Quotes: Limitations of Materialistic Methodology (Srila Prabhupada)

(skepticism) SPL 2.46. Ravīndra Svarūpa: “What is the best way to deal with skepticism?”

Prabhupāda: “Skepticism – rascalism. [Devotees laugh] We are not going to deal with rascalism. We are going to deal with sense. Skepticism, they do not believe in anything – everything is false. They are so disappointed, they think everything is false. We are not going to deal with such men. What is the use? Is not that skepticism? What is that skepticism?”

https://vedabase.io/en/library/spl/2/46/#bb1569666

(kama is the basis of empiricism)

CC Ādi-līlā 6.14-15 purport: When one advances in research work by studying a limited substance within the limits of space and time one is amazed by the various wonderful cosmic manifestations, and naturally one goes on hypnotically accepting the path of research work or the inductive method. Through the deductive way of understanding, however, one accepts the Supreme Absolute Person, the Personality of Godhead, as the cause of all causes, who is full with diverse energies and who is neither impersonal nor void.

Śrī Īśopaniṣad. Introduction: “The Vedas are not compilations of human knowledge… Śruti refers to that knowledge which is acquired by hearing. It is not experimental knowledge… if you want to know something beyond your experience, beyond your experimental knowledge, beyond the activities of the senses, then you have to accept the Vedas. There is no question of experimenting. It has already been experimented. It is already settled.”

Life Comes From Life. The First Morning Walk: April 18, 1973: “If the whole cosmic manifestation follows the law of relativity, how can the scientist say that the conditions of this planet must apply to life on other planets? The Vedas instruct us that knowledge must always be considered in terms of deśa-kāla-pātra.”

(no attention is paid to the source) SB 2.10.10 purport. The scientists explain the material functions by so many technological terms of material law, but such blind scientists forget the lawmaker. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam points out the lawmaker. One should not be amazed by the mechanical arrangement of the complicated engine or dynamo, but one should praise the engineer who creates such a wonderful working machine. That is the difference between the devotee and the nondevotee. Devotees are always full with praising the Lord, who directs the physical laws. In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10) the direction of the Lord upon the material nature is described as follows: “The material nature full of physical laws is one of My different energies; therefore it is neither independent nor blind. Because I am transcendentally all-powerful, simply by My glancing over material nature, the physical laws of nature work so wonderfully. The actions and reactions of the physical laws work on that account, and thus the material world is created, maintained and annihilated again and again.”

(the limitations of acquiring knowledge through listening) SB 2.10.22 purport. Knowledge does not mean knowledge only of the laws of nature or physical knowledge, which are working by the direction of the Lord. The scientists are eager to hear about the physical laws working in material nature. They are eager to hear through the medium of radio and television about things taking place far away from them on other planets, but they should know that the power of hearing and the instruments for hearing were given to them by the Lord for hearing about the Self, or about the Lord. Unfortunately the power of hearing is misused in hearing the vibrations of mundane affairs. The great sages were interested in hearing about the Lord through Vedic knowledge and nothing more. That is the beginning of aural reception of knowledge.

(The Qualification of the Knower) SB 2.2.26 p. «The Vedic way of understanding, however, is more authentic because it has been accepted by the ācāryas, who are not only faithful and learned men but also liberated souls without any of the flaws of conditioned souls. The modern scientists, however, are conditioned souls liable to so many errors and mistakes. Therefore the safe side is to accept the authentic version of Vedic literatures, like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is accepted unanimously by the great ācāryas.». https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/2/26/