Imperfect senses (Lectures, BG)

Expressions researched:
"imperfect experience of the senses" |"imperfect in his senses" |"imperfect material senses" |"imperfect of senses" |"imperfect sense" |"imperfect senses" |"imperfect, illusioned, and cheating senses" |"sense - they are all imperfect" |"sense are not the perfect" |"sense impressions, imperfect" |"sense is always imperfect" |"sense perception are all imperfect" |"sense perception for their imperfect knowledge" |"sense perception, that is imperfect" |"sense, it is imperfect" |"sense, they are imperfect" |"senses are admittedly imperfect" |"senses are all imperfect" |"senses are also imperfect" |"senses are blunt, imperfect" |"senses are faulty, imperfect" |"senses are imperfect" |"senses are neither imperfect" |"senses are not imperfect" |"senses are not perfect" |"senses are so imperfect" |"senses are so imperfect" |"senses are so limited, imperfect" |"senses are very blunt, imperfect" |"senses are very imperfect" |"senses is always imperfect" |"senses must be imperfect" |"senses you will find imperfect" |"senses, all are imperfect" |"senses, you become imperfect" |"senses? They are all imperfect"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "imperfect sense*"or " imperfect * sense*" or " imperfect * * sense*" or " sense* * imperfect" or "sense* * * imperfect" or "sense* * * * imperfect" or "senses are not perfect"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966:

It has been found by modern chemists, modern science, one Dr. Lal Mohan Gosal, he has very minutely analyzed the cow dung and he has found that cow dung is a composition of all antiseptic properties. So similarly, he has also analyzed the water of the Ganges out of curiosity. So my idea is that Vedic knowledge is complete because it is above all doubts and all mistakes. So, and Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is therefore infallible. It comes down through the perfect disciplic succession.

Therefore Vedic knowledge is not a thing of research. Our research work is imperfect because we are searching everything with imperfect senses. Therefore the result of our research work is also imperfect. It cannot be perfect. We have to accept the perfect knowledge. The perfect knowledge is coming down, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, just we have begun, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). We have to receive the knowledge from the right source in disciplic succession of spiritual master beginning from the Lord Himself.

Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966:

A living being of the mundane world has four defective principles of his life, and they are 1) that he must commit mistake, 2) he must be sometimes illusioned, and 3) he must try to cheat others, and 4) he's endowed with imperfect senses. With all these four principles of imperfectness, one cannot deliver the perfect form of information in the matter of all-pervading knowledge. The Vedas are not like that. The Vedic knowledge was imparted in the heart of Brahmā, the first created living being. And Brahmā in his turn disseminated the knowledge to his sons and disciples as they were originally received from the Lord. The Lord, being pūrṇam or all-perfect, there is no chance of His becoming subjected to the laws of material nature. One should therefore be intelligent enough to know that except the Lord, nobody is the proprietor of anything within the universe.

Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966:

Even the part of material world is not manifested before us. Our senses are so imperfect that we cannot see how many stars, how many planets there are in this material universe. Of course, through the Vedic literature we get information of all the planets. We may believe or not believe, but all the important planets in which we have connection, they are described in the Vedic literature, especially in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But the spiritual world, which is beyond this material sky, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo (BG 8.20), but that avyakta, that nonmanifested spiritual sky, is the paramāṁ gatim, that is, one should desire, one should hanker after reaching that supreme kingdom.

Lecture on BG 1.13-14 -- London, July 14, 1973:

These indriya, these material senses, cannot speculate to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is not possible. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). That is simply laboring, wasting time. Kṛṣṇa should be understood as Kṛṣṇa says. He can explain Himself. Nobody can explain. Because our senses are imperfect. We are deficient by four kinds of faults. We commit mistake; we are illusioned; with imperfect senses, we try to speak transcendental knowledge; therefore cheating. With imper... They will say, "Probably," "Maybe." This is the so-called scientists' language. That means imperfect knowledge. Still, they want to teach. This is cheating. Knowledge must be perfect. Then you can teach others.

Lecture on BG 1.13-14 -- London, July 14, 1973:

So our process is to receive the perfect knowledge from the perfect source and distribute it. We don't manufacture knowledge. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, as it is. The Bhagavad-gītā is already perfect. Why shall I interpret with my imperfect senses? This is cheating. But people want to be cheated. Vañcita-vañcaka-sampradāya. The whole world is full of cheaters and cheated. Because we want to be cheated, there are so many cheaters. They don't want real thing. Here is the real thing, Bhagavad-gītā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead speaking personally about Himself. Why should we interpret? Does it mean that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the supreme authority, left something unexplained to be interpreted later on by some rascals?

Lecture on BG 2.1-5 -- Germany, June 16, 1974:

So here it is said, śrī-bhagavān uvāca. The most powerful authority is speaking. Therefore, whatever He says, it is to be taken as truth. In our this conditional life, just like we are living under material condition, we have got four defects: we commit mistake, we are illusioned, and we want to cheat also, and our senses are imperfect. So knowledge received from a person who is infected with four kinds of deficiencies is not perfect. So when you receive knowledge from a person who is transcendental to all these four kinds of defects, that is perfect knowledge. Modern scientists, they theorize that "It may be like this. It may be like that," but that is not perfect knowledge. So if you speculate with your imperfect senses, what is the value of that knowledge? It may be, I mean to say, partial knowledge, but that is not perfect knowledge. Therefore our process of receiving knowledge is to receive it from the perfect person.

Lecture on BG 2.2 -- London, August 3, 1973:

"To err is human." Even big, big personalities, they commit mistake. But nārāyaṇa paraḥ. He is transcendental. Kṛṣṇa is transcendental. There cannot be any mistake; there cannot be any illusion. Those who are in this material world, they have got four defects: they commit mistake, they are illusioned, and their senses are imperfect, bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā, and they're cheaters. Because... Just like modern-day scientists and philosophers, they propogate so many branches of knowledge, but when, on the crucial point, they are caught, they say, "I do not know perfectly. I do not know perfectly. We are trying to know. In future, we shall tell you the perfect." But if you are not in perfect knowledge, why should you take the post of a teacher? If your knowledge is imperfect, then whatever you speak, that is imperfect. Therefore with imperfect knowledge, why you should become a teacher? That is cheating. That is cheating.

Lecture on BG 2.2 -- London, August 3, 1973:

Why we are taking Bhagavad-gītā so seriously? There are so many other books we can read, so many theories, so many philosophers, big, big philosophers. But we cannot take them because they are defective. The author is sure to commit mistake. He is illusioned. Because his senses are not perfect, therefore imperfection.

So with all these defects, we cannot accept anyone's knowledge. This is Vedic process. This is called paramparā system, disciplic succession. We receive knowledge perfectly from the Supreme Bhagavān. And if I receive the knowledge from Bhagavān, and if I distribute the same knowledge as Bhagavān has said, without any interpretation of my cheating policy, then the knowledge which I distribute, that is also perfect. I may not be perfect, but the knowledge which I have taken from Kṛṣṇa, if I present it as it is, without any interpretation, then what I give you, that is perfect. It is very easy to understand.

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- Auckland, February 21, 1973:

There are different planets also for different kinds of living entities. So this knowledge is being imparted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not by a person like me or like you who are defective in four principles. That I was going to explain. The four defects are that we commit mistakes, we are illusioned, and our senses are imperfect, and therefore sometimes we cheat others. Although I know, I do not know a subject matter very clearly; still, I say something as authority. That is cheating. We should not cheat. If we want to give knowledge to the people, we must give perfect knowledge.

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- London, August 15, 1973:

That is prema, love. And kāma means everything done for the satisfaction of my senses. This is the difference. The sense is the medium. Either you do it, satisfy your senses, or you satisfy Kṛṣṇa's senses. But when you satisfy Kṛṣṇa's senses, you become perfect, and when you satisfy your senses, you become imperfect, illusioned. Because you cannot satisfy your senses. That is not possible without Kṛṣṇa. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170).

Therefore one has to purify the senses. At the present moment, everyone is trying to satisfy his senses. Ahaṁ mameti. Janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). Puṁsaḥ striyā maithunī-bhāvam etat. The whole material world is that... There are two living entities, male and female. The male is trying also, satisfy his senses, and the female is also trying to satisfy her senses. Here the so-called love means...

Lecture on BG 2.11 -- New York, March 4, 1966:

No, that is also in the definition of a conditioned soul. These four principles are there. It is not my manufactured thing. The, these are information from authoritative scripture, that a conditioned soul has four imperfectness. One imperfectness is that he's sure to commit mistake. He's illusioned, and he has got a tendency to cheat, and, above all, his senses are imperfect. So anyone who is above all these four imperfectness—who never commits mistake, who is never illusioned, who never cheats others, and who has got perfect senses—He is God. That is also another definition of God. He may not be... God is Supreme, God, but anyone who comes to this stage of life, he's liberated. He's lib..., as good as God. Yes?

Lecture on BG 2.11 (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 11, 1975:

Therefore He has given us His remnants of foodstuff." So if we make this promise, that "I shall not take anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa," then your tongue will be controlled. And in the śāstra it is said that you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa... Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Not only Kṛṣṇa, even His name you cannot understand with these imperfect senses.

ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi

na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ

sevonmukhe hi jihvādau

svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ

(CC Madhya 17.136)

"But when you engage your tongue in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa reveals Himself." So the tongue's business is twofold. One is with tongue we speak—it vibrates sound—and another business is with tongue we taste nice foodstuff.

Lecture on BG 2.11 -- Rotary Club Address -- Hotel Imperial, Delhi, March 25, 1976:

If you try to understand that Supreme Person Kṛṣṇa, who comes before you as ordinary person, you can understand Him if you become His devotee. Otherwise it is not possible. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa or His name, His form, His pastimes, His activities—na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ—by your imperfect senses. But sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphurati. When you are engaged in His service, then He reveals Himself: "Here I am." So this is the process. If you want to understand that person, Kṛṣṇa, who is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then you have to take shelter of bhakti-yoga and associate with bhaktas. Then it is possible. Otherwise not.

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

So last day we had been discussing that difference between the conditioned soul and liberated soul is that a conditioned soul is imperfect in four ways. A conditioned soul is sure to commit mistake, a conditioned soul is in illusion, a conditioned soul has the tendency for cheating others, and a conditioned soul has got his senses imperfect, imperfect senses. Therefore knowledge should be taken from a liberated soul. Why this Bhagavad-gītā is so honored? Now, this Bhagavad-gītā was spoken in India, and it is understood that it is a scripture of the Hindus. But why...? Now, you are Americans. You are also keeping this Bhagavad-gītā, and not only in America, in other countries also, in Germany. In Germany there are great, great scholars, in England, in Japan, in all countries. So why? Because it is spoken by a great personality.

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

Our eyes are not qualified to see it. Therefore the all the senses, they should be spiritualized. If we want to see the spirit whole... The Lord is spirit whole. We cannot see even the spirit part. Our, our... We are very much proud of our senses, but our senses are so imperfect that... Now I see with my eyes, but I cannot see my eyelid. You see? The eyelid is always attached with my eye, but I cannot see. So our power of using the senses, that is very limited. So we should not depend only on the senses. Pratyakṣa. It is called pratyakṣa-anumāna. 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."

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

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 pratyakṣa means direct evidence you cannot have. And anumāna means speculation, simply, "It may be like this. It may be like that." Oh, that is also imperfect because our thinking is also limited, because our senses are limited. So our thinking power, mind, is one of the senses.

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

So our thinking power, mind, is one of the senses. Out of the ten, mind is considered to be the eleventh sense. There are five karmendriya and five sensory organs and working organs, ten, and the mind is the chief. So mind is also considered as one of the senses, the chief senses. You see? So because it is sense, it is imperfect. So by mental speculation we cannot have a into right conclusion, by mental speculation. Those are simply speculating on mind, they can make some progress to a certain extent, but they cannot reach the ultimate goal. It is not possible by mental speculation; neither it is possible by direct evidence. The only, only possible evidence is authority, authority. Just like yesterday also I gave you that example. Just like if a child asks his mother that "Who is my father?" now the mother says, "Here is your father."

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:

Every one of us can see in day and night, but still they haven't got sufficient knowledge about the sun and the moon. Why? Because their senses are imperfect. But still they are trying to explain about the sun and moon, that is cheating. They have no sufficient knowledge about the sun or the moon, still they are trying to speak about sun and moon. If you have no sufficient knowledge on a subject matter and if you want to enlighten others with your speaking, that is cheating. Because you have no sufficient knowledge, why you are speaking to others? That is cheating. He is posing that "I know," but he does not know. This is cheating. Imperfectness of senses.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:

You have manufactured, or your brother has manufactured. But he has got imperfect senses, how the telescope will be perfect? So this is going on. They are simply cheating public. They have no sufficient knowledge, still they are trying to speak of some subject of which they have no sufficient knowledge. Besides that, the scientist... One scientist proposes, theorizes something today and another scientist makes this proposition, this theory, null and void and he speaks something else. That is also due to the imperfect of senses. So that is called mistake or illusion. Mistake means calculation, mathematical calculation. Two plus two equal to four, but sometimes by mistake we may put three or five.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:

When somebody inquires, "who are you?" You just give identification of your body: "I am such and such, I am an American, I am born of such father and mother." But this body is not yourself, you are spirit soul. Therefore, it is called illusion. And because we are standing on the platform of illusion, there is mistake, there is cheating, and the senses are imperfect. This is the position.

Therefore, the so-called modern scientific world advanced, they do not know what is the actual living force within this body which is moving this body. So long the soul or the living force is within this body, it is moving. As soon as the spirit soul is out of the body, it is..., we call it is dead. So we have got medical science for this body, we have got psychology for the mind, everything we've got, but where is the science of the soul, which is moving the body and the mind?

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:

Ultimately depends on God—although he is posing himself that authorized, he is giving scientific medicine. If you are giving scientific medicine, why you are not sure? This is called cheating. While he is not sure, still he says, "I am scientific man." This is one defect. And of all these defects, there is sublime defect that our senses are imperfect. All our senses. The same thing, just like with our eyes we see daily the sun, but we see just like a disk. Due to our imperfect senses, we see a planet which is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet, we are seeing just like it is... That means we cannot see very distant place—or nearest. Even we cannot see our eyelids, which is just a smear over the eyes. Packed, the packing material of the eyes, we cannot see.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:

That means we cannot see very distant place—or nearest. Even we cannot see our eyelids, which is just a smear over the eyes. Packed, the packing material of the eyes, we cannot see.

So we have to accept these things that we are prone to commit mistake, we are illusioned, we cheat, and our senses are imperfect. Then how I can give you perfect knowledge? That is not possible. But if you accept the Vedic knowledge... Just like I gave you the example: Vedic knowledge says sometimes contradictory. Just like cow dung, stool of an animal, is pure. And if you analyze, you will find it is pure. So our process of acquiring knowledge is from the Vedas. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). And what is the purpose of the Vedas? Why Vedic knowledge is perfect? Because it is spoken by God. God is perfect, and whatever He speaks, that is perfect. Therefore God is called "God is good." All-good.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:

You can experience, although you cannot see, you cannot touch, you cannot taste. So it is not that, that sometimes things which are beyond the test of our material senses, they are not existing. That is foolishness. We must accept that our senses are imperfect. So how we can understand everything by the test of experimental knowledge? No.

Therefore, things which are beyond your perception, you have to accept it by hearing from the authoritative source. Just like another example: If you want to see who is your actual father, that is not possible to make an experiment who is your father. There may be some experimental. But if you ask your mother, authority, "Mother, who is my father?" the mother says, "This is the man who is your father," you have to accept, that's all.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 19, 1972:

Do not manufacture knowledge. Because how you can manufacture perfect knowledge? You are imperfect. Your senses are imperfect. You are defective in four ways. You are... To err is human. You must commit mistake. You must be illusioned. Your senses are imperfect, and you have got a cheating propensity. These four defects are there. Those who are not liberated, mukta-puruṣa, they have got four defects. What is that? He must commit mistake. Just like we can give you instance: Our Mahatma Gandhi, he was so great personality, but he also committed so many mistakes. Even on the day of his death, it is heard that he was forbidden not to go the meeting. The other persons, they scented some danger, but he forcibly went there and he was killed.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 19, 1972:

He's proposing, "Perhaps; it may be," and he's writing a big book, anthropology. And people are taking knowledge from that book. So if his knowledge based on "Perhaps; maybe," what is the value of that knowledge? So things are going on like that. The senses are imperfect. He has got a cheating propensity. Cheating propensity means he has no perfect knowledge; still, he wants to give knowledge, to become famous in the world, famous in the community. So what is the value of your writing books if you have no perfect knowledge? But because we have got a cheating propensity, we do like that. So Vedic knowledge is not like that. There is no cheating. There is no imperfection. There is no illusion. There is no error. That is Vedic knowledge.

Lecture on BG 2.15 -- London, August 21, 1973:

We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is sac-cid-ānanda vigraha (Bs. 5.1). His transcendental body is eternal, blissful and complete knowledge, His body. Therefore He's speaking Bhagavad-gītā. If He's an ordinary man, what is the use of hearing Him? Ordinary man will commit mistake, will cheat, will be illusioned. His senses are imperfect; how he can give complete knowledge? That is not possible. Therefore we are not concerned to hear any rascal. We want to hear Kṛṣṇa. We are not prepared to hear any rascal, so-called scientists and so-called philosopher, so-called God. No. We are not prepared. Because everyone is rascal. Everyone is full of mistakes, everyone is trying to cheat others, everyone is illusioned, and everyone's senses are imperfect. How he can give knowledge perfect? That is not possible.

Lecture on BG 2.16 -- Mexico City, February 16, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa, although He is the authority, still, He says that ubhayor api dṛṣṭaḥ antaḥ tu anayos tattva-darśibhiḥ. He says, "All the tattva-darśī, the knower of the Absolute Truth, they know it very well, and they have decided like that." The purpose is that we have to accept the experience of the tattva-darśī, of the seer of the Absolute Truth. That is knowledge. Our knowledge is imperfect because our senses are imperfect. Therefore we do not come to the right knowledge by exercising our senses. The idea is that we should accept the statement of Kṛṣṇa and the śāstra that we or I or you, we are spirit soul; we are permanent. And the body is not permanent. But we should be intelligent enough—how we can get the condition of permanence. That is possible when you or I, we come to the platform of eternity. That is explained in another place of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, bahavo jñāna-tapasā pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ, like that.

Lecture on BG 2.18 -- Hyderabad, November 23, 1972:

You cannot see so many things. I cannot see even my eyelids, the nearest, and I cannot see which is far, far away, distant place.

So all our senses are imperfect. By imperfect senses, you cannot see the spirit soul. You cannot see even the spirit soul. How you can see the Supreme Soul, God? That is not possible. You have to purify your senses. Then you can see. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). The present blunt senses, material senses, all are imperfect. Even we hear the Lord's name, nāmādi, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi... Just like we are chanting. One who is spiritually advanced, he's enjoying this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's name. But those who are blunt, they will see, they will think, "What these people are chanting?"

Lecture on BG 2.23-24 -- London, August 27, 1973:

Now rascals will think that "How there is a god or there is a person in the sun planet?" They'll think like that. Everything from his own angle of vision. This is modern science. "I cannot think of such thing. Therefore, there cannot be any such thing." Just like everything should be within my experience. This is going on. They never admit that "What is your experience?" You are imperfect, your senses are imperfect, how you can be perfectly experienced? It is not possible. Acintya. There are so many inconceivable powers acting on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. What are you? You may cheat some people that you have become God. That is another thing. But the inconceivable potency of Kṛṣṇa, they are working differently. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that unless we accept this principle that Kṛṣṇa or God has got inconceivable power, acintya-śakti, we cannot understand.

Lecture on BG Lecture Excerpts 2.44-45, 2.58 -- New York, March 25, 1966:

No. It is not possible. They give respiratory oxygen gas and so many things, but it cannot be revived.

Therefore it is a fact that the soul, soul is different from this body. So long the soul is there, the body acts. And we, with our blunt senses, our gross senses, we cannot see the soul. Therefore we deny it. Because our imperfect senses cannot see this. We cannot see so many things. So many things. Just like we are seeing this place is vacant, the outer space, but there are instruments. If you see with those instruments, you will find they are full of germs. Full of germs. Take a drop of water, as clear as possible. But if you see with microscope, you will see, "Oh, it is full of germs." So imperfect vision of existence, of the existence of the soul, does not mean that there is no soul. The soul is there.

Lecture on BG 3.27 -- Melbourne, June 27, 1974:

"My father has said. It is perfectly right," then his knowledge is perfect. The child may be imperfect.

So our Vedic process is like that. We do not make any research. It is not possible to come to the right knowledge by so-called research, because our senses are imperfect. Just like we see through the telescope and we come under certain conclusion, but the fact is that I am the same person seeing through the telescope, and telescope is also manufactured by me or by you. So machine is imperfect and my seeing power is also imperfect. Then how you can have perfect knowledge? The machine is created by a person who has got imperfect knowledge, and the seer is also a person; he is also imperfect. The imperfect person is seeing through the imperfect machine. Then how we can conclude perfect knowledge? This is not possible.

Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:

We acquire knowledge by our senses. Just like we acquire knowledge by seeing. Everyone will say, "Can you show me God?" But the answer is "Can you see God?" How you can see God? You have no eyes to see God. Even I show you God, you cannot see. Our senses are so imperfect. Just like take for example the eyes. The eyes, it is seeing under certain condition. As soon as you put off this light, you cannot see. So what is the use of having this eyes? So therefore, we have got our imperfect senses.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

It is a specific knowledge, and it has to be understood by a specific process. Generally, we understand, we acquire knowledge by direct perception, experimental knowledge, direct perception. But bhagavad-vijñāna, the science of God, is so extensive and so intricate that it is not possible to apply our imperfect senses to understand the science of God. Then we have to understand with our senses. Otherwise what is the meaning of understanding? Hear. Therefore these senses, when they will be purified, then we can understand. Just like a man cannot see due to some cataract complication, but if the cataract portion is surgically operated, he can see also. Treatment. Similarly, it is said in the śāstras that ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Our senses are very imperfect. That we can understand.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

This is imperfect. Neither we can see very close, neither we can see very long distance point, neither we can see in darkness. There are so many conditions. If those conditions are fulfilled, then our senses can act. Therefore it is to be understood that our senses are imperfect.

Therefore Bhāgavata says ataḥ, therefore, śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nāmādi... Nāma means His name, His holy name, ādi, that is the beginning. To understand Kṛṣṇa is to begin chanting His name, nāma. Nāmādi. Ādi means in the beginning. Therefore we recommend the students to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Nāma means after you understand or realize nāma, then you'll understand His qualities, transcendental qualities. When, in the Vedic scripture, when it is said that the Absolute Truth is nirguṇa... Nirguṇa means, guṇa means quality, and nir means negative.

Lecture on BG 4.2 -- Bombay, March 22, 1974:

A child sees: he sees that it is automatically going, without any horse. He's amazed. But one who can see, he knows that there is machine, there is brain. So this is our position. Even to understand material things we are not perfect. Our senses are not perfect. How we can understand God? That is not possible, because we have got defects. Our senses are not perfect: I cannot see perfectly. I cannot smell perfectly. I cannot touch perfectly. I cannot hear perfectly. So many defects. I commit mistake. I become illusioned. I accept something for something. In this way, our position is very imperfect.

But in spite of possessing imperfect senses, people are proud of their knowledge. That is mistake. We are not concerned with imperfect knowledge.

Lecture on BG 4.4 -- Bombay, March 24, 1974:

Because He is perfect. We are not perfect. We have got so many deficiencies. We commit mistake, we are illusioned, we cheat and our senses are imperfect. We cannot acquire knowledge by sense perception perfectly. So with so many imperfectness, if we try to become a teacher, then I am a cheater. I am not a teacher. We must know first of all. So we are receiving knowledge from Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa is accepted the Supreme Personality of Godhead and with perfection of knowledge.

So here the matter is being clarified, and Kṛṣṇa is answering also that bahūni me janmāni vyatītāni. Kṛṣṇa appears.... Kṛṣṇa says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). He comes on this planet or in this universe. When He comes in this universe, He comes on this planet.

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

So there are innumerable planets, and the sun is one of them. So this is also material object. If it is possible for the material object to disappear and appear within our limited senses, what to speak of God and His devotees. So God does not mean that because He is not visible to our imperfect senses, therefore God has no existence. This is foolishness. God is existent. But one who has got eyes to see...

What is that eye? Just like a small child. If I say to the small child, so "Sun is there in the sky, and the child will say, "Show me where is the sun." And if somebody says, "Yes, come on, I shall show you sun. Come on the roof. I have got a torch-light." As it is not possible to show the sun at night, although the child is insisting, similarly, the so-called scientists who are claiming that there is no God, they're just like the child. You have to understand. Just like a man who is advanced in knowledge, he knows that sun is there.

Lecture on BG 4.6 -- Bombay, March 26, 1974:

We forget. The body's changing. The blood corpuscles are changing. That is scientific. But Kṛṣṇa hasn't got that. Therefore He is explaining Himself. We can understand Kṛṣṇa by Kṛṣṇa's explanation. We should not make any rascal interpretation. Then we'll not be able to understand Kṛṣṇa. Because our senses are imperfect.

Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi jānāti tattvam. Either you have to understand Kṛṣṇa from the Kṛṣṇa personally.... That is not possible. Or one who has got, received the favor of Kṛṣṇa, from him you can understand Kṛṣṇa. Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi. One who is favored with a little mercy of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, he can understand Kṛṣṇa. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55).

Lecture on BG 4.11-18 -- Los Angeles, January 8, 1969:

This means that everyone is searching after that absolute truth. Some of them are satisfied with impersonal feature. The philosophers, jñānīs, they, because they want to understand the absolute truth by dint of their imperfect knowledge.

Because we are in this conditioned state our senses are imperfect. Therefore whatever knowledge we gather, that is imperfect. That is not perfect. So if I endeavor to understand what is Absolute Truth, my means of understanding are the senses. But the senses are imperfect. Therefore whatever knowledge I gather by exertion of these senses, that is imperfect. That is not perfect.

So the persons who are trying to understand the absolute truth by exercising their imperfect knowledge, they reach up to the impersonal conception. And persons who are still further advanced, just like yogis.

Lecture on BG 4.13 -- Bombay, April 2, 1974:

If you are defective, if you have got so many defects in your life, how you can become teacher? You are a cheater. Nobody's teacher, because without being perfect, how you can become teacher? So this is going on.

And the last defect is that my senses are imperfect. I cannot see properly, I cannot smell properly, I cannot touch properly. So many defects. Just for example I am seeing the sun everyday but I am seeing just like a disk. But it is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than the earth. So śāstra-cakṣusā. You must see through the śāstra, not with these eyes. Just like they say sometimes, "Can you show me God? Have you seen God?" Well, can you see God? You cannot see even the sun properly. How can you see God? Why you are proud of your eyes so much?

Lecture on BG 4.34-38 -- New York, August 17, 1966:

This body... Antavanta ime dehāḥ. The body must be finished. Therefore there is no question of sat.

And cit. Cit means knowledge. Knowledge, we have no knowledge. Our... We have got senses, but these are all imperfect senses. We are very much proud that everything we say... Somebody... If somebody preaches about the Lord, we challenge, "Can you show me the Lord? Have you seen the Lord?" or "Can you show me the Lord?" But we do not know that our senses are so imperfect that we cannot see even what we are daily seeing. We cannot... If the light is put off, then we cannot see each other, even in this room. So our seeing person is conditional. It is not perfect. Similarly, all our senses, they are imperfect. So by imperfect senses, by speculation of the imperfect mind, we, we cannot reach to the Absolute Truth. It is not possible. Not possible.

Lecture on BG 4.34-39 -- Los Angeles, January 12, 1969:

Similarly, this is an example. At night you cannot see the sun, but when the sun rises, you can see the sun, you can see yourself also. By seeing sun, you can see yourself, you can see the world. Similarly, when you see Kṛṣṇa, then you see everything.

Without seeing Kṛṣṇa, your eyes are blind, your senses are imperfect. Therefore it is said that "Self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth." Go on. Purport.

Madhudviṣa: Purport. "The path of spiritual realization is undoubtedly difficult. The Lord therefore advises us to approach a bona fide spiritual master in the line of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. Nobody can be a bona fide spiritual master without following this principle of disciplic succession.

Lecture on BG 6.1-4 -- New York, September 2, 1966:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is speaking. He's speaking means He's speaking with all knowledge. His knowledge has no flaw. Our knowledge has many, so many flaws. We commit mistake, we are illusioned. Sometimes we speak something and at our heart there is something else. That means we cheat. And our experience all imperfect because our senses are imperfect. Therefore I cannot speak anything to you. If you ask me, "Swamiji, then what you are speaking?" I am speaking simply what the Supreme Personality of Godhead has said. I'm just repeating the same words. That's all. Don't think that I am speaking. I am simply instrument. Real speaker is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is without and within.

Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:

That's no knowledge. That is not knowledge. Therefore in the Padma Purāṇa it is said that you cannot understand about the form, name, quality, paraphernalia of God with these material senses. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). By your sense speculation, because your senses are imperfect, how you can speculate on the supreme perfect? That is not possible. Then how it is possible? Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. If you train your senses, if you purify your senses, that purified sense will help you to see God.

Lecture on BG 6.13-15 -- Los Angeles, February 16, 1969:

Then you have to hear from Kṛṣṇa who lives there. Otherwise you remain nonsense all your life.

Here is the information. How can you know which you cannot reach, cannot know with your senses are so imperfect. How can you know? Simply you have to hear. Just like you have to hear about your father from the mother. There is no other way. The father certifies, mother certifies, "Here is your father, you have to accept." You cannot make any experiment. Beyond your names. Similarly if you want to learn about the spiritual sky in God's kingdom, then you have to simply hear from the authority. There is no question of experimental knowledge. Simply hearing. So hearing means, just like you have to believe some gentleman as your father, hearing from the authority of your mother.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 26, 1968:

How you can capture the Unlimited with your limited sense? But it is possible.

It is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Our senses are imperfect always. Even we cannot understand perfectly the material world. Just like we have seen so many planets and stars in the sky at night, but we do not know what they are. We do not know even what is this moon planet. We are trying for so many years, trying to go there in sputnik and... Even one planet. Even we do not know what varieties are there even in this planet. If you go on the sea, if you go on the sky, you are perfectly illusioned. So our knowledge is always imperfect. That we must admit. Foolishly, if we think we have acquired all sorts of knowledge, we have advanced in science, this is another foolishness. It is not possible.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 26, 1968:

So it is not possible for us to understand Kṛṣṇa by our limited senses. Then why we are bothering so much for Kṛṣṇa consciousness if it is not possible?

The answer is ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). These imperfect senses cannot realize Kṛṣṇa as He is. Then the process is sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. If you become submissive, if you develop the spirit of service to Kṛṣṇa, either as servant or as friend or as parent or as lover, if you begin to give service to the Supreme Lord... The beginning of service is chanting. Therefore it is said, jihvādau. Jihvādau means, jihva means tongue. Tongue. Your service begins by the tongue. How? By the tongue you can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and by the tongue you can taste Kṛṣṇa's prasādam. So the beginning process is very nice. You chant Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and whatever little prasādam is offered to you by Kṛṣṇa by His kindness, you accept it.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 26, 1968:

If you become submissive and if you begin this service, chanting and eating prasādam, then svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ, simply by these two kinds of practices, Kṛṣṇa will Himself reveal Himself before you, "I am like this." You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa by speculation. No, that is not possible, because your senses are imperfect. But if you begin this process of service, then it will be possible that one day Kṛṣṇa will reveal to you, "I am like this."

Just like Kṛṣṇa is revealing in the Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna. Arjuna is a devotee, and he is submissive. And he is friend also. He is in contact with Kṛṣṇa as friend. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is revealing to Kṛṣṇa..., ah, to Arjuna. This Bhagavad-gītā is spoken to Arjuna, not to any Vedantist or speculationist.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Los Angeles, December 2, 1968:

We are always thinking how I shall cheat somebody. And naturally, he's also thinking to cheat me. So the whole conditional life is the association of cheaters and cheated, that's all. So this is another defect. And the fourth defect is that our senses are imperfect. Therefore all knowledge that we receive, that is imperfect knowledge. A man may speculate, but he may speculate with his mind. That's all. But his mind is imperfect. However he may speculate, he'll produce something nonsense, that's all. Because his mind is imperfect. It doesn't matter that if you add thousands of zeros, it makes one. No. It is still zero. So this speculation process, to understand the Supreme, is nothing but zero. Therefore with all these defects of our conditional life, it is not possible to come to the real life.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Auckland, April 15, 1972:

It is one ten-thousandth part of a point. We, in the material world, we cannot measure the length and breadth of point. Therefore those who are mathematicians, they say, "Point has no length, no breadth." But actually that is not a fact. You have no eyes to see the length and breadth of a point. You are so blunt, your senses are so limited, imperfect, that you cannot imagine that a point can have length and breadth. But we get information from Vedic literature, not only the point, but one ten-thousandth part of the point is measured. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca, jīvo bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ (CC Madhya 19.140).

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Auckland, April 15, 1972:

Therefore I see there is nothing beyond this. There is nothing beyond this room. That is not fact. There is everything. I can see the sun, which is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet, but my eyes are seeing, daily just like a disc. So don't believe your senses. Your senses are imperfect. Whatever knowledge you get by experimental knowledge, experimental method, that is the modern ways of understanding. But these things cannot be experimented. Therefore we have to take the knowledge from the Vedas. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). These are Vedic mantras. We have to understand the transcendental science through Vedic knowledge.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:

This is called karaṇa. So karaṇa, these are imperfect. I am catching with my hand, but if the hand is paralyzed... So long we are not paralyzed, our machine is going nicely, we can catch. Otherwise, we cannot catch. This is condition. We can catch under certain condition. So therefore our senses are imperfect. Karaṇa apaṭu. Apaṭu means imperfect. Bhrama-pramāda-karaṇāpaṭava, and another defect is vañcana, or cheating. I am so much defective; still, I want to impress others that I have got full knowledge. How you can have full knowledge if you are so defective? Just like a diseased man. He cannot say, "I am perfect in health." That is not possible. Similarly, if we are defective in so many ways, and if I want to become teacher or preacher to give you the truth, then how can I give? This is not possible. So we cannot hear from anyone who is defective.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:

There are so many societies, theological societies, this, theosophical societies, but what do they know about God? They do not know, neither can know. It is not possible, because they are thinking with their imperfect senses? How you can have the idea of the perfect, of the unlimited, by your imperfect speculation? That is not possible.

Therefore the śāstra says, athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi, jānāti tattvam (SB 10.14.29). Tattva means the Absolute Truth. "You are Absolute Truth. Who can understand the Absolute Truth without Your mercy?"

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:

That is not our business. Because we know we are imperfect. Even if we manufacture something, that is imperfect. We have got four faults in our conditional life: we commit mistake, we become illusioned, we cheat others, and our senses are imperfect. So how we can get perfect knowledge from a person who is, I mean to say, possessing all these faults? Therefore we must get knowledge from the Supreme Person, who is not affected with these faults, mukta-puruṣa. That is perfect knowledge.

So our request is that you take knowledge from Bhagavad-gītā and act accordingly. It doesn't matter what you are. Bhagavān is for everyone. God is God. Just like gold is gold. If gold is handled by Hindu, it does not become Hindu gold. Or the gold is handled by Christian, it does not become Christian gold.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Durban, October 9, 1975:

Therefore it is said, śrī bhagavān uvāca: "The Supreme Personality..." Bhagavān means He does not cheat you. Others, they will give you instruction and cheat you, because anyone who is not liberated, he has got four defects of his life: he commits mistake, he is illusioned, he cheats and his senses are imperfect. This is called conditioned soul, everyone. Even big, big men, big, big leaders, they commit so many mistakes. And so far illusion is concerned, everyone is illusioned because I am not this body, but everyone is thinking, "I am this body." This is called illusion. Dehātma-buddhi. "I am not this body. I am spirit soul." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. But I am thinking, "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am South African," "I am black," "I am white," "I am fat," "I am thin." This is bodily.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Durban, October 9, 1975:

This is bodily. This is called illusion. And we invent our ideologies by mental speculation, without having perfect knowledge. We are accustomed to say, "I think." But "I think"? What I am? All my senses are imperfect. I commit mistake, I am illusioned, and when I say, "I think," what is the use of my thinking? This is cheating. This is cheating.

So any conditioned soul... There are two kinds of living entities: the liberated and the conditioned soul. So we should not receive any knowledge from conditioned person. We must receive knowledge from the liberated. So Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, the Personality of Godhead—who can be more liberated than Himself? Therefore He says—we should accept it.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- London, August 4, 1971:

That's a fact. But you have no instrument or power to see it. In spite of your advancement of so many scientific instruments, you cannot see. Therefore in the śāstra it is said, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Our, these senses are so imperfect that we cannot perceive even what is spirit soul. We cannot see. That's a fact. And we cannot... It is very difficult to perceive also. But you can see also, you can perceive also, by accepting a certain method.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Ahmedabad, December 14, 1972:

Just like every knowledge is being based on the illusion that "I am this body, material body," which I am not. But the whole world is going on under this conception, that "I am this body." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brāhmaṇa," like that. So the basic principle is illusion. And there are so many mistakes we commit. And the senses are imperfect. And although my senses are imperfect, I, still, I theorize, "It may be...," "It is like this," "It is like that." These are all imperfect things. Therefore whatever knowledge we may make progress, it is saṁśayam, it remains doubt, uncertainty.

But what Kṛṣṇa says, you can test even with your experimental knowledge. That is Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge, it is not dogma. The, the statement is there after sufficient experiment. So we, if we accept Vedic knowledge, we save so much time. We may go on experimenting with our limited power of senses, but that will always remain doubtful, that it is perfect.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

We have got four defects in this material condition. We commit mistake, every one of us; we are illusioned; we accept something for something for something. So to commit mistake, illusioned, and our senses are imperfect. The knowledge we gather through our senses, that is imperfect because our senses are imperfect. Just like we see every day the sun with our eyes, but because our senses are imperfect, we see the sun like a disc, although it is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth. In this way, if we analyze our senses, it will be found that our senses are imperfect. By the imperfect senses speculating, that is not perfect. Therefore all the speculators, they, so-called scientists, philosophers, they put forward theories: "Perhaps," "It may be," like that.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Paris, June 13, 1974:

So this is called illusion.

Then next item is cheating. Cheating means with imperfect knowledge one takes the place of a teacher. And the last deficiency is that our senses are imperfect. It is not independent. Still, we are very much proud of our senses. For example, atheist class of men, they say that "Can you show me God?" He does not think whether he has got any power to see. So far our eyes are concerned, we can see so long when the conditions are fulfilled. Just like we are speaking. As soon as the light will be off, we cannot see one another.

Lecture on BG 7.1-3 -- Paris, June 13, 1974:

So what is the value of these eyes? You simply see under certain conditions. You simply smell under certain conditions. You can hear under certain condition. So therefore your materialistic life is conditional life.

So with imperfect senses, we cannot understand what is God. The only sense is very, I mean to, usable, just is this ear. Just like man is sleeping, and some enemy has come to attack him or to kill him. So still he's nicely sleeping. But if some friend cries, "Mr. such and such, wake up, wake up! Here is enemy. He'll kill you, kill you!" He can rise up. So when all other senses are useless, the ear can work. Therefore, to understand God, we have to use this ear. And we have to receive the sound vibration and it will act.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Hyderabad, April 28, 1974 :

Because our mission of life is to... You can not understand with your foolish brain what is God. That is not possible. They are trying to understand God by the limited senses. How you can understand? We are defective in so many ways. First of all we commit mistakes, and we are illusioned, we try to cheat others, and our senses are imperfect. So, how you can understand with your limited senses, with so many defects? That is not possible. Therefore you have to understand God from God Himself, or from His representative. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said that, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. Mad-āśrayaḥ: "directly under My direction, or under the direction of My representative." You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa if you remain under your personal intelligence. Everyone says that "I shall understand this by my own dint of knowledge, by speculation."

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Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

This is called illusion, to accept something for something else. The son did not know who is father. He is going on, calling the shirt, coat, pant of the father as "father." This is called illusion. To commit mistake and to become illusioned, and even if we try to become perfect, our senses are imperfect.

Just like we are very much proud of our eyes. Somebody, they say, "Can you show me God?" Now, how you will see? "Now, with my eyes." But your eyes are imperfect. That he will not admit. He forgets that "So long the light is there, I can see. My pride for possessing the eyes is valid so long the light is there. As soon as there is no light, in spite of possessing the eyes, I cannot see."

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

So you can see under certain condition. If there is sunlight, then you can see. If there is no sunlight you cannot see. So what is the value of your seeing? Imperfect eyes.

So similarly, our eyes are imperfect, our all senses are imperfect. We gather knowledge by the sense, five knowledge-gathering senses and five working senses and mind. So if the senses are imperfect, then how can I gather real knowledge? And without getting real knowledge, if I preach, that is cheating. If you have no knowledge, then... Just like so many scientists, philosophers, they are cheating. Actually they have no knowledge that life cannot be produced by chemical combination; still, they are cheating people throughout the whole world that life can be produced by chemical combination. And this cheating is accepted.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

So to accept knowledge from these rascals who commit mistake, who are illusioned, who are cheater, whose senses are imperfect, is useless waste of time. This is the shastric injunction. We should receive knowledge from the perfect. So in all respect, who can become the perfect than Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is accepted by Vedavyāsa, by Nārada, by Arjuna, big, big stalwart scholars and personalities, that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like this Bhagavad-gītā. This Bhagavad-gītā is recorded by Vyāsadeva. The talks were between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, and it was recorded by Vyāsadeva's disciple, Sañjaya. And Vyāsadeva, while writing Mahābhārata, he put this dialogue within the Mahābhārata.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

We manufacture our own knowledge. This is called māyā. Māyā is so strong that she'll not allow to take real knowledge from the real person, but we shall read volumes of books who are defective with their four kinds of imperfectness, namely they commit mistake, they are illusioned, they are cheater and their senses are imperfect.

So this is the first business, that "Where we shall take knowledge?" Tad-vijñānārtham. Vedic lesson is that tad-vijñānārthaṁ gurum eva abhigacchet: "You should go to guru." Just like Arjuna has accepted Kṛṣṇa as guru. When Arjuna was puzzled, he surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "I am kṣatriya. It is my duty to fight, but I am declining. Although You are requesting me to fight, still I am declining.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Bombay, February 18, 1974:

It is not a speculative; it is not imagination. Just like sometimes they create imagined God. The impersonalists, they think there is no God. "God is not personal, but is impersonal. So you can imagine any form." That is rascaldom. That is not Kṛṣṇa; that is not God. How, with your limited senses, imperfect senses, you can imagine God? Whatever you imagine, that is rascaldom, that is not Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ (BG 7.3). If you want to know Kṛṣṇa, then you must become Kṛṣṇa's devotee. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). You cannot understand by your so-called scholarship, imaginative power. That is not possible.

Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Vrndavana, August 9, 1974:

Not like that. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu: (BG 7.3) "Out of many, many millions of persons..." First of all let him become siddha. Siddha means perfect. Everyone is imperfect. Everyone commits mistake. This is imperfection. Everyone commits mistake, everyone becomes illusioned, everyone's sense perception are all imperfect, and everyone is a cheater. These are the deficiency of the conditioned soul. One does not know what is Kṛṣṇa, and he wants to become Kṛṣṇa: "I am God. I am Kṛṣṇa."

So this is cheating. Bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsa, karaṇa-pāṭava. One should understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa. There are so many Vedic literatures to understand... Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15).

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

He's not bluffing you. At least those who are advanced, why you are reading Bhagavad-gītā? Because it is authoritative; Kṛṣṇa is speaking. That is fact. The most exalted authority. We have to take knowledge from the authority; we cannot manufacture knowledge. That is not... That is imperfect knowledge, because our senses are imperfect.

We have got four deficiencies. We commit mistakes, we become illusioned... We commit mistake, everyone knows. I have several times talked that even a personality like Gandhi, he committed so many mistakes. So, so long you are conditioned by the material nature, you must commit mistake. There is no escape. Similarly, we are illusioned. Illusioned means we accept something for something. Just like you are accepting this body—"I am American," "I am Indian"—but I am neither American nor Indian; I am spirit soul.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

"Devils cite scripture." That we do not accept. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement does not accept the scripture cited by the Devil. Therefore we have accepted Kṛṣṇa, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). Whatever He says, we accept. We are not perfect, our senses are not perfect, we are fool number one, but the knowledge which we accept, that is perfect. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Therefore, whatever we speak, we do not speak anything which Kṛṣṇa does not speak. That is our quality. I have several times, I was eulogized by many persons, "Swamiji, you have done wonderful." So I say that I am not a wonderful man. I simply follow Kṛṣṇa. What Kṛṣṇa says, I repeat, like parrot. That's all. I have no knowledge. But Kṛṣṇa says that "This is this." I accept it.

Lecture on BG 7.28-8.6 -- New York, October 23, 1966:

So it is right price. That is the standard. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186).

The śāstra says that knowledge... Because our receptive power of knowledge is very limited... We are not perfect. Our senses are not perfect. Therefore whatever we acquire by these blunt senses, they cannot be perfect. The direction is, therefore, tarkaḥ apratiṣṭhaḥ: "If you want to reach to the ultimate conclusion simply by arguments and speculation, that is not possible." Because argumentative power is a special gift. Suppose you can argue very nicely. That's all. I cannot. But somebody may come—he's more powerful in arguments. He can defeat you. So don't depend on your speculative function or arguments. Don't depend on that. They're all imperfect. Tarkaḥ apratiṣṭhaḥ.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Melbourne, April 20, 1976:

Out of many other conditions, so far our knowledge is concerned, that is defective. Why? Because we commit mistakes. Every one of us, we commit mistake, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect, and we have a tendency to cheat. This is four defects of conditioned life. But the liberated life they have no such conditions.

And another condition is you have to live under threefold miseries, that miserable conditions pertaining to the body and mind... Even if you are opulent externally, if you are sick, if your mind is not in proper condition, you suffer. That is called adhyātmika. And there are other miseries offered by other living entities. Just like some friend all of a sudden becomes your enemy and he tries to inflict some injuries upon you. You are full of anxieties.

Lecture on BG 9.4 -- Melbourne, April 22, 1976:

Others means those have no connection with God, or Kṛṣṇa. They cannot give you correct information because they are conditioned under the laws of nature. The defect is, ordinary person will commit mistake, will be illusioned, his senses are imperfect, and he has the tendency to cheat. This is ordinary living being. And those who are followers of Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa Himself, they have no such defect. Whatever they say, that is correct. So if we take correct knowledge, then our life is successful. And if we want to be cheated, then there are many cheaters. They'll cheat you. So make your choice, which way you shall go, whether you shall go back to home, back to Godhead, or again go to the cycle of birth and death. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19).

Lecture on BG 9.4-7 -- New York, November 24, 1966:

There are eight kinds of images recommended in the śāstra, in the Vedic literatures. So any kind of images can be worshiped because God is everywhere.

Now, you can say that why God should be worshiped in images, not in His original form, spiritual form? Yes. That may be a question. But I cannot see spiritual form. That is my difficulty. My senses are so imperfect that I cannot see God immediately in His spiritual form. Therefore, out of His causeless mercy, He appears before you as you can see you, Him. We cannot see just now with our material eyes except stone, earth, wood, something tangible. Therefore He becomes... These forms are called arcāvatāra, incarnation of arcā, conveniently presented by the Supreme Lord so that we can actually see. But the result will be that in the image, if you concentrated your energy, and if you love and offer your, I mean to say, devotion, this will be responded, even from that image.

Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966:

Whatever evidence you give, and whatever, I mean to say, activities you may show, I'll never believe You God. Finished." Then that is helpless. So avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Besides that, one must have the eyes to see God also. God cannot be seen with our imperfect senses. So the whole bhakti process, bhakti-yoga, is the process of purifying the senses to take, to understand what is God, what is spirit, what is soul. It requires... Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā (CC Madhya 19.167).

Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966:

Submissive. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. This is a verse from Bhāgavata, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Don't be upstart. Don't try to understand the supreme knowledge, the Absolute Truth, by your strength. You are very poor. Your senses are imperfect. You cannot understand. This, this process, you should give up. Jñāne prayāsam. Attempt to know the Supreme by ascending process. "Oh, I shall know. I'll manufacture my own way." This is the way going on nowadays. Everyone is thinking that "Why shall I accept any authority? I shall think myself what I am and what is my duty." This is going on. But this is not the Vedic process.

Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966:

We identify with this body, every one of us. If we ask you what you are, "Oh, I am American." What is your American? This body is American. But it is not... You are not this body. So this is illusion. So conditioned soul is to commit mistake, to be illusioned, and the senses are imperfect. We are very much proud of seeing, but as soon as the light is put off, we cannot see. So our seeing is conditional. And similarly, all senses are conditional. So therefore imperfect. And there is another thing which is very nice. We have got a cheating propensity. I do not know anything, but I want to cheat others that I know everything. I don't... I am a fool number one, but I want to start a group of students and teach him foolish things. This is cheating.

Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966:

So they also offer their respectful obeisances to Viṣṇu, or God.

So nobody can be equal to God. Therefore we should be, instead of becoming God or instead of understanding God personally by our teeny knowledge and imperfect senses, better to become submissive. Give up this habit. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. Just give up this habit, foolish habit, that "I can know God." Just become submissive and try to hear from authorities. San-mukharitām. Who is authority? Authority is Kṛṣṇa and, or God, or His representative. Just like Lord Jesus Christ, he's representative of God. So he's authority. Similarly, any authorized incarnation. But that incarnation will never say that "I am God."

Lecture on BG 10.1 -- New York, December 30, 1966:

We gather knowledge by sense. But these material senses are very limited. So it is not possible to understand God, or Kṛṣṇa, by speculating our mind. Mind is the center of all senses. So senses help mind gathers knowledge. So it is not possible. Because our senses are all imperfect. By imperfect senses we cannot reach to the perfect or to the unlimited. Therefore we cannot know. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). It is not possible by manipulating your different senses and knowledge and mind you can understand God.

Then how it is possible? The possibility is sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. The, if you engage your senses in the service of the Lord, then He'll reveal to your senses. The same thing. We have to acquire knowledge of God through these senses. But, in our conditional life, the senses are all impure.

Lecture on BG 10.2-3 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

So if nobody knows the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then how He can be known? If He is not known to the demigods, if He is not known to the great sages, then how He can be known? Yes. He can be known. He can be known in this way. When the Supreme Lord comes before you and He reveals Himself before you, then you can know. You cannot know by your imperfect senses.

Our senses are imperfect. We have... Several times we have described in this meeting that our senses cannot realize the Supreme Truth. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Our senses are so imperfect that simply by expanding the sense power artificially, speculating, we cannot realize. These are described in different way in different scriptures.

Lecture on BG 10.2-3 -- New York, January 1, 1967:

The world is producing every year volumes of books, and they're useless. After six months that is useless, thrown. So don't take to that speculative process, this way and that way, this way and that way, because our senses are limited. How you can have the Supreme Truth known by these imperfect blunt senses?

So my senses, my speculative power may be greater than you, and another person's speculative power may be greater than me, but nobody can... Here it is clearly stated, na me sura-gaṇāḥ viduḥ. What you are? You are human being. Even the sura-gaṇāḥ and the great sages, they cannot. Therefore the Brahmā says that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. Give up this process of so-called knowledge, researching, speculation. Give up this. Udapāsya, udapāsya means throw it away.

Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Paris, August 10, 1973:

If you learn something from Kṛṣṇa, or from His representative, that is perfect. That is perfect knowledge. All other knowledge that you gather, that cannot be perfect. Because unless you are perfect, how you can give perfect knowledge? So every one of us is imperfect. Because we have got imperfect senses. So with imperfect knowledge...

Just like the so-called scientists, philosophers, they propose their theories; "I think," "It may be like this," "Perhaps..." These are not knowledge. These are all nonsense. You must speak definitely if you know. Just like the śāstra says: jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. Definitely. Nine hundred thousand species of life within the water. Why? You could say: "About nine lakhs." No. Nine lakhs. Not about. More or less. No. Not like that. That is knowledge. That is perfect... Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. And the trees, plants, they are two millions.

Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Miami, February 25, 1975:

"Perhaps." These are all rascaldom. "It may be, perhaps"—that is not knowledge. That is speculation. Speculation is different.

And knowledge is different. You cannot speculate about the absolute knowledge because our senses are imperfect. How we can speculate or come to the right conclusion? That is not possible. We must receive direct knowledge. This is this. Therefore it is said, bhagavān uvāca. So whatever Bhagavān will speak, that is absolute knowledge. And if we take it, then we shall be perfect. I may be imperfect, you may be imperfect, but when we take knowledge from the perfect, that knowledge is absolute.

Lecture on BG 13.1-3 -- Durban, October 13, 1975:

Because Kṛṣṇa is infallible. Whatever knowledge we get from the infallible, that is perfect knowledge.

Ordinary human being, they are not perfect. Ordinary human being, they are subjected to four deficiencies. We are ordinary human being; we commit mistake. That's a fact, every one of us. We are illusioned. Our senses are imperfect, and with all this paraphernalia, when we want to teach, that is not teaching; that is cheating. Because I am imperfect, how can I be teacher? That is not possible. Therefore we have to learn from a person who has no defects in his life or a liberated person. Liberated person means he does not commit mistake, he is not illusioned, he does not cheat and his senses are not imperfect. This is the four signs of liberated person.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:

So to some extent we have discussed from where we have to receive knowledge, perfect knowledge, without any mistake, without any illusion. Our knowledge... We are possessing four defects: we commit mistakes, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect, and we have got a cheating propensity. We are possessing these four defects. However great a man may be, he makes mistake in calculation. "To err is human."

Then we are illusioned. Illusioned means we accept something for something. Just like we are accepting this body as myself. This is illusion. The whole world is illusioned. Everyone is thinking in terms of the body. And according to Vedic knowledge, anyone who is under the concept of this body as self, he is no better than the cow and the asses. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13).