Guest (2): The point is for ordinary men it is very difficult to conceive of a naked soul.
Prabhupāda: So ordinary man is foolish. Learned man is intelligent
Guest (2): But it is very difficult to think of a naked soul.
Prabhupāda: Naked, there is no question of... Naked soul is there, but you have no eyes to see it. Naked soul is there, but it is so small you cannot see it. The dimension of the naked soul is given in the śāstra. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). One ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. So it is not possible to see by your these present eyes. But there is. There is no doubt about it.
Indian man: How is it opened, the eyes?
Prabhupāda: By knowledge, therefore... So therefore Kṛṣṇa giving you the knowledge. That you have to hear. Knowledge which you cannot experience by your senses at the present moment, you have to hear from the authority. Avan manasa-gocara. Which is beyond your mind and intelligence, you have to hear from the authority. Just like father. If one wants to know who is father, he cannot see it. He must know it from the authority-mother. Similarly, therefore called Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means whatever is beyond the capacity of your senses, that you have to hear from the right source. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). And that is the teaching in the Bhagavad-gītā. When the things became so complicated, Arjuna submitted to Kṛṣṇa: śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). And then He taught him Bhagavad-gītā. And the first teaching of Bhagavad-gītā is this, that you are not this body.
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntara-prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
Dhīra, one has to become, has to become sober. Then he'll understand. And if he remains restless on the bodily platform, as the animals are... They cannot understand. They cannot understand. If you bring some dog and instruct the dog, "My dear dog, you are not this body," it is not possible. But dhīra, if one is not dog—he is human being—he can teach. Therefore this word is used, dhīra. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). So that is the beginning of spiritual life.