The following events took place in 1930 while Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada was still present. A month-long festival was being held at the Calcutta Bagh Bazaar Gaudiya Maṭha for Janmaṣṭami. Each day a different dignitary was invited to sit as Honorary Chairman of the evening meeting. Some students of the world-renowned scientist Dr. C. V. Raman were amongst those who came regularly to listen to the lectures of the Gaudiya Maṭha preachers. One day, these students came to see Srila Prabhupada and complained that every day a different distinguished person was being made Honorary Chairman, but their professor, whose fame had spread throughout the world, had not even been invited.

Srila Prabhupada answered that he had no objection to making Dr. Raman Honorary Chairman for one evening. He asked Srila Gurudeva to take charge of inviting him. Srila Gurudeva first went to Dr. Raman’s house but did not find him there. The scientist’s wife sent him with an orderly to Dr. Raman’s laboratory on Circular Road. There, Srila Gurudeva met with him on the second floor where he was sitting in a corner of a huge loft, engaged in his research activity. Dr. Raman spoke neither Bengali nor Hindi, so their conversation took place in English.

Upon being asked by Dr. Raman the reason for his coming, Srila Gurudeva answered, “A large month-long religious gathering is being held by the Bagh Bazaar Gaudiya Maṭha for Janmaṣṭami. On each day, a different dignitary of the city is invited to grace the chairman’s seat, and we humbly invite you to do the same.”

Dr. Raman answered, “I do not believe in your keṣṭo-biṣṭu (Kṛṣna-Viṣnu). I have no faith in anything that cannot be confirmed by direct sensory experience. I cannot waste my valuable time with imaginary things. I would prefer to attend any conference dealing with science or education, but not a religious one.”

Srila Gurudeva said, “Your own students have been coming regularly to listen to the Maṭha’s svamijis speak. It was their desire that you be honoured in the same way that so many other Calcutta community leaders have been. I have been asked by my Gurudeva to invite you, so please accept our invitation.”

Dr. Raman then challenged Srila Gurudeva: “Can you show me your God? If you can show Him to me, I will go.”

One side of the lab room in which the conversation was being held was a windowless, doorless wall, on the other side of which lay the whole of north Calcutta. Srila Gurudeva asked, “I can see nothing on the other side of this wall, but if I say that there is nothing there, will that be true?”

Dr. Raman answered, “Perhaps you cannot see what is there, but you could with the appropriate instruments.”

Srila Gurudeva then asked him, “There is a limit to what your instruments can do. You can only see as far as they allow you. Can you say that there is nothing beyond these limits?”

Dr. Raman replied, “Never mind. I will not waste my time on this. I will not give my attention to anything that is not within my sense experience. I will only spare my valuable time if you can actually show me your God. Can you do it?”

Srila Gurudeva: “If your students were to say to you that they will study your scientific findings only if you can show them the truth of what you have realised through your experiments, what would you say?”

Dr. Raman: “I would make them realise it!”

Srila Gurudeva: “Can you make them realised before teaching them?”

Dr. Raman: “No, I would first have to show them the process by which I have come to realise the truth. They will have to follow that process if they want to have the same realisation. First they will have to earn their B.Sc. degree, then their M.Sc. Then they will have to study with me for another five years. Then I will be able to make them understand.”

Srila Gurudeva: “If that is true for you and your scientific knowledge, then can the seers of ancient India not say exactly the same thing? Follow their process and see whether you experience God’s existence or not. You are not able to show the scientific truths you profess to your students until they have adopted your process. Similarly, if you want to experience or understand God, you have to follow the process by which that is accomplished. If it does not happen, then you can deny its value. But how can you deny its value without having experimented?”

Dr. Raman could not answer. After a few moments of silence, he said, “I know nothing about Kṛṣna. If I go, I will be able to say nothing. It will be better if you invite someone who knows something about these matters.”

Srila Gurudeva’s quick-wittedness and presence of mind was such that it was impossible to get away with an illogical statement in his presence. Such capacity does not come with simple book-learning. Only one who has surrendered himself to his spiritual master and has come to direct realisation of the truth through his mercy can display such divine power. To such a person, a display of intelligence without any basis in realisation cannot get very far.