Purification of consciousness determines one's spiritual perception and experience, not external material conditions.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Morning Walk — May 21, 1975, Melbourne 750521MW-MELBOURNE [39:26 Minutes] Walk_750521MW-MELBOURNE [in car] Madhudviṣa: ...cannot become a medical practitioner by simply reading the books. He must study under a medical practitioner. So in the case of your books, is it possible to become a devotee without actually having personal association with you? Just by reading your books?
Prabhupāda: No, it is not that you have to associate with the author. But one who knows, if you cannot understand, you have to take lesson from him. Not necessarily that you have to contact with the author always. Śrutakīrti: Just like the textbooks are not written by the teachers; they're written by other professors. Paramahaṁsa: Usually you don't even meet the author.
Prabhupāda: Simply one who knows the subject matter, he can explain. Madhudviṣa: But can your..., would your purports, would that serve as a explanation besides...
Prabhupāda: No, no. Anyone who knows the subject matter, he will be able to explain. Not necessarily the author is required to be present there. [break] [on walk] ...to study from a medical man.
I never said you have to study from the author. Or one who understood the author's purpose. Just like we are explaining Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Not that one has to learn directly from Kṛṣṇa.
One who has understood Kṛṣṇa—from him. That is paramparā system. Madhudviṣa: Also, in the lecture last night, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were saying that after the water subsides, then the trees come out, and then the insects, then the birds. That would indicate that the creation takes place in stages. Prabhupāda: Hmm? Madhudviṣa: It would indicate that the creation of this universe takes place in stages, over quite a long period of time, and this is what the scientists also claim.
Darwin's theory is similar to that, that first there was water, then vegetation came up, and then gradually, gradually, each and every species evolved, like that. So is there some correlation between those [indistinct] two? Prabhupāda: But the varieties of creation, not that everything is coming like that. Just like Brahmā was first created, the first intelligent man. So although there was water, he was above water.