Indian man (2): In your lecture, Swamiji, if I don't mistake, you have mentioned many authorities, beginning with the Veda, Brahma-sūtra, Bhagavad-gītā or wisdom of the Mahābhārata. Do you accept all truth?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Indian man (2): Or are they stories? (?)
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because it is given by Vyāsadeva, therefore it is also authority.
Indian man (2): We have all listened to you very attentively.
Prabhupāda: Rāmāyaṇa, Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, that is also authority.
Indian man (2): We have listened to you very attentively and I have no doubt that the audience have learned much which is, could be practiced to help us in some way to realize what we are and to realize God. Now, if God Himself comes to teach to someone in this world, and if he has learned from God directly and he is satisfied that he has learned, that he has understood, can he, a few minutes afterwards, forget that he has received instruction from God and can he depart in a very ridiculous way from God, from what God has taught him in person?
Prabhupāda: Ridiculous way? What is that "ridiculous"?
Indian man (2): If I have read...
Prabhupāda: No, no. First of all correct yourself. What is that "ridiculous way"?
Indian man (2): If after receiving good education you act contrary to that education.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Indian man (2): At least, is ridiculous.
Brahmānanda: If you receive a good education and then you act contrary to that education.
Prabhupāda: If one has received good education, he cannot act contradictory.
Indian man (2): That is... I agree with you. But this is what, if I have understood...
Prabhupāda: So a person who has got real education, he cannot be ridiculous. No, why you are saying that?
Indian man (2): It can be explained by ridiculous.
Prabhupāda: No, no. Don't say anything which is contradictory. Education does not mean ridiculous. That means he is not educated.
Indian man (2): I have not said that education is ridiculous. I said that one who has got good education from a teacher...
Prabhupāda: So he cannot act ridiculously. If he acts ridiculously, then he has not good education.
Indian man (2): So if I have well understood...
Prabhupāda: You have not well understood. You say a person who has got education, still, he acts ridiculously. That means you have no knowledge what is education.
Indian man (2): I shall explain myself well, but if you wish to be...
Prabhupāda: So if you cannot explain yourself, how can I continue to hear you?
Indian man (2): If you have got one minute more patience I will explain how.
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. If you speak ridiculously, how can I hear you? You say that one man has got education and he acts ridiculously. This is... Your statement is ridiculous.
Indian man (2): I said if a man who has good education...
Prabhupāda: No, no. He has no good education. You cannot say that. If he acts ridiculously, that, he has no good education.
Indian man (2): Well, let me put it another way. In the Bhagavad-gītā is there a passage, is there a chapter where Arjuna says, "I have heard all Your teachings. Now I have understood the truth," or not?
Prabhupāda: So you have to hear and you have to understand; then you can speak. Otherwise you will speak ridiculously.
Indian man (2): No. Arjuna has said that he has heard God Himself speak to him and that he has understood the truth and that we are all, as you have said, a little bit of a finger in a body and the finger must serve the body.
Prabhupāda: So you have to approach such person who has heard God, just like Arjuna.
Indian man (2): The next day he goes on the battlefield and he hears that his son has been killed. He loses all his self-control and he said, "I am going to throw myself in the fire. I have lost my son." Is that the action of a man who has heard God Himself speak to him? This is what I want to ask.
Prabhupāda: You mean to say Arjuna? What is your statement? You mean to say Arjuna?
Indian man (2): Yes.
Prabhupāda: So Arjuna, he... Of course, sentiment... Just like theoretically we understand, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Still, when my son dies I become affected. That is temporary. That is temporary. But Arjuna, after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa gave him the liberty that "Now I have spoken to you everything. Now whatever you..." (break) ...under certain circumstances. But if your conviction is that "I shall act according to the order of God," that is final. That is final. He did not act against the will of the Lord. That is his victory. Temporarily he might have been disturbed when his son was killed. That is a different thing. Everyone becomes. But that does not mean he stopped work. That is wanted. What was the final conclusion? He did not leave the warfield because his son Abhimanyu was killed; therefore he left—"No, I don't want to fight"? No, he did not do that. He was affected for the time being. That is natural. But finally he concluded and he said, "Yes," kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73). Naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā: "My illusion is now over. I shall fight." That is right conclusion.
Indian man (2): Thank you.