I have excavated...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: But that seven continents is not the whole world. That is our charge. That you are claiming that you have excavated all. We say no, not even an insignificant portion. So your knowledge is limited. (indistinct) they say the same (indistinct), Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is limited within the three-feet well. If he says "I have seen everything," that is not acceptable.</p>
<p>Śyāmasundara: But at least in thousands of places they have bored into the earth or dug into the earth, and they've found...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. Thousands of places is not this finishing, the whole planet.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="PhilosophyDiscussiononCharlesDarwin_1" class="quote" parent="Philosophy_Discussions" book="Lec" index="5" link="Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin" link_text="Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin">
<div class="heading">The whole thing is that Dr. Frog, famous story. He comes to this country, Dr. Frog's understanding. He has studied the three-feet-wide well, and he says he is satisfied with that. He has nothing to do with the Atlantic Ocean. But Atlantic Ocean is also a reservoir of water, and that well is also a reservoir of water.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin|Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Karandhara: Even if you were to grant that the first life forms on this planet were simple one-celled life, that does not mean that more complex life did not begin earlier on other planets. The theory is not aborted. It may be you can discount the possibility of...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: The whole thing is that Dr. Frog, famous story. He comes to this country, Dr. Frog's understanding. He has studied the three-feet-wide well, and he says he is satisfied with that. He has nothing to do with the Atlantic Ocean. But Atlantic Ocean is also a reservoir of water, and that well is also a reservoir of water. But (there is a) vast difference. So we take knowledge of who has created Atlantic Ocean. Therefore our knowledge is perfect. What do you say?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="PhilosophyDiscussiononJohnDewey_2" class="quote" parent="Philosophy_Discussions" book="Lec" index="10" link="Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey" link_text="Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey">
<div class="heading">Arjuna talked with Him personally, he has confirmed, and everything is there in the record, but you don't believe. Then how you can be convinced? Neither you have got perfect senses to see. Then what is the way to convince you? You will remain always in darkness. There is no way out. You can, within your dark well, you can go on imagining, Dr. Frog, but you will never have perfect knowledge.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey|Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Hayagrīva: He says, for him he says, "There is but one sure road of access to truth: the road of patient, cooperative inquiry, operating by means of observation, experiment, record, and controlled reflection."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Record is there already, Mahābhārata, and those who have seen, they have confirmed it. Vyāsadeva has confirmed, Nārada has confirmed. Arjuna talked with Him personally, he has confirmed, and everything is there in the record, but you don't believe. Then how you can be convinced? Neither you have got perfect senses to see. Then what is the way to convince you? You will remain always in darkness. There is no way out. You can, within your dark well, you can go on imagining, Dr. Frog, but you will never have perfect knowledge.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="PhilosophyDiscussiononBertrandRussell_3" class="quote" parent="Philosophy_Discussions" book="Lec" index="20" link="Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell" link_text="Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell">
<div class="heading">So one should know Kṛṣṇa in truth, not superficially, and comparing oneself to Kṛṣṇa. No, Kṛṣṇa is... "He (is) a man like me, maybe little wiser, that's all." Dr. Frog calculation. Atlantic Ocean from the well, three-feet well. You see.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell|Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: How the gopīs can remain impure, in touch with Kṛṣṇa? Simply in touch with His holy name one becomes pure, and they are directly in touch with Kṛṣṇa, how they can be impure? So one who does not know the science of Kṛṣṇa, they say like that, "Oh, why (indistinct)?" They want to give direction to God. They think that God should be under their rules and regulations; therefore they dare to question Kṛṣṇa's activities. Kṛṣṇa therefore says in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Whatever He does, that is transcendental, but one must know tattvataḥ, in truth. And as soon as he knows it, he becomes liberated. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya ([[Vanisource:BG 4.9 (1972)|BG 4.9]]). So one should know Kṛṣṇa in truth, not superficially, and comparing oneself to Kṛṣṇa. No, Kṛṣṇa is... "He (is) a man like me, maybe little wiser, that's all." Dr. Frog calculation. Atlantic Ocean from the well, three-feet well. You see.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="PhilosophyDiscussiononSocrates_4" class="quote" parent="Philosophy_Discussions" book="Lec" index="26" link="Philosophy Discussion on Socrates" link_text="Philosophy Discussion on Socrates">
<div class="heading">A frog within the dark well, he is thinking, "Here is everything." And if he is informed, "Oh, there is big miles of water, Atlantic Ocean," so this Dr. Frog, from within the well he has never seen the Atlantic Ocean, and he cannot conceive that the water can be so expansive. So therefore those who are in the dark well, for them it is surprising that what is the light outside.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Philosophy Discussion on Socrates|Philosophy Discussion on Socrates]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Hayagrīva: Socrates, in a very famous allegory or metaphor, pictures humanity living in a dark cave, and the teacher has seen the light outside of the cave. He knows that there's something outside the cave that is light, and he may return to the cave to tell people in the cave that this is darkness. And the people in the cave, many of them would consider him to be crazy for speaking of such a thing as the light outside of the cave, and that this was a very, conceivably a very dangerous position to be  in.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: But actually that is the fact. Just like we are say so many times, Dr. Frog. A frog within the dark well, he is thinking, "Here is everything." And if he is informed, "Oh, there is big miles of water, Atlantic Ocean," so this Dr. Frog, from within the well he has never seen the Atlantic Ocean, and he cannot conceive that the water can be so expansive. So therefore those who are in the dark well, for them it is surprising that what is the light outside. But that's a fact. And one who has fallen, he is in the..., if he is crying that "I am fallen," so it is said that the man outside, he drops a rope, that "You catch this rope and I shall take it out." But he does not catch up. Just like we are presenting that you, everyone in the material world, you are suffering, you take, catch up this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are refusing, or they do not admit; that is going on. But if one is fortunate, he can catch up the rope, and the man wants to help him, he can get him out. But he has to catch up. It is Kṛṣṇa's advice also, that "You are crying, you are suffering, you are finding, trying to find out how your suffering will be ended." That materialist, they are doing their own way, and the impersonalists, they are doing in their own way; the yogis, they are doing in their own way. Everyone is trying to get out of the suffering. But when Kṛṣṇa says that these things will not help you, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ([[Vanisource:BG 18.66 (1972)|BG 18.66]]), he does not catch up. That is his misfortune. God Himself says that "You take." "You take Me" means by His instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. "You take to Me, you will be saved." But they will not. That is their obstinacy. And the Vedas therefore says, tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ: "Don't remain in the dark well. You come out to the light." But they will not come to the light. They want to remain in the dark well.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
</div>
<div id="1972_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="5" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1972 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1972 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkConversationSeptember281972LosAngeles_0" class="quote" parent="1972_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="40" link="Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles" link_text="Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles">
<div class="heading">Yes, that is we call kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya, the frog, Dr. Frog of the well. He cannot conceive what is Atlantic Ocean, but still he will theorize, "Atlantic Ocean may be so big, so big, so big." What experience you can get Atlantic Ocean living in a three-foot well? That is going on.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles|Morning Walk Conversation -- September 28, 1972, Los Angeles]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Svarūpa Dāmodara: They cannot think so many things because they are concentrated in a small area of even their own...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, that is we call kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya(?), the frog, Dr. Frog of the well. He cannot conceive what is Atlantic Ocean, but still he will theorize, "Atlantic Ocean may be so big, so big, so big." What experience you can get Atlantic Ocean living in a three-foot well? That is going on. And if I ask you, "What is the measurement of the space?" You cannot say that. You cannot say that. But there is measurement (indistinct). It may be unlimited for you, but as it is a created thing, there must be measurement. Any created thing has measurement. Unless they agree to submit... They must submit. Just like you have submitted, you are (indistinct), so you can understand God. This is the only qualification. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam ([[Vanisource:BG 18.66 (1972)|BG 18.66]]), "First of all submit, rascal, then I shall (indistinct), you will be able to understand the truth." There is no possibility of understanding the whole thing by challenge. That is (indistinct). Their only challenge (indistinct).</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="6" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1973 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1973 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithIndonesianScholarFebruary271973Jakarta_0" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="4" link="Room Conversation with Indonesian Scholar -- February 27, 1973, Jakarta" link_text="Room Conversation with Indonesian Scholar -- February 27, 1973, Jakarta">
<div class="heading">Frog philosophy means that a frog who lives in the well, he has got experience of water, three cubic feet. And if he's given to understand that there is Atlantic Ocean, it is very difficult for him to understand.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Indonesian Scholar -- February 27, 1973, Jakarta|Room Conversation with Indonesian Scholar -- February 27, 1973, Jakarta]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Four billion years is twelve hours of Brahmā's life.</p>
<p>Scholar: Just one day only.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: One day only. Similarly one night. Then one day.</p>
<p>Scholar: Eight billion years one day of Brahmā.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda;: Yes. So that is the calculation.</p>
<p>Scholar: Yes.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: So things are very complicated, and people should understand very rightly. They are, they are frog philosophy. Frog philos... We say frog philosophy. Frog philosophy means that a frog who lives in the well, he has got experience of water, three cubic feet. And if he's given to understand that there is Atlantic Ocean, it is very difficult for him to understand. So on the whole, it is... But it is not very completely explained. And our point is this, or at least it will give some idea of the Bhagavad-gītā to the people.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkMay41973LosAngeles_1" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="23" link="Morning Walk -- May 4, 1973, Los Angeles" link_text="Morning Walk -- May 4, 1973, Los Angeles">
<div class="heading">That kūpa-maṇḍūka, this frog in the well. That's all. They have no information of the Pacific Ocean. They are researching within the well. That's all. They have no information even of this material world. What do they know about the so many planets, so many, huge outer space?
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- May 4, 1973, Los Angeles|Morning Walk -- May 4, 1973, Los Angeles]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Svarūpa Dāmodara: In the Vaikuṇṭha planets, we get that all the inhabitants are four-handed forms of Nārāyaṇa?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, exactly like Nārāyaṇa. Their bodily features... Just like here, you cannot distinguish by the bodily feature who is President Nixon, who is a common man. You cannot distinguish by the bodily feature. Similarly, there also, you cannot distinguish who is a common man and who is Personality of Godhead. They are like that.</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: But still, there are plants and all the living entities in the Vaikuṇṭha...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: They know. Because they have full knowledge, "He knows here is God. Although he is four-handed, I am four-handed, but here is God." Because there is full knowledge. That is the difference. Here we are selecting some rascal as God, because we have no full knowledge. There, in the Vaikuṇṭha planets, although the common citizens and God is of the same feature of the bodily, but they know, "Here is God, the Supreme." He has got special signs in the... Yes, that's all. Just like the king or the president, we may make mistake. We may accept somebody as "Here is president." No. But the associates of the president, he knows. They know that "Here is president." Similarly, there is no question of mistake there. Four kinds of defects of material life—to commit mistake, to become illusioned, to cheat, and imperfection of the senses—these things are not there. Everyone's senses are perfect. When he sees God, he sees perfectly. He does not mistake. He is not illusioned. And there is no cheating and there is no imperfection of the senses. There is no mistake. These are spiritual life.</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: So all the living entities are completely satisfied.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Certainly. Because they are in the spiritual life. That is real life. Here it is covered. There is no such season as winter season, as summer season. Always spring. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), simply ānanda, blissful life of knowledge. What do they know, the scientists, about the spiritual life?</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: There is no...,</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No information, no research. That kūpa-maṇḍūka, this frog in the well. That's all. They have no information of the Pacific Ocean. They are researching within the well. That's all. They have no information even of this material world. What do they know about the so many planets, so many, huge outer space? What do they know?</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: Almost nothing.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Nothing. Not even of this planet, what to speak of other planets. And still, they are proud. "Nobel Prize."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkMay51973LosAngeles_2" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="24" link="Morning Walk -- May 5, 1973, Los Angeles" link_text="Morning Walk -- May 5, 1973, Los Angeles">
<div class="heading">In nyāya-śāstra. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Kūpa means well, and maṇḍūka means frog. "The frog in the well." The frogs, sometimes they are in river also, in bank of the rivers. But never in the ocean.
</div>
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- May 5, 1973, Los Angeles|Morning Walk -- May 5, 1973, Los Angeles]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda:  (break) ... frogs never come to the... You will never find a frog in the ocean. Did you mark it?</p>
<p>Brahmānanda: No.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: You have got so many animals but never a frog.</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: Maybe they don't like the salt.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, frog is conspicuous by absence. There is no frog. Therefore that example is given. They have never seen what is the ocean. (laughs) So all these scientists, they are frogs. They have never seen what is the kingdom of God. Therefore this example, "Doctor Frog." Doctor frog is never visible in the ocean. They are visible only within this circle, well. That's all.</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: This example is available in Bhāgavatam, Prabhupāda.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, in nyāya-śāstra. Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Kūpa means well, and maṇḍūka means frog. "The frog in the well." The frogs, sometimes they are in river also, in bank of the rivers. But never in the ocean.</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: The environment is not suitable. They are fresh water species.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Well, they are also aquatics. They also live in water. But they are unfit for living in ocean water. So many varieties of life, different living entities meant for different purposes.</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: According to the desire of the...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: According to the desire of the living entity.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkMay121973LosAngeles_3" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="26" link="Morning Walk -- May 12, 1973, Los Angeles" link_text="Morning Walk -- May 12, 1973, Los Angeles">
<div class="heading">We want to bring God to our level, that's frog philosophy. Atlantic Ocean to the level of well. That is foolishness. That is foolishness.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- May 12, 1973, Los Angeles|Morning Walk -- May 12, 1973, Los Angeles]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Svarūpa Dāmodara: Can we explain by acintya śakti, Śrīla Prabhupāda? If we say, how we enter, that is the difference between the...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, that is acintya-śakti. You cannot think how it is done.</p>
<p>Svarūpa Dāmodara: But it is done.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: It is done. Just like sometimes I think that I came here alone without any expectation of success, and this movement has become so nice. Actually, by one man's effort it was not possible. But it has become so. This is acintya-śakti, Kṛṣṇa's, inconceivable. Even a modern businessman, he cannot organize such a worldwide organization in such short a time. We have talked with many businessmen in India. Some said, "We have got thirty branches," somebody says, "We have got forty," another twenty branches. Our students say "My Guru Mahārāja has 102 branches." So they say, "No, we cannot compare with your Guru Mahārāja." So this is acintya-śakti. You can see so many things, the acintya-śakti is working. So unless we accept acintya-śakti of God, it is not possible to understand what is God. Inconceivable potency. And that is actually a fact. We want to bring God to our level, that's frog philosophy. Atlantic Ocean to the level of well. That is foolishness. That is foolishness.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkAugust301973London_4" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="66" link="Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London" link_text="Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London">
<div class="heading">Frog philosophy is trying to imagine the size of the Atlantic Ocean never having left my well.
</div>
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London|Morning Walk -- August 30, 1973, London]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: That frog philosophy is going on. Dr. Frog. He's simply calculating the well, that's all. How there can be Atlantic Ocean? That is frog philosophy. You know frog philosophy? Yes?</p>
<p>David Lawrence: Yes.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: You know? I don't think you know. Who can explain what is that frog philosophy?</p>
<p>Śyāmasundara: Frog philosophy is trying to imagine the size of the Atlantic Ocean never having left my well.</p>
<p>David Lawrence: Oh, I see, yes. Completely beyond one's experience.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. No, especially of the Mr. Frog, Dr. Frog. He has never seen what is Atlantic Ocean and somebody informed him, "Oh I have seen such a vast mass of water." "Oh, is it bigger than this well?"</p>
<p>David Lawrence: Yes, beyond his conception.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: These people are like frogs rotting in the well, and what they can understand of the Vedic knowledge?</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkDecember301973LosAngeles_5" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="109" link="Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles" link_text="Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles">
<div class="heading">Because I am thinking, "God must be like me." A Dr. Frog. He is thinking, "Atlantic Ocean must be like this well." That is our defect. He cannot conceive that beyond this well there can be a vast great mass of water. He cannot conceive. So comparing his intelligence, he is thinking that "How it is possible that a person can create such a big sky, such big, huge...?"
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles|Morning Walk -- December 30, 1973, Los Angeles]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Everywhere we see that on the top there is a supreme being, just like in your state, the president. So why not this big government, a Supreme Being? Where is the difficulty? Without something supreme, controller, things cannot go nicely. Otherwise why you select a president? Why you select a supreme being and give him all power that "Your order will be final"? Why you do that? Because you want the government must go on nicely. Otherwise there is no need of electing a president. So supreme being must be there, in every management. So this big huge management, there must be Supreme Being. And that is God. Clear, simple understanding. How can you deny? The difficulty is that with our poor fund of knowledge, we cannot understand that how a Supreme Being, person, can create the sky, this huge water, the sun, moon. Because I am thinking, "God must be like me." A Dr. Frog. He is thinking, "Atlantic Ocean must be like this well." That is our defect. He cannot conceive that beyond this well there can be a vast great mass of water. He cannot conceive. So comparing his intelligence, he is thinking that "How it is possible that a person can create such a big sky, such big, huge...?" Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 7.4 (1972)|BG 7.4]]). This earth, so big, huge quantity of earthly planet. So not only one. Millions. And then water, then fire, then... He cannot conceive. He is thinking that "If there is God, He must be like me. So I cannot do this. Therefore there is no God." The same, "Yes. I close my eyes. Then there is no enemies." That's all. He should be intelligent. Just like we are here ten or twenty men. You accept that "He is our guru. He is most intelligent man." Similarly, somebody is more intelligent than me, somebody is more intelligent, more intelligent. Go on searching. Find out the final intelligent. That is comparative intelligence. That we know. But what is that final intelligence? That we must know. That is God. Just like the sun. If we think that beyond this sun there is no more planet, that is not correct. You cannot go beyond this sun. That is another thing. But all the planets are surrounding the sun. That everyone knows. So if there is a planet this down the sun, why not up the sun? It is common sense. This water is impersonal, but go down the water. You will find millions of persons, aquatics. Those who are seeing superficially on the surface, they have concluded, "Now finished, all personality finished. It is all vacant." That is poor fund of knowledge. Real knowledge is go deep into the water, you will find millions of creatures. They are living very nicely within the water. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayān... Even within the atom, you will find personality.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1975 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1975 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithMrMrsWaxWriterandEditingManagerofPlayboyMagazineJuly51975Chicago_0" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="128" link="Room Conversation with Mr. &amp; Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago" link_text="Room Conversation with Mr. &amp; Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago">
<div class="heading">A frog in the well is thinking, "This is the limit of water." (laughter) And if you say there is Atlantic Ocean, he cannot understand it. He will think, "What is that?" "Oh, it is very big." "How much? Is it three feet? It is four feet?" "No, no, very big." "Five feet?" "No, no, still..." "Six feet?" So he is calculating in that way.
</div>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Mr. &amp; Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago|Room Conversation with Mr. &amp; Mrs. Wax, Writer and Editing Manager of Playboy Magazine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: So if we take up the statement of Bhagavad-gītā, then five thousand years ago this was spoken for the second time, and first time it was spoken forty millions of years ago. Therefore it is permanent, not that something new. It is existing eternally. Sometimes we are missing, and sometimes we are accepting, but it is existing eternally. You cannot trace out the history. Our calculation of history means we are trying to make the eternal time relatively limited with our life. But the time is eternal. We are changing our forms of life many, many million times, but the time is there. So the calculation of past, present, future is relative according to the duration of my life. An ant's past, present, future is not the same past, present, future as of human being. The past, present, future is relative according to the duration of life and body. So Brahma's past, present, future and our past and present, future is not the same. So time is eternal, and past, present, future is calculation of relative knowledge. That is not correct.</p>
<p>Jayatīrtha: Like the frog in the well.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. A frog in the well is thinking, "This is the limit of water." (laughter) And if you say there is Atlantic Ocean, he cannot understand it. He will think, "What is that?" "Oh, it is very big." "How much? Is it three feet? It is four feet?" "No, no, very big." "Five feet?" "No, no, still..." "Six feet?" So he is calculating in that way, "Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten," but Atlantic ocean is beyond his conception. So these are all Dr. Frog's philosophy. Yes. And the so-called philosophers, they are Dr. Frog. (laughter) We consider them as Dr. Frog. Some of my students who are doctors, they are now trying to give up their job because they are understanding this is all false knowledge.</p>
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<div id="MorningWalkOctober51975Mauritius_1" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="201" link="Morning Walk -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius" link_text="Morning Walk -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius">
<div class="heading">Because you are the frog of the well. The frog of the well thinks, "This well is everything." And if you say, "There is Atlantic Ocean," he cannot imagine, the frog of the well.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius|Morning Walk -- October 5, 1975, Mauritius]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Indian man (4): Swamijī, is there any hell, or rather this is hell...?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Why not? Why not?</p>
<p>Indian man (4): Above the world or in the world?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Huh? You know everything, where, what is where? Do you know? Then why do you ask this question? There is. There is. There is planet, hellish planet.</p>
<p>Indian man (4): I don't know, I have thought about this, that the hell of the pradas(?) exists only in this world itself.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Because you are the frog of the well. The frog of the well thinks, "This well is everything." And if you say, "There is Atlantic Ocean," he cannot imagine, the frog of the well. You know frog of the well?</p>
<p>Indian man (4): Yes, yes.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: A three-feet well, and a frog is there and he is thinking, "This is everything." And some friend comes and informs, "Oh, I have seen very big water, Atlantic." He simply imagines, "Oh? It's big? How much big? One feet more? All right, two feet. All right, three feet," like that. So the frogs in the well, they cannot understand. You should be not a frog in the well; you should be liberal to hear from the authorities, Vedas. Then you will understand. And if you remain a frog in the well... All these rascal scientists, they are all frog in the well. They have got little calculation of this planet, and they have no information of... There are so many millions of planets. What do they know? They cannot, could not study even this moon planet. Wrongly study. The moon planet is above the sun planet, 1,000,600,000 miles above. What do they know? They are thinking the moon planet is in between the earth and the... So the all wrong calculation.</p>
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<div id="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1976 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1976 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="MorningWalkJuly51976WashingtonDC_0" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="183" link="Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C." link_text="Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.">
<div class="heading">Western scientists, philosophers, they are all Dr. Frogs. They simply calculating three feet water, that's all. As soon as you speak to them about Atlantic Ocean, they say, "Oh, it is impossible." Froggish brain. (break) ...word has come, kūpa-māṇḍūkya-nyāya, the frog in the well.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.|Morning Walk -- July 5, 1976, Washington, D.C.]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: ...Western scientists, philosophers, they are all Dr. Frogs. They simply calculating three feet water, that's all. As soon as you speak to them about Atlantic Ocean, they say, "Oh, it is impossible." Froggish brain. (break) ...word has come, kūpa-māṇḍūkya-nyāya, the frog in the well.</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: Prabhupāda, is that example also given in the Bhāgavatam? Frog in the well? Sometimes you use all these different examples, and they are all there in the Bhāgavatam. I was just wondering if this frog in the well was also there.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No.</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: You use very graphic examples; they're very perfect.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, my Guru Mahārāja used to use to place so many examples, (laughs) I do not know all of them. No, there is a book, Nyāya-śāstra, logic. You'll find all these things.</p>
<p>Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Is that the Nīti-śāstra?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Nīti-śāstra is different. This is Nyāya-śāstra.</p>
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<div id="EveningDarsanaAugust121976Tehran_1" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="258" link="Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran" link_text="Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran">
<div class="heading">Kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya, Dr. Frog's philosophy. Dr. Frog is within the well, three feet length and breadth. He's thinking, "This is the ultimate reservoir of water." And when he's informed there is Atlantic Ocean, he simply calculates, "All right, this is three feet. It may be six feet or it may be seven feet; all right, come on, ten feet." He's going like that. So God is not like that, within our calculation.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran|Evening Darsana -- August 12, 1976, Tehran]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: There is need of association for discussing how God is great. That is needed- jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Unless one is inquisitive... Sharmaji, you can come here. So, that is the... Simply we should not remain satisfied to understand... That is not proper understanding, officially, "God is great." No. Try to inquire how great He is, why He is great. Then your regard for God, your devotion for God will increase. And because we do not inquire how God is great, therefore cheap gods are coming. Any rascal, he is repre... "I am God." Because we do not know actually what is God. But if you inquire about God, if you go through the śāstra, as it is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā:</p>
:yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya
:jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ
:viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo
:govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
:[Bs. 5.48]
<p>Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya : the breathing period. We have got idea, breathing period. Within second we are having two, three breathing. So within the breathing period of Mahā-Viṣṇu innumerable universes are coming out. This is greatness. How great is God, it is same idea, that within the breathing period innumerable universes are coming. We cannot conceive of one universe, but we get the information that innumerable universes are coming out during the breathing period. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). That Mahā-Viṣṇu, yasya kalā-viśeṣa, part and plenary portion, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **. So when we speak all these things, they'll take it mythology. And a cheap god comes, we'll accept, "Here is God." This is the position. They do not try to understand that actually God is great, how great He is. That is called kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya, Dr. Frog's philosophy. Dr. Frog is within the well, three feet length and breadth. He's thinking, "This is the ultimate reservoir of water." And when he's informed there is Atlantic Ocean, he simply calculates, "All right, this is three feet. It may be six feet or it may be seven feet; all right, come on, ten feet." He's going like that. So God is not like that, within our calculation.</p>
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<div id="PressInterviewatMuthilalRaosHouseAugust171976Hyderabad_2" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="270" link="Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad" link_text="Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad">
<div class="heading">Kūpa-maṇḍūka. A frog in the well is trying to study Atlantic Ocean.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad|Press Interview at Muthilal Rao's House -- August 17, 1976, Hyderabad]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Interviewer (4): You mean to say that any system that doesn't subscribe to this movement has no future at all?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No.</p>
<p>Interviewer (4): But that is (indistinct).</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes, that we say practically. What is the use of "ism," manufactured by imperfect senses. We have got defects. Our..., we commit mistake. Who is the person who does not commit mistake? None. We accept this body, which I am not, this is called pramada. Pramada vipralipsa,(?) without any perfect knowledge you want to teach. That is cheating. Vipralipsa. And karnapada(?), our senses are imperfect. So how you can give perfect knowledge with all this imperfection? Unless you become perfect, you cannot give perfect knowledge. So any knowledge given by any imperfect person, we reject immediately, useless waste of time. And actually that is the fact. If you are blind, you cannot see. You say, "Here is the elephant, a big stambha, pillar," by seeing his leg, by touching his leg. But elephant is just like a pillar? That is our speculation. Andha-kūpa, what is called? Kūpa-maṇḍūka. A frog in the well is trying to study Atlantic Ocean.</p>
<p>Devotee: Kūpa-maṇḍūka.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Kūpa-maṇḍūka. What you know about the Atlantic Ocean who's living within three feet of land, water? Kūpa-maṇḍūka.</p>
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<div id="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="10" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1977 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1977 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="BhumandalaDiscussionJuly31977Vrndavana_0" class="quote" parent="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="213" link="Bhu-mandala Discussion -- July 3, 1977, Vrndavana" link_text="Bhu-mandala Discussion -- July 3, 1977, Vrndavana">
<div class="heading">Kūpa-maṇḍūka, the frog in the well, he is thinking that "This is the whole water area."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Bhu-mandala Discussion -- July 3, 1977, Vrndavana|Bhu-mandala Discussion -- July 3, 1977, Vrndavana]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This question they're still going to put. They're still going to put this question, that they... We say, "Here is Jambūdvīpa, and this is Bhāratavarṣa on the bottom, and you cannot go beyond Bhāratavarṣa because you're conditioned. You're limited. That is our position. And within Bhāratavarṣa there is India. We accept that. Even we accept that. There are oceans. There are continents, seven continents, as described in the Bhāgavatam." So their question is: "Okay, but then how do you explain that you can go this direction and you come out in India, over, back here?"</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: We don't say that, that this direction, what you are saying, it is end. That is not. We say that.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That it doesn't end.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That you can go further, but you cannot go. Therefore you are thinking, "This is end of the position." The same dog mentality. He is within that small area. He is thinking, "There is no more, other space." That example is another, that bull. His eyes are closed, and he crushes the oil mill, going. He's thinking he is going three hundred miles.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They keep the eyes blinded so he won't...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...understand what's going on.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Because in one place, simply going round, going round, it makes one mad. So those eyes are closed. He is thinking, "This is the end of world."</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So you have said that, but still you have not given the solution.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: This is solution.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You've explained it...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Solution is that you are thinking, "This is this." You are making solution. You are making solution.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We're trying to make.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: But I say, because you are limited, this is not this. What you are thinking, "This is this," that is not.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So what is it?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Kūpa-maṇḍūka, the frog in the well, he is thinking that "This is the whole water area."</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then what is it? If it is not what I am thinking, then what is it?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: That I am explaining. Take it.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But we can't explain it. That's the problem.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, no, why cannot explain?</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's the problem.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: It is there, given in the book. What you are doing?</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: According to the book, according to Bhāgavata and the picture that we have drawn, there's only one way to go from America to India.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Hm?</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There's only one way to go from America to India, not two—at least to our vision. So far, we have not been able to explain it. That's our problem.</p>
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<div id="DiscussionaboutBhumandalaJuly51977Vrndavana_1" class="quote" parent="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="214" link="Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana" link_text="Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana">
<div class="heading">But if you cannot trust them, they're rejected immediately. This is one argument. Another argument. The frog in the well, he's estimating, "This is the limit of water." What he'll understand about Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean? There is so many things. On the whole we are imperfect, and although imperfect, they want to be perfect. That is cheating.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana|Discussion about Bhu-mandala -- July 5, 1977, Vrndavana]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: From my practical experience, I have seen Switzerland. It is so high, that so many accidents have taken place. Little inattention. They have experience. The plane goes thirty-two thousand feet high. Is it not?</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Thirty to forty thousand. Say forty thousand maximum.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Still they met with accident. But they are saying that Himalaya is twenty-eight thousand feet high.</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Maximum.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: What is this? First of all answer this. Everything proposition is wrong. So how we can trust? What is the answer?</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We cannot trust them.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Then? But if you cannot trust them, they're rejected immediately. This is one argument. Another argument, (Bengali). The frog in the well, he's estimating, "This is the limit of water." What he'll understand about Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean? There is so many things. On the whole we are imperfect, and although imperfect, they want to be perfect. That is cheating. Now for argument's sake, if they put some argument, we have to reply. We have to prepare for them. Otherwise they're useless. We know they're useless, but sometimes they put some argument. We have to give answer. This is the position. And our duty is to present picture of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam correct.</p>
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