Understanding knowledge
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: He said something transcendental?
Śyāmasundara: He calls it the transcendental aesthetic.
Prabhupāda: Transcendental means it is not in my experience, but I get the experience from higher authority, paramparā.
Śyāmasundara: I think his definition of transcendental is slightly different.
Prabhupāda: Transcendental means beyond your sense experience. That is the real meaning. You can see the dictionary. Transcendental is that which transcends.
Śyāmasundara: "Transcendental: of an a priori character, not based on experience; intuitively accepted; innate in the mind; superrational; supernatural; consisting of or dealing in or inspired by abstractions.' The way he is using "transcendental" is simply he is trying to understand knowledge through abstraction, by abstracting.
Prabhupāda: Transcendental knowledge means knowledge received from a source which is beyond the reach of my material senses. That is transcendental. Just like we are reading Bhagavad-gītā. So we have no knowledge that there is a spiritual world, but Kṛṣṇa says that there is another nature, a spiritual nature, beyond this material nature. So we understand through the source of transcendental knowledge. We cannot experience. That is explained, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. God, His name, His qualities, His pastimes—nothing can be understood by these material senses. But if you engage yourself in service, they become revealed. That will become confirmed: "Yes, there is Vaikuṇṭha, there is Vṛndāvana, where Kṛṣṇa's pastimes are going on, and I am perceiving myself." These things become revealed gradually, not abruptly you can understand. Therefore common men cannot understand that they say " 'Going back to home, back to Godhead?' What nonsense they are saying?" They cannot understand, because it is transcendental, beyond the reach of these gross senses. But it is revealed: sevonmukhe. If you become submissive, if you engage yourself in the service of the Lord, guru-Kṛṣṇa, and the spiritual master, then these things become revealed. Now one who has got the knowledge by revelation, nobody can mislead him. Just like we believe in the transcendental abode, cintāmaṇi, Goloka Vṛndāvana. If somebody pays out millions of dollars and asks you to forget all these things, we cannot do that. If you give him hundreds and thousands of dollars, that "You believe in this," no, he will not believe. That is transcendental knowledge. So transcendental knowledge is not speculation. It is receiving from higher authority and gradually, by your service attitude, things become clear to you. That is transcendental.Conversations and Morning Walks
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: It is very simple thing, that "I am changing my body, and similarly, I'll change this body." This should be understood by my present circumstances of life, and it is confirmed by the greatest authority, Kṛṣṇa. Knowledge by authority and knowledge by experience, both things are there. And still, the rascals do not understand (understanding knowledge). Knowledge is gathered by experience, and knowledge is gathered from the authority. Just like I ask my father, "What is this?" Father says, "This is bell." So this is knowledge. I get it from my father. And by experience, when I push it, it is ringing. So understand, "This is bell." So two sources of knowledge: by practical experience and by authority.
Girl: I must believe what my father says.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That I have to. I have to take knowledge from my mother, from my father. That is the beginning of knowledge. Intelligent boy asks father, "What is this?" And father explains. Mother gives the knowledge, "Here is your father." So it is from authority. Otherwise, how you can experience who is your father? How do you get? Can you experiment who is your father?
Girl: Yes. I ask my mother.
Prabhupāda: That's it. That is authority. That is not experiment. That is authority. Therefore knowledge by authority and knowledge by experience... So I am changing my body. You experience "I was child, I was boy, I was young man. I was middle-aged. Now I am old man." This is experience. And the authority says, "As you have changed this body, similarly, you change this body and get another body." This is authority. Then where is the lack of knowledge? So knowledge is already there in two ways: by experience and by authority.Page Title: | Understanding knowledge |
Compiler: | Laksmipriya, Haya |
Created: | 14 of Dec, 2008 |
Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=1, OB=0, Lec=8, Con=2, Let=0 |
No. of Quotes: | 12 |