June 19

He said that the idea of transmigration of the soul is very important-the beginning of transcendental philosophy-but no one in the West understands it. I brought up the argument that although the materialist will accept that we are changing bodies in this lifetime, and also that he is experiencing the change of bodies in dreams, these things are still within one lifetime, so he does not experience changing bodies at the time of death. Srila Prabhupada said, "But in the dream one doesn't remember everything; so much of it is a hodgepodge mixture of different things. Our nature is to forget. Also, do you remember everything of your childhood? We have forgotten so many things. We do not remember being in the womb of the mother and suffering under those conditions, but we were there. The fact that we do not remember something does not mean it did not exist. So, we are forgetful and do not remember our past lives. The most important thing is the authority of Krsna; He is the perfect authority, and He logically presents transmigration in Bhagavad-gita." I said, "If we simply say you must believe it because Krsna says so, they will take it as dogmatic." "No," he said, "the reasoning is given there, but the authority is final. For example, if you want to know who your father is, you can investigate in different ways your genealogy, your natural attraction to both parents, or your similarity to them in character-but finally the mother is the authority without flaw."