http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/bhaktiyoga/dinosaurs.htm
Question about dinosaurs
Q: Did dinosaurs really exist? In which yuga did they live? Is the Earth same after a yuga ends and a new one starts? Is there a destruction?
A: Sure they did. Can you imagine a hoax of such a colossal dimension?
Also the lore from all over the world knows about some kind of big animals
like dragons.
As far as I know they are found on all continents. Which yuga is hard
to say but in the Bhagavatam there is at least one possible allusion to
them (8.10.10-12). There is probably more in other Puranas. During my study
of North American Native lore I found a hint in Ojibwa tribe legends that
their predecessors lived together with huge animals which were destroyed
by a comet.
Destructions (pralaya) of various dimensions happen regularly, after
every maha-yuga, manvantara, kalpa and dvi-parardha (Brahma's life span)
and at some special occasions. See SB 8.24 (Matsya-lila). About how Earth
changes after each particular pralaya there is not much said in sastra
as far as I know.
Q: Srila Prabhupada doubted that dinosaurs ever existed, whereas much evidence is available to at least support the view that dinosaurs did once exist on this planet. He also stated that there was no such thing as 'extinction' of species. Please elucidate.
A: Below you'll find compilation of everything recorded what Srila Prabhupada
said about the dinosaurs. I will now try to comment on it a little bit.
First, he didn't deny their existence. He mentioned that the existence
of big forms of animals is recorded in the Vedas (super-eagles - Srimad
Bhagavatam 5.23.3, timingila super-whales - SB 8.7.18, 8.10.10-12, 10.1.5-7).
SB 8.10.10-12 mentions "big lizards" (whatever they are). The Vedas also
mention that with the progression of time the life forms become smaller.
In general he didn't consider the matter of their existence or nonexistence
very important. He repeatedly stressed that our sense perception is imperfect
and that there are many life forms which we don't know about.
This is very true. Humans actually know quite a small portion of the
land on this Earth, what to speak of the sea. Every year there are many
"new" organisms discovered and some of them are quite big (reptiles, fish,
birds, mammals). Just in this century there have been discovered many big
animals like a species of jungle hog from Vietnam, a species of cat from
Ryu-kyu archipelago, a big species of shark from the Hawaii islands, the
onza (an animal from Mexico resembling the puma), the giant octopus from
the ocean abysses around Bahamas, giant species of calmars etc.
Srila Prabhupada also said that no species of life becomes extinct.
It is important to remember that the Vedic definition of species is
different from the modern one. The Vedas mention 8,400,000 species of life
and all of them are repeatedly created after every partial or total cosmic
devastation.
Regarding the survival of the "living fossils" there is an example
of the Latimeria fish which exactly resembles the rock imprints of the
fossil Devonian species etc.
To study the possibility of existence of such animals a group of scientists
(mostly biologists) formed a new scientific discipline called a cryptozoology.
They have their regular meetings, they organize expeditions to the remote
corners of the world and they publish the Journal of Cryptozoology in which
they discuss the existence of unknown (mainly big) life forms from all
over the world whose existence is supported by ancient writings, local
lore and both native and non-native witnesses (soldiers, tourists, scientists
etc.) There are also websites dedicated to this field of study.
On their "wanted" list there are several species of hominids from all
over the world (known locally as yetti, almas, sasquatch, big foot etc.),
great dangerous cats of an above-lion size from the jungles of equatorial
Africa (some of them with huge fangs), great species of reptiles or dinosaurs
from the oceans and lakes (e.g. Loch Ness in Scotland, Lake Champlain in
Canada, etc.) and the jungles (Africa, South America), flying dinosaurs
resembling Pteranodon and other types (Zaire, Southwest USA), and many
other.
Because this type of research, if successful, can seriously damage
the accepted paradigms of Darwinian evolution of species, the establishment
science views it with incredulity and suspicion. Therefore the cryptozoology
is a "marginal" science.
Vaisnava scientists, on the other hand, use this type of evidence to
show that the Vedic version is correct. The book Forbidden Archaeology
by Richard Thompson (Sadaputa Das) and Michael Cremo (Drutakarma Das) from
the Bhaktivedanta Institute was a breakthrough in this regard. If you have
some questions for our scientists write to Bhaktivedanta Institute <bvi@afn.org>.
Room Conversation, Hyderabad, April 14, 1975
750414RC.HYD
Devotee:Srila Prabhupada, the other day we were talking about proving
different assumptions through archeological findings.
Prabhupada: That is also bogus. Archeological findings is bogus.
Brahmananda: But it seems that big skeletons of all these big dinosaurs...
Prabhupada:That we have already information. We have got timingila.
Just like big house. They can swallow up, what is called?
Devotee:Whale. Whale.
Prabhupada:Whale (indistinct).
Tamala Krsna:No but these dinosaurs move on the land. They're not fish.
And they're very big and we have information...
Prabhupada:So what is to you? You are also a created being. He's also
created being. That's the (indistinct). You are not creator of the (indistinct)
Tamala Krsna:But you say that there was more intelligent life previously,
whereas we see these dinosaurs were previously.
Prabhupada:But you do not see, you simply imagine.
Tamala Krsna:No. We have the skeletons.
Devotee: We have the bones, the bones of animals.
Prabhupada:But that's all right. There was a big animal, that's all.
Just like you are a foolish animal, so there was a big animal. What is
the difference? They are animals.
Tamala Krsna:But we have skeletons showing the men at that time also
and their brains were very tiny.
Prabhupada:That you say. But I don't believe it. I have not seen.
Morning Walk, Los Angeles, June 8, 1976
760608MW.LA
Ramesvara:Srila Prabhupada, I was once told by some devotees that you
had said in some previous age of Kali, the dinosaurs, gigantic animals,
were on the earth.
Prabhupada: I said?
Ramesvara:They say that you said. (laughs)
Prabhupada:(laughs) I never said. I never bother with these nonsense
things.
Ramesvara:They have got so many bones in the museums showing these
gigantic animals.
Prabhupada:Not gigantic. There are bones. But that animal is still
there, whalefish.
Ramesvara:Whalefish.
Prabhupada:Oh, yes. Very big body.
Ramesvara:Some have become extinct.
Prabhupada:Why they should be extinct?
Hrdayananda:No longer on the earth.
Ramesvara:No longer on this planet.
Prabhupada:(too much noise) Not necessarily. They are within the ocean.
Hari-sauri:No, other animals.
Prabhupada: What other animals?
Ramesvara: Those gigantic, they called them...
Hrdayananda:Brontosaurus.
Ramesvara:Tyrannosaurus.
Gigantic animals, they say are meat-eaters.
Hrdayananda:Dinosaurus.
Hari-sauri:Tetrasaurus.
Prabhupada:Another imagination. These are actual facts.(?)
Hari-sauri:They just made up different compositions of bones and then
drew some outlines on them.
Prabhupada:Yes. They are imagination.
Hari-sauri:But you said in Hawaii though that there are some animals
that are as big as skyscrapers?
Prabhupada: Yes, these are birds. It is far from this earth though.
They travel from one planet to another.
Ramesvara:So these bones that they have found of these gigantic animals,
they were all living underneath the water.
Prabhupada:Yes.
Ramesvara:Not on the land.
Prabhupada:Maybe. But the list is there: jalaja nava-laksani. There
are 900,000 different forms, and how many we have seen? There is information
in the sastra. Pasavas trimsal-laksani. Three million different types of
animals.
Hari-sauri:We've seen a few hundred at most.
Prabhupada:That's all. (laughs) That is also doubtful.
Slideshow Discussion, Washington D.C., July 3, 1976
760703SS.WDC
Svarupa Damodara:Do we know that in detail, Srila Prabhupada? What type
of species are extinct? Not all the species extinct. As it is during Brahma's
day, that partial annihilation, devastation, now some species are extinct?
Prabhupada:No species extinct. What you are reading? This is garbage.(?)
Svarupa Damodara:The physical forms.
Prabhupada:No, nothing is extinct. Everything is going on.
Svarupa Damodara: At that point, they are going to come up with the
point that "How about dinosaurs?" They are going to ask like that.
Prabhupada:That is imagination, where is dinosaur finding.
Svarupa Damodara:They say they have all the bones.
Prabhupada:No, they are describing maybe another animal. That is existing.
That is Timingila, they can swallow up big, big whale fishes. That big,
bones, they are living still. Nothing is extinct. They are already there.
Rupanuga:Did these dinosaurs exist, or is it just their imagination?
Prabhupada:The big animal exists. I call it dinosaur or finosaur, that
is your choice. Big animals existing. Timingila, I said the name, Timingila,
still exist.
Rupanuga: Still exist.
Prabhupada:Oh, yes. They are always existing. Water elephants. There
are elephants in water. Everything.
Rupanuga:So there is no such thing as extinction.
Prabhupada:No extinction, there is no question of extinction.
Rupanuga:If these animals were on this planet some millions of years
ago, they are still here, is that correct?
Prabhupada:Yes. What do you know what are there within the water? You
can take information from the sastras. It is not possible for you to see
and go into the water, how big, big animals are there.
Hari-sauri:But it's possible that an animal may disappear from one
planet, but still be on another planet, though, like that.
Prabhupada:No.
Hari-sauri:Because they claim that even within recorded history...
Prabhupada:They claim everything. That is... There is no question.
Svarupa Damodara:(indistinct) fossil, they are called fossil record. Prabhupada:
That is another thing. You can get a dead animal's body, but what is that?
Svarupa Damodara: They claim that many species are extinct.
Prabhupada:How they are extinct?
Hari-sauri:Well, like, they say that within modern history,
Prabhupada:First thing is they are all imperfect speculators. So what
is the value of their sport? We don't take any value of it.
Rupanuga:They don't know where these animals are, that's all.
Prabhupada: They, simply like child, they are speculating. If he's
imperfect, then what is the value of his speculation? There is no value.
Svarupa Damodara:But then what happens at the time of partial devastation?
At the end of Manu, the partial devastation, what happens to the species?
Prabhupada:Happens means these different ways become destroyed, but
again, during creation, they come in.
Morning Walk New York, July 12, 1976
760712MW.NY
Ramesvara:They are convinced that dinosaurs, these gigantic animals,
were living on this planet millions of years ago. They found some bones,
and they have created the form of the animal body.
Tamala Krsna: Is it true that there were big dinosaur bodies?
Prabhupada:If they were, it is still now.
Tamala Krsna:Oh, wow.
Prabhupada:We don't say it is extinct.
Tamala Krsna:But you've explained that even if not here then it must
be on another planet.
Prabhupada: Yes, another. This planet, what you have seen?
Ramesvara:That's the point, what we have seen about this planet? Devotee
(1):Could still be here. They found one in, where is that? In Ireland?
Prabhupada:Cannot be extinct, that is not possible.
Devotee (1):In that lake?
Tamala Krsna:But do you think they were on this planet?
Prabhupada:No, no, may be on this planet, but it doesn't matter that
it is extinct. You have not seen.
Tamala Krsna:No, that's a fact.
Ramesvara: Their idea is that at that time man was living in the form
of half monkey, half man in a cave, and gradually he evolved to become
more civilized.
Prabhupada: That is still there. Kinnaras. Kinnaras means it is
doubtful whether he is man or monkey.
Tamala Krsna:Wow.
Prabhupada:There is a Kinnara-loka. Kimpurusa. Kinnara. They are still
existing. It is not that they are finished.
Hari-sauri:I was reading a magazine when we were on the plane, and
it was describing this type of monkey man, that they are being called,
they existed in snow wastes.
Prabhupada:Or what is called? The big...?
Tamala Krsna:Orangutan, gorilla.
Prabhupada:Gorilla, they are like men.
Tamala Krsna:Yes, they are. Very much like men. We see them in the
zoo.
Prabhupada:They have got their senses like men.
Hari-sauri:There's another species they call the Yetti. They say it
exists in the Himalayan regions. But they've not been able to capture one
because, uh... But there's been many citings and reportings of it.
Q. Thanks for the mail, it was really interesting. But still I found it very confusing, it seems to me that Srila Prabhupada was contradicting himself (first saying that it's not possible that some species might be extinct here and exist on other planets and then saying that it's possible) and he didn't really answer those questions, but pushed them away and started putting down Western scientists. So my desire to know about it is not yet satisfied.
A: This is a bit complex issue to deal with as there is really not much
said in the sastras about the dinos. Sastras, our main reference, are not
to be used as scientific encyclopedias. Their main point is the spiritual
knowledge.
I don't think Srila Prabhupada really contradicted himself - he never
said any species become extinct. He stressed that the exploration of the
Earth is far from being complete so no one can say that some species 'extinct'
in one place can't survive in another place (or a planet for that matter).
The nature of these conversation was pretty informal and depended a
lot on the context (which disciples were present etc.). SP sometimes sounded
harsh to reprimand his disciples to disentangle them from their conditioning.
The point is that this is guru's business. The outsiders may consider it
improper or dogmatic but they are in a different position as they didn't
accepted the discipleship. With them therefore SP dealt in a different
way.
Srila Prabhupada was not a scientist and thus didn't feel like getting
into these matters too much ('pushing them away' if you wish). He many
times said that he knows nothing about the western science but that he
can challenge it on the most important point: the origin of life (from
life, not from matter). If the 'life from matter' theory is disproved the
whole structure built on it will crumble. SP didn't like the arrogance
of the modern scientists which is completely against the Vedic approach
where knowledge leads to humility and wanted to expose them as ignorant
according to the Vedic standard ('putting them down'). On the other hand
he appreciated those few of modern scientists who actually took this humble
stance (like Einstein).
Ultimately he was not attacking science to becomes famous, to feel
superior or for fun. He worried about the people who believe it unconditionally
and are stuck in the materialistic way of life which aggravates their suffering.
Thus he wanted them to be freed from their blind faith in science which
leads them on the road to hell (as Chris Rhea sings).
We'll try to source the tape and see if we can transcribe it here.........
Illustrations of Dinosaurs here http://www.dinosauria.com/gallery/gallery.htm