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Have no real knowledge

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Everywhere the chaotic condition is because they have no real knowledge
Vanisource:Bhagavad-gita 2.11 -- Rotary Club Address -- Hotel Imperial, Delhi, March 25, 1976: The tip of the hair you divide into hundred part, and take one part. Again divide it into hundred parts. That one part is the measurement of the soul. That means one ten thousandth part of the top of the hair. So how you can see? But that small particle is giving you living force. This knowledge we get from Bhagavad-gītā, and that is the fact. You cannot get life by analyzing this material body. That is not possible. You have to find out what is that small particle. You have to hear. Therefore you cannot get knowledge by your material activities. You have to hear it from the authorities; otherwise there is no possibility. Just like you cannot understand who is your father. You have to take the knowledge from your mother. If mother certifies, "This gentleman is your father," that is correct. But if you go on researching who is your father you will never be able to know who is your father. Similarly, what is life, what is soul, what is our, this body, what is the ultimate goal of life, why you are suffering—all this knowledge you have to take from the higher authorities. That is called Vedic process, not to endeavor by research. What you can research? Our fund of knowledge is very, very poor, limited. You cannot have perfect knowledge unless you hear from the authority. So Kṛṣṇa is the authority. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means you take knowledge from the best authority. Don't manufacture knowledge. That will not help you. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So here Kṛṣṇa says that "My dear Arjuna, you are talking like a very learned man." That is our disease. Everyone will talk as if... We manufacture, but that is useless. Ke āmi kene āmāya jāre... You cannot make any solution. Therefore the whole world is in chaotic condition. We speak of our own country, India. Not only India, everywhere the chaotic condition is because they have no real knowledge. They are simply claiming to be very learned man, which is chastised here by Kṛṣṇa. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādān: [Bg. 2.11] "You are presenting yourself as very learned man, but the subject matter which you have taken, this body, this body is nothing but dead lump of matter." That is said here, that aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca. This body, when it is living condition... Living condition means so long the soul is there, it looks like very bright, beautiful, moving here and there. And when the soul leaves this body, then what it is? It has no value, a lump of matter. Just like a motorcar. So long it is moving, it is worth one lakh, and so long it does not move, it is simply lump of iron and copper and something. Who cares for it? It is thrown away. Same thing. The body has no value. It has value so long the soul is there. Otherwise suppose a big man... They are lamenting such, "A great man has passed away." But what is that such great man? He is lying on the floor, on the bed, the same man. So why you are seeing that he has gone? Then who has gone? You have never seen him who has gone. This is knowledge. So our human life is meant for understanding what has gone from the body which makes the body a lump of matter... [break]

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Māyā has taken their knowledge, taken away. They have been stolen, because they have no real knowledge
Lecture on SB 1.2.9 -- New Vrindaban, September 7, 1972: So here we have discussed that everyone can cultivate his particular type of occupational duty with the aim for attaining ultimate salvation. Because the human life is meant for salvation, to get free from the bondage of repetition of birth, death... But the modern civilized men or the so-called intelligent, intellectual class of men, they have no such information. Therefore they have been described in the Bhagavad-gītā as mūḍhāḥ, māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ.
na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ
prapadyante narādhamāḥ
māyayāpahṛta-jñānā
āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ

[Bg. 7.15]

Āsuri-bhāva, āsuri-bhāva means simply sense gratification. That is āsuri-bhāva. There is no other ambition. So practically, modern society is going on on the āsuri-bhāva. They have rejected God consciousness, and they're simply interested in sense gratification. Āsuri-bhāvam āśritāḥ. Therefore, in spite of all educational advancement... They're very much proud of having big, big degrees, but Bhagavad-gītā says, māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. Māyā has taken their knowledge, taken away. They have been stolen, because they have no real knowledge. Real knowledge is how to get freedom from repetition of birth and death. They do not believe in the next life. They think simply... Big, big professors, I have talked, especially in Russia. They think that "So long this body is there, you enjoy sense gratification to the utmost," the Cārvāka theory. This was also cultured long ago in India.

ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet yāvaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet
bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar āgamano bhavet
"Why you are thinking of next birth? When this body is burnt into ashes, everything is finished." That is Cārvāka theory, atheistic. That is going on still. The Cārvāka class of men are always there.
The so-called modern scientists, they are simply correcting their mistake. Therefore they have no real knowledge
Lecture on SB 1.15.44 -- Los Angeles, December 22, 1973: So knowledge means without any mistake. Anything without any mistake, that is perpetually right. And anything based on mistaken idea, that will change. You have to correct the mistake. The so-called modern scientists, they are simply correcting their mistake. Therefore they have no real knowledge. Nobody can have real knowledge, because we are imperfect. Our senses are imperfect. That is our defect in the conditioned life. We have got four defects: we commit mistake, we become illusioned, our senses are imperfect, and we cheat. Because our knowledge is imperfect, still, we take the position of teacher; therefore we are cheater—not teacher, but cheater. So the teacher society nowadays is the cheater society. And this modern world is a society of the cheater and the cheated. That's all. Somebody is cheating and somebody is being cheated. This is going on.

So how can we not be cheated? That is mahātmabhiḥ. You have to follow the previous great ācāryas, mahātmabhiḥ. Just like Kṛṣṇa is accepted. Kṛṣṇa said He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Arjuna accepted, "Yes, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma [Bg. 10.12]," after hearing from Him. Paraṁ brahma. And then, after Arjuna, disciplic succession. Lord Caitanya accepted. All the ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, accepted Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality. Śāstra says, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]. So we have to follow these mahājana. Otherwise we cannot get the right knowledge. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.186]. We have to follow great authorities. So who are authorities? They are mentioned in the śāstras:

svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ
kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ
prahlādo janako bhīṣmo
balir vaiyāsakir vayam

[SB 6.3.20]

Everything is there, śāstra. So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja followed the principles as it was done by the previous mahātmabhiḥ, great personalities, not only in his family but also otherwise. Because knowledge is... Right knowledge is not different. "Two plus two equal four," it is right in Europe, in America, in Asia, in white, in black, everywhere. It is truth, "Two plus two..." You cannot make "Two plus two equal to five." That is not possible. That is truth.
They have no standard knowledge, no real knowledge. They do not know anything. Still, they present themselves, pretend themselves as philosopher, as scientist, as guru, as father
Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- Honolulu, May 8, 1976: So Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that "Whatever punishment I have described in the Fifth Canto on account of different sinful activities, one has to suffer that unless he commits..., unless he performs atonement." This is the... Na ced ihaivāpacitiṁ yathāṁhasaḥ kṛtasya kuryān mana-ukta-pāṇibhiḥ. We can commit sinful activities in different ways. Mana, even by mind, we can commit sinful activities. If I contemplate something sinful by my mind, then we become affected. Therefore we must keep always sinless. Kaya-mana-vākya. This sannyāsa tridaṇḍa... There are three rods within the stick or the cover, three daṇḍas. Not three, four. Three is kaya—body, mind, kaya, mana, and words, and one he is personally. Therefore there are four sticks within the daṇḍa. Those who have taken sannyāsa, they know it. The idea is that "I surrender to my spiritual master or Kṛṣṇa." Spiritual master is identical with Kṛṣṇa because he gives true knowledge. Therefore he is as good as God. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata **. A spiritual master is considered directly as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sākṣād. Sākṣād means directly. Why? Because he is jñāna-prada. He gives knowledge, real knowledge. That is the qualification of spiritual master. Nobody can become spiritual master if he has no knowledge. If he's a speculator, he cannot become a spiritual master. He must give the right knowledge. Then he is bona fide spiritual master. Otherwise he's a bogus. Jñāna-prada. And without real knowledge, our life is useless. Just like this morning we were talking so many things. They have no standard knowledge, no real knowledge. They do not know anything. Still, they present themselves, pretend themselves as philosopher, as scientist, as guru, as father, no. Everyone, those who are guardian... Therefore śāstra has forbidden, gurur na sa syāt sva-jano na sa syāt pitā na sa syāj jananī na sa syāt: "One should not become a guru, one should not become a relative, one should not become the father, one should not become the mother, one should not become the husband..." In this way there is a list. Why? Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum: "If he does not know how to guide his disciple or subordinate to stop the cycle of birth and death." He should not do. This is the ultimate goal of life, that we have to stop the cycle. Punar-janma-jayayā. Punar-janma-jayayā, to conquer over next birth. Punar-janma-jayaya.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

There must be some protest against these men. They have no real knowledge
Morning Walk -- May 3, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Life, yes. They are searching after the original source. That is life, Kṛṣṇa, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam [Bs. 5.1], cause of all causes. So this is not theory; this is fact. Now we have to prove it. Then the whole program of these rascals' theory will be changed, and people will be happy. Because they are standing on a wrong theory, all their calculations are wrong, and people are suffering. The rascal Darwin's theory. So many, based on this foolish theory, wrong conception of life. So we have to challenge, protest. defeat. This will be our work. Our worshiping of Kṛṣṇa, that is our internal affair. The external affair—we need to establish this theory. Otherwise they'll be leading this society. Misleading. They are misleading, not leading, misleading. So we have to stop this misleading. Make program how to do it. Because it is truth, you will come triumphant. There is no doubt about it. It is truth. Now you have to know how to present the truth. That is your business. We are not presenting something theories, concocted by my brain. No. This is the fact. Rudimentarily we have got evidences, but it has to be presented by the modern ways. They are presenting some wrong principle by propaganda, and we cannot establish real principle by factual presentation? What is the difficulty?

Brahmānanda: Well, when we ask them, they say, "I do not know."

Prabhupāda: That is their position. They do not know. So immediately you have to challenge that rascal, "If you do not know why you teach? What is the value of your teaching? If your position is 'do not,' then why you stand for teaching fact or truth?"

Svarūpa Dāmodara: At the present time there are no people to protest.

Prabhupāda: So we have to protest. Why we are. We have to protest and kick them on their face. That should be our position. If others are not protesting, why we shall sit down?

Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is why... Others are not protesting. That is why people are accepting.

Prabhupāda: So you protest, write in book. You are scientist. Write in book. Prove scientifically. That will be your laurel of taking the doctorate degree. If you also become one of these rascal doctors, then what is the use of your Kṛṣṇa consciousness that whatever they say you silently accept? No. Just become Babhruvāhana, Manipur Babhruvāhana, that the fighting is faced. Take assistance, you have got. Ask Dr. Rao to come, join. Make plan. Go from town to town, all over the world. This has to be done. There was a poetry by Rabindranath Tagore. The purport of the poetry is that one who is mischievous, he is culprit. But one who tolerates mischievous activity, he is also culprit. If you are mischievous, you are criminal. But if you tolerate mischievous activities that is also criminal. Challenge these rascals. Stop their rascal theories. They have been described in the Bhāgavata as śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ [SB 2.3.19]. Saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. The so-called modern leader, he is a paśu, animal. And who exalts them? Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ: other lower animals like dogs, the hogs, śva-viḍ-varāha, camel and ass. So one big animal is being praised by these kinds of animals. So all the population without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they have been described as dogs, hogs, camel and ass. So when they vote for another animal, big animal, so this is their position. They are big animal, praised by the dogs, hogs, camel and ass. They are not praised by any intelligent man. That is stated in the Bhāgavata. Śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ. They are animals. These animals, they do not know the actual fact, and they are passing on as leaders, professors, scientists. Why they should be allowed? There must be some protest against these men. They have no real knowledge. They say, "I do not know," and still, they are passing as poet, er, scientist laureate. Why this should be allowed? Think over this matter seriously. You cannot tolerate this misleading. People are innocent. It is our duty to become merciful upon them, to give them real knowledge. And these people are misleading. There must be strong protests against these rascals. You can immediately write one article in some paper that "These rascals has earned, what is called prize, Nobel Prize, and he does not know." Immediately write one article. "His position is 'does not know, does not, do not, does not,' and he is getting this prize." So they are also dogs, hogs, asses, and he's a big ass, that's all. I have explained this in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Take help. They are creating also dogs, hogs, in university?
These scientists, they are also śūdras. Because they have no real knowledge
Morning Walk At Cheviot Hills Golf Course -- May 13, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: The Industrial Revolution means revolution of the śūdras. That is Industrial Revolution. Increasing the number of śūdras. These scientists, they are also śūdras. Because they have no real knowledge. Brāhmaṇa means one who has got real knowledge. Brahma-jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. And this industrial development means technologists; they are śūdras.

Kṛṣṇa-kāntī: But they have taken the position of brāhmaṇas in the society.

Prabhupāda: No, no. They are never as... They are always working. How they can take the position of the brāhmaṇa? Brāhmaṇa's position is to teach brāhmaṇa knowledge, brahma-jñāna. That is brāhmaṇa.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

"May not have," that means you have no real knowledge
Room Conversation -- March 2, 1975, Atlanta:

Guest (1): We are talking about a protoplasm, something that moves. It may not have the soul, it may not have any...

Prabhupāda: "May not have," that means you have no real knowledge, "may not have." "May not have," that is not knowledge. I say, "May have." Then what is the difference between you and me? "May not have," that is not knowledge. That is simply suggestion, speculation.

Guest (1): Want me to give examples...

Prabhupāda: Therefore we have to take knowledge from the perfect. Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes, dehino 'smin yathā dehe [Bg. 2.13]." You have to take that knowledge. You cannot say you are perfect and you'll say, "May not have." And what is this knowledge, "May not have"? Say definitely and prove it, scientifically. That is knowledge. "Perhaps," "May not," "May be," these are not knowledge.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Simply they bluff because they have no real knowledge
Room Conversation -- July 26, 1976, London:

Prabhupāda: Apramana.(?) Actually, what is this? My Guru Maharaja: "He's a bokāloka." My Guru Maharaja used to say all these men, "All rascals." I was at that time coming him(?). But he said, all, "Everyone rascals." He told me, "Rabindranath Tagore and..., bokāloka."

Hari-śauri: What's the exact meaning of that word?

Prabhupāda: Bokāloka means just like a foolish boy. Bokāloka.

Bhagavān: Childish.

Prabhupāda: Childish, with no sense. Actually that is the fact. All these rascals, they have no sense. Simply they bluff because they have no real knowledge. Mayayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. That's a fact. If one, anyone, does not know Kṛṣṇa, then he's a bokā-loka. Immediately take it for granted, bokāloka. They take that we are very sectarian, but that is a fact.
Page Title:Have no real knowledge
Compiler:Rita
Created:02 of Sep, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=4, Con=4, Let=0
No. of Quotes:8