Beyond our experience

Expressions researched:
"beyond experience" |"beyond his experience" |"beyond my experience" |"beyond our experience" |"beyond your experience"

BG Preface and Introduction

The complete whole must have everything within our experience and beyond our experience, otherwise it cannot be complete.

BG Introduction:

People with less intelligence consider the Supreme Truth to be impersonal, but He is a transcendental person, and this is confirmed in all Vedic literatures. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13) As we are all individual living beings and have our individuality, the Supreme Absolute Truth is also, in the ultimate issue, a person, and realization of the Personality of Godhead is realization of all of the transcendental features in His complete form. The complete whole is not formless. If He is formless, or if He is less than any other thing, then He cannot be the complete whole. The complete whole must have everything within our experience and beyond our experience, otherwise it cannot be complete.

SB Canto 1

The Lord descends as He is and is never under the laws of the material modes. His body is the source of everything that be, the reservoir of all beauties beyond our experience.

SB 1.11.25, Translation and Purport:

The inhabitants of Dvārakā were regularly accustomed to look upon the reservoir of all beauty, the infallible Lord, yet they were never satiated.

When the ladies of the city of Dvārakā got up on the roofs of their palaces, they never thought that they had previously many times seen the beautiful body of the infallible Lord. This indicates that they had no satiation in desiring to see the Lord. Anything material seen for a number of times ultimately becomes unattractive by the law of satiation. The law of satiation acts materially, but there is no scope for it in the spiritual realm. The word infallible is significant here, because although the Lord has mercifully descended on earth, He is still infallible. The living entities are fallible because when they come in contact with the material world they lack their spiritual identity, and thus the body materially obtained becomes subjected to birth, growth, transformation, situation, deterioration and annihilation under the laws of nature. The Lord's body is not like that. He descends as He is and is never under the laws of the material modes. His body is the source of everything that be, the reservoir of all beauties beyond our experience. No one, therefore, is satiated by seeing the transcendental body of the Lord because there are always manifestations of newer and newer beauties. The transcendental name, form, qualities, entourage, etc., are all spiritual manifestations, and there is no satiation in chanting the holy name of the Lord, there is no satiation in discussing the qualities of the Lord, and there is no limitation of the entourage of the Lord. He is the source of all and is limitless.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

The complete whole must have everything within our experience and beyond our experience.

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

People with less intelligence, they consider the Supreme Truth as impersonal, but He is a person, a transcendental person. This is confirmed in all Vedic literature. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). So, as we are also persons, individual living beings, we are persons, we have got our individuality, we are all individual, similarly the Supreme Truth, the Supreme Absolute, He is also, at the ultimate issue He is a person. But realization of the Personality of Godhead is realization of all the transcendental features like sat, cit, and ānanda, in complete vigraha. Vigraha means form. Therefore the complete whole is not formless. If He is formless or if He is less in any other thing, He cannot be complete whole. The complete whole must have everything within our experience and beyond our experience. Otherwise He cannot be complete.

There are things which are beyond our experience, beyond our reasoning, beyond our, conception.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 7, 1966:

So this is another point, to understand things by our reasoning. But there are things which is beyond our reasoning. There are things, just like God, the existence of God. Of course, by our reasoning, we take it for granted that because everything has a creator... Just like we have this tape recorder before us. So we know that there is a manufacturer. Similarly, the typewriter, there is a manufacturer. In everything there is a father or manufacturer. Myself, I am, I am created by my father. My father was created by his father. Similarly, naturally we can conclude that this whole cosmic situation, the whole material manifestation—there is one creator. You see? So these are simple reasoning. It is not very hard to understand. But at the same time, there are things which are beyond our experience, beyond our reasoning, beyond our, I mean to say, conception. Those things are called acintya. Acintya means inconceivable. Inconceivable.

How the point of the hair can be divided into hundred. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya. Now, you take one part of that division and again divide into hundred. This is beyond your experience, beyond your power.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

We are spiritual atoms. And our magnitude also has assessed in the śāstras. That magnitude is stated in the Purāṇas that keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). Keśāgra, your hair. I have no long hair. You have got. Now, you can see the point of the hair, keśa-agra. Agra means the point of the hair. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya. Now, the point of the hair, you divide into hundred. That is imaginable. That is not imaginable by you, how the point of the hair can be divided into hundred. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya. Now, you take one part of that division and again divide into hundred. This is beyond your experience, beyond your power.

Therefore a certain class of philosophers, they are astonished simply by seeing the great magnitude of the Lord, but there is smaller, smallest, aṇor aṇīyān. These are much smaller than the atom, but that is beyond our experience.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

The, by arithmetic calculation the mathematicians say that "The point has no length and breadth." Oh, this is, this is, this is a disappointment. Because he cannot measure the length and breadth of the point, therefore he says like that. But point has length and breadth. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. Therefore a certain class of philosophers, they are astonished simply by seeing the great magnitude of the Lord, but there is smaller, smallest, aṇor aṇīyān. These are much smaller than the atom, but that is beyond our experience. Therefore we say, nirākāra. Nirākāra means we cannot calculate the ākāra, the actual form. Nirākāra does not mean that it has no form. It has form. Just see. That they say, that the point has no length and breadth. Similarly, the soul has everything, length and... Within that point it has got his head, leg, everything, consciousness, everything there. And because it is beyond the calculation of our human knowledge, therefore they are disappointed: "Nirākāra, nirākāra, nirākāra." Not nirākāra. It has ākāra. But we are so, our senses are so blunt that we cannot calculate.

We can, we can have some direct experience of certain things, but not for all, especially for these spiritual things which is beyond our experience.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- New York, March 11, 1966:

There are three kinds of evidences, pratyakṣa, anumāna, and aitihya. Pratyakṣa means that you can directly perceive. That is called pratyakṣa. And anumāna. Anumāna means you can conjecture, make an..., "It may be like this. It may be like this. Perhaps it is like this." This is called anumāna. And the other evidence is aitihya. Aitihya means to take evidences from the authority. So according... Out of these three evidences, this aitihya evidence, just like we are taking instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, sound, sound vibrated by the greatest personality, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, that sort of pramāṇa is acceptable. That is the best. This is the best way of acquiring knowledge. Because so far direct evidence is concerned, it is impossible. Because our senses are so imperfect, we cannot have anything. We can, we can have some direct experience of certain things, but not for all, especially for these spiritual things which is beyond our experience.

So things which is beyond our experience, we can hear about. Even though we cannot see, it does not mean there is no existence of things.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972:

So it is not necessary that everything you have to see with your blunt eyes. The eyes, they are not perfect. Just like the other side of this hall is dark, I cannot see you. Although I have got the eyes. So even though we have got eyes, it is very imperfect. It cannot see in all circumstances. Under certain circumstances, we can see. Therefore we should not believe simply by seeing. But one thing, although I cannot see you, you can hear me, or I can understand that you are hearing. The ears are stronger than the eyes. So things which is beyond our experience, we can hear about. Even though we cannot see, it does not mean there is no existence of things.

I do not go personally to the moon planet, but I accept the newspaper. Similarly, we have to accept śāstra, how things are going on beyond our experience.

Lecture on BG 7.1-2 -- Bombay, March 28, 1971:

We have to understand through śāstras. We cannot see our past, present, and future, but if we see through the śāstras... Śāstra-cakṣusā. "You should try to see from the śāstras." Actually, we understand everything through śāstras, not directly. Just like we understand in modern science from the newspaper that somebody is trying to go to the moon planet. I do not go personally to the moon planet, but I accept the newspaper. Similarly, we have to accept śāstra, how things are going on beyond our experience. Without that, we cannot have knowledge. That is called Vedic process. Śruti-jñānam. Śruti means hearing from authorities. That is real knowledge. Śrotra-panthā. It is called śrotra-panthā.

We must go to a person whose experience is beyond our experience.

Lecture on BG 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973:

Now, according to our calculation nobody can go to the sun planet, and where is the scope of speaking there, and to whom speaking? But Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes." Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham (BG 4.1), "I said," avyayam, "imperishable knowledge." Vivasvān manave prāha. So from this version we can understand, in the sun planet there are living entities, and the chief man, or chief demigod, is the sun-god, whose name is Vivasvān. So his body must be fiery; otherwise how he can live there? And the inhabitants there also. So we are thinking from here that nobody can live there, but that's not the fact. We are calculating via our own experience. Therefore we cannot have perfect knowledge by speculating our experience. It is not possible. We must go to a person whose experience is beyond our experience. That is called guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Guru means heavy. If guru is as good as I am, then what is the use of taking knowledge from him? Guru must be heavier.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

You cannot understand which is beyond your sense perception by experiment. Just like you cannot understand who is your father by experimental knowledge: "Let me make experiment and find out who is my father." That is not possible. Because it is beyond your experience.

Lecture on SB 3.25.19 -- Bombay, November 19, 1974:

You cannot understand which is beyond your sense perception by experiment. Just like you cannot understand who is your father by experimental knowledge: "Let me make experiment and find out who is my father." That is not possible. Because it is beyond your experience. Your father was existing when you were not existing. Then how you can understand by experimental knowledge? The authority is mother. Therefore Vedic knowledge is the mother; the Purāṇas are the sisters. They are explained like that. You should understand from the Vedas what is the ultimate knowledge. And Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: (BG 15.15) the ultimate knowable objective is Kṛṣṇa.

General Lectures

Can anyone count what is the number of mustards seeds in a bag, in a one-ton or two-ton bag? Innumerable. It is beyond our experience.

Lecture -- Hawaii, March 23, 1969:

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that this universe is a grain of mustard seed in the bag of a mustard seeds. Just imagine. Can anyone count what is the number of mustards seeds in a bag, in a one-ton or two-ton bag? Innumerable. It is beyond our experience. But there are so many universes just like packed up in a bag. This is called material world. So what to speak of the spiritual world?

The so-called scientists, they say, "We are trying." You can try on, but it is beyond your experience, beyond your knowledge. Your senses are all imperfect.

Lecture Excerpt -- London, August 13, 1971:

Experimental knowledge is never perfect. The same example as we have given several times: that which is unknowable, inconceivable, that knowledge you cannot get by experiment. That is not possible. You have to receive the knowledge from authority. Just like you cannot understand who is your father by experiment, laboratory. Bring every man and analyze him whether he is your father. Is it possible? No. How many men you will bring in the laboratory? That is not possible. But if you approach to the authority, the mother, immediately you get the knowledge. Ask your mother, "Who is my father?" She'll say, "Here is your father." That means you receive the knowledge from the authority, not by experimental knowledge. Which is inconceivable, beyond your perception, beyond your imagination, that knowledge you cannot get by experiment. They are trying to make experi... (break) ...soul. The so-called scientists, they say, "We are trying." You can try on, but it is beyond your experience, beyond your knowledge. Your senses are all imperfect. You can... You cannot understand soul by experimental knowledge. You have to hear from the authority.

Philosophy Discussions

You must have to admit, from your experience, that everything has a source of emanation. Anything has. You cannot go beyond your experience. You see this table. This table has got a history. Somebody has collected the wood and he has made into a shape. So everything that you see, it has got a history.

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

The sum and substance of Bhāgavata religion is accepting God as the supreme controller. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. This is beginning. And what is that Absolute Truth? Janmādy asya yataḥ, itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ: (SB 1.1.1) that there is a principal, Brahman, from whom everything has come. So unless you find out what is the ultimate source of emanation, the knowledge is perfect, hum, imperfect. But you must have to admit, from your experience, that everything has a source of emanation. Anything has. You cannot go beyond your experience. You see this table. This table has got a history. Somebody has collected the wood and he has made into a shape. So everything that you see, it has got a history. So similarly the whole creation, it has got a history, and to know who has created, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), that is perfect knowledge. If you do not know, if you cannot reach, that is your inability.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Then what is your experience? You have no experience. If it is beyond your experience, then you have no experience.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: What is that experience? You ask, "Father, give us our daily bread," and that is experience. God is giving everyone maintenance. That is our actual relationship. In the Vedas also it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is the God. God is also a person as you are person, I am person, but He is the chief person. Nityo nityānām, the chief, the Supreme. In the dictionary it is said Supreme Being. We are all beings, and He is Supreme Being. How He is supreme? Eka, that one; God is one. Bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He supplies the necessities of everyone's life. That is very good experience, we are getting everything from God. And the Christians also pray, "Give us our daily bread." So I don't find any difference between the statement in the Vedas and the Bible. God is the Supreme Person, and you make relationship with Him any way—as master and servant, as friend and friend, as father and son, or as husband and wife. So somehow or other we are related with God, this way or that way. The husband also maintains the wife.

Priest: I don't think so. I mean...

Prabhupāda: No, no, that is your personal opinion. But...

Priest: Not opinion; experience.

Prabhupāda: So what is that experience? Tell me what is that experience?

Priest: That God is beyond all our experience.

Prabhupāda: Then what is your experience? You have no experience. If it is beyond your experience, then you have no experience.

Priest: Personally, of course, but...

Prabhupāda: Then you cannot explain. You cannot, because you have no experience.

Priest: But if you know what you can't explain...

Prabhupāda: No, no, if you can't explain means you do not know.

Priest: You don't think an illusion (indistinct) relationship.

Prabhupāda: No, no, not illusion. If you cannot explain, that means you do not know. If you know, you must explain. That is knowing, that is knowledge.

Priest: Yeah, but that knowledge is very (indistinct).

Prabhupāda: Then you cannot preach.

As soon as you say "beyond your experience," that means you have no experience.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: As a priest you cannot preach because you do not know, it is not within your experience.

Priest: That's why I don't preach.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, then... (laughter) That is another thing. But as soon as you say "beyond your experience," that means you have no experience.

Priest: No.

Prabhupāda: So you cannot explain. That is all right.

Priest: That means I have the experience...

Prabhupāda: But...

Priest: ...that my experience is limited...

Prabhupāda: But that's all right.

Priest: ...and God is unlimited.

Prabhupāda: That is all right. That I admit.

Priest: Therefore, I cannot anyhow have experience of God.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. Just like you know...

Priest: And nobody can.

Prabhupāda: ...you do not know me, you have no experience about me.

No, you said that God is beyond your experience, you said.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Bhagavān: You must have faith to believe that God wrote the Bhagavad-gītā.

Prabhupāda: Why faith? God is God. Why faith?

Priest: Because, you know, I have been living in...

Prabhupāda: No, no, you have no experience you have said. You have no experience.

Priest: No, I have not said. You said I did.

Prabhupāda: No, you said that God is beyond your experience, you said.

Priest: A real swami listen first if he wants to (indistinct).

That's all right. That means I am talking with you. Therefore, you have no experience.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: First of all let us consider ourself. You said that God is beyond your experience.

Priest: That's right. That is my experience.

Prabhupāda: That's all right, that's all right. That means I am talking with you. Therefore, you have no experience.

Priest: Yes, I have.

But if you say God is beyond your experience, that you have no experience of God. This is clear meaning. Why do you go round about?

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: You say God is beyond your experience, you say.

Priest: Yeah, and I have that experience that God is beyond experience, because I found out that all my experience does not mean God.

Prabhupāda: But if you say God is beyond your experience, that you have no experience of God. This is clear meaning. Why do you go round about?

Priest: No, you don't..., you see...

Prabhupāda: Then it is a bit difficult.

Priest: I have always told that the duty of the swami is to listen and to understand, and you don't seem to listen and to understand. You misunderstand.

Prabhupāda: No, no, I use... First of all let us... Why misunderstand? You say that you have no experience of God.

Priest: No, I never said that.

That means you have no experience. How can I talk with you?

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: Then tell me your experience. That I want to know.

Priest: That every time I had an experience of God, and first I went through the bhakta, and I was a bhakta for a long, long time, then I found out that God was beyond my experience.

Prabhupāda: That means you have no experience. How can I talk with you?

Father is beyond my experience, but when we receive the knowledge through the mother, then we get experience.

Room Conversation with Christian Priest -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa says, and He is confirmed by Vyāsadeva, Asita, Nārada. This is the process. We do not accept everyone says "I am avatāra, I am God." We don't accept. But because it is accepted by the ācāryas, therefore we accept. Just like the same example I can give: I do not know who is my father, and many people will come, "I am your father." So we do not accept them. When mother says, "He is your father," then accept. That is final. I have no experience. It is beyond my experience, because father existed before my birth. So beyond my experience. So I am finding out who is my father, and so many people are coming, "I am your father." No. But as soon as the mother says, "No, no, this man is your father," then we accept. Then our business finished. Then we get experience. Father is beyond my experience, but when we receive the knowledge through the mother, then we get experience. Arjuna says that: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12), "You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not only You are saying, but You are accepted by these authorities." That is all. I cannot get my experience of God; that is not possible. God comes, He says, and Kṛṣṇa comes and He is accepted by all the great ācāryas, then our business is perfect.

So far experience that "I have not... God is beyond my experience."

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Devotee: He's puffed-up.

Prabhupāda: No, no, it is not puffed-up. It is simply foolishness, "Because I do not know, therefore all others..." Ātmavat manyate. Everyone thinks of others in his own standard. But that argument is not valid.

Bhagavān: Is that the same psychology that they, they only know of material body, so when they think of God, they think that God has material body also.

Prabhupāda: That is still lower grade man. But so far experience that "I have not... God is beyond my experience." Another point that in the Bible, Christ, Lord Christ says that "My Lord, Thy be hallowed..." What is that?

Devotees: "Hallowed be Thy name."

Prabhupāda: So God has name.

If it is beyond your experience, then go to a person who has got experience and take from him.

Morning Walk -- June 11, 1974, Paris:

Bhagavān: Last night, when you gave him the example that the father is beyond the experience of the child...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Bhagavān: At that point, he stopped arguing.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. And mother is the only evidence. That's all. Similarly, acintyaḥ khalu ye bhava na tas tarkeṇa yojayet (?). Śāstra says that "What is beyond your experience, you don't argue on that point." You go to the authority and take it. Why you should you argue? It is beyond your experience. Therefore you must find out who can give you the experience. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). But don't stop there, that "It is beyond my experience; therefore I should not have experience." This is foolishness. If it is beyond your experience, then go to a person who has got experience and take from him. Suppose if I am in this park. I do not know which way to go. It is beyond my experience. Then I ask one gentleman, "Where shall I go?" He'll say, "Please go this way." This is the way. Why should you stop and think others also, that God is beyond his experience also? Why? It may be beyond your experience, but unless you go to a person who has got actually experience, how can you get the experience?

I told him that you have no experience.

Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University -- June 14, 1974, Paris:

Devotee: I think maybe the first gentleman who was here, who said... He was talking about experiencing God... He says, "Actually I experienced God, but actually God is beyond my experience." You gave him such a hard time that I think he must have made phone calls to all these other men, "Be careful of Bhaktivedanta Swami. He is very dangerous." (laughter)

Prabhupāda: I told him that you have no experience.

Devotee: He turned so red when you said, "But how were you saying you are having experience, and you just said God is beyond your experience." And then he says, "I never said that. You put those words into my mouth." I whispered in his ear, "We have it on tape. We will play it back for you." (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Oh. We have got Kṛṣṇa. We are not afraid in challenging anyone. I believe on that formula. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). I believe that verse very strongly, that anyone who has not surrendered to Kṛṣṇa or is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he must be within this list: duṣkṛtina, mūḍha, narādhama, māyayāpahṛta-jñāna, āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritaḥ. That's all. I have explained that verse little elaborately. Read it. It is very interesting.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

When you get information from the Vedas, it is perfectly right. So it is easier to take knowledge from the Vedas. Then you'll become perfect in knowledge. There is no question of researching. That is not possible. What you'll research? How many animals are there, aquatics are there, in the water? It is beyond your experience.

Room Conversation With Radha-Damodara Sankirtana Party -- March 16, 1976, Mayapur:

Prabhupāda: When you get information from the Vedas, it is perfectly right. So it is easier to take knowledge from the Vedas. Then you'll become perfect in knowledge. There is no question of researching. That is not possible. What you'll research? How many animals are there, aquatics are there, in the water? It is beyond your experience. Is there any scientist who can go within the water and count how many aquatic forms are there? Nothing you can do. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣā viṁśati.(?)What information we have got? Even you cannot speak perfectly well about this universe. We are not able even to speak perfectly what is there in the moon planet. They are going, trying to go, and coming back. And still, they are claiming perfection as perfect as God. Just see how lunatic they are.

So how can you go beyond your experience? Everything is created.

Morning Walk -- June 4, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So how can you go beyond your experience? Everything is created. A child may think, "How this car is created?" But it is, factually it is created. He cannot imagine how this nice car is created. Why child? Even elderly persons in a nondeveloped country, they'll be surprised how this car is created. They cannot do it.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: No. That means they're ignorant.

Prabhupāda: That's all. So you cannot imagine that the sky is created, this water is created, that is beyond your experience.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Because you cannot do it, you think no one can do it.

Prabhupāda: You cannot do it. But why another cannot do it? As I see, I cannot manufacture the car, but somebody else can do it. Similarly, the whole big thing, cosmic manifestation, I cannot do it, but somebody may do it.