Sense perception (Conv. and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"sense perception"

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Radio Interview -- February 12, 1969, Los Angeles:

Interviewer: Yes, but so have all of the great teachers been concerned with consciousness. It's a question of whether or not it's achieved. I presume that's why you work at this.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But thing is that there are two processes for understanding the Absolute Truth. One is ascending process, and one is descending process. We accept that descending process. Ascending process means trying to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of one's limited knowledge. Our knowledge... However I may be great, my senses are imperfect. You see? I cannot understand the sun, although I see every day sun, without understanding the sun as it is from authoritative books. Simply by seeing, by, simply by sense perception, we cannot understand. Now, this machine, simply by seeing, I cannot understand. But if I hear from authorities that "This is this; this is that," that understanding is right. Similarly, Absolute Truth cannot be understood by mental speculation, however a great thinker he may be. It must be understood from the authorities. So that... We follow that principle. We try to understand Absolute Truth from the lips of the Absolute Truth, not otherwise. That is the difference.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: No, no. Bhakti is a process. Bhakti is not knowledge. That knowledge you acquire by your sense perception, and bhakti is the pure activities of the senses.

Guest (1): No, surrender means bhakti. One surrenders to...

Prabhupāda: No question of bhakti. That is the process. If you want to know about tat, then that is the process. You have to surrender. So long you will think that "I can think of, I have got power," you'll be failed.

Guest (1): That consideration of "myself, I am thinking," that is not there.

Prabhupāda: Then who is thinking?

Guest (1): Thinking means...

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Indian Guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: (Hindi conversation for a few sentences) Dharmaṁ tu sākṣad bhagavat-praṇītam: (SB 6.3.19) "Religion is given by God." (Hindi) sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So this is religion. (Hindi) They are not religion. They are cheating. Bhāgavata says dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). "The cheating type of religion is kicked out." So we are following the same principle. We are kicking out all these cheating type of religion. It is explained any religion which does not recognize or do not understand the principles of religion, so that is cheating religion. Why religion? Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). This is religion. That is first-class religion, which teaches bhakti. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, to the Supreme, which is beyond our perception. Akṣaja. Akṣaja means within material perception. Beginning from "a" to "kṣa", whatever experience we have got... Or akṣa means eyes, senses. So within sense perception, whatever is there... God is beyond sense perception. Therefore God's name is Adhokṣaja. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje.

Morning Walk -- December 4, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes, because he learned from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam, na jāyate na mriyate vā..., na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So we are... Kṛṣṇa consciousness means you are taking what Kṛṣṇa says. Therefore... (break) And then you judge in your own way, you'll find, "Yes, it's all right." Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. At the present moment, because your, these blunt eyes cannot see the soul, you have to learn it by appreciation. Avagama. It is called avagama.(?) Appreciation. Just like Kṛṣṇa says that tad viddhi, that, that thing which is spreading consciousness, that is soul. Now you can perceive there must be something which is now absent, otherwise why there is no consciousness? Where is the difficulty? If you do not see, you can't understand it. Just like the same example, when good aroma is carried. So somebody says, "This good aroma is coming because the air passing through a flower garden, therefore this aroma." Now this is a fact, but you cannot see the aroma or the air. But you hear from an experienced man. That is the way of understanding which is beyond your sense perception.

Room Conversation with Latin Professor -- December 9, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: And if the child wants to get knowledge independently, that is not knowledge. He'll touch the fire. Mother: "Don't touch, don't touch, my dear child!" But he does not know. He's thinking the fire as something eatable. So by the Vedic process, this experimental knowledge is no useful. Yes. The Vedic injunction is tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: (MU 1.2.12) "In order to receive perfect knowledge, you must have approach the guru." Guru means who has the perfect knowledge. So you cannot independently get perfect knowledge, intellectual. That will remain always imperfect. So intellectually, how you can conceive about God, who is unlimited, beyond your sense perception? We cannot know even ordinary material things, how great the sun is, how this universe is. We have imperfect knowledge. So our process is to receive knowledge from the perfect. Therefore, we are receiving knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, the supreme perfect. I am not perfect, but because I am receiving knowledge from the supreme perfect, therefore whatever I say, it is perfect. And that is guru. Guru does not say anything of his own manufacture or research. He says only what he has heard from the Supreme. That's all.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 9, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Just like we are walking on this street. Sometimes we say, "This is very good." And sometimes, "It is very bad." But the street is the same. So how it is good and bad? This is simply mental speculation.

Bahulāśva: Sense perception?

Prabhupāda: Eh? Mental speculation. When it is dry... So dryness also, sometimes it is, "Oh, it is very dry, bad." And again, say dry, we shall say, "Oh, today is very good." It is simply mental speculation.

Devotee: It is like wet stool and dry stool. It is still stool.

Prabhupāda: Eh? Yes. (Chuckles) Yes, that is the example. The dry part of the stool, they say, "Oh, this part is very nice." He forgets that, after all, it is stool. So what is the dry or moist? Just like they are making scientific advancement. But the death is there. So what is the use of your advancement or no advancement? One who has not advanced in science, he'll also die. And you'll also die, advanced. Then what is the good? You cannot protect yourself from death. Then what is the meaning of this "good"? "This is good. This is advancement, and this is not advancement."

Room Conversation with Catholic Cardinal and Secretary to the Pope -- May 24, 1974, Rome:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Our movement is that, that is first-class religious system which teaches how to love God. This is the sum and substance of our movement. There is a Sanskrit statement in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā

yayātmā suprasīdati

(SB 1.2.6)

If you want to be happy, then you must take to the superior type of religious system which teaches the followers how to love God without any motive, and which is never checked by any material condition. God's name is given here as Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means beyond experimental knowledge. God has got many name according to different situation, and one of the name, for the materialistic person, adhokṣaja. Akṣaja means experimental knowledge. Akṣa means eyes or senses. Beyond sense perception. So we cannot speculate about God, but we can understand about God from authorities.

Room Conversation with Bishop Kelly -- June 29, 1974, Melbourne:

Satsvarūpa: (Reads Sanskrit) "O son of Kuntī, the non-permanent appearance of happiness and distress and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."

Prabhupāda: Purport.

Satsvarūpa: In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress. According to Vedic injunction, one has to take his bath early in the morning even during the month of Māgha (January-February). It is very cold at that time, but in spite of that a man who abides by the religious principles does not hesitate to take his bath. Similarly, a woman does not hesitate to cook in the kitchen in the months of May and June, the hottest part of the summer season. One has to execute his duty in spite of climatic inconveniences. Similarly, to fight is the religious principle of the kṣatriyas, and although one has to fight with some friend or relative, one should not deviate from his prescribed duty.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Svarūpa Dāmodara: No, we want to bring the, our four defects in our sense perception.

Prabhupāda: Sense perception is defective.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, there are four defects.

Prabhupāda: And if you go beyond the sense perception, that is perfection.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That will be Mādhava Prabhu's duty.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Then on the ninth chapter there will be a topic, "The Ultimate Research," (indistinct) research.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That...

Prabhupāda: Ultimate research is to find out the brain.

Room Conversation with Yoga Student -- March 14, 1975, Iran:

Prabhupāda: Ether you cannot feel touch. Air you can feel touch.

Parivrājakācārya: Based on the sense perception. On this planet, the bodies are made of earth. But there are other places, other planets, where the physical body is composed of a different combination. So one is predominantly air, another can be fire, another water, ether.

Yoga student: But is ether a gross element as well?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Ether is space.

Prabhupāda: Yes, space.

Yoga student: So in that sense it's a gross element.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Parivrājakācārya: It's perceivable by the senses as sound.

Morning Walk -- May 9, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: No. Nobody can see. Therefore Vedas say your seeing should be through the book of knowledge. That is seeing. Not with your these rascal eyes. What is the value of these rascal eyes? We know that there is, through books, through geography, we know that the other side is India. Not by seeing with these eyes, by touching it or by smelling it. These senses are useless. But these rascals depend on the senses-sense perception. Therefore they are rascals. Imperfect sense perception they believe too much. Therefore they are rascals. They do not know the value of the senses. Mūḍhā. Paśyati jñāna-cakṣuṣā. That is seeing, jñāna cakṣuṣa, by the eyes of knowledge, not by these imperfect senses. Paśyati jñāna cakṣuṣa. Everyone is anxious for the future. Why do they keep bank balance? Thinking of the future. Why they make insurance? Why they make hospital insurance? Everyone is thinking of the future. But because he is rascal, he is thinking simply for this span of life. Tathā dehāntara prāptir. Again you have to accept another body. That they do not know. So rascal. Simply calculating for this span of life.

Morning Walk -- July 11, 1975, Chicago:

Prabhupāda: ...logic also it is admitted that inductive logic is imperfect; deductive logic is perfect. (break) ...logic means śrota-panthā, paramparā, śruti, Vedic language, śruti. Śruti pramāṇa. Pramāṇa means evidence, and śruti means Veda. Pratyakṣa, anumāna, śruti. Pratyakṣa means direct, direct evidence, and anumāna, hypothesis. That is Darwin's theory, something like that. And śruti, Vedic. So out of these three kinds of evidences, śruti-pramāṇa is accepted as supreme, neither anumāna nor pratyakṣa. Pratyakṣa, you are seeing the sky, but you cannot say the length and breadth. You cannot say. You are seeing daily. If you say, "I have got this telescope," so that is an imperfect. and how you can see with your eyes directly, direct sense perception? Hypothesis, anumāna, guessing, that is also not perfect. And śruti, we take śruti from the perfect person, Kṛṣṇa. He says, aham evāsam agre: "Before the creation I was there." We take simply.

Morning Walk -- November 14, 1975, Bombay:

Girirāja: They think the existence of the tree is dependent on their sense perception.

Prabhupāda: Gladstone or what, that poet? "Full many flowers' gloss unseen." Therefore there is no flower? "Full many flowers' gloss unseen." This is foolish philosophy. Now this plane is going. After half an hour it will not be seen. Does it mean it is finished? (laughter) There is no more?

Indian man (7): But also in the sky we can see something. I can see many things. I can see something. It is not vacant space. Only thing I don't know what it is.

Prabhupāda: Then you cannot see the stars. Can you see the stars now?

Indian man (7): No.

Prabhupāda: Then can you say there is no star? Then? That means what you cannot see, that is not final. Therefore our Vedic instruction is śāstra cakṣusāt: You should see through the śastra, not you these useless eyes. These are useless. Tad-vijñānārtham sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). In order to know perfectly, one should go to the guru.

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Just like from ether, sound is created. Śabda, sparśa. Śabda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa, gandhaḥ, these are the five parmatra (?), object of sense perception. Budh, pañca parmatra, ten senses, the mind, and three modes, the material nature. This is the ingredient of the whole creation.

Harikeśa: So the basic element is the soul's...

Prabhupāda: Basic element is Kṛṣṇa.

Harikeśa: And then the spirit soul's desire.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Haṁsadūta: And Kṛṣṇa fulfills everyone's desire.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: Don't rely on empirical sense perception.

Richard: Okay, right, you're introducing here though, the essence of all religion, and that is faith. Faith...

Prabhupāda: It's not faith, it is fact. If I say that there is sun and you cannot see, if you deny, "No I don't see. There is no sun," so which is fact?

Richard: Well there is no sun now. There's no sun present.

Prabhupāda: Sun is there. You cannot see.

Richard: Right now, the sun, in my life, is not present.

Prabhupāda: It is present, that is ignorance. You just phone immediately to Bombay, "Is there sun?" He'll say, "Yes."

Richard: Is the sun out in Bombay?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Room Conversation -- June 10, 1976, Los Angeles:

Rāmeśvara: No, what Prabhupāda is explaining is.... Just like now you are seeing me through your blunt senses. By the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you awaken a different type of senses, called transcendental senses, and it is just as real as the blunt sense perception, except it is perfect sense perception, whereas your physical senses are conditioned, limited. There are transcendental senses.

Richard: Yes, but all the input goes into the mind, right?

Rāmeśvara: No, these are actual sense perceptions. "The soul is sentient, thou has proved."

Richard: Okay.

Rāmeśvara: Just like your body has senses, the soul also has senses, and the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and taking the spiritual prasādam, seeing the Deity in the temple and hearing this Vedic knowledge, that awakens the soul, and thus you can experience the sense perception of the soul, the knowledge of God through the soul, sense perception. You can see God, when you're very pure. And that's a fact, not faith.

Prabhupāda: There are five stages of ascending to come to the right conclusion. This, this is.... Just like pratyakṣa, directly, you do not see the sun on the sky, but the same example, if you phone your friend, "Where is the sun?" then he'll say, "Yes, here is the sun." So this is called parokṣa, mean you get the knowledge by other sources. Your direct sources, you cannot see, but you get from other sources, you understand, "Yes, sun is there in the sky."

Room Conversation -- July 27, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Anyway, there must be defect because the love is reposed in some defective or imperfect personality. It may be Lenin or it may be Washington. It doesn't matter. He's imperfect. Love is there. Otherwise why so many people are working? But because it is misplaced, they are not satisfied. Therefore it is stated, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. Adhokṣaje, this word, is used. God.... They may say that "Where is God?" And therefore the word is adhokṣaje: "beyond your sense perception." Everything is within sense perception. So therefore this very word is used, that "You cannot see, you cannot perceive, but still, you have to love Him." Adhokṣaje. They say, therefore, that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is some ideal, imagination, Kṛṣṇa. They think.... They say, I have an imaginary form of Kṛṣṇa, a stone, and "Unnecessarily they are wasting their time, loving Kṛṣṇa." What is their theory? You know that?

Harikeśa: Some people think.

Press Conference -- December 16, 1976, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: No name. When I say, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, this is not name. Adhokṣaja means "who is beyond your sense perception."

Guest (5): It can be Allah, Christ, even Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But you must know what is meaning of God. That's all. His name... Just like water. You say, "water," he says, pāni, he says, autuk (?). So water is water. Similarly, you must know what is God. Name does not matter. But Kṛṣṇa is the perfect name, Kṛṣṇa, according to Sanskrit, all-attractive. The God must be all-attractive; otherwise how He is God? That is the perfect name. Now, if you want to give another name we have no objection. There are hundreds and thousands of names, whatever you like. But it must be God's name. You must understand what is God. Then it is perfect. (aside:) Get on this light. It is scientific. It is not a religious sentiment. Why they should manufacture God? God is God. Gold is gold. And God definition is there in the Vedic literature.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Conversation -- January 25, 1977, Puri:

Prabhupāda: How you can prove? You can hear only. There are many things which is beyond your sense perception. The example which I often give, that "Who is your father?" What is proof? The proof is the hearing from mother. That's all. You cannot have any other proof.

Satsvarūpa: "Although celestial beings are not visible to the naked eyes of the inhabitants of this earth, it was due to the influence of Mahārāja Parīkṣit that the demigods also agreed to be visible. The kings used to spend lavishly during such sacrifices as the cloud distributes rains. A cloud is nothing but another form of water, or, in other words, the waters of the earth transform into clouds. Similarly, the charity made by the kings in such sacrifices are but another form of the taxes collected from the citizens. But as the rains fall down very lavishly and appear to be more than necessary, the charity made by such kings also seems to be more than what the citizen needs. Satisfied citizens will never organize agitation against the king, and thus there was no need of changing the monarchial state. Even for a king like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira there was needed a spiritual master for guidance. Without such guidance one cannot make progress in spiritual life. The spiritual master must be bona fide, and one who wants to have self-realization must approach and take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master to achieve real success.

Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda M.P. 'Nationalism and Cheating' -- April 15, 1977, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That's a... A big cheating is going on in the form of speculating. Just like the, all of the teachers, professors... I was reading Satsvarūpa's book. Satsvarūpa was presenting that there's three ways of acquiring knowledge, you know. First way is by sense perception. But that's cheating, because...

Prabhupāda: Hm, pratyakṣa, parokṣa aitihya.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The senses cheat us because they're imperfect.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: One thing looks like the wrong thing.

Prabhupāda: Call Gopīnātha.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But he points out that the final method, which is to hear from one who actually knows, that is the best way.

Prabhupāda: That is our... And who knows better than Kṛṣṇa? That's all. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Conversation with Yadubara (after seeing film) -- April 17, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That's all. Therefore śruti, which is beyond the sense perception, you have to hear it from authorities. That is knowledge. Who has seen it? These rascals... Who has seen it? So grossly educated they are. "Everything can be seen." Why everything? The same example we give. You have not seen your father. You have to hear, "Here is your father." That's all. That is the proof.

Yadubara: Just like in this last film, we suggested that there is a soul in the hand sequence—when the hands were always changing, and the body grows old. So the idea was that there is something that's not changing there. So in film there are certain techniques we can use to suggest, as Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami said, certain ideas.

Conversation, 'Rascal Editors,' and Morning Talk -- June 22, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So life is divided into two, that body and the soul. Actually the soul requires satisfaction. So unless the soul approaches Adhokṣaja-adhokṣaja means beyond the sense perception of bodily understanding—there is no possibility. So we can start later this chapter. Next verse?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Translation?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Next verse.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Translation.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. Next verse.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa:

vāsudeve bhagavati

bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ

janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ

jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam

(SB 1.2.7)

Prabhupāda: So this perfection can be achieved by direct devotional service to Vāsudeva. Next verse?

1974 Correspondence

Letter to Bahudak -- Bombay 15 December, 1974:

Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, Ch. 2, text 14; matra-sparsas tu kaunteya, sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah, agamapayino 'nityas, tams titiksasva bharata (BG 2.14) O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. So remember Krishna's instructions in the Bhagavad-gita and continue to work with all enthusiasm and encourage the others also to do the same.

As far as you opening a local Gurukula program there, I have no objection if it can be done nicely. So consult with Satsvarupa Maharaja for further instructions.

To develop a farm community such as the one you are doing, it requires much hard work and endurance.