Lecture
Prabhupāda: ...he is speaking about knowledge, perfect knowledge. Knowledge received from common man or any person within this material world, infected with four kinds of defects, cannot be perfect. The so-called scientists, philosophers, mental speculators or dramatists or writers, as we experience, their talkings all are nonsense—this is our challenge—because the basic principle of their knowledge is ignorance, ajñāna. Big, big scientists, they simply theorize, and they try to support their theories with the words, “it may be,” “perhaps.”
That is not perfect knowledge. As soon as you say “it may be,” that means you have no perfect knowledge. As soon as you say “perhaps,” that means you have no perfect knowledge. So all these scientists and philosophers, they use these words: “it may be,” “perhaps.” Therefore we have to receive knowledge from a perfect person.
A perfect person means who is not illusioned, who does not commit mistakes. All of us, we commit mistakes, but a perfect person does not commit mistakes. This is the difference between perfect and imperfect. We are illusioned to accept something in place of something else. Just like the example is given by some philosophers to accept the rope by mistake as a snake. This is called illusion. To vision water in the desert, this is due to our imperfection. So a person who is liberated, or not under the control of the material nature, he is not illusioned, neither he commits mistakes. Another defect is our senses are imperfect.
We use our senses under certain conditions—just like we have our eyes, but we can see only when there is sunlight or electric light; otherwise our eyes are useless. Therefore we haven’t got perfect eyes. But one who has got perfect eyes, he can see past, present and future. Imperfection of senses. And we, conditioned souls, although we admit that we have imperfect senses, we commit mistakes, we are illusioned—still we take the place of teachers. That is cheating. That is cheating. If you know that you are imperfect, why should you take the place of a teacher? That is cheating: bhrama, pramāda, karaṅāpāṭava, vipralipsā [Cc Adi 2.86].
[”Mistakes, illusions, cheating and defective perception do not occur in the sayings of the authoritative sages.]
So these defects are completely absent, conspicuous by absence: nirasta-kuhakaṁ. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam [1.1.1] it is said about the Absolute Truth as nirasta-kuhakaṁ. Kuha, kuha means illusion, imperfectness. So in the Absolute Truth there is no such imperfectness: nirasta-kuhakaṁ, dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ. Sadā. Sadā means once he was defective, now he has become nirasta-kuhakaṁ—no, not like that. The Absolute Truth is always sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ. Dhāmnā svena satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. That Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is speaking, and He is speaking: jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam [Bg 7.2].
[I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge both phenomenal and noumenal, by knowing which there shall remain nothing further to be known.]
Sa-vijñānam—with practical experience, or by experimental knowledge also, jñānam. Jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam. Sa-vijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ—incomplete, incomplete. Yaj jñātvā: “If you try to understand this knowledge, what I am speaking to you, Arjuna,” yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo, “in this material world,” bhūyo, “again,” anyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate, “you will have anything more to know.” This is Vedānta. Veda means “knowledge”; anta means “end.”
So if you receive knowledge from the supreme perfect Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa, then that is the end of knowledge:
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo veda-vid vedānta-kṛd cāham [Bg 15.15]
[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]
Kṛṣṅa. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam eva vijñatam bhavanti. This is Vedic injunction. If you simply try to understand what Kṛṣṅa is speaking… To understand Kṛṣṅa is very difficult—that is not possible. We are so small that it is not possible to analyze Kṛṣṅa and understand Him. But if you simply try to assimilate what Kṛṣṅa says, then you become perfect person.
yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo 'nyaj jñātavyam avaśiṣyate [Bg 7.2]
[I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge both phenomenal and noumenal, by knowing which there shall remain nothing further to be known.]
Then Kṛṣṅa says,
manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]
[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]
Actually we are born fools and rascals. We are coming, evolution, from the animal life. The Darwin's theory says that we are coming from monkeys—so far we have heard that either monkeys or cows or lions. Human form of body is promoted. One who is coming through tamo-guṅa, he comes from monkeys, as Mr. Darwin says. So those who are coming in sattva-guṅa, they come from the cow, and those who are in the rajo-guṅa, they come from the lion. Whatever it may be, it is a fact that through evolutionary process the last birth must have been animal life, paśavaḥ trimśal-lakṣaṅi [Viṣṅu Purāṅa]—thirty lakhs of species and forms of animal forms—then we get this human form of life.
So actually, when we are born uncivilized we have no knowledge. The same thing—āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ,
[Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life, humans are on the level of animals.]
as the animals are interested: eating, sleeping, sex life and defense. These are the animal propensities, or necessities of life. But when as we become gradually civilized we take our birth in India especially, it is not so easy. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra [Cc Ādi 9.41]: it is very rare; don't spoil your life imitating animals.
[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]
It is a very valuable life, human form of life in the land of Bhārata-varṣa. We have practically seen—although India is so fallen—still, when you speak of Kṛṣṅa consciousness, hundreds and thousands people come to hear. I have experienced in Bombay, Calcutta and other places, by nature they are inclined to become Kṛṣṅa conscious. Unfortunately, outward influences are curbing down this natural instinct of Bhārata-varṣa. So it is very, very regrettable. We are naturally God conscious, Kṛṣṅa conscious, but by artificial means we are being cut down. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says,
manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [Bg 7.3]
[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]
Kṛṣṅa consciousness means making progress for perfection of life, siddhi, siddhilābh, siddhas. Siddhas means mukta, theoretically mukta; they are called siddhas. There is a Siddhaloka. There is a planet which is called Siddhaloka. All the inhabitants of that planet, they are all mystic yogīs. They can fly from one planet to another without any instrument. Siddhaloka.
So every human being, especially the civilized man, can become siddha. Siddha means to understand his constitutional position. That is siddhi. Because the animals…, the animal does not know what is his constitutional position. He thinks that he is the body, but actually he is not the body; he is spirit soul. The human form of life, this consciousness, this ignorance, can be removed, and he can understand that ahaṁ brahmāsmi, “I am not this body; I am spirit soul.” And when he comes to the point of understanding that he is not body, he is soul, then he is called brahma-bhūta [Bg 18.54].
[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]
Before that, so long he is in bodily concept of life, he is jīva-bhūta. These are the difference. When you are bodily conscious of life we are called jīva-bhūta, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ [Bg 15.7].
[The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.]
The spirit soul is always part and parcel of God. That's a fact. God is brahma, parabrahma, and we are also brahma. It is a fact. Those who realize it, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, that is siddhi; that is perfection.
So nobody is trying to understand. In specially in Bhārata-varṣa this culture was very strong, although there are different parties, different ācāryas—but their only purpose is self-realization. Either you follow Śaṅkarācārya or Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, many ācāryas… We may differ in our final conclusion, whether the Ultimate Truth is person or imperson—that is not very important thing—but all of them are trying to realization of the self, siddhi. The yogīs, the jñānīs, the bhaktas, even the karmīs, they are also trying to become sidd…, siddha, siddhilābh. But the difference between the bhaktas and the others, namely karmīs, jñānīs and yogīs—there is little difference. What is the difference? The bhaktas are peaceful; others are disturbed.
kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām [Bg 12.5]
[For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progrese in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.]
They are very troublesome. They have accepted very troublesome method. Karmī, it is also very troublesome; jñānī, that is also very troublesome; and yogīs, that is also very troublesome; and the bhaktas, in the Ninth Chapter it is said, su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam [Bg 9.2].
[This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.]
Su-sukhaṁ: very pleasing to execute. The path of devotional service is very easy and pleasing. Why it is easy and pleasing? Śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ [SB 7.5.23]:
[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṅu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṅa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.]
you have to simply hear. You haven't got to exercise, you haven't got to press your nose or make your head down and your legs up and starve and so many other things. It is very easy. Simply sit down where you are and hear about Kṛṣṅa.
satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṅa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ [SB 3.25.25]
[In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.]
Kṛṣṅa-kathā is so pleasing if you hear it from a realized person, satāṁ prasaṅgān, not professional. If you hear Bhāgavatam from professional man you'll never understand, because that is different sphere. But if you hear from a realized person, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12],
[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]
then it becomes very pleasing. Where? Pleasing to the ear and pleasing to the heart. Hṛt-karṅa-rasāyanāḥ.
satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṅa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ taj-joṣaṅād āśv apavarga-vartmani śraddhā bhaktir ratir anukramiṣyati [SB 3.25.25]
If we hear from self-rea lized person, and after that if you try a little bit, taj-joṣaṅād—at least you consider taj-joṣaṅād—āśu, very soon, āśv apavarga-vartmani. Apavarga-vartmani means “towards the path of liberation.” Pavarga and apavarga. Pavarga means the path of bondage, and apavarga means the path of liberation. [break] [end]
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