What is the Reason Behind Material Existence?
Human life is a rare opportunity endowed with advanced intelligence, yet most people spend their days simply imitating the eating, sleeping, and mating habits of animals. To shake humanity out of this complacent slumber, Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently employs a powerful philosophical tool: demanding to know the "reason" behind the realities of our existence. By asking "What is the reason?" Śrīla Prabhupāda forces us to confront the obvious truths about the soul, the supreme logic of a personal God, the stringent laws of karma, and the horrific hypocrisy of modern materialistic society.
The Dawn of Spiritual Inquiry
A dog or a cat never asks why it is bound by the laws of nature, but a human being has the capacity to question their existential condition. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that true human life only begins when one asks, "Why am I not free?" By demanding the reason behind the phenomenon of life and death—such as why a dead body no longer grows or why a corpse is no longer loved—Śrīla Prabhupāda forces the materialistic mind to acknowledge the presence of the eternal spirit soul.
- Athato brahma jijnasa. Then the question will be that "Why I am not free? What is the reason?" Then that is, real human life begins. Otherwise he's a dog.
- Why, a dead child born, it does not grow? What is the reason? What is your scientists' reason?
- Just like every one of us we love our body. Or I love your body. But what is the reason? The reason is because the spirit soul is there. Nobody loves a body, either his own body or other's body, when it is dead.
The Cause of Material Variety
When observing the immense inequality in the world—why some are rich, some are poor, and others are born as animals or demigods—foolish people often blame God or consider it mere chance. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the exact reason for all these varieties of life is the living entity's own karma and association with the modes of material nature (kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya). By our own desires and actions, we infect ourselves with different material conditions.
- Why one is born in high family, rich family? Why other is poor family, or one is born in lower animals, one is born as demigods? What is that reason? The reason is karanam guna-sango 'sya.
- Why there are different varieties of life? What is the reason? That reason means karanam. So the reason is as we are infecting.
- It is said that a living entity is eternal and, as such, qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord. Then what is the reason he falls prey to the material and commits so many sinful activities by the influence of the material energy?
The Logic of a Personal God
Mundane philosophers often speculate that God is dead, or that the Absolute Truth is ultimately a formless, impersonal void. Śrīla Prabhupāda shatters these speculations with straightforward logic. If a tiny piece of land requires a personal governor to manage it, what is the reason to assume the manager of millions of universes is a formless zero? Since we are persons, our ultimate source must also be a person.
- How you can say that God is dead? What is your reason? No. God is not dead. God is alive, and you can meet also God because He is a person and you are a person.
- I (Brahma) worship that original person (Krsna). Therefore the origin of everything, the Absolute, the summum bonum, cannot be impersonal. What is the reason? Where is the experience that from imperson a person comes.
- If for a small government, three bighas of land, you require a personal governor, and such a huge government, millions and millions of universes, how the governor, the Supreme Person, supreme executive, shall not be a person? What is the reason.
Challenging Materialistic Hypocrisy
Modern society claims to be highly civilized, yet it systematically slaughters billions of innocent animals. Śrīla Prabhupāda aggressively demands the ethical and logical reason for this brutality. While a person may be justified in killing an aggressor in self-defense, or perhaps eating flesh in an absolute desert with no other options, there is absolutely no valid reason to maintain slaughterhouses when God has provided an abundance of grains, fruits, vegetables, and milk.
- If in Jerusalem, if they have eaten flesh, so that is not their fault. Jesus Christ might have allowed: "All right." But why in other places, where there are so many nice foodstuff? What is the reason.
- If you are thinking of universal way, how you can give protection to a human being born in America, and send a cow to the slaughterhouse. What is your reason?
- Yes, you can protect yourself from the aggressor, but when you kill an innocent animal, what is the reason?
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda elevates human consciousness by constantly prompting us to seek the root cause behind our existence. By asking, "What is the reason?" he exposes the foolishness of scientists who cannot explain the soul, philosophers who deny a personal God, and modern moralists who hypocritically slaughter animals. The true reason for our suffering is our material entanglement, and the true reason behind the entire cosmic manifestation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. As Śrīla Prabhupāda himself humbly points out, the reason for his own unparalleled success in spreading spiritual knowledge across the globe is remarkably simple: he did not manufacture any speculative philosophy. He simply presented the absolute reasons given by Lord Kṛṣṇa exactly as they are.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category What is the Reason. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.