Prabhupāda: It is our fault we won't take. A man has fallen in the blind well, and he's crying, "Save me! Save me!" and when somebody comes and gives him a rope—"You catch it. I shall lift you"—but he'll not touch it. Then who can save him? The rope is there, the man is there, and he is crying, but when we request that "You take it," he won't take. Aiye. So how he can be saved? And Kṛṣṇa said, mad-āśrayaḥ. But he'll not take mad-āśrayaḥ. He'll take āśraya of something else. This is the position. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha. People are harassed to understand God, whether there is God or not God, who is God. When I first went to America, the theory was going that "God is dead." And what was the...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: There was a newspaper...
Prabhupāda: Paper... Yes?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: When Prabhupāda first did the first public kīrtana, they said that "We thought God is dead, but now we see that Swami Bhaktivedanta has made God alive again."
Prabhupāda: This was the first remark. Then, gradually, these boys joined. They were after God, but they were given to understand that "God is dead. Now you take LSD." So the... God is speaking:
- mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha
- yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ
- asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ
- yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu
- (BG 7.1)
"Take perfect knowledge of God from Me." Why don't you do that? Boliye. What is the reason? Boliye, Swamiji. When God is speaking that "You take from Me perfect and complete knowledge of God," so why don't you take it?
Indian man (1): We are still attached to material side.
Prabhupāda: Whatever it may be, but we are denying. Is it not? When... Suppose a big man. You do not know what he is. But if the man says, "You want to know me? All right, I shall disclose all my secrets to you. Try to understand." So why don't you..., do not take it? If you want to know the person, and the person is explaining himself, why don't you take it? Why theorize that "God is like this. God is like this"? What is the meaning? When the person has come to explain about himself... Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu: (BG 7.1) "Hear." Hearing is the process of knowledge. Therefore our Vedas are called śruti. The knowledge has to be acquired through ear. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "Don't try to see a sādhu by your eyes. You try to see a sādhu by ears." Karṇe sādhu dekhi. (Hindi) Tāvac ca śobhate mūrkhaḥ yāvat kiñcin na bhāṣate. (Hindi) For real perfect knowledge, one has to hear. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. That is guru. One who has heard perfectly from the authority, he is guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21). And who is guru? Śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam. Everything direction is there.
- tad viddhi praṇipātena
- paripraśnena sevayā
- upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
- jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
- (BG 4.34)
So about from... Apart from śāstra, the vedānta-kṛt, vedānta-vit, Kṛṣṇa, He is speaking. Asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu: (BG 7.1) "Just hear." And He's vedānta-vit, vedānta-kṛt. He knows what is Vedānta, and He has compiled Vedānta, and He is ready to speak. We don't hear Kṛṣṇa. How much unfortunate we are.