Guest (3): Your Divine Grace, we can know something about God, either through our sense knowledge or true concept, etc., but how do we know God, if I can make that distinction? You know? God isn't something that can be sensed, and He isn't something that can be grasped by the finite mind. The infinite, as you said . . . but how do we know God?
Prabhupāda: Yes. God is unapproachable by your mental concoction. But there is another process: if you understand God by this the paramparā system. Just like on this roof there is some sound, and every one of us making some suggestions what is the sound, "This may be like this. This may be like that. This may be like that." This is one process of knowledge—to understand the unseen by speculation. This is one.
It may be successful or may not be successful. There is no certainty. But if somebody from the roof says: "The sound is due to this," then our knowledge is perfect. Similarly, if we speculate about God, who is Adhokṣaja, who is beyond the range of our mind and speculation, then it is very . . . then we can come to the conclusion of Brahman realization, impersonal God, no more than. But if we hear from God or His representative, then we get perfect knowledge of God.
Guest (3): Well, even in revealed religion, where we have the scripture, say, a Vedic scripture or a Jewish or a Christian scripture, it's still being put into human words and therefore become circumscribed again. And so it seems to me that you've still got the same problem even in revealed religion—that it's not God; it's something short of God.
Prabhupāda: No. Just like in the Bible it is said: "God said, 'Let there be creation,' and there was creation." Is it not? It is fact. It is fact. Now you find out who created this universe. If you deny this fact, "No. God does not create," then you explain how it was created. So there is no difference between Bible and Vedic literature. We accept also, "God created."
But in the Vedic literature you will find how God created. That you'll find. So if you are actually serious to understand how God created, why don't you come to Vedic literature? That is the duty of every student. If you are after the knowledge, why should you stick to one particular place or . . .? If the knowledge is available in other places, you must have it. That is inquisitiveness, seriousness.
But if you say: "No. We are Christian. We have studied Bible, that is all. We do not touch," I don't think that is very nice conclusion. You remain Christian, but what is the harm to study other literatures where more informations are there? That is quite reasonable. We are not asking you to become Hindus. We simply want to, everyone, that you become God conscious. That is our mission. Our mission is not that to convert. What is the use of converting? If my habits are the same . . . suppose I am Hindu, I become Christian, but my habits are not changed. Then what is the use of becoming from Hindu or Christian or to Christian or Hindu?