This is Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's song. Anyone who is not trying to understand Kṛṣṇa... Not even trying, what to speak of worshiping Him, giving Him service... And Kṛṣṇa says simply by trying to know Him, one becomes liberated. Simply by trying, not perfectly. Even imperfectly. Because he is endeavoring to understand Kṛṣṇa, that very activity will make him liberated. That very activity. It is not possible to understand Kṛṣṇa. He is so great, unlimited. How we can understand Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa cannot understand Himself. Or Ananta cannot understand. So... Actually, that is the fact. We cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. But still, whatever Kṛṣṇa says about Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā, if we accept so much, then we immediately become fit for going back to Godhead, back to home. Simply. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). Tattvataḥ. Tattvataḥ means in truth. The tattvataḥ cannot understand.
Not perfect (Lectures, BG)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
And He was living in that way with each and every wife. So it is not very difficult task for God. (devotees offer obeisances) God is said to be situated everywhere. So within our vision, if He is situated in sixteen thousand homes, what is the difficulty for Him?
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.
I may be defeated by another strong man who is stronger in argument than me, so this is not the way of becoming purified, tarka, simply arguing. Tarkaḥ apratiṣṭhaḥ smṛtayo vibhinnāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186) . Śrutayaḥ, scriptures. Suppose somebody sticks to the scriptures. So scriptures, there are different types of scripture. So they are vibhinna. Vibhinna means different types. So how we can become purified by, even by following the scriptures? Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ smṛtayo vibhinnā na cāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam. Muni means thoughtful, philosophers. If we follow a particular type of philosopher, that is also not perfect because I may be under the care of a philosopher, frog philosopher. So that is also not sure. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ smṛtayo vibhinnā na cāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam, dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyām.
He is also Vyāsa-muni, but He is also mahāmuni-kṛte. So there cannot be any mistake in the words of Vyāsadeva. This is the difficulty. If one does not come through the channel of disciplic succession, so they are in so many ways mistaken. Vyāsadeva is above all this. He is not an ordinary writer, material description or material name and faith. He cannot be mistaken. As Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa cannot be mistaken. Similarly, Vyāsadeva, incarnation of Bhagavān, he also cannot be mistaken. Neither devotee of Kṛṣṇa can be mistaken. Devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he does not say anything as his own opinion. He never says. What Kṛṣṇa says, he says. He may be not perfect, but what Kṛṣṇa has said, that is perfect.
Therefore, a pure devotee, who does not say anything beyond which was spoken by Kṛṣṇa, therefore his statement is also without mistake. Common man within this material world, he commits mistake: "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.
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. Therefore purposefully Vyāsadeva is writing, sri-bhagavān uvāca, where there is no cheating, no imperfection, no illusion, no mistake. Four things. No mistake, no illusion, no cheating and no imperfection. This is Bhagavān. 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.
The impersonalist rascals, they cannot understand what is the nature of God. In the Bible also it is said: "Man is made after God." You can study God's quality by studying your quality, or anyone's quality. Simply the difference is quantity's different. I have got some quality, some productive capacity. We also produce, every individual soul is producing something. But his production cannot be compared with production of God. That is the difference. We are producing one flying machine. We are taking very much pride that: "Now we have discovered the sputnik. It is going to the moon planet." But that is not perfect. It is coming back. But God has produced so many flying planets, millions and trillions of planets, very, very heavy planets. Just like this planet is carrying so many big, big mountains, sea, but still it is flying. It is floating in the air just like a cotton swab. This is God's power. Gām āviśya (BG 15.13). In the Bhagavad-gītā, you'll find: ahaṁ dhārayāmy ojasā. Who is sustaining all these big, big planets? We are explaining gravity. And in the śāstra we find that it is being carried by Saṅkarṣaṇa.
Anywhere, even in demigod society, things are going on like that. Therefore we should know, whatever Bhagavān says, there cannot be any mistake, any illusion, any cheating or any imperfectness. Then it will be very nice. And that is the fact. The word used, bhagavān uvāca, means this instruction is neither mistaken nor illusion nor cheating nor imperfect. Whatever we teach, we speak, we conditioned soul... As I said, that we are very much proud of our eyes, but we cannot see without sunrise... We cannot see without electricity. But that is our defect. We are possessing everything defective, still we are proud: "We are perfect." That is cheating. We are not perfect. But Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, is not like that. If we think Kṛṣṇa is also like us, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīm... (BG 9.11). Because He teaches exactly like a human being, He appears, therefore we think, "He may be little more intelligent than me. After all, He is like me." No. He is Bhagavān. We have to understand.
Thus the yoga system has come to have both a theoretical and practical interest in the divine will. According to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person. Now just see. This is authoritative statement. A Supreme Person. Did you ever hear...? You have been in so many yoga societies. Did you ever hear that God is the Supreme Person? Now just see.
According to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person who is above all individual selves and is free from all defects. Now, the same thing, in the Bhagavad-gītā also, Lord Kṛṣṇa, He, He is telling. He is informing us about the future or of the past because He is perfect. He can see both past and future. Because we are not perfect, because we do not know... Now, accepting it that you existed in, in your, in the future... Say your age is thirty-four, thirty-five years. Can you say, thirty-six years before, where you were? You cannot say. Or suppose you live for hundred years. Can you say hundred years after where you shall be? You cannot say because you are imperfect, because you are imperfect. So God is not imperfect. God is perfect being. Here yoga system also accept like that. According to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person who is above all individual... Individual, now here you see the individual.
You become My devotee. You always think of Me." Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ (BG 9.34). "You become My devotee." Mad-yājī. "You worship Me. You offer your obeisances unto Me." Persons who are in poor fund of knowledge, they think, "It is too much. Kṛṣṇa is demanding too much. It is sophistry." No, no. That is not sophistry. That is the real position. Otherwise, without surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, if you think yourself, that you are Kṛṣṇa, that is in illusion, aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, contaminated intelligence. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, so their knowledge is not perfect, or not purified. Knowledge perfect is there in every living entity, but it is contaminated by the contact of māyā. So one who can understand the position of Kṛṣṇa and himself, he's called mukta. Mukta means liberated. Mukti means to know perfectly what is our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. That is called mukti.
This gross body is made of earth, water, fire, air, ether; and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, and ego. Within the subtle body, the soul is there. Now, when this gross body becomes useless or unworkable, then the subtle body carries me to another gross body. This is called transmigration of the soul. But we do not see the subtle body. Every one of us, we know that we, we have got mind, but we cannot see the mind. Neither we can see intelligence, neither I can see what is my ego. But they are existing. 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. The same example: even though I cannot see what is mind, what is intelligence, what is ego, but I can hear about it.
One blind man is leading so many blind men. So where is the education?
Here is the beginning of education, real education. What Kṛṣṇa says. I have already explained that... (aside:) Why they are talking? I have already explained that our process of accepting knowledge is the paramparā system. Avaroha-panthā. There are two ways of acquiring knowledge, āroha-panthā and avaroha-panthā. Knowledge coming from the authorities, that is perfect knowledge. And knowledge acquired by experimental knowledge, that is not perfect. Because we are imperfect. Suppose a big professor, just like that Russian Professor Kotovsky, they are trying to understand things by so-called inductive process, or āroha-panthā, going up by one's speculation, by speculative method. But our process of knowledge, Vedic process of knowledge: tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Their knowledge should be taken from the authority. 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.
Nobody can trace out. But that does not mean the bird has lost its individuality. The individuality is there. Just like you see one airplane is flying in the air, and when it goes too far, it appears that it has disappeared. It seems to us that there is no more that airplane. It has mixed with the sky. But actually it is not. It is still there, individual existence. It is my ignorance that I see that it is no more separate, it has mixed with the sky. Just like in the daytime we don't find any star in the sky. Due to the dazzling sunshine, we cannot see any stars. At night, we can see millions of stars, there are. Similarly, that is the impersonalism and personalism. One whose knowledge is not perfect, they think imperson, everything homogeneous. And one whose knowledge is perfect... Vedas also confirm it... Just like in the Īśopaniṣad, there is a verse in which it is stated that "Please withdraw Your effulgence so that I can see Your real face." Just like the sun globe. You cannot see it perfectly due to the dazzling sunshine. But the sun globe is there, and in the glow there are living entities, and there is a principal head man, god. They are not man because their body is made of fire.
So we have to see through the authorized books the description which is beyond our perception. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. Tarkeṇa, by argument, which is beyond your sense perception. So many things. Even we see daily so many planets, stars in the sky, but we have no information. They are going directly to see the moon planet, but hopelessly coming back. It is very doubtful to say so. And they have got dogmatic impression: "Except this planet, in other planets, so many, there is no life." These are not perfect understanding. From śāstra-yoni, if you want to see through the śāstra... Just like moon planet. We have got information from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that there, the people, they live for ten thousands of years. And what is that measurement of year? Our six months equal to their one day. Now such ten thousands of years, just imagine. It is called daiva-varṣa. Daiva-varṣa means year according to the demigods' calculation. Just like Brahmā's day, that is demigods' calculation.
"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."
So, in different ways, Kṛṣṇa is trying to convince us how the soul is immortal. Different ways. Ya enaṁ vetti hantāram (BG 2.19). When there is fight, so if one is killed or... So Kṛṣṇa says that if one thinks that "This man has killed this man," so, or "This man can kill this man," this kind of knowledge is not perfect. Nobody kills nobody. Then the butchers, they may say that "Then why do you complain that we are killing?" They're killing the body, but you cannot kill when there is injunction "Thou shall not kill." That means you cannot kill the body even without sanction. You cannot kill. Although the soul is not killed, the body is killed, still you cannot kill the body without sanction. That is sinful. For example, that a man is living in some apartment. So some way or other you drive him away from that, illegally, you drive him away. So the man will go out and will take shelter somewhere.
So there was no need of light. Such nice marble palaces. And each queen was given ten children, and it is not that that sixteen thousand queens were crying and Kṛṣṇa is only with one queen. No. He expanded Himself into sixteen thousand forms, and He was living with each queen. That is Nārāyaṇa. Why Nārāyaṇa should become daridra? Nārāyaṇa says that bhoktāraṁ yajña... He's the supreme bhoktā, enjoyer. So He's unlimited. Therefore He's unlimited enjoyment. That is Kṛṣṇa. He showed it when He was present. Why sixteen thousand wives? If He could have sixteen millions of wives, still, they were not perfect. Because He's unlimited. So these things we have to understand.
So this brāhmaṇa's prayer that kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās teṣāṁ jātā mayi na karuṇā na trapā nopaśāntiḥ, sāmprataṁ labdha-buddhiḥ, labdham. "My dear Lord, I have served my senses so long, but I see they are not satisfied, nor they are pleased, nor there is end of their service. Therefore now I have got good sense. I have come to serve You. Kindly accept me." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that "You are engaged in service, but you are thinking as master. This is foolishness. Give up this foolishness and just become a servant of Kṛṣṇa, as you are constitutionally positioned." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And the every living entity is sanātana. And Kṛṣṇa is sanātana. And there is place, sanātana.
You must give him some engagement, good engagement. I, I have got my personal experience. My eldest son, when he was about two years old, very much naughty, always doing some mischief. So my friends who used to visit me, he would call my son. His name was Paccha(?). "Paccha, if you sit down for one minute silently, I'll give you this thing." So the boy failed. He could not sit down, even for one minute. So that is not possible. This is the nature. How can you stop your consciousness working? That is not possible.
So either to think that "Stop consciousness altogether," that is also not perfect, and either to accept simply consciousness, that "I am consciousness," without any conscious engagement, that is also not perfect. You have to understand that you are consciousness, not this body; at the same time, you have to engage your consciousness to the supreme activities. Unless you do that, your life will not be perfect.
The whole process of human civilization should be to acquire love of God. Our love is now distributed in so many things. And that is misdistributed. The whole thing was to be targeted to the Supreme Lord. I was to love God, but instead of loving God, my love is distributed in so many things. And that is a misdirected civilization.
How it is misdirected? Suppose if I do not love God, if I love my wife, my children, my countrymen, what is the wrong there? Oh, there is great wrong. That you do not know. That is most unscientific. Without loving God, if I want to love my wife, that love is not perfect. Therefore so-called love is disrupted by divorce and so many things because that is not perfect love. We do not know what is perfect love and how to conduct it. That is the defect of our civilization. Which we are accepting as love, that is simply a desire for sense gratification. That is not love. Love is different thing. So because... Why the love is defective in the material world? Because it is not properly discharged. We have to understand that thing.
How it is not properly discharged? Just like you love your body. Nobody can deny. Everyone loves his body. All right, what do you want to do? I want to maintain my body nicely.
Therefore the method is, according to the Vedic knowledge, that if you want perfect knowledge, then you should approach the perfect person. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). This is the Vedic injunction. If you want perfect knowledge, then you must approach a perfect person, guru.
Now, at the present moment, there are so many gurus. How we will understand who is perfect? That is also another problem. So that perfection is... That I have already explained, that the child who has heard from his father that "This is microphone" and if he speaks that "This is microphone," then his knowledge is perfect. The child is not perfect, but because he has heard from the perfect authority, what he is speaking, although he is child, that is perfect. Similarly, this guru means who has heard from the perfect person. Therefore his knowledge is perfect, because he has heard. This is called paramparā system or disciplic succession.
"Because you are My devotee, therefore I am revealing unto you My nature." Therefore conclusion is that you have to become devotee, then you can understand what is God. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). "One can understand Me by devotion," bhaktyā. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). Tattvataḥ means in truth. You can imagine something of God, but that is not truth. Just like, for example, somebody very big, very rich. So you can imagine this man is so big, so big merchant, he has got so much money. Imagination, by discussion amongst your friends, but that is not perfect knowledge. But somehow or other, if you make friendship with that big man, and if he tells you that "My position is like this," then you understand very easily. You cannot speculate. By speculating, you cannot understand God. That is not possible. He's so great, our speculating power is very poor.
Just like we cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is God, general people. They do not know, because they have got blunt senses, material senses. Even in material world, we are seeing the sun every day, but we do not know how big it is. Or even if we see this motorcar... 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.
Last day we were discussing about the process of understanding Bhagavad-gītā. This is to receive the knowledge in disciplic succession, bona fide disciplic succession. It is not a thing... Any knowledge, even material knowledge, if it is not received in bona fide disciplic succession, that knowledge is not perfect. Suppose if you want to be a lawyer, or if you want to be an engineer, or a medical practitioner. You have to receive the knowledge from the authoritative lawyer, authoritative engineer. Of course, I do not know what is the custom here. In India the custom is that a new lawyer, he has to become an apprentice of an experienced lawyer before he is given the license to practice. That is the Indian system. So any knowledge, unless we receive it through the authoritative sources, it is not perfect. It is not perfect.
Knowledge means, perfect knowledge means past, present, and future. There are many foretelling in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about this Kali-yuga. They are stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Future.... Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was written five thousand years ago. Still, what was stated at that time, they're coming to be true. That is called śāstra. Past, present, and future. So Kṛṣṇa knows everything. Vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26). He says that "I know everything, past, present, and future." That is perfect knowledge.
Why you are hankering after Kṛṣṇa? 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.
Similarly, what should be my attempt? The attempt should be, according to Bhāgavata, to understand the laws of nature or the laws of God and how it is working under His direction. That should be the attempt. You are making research. That's very nice. But your research is not complete because you take something halfway: "This is the beginning of life" or "This is the beginning of the creation." No. You have to go still further, still go further. And science means you have to prove by experiment that "This law is working like this, and therefore things are happening like this." If you simply presuppose that "Here is the beginning," that is not perfect.
So duṣkṛtina means that, those who do not believe in the authorities. So many things are there which is beyond our conception, beyond our understanding. Our senses, our I mean to say, instrument of acquiring knowledge, are so imperfect, that it is not possible simply by handling our, the present senses to understand the right knowledge. It is not possible.
People are actually following the same principle, but the difficulty is that in our this position of lower nature we are following in the manner which will not make us happy and satisfied. Because we are not following the supreme leader, the difficulty... By constitutional position we are to follow a leader, but because we are misled, because we are deluded to follow a leader which is not perfect, therefore our position is always unhappy in spite of following the leadership of a concocted nature.
Therefore the best thing will be to get rid of this concocted position and follow the supreme leader. That is the highest perfection. Just try to understand that I cannot avoid following someone's leadership. That is not possible. Can anyone say that "we can avoid this"? No. We cannot avoid. Even if we don't accept the leadership of God, we have to accept some other leader. That is our position. We cannot avoid it.
The bird is keeping its independence as an individual. But it appears to others, those who do not see properly, that it has merged into the tree. It has actually not merged. And because it does not merge, therefore they fall down. They again come out. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ... Vimukta-māninaḥ. They are thinking, "Now I have become one with the Supreme." But actually, that is a false impression. Māninaḥ. Māninaḥ means actually it is not fact, but he's thinking like that. Vimukta-māninaḥ.
Why he's thinking like that? Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. His knowledge is not perfect. Aviśuddha. Viśuddha means perfect, and aviśuddha means not perfect. Unnecessarily he's thinking that "I have become one with the..." I remain the same part and parcel. As Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).
Just like a big bag of rice, and you put one grain of rice. It remains one grain, but it appears that it has become one with the bag. That is not possible. Therefore Bhāgavata says, "They think like that, but actually it is not the fact." And if you question why they are thinking like that—aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, means intelligence is not very sharp. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, āruhya kṛcchreṇa... āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32).
So the original verse says that "All of them as they surrender unto Me, I reward accordingly. Everyone follows my path in all respects." 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.
I become your disciple." So this is the position. Knowledge should be taken from the perfect person. Because if you take knowledge from a person who is defective, your knowledge has no value. You must take knowledge from the perfect.
So anyone in this material world, he is defective. Every one of us, we know that we are defective. What is that? We are very much proud of seeing. So what is the value of our seeing? We see under certain condition. That's all. If there is immediately darkness, what is the value of our eyes? We cannot see. So under certain conditions, because we see, therefore we are not perfect. But if you can see in any condition, that is perfection, not depending on these defective eyes or senses. That is not knowledge. Defective.
Four defects. I have several times explained. One defect is that we commit mistake, everyone. And we become illusioned, accepting something for something. Just like mostly, even educated persons, they accept this body, "I am this body." Just like animals. The cats and dogs, they also think that "I am this body." I have several times told you that I talked with Professor Kotofsky in Moscow.
Ordinarily, that is puṇya, pious activities, but when it is connection with Kṛṣṇa, this is called yajña. Dravya-yajña. To distribute food and cloth, that is called dravya-yajña, but yajña can be said when it is done, dovetailing the activities with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is yajña. Yajña means Viṣṇu. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). So our the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we are also distributing food in our about one hundred branches all over the world. But not directly, but through nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate.
If we simply act piously, that is good, but it is not perfect. Suppose I execute many pious activities in my life. Then due to my pious activities, I will get birth in good family. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrīḥ (SB 1.8.26). I may get my birth in good family, high family. That is called janma. Then aiśvarya, opulence, wealth; śrī, beautiful body; and education also. I have several times explained that to become highly educated, that is also due to previous pious activities. To be highly rich, that is also due to previous pious activities. But Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that Karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, kebala biṣera bhāṇḍa. Karma-kāṇḍa vicāra, fruitive activities for getting better position of life, better body... (break) ...though I get my birth in a good family, there is still risk of degradation.
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.
That is called karma. Karma... Nobody is going to work without any remuneration. Everyone is working for getting some profit. That is called karma. But that ordinary karma and karma-yoga is different. You can engage yourself in ordinary work, but, at the same time, you can become a yogi. How that is possible? When your consciousness is changed. Your consciousness... Now I am thinking that I am working for my maintenance or for my family maintenance or for my society's maintenance or for my country's maintenance. You can go on, widening. Even if you work for international maintenization, maintenance, still, it is not perfect. Even if you work for the whole planetary system, that is imperfect. But when you work for Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is the most perfect work. So we have to work with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the perfection of life.
Actually the yogis want some material power. That is the perfection of yoga. Not perfection, that is one of the procedures. Just like if you are actually practicing the regulative principles of yoga, then you can get eight kinds of perfection. You can become lighter than the cotton swab. You can become heavier than the stone. You can get anything, whatever you like, immediately. Sometimes you can even create a planet. Such powerful yogis are there. Viśvāmitra yogi, he did it actually. He wanted to get man from palm tree. "Why man should be begotten living ten months within the womb of mother. They'll be produced just like fruit." He did it like that. So sometimes yogis are so powerful, they can do. So these are all material powers. Such yogis, they are also vanquished. How long you can remain on this material power? So bhakti-yogīs, they do not want anything such. Go on. Yes.
Similarly if you are awakened in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, your intelligence, your mind, or your senses cannot act nonsensically. They must according to that. That is spiritualization. That is called purification.
Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Bhakti means to act spiritually. How you can act? You have to act with your senses. Therefore you have to spiritualize your senses. Meditation, stopping action means stopping nonsense but acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is transcendental. Just like you have to stop your senses acting nonsense but that is not perfection. You have to act nicely. Then it is perfection. Otherwise if you don't train your senses to act nicely it will again fall down to the nonsense activities. So we have to give engagement to the senses to act for Kṛṣṇa. Then there is no chance of fall down. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Go on.
That means that the enjoying energy, the spiritual spark, that has gone away. Therefore it has no power to enjoy. Then, if you make advance further with intelligence, then you will understand that actually the body was not enjoying, but that little spark, spiritual spark, that was enjoying, not this body. This requires little intelligence. I am thinking that "I am enjoying with my sense organs," but you are not enjoying. The real enjoyer is that small spiritual spark within you. That spiritual spark has got the potency of enjoyment, but that is not being manifested on account of being covered by this material tabernacle, and therefore this enjoyment is not perfect.
This requires little intelligence, that "Where is the enjoyment for the dead body?" The dead body no more can enjoy. Suppose if a man is offered a dead body of a beautiful woman, will he accept? Or a woman is offered the dead body of a beautiful man, will she accept? No. Because that enjoying spark is moved now. That requires intelligence. Who is enjoying? Who is enjoying? The enjoying, the enjoying spirit. The spirit is enjoying, not this body. That requires intelligence. Then again... Now, if that spirit is enjoying, then the spirit must have enjoying senses also. Otherwise how it can enjoy? If you have no enjoying sense organ, then how you can enjoy? A blunt cannot enjoy.
No. If you make perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then after leaving this body you go directly to Kṛṣṇa. But if you are not perfect, if you have simply executed a certain percentage only then you'll get the chance of another human body either in this planet or any other planet to execute the balance. That is... According to percentage of advancement, one is given birth in a rich family or in a pious family or in a yogi's family. That depends on the percentage of advancement. But one who has completed his spiritual consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's at once transferred.
- janma karma ca me divyaṁ
- yo jānāti tattvataḥ
- tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
- naiti mām eti kaunteya
- (BG 4.9)
That is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that one who has understood what is Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa takes His birth, how Kṛṣṇa acts, what are His activities, for one who has understood factually the result is, simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa, the result is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti, he doesn't get any more material birth.
And if he has maintained a god's mentality, then he becomes a god also. But that will depend on his work. But generally the karmīs, they are not very good mentality. So there is risk. You do not know. Karmaṇā daiva netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). The judgement will be done by the superior authority, and he'll be given a particular type of body, as he has maintained the consciousness.
Therefore our business, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is to train the followers to Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that next life he gets Kṛṣṇa consciousness atmosphere. He's not promoted immediately, directly to the abode of Kṛṣṇa. That is also possible. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). "Those who are My devotees, they come to My place." Kṛṣṇa says. So if you perfect your Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this life, then you're guaranteed to be promoted to go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa. If you do not perfect, then next life is guaranteed, a very nice human body, either in a rich man's family or in a Kṛṣṇa conscious family. Just try to understand how nice this movement is.
Devotee: Purport: "In the first six chapters of the Bhagavad-gītā, the living entity has been described as nonmaterial spirit soul who is capable of elevating himself to self-realization by different types of yogas. At the end of the Sixth Chapter it has been clearly stated that the steady concentration of the mind upon Kṛṣṇa, or in other words, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is the highest form of all yoga. By concentrating one's mind upon Kṛṣṇa one is able to know the Absolute Truth completely, but not otherwise. The impersonal brahma-jyotir or localized Paramātmā is not perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth, because it is partial."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Impersonal... Just like sunshine and the sun disc and the inhabitants of the sun globe. In one sense, they are one unit. You cannot separate sunshine from the sun disc or the sun disc from the inhabitants or the predominating deity of sun planet. They are all in light, but still there is difference. Sunshine is coming within your room. Although the sun disc and the sunshine is not different, still, when you realize what is sunshine, that does not mean you realize what is the sun disc.
They are all in light, but still there is difference. Sunshine is coming within your room. Although the sun disc and the sunshine is not different, still, when you realize what is sunshine, that does not mean you realize what is the sun disc. This is very practical. To understand what is sunshine does not mean to understand what is sun disc. You can have some idea: "The sun disc is also light, and it has got heat. It is illuminating." These ideas you can get, but not exactly what is the temperature of that sun disc, how you can live there. There are so many things to learn. Therefore, impersonal Brahman, understanding of impersonal Brahman, is not perfect knowledge.
Exactly... Knowledge of sunshine is not perfect knowledge of sun. That you can understand very easily. Suppose daily you are having sunshine within your room. Does it mean you know what is sun disc or what is the inhabitants of the sun globe? No. Nobody knows. Similarly, impersonal knowledge of the Absolute Truth is like that. That is not complete knowledge. Although it is light, sunshine is also light, sun disc is also light and the inhabitants there, they also must be light. Otherwise, how can they live? They also must be fiery. Because the inhabitants there, they are also fiery, without being fire how you can live in fire?
That he is thinking, but so long he is diseased, there is no question of relief. He is thinking like that, this way or that way. Just like in the materialistic way they are... Their last point of happiness is sex life. That's all. So they have enjoyed sex life in this way; now they are trying to enjoy sex life in that way. But the enjoyment is the same. There is no more enjoyment. That is finished. You can eschew in so many ways, but the result is the same. Similarly, unless you have got perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth, if you think of the Absolute Truth as something opposite of your present status, that is not perfect knowledge. The impersonal knowledge is like that, something opposite of this material world. Go on.
Devotee: "Full in scientific knowledge is Kṛṣṇa, and everything is revealed to the person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one knows that Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate knowledge, beyond any doubts."
When Kṛṣṇa recommended the yoga system, aṣṭāṅga-yoga system... Aṣṭāṅga means eightfolded different states of elevation: yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, samādhi, like that. Dhyāna, dhāraṇā. So the first step of yoga system, as recommended by Kṛṣṇa, the supreme authority, is one has to select a very secluded place and sacred place. The aṣṭāṅga-yoga meditation cannot be performed in a fashionable city. It is not possible. One has to first of all select a nice place, sacred place. In India, therefore, those who are very serious to practice yoga system, they go to Himalaya, Haridwar. That is also Himalaya. Very secluded place. They remain there alone, and very restricted process of eating, sleeping. There is no question of mating. So those rules and regulations are very strict, and unless you follow, simply if you make a show of gymnastic, that is not perfection of yoga. Yoga means indriya-saṁyama, to control the senses. If you allow your senses unrestrictedly and if you make a show of yoga practice, that is not successful. It will never be successful.
Jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. Jagad-aṇḍa means universe, and the gagana is within the universe. Gagana, we cannot see beyond this gagana, but beyond this gagana there is another gagana. In the Bhagavad-gītā... You are reading Bhagavad-gītā. You must know it. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ: (BG 8.20) "There is another sky, spiritual sky." Sanātana. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ avyaktaḥ avyaktāt sanātanaḥ, sarveṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati. This gagana will be annihilated at the time of destruction, but that does not annihilate.
So the idea of gagana is not perfect idea of the Supreme. Gagana-sadṛśa, that is limited within the purview of our knowledge because we cannot think that anything can be greater than this big sky. No, He is mahato mahīyān, bigger than the biggest, aṇor aṇīyān, smaller than the smallest. Just like we can imagine atom, the smallest. But atom we can see by some way or other atom. Six atoms, trasareṇu. Six atoms, when it is combined, we can see through the windows with the sunshine so many trasareṇu. Those small particles which we see through the window with sunshine, they are combination of six atoms.
He's not imperson. Imperson is the, another feature of the person. Brahmaṇaḥ ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. Kṛṣṇa says that "The brahma-jyotir, impersonal Brahman, that is situated upon Me." Ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā. Just like we are sitting on this platform. This is pratiṣṭhā. Similarly, the brahma-jyotir is situated on the person of Kṛṣṇa. The person is the ultimate understanding of the Absolute Truth, not the impersonal feature. That is preliminary understanding or imperfect understanding. There is brahma-jyotir. Just like we are experiencing the sunshine. The sunshine is also experience of the sun-god, but it is imperfect understanding. It is not perfect understanding. If you want to understand the sun-god, then you have to penetrate through the sunshine and reach the sun planet. And then, if, if, you are able to see the predominating deity of the sun planet, whose name is Vivasvān... Similarly, the whole material creation is a part of the brahma-jyotir. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma.
So you have to penetrate... In the Īśopaniṣad, it is said that, requested, it is requesting the, that "You kindly wind up Your brahma-jyotir so can, I can see Your face rightly." So ultimately, there is person. Tattva-vastu.
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. That is not pure knowledge, that is not perfect knowledge. If we hear from some defective, who theorize, "I think," "In my opinion," "Maybe," "Perhaps..." These are nonsense speaking. So almost everyone, the so-called scientists, philosophers, they simply theorize, "I think." Who are you, you are thinking like that? You are imperfect.
So we cannot accept the theories or the statement of some defective person. We should hear from the person who is not defective, perfect. Therefore our process of hearing or getting knowledge is from the perfect person. That is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are hearing Bhagavad-gītā, we are getting knowledge from Bhagavad-gītā, because Bhagavān Himself speaking.
Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. God means nobody is equal to Him and nobody is greater than Him. That is God. There is no completion that in this quarter there is one God and in another neighborhood there is another God. Just like it has become a fashion, so many Gods, competition is going on. No. There is no competition. God is one. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate, na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate. That is God. So because God is complete in knowledge, therefore we have to take knowledge from Him, not from the persons who have got incomplete knowledge. That knowledge is not perfect. We must take knowledge from the person, we have to take knowledge from the person:
- tad viddhi praṇipātena
- paripraśnena sevayā
- upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
- jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
- (BG 4.34)
We have to approach. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). We have to approach a superior person, guru, and take knowledge from him. The most superior person is Kṛṣṇa. You may doubt others, that may be, but when you come to Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect knowledge. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1).
So there is another nature, spiritual nature, that is not created. Here in the material world, everything is created. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Anything created in the material world, it has got a period, a date, historical date of creation. And again it is annihilated, again it is created. That is the nature of material world. But transcendental to this material sky, there is another sky, which is called paravyoma. That paravyoma is called, in English word, "the kingdom of God." Of course, it is not perfectly expressed, but there is word, "paravyoma," or Vaikuṇṭhaloka. That is Kṛṣṇa's dhāma. So that is existing eternally. So therefore the creative feature of this material world and the spiritual world are different. They are not created. They are existing eternally. So we have to cultivate such knowledge that we can be..., we may be transferred to the spiritual world, because Kṛṣṇa belongs to the spiritual world, acintya-guṇa-svarūpam.
So in order to think of that acintya-guṇa-svarūpam, we have to undergo certain process. Certain process. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). This process is sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. I cannot ask Kṛṣṇa that "Please come before me. I shall see You." And even if He comes, I cannot see Him, because my eyes are not so prepared to see Him. Just like when Kṛṣṇa was present upon this planet, not that everyone understood Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa.
Generally, whole human society, especially at the present moment, nobody cares for perfection of life. They do not know what is perfection of life. Just like animals, they do not know what is perfection of life. They think perfection of life: to gratify the senses. "We have got these senses. Let us..." Because they have no idea that there is life after death. Therefore their only proposition is, "Now we have got this life and we have got these senses. Let us enjoy it to the fullest extent." This is their perfection. But actually, that is not perfection. Perfection means, self-realization means to know that ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am not this matter; I am spirit soul." To understand this. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54).
So therefore mostly people are engaged in the animal propensities of life. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca: eating, sleeping, sex life and defense. They are busy. But these things are visible in the animal life also. Then what is the special significance of the human life? Human life means athāto brahma jijñāsā. They, the human being should be inquisitive to understand Brahman. That is the special significance of human life. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura therefore sings, manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura laments, hari hari bifale janama goṅāinu: "My Lord, I have simply spoiled my life." Why you have spoiled? You are eating very nicely, sleeping very nicely. "No." Manuṣya-janama..., rādhā-kṛṣṇa, manuṣya-janama. This human form of life is especially meant for understanding Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means everything, samagram.
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. That means it is not perfect knowledge. But if we receive knowledge from the supreme perfect God, that it is actually perfect. Our process is like that.
In the Fourth Chapter of the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā you will find, Kṛṣṇa says, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). Kṛṣṇa said this philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā first to the sun-god, and he spoke to his son Manu, he spoke to his son Ikṣvāku.
Recently, I may say, in California University, one learned professor came there to speak about the evolutionary theory of chemicals, and he said that life is produced, perhaps you know, from four chemicals. But when one student he said that "If I supply these four chemicals, whether you can produce life?" In answer to this, he said, "That I cannot say." That is imperfect knowledge. If you say, "Life is produced from chemicals," then you must make experimental demonstration, by mixing those chemicals, you produce life. That is called vijñānam, practical demonstration. Otherwise it is not perfect. Scientific knowledge means observation, then experiment. If you fail in your experiment, that is not scientific knowledge. It must be experimented.
So here also, it is said, jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam: "I am speaking to you this knowledge which you can practically experience." Not theoretical simply. Jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ (BG 7.2). Aśeṣataḥ means "without any reservation, as far as possible." "As far as you can understand, I am explaining." Yaj jñātvā, "If you understand this," na iha bhūyaḥ anyaj jñātavayam avaśiṣyate... "If you can understand this knowledge with practical experience, then there will be nothing to know anymore."
No, it is fact. It is scientific. It is scientific. But people have no interest in these things. They are simply interested in sense gratification. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). This is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They have become mad, simply mad, to gratify senses. But they are forgetting that this human life is meant for making a solution for all the problems of life. They are not interested in that. They are thinking, "By increasing the volumes of sense gratification, that is perfection." That is not perfection. You may improve the material condition of life, but you cannot live here. Just like you have constructed very nice city, Stockholm, or any European city. That is very good. But you'll not be allowed to stay here. You'll be kicked out at any moment. What is the solution for that? You construct a nice place. That's all right, very good. But you stay here. But you cannot stay. That is your problem. If you can solve that problem... "Yes, I have constructed nice place, nice city, nice country, and everything is nice, but I will stay and enjoy," but that is not allowed. Then where is your perfection? This is the problem.
So they do not know it. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu (BG 7.3). Out of millions and millions of persons, one can understand what is siddhi. And even one is siddha... One who becomes merged into the Brahman effulgence, because paraṁ padam, so they are also not siddha. Suppose if you merge into the Brahman effulgence, the jñānīs' ultimate goal, to become one with the Brahman effulgence, sāyujya-mukti... That is also a siddhi. That is also partial siddhi. That is not perfect siddhi. Because we are spiritual sparks, small, very small. That magnitude has been described in the śāstras. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). As spiritual spark, our magnitude is one ten-thousandth part of the upper portion of the hair. We are such a small. And this... Just like the sunshine is combination of bright molecules, shining molecules. They are not one. They are also small, atomic, molecular parts. Similarly, brahma-jyotir means combination of all the living entities, the spiritual sparks. To become one with the brahma-jyotir means... Just like one bird enters into the green tree. It appears that it has become one. The tree is also green and the bird is also green. So when the bird enters the tree, it appears that the bird is now mixed up. But that is not the fact. The bird keeps his individuality, and at any time, when he wants, he can come out of the tree and fly anywhere. That independence is there, although apparently it seems that he has become one with the tree. Similarly, the sāyujya-mukti means apparently he is in Brahman, but factually it is not. Because each individual soul is different.
What is siddhi? If you do not know what is siddhi, what is the use? Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). You do not know what is the ultimate goal of life, what is siddhi, and you're working so hard. So Bhāgavata says, śrama eva hi kevalam: "He is working uselessly, laboriously." That's all. They do not know siddhi. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye, yatatām api siddhānām (BG 7.3). Yatatām api siddha, siddhānāṁ kaścit. These siddhas, those who are self-realized, athāto brahma jijñāsā... Even if he thinks that "I am the supreme," that is partially in the... That is also light. Just like if you come to the sunlight, sunshine, that is also light, but that is not perfection. If you can go within the sun globe and see the origin of shining, brightening principle, the sun-god, that is siddhi. Similarly, to merge into the Brahman is not siddhi. That is the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Actually, it is a fact. Bhāgavata, whatever it says, that is real fact. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. If one thinks that "Now I am merged in the brahma-jyotir, so I am now vimukta. I am now mukta. I am now liberated," so that Bhāgavata says, "He is thinking like that, he's liberated. He is not liberated." Vimukta-mānina. Just like if I think am millionaire, does it mean I have become millionaire. I am not millionaire. Vimukta-mānina.
The special advantage is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. You should be inquisitive to know the value of life, the Absolute Truth. That is... The dog cannot do it. That is the distinction between dog and human being. The human being... In the human form of life there should be inquiry about Brahman, Para-brahman. That is human life. So after inquiring what is Brahman, Para-brahman, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), the original source of everything, when you attain brahma-jñāna, brahma-bhūtaḥ, that is your perfection, not that to compete with the dog in eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That is not civilization. That is not perfection of life. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). These foolish men, animalistic, dogs and cats, two-legged animals, they do not know what is the aim of life.
Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum. The aim of life is to understand Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord. Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. They are trying to become happy in the bahir-artha, in the external energy of God, material energy. And the so-called leaders, politicians, philosophers, scientists, they're all blind. They do not know what is the aim of life. Still, they are leading the whole society.
Then why you are talking nonsense? This is cheating. If you are actually in knowledge that from chemical, life can be produced, then you produce it. I give you chemicals. But when you cannot do, why you are cheating people? But this cheating propensity is there. One is a nonsense number one, but he speaks. "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. And then that will be... That we shall be benefited. Just like a child. If he accepts the instruction of the parents, he gets knowledge.
Just like a child. If he accepts the instruction of the parents, he gets knowledge. Parent will not cheat. If a child does not know a small watch, he asks, "Father, what is this?" Father can explain, "My dear child, this is called watch. You can see time, what is the time now." That is perfect knowledge. So that knowledge is perfect. Therefore in the beginning of this chapter and in the Fourth Chapter we said, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). If we get knowledge by the pure paramparā system, pure disciplic succession, that knowledge is perfect. Then our life is perfect. And if we want to try to expound knowledge by our limited power, that is imperfect knowledge. That knowledge is not perfect. That is concoction. If you want to take perfect knowledge, then you must get from the authorities. Evaṁ paramparā. That is Vedic knowledge.
So they are almost animals. But those who are inquisitive how to solve the problem, they are actually accepted as human beings. Others, they are not even human beings. They are almost animals.
So you have got this opportunity. This body should be utilized properly, how to solve the problem. If we simply give ourself in the waves of the cycle of birth and death, of different types of body, that is not very good intelligence. Not intelligence at all. So this human form of life should be utilized how to make a solution of the problem. That is Vedic civilization. They stress more on the solution of the problems, not to create problems. The materialistic way of life means to increase and create problems. That is not perfect human civilization. The perfect human civilization is that you have to sit very calmly, quietly, and philosophically think, "How to solve the problem? Where I shall get the knowledge?" This is human form. The whole Vedic instruction is like that. "Now you utilize this form of life to make a solution. Don't die like cats and dogs." No. And one who tries... The Veda says, etad viditvā yaḥ prayāti sa brāhmaṇaḥ: "One who dies after attempting to make a solution to the problems, he is brāhmaṇa." And one who dies like cats and dogs, he is called kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa means a very less intelligent man.
Śaṅkarācārya has accepted the Kṛṣṇa as Supreme. And all the ācāryas... Lord Caitanya has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme. Then what is the difficulty of my understanding about His greatness? Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Just like when we go to the market, if we see that everyone is purchasing at the same time, then I think, "Oh, undoubtedly it is the exactly price. Oh, let me purchase at this price." The doubt is gone at once, because I see several persons, they're accepting at that price. 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. These are the directions of higher authorities.
And if you can attain that situation, that is the perfection. That is highest perfection of your life, saṁsiddhiṁ paramām. Paramām means the highest, highest perfection.
Then people may inquire, "Well, you say that to enter into the planet of Kṛṣṇa is the highest perfection, but we are trying to enter into the moon planet. Is it not perfection?" Somebody, you may question. Yes. So in answer, this tendency to enter into the higher planets is always there in human mind. Don't think that we have advanced, and we have invented this sputnik for entering into the moon planet or sun planet. This tendency is always there. A living entity's name is sarva-ga. Sarva-ga. He wants to travel everywhere. That is his nature. Just like you, sometimes, you Americans, you go to India or Europe. You cannot stay stagnant at a place. That is our nature. So this tendency, that we are trying to enter into the moon planet, this is not a new thing. They are trying, maybe by different process, by yoga process, by other process. Everyone is trying to enter into the higher planets.
Now, this process of knowledge or this process of activity which we are trying to propagate as Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Knowledge means, the topmost knowledge means Kṛṣṇa consciousness according to Bhagavad-gītā. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that a person who is learned, who is actually in knowledge, his symptoms will be that he has surrendered unto God. That is the symptom of knowledge. So long we go on speculating about God but do not surrender, that is not perfection of knowledge. Perfection of knowledge is bahūnāṁ janmanām ante: (BG 7.19) "After many, many births' mental speculation, philosophical speculation, when one understands what is actually God, God, then he surrenders there. He surrenders there." So long we do not surrender, we cannot understand God. So bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate. The Lord says, "One who is actually in knowledge, that knowledge is achieved after many, many births, not all of a sudden."
So therefore anything, whatever you are doing in this material world, that is not avyayam. That is not eternal. Temporary. Temporary. So this knowledge is not like that. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt: "The Kṛṣṇa consciousness knowledge is so perfect that even if you do one percent, two percent execute, then it can help you to..., help you protection from the greatest danger." Svalpam apy asya dharmasya. And besides that, suppose in this life I perform work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, say twenty-five percent. I am not perfect. My next life will begin from twenty-sixth point. So much, what I have acquired in this life, that is not lost.
These are the formulas we get from authoritative scripture. But material achievement, that is due... Because it is pertaining to this body, this designation, therefore it finishes with the finish of this designation. These are our all designations. This body... I am thinking, "I am American." I am thinking, "I am Indian." These are all our designations. So designation will finish, and there is no certainty what sort of body I am going to have in my next life.
You'll find in your country also. There are many foundations. They are making charities. But hardly you'll find amongst them that he knows that what he is. So out of many millions of these religious persons, some of them know what he is, "I am not this body." Now, simply theoretically knowing that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul," that is not perfect. You have to actually become liberated from the material entanglement. That is called mukti, liberation. So out of many thousands of persons who are in the knowledge what they are or what he is, some of them are actually liberated. Liberated. And out of many thousands of people who are liberated, they can understand what is Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa understanding is not very easy job. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind because He knows that in this age, in this age of Kali, it will be very difficult for persons to become liberated under the process—first to become civilized, then to become religious, then to perform this charity, sacrifices, then come to the platform of knowledge, then, after coming to the platform of knowledge, you come to the platform of liberation, and after being liberated, you can know what is Kṛṣṇa.
The qualification of a living entity is called sarva-ga. Sarva-ga. Sarva means all, and ga means one can go. You can go anywhere.
Just like you have the facility of traveling over the surface of the world or in the outer space on the earth. But you cannot go beyond the orbit. This is called conditioned life. In conditioned life we are limited in our traveling. But in spiritual life you can travel anywhere. The best example is Nārada Muni. He can travel anywhere he likes. Even in this universe we have got a planet which is called Siddhaloka, a planet of the perfect. Not perfect completely, but they are called siddha. Siddha means almost perfect. The inhabitants of that planet, they can travel without any aid of a sputnik or aeroplane from one planet to another. We get this information from Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. So in spiritual life we have got complete freedom to move, to act, to enjoy. So that spiritual knowledge should be cultivated. That is the best utilization of this human form of life.
If we do not utilize this human form of life for spiritual cultivation, then we are practically committing suicide. Ātma-han.
Because, Kṛṣṇa says, there is birth, there is death, there is old age, and there is disease. So where is your happiness? After all, you have to die. Suppose I make very good arrangement, very nice house, very nice bank balance, very nice wife, children, everything, but death can come at any moment. Then where is your perfection? If after so much hard labor everything is ready for enjoyment, but I am called by Yamarāja... Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Death takes away everything. Therefore you cannot say the arrangement you made for happy life is perfect. That is not perfect. But foolish people, they do not know what is perfection. They simply want superficial, temporary happiness, never mind what will happen next life or few years after.
Just like children, they want to play without caring for future life. But it is the duty of the guardians to engage them in education so that in future they may be happy. Similarly, all the great sages, saintly persons, just like Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Devala, Asita, many, many great saintly persons, sages... Even Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes to give us instruction so that we can become eternally happy.
Unfortunately, in this age, which is called Kali-yuga, the people are so low-grade that they do not like to hear all these instructions of great sages, saintly persons or even of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the defect of this age. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said mandaḥ. Mandaḥ means slow, at the same time, very bad.
So in this material world there may be somebody supreme, but he is not ultimate supreme. But ultimate supreme is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). So if we receive knowledge from the ultimate supreme, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, then our knowledge is perfect. If we receive knowledge secondary, second-hand knowledge, that is also good. Second-hand knowledge means one who has received knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. That knowledge is perfect. But one who speculates, "It may be like that, it may be like this," that knowledge is not perfect.
So in the modern world every knowledge is speculative, hypothetical. There is no perfect knowledge. So if you want to be perfectly in knowledge, then you have to take knowledge from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is here delivered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa in the form of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Arjuna is asking this question so that people may receive the perfect knowledge from Kṛṣṇa and their life may be perfect in that way.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Hṛṣīkeśa. Hṛṣīka, means senses, and this body is full of senses. So actual proprietor is Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa. We are given for use.
Therefore we are using this hand, but if the hand is paralyzed for some reason or other, we cannot repair it. This is not possible. Because the proprietor has withdrawn the power of this hand for activity, therefore it is no more workable, although I am claiming, "This is my hand." This is not "I hand;" this is my hand. Actually, it is not my hand. It is Kṛṣṇa's hand. That is knowledge.
So long we are thinking that I am this body or my body, that is not perfect knowledge. When you understand that it is Kṛṣṇa's body, then it is perfect knowledge. Kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu. Not that Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor or kṣetrajñam only of the human form of body. Sarva-kṣetreṣu. There are eight million four hundred thousand different types of body. Kṛṣṇa is present there. That is also explained in the fourteenth chapter:
- sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
- mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
- tāsāṁ brahma mahad-yonir
- aham bīja-pradaḥ pitā
- (BG 14.4)
Just like father makes the body, father gives the seed and mother gives the body, similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the supreme father. He has given the seed.
Then kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jña. Jña means one who knows, and kṣetra-jña means one who knows the field. Just like the agriculturist, the cultivator, he knows that "This is my field." He works there. Different cultivator works in his own field. So this kṣetra means this body, kṣetra, the field of activity. We have got different field of activities. So kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jñaṁ ca, kṣetram eva etad veditum icchāmi: "My dear Kṛṣṇa, I want to know from You." Why he wants to know from Kṛṣṇa? 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.
And then there is a certain duration of life. Somebody lives for ten years. Somebody lives for one year. Somebody lives for six hours, five hours. There are many germs. They live for five hours, six hours, or even less than that. And there are living entities like Brahmā, whose life is millions and millions of years.
There are so many varieties of life. We have no information. There are so many universities, so many educational institutions, but they cannot say exactly how many varieties of life are there. They cannot say. Their education is not perfect. They cannot say. But we can see there are so many varieties of life, and each of them is a living entity. But if you consult Vedic literature, you'll find exactly the number. Just like in the Vedic literature you'll find jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi: "In the water the aquatic living beings are 900,000 different bodies." So I don't think there is any biologist or botanist who can say exactly how many forms of life are there within the water.
Human life is meant for tapasya. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1).
Unfortunately, the modern civilization does not care for all these things, and... It is very risky civilization. Because nature's process is that as you create your mentality, you get next life a similar body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantor dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). You, in this body you have to work because this material world means one has to work. So by your karmaṇā, if your karma is not adjusted, if you do not work as a human being to be promoted to the qualification of a brāhmaṇa and then surpass the brāhmaṇa qualification and become a Vaiṣṇava, then your life is not perfect. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). When our aim of life will be to understand our relationship with Viṣṇu... Na te viduḥ.
But we do not know it. We are so much captivated by the external energy, māyā, that the whole program is how to forget Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But our real aim of life is to know our relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā (SB 7.5.31). They are trying to become happy within this material world. Durāśayā ye bahir artha-māninaḥ. Bahiḥ, bahiḥ means external energy. God has got parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). He has got multi-energies. All these multi-energies have been grossly divided into three: the external energy, the internal energy, and the marginal energy. So we living entities, we are the marginal energy. Marginal means between the two: spiritual energy and material energy.
That Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is within this universe. In each and every universe there is Viṣṇu, Śvetadvīpa-loka where Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is there, and that Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu enters within the heart of all living entities, Paramātmā, Antaryāmī.
That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ aṇḍāntara-stha... (Bs. 5.35). He is not only within this universe, but He is also within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara... Paramāṇu means atom. In this way Lord Viṣṇu is expanded, and He is jñeyam, He is to be understood. Jñāna, knowledge, simply material knowledge, is not perfection of knowledge. Real knowledge is to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, Viṣṇu. That is real knowledge. That is explained here. Jñeyaṁ yat tat pravakṣyāmi: "I shall now explain to you what is the ultimate goal of knowledge." In other place, in the Fifteenth Chapter also, Kṛṣṇa said,
- sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
- mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
- vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ...
- (BG 15.15)
Kṛṣṇa is within everyone's heart, sarvasya ca ahaṁ hṛdi. This place, the particular place is also mentioned there. Hṛdi, in the heart, He's there. Sanniviṣṭaḥ.
"If you can understand that knowledge, then," amṛtam aśnute, "if anyone can understand that knowledge, he becomes immortal." That is the problem. The process of knowledge... In that chapter it is already said that janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). The subject matter should be how to understand or how to get relief from the repetition of birth and death, old age and disease. This is knowledge. And here also Kṛṣṇa says again, anyone who comes to the ultimate goal of knowledge, then he becomes immortal.
Anādimat paraṁ brahma. Brahma, brahma-jñāna. The brahma-jñāna without knowledge of Kṛṣṇa is not perfect knowledge. Generally, people are interested... (aside:) Give me water. In the impersonal Brahman, but without knowledge of Kṛṣṇa that impersonal feature of Kṛṣṇa, brahma-jñāna, is also insufficient. They do not... That is not sufficient knowledge. Tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam. Philosophical speculation or discussion should be to reach the ultimate goal of life. Tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam.
We may be Brahman... Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, therefore we are Brahman. Now we are identifying with this matter. So mukti means when we stop identifying with this matter and we learn how to realize ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Simply realization not. To act as Brahman, Brahman, that is perfection of knowledge. Not to simply realize. Just like for example a person he feels that "I am Indian." That is very good. But Mahatma Gandhi, he also was Indian, but he acted as a first-class Indian. Therefore Mahatma Gandhi is so much adored.
So simply to realize that "I am Brahman," ahaṁ brahmāsmi, that is not perfection. That is aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, uncleansed intelligence. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Simply understanding ahaṁ brahmāsmi will not help us because it is stated in the śāstra that āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32), even by severe austerities and penances one comes to the stage of merging into Brahman, sāyujya mukti, still, there is chance of falling down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Why? Now anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. One who has not realized the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, he falls down.
There is perfection. What is that? Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭha varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. You are kṣatriya; your dharma is fighting. You try to please the Supreme Lord by your fighting. That is perfection. You are brāhmaṇa, so you try to please the Supreme Lord by your brahminical knowledge. What is that brahminical? Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. So one who knows brahma, he is brāhmaṇa. Then, then next stage is for brāhmaṇa to become Vaiṣṇava. To become Vaiṣṇava. Because brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham. Simply one, if one stop simply by brahma knowledge and does not make further progress, that is not perfection. Perfection is, Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the origin of brahma-jyotir." Therefore from the brahma-jyotir one should make progress up to Kṛṣṇa. Just like sunshine. You are in, everyone, is sunshine. That's all right. But if you have got power, then you'll reach the sun planet, you'll see the sun-god, because the original source of the sunshine is the sun-god. Similarly, brahma-jyotir, the origin of brahma-jyotir is Kṛṣṇa, brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham. Brahmajyoti is emanating from the body of Kṛṣṇa. It is, it is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagand-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40).
We follow the shastric injunction, what is Nārāyaṇa. We cannot accept Nārāyaṇa as daridra. Daridra-nārāyaṇa. What is this? Nārāyaṇa is the husband of the goddess of fortune. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.29). How Nārāyaṇa can become daridra? So these are manufactured words. You cannot find all these words in the śāstra. They are manufactured, concoction. So we are not concerned with this concoction. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya. We must follow the śāstras, the mahājana. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). We are not perfect. Therefore we have to follow the footprints of the perfect. And that is given in the śāstra, whom you have to follow.
- svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ
- kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ
- prahlādo janako bhīṣmo
- balir vaiyāsakir vayam
- (SB 6.3.20)
Twelve mahājanas. We follow Lord Brahmā. Just like we belong to the Brahma-sampradāya, Madhvācārya-sampradāya. Gauḍīya..., Mādhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya.
He was not a Vedantist. He was a gṛhastha, not even a sannyāsī. Why Kṛṣṇa selected to instruct Arjuna as the disciple of the renovated paramparā system? That is also spoken by Kṛṣṇa: bhakto 'si priyo 'si me (BG 4.3), rahasyam etad uttamam: "Because you are My dear friend, because you are My devotee, you can understand the mysteries of Bhagavad-gītā." Kṛṣṇa did not select a so-called Vedantist to understand Bhagavad-gītā. Because Arjuna was not a Vedantist. He was a military man. He's not supposed to become a great philosopher. He was a gṛhastha. But the real qualification is to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Then one can understand what is Bhagavad-gītā. Not by so-called knowledge. No. Knowledge is not perfect unless one understands Kṛṣṇa. That is not knowledge. That is still illusion. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Māṁ prapadyate: "He surrenders unto Me." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). When one understands Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, as everything, as the origin of everything, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), then his knowledge is perfect. And so long he's hovering here and there, without any understanding of Kṛṣṇa, his knowledge is not perfect. That perfection of knowledge is attained, as it is described by Kṛṣṇa: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19).
| Page Title: | Not perfect (Lectures, BG) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 06 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=72, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 72 |