Syamasundara: […] Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz calls these ultimate entities monads. Monad means unity, or oneness. He says that the ultimate stuff out of which even the atoms are made are called monads, small particles.
Prabhupada: And within those small particles there is Krishna. That small particle is not final. Andantara-stha paramanu… That is also superficial.
Syamasundara: He says that these monads are individual, conscious, alive and active, and they range in quality from the lowest type, or matter, through the higher of types, such as soul, to the highest, which is God.
Prabhupada: So whether within the atom there is soul or not?
Syamasundara: His theory is that even the atoms are made out of these monads.
Prabhupada: What is a monad?
Syamasundara: It’s difficult to understand, but a monad means a tiny particle of force which is…
Prabhupada: And we say that is Krishna.
Syamasundara: He says that it has activity, consciousness, etc. But each monad is individual, and its inherent qualities are produced from that monad.
Prabhupada: That monad, as we say, Krishna, as we understand from Brahma-samhita, that Krishna is within the atom also.
Syamasundara: He says that a monad is the force or activity which constitutes the essence of a substance.
Prabhupada: But Krishna is the substance, summum bonum. Andantara-stha paramanu-cayantara-stham. He is within everything. That is His all-pervasive nature.
Syamasundara: Then how are the individualities accounted for?
Prabhupada: Every individual soul is awarded a little portion of independence, because every individual soul is part and parcel of God, so he has got the quality of independence, in minute quantity. That is individuality.
Syamasundara: Just like, for instance, say, this particulate substance, he would say that there is a force or activity which constitutes the essence of this substance, and that is the monad of this substance. He is attributing it to everything, matter.
Prabhupada: So we take the atom. Atom is the smallest. So we say within the atom the force is Krishna. He is simply suggesting there is some enforcing power. We are giving directly that that is Krishna.
Syamasundara: But he says that in that enforcing power each atom is individual, separate, different.
Prabhupada: Yes. Krishna, by His omnipotency, can expand Himself in innumerable forms. Advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33]. Ananta, unlimited. As it is clearly said, andantara-stham. He is within the atom.
Syamasundara: Is He between each atom as an individual entity, different from each other entity?
Prabhupada: Yes. If Krishna is there, Krishna is individual. And atoms also, there are varieties of atoms. Sometimes they are combined together, six atoms, five atoms, three atoms.
Syamasundara: How is Krishna different?
Prabhupada: Krishna is there in every atom.
Syamasundara: How is He individual in each one of the atoms?
Prabhupada: Why not He is individual? Krishna is individual. How is He not individual? Krishna is always individual.
Syamasundara: He is a person.
Prabhupada: Yes. Krishna is always person, Supreme Person. But He can expand innumerably.
Syamasundara: And Paramatma—is Paramatma a person?
Prabhupada: Yes. Paramatma is a person. Every expansion—just like we are also expansion, atomic expansion of Krishna. So we are persons. Every individual soul is a person. But we are expansion of Krishna. Paramatma is another expansion, visnu-tattva. Ramadi murtisu. That is another expansion, different kinds of expansions.
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