Dialectical Spiritualism: Gottfried von Leibnitz, Part 3

BY: SUN STAFF - 21.2 2017

Conversations wtih HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, excerpted from  Dialectical Spiritualism: A Vedic View of Western Philosophy.

V – RATIONALISM 
Gottfried von Leibnitz (1646 - 1716)

Syamasundara dasa: Leibnitz says that innate truths are governed by the principle of contradiction. That is, the opposite of the truth is impossible to conceive.

Srila Prabhupada: The opposite is maya.

Syamasundara dasa: For instance, it is impossible to conceive that the three angles of a triangle cannot equal two right angles.

Srila Prabhupada: My point is that there are not two types of truth. When you think that there are, you are mistaken. When you think that two plus two equals five, you are mistaken. Two plus two is always four, and that is the truth. Similarly, snow is always white, and when you think that snow is red, it is the same as thinking that two plus two equals five. It is an untruth. You cannot say that the whiteness of snow is another type of truth. You may make a mistake by thinking snow to be red, but this mistake cannot invalidate the truth that snow is white or that water is liquid. There is one truth, and any other truth is but a shadow. It is not true. Our language must be exact. You can see your face in the mirror as exactly the same, but it is a shadow only; therefore it is not truth. You cannot say that the reflection of your face in the mirror is another type of truth.

Syamasundara dasa: Leibnitz would call this type of truth conditional truth.

Srila Prabhupada: That conditional truth is not the truth. For instance, the living entity is trying to become master of the material world. He thinks, "I am monarch of all I survey." That is not the truth. The truth is that he is the eternal servant of God. You cannot say that because he is trying to imitate God that he is God. There cannot be a second God. God is one, and that is the Absolute Truth. Our point is that we do not accept the proposition that truth is two. There are relative truths, but Krsna is the Absolute Truth. Krsna is the substance, and everything is emanating from Krsna by Krsna's energy. Water is one of Krsna's energies, but that energy is not the Absolute Truth. Water is always a liquid, but that is relative truth. Absolute Truth is one. Leibnitz should more precisely say that there is Absolute Truth and relative truth, not that there are two types of truth.

Syamasundara dasa: According to Leibnitz's law of continuity, everything in nature goes by steps and not leaps. In other words, there are no gaps in nature. Everything is connected, and there is gradual differentiation.

Srila Prabhupada: No, there are two processes: gradual and immediate. Of course, in one sense everything is gradual, but if the gradual process takes place quickly, it appears immediate. For instance, if you want to go to the top of the building, you can go step by step, and that is gradual. But you may also take an elevator, which may take just a second. The process of elevation is the same, but one takes place very quickly, and the other is gradual. Foolish people say that a flower is created by nature, but in fact the flower is growing due to the energy of Krsna. His energy is so perfect that He doesn't have to take a brush and canvas and try to paint a flower like an artist. The flower appears and grows automatically. Krsna is so powerful that whatever He desires immediately happens. This process is very quick, and it appears to be magical. Still, the process is there.

Syamasundara dasa: Leibnitz sees in nature a combination of forces or activities at work. According to the law of motion, there is an uninterrupted series of regularly progressive changes in a body as it moves. If a ball rolls along the floor, it goes progressively, without gaps or sudden changes.

Srila Prabhupada: I explained that. The complete motion is part of the same process. However, the ball has no power to move of itself. If you push it in one way, it will roll slowly, and if you push it in another way, it will roll quickly. All these wonderful processes are happening in material nature due to the will of the Supreme. The process takes place automatically, but it is initially pushed by God, who created this material nature. In the beginning, material nature was unmanifest. Gradually, the three qualities or modes came into being, and by the interaction of the modes, many manifestations arose. First there was space, then sky, then sound, one after another. Krsna's push is so perfect that everything comes into being automatically in perfect order. Foolish people think that everything comes about automatically without an initial push, without a background. Therefore they think there is no God. This cosmic manifestation has not come about automatically. Krsna is the creator, and He gives nature its original purpose. A potter may make a clay pot on a wheel, but the wheel is not the original cause of the pot. It is the potter who gives force to the wheel. Foolish people think that the wheel moves automatically, but behind the wheel's movement there is the potter who gives it force. There is no question of nature creating independently. Everything results from God, Krsna.

As soon as you speak of a process, you imply that everything is linked together, that one event follows another. That is nature's way. The first creation is the mahat-tattva, the sum total of material energy. Then there is an interaction of the three gunas, qualities, and then there is mind, ego, and intelligence. In this way, creation takes place. This is explained in the Second Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Supreme Lord impregnates matter, prakrti, by glancing at her. In the material world, one has to impregnate by the sexual process, but in the Vedas it is stated that Krsna impregnated the total material energy simply by His glance. This is due to His omnipotence. When Krsna throws His glance toward material nature, material nature is immediately activated, and events begin to happen. So the original cause of the creation is Krsna's glance. Materialists cannot understand how Krsna can set material nature into motion just by glancing at it, but that is due to their material conception.

Syamasundara dasa: Leibnitz says that space and time are mere appearances and that the ultimate reality is different.

Srila Prabhupada: The ultimate reality is Krsna, sarva-karanakaranam (Brahma-samhita 5.1), the cause of all causes.