The Krsna Consciousness Philosophy

 A Letter From Srilla Prabhupada to 

Mr. Bailey, In  1953:

Sages of India realized it by a perfect deductive process which descends on human consciousness by a transcendental chain of unbroken bona fide disciplic succession that material civilization is a temporary gigantic demonstration of a rabid process of sense gratification. The sense organs are given uncertain liberty to gratify their desires and the whole show of science, education, trade, industry, economy and politics are but different spheres of activities in the realm of gratifying the senses. Above these senses or sense organs is a diametric force which is subtler than the sense organs and is known as the mind but acts in terms of thinking, feeling and willing. The empiric philosophers speculating on an imperfect process of induction generally indulge in intellectual feats without knowing that behind the mind there is human intelligence which is able to analyze the process of psychology but is unable to find out the ultimate force or spirit behind their intelligence.

So the spirit that conducts even intelligence is the primeval root of everything and there is an adjustment of spirit and matter as much as there is an adjustment of smoke and fire. The smoke is a conditional state of fire and therefore smoke is nothing but fire and yet we cannot compare smoke and fire on the same platform. Smoke emanates from fire but it is the disturbing condition of fire. We need fire and not the smoke. The present smoky material or sensual civilization has to be kindled into the fire of reality or spiritual civilization. It is neither difficult nor impossible. It is just a simple process of fanning the fire in order to get rid of the disturbing smoke. The fanning process is eternally the same and one and the empiric speculators have nothing to invent new into it. It must be actually a fanning in spiritualized process and nothing else.