Prabhupāda: Hmmm. So the soul is within this body, encaged. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Due to ignorance, he is committing... Say, for, in our eating process, we are eating so many things out of ignorance which we should not eat, and creating the sinful reaction. Nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says things which are not eatables, we eat, and we circumambulate various types of body. Nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare. Just like the hog is eating stool, kadarya, a very abominable thing, but it is eating. Similarly, many other forms of body. You are eating very abominable things on account of your particular type of body, and this is due to ignorance. And this ignorance is our greatest enemy. The human form of life is meant for acquiring knowledge, not to keep one in ignorance. Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. That is the Vedic injunction. "Don't keep yourself in darkness," darkness of ignorance. But jyotir gamaḥ: "Go to the light." That is the Vedic injunction.
So the best knowledge, He's giving, Kṛṣṇa Himself: Bhagavad-gītā. He's coming personally to give knowledge. But we are so unfortunate, we are not accepting the knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa. We are hankering after some other knowledge given by some defective human being. A human being cannot give us any perfect knowledge. Therefore all the scientists' statements, all the philosophers' statements, they are simply theories; they are not fact. Because the knowledge is not perfect. Perfect knowledge can be had from one who is not defective. Defective means generally a conditioned soul has four defects: he commits mistake, he is illusioned, he has got a cheating propensity, and his senses are imperfect. The senses, we are acquiring knowledge through our senses, and if our senses are imperfect, how we can acquire perfect knowledge? Just like we are trying to see the planetary system through microscope or binocular, telescope, but the telescope machine is manufactured by a person who is, whose senses are defective. So through the telescope, how you can have perfect knowledge? Therefore one astronomer is placing some theory. After some years, that is made null and void; another theory is presented. Because everyone's knowledge is imperfect. So we cannot expect perfect knowledge from the imperfect person. So our process of knowledge is different. Our pro..., Vedic process of knowledge is,
- tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet
- samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham
- (MU 1.2.12)
One has to accept a guru, a spiritual master, who has received knowledge from another perfect spiritual master. Just like Kṛṣṇa is the origin, perfect spiritual master, guru. So Kṛṣṇa, what Kṛṣṇa said, was realized by Arjuna, directly. Therefore if we receive knowledge from Arjuna or his disciplic succession, then our knowledge is perfect. Kṛṣṇa..., Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Brahman: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So if we accept the version of Arjuna, that Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman, He's the Supreme Person, He's the origin of everything, then our knowledge is perfect. I may be imperfect, but because I receive knowledge from a perfect person, my knowledge is perfect. This is called paramparā system.