Dr. Singh. When the astronauts returned from the moon to the surface of the earth, the scientists in the space program were very careful. They thought the astronauts might have brought some new germs as yet unknown, so they put the astronauts in quarantine for several days to make sure that—

Çréla Prabhupäda. First of all, find out whether they have gone to the moon. I am not so sure. Sixteen years ago, when I wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets, I remarked that the scientists were childish in their attempts to explore outer space and would never be successful. Many years later, when I visited San Francisco, a press reporter asked me, “What is your opinion about the moon expedition?” I told him, “It is simply a waste of time and money, that’s all.”

Kåñëakänti. The space program recently had another failure.

Çréla Prabhupäda. That is always happening. What was it?

Kåñëakänti. They sent up a space vehicle to orbit the earth and act as sort of a space outpost, but it failed. It cost two billion dollars.

Çréla Prabhupäda. Why are they wasting time and money in that way?

Kåñëakänti. They were criticized in the newspapers.

Çréla Prabhupäda. They are simply childish fools. What have they gained in the last—how many years? For how many years have they been trying to go to the moon? with their sputnik.

Çréla Prabhupäda. But they were trying for many years before that. So let us say that for twenty-five years they have been trying. They have not gained anything except dust, but still they are trying. How obstinate! The space program will never be successful.

Dr. Singh. They say that in the future they want to go to the subsurface of Mars.

Çréla Prabhupäda. They are all becoming “big men” with their statements about the future.

Dr. Singh. They say that it will happen in about ten years.

Çréla Prabhupäda. So what if they say one year? They may say ten years or one year, but we do not accept such propositions. We want to see what they are doing now.

Dr. Singh. They are developing their technology by using small scale models.

Çréla Prabhupäda. They are simply childish. In my childhood I used to watch the tramcars go along the rail. Once I thought, “I shall take a stick and touch it to the wire, and I shall also go along the rails.” The scientists, with all their plans, are just as childish. They spend so much time and money, but what is their purpose? Their effort is hopeless because they do not actually know the purpose of life. The scientists are spending large sums of money, and politicians are financing them, but the result is zero. They are like a doctor who doesn’t understand a particular disease, but who still says to his patient, “All right, first try this pill, and if that doesn’t work, then try this pill.” The doctor will never admit that he doesn’t know the remedy for the disease. The scientists are simply bluffing and cheating. They cannot solve the real problems of life—birth, death, old age and disease—and therefore all their programs are taking place on the utopian platform, which in Sanskrit is called äkäça-puñpa. Äkäça-puñpa means “a flower from the sky.” All their efforts to know the truth by exploring outer space are like trying to pluck a flower from the sky.

To give another example, the scientists act like foolish ducks. In India we may sometimes observe a duck following all day behind a bull. The duck is thinking that the testicles of the bull are a fish. In India this is a common sight. The bull is walking, and all day the duck is walking behind, following that big fish and thinking, “It will drop, and I will eat it.”