The knowledge of that disciplic succession actually comes from the Lord Himself, and if the knowledge descends unbroken, it is perfect. Although we may not be in touch with the original personality who first imparted the knowledge, we may receive the same knowledge through this process of transmission. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, transmitted transcendental knowledge into the heart of Brahmā. This, then, is one way knowledge is received—through the heart. Thus there are two processes by which one may receive knowledge: One depends directly upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated as the Supersoul within the heart of all living entities, and the other depends upon the guru, or spiritual master, who is an expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Thus Kṛṣṇa transmits information both from within and from without. We simply have to receive it. If knowledge is received in this way, it doesn’t matter whether it is inconceivable or not.
Transmission of knowledge
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Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a great deal of information given about the Vaikuṇṭha planetary systems, which are beyond the material universe. Similarly, a great deal of inconceivable information is given in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Any attempt to arrive at this information through experimental knowledge will fail. The knowledge simply has to be accepted. According to the Vedic method, śabda, or transcendental sound, is regarded as evidence. Sound is very important in Vedic understanding, for, if it is pure, it is accepted as authoritative. Even in the material world we accept a great deal of information sent thousands of miles by telephone or radio. In this way we also accept sound as evidence in our daily lives. Although we cannot see the informant, we accept his information as valid on the basis of sound. Sound vibration, then, is very important in the transmission of Vedic knowledge.
CC Adi-lila
A mistake is the acceptance of an object to be different from what it is or the acceptance of false knowledge. For example, one may see a rope in the dark and think it to be a serpent, or one may see a glittering oyster shell and think it to be gold. These are mistakes. Similarly, an illusion is a misunderstanding that arises from inattention while hearing, and cheating is the transmission of such defective knowledge to others. Materialistic scientists and philosophers generally use such words as "maybe" and "perhaps" because they do not have actual knowledge of complete facts. Therefore their instructing others is an example of cheating. The final defect of the materialistic person is his inefficient senses. Although our eyes, for example, have the power to see, they cannot see that which is situated at a distance, nor can they see the eyelid, which is the object nearest to the eye. To our untrained eyes the sun appears to be just like a plate, and to the eyes of one who is suffering from jaundice everything appears to be yellow. Therefore we cannot rely on the knowledge acquired through such imperfect eyes. The ears are equally imperfect. We cannot hear a sound vibrated a long distance away unless we put a telephone to our ear. Similarly, if we analyze all our senses in this way, we will find them all to be imperfect. Therefore it is useless to acquire knowledge through the senses. The Vedic process is to hear from authority. In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.2) the Lord says, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ: "The supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way." We have to hear not from a telephone but from an authorized person, for it is he who has real knowledge.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
One may ask that if Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself, then why did He need a spiritual master? Of course He did not need a spiritual master, but because He was playing the role of ācārya (one who teaches by example), He accepted a spiritual master. Even Kṛṣṇa Himself accepted a spiritual master, for that is the system. In this way the Lord sets the example for men. We should not think, however, that the Lord takes a spiritual master because He is in want of knowledge. He is simply stressing the importance of accepting the disciplic succession. The knowledge of that disciplic succession actually comes from the Lord Himself, and if the knowledge descends unbroken, it is perfect. Although we may not be in touch with the original personality who first imparted the knowledge, we may receive the same knowledge through this process of transmission. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is stated that Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, transmitted transcendental knowledge into the heart of Brahmā. This then is one way knowledge is received—through the heart. Thus there are two processes by which one may receive knowledge: One depends upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated as the Supersoul within the heart of all living entities, and the other depends upon the guru or spiritual master, who is an expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Thus Kṛṣṇa transmits information both from within and from without. We simply have to receive it. If knowledge is received in this way, it doesn't matter whether it is inconceivable or not.
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a great deal of information given about the Vaikuṇṭha planetary systems which are beyond the material universe. Similarly, a great deal of inconceivable information is given in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Any attempt to arrive at this information through experimental knowledge is not possible. The knowledge simply has to be accepted. According to the Vedic method, śabda, or transcendental sound, is regarded as evidence. Sound is very important in Vedic understanding, for, if it is pure, it is accepted as authoritative. Even in the material world we accept a great deal of information which is sent thousands of miles by telephone or radio. In this way we also accept sound as evidence in our daily lives. Although we cannot see the informant, we accept his information as valid on the basis of sound. Sound vibration then is very important in the transmission of Vedic knowledge.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
After all the demigods offered the Puruṣa-sūkta prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they apparently heard no response. Then Lord Brahmā personally sat in meditation, and there was a message-transmission from Lord Viṣṇu to Brahmā. Brahmā then broadcast the message to the demigods. That is the system of receiving Vedic knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is received first by Brahmā from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, through the medium of the heart. As stated in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye: (SB 1.1.1) the transcendental knowledge of the Vedas was transmitted to Lord Brahmā through the heart. Here also, in the same way, only Brahmā could understand the message transmitted by Lord Viṣṇu, and he broadcast it to the demigods for their immediate action. The message was this: The Supreme Personality of Godhead would appear on the earth very soon, along with His supreme powerful potencies, and as long as He remained on the earth planet to execute His mission of annihilating the demons and establishing the devotees, the demigods should also remain there to assist Him. They should all immediately take birth in the family of the Yadu dynasty, wherein the Lord would also appear in due course of time.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
No matter how big a thinker a tiny living entity may be, all his activities are limited by mundane boundaries, just as a frog in the well can never comprehend that such a thing as an ocean exists outside his little domain. He refuses to acknowledge that a mass of water infinitely bigger than his tiny puddle can at all be possible. Similarly, we are trapped in the dark well of our body and mind. And although we may try hard through yoga or empirical speculation to overcome our limitations, no matter how erudite we are it is impossible to reach beyond the limitations of our self-made well.
So, who can bring us news of the great ocean? Is there any record of how long we have been struggling in the water to stay afloat in the well of this material world, sometimes going up to the higher planets, sometimes coming down? Only the Supreme Lord Himself or His empowered representative can possibly free us from confinement in this dark well. Under their guidance we can come to know of the limitless ocean of the spiritual sky. This process—hearing from higher authorities—is called the deductive, or descending, process of knowledge. It is the only authorized way to learn transcendental knowledge. By this method alone is eternal truth transmitted.
The sad fact is that although Kṛṣṇa reveals the truth about Himself throughout the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures, the luckless populace cannot regard Him as the Supreme Lord. In particular, the impersonalistic philosophers, who make tall claims of being bastions of religiosity, reduce the Supreme Lord to the level of a mediocre mortal and thereby accrue heavy sins. Such atheistic offenders can never approach the subject of God on their own merit. The Supreme Lord and His surrendered servitors have in various ways clarified and transmitted the knowledge of the Supreme Absolute, but those who offend the Supreme Lord and His devotees can never comprehend such topics.
The Bhagavad-gītā is not a novel rendition of a new philosophy. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is eternally the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. Similarly, the Bhagavad-gītā is eternally present as His instructions propounding the absolute, undifferentiated truth. The Supreme Lord is eternal, perennially young, and so are His immortal words: they are ever-fresh. Mundane scholars can always discover novel meanings in the Bhagavad-gītā, and in this way they may certainly exhibit their mundane erudition—but this is all just the play of māyā. The real essence of Bhagavad-gītā cannot be transmitted through such persons. The transcendental knowledge of the Gītā is available only through the transparent medium of the authorized disciplic succession. The devotees and saints are solely concerned with receiving the Lord's message in the Gītā as it is, while the mundane scholars fond of word jugglery look for secondary meanings.
Lord Kṛṣṇa milked the cow of the Upaniṣads, and Arjuna drank the milk thus obtained—the Bhagavad-gītā. If Arjuna found time to hear the Bhagavad-gītā in the middle of a battlefield at Kuruksetra, then what urgent business is stopping us from hearing the Gītā? When knowledge of the Gītā spreads, then everyone will easily be able to attain the platform of yoga. And as the pure devotees of the Lord become successful in their efforts to use their spiritual intelligence in the Lord's service, then the science of love of God taught by Lord Caitanya, the most magnanimous incarnation of Godhead, will be distributed everywhere. Judging from all the symptoms, the time is now ripe. Indians should now take shelter of their saintly preceptors, the pure devotees, and unitedly propagate the glorification of Kṛṣṇa via the medium of the Bhagavad-gītā. In this way the world will become prosperous and perfect. The present age has seen interest in spiritual matters markedly increase. Yoga and meditation societies have mushroomed expressly to transmit the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gītā, but how this will be accomplished is still a question. We are confident that Lord Caitanya's teachings on the process of loving devotional service will easily harmonize all conflicting concepts.
Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So Kṛṣṇa is within. In the beginning of Bhāgavata, tene brahma hṛdā... The... Darśayan. When Brahmā saw the form of the Lord—not exactly outside but from within. And He educated him from within. Tene brahma hṛdā. Hṛdā means through the heart He transmitted the knowledge, bhagavat-tattva. And after understanding the bhagavat-tattva instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he wrote this Brahma-saṁhitā. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). There are hundred chapters of Brahma-saṁhitā. They are lost. Only the fifth chapter was found in a temple in a handwritten leaf. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu collected it, and He gave it to His disciple, that "This Brahma-saṁhitā is the summary of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So you take..." So Brahmā learned this, what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Bhagavān, from Bhagavān. So you have to learn also from Bhagavān. So Bhagavān is teaching Himself to Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa. And you try to understand as Arjuna understood. Then you also directly learn what is taught by Kṛṣṇa.
| Page Title: | Transmission of knowledge |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika |
| Created: | 23 of May, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=3, OB=7, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 11 |