Imperfection (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"imperfection" |"imperfectional" |"imperfections"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

No mistake, no illusion, no cheating and no imperfection. This is Bhagavān.

Lecture on BG 2.2 -- London, August 3, 1973:

Those who are in this material world, they have got four defects: they commit mistake, they are illusioned, and their senses are imperfect, bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā, and they're cheaters. Because... Just like modern-day scientists and philosophers, they propogate so many branches of knowledge, but when, on the crucial point, they are caught, they say, "I do not know perfectly. I do not know perfectly. We are trying to know. In future, we shall tell you the perfect." But if you are not in perfect knowledge, why should you take the post of a teacher? 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.

"To err is human," therefore, it is called, that any, any man, however he may be great in the estimation of this world, he is sure to commit mistake. And another imperfection is that he is illusioned.

Lecture on BG 2.11 -- New York, March 4, 1966:

Prabhupāda: Here it is said, bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān uvāca. Bhagavān uvāca means that He has got so extensive knowledge that there cannot be any mistake. He's authority. He's authority. So whatever He says is right. Is right. That is the conception of bhagavān. Here it is not said, Kṛṣṇaḥ uvāca. Because somebody may doubt Kṛṣṇa, that "Kṛṣṇa was a historical personality. Why you should be so much concerned with Kṛṣṇa?" as is general view. But here it is said, bhagavān uvāca. And I have given you the definition of Bhagavān, that He is all knowledge. So whatever He will speak, Bhagavān, there cannot be any mistake. For ordinary persons, there are four, I mean to say, difficulties, four imperfectness. Just like we are ordinary man. We have got four imperfectness. What is that imperfectness? That we must commit mistake. We must commit mistake. Our constitutional position at the present moment is such that we are sure to commit mistake. Even greatest politician like Gandhi, he committed mistake, and so many great men, they committed mistake. "To err is human," therefore, it is called, that any, any man, however he may be great in the estimation of this world, he is sure to commit mistake. And another imperfection is that he is illusioned.

Woman: Illusioned.

Prabhupāda: Illusioned. Now, illusioned you can see. Illusioned means taking one thing for another. That is called illusion. Just like in the desert, accepting the sand as water. That is called illusion. Similarly, every one of us who are identified with this body, he's under illusion. That is a false thing, but he has no knowledge.

Vedic knowledge is not like that. There is no cheating. There is no imperfection. There is no illusion. There is no error. That is Vedic knowledge.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 19, 1972:

So to commit mistake and to become illusioned and cheating propensity. Actually, I do not know things as they are, still, I am writing books. To educate people. Big, big scholars, they have no clear thought, clear understanding; still they write books. Even Darwin's theory. He's proposing, "Perhaps; it may be," and he's writing a big book, anthropology. And people are taking knowledge from that book. So if his knowledge based on "Perhaps; maybe," what is the value of that knowledge? So things are going on like that. The senses are imperfect. He has got a cheating propensity. Cheating propensity means he has no perfect knowledge; still, he wants to give knowledge, to become famous in the world, famous in the community. So what is the value of your writing books if you have no perfect knowledge? But because we have got a cheating propensity, we do like that. So Vedic knowledge is not like that. There is no cheating. There is no imperfection. There is no illusion. There is no error. That is Vedic knowledge.