In the modern world every knowledge is speculative, hypothetical. There is no perfect knowledge. So if you want to be perfectly in knowledge, then you have to take knowledge from the Supreme Personality of Godhead

Expressions researched:
"in the modern world every knowledge is speculative, hypothetical. There is no perfect knowledge. So if you want to be perfectly in knowledge, then you have to take knowledge from the Supreme Personality of Godhead"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

In the modern world every knowledge is speculative, hypothetical. There is no perfect knowledge. So if you want to be perfectly in knowledge, then you have to take knowledge from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is here delivered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa in the form of Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, September 25, 1973:

Just like Kṛṣṇa says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad aham aśnāmi (BG 9.26). Now, anyone offering Kṛṣṇa, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, in devotion . . . so this quality, how Kṛṣṇa is eating? Just like at the present moment Kṛṣṇa is offered a dish. How Kṛṣṇa is eating, that we cannot see. But He is eating. Otherwise, Kṛṣṇa becomes a liar. He says, tad aham aśnāmi bhakty-upahṛtam (BG 9.26): "Anyone who is offering Me in devotion," tad aham aśnāmi, "I eat." But how He is eating? It is not that He is not eating, but how He is eating, that we do not know. Therefore acintya-guṇa-svarūpam. He has that quality which is inconceivable.

Just like our conception of eating, that we can eat through the mouth. Whatever eatables are offered to us, we pick them and put into the mouth. We know this is the process of eating. But Kṛṣṇa, because He is acintya-guṇa-svarūpam, His eating process is different from ours. That is also stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā: aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti (Bs. 5.32). He has the limbs of the body, different limbs of the body, they can work also for other limbs of the body. Just like with our eyes we can see. If I close our eyes, we do not see. But Kṛṣṇa, even He closes His eyes, He can see everything with His hand. Now, this is inconceivable. Acintya-guṇa-svarūpam.

Therefore it is called acintya. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti. So the foodstuff is offered there to Kṛṣṇa. He is eating by seeing. He can eat through His eyes. Just like we can eat through our mouth, not with our eyes, but Kṛṣṇa can eat through His eyes simply by seeing. Then you may argue that, "The foodstuff is offered. If He has eaten, why it is lying as it is, as it was offered in the beginning?" That is answered in the Upaniṣad: pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Pūrṇasya. Kṛṣṇa can take the whole plate, but still the whole plate remains. It is not finished. That is spirituality. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate.

So this is a great science, spiritual science. Unfortunately, we have no educational system to understand this spiritual science. And especially in this age, everything is godlessness. Therefore people are not happy. Our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is only to make people happy by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, understanding everything in the right ways. That is our mission. Therefore . . . that is the mission of every devotee. Just like Arjuna is asking herewith. He knows everything. He is Kṛṣṇa's friend, personal friend. He is always living with Kṛṣṇa. There cannot be any ignorance on the part of Arjuna. But he's asking this question just for our benefit. Kṛṣṇa will answer this question.

Why Kṛṣṇa's answers will be taken so seriously? Because He is the supreme authority, Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we receive knowledge from the Supreme, then it is perfect knowledge. Just like if you get some knowledge from the superior, one who is more educated than you, one who is more experienced, that knowledge is perfect. So in this material world there may be somebody supreme, but he is not ultimate supreme. But ultimate supreme is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). So if we receive knowledge from the ultimate supreme, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, then our knowledge is perfect. If we receive knowledge secondary, secondhand knowledge, that is also good. Secondhand knowledge means one who has received knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. That knowledge is perfect. But one who speculates, "It may be like that, it may be like this," that knowledge is not perfect.

So in the modern world every knowledge is speculative, hypothetical. There is no perfect knowledge. So if you want to be perfectly in knowledge, then you have to take knowledge from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is here delivered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, in the form of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Arjuna is asking this question so that people may receive the perfect knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, and their life may be perfect in that way.

idaṁ śarīraṁ kaunteya

kṣetram ity abhidhīyate

etad yo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ

kṣetrajña iti tad-vidaḥ

(BG 13.2)

kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi

sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata

kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ

yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama

(BG 13.3)

This is jñānam. What is that jñānam? Jñānam means to know the kṣetrajña, the owner of the body. Just like in ordinary sense if you understand that the . . . this is a house, and the proprietor of the house is such-and-such gentleman, then that knowledge is perfect. So similarly, if we understand what is this body and who is the proprietor of this body, then our knowledge is perfect. So Kṛṣṇa says that the . . . this body, there is the proprietor, the soul, but there is another kṣetrajña. Just like a house, there is an occupier and there is an owner. These are very easy to understand. Any house you take in Bombay, there are so many tenants or occupier, but there is a proprietor also. Similarly, in this body we are not actually the proprietor, we are simply occupier.