Syamasundara: So Immanuel Kant says that man tends to create ideas about the universe which transcend the bounds of experience, and this is what Immanuel Kant calls the third stage, or the transcendental dialectic. Immanuel Kant says these ideas which transcend the bounds of experience are the realm of pure reason. He calls it pure reason, or transcendental reason. And these are not fictions, but these spring from the very nature of reason itself, these transcendental ideas.
Prabhupada: Yes. That I already explained: transcendental. We are seeking eternity. I find myself as a soul; I am eternal; so I must seek an eternal world. This is not my place. I am eternal. The same example: just like fish taken from the water, he is not finding comfortable life. So when the fish is thrown in the water, then it is comfortable. Similarly, I am spirit soul. I am not feeling comfortable with this material body.
Therefore the right conclusion is how to go to the spiritual world or attain a spiritual body. That information we are getting from Bhagavad-gita, that one who understands Krishna or develops his love for Krishna, how to see Krishna, then he gets a spiritual body to see Krishna. Because if one is very much anxious, these thoughts will continue, and at the time of his death, ending this body, if he is filled up with Krishna consciousness, he is immediately transferred. That is assured in the Bhagavad-gita by Krishna. So our business should be: Krishna is eternal; Krishna says, “I have spoken to sun-god, forty millions of years ago.” Arjuna says, “How is that?” and He says that “That is the nature: I do not forget, you forget.” So Krishna’s body is eternal, because forgetfulness is due to change of body. As I do not remember what happened in my last life, that means I have to change my body. And Krishna remembers; therefore He does not change His body. Is it not? I forget. Why do I forget? Because I change my body. But Krishna does not. That means He does not change His body. That is eternal body. And sastra also confirms, sat-cid-ananda vigrahah. So if you become Krishna conscious, then you get also a similar body like Krishna. If you get a material body, why not a spiritual body? It requires simply a process, how to get a spiritual body. So these things they do not know.
Syamasundara: He’s getting a hint, Kant.
Prabhupada: Yes. By intellectual speculation one may get some hint, but not perfect knowledge.
Syamasundara: He says, for instance, that this pure reason or this transcendental reason is there to guide man to an understanding of wider knowledge, to guide his understanding to knowledge, and that the aim of this pure reason is to find the totality of synthesis, in other words, to understand everything. By knowing the ultimate reality, one will understand everything.
Prabhupada: So simply by understanding that he is spirit, gradually he understands that there is a spiritual world. This spiritual world is full of varieties. Everything is there, exactly like this, but that is eternal and this is temporary.
Syamasundara: He says that this pure reason has a regulative value, that is, by attempting to grasp the totality of conditions by connecting a particular phenomenon with the whole experience. In other words, for example, the idea of a supreme being is a regulative principle of reason because it tells us to view everything in the world in connection, as if it proceeded from the necessary cause, or the Supreme Being.
Prabhupada: The Supreme Being is the cause of all causes.
Syamasundara: Yes. So he says to suppose, or to use my pure reason, to come to the conclusion that there is a Supreme Being is a regulative function, because it makes everything regular. By coming to the conclusion that there is a Supreme Being, the rest of everything, all phenomena, become regulated in relationship with the Supreme Being. This is the natural impulse.
Prabhupada: That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram: [Bg. 9.10] “Under My direction the whole material nature is working, and everything is going on,” hetunanena kaunteya, jagat viparivartate. On this account, everything in this cosmic manifestation is going on regularly. All Vedic sastras describe like that, that behind these phenomena there is a direction of a person, and He is the Supreme Person.
Syamasundara: So he says that this is a natural impulse, that it is the nature of reason itself to find regularity, a total regularity, for everything. So that it must suppose that there is a Supreme Being in order to find that total synthesis.
Prabhupada: So in your preaching you can use this Kant’s statement, how he is confirming the statement of Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad- gita directly says and he as a philosopher has found out that this is a fact. So this may help in our preaching work.
Syamasundara: He says that phenomena are so endless that it is impossible to arrive at ultimate reality by the reason alone, because there are certain what he calls transcendental illusions.
Prabhupada: Therefore you have to take Krishna’s assertion. I am puzzled with these varieties of phenomenal changes, and you cannot understand how these things are being done. But as soon as you come to Krishna, He says that “I am behind this. I am doing it.” Then your conclusion is perfect.
Philosophy Discussions
with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada / Immanuel Kant
Full Conversation: http://causelessmercy.com/t/t/KANT.SYA.htm
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