Prabhupāda:
- yad atra kriyate karma
- bhagavat-paritoṣaṇam
- jñānaṁ yat tad adhīnaṁ hi
- bhakti-yoga-samanvitam
- (SB 1.5.35)
A similar passage is there, saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ.
- ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā
- varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ
- svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya
- saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam
- (SB 1.2.13)
Similar. Bhagavat-paritoṣaṇam. Bhagavat-paritoṣaṇam or hari-toṣaṇam, the same thing. So first of all we must know what is bhagavat, or Hari—then we may try to satisfy Him. Unfortunately, we do not know what is God. Where is the question of satisfying Him? This is the . . . at the present moment, vague idea, what is God; practically no idea. What is their God? "God is good." They . . . sometimes they say: "God is great," but what is that God, how great He is, how He is good, nobody knows. So where is the question of hari-toṣaṇam? If I do not know . . . somebody says that, "You go and satisfy Mr. Such-and-such, Mr. John." So I do not know who is Mr. John, where does he live, what does he do, then how can I satisfy him? This is the position.
So hari-toṣaṇam or bhagavat-paritoṣaṇam can be possible when we actually know what is God. Otherwise there is no question. So, so far we are concerned, Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees, we know who is God. Therefore this business is possible by us, not by others. We know what is God. We have no vague idea. We know who is God, where does He live, what does He do, His name, address, His father's name—everything we know. Therefore we can satisfy. We are competent to satisfy because we know exactly who is God. That is Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). How do you know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Yes. By history, by authority, by His action, everything complete. We know historical . . . from historical point of view, Kṛṣṇa is there in the Mahābhārata. Mahābhārata means, "The history of great India." Mahā means great. So greater India. Greater India, this is history, Itihāsa. Itihāsa means history. So there is Kṛṣṇa, in the itihāsa, in the history. In the Vedas also, there is name of Kṛṣṇa. In the Yajur Veda, there is name of Kṛṣṇa and His father's name, Vasudeva. Everything is there. And besides that, Kṛṣṇa appeared as He is five thousand years ago, and He acted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So where is the difficulty to understand Kṛṣṇa?
Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47)—everything complied. Kṛṣṇa, the richest personality, the most beautiful personality, the most wise. He has given the Bhagavad-gītā. Apart from other instruction, the Bhagavad-gītā is there. Who has given such wise instruction throughout the whole world, throughout the whole universe? Nobody has given. God means the wisest, the richest, the most powerful, the most beautiful. So He was so beautiful that 16,108 very, very beautiful women . . . and this is married. And unmarried, many millions, they were attracted by Kṛṣṇa, the most beautiful. Śyāmasundara. His name is sundara, "Very beautiful." Although śyāma, blackish, still He's so attractive.
Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobham (Bs. 5.30). Kandarpa-koṭi. He's so beautiful that He can surpass in His beauty the Cupids, millions and millions of Cupids. His name is Madana-mohana. Madana-mohana. Madana is Cupid. Cupid enchants everyone, but he is enchanted by Kṛṣṇa. Therefore His name is.
So bhagavat-toṣaṇam, we must know first of all who is God, who is Bhagavān. So śāstra says, authority says, and history says. What more proof you want? Huh? What more proof? Is there anyone to challenge Kṛṣṇa? Everything is there. Still, why you are searching after God? This is foolishness. This is foolishness. Owls', owls' philosophy. Owls' philosophy . . . the owl will not open the eyes to see the sun. Just open your eyes, you see, this here is sun. "No, there is no sun." This is owls' philosophy. Close the eyes; meditate. And the God is here, "No, I'll not open my eyes."
So we do not follow this philosophy, owls' philosophy. We follow real philosophy. What is that real philosophy? Śruti-pramāṇam, evidence from the Vedas, history, aitihya-pramāṇa, history. And anumāna-pramāṇa. There are many: pratyakṣa, anumāna, aitihya . . . so out of that, there are so many evidential processes, but according to followers of the Vedic principle, their process is śruti-pramāṇam. Śruti-pramāṇam means if it is mentioned in the Vedas, Upaniṣad, then it is pramāṇam. Śruti-pramāṇam. So Vedas, there are four Vedas and 108 Upaniṣads, and then eighteen Purāṇas, then this Mahābhārata. So all these are Vedic literatures. Śrīmad Madhvācārya describes them, these are Vedic literature. Not only the four Vedas—Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg, Atharva—but expansion of Vedas. Purāṇas, they are also Vedas.