View source for Knowledge is received through the ear, aural reception. Why not with eyes and other senses? That is also very important to know. Suppose you are sleeping. Then all your senses are also sleeping. But the ear does not sleep

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[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, 1975]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - Lectures, Srimad-Bhagavatam]]
[[Category:Prabhupada Speaks - in USA, San Francisco]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonSB6140SanFranciscoJuly211975_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="666" link="Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975" link_text="Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975">
<div class="heading">Knowledge has to be received through the ear, not by the eyes. Not by the eyes. This is not recommended. Nobody says, "I want to see knowledge," no: "I want to hear knowledge." Therefore it is called śruti, and knowledge is received through the ear, aural reception. Why not with eyes and other senses? That is also very important to know. Suppose you are sleeping. Then all your senses are also sleeping. But the ear does not sleep.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975|Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">
All of our eyes are covered with darkness; we cannot see. Then how we can see in the darkness? ''Ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā. Śalākayā'' means torch. So the torch, what is that torch? ''Jñānāñjana'', smearing with the ointment of knowledge, that is the torch. So knowledge means not to see but to hear. Therefore it is called ''śruti, śuśruma''. Knowledge has to be received through the ear, not by these eyes. Not by the eyes. This is not recommended. Nobody says, "I want to see knowledge." No: "I want to hear knowledge." Therefore it is called ''śruti'', and knowledge is received through the ear, aural reception. 

Why not with eyes and other senses? That is also very important to know. Suppose you are sleeping. Then all your senses are also sleeping. But the ear does not sleep. You have got practical experience. When a man is sleeping and somebody is coming to kill him, so what do you say? You cry, "Mr. Such-and-such, wake up! Wake up! There is danger. There is. . ." Then he can. . . Otherwise, all the senses are there, but only the ear will help you. The eyes are there, hands are there, legs are there, everything is there—nothing of this limbs of your. . . part of your body will help you. Simply your ear will help you when you are in danger. Therefore here it is said, ''śuśruma'': "We have received knowledge through the ears, not with the eyes." Those rascals says, "I want to see practically." He cannot see. That is not possible. The modern defect is that they do not hear. The so-called scientists, philosophers, they do not hear. They simply want to see, want to touch, want to smell, want to lick up. That is not knowledge. So they are all failure. They do not hear. But the process is here, as it is said, ''śuśruma'': "We have received knowledge by hearing from the authority." That is perfect knowledge. That is perfect knowledge.

So what they heard? They heard from Yamarāja, their master, that the ''dharma'' is that which is enunciated in the ''Vedas''. That is ''dharma. Dharma'', that does not mean that a faith. Faith, of course, we have to. ''Dharma'', religion, is explained in English dictionary as "a kind of faith." That is the beginning. But really ''dharma'' means the constitutional position. That is ''dharma''. Constitutional position. Just like chemicals. Chemicals, to find its purity, the books of pharmacology or other books, this chemical, the water, it contains so many percentage of hydrogen, so many percentage of oxygen, and so on, so on. So there is taste. The potassium cyanide, there is no taste. But other chemicals there are taste, touching. Because nobody has tasted potassium cyanide up to date, because as soon as you touch on the tongue, you will die. So similarly, there are taste. 

So what is the taste? Taste is that ''jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa'' ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 20.108-109|CC ''Madhya'' 20.108-109]]): we are eternal servant of God. This is our ''dharma'', or constitutional position. Just like sugar is sweet. That is the taste. If sugar is salty, although both of them looks the same, white powder, but if I give you sugar and if it is actually salt, then immediately you will say, "Oh, this is not sugar. This is not sugar." How? By taste. Similarly, everything has got his constitutional position. The sugar is sweet, and the chili is pungent. If sugar is pungent and chili is sweet, then you throw it away. It is not real. It is not real. Similarly, what is the constitutional position of human being, ''dharma''? To serve. This is the constitutional position. Every one of us, we are serving. Without service we have no other business. So this is our constitutional position. But we are serving wrongly; therefore we are not satisfied. This is the position. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore begins His philosophy from this point, that ''jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa'': "The real constitutional position of all living entities is to serve Kṛṣṇa." This is constitutional position.

But unfortunately, being misguided, instead of serving Kṛṣṇa, we are serving so many other things. Somebody is serving his family. Somebody is serving his country. Somebody is serving his dog. In this way, service is there—but the service is misplaced. Therefore we are not satisfied. Why in the material world people are not satisfied? Because his position is to serve Kṛṣṇa. He is serving ''māyā''; therefore he is not happy. Plain thing. Kṛṣṇa says, ''mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ'' ([[Vanisource:BG 15.7 (1972)|BG 15.7]]): "''Jīva'', the living entity, they are My part and parcel." So each one of us, we are part and parcel of God. So we have got some duty. Just like the part and parcel of my body has got some duty. The eyes, his duty is to see. The ear, his duty is to hear. So every part of duty, even within, without. So we, being servant, eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, our only duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa. And because we are not doing that, therefore we are unhappy.
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