cartes claims that truth must be self-evident and innate, like the intuitive knowledge "I exist."
Srila Prabhupada: This is innate knowledge: I exist now, I existed in the past, and I shall continue to exist in the future. This is also confirmed by Bhagavad-gita:
na tv evaham jatu nasam
na tvam neme janadhipah
na caiva na bhavisyamah
sarve vayam atah param
"Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be." (Bg. 2.12) This is confirmed by Krsna, and my reasoning also agrees. The body changes during one lifetime. As I exist in a body that is different now from my childhood body, in the future I will continue to exist in a different body.
Syamasundara dasa: For Descartes, whatever is clear and distinct—such as the mind's consciousness of itself—must be true.
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, this is true. I think in this way, and this is corroborated by authoritative scriptures and confirmed by the acaryas. It is not that we think in a whimsical way. Sri Krsna, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and all the acaryas agree; therefore there is no doubt.
Hayagriva dasa: In Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes further writes: "I fall into error because the power which God has given me of distinguishing the true from the false is not in me an infinite power." If we can never be certain that we can distinguish truth from error, where does certainty lie?
Srila Prabhupada: Certainty is in Krsna because He is absolute. He is infinite, and we are finite. The soul is finite Brahman, and the infinite Brahman is God. All religions accept the fact that God is the Supreme Father and that all living entities are His sons. Our existence is based on the mercy of the Supreme Father, and we can reach this conclusion by reasoning.
Syamasundara dasa: Descartes claims that the elementary truths of consciousness are innate in man's personality and that they provide man with immediate and rational proof.
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, that is a fact. Because I am part and parcel of the Supreme Perfection, I am minutely perfect. A particle of gold may be minute, but it is gold nonetheless. Because I am part and parcel of the Supreme Perfection, I am perfect in minute quantity. Of course, I cannot become as great; that is the difference. We are qualitatively one with God and quantitatively different. All of the qualities found in God are also found in us in minute quantity. Due to association with maya, we have become imperfect. The whole process is to return to the perfectional point through Krsna consciousness, and that is called mukti, liberation. When we are situated in our original form, we attain perfection.
Syamasundara dasa: Descartes says that the alleged truths which appear to our senses are unreliable and that only innate ideas are clear and unmuddled by the senses because they are derived from our own nature.
Srila Prabhupada: Is it that the truth has to be established by oneself and not by others?
Syamasundara dasa: He first searched within himself to find some innate basis for truth. First of all, he discovered that "I am."
Srila Prabhupada: Ages ago, there were many people who could understand this. A fool thinks that all others are fools. A deaf man will talk very softly because he thinks that the sound he is making is sufficient. He has no other experience. Everyone thinks that all others are like himself. It is not that Descartes was the first man to realize the identification of the self, "I am." This awareness has been existing a very long time. Krsna says:
aham evasam evagre
nanyad yat sad-asat param
pascad aham yad etac ca
yo 'vasisyeta so 'smy aham
"Brahma, it is I, the Personality of Godhead, who was existing before the creation when there was nothing but Myself. Nor was there the material nature, the cause of this creation. That which you see now is also I, the Personality of Godhead, and after annihilation what remains will also be I, the Personality of Godhead." (Bhag. 2.9.33) This is Krsna talking about the creation, but we can also say the same. We existed before these bodi