Çréla Prabhupäda. Natural phenomena such as the law of gravity or weightlessness are acintya-çakti, inconceivable energies, and real science means to understand this acintya-çakti. To observe a chain of events only from a certain point in time is unscientific and gives only incomplete knowledge. We must know where things begin. If we carry our investigation far enough, we will find that the origin of nature is acintya-çakti. For example, with brain, brush and color we can paint a flower. But we cannot conceive how vegetation throughout the whole earth is automatically growing and fructifying. We can explain the painted flower, but we cannot explain the real flower. Scientists actually cannot explain biological growth. They simply juggle words like molecule and chromosome, but they cannot actually explain the phenomena.

The essential fault of the so-called scientists is that they have adopted the inductive process to arrive at their conclusions. For example, if a scientist wants to determine by the inductive process whether or not man is mortal, he must study every man to try to discover if some or one of them may be immortal. The scientist says, “I cannot accept the proposition that all men are mortal. There may be some men who are immortal. I have not yet seen every man. Therefore how can I accept that man is mortal?” This is called the inductive process. And the deductive process means that your father, your teacher or your guru says that man is mortal, and you accept it.

Dr. Singh. So there is an ascending process of gaining knowledge and a descending process?[7]

Çréla Prabhupäda. Yes. The ascending process will never be successful, because it relies on the information gathered through the senses, and the senses are imperfect. So we accept the descending process.

God cannot be known by the inductive process. Therefore He is called adhokñaja, which means “unknowable by direct perception.” The scientists say there is no God because they are trying to understand Him by direct perception. But He is adhokñaja! Therefore, the scientists are ignorant of God because they are missing the method of knowing Him. In order to understand transcendental science, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master, hear from him submissively and render service to him. Lord Kåñëa explains that in the Bhagavad-gétä (4.34): tad viddhi praëipätena paripraçnena sevayä.

My Guru Mahäräja[8] once said, “The modern world is a society of the cheaters and the cheated.” Unfortunately, the cheated are eulogizing the cheaters, and the small cheaters are worshiping the great cheaters. Suppose a flock of asses comes and eulogizes me, saying, “Oh, you are Jagad-guru.”Jagad-guru means “guru of the entire world.”[9] What is the value of their praise? But if a gentleman or learned man gives praise, his words have some value. Generally, however, the persons who are praising and those who are being praised are both ignorant. As the Vedas put it, saàstutaù puruñaù paçuù: “A big animal is being praised by a small animal.”