It is not a question of any personal religion or personal ambition or something manufactured by some imperfect sense enjoyer. It is authorized because Bhagavad-gītā is authorized. Bhagavad-gītā is accepted... First of all, He was, it was accepted by Arjuna in toto. Sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava (BG 10.14). "My dear Kṛṣṇa, whatever You are saying, I accept it in toto, without any interpretation, without any rejection." Somebody says, somebody may say, "Arjuna was Kṛṣṇa's friend. To praise Him, he might have said like that." No. Arjuna immediately gives evidence that "It is not that I am accepting but you are accepted as, as such by such great personalities as, like Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Asita." He gives authority. So that was five thousand years ago. Later on, all the ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka, even Śaṅkarācārya. We Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, they differ little with Śaṅkarācārya. Impersonalist and personalist. But Śaṅkarācārya even, even though he was impersonalist, he accepted Kṛṣṇa in his commentary on Bhagavad-gītā. Sai bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no doubt about it. By all authorities. And Kṛṣṇa Himself says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). "There is no more superior authority than Me."
Imperfect senses (Lectures, Other)
Expressions researched:
"imperfect experience of the senses"
|"imperfect in his senses"
|"imperfect material senses"
|"imperfect of senses"
|"imperfect sense"
|"imperfect senses"
|"imperfect, illusioned, and cheating senses"
|"sense - they are all imperfect"
|"sense are not the perfect"
|"sense impressions, imperfect"
|"sense is always imperfect"
|"sense perception are all imperfect"
|"sense perception for their imperfect knowledge"
|"sense perception, that is imperfect"
|"sense, it is imperfect"
|"sense, they are imperfect"
|"senses are admittedly imperfect"
|"senses are all imperfect"
|"senses are also imperfect"
|"senses are blunt, imperfect"
|"senses are faulty, imperfect"
|"senses are imperfect"
|"senses are neither imperfect"
|"senses are not imperfect"
|"senses are not perfect"
|"senses are so imperfect"
|"senses are so imperfect"
|"senses are so limited, imperfect"
|"senses are very blunt, imperfect"
|"senses are very imperfect"
|"senses is always imperfect"
|"senses must be imperfect"
|"senses you will find imperfect"
|"senses, all are imperfect"
|"senses, you become imperfect"
|"senses? They are all imperfect"
Lectures
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Progress means then you have to go to the perfect. That means the knowledge which you possessed, that was imperfect. Again you say... "So from imperfect platform we are going to the perfect." But if we get from the perfect this knowledge, then we get perfect knowledge, from the perfect person. Perfect person means he does not commit mistake. He is not illusioned. His senses are not imperfect. And he does not cheat. This is the four points of perfection. Cheating propensity's there. To the imperfect person, there is cheating propensity. He knows that this point, "I'm not very clear, but still he gives some idea." That is cheating.
You cannot judge the conclusion of the Vedas. You have to accept as it is. Because we are conditioned. We have got so many defects—we are illusioned, we commit mistake, our senses are imperfect... So many defects.
Defective means generally a conditioned soul has four defects: he commits mistake, he is illusioned, he has got a cheating propensity, and his senses are imperfect. The senses, we are acquiring knowledge through our senses, and if our senses are imperfect, how we can acquire perfect knowledge? Just like we are trying to see the planetary system through microscope or binocular, telescope, but the telescope machine is manufactured by a person who is, whose senses are defective.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
You are cheaters, and your senses are imperfect. How you can comment on Vedānta which was compiled by Vyāsadeva, the most perfect personality, liberated personality? How you can comment on Bhagavad-gītā? It is spoken by Kṛṣṇa. So you have no right. If you at all want to study Vedānta-sūtra, you have to accept it as it is, without any change.
We are subjected to commit mistakes, we are sometimes illusioned, and sometimes we try to cheat, and always our senses are imperfect. So therefore whatever knowledge I will present or I will tell you, that is all imperfect. You cannot expect perfect knowledge from imperfect person. Just like a medical man, a doctor, when he's sick, he puts himself under the care of another medical man. He does not take care of himself because he's at that time imperfect physician.
The whole world, philosophers, scientists, they are going on on their own imperfect senses. Therefore everything is rascaldom. It is imperfect. It is not real knowledge. Śāstra-cakṣuṣa. You should know things through the śāstra, guru. Sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya, tinete kariyā aikya. This is... If you want to know something, then it must be confirmed by sādhu, śāstra and guru. Then it is complete. And if you speculate, if you establish something under speculation, then it is not right. It is wrong.
So those who want to see God or the Supreme Absolute Truth by the agency of their imperfect senses, they say that God is impersonal. They're imperfect. That is a realization of the imperfect senses. Perfectly, the perfectly vision, perfect vision of the Supreme Lord is a person.
Sri Isopanisad Lectures
Just like I have given many times this example that if you want to know your father by experimental knowledge, is it possible? Not possible. Then how to know my father? By hearing from the authority, mother. That's all. Simple thing. Similarly, things which are beyond our experimental knowledge you should not try to understand by your imperfect senses. That is not possible. If you cannot know your material father by experimental knowledge, how you can know the Supreme Father by experimental knowledge? The original father... The father of the father, father, father, you go on searching father, and the original father is Kṛṣṇa.
Śruti means these Vedas. They are not experimental knowledge. They are not knowledge established by the research work of contaminated, conditioned soul. Contaminated, conditioned soul, their senses are imperfect. They cannot see things as they are. Simply they theorize, "It may be like that." So much they can say. So "It may be like that," that is no knowledge. Knowledge definite. There is no mistake. Conditioned souls, they commit mistake, they are illusioned, they cheat... Cheating means one who does not understand what is Bhagavad-gītā but he is writing commentary on Bhagavad-gītā.
Festival Lectures
First that we commit mistake, we are illusioned, we cheat, and at the end, all our senses are imperfect. Just like we are very much proud of seeing. Everyone says, "Can you show me? I want to see." And what can you see? What is the power of seeing? At night, if there is no sunshine, you cannot see, so what is the use of your seeing? If there is wall, you cannot see what is beyond the wall.
We cannot see even the eyelid which is actually with the eyes. But we cannot see it. In this way, if you study, every one of your senses you will find imperfect.
So your senses are imperfect, you are cheating, you are illusioned, and you commit mistake. How you can give perfect knowledge? Therefore we don't accept any knowledge from an imperfect personality.
Therefore, the śāstra says any conditioned soul, he must commit mistake. However great he may be in the estimation of fools and rascals. Sva-viḍ-varāhostra. He must commit mistake, he must be illusioned, his propensity is to cheat, and at the end, all the senses are imperfect. We have several times described. So, so much imperfectness, how he can give perfect knowledge?
Suppose if you want to know me or know something about me, you can ask some friend, "Oh, how is Swamiji?" He may say something; other may, something. But when I explain to you myself, "This is my position. I am this," that is perfect. That is perfect. So if you want to know the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead, you cannot speculate, neither meditate. It is not possible, because your senses are very imperfect. So what is the way? Just hear from Him. So He has kindly come to say Bhagavad-gītā. Śrotavyaḥ: "Just try to hear." Śrotavyaḥ and kīrtitavyaś ca.
We are worshiping Kṛṣṇa personally. Kṛṣṇa personally, Kṛṣṇa has kindly assumed this form just... Because we cannot see Kṛṣṇa, the gigantic Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa is everywhere... Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Our imperfect senses cannot see Kṛṣṇa immediately. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind, as we can see... We can see stone, we can see wood, we can see earth, we can see water, we can see color. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa comes before us just quite suitable for our vision. But He's Kṛṣṇa.
Initiation Lectures
The fountainhead of all names is God, and He has no name. You see? He is zero. These are the arguments. But we don't accept. The thing is they do not know the name because their senses are not purified. You cannot understand God by imperfect senses. Therefore Bhāgavata says, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Nāmādi. Nāma means name; ādi, because name is the beginning of everything.
So if we want to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, we should begin from the name, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, the name, the holy name. But we cannot understand whether this is the name of God due to our imperfect senses. Therefore the formula is, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). You cannot understand.
General Lectures
Even a child, he wants to cheat. The mother asks, "Oh, what is in your hand?" Oh, the child says, "No, mother, nothing," although the mother can see he has got something. So the cheating propensity is there. And above all, your senses are imperfect. You are proud of your eyes: "I want to see." What you can see? If the light is off, your seeing power is immediately gone. If there is no sun, your seeing power is gone. Therefore we see under conditions. Therefore imperfect. So you cannot get perfect knowledge by imperfect senses, by speculative knowledge. You have to accept authority.
Mother is the last authority, who is your father. Similarly, we have to accept authority, and if the authority is not a conditioned soul, if he is liberated soul, if he is not a cheater, if his senses are not imperfect, if he does not make any mistakes, if he is not in illusion, if you receive knowledge from that authority, then your knowledge is perfect.
However I may accept this method or that method or that method, but accepting the method means employing my senses. But the senses are imperfect. Either I accept this or that, I have to work with my senses. There are no other instruments. So when senses are imperfect, so whatever method you accept, that will be imperfect. Then which method will be perfect? That method will be perfect, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15).
The knowledge coming from the supreme source, that is called avaroha-panthā, and the knowledge which is being sought after by using our imperfect senses, that is called āroha-panthā. Ascending process and descending process. So by ascending process, we can never come to the real knowledge. That is not possible, because our senses are imperfect.
And knowledge by imperfect senses, that will always remain imperfect. And knowledge from others, that is real goal. But provided you receive that knowledge from the perfect... As we have given several times the example, just like a child wants to know who is his father. Now if he searches out "Who is my father?" he asks everybody, "Are you my father? Are you my father? Are you my father?" he will have to go on searching. Then again if he asks his neighbor, "Who is my father?" the neighbor also may not know and may give him misinformation. So that is also not possible. But if he goes to his mother and his mother is sincere and perfect, she can give, "My dear boy, he is your father." That is perfect. So neither by researching one can find out his father, neither by employing his imperfect senses.
You cannot manufacture with your teeny brain, imperfect senses. Human being, they're imperfect, always. Just for example, that a child is seeing the sun, and a scientist is seeing the sun. By nature, the child, their knowledge of the sun is imperfect. The same child, when he takes instruction from a scientist, he can understand the sun is so great. Therefore direct perception of knowledge by our the senses is always imperfect. You have to approach authority—in every sphere of life.
The whole Vedic literature is full of Kṛṣṇa's activities. This Bhagavad-gītā is full of Kṛṣṇa's activities. Simply by understanding that God is great, that is neutral state of understanding. But you have to elevate more and more, how great He is. How great He is, it is not possible to understand, because our senses are always imperfect. But as far as possible you can hear about the activities of God, about the position of God, and you can think over it, and you can make your judgment, you can put your argument.
One can understand what is God by the mercy of God, not by mental speculation. It is not possible. We have got very limited scope of knowledge. Our senses are imperfect, we are full of cheating propensities, and we are liable to commit mistake. These four defects are within us. However a great man one may be, he is sure to commit mistake.
Therefore, because we commit mistake, because we are sometimes illusioned, and because we have got a propensity of cheating others, and because our senses are imperfect, therefore, simply by mental speculation it is not possible to realize God. Then how one can realize God? That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā and other literatures, that by the mercy of God one can realize God. So by His causeless mercy, He comes down. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7), it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.
There is no other way. You cannot speculate. You cannot manufacture. That is not possible, because your senses are all imperfect, your capacity is imperfect, so you cannot have any perfect knowledge. You have to get it from authority who has got perfect knowledge. That is the principle. So if you want to know God, then you have to approach a bona fide person who knows God. Otherwise, it is not possible.
Just like my eyes. I cannot see perfectly. I cannot see the eyelid. I cannot see the distant place. Although I am very proud that "I want to see face to face," but what you can see? What is your value of your instrument, seeing? That is imperfect. Therefore we cannot get perfect knowledge by these imperfect senses. By sense perception, by direct utilization of our senses, we cannot get perfect knowledge. The perfect knowledge you can get when your senses have been purified to the perfect order. Then you can see.
He is to commit mistake, he is illusioned, and he has got a cheating propensity also. Everyone is thinking in transaction that "I have cheated that man very nicely. In business transaction I have gained; he has lost." And of all the deficiencies, most important deficiency is that our senses are imperfect. We say, "I want to see God," but we forget that our eyes are so imperfect that I cannot see in the nearest eyelid. As soon as I close my eyes, I do not see the eyelid. This is the power of my seeing. Therefore we should not be so much proud of our seeing power that we'll say that "I want to see God. Can you show me God?" This is not possible.
These, our present senses, are very blunt, imperfect. It is to be purified by sevonmukha, being eager to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa. Then our senses will be purified. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Nirmalam means without any contamination. At the present moment our senses are contaminated. I am thinking in so many different consciousness. I am thinking in consciousness of nationality, community, society, friendship—so many ways—but without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore our consciousness is impure.
When there are so many things present already, what is the use of research work? First of all assimilate what is already there. And what is research you can make? Your senses are faulty, imperfect. What research you can work? So that is not possible. That is humbug. You simply try to understand, without any malinterpretation, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and you understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is God. And you follow the ācāryas, then your life is successful.
The so-called scientists, they say, "We are trying." You can try on, but it is beyond your experience, beyond your knowledge. Your senses are all imperfect. You can... You cannot understand soul by experimental knowledge. You have to hear from the authority. Just like Kṛṣṇa says,
- dehino 'smin yathā dehe
- kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
- tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir
- dhīras tatra na muhyati
- (BG 2.13)
This is the process. But you can think over. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehe means "Within this body, there is the proprietor of the body." That is soul. Now, by experimenting, by taking in somebody's body, just like in medical science they dissect the body, you cannot find out. It is so small. Therefore you are saying, "There is no soul." But there is soul. From your experimental knowledge, you cannot understand where is that soul, but there is soul.
There is no difference between Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. It is only the different features of realization. If you want to realize the Absolute Truth by your imperfect senses... We should always know that our senses are always imperfect. Just like we are very much proud of seeing with my own eyes. We say sometimes, challenge, "Can you show me God? Can you show me this or that?" But we do not know how much imperfect are our eyes.
Cheating propensity means I do not know something definitely, but I present my theories as if I know perfectly. This is cheating. And the last is imperfectness of the senses. All our senses are imperfect. Take, for example, the eyes. We see under certain conditions: when there is light, sunlight or electric light, we can see. We cannot see what is beyond this wall. We cannot see which is very long distantly placed. We cannot see even the nearest, eyelid. Therefore our seeing power is conditioned. Similarly, all other senses.
So we cannot have perfect knowledge by our imperfect senses. But at the present moment, especially in this age, we are accepting so many philosophers, scientists, although we know that their senses are imperfect. This imperfectness is increasing. We are not becoming liberated from imperfectness. But we are increasing due to this Kali-yuga.
Religion means to understand God and to learn how to love God. So here Arjuna, he loves Kṛṣṇa, he's a lover of God; therefore he's asking question from Kṛṣṇa. But whatever question is answered by Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect, because He is perfect. So our process of receiving knowledge: from the perfect. Not one who (is) illusioned, who commits mistake, whose senses are imperfect and wants to cheat. Because how an imperfect person can take the position of a teacher if he has...? Now so many scientists, we ask so many things, and they simply reply, "Yes, we are trying," "In future." That means he is not yet perfect. So if you are not perfect, why you are taking the position of a teacher? First of all, you be perfect.
The ultimate goal of Vedic knowledge is to know God. But we cannot know God. We have blunt senses. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). With these material senses, blunt senses, imperfect senses, we cannot understand God. That is not possible. But if we can please God by your service, by our love, He reveals Himself, revelation. That is the process.
Ordinary person, they have got four deficiencies: they commit mistake, they are illusioned, their senses are imperfect, and with imperfect knowledge they try to speak—that is cheating. Therefore we have to receive knowledge from the person who knows past, present, and future. So the best personality—there are so many others—Kṛṣṇa and His representative, both of them are perfect because Kṛṣṇa is perfect, there is no doubt, and one who speaks according to Kṛṣṇa, he is also perfect.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: But due to our imperfect senses...
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is what is called māyā. Māyā has no existence, but it appears like truth. The same example: the shadow has no existence, but it also looks like my finger, and everything exactly. In the mirror you see your face exactly the same, but it is untruth. The truth is one. Truth cannot be two types of truth. What is taken as truth for the present moment, and by experience he comes to the right truth, that is called māyā.
Śyāmasundara: Today we are discussing philosopher David Hume. He is probably the most famous of the British philosophers. He was very skeptical about achieving certain knowledge, so he came to the conclusion that the only knowledge we can possess is a mere sequence of ideas, none of which can be proved to be true. In other words, we can only derive any knowledge from our senses, but even that knowledge is mere assumption.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We say also, because our senses are imperfect, so there is no possibility of achieving perfect knowledge by sense exercise. It is not possible. That is our philosophy.
Śyāmasundara: He says there is no other source of knowledge except the senses.
Prabhupāda: No. We don't agree. Therefore it is called avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ, adhokṣaja—there are so many names. The senses are imperfect. They cannot reach. Just like we cannot know what is there in the sun, but a geologist or astronomer, he can say, one who has studied. Therefore our process of knowledge is to take from the authorities. That is perfect.
Prabhupāda: First point is that our senses are imperfect. That is admitted. And God is perception. But whether he believes actually in the existence of God?
Hayagrīva: He believes in the existence of God.
Prabhupāda: And what is his perception of God? If he believes in God, then he must give some idea what is God.
Hayagrīva: He has no idea other than the fact that...
Prabhupāda: Our senses are imperfect. We, we admit that there is God. Now, if our senses are imperfect, how we can imagine "God is like this," "God is like that"? That actually if God explains Himself, why should we not accept that?
Hayagrīva: In his, uh... Hume appears opposed to the search for God in the ideal world. He writes, "Why not stop at the material world? How can we satisfy ourselves without going on ad infinitum, forever. If the material world rests upon a similar ideal world, this ideal world must rest upon some other and so on, without end. It were better, therefore, never to look beyond the present material world.
Hayagrīva: He says, "All the new discoveries in astronomy which prove the immense grandeur and magnificence of the works of nature are so many additional arguments for a Deity according to the true system of theism," that is his natural, what he calls natural religion. In this way Hume rejects the necessity or desirability of miracles as well as the conception of a God transcendental to his creation. He says it's not the being of God that is in question but God's nature. This nature cannot be ascertained through study of the universe itself. However, if the universe can only be studied by imperfect senses, what is the value of our conclusion? How can we ever come to know the nature of God?
Prabhupāda: Nature of God, it can be explained by God Himself. That is our Vedic process. We know who is God, and He explains, "My nature is this." Just like He says, "I am the greatest principle," mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). "There is no more higher principle than Me." This is fact. If something is greater than God, then how one can become God? That is not possible. So greatest means He is great in everything. He is great in richness, He is great in reputation, He is great in influence, He is great in bodily power, He is great in beauty and He is great in renunciation. If we can find out somebody that He tallies with this greatness, then He is God. So that we find in Kṛṣṇa; therefore Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, and what He says in the Bhagavad-gītā we accept as fact. And if we analyze His statements intelligently, pruriently, then we will find that what Kṛṣṇa says, that is fact.
Śyāmasundara: Well, in this particular attempt Kant is trying to form those ideas purely through the reason. Pure reason.
Prabhupāda: You say that material senses cannot reach transcendence. Then what is the meaning of reasoning? If your senses are imperfect, so if you put some reason by the senses, then that is also imperfect.
Śyāmasundara: So ideally it is the moral obligation of everyone to obey the moral command, but...
Prabhupāda: Not moral command—the supreme command. What is moral for you, it may be immoral for others. One man's food is another man's poison. So therefore Kṛṣṇa says to Yudhiṣṭhira, "Go and tell lies." That is moral. Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, "What is this nonsense? You fight. Kill them." That is moral. So moral means to obey Kṛṣṇa's order, God's order. That is morality. You cannot create morality. You are imperfect. Your senses are imperfect. You do not know what is actually moral. Therefore we should implicitly, blindly follow the orders of Kṛṣṇa or His representative. That is moral.
Karandhara: They say it's been millions of years, but how do they prove it's been millions of years?
Śyāmasundara: Through radioactivity.
Karandhara: But that is an imperfect method, devised by imperfect senses.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: It is limited. It is limited. It is very hard to find about five thousand or six thousand years back.
Prabhupāda: At least he has no power to see everything. That is a fact. He's not so powerful that he can see everywhere and everything. That you have to accept. He has limited power to see. By that limited power to see he cannot conclude that one species (is) extinct. That is not possible. No scientist will accept that. After all, your senses by which you are (indistinct), they're limited. So how you can say, "This is finished," or "This is that." That is not to be accepted. Because your senses are imperfect. You cannot see. You cannot search out. Have you searched out all the earthly layers or the 25,000 miles everywhere? That is not possible for you. The whole earthly planet is circumference is 25,000 miles, radius how many, has he discovered that all the places?
Prabhupāda: This experimental knowledge is always imperfect. Because they are experimenting with imperfect senses, therefore they must be imperfect. Our source of knowledge is different. We do not depend on experimental knowledge.
Śyāmasundara: You say they are all existing now, but I don't see the dinosaur. There are no dinosaurs on this planet.
Prabhupāda: That is not the denied. Dinosaur you may not have seen, it may be existing some other... Neither I have seen the 8,400,000 different species of, different forms of life. But my source of knowledge is different. Your source of knowledge is different. You are experimenter with imperfect senses. I am taking from the perfect who has seen, who knows things. Therefore my knowledge is perfect. Just the same example: I am receiving knowledge from my mother, "Here is your father," and you are trying to search out where is your father. You don't go to the mother, but you are searching out. So therefore, however you may search, your knowledge always will be imperfect.
Śyāmasundara: Just like they say that the rate of disintegration of the atomic particles of an element is constant. But it may not be constant; perhaps in earlier times it was faster or slower, there are so many possibilities.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So the so-called scientists and philosophers who do not follow the system of (sic:) ascending knowledge, knowledge received from higher authorities, they are not perfect. They cannot have any perfect knowledge, either research work with the blunt imperfect senses. They will not... So whatever they say, we take it as imperfect-dream. And when Kṛṣṇa says that "I enter into the universes," viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat (BG 10.42). Now the weightlessness of the planets, the scientists describe in so many ways, but that is not very perfect. What is the cause of weightlessness? I have, what is called, (indistinct).
Śyāmasundara: Well, since knowledge is limited to our experience...
Prabhupāda: Yes. That's all right. If your knowledge is limited, then you cannot generalize. Therefore our conclusion is that we don't take knowledge from anyone whose power is limited. There are four defects of the ordinary man—he may be John Stuart Mill or something—because he's to commit mistakes, he's illusioned. Just like he's talking of that induction, studying all men. This is an illusion. He cannot study. Suppose you have hundreds and thousands of men you have studied. That does not mean the whole set of human being is finished. That is, therefore, this theory is illusion. And because he's an ordinary man, he's illusioned that it is possible. So these are the defects. One commits mistakes, one is illusioned, one cheats. This is cheating also. The theory which he is putting forward is never possible to be executed, and still he's posing himself that he is philosopher. That is cheating. His senses are imperfect. He cannot do that. And still he proposes the theory. That is cheating. So these four defects are there: committing mistake, to illusion, to cheat others, and studying everything with imperfect senses.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Our senses are imperfect, simply by empirical scientific knowledge is (indistinct) are not complete (indistinct). So you..., we cannot compete with māyā. The ultimate conclusion is that there is a supreme cause.
Prabhupāda: Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). So our knowledge, Kṛṣṇa conscious people, our knowledge is perfect. We say everything is caused by Kṛṣṇa. That's all.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. There is one common observation also in science. They say that nothing can come out of nothing. That is already there. But it is not known, due to our imperfect senses.
Prabhupāda: That is science, we do not know.
Śyāmasundara: Nothing can come out of nothing.
Prabhupāda: Nothing. If something has come out, then background must be something. Therefore our definition is janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), everything, the root cause, the original source, is the Brahman, Absolute Truth. So whatever we are exhibiting, just like the other day, whatever we are thinking, there is some existence. Otherwise it cannot come to our ideas and thinking. The same scientific theory: nothing can come out of nothing.
Prabhupāda: Because our study is imperfect, because if our senses are imperfect, our scope of knowledge is imperfect, therefore as soon as we receive the knowledge from the perfect source, then it is perfect.
Śyāmasundara: He says in a type of understanding that is direct, such as "This snowball is white," that there is no possibility of error because there is no distinction between what a thing seems to be and what it is in reality.
Prabhupāda: No. Anything we receive knowledge directly by our sense perception, that is imperfect knowledge.
Śyāmasundara: Because even if we see the seven colors in the laboratory with instruments, we still don't understand the even simpler facts of which that is composed.
Śyāmasundara: He would say that the only reality instead of the sun is that the crops would grow, feed everyone.
Prabhupāda: That's all... They are simply by-products, simply by-products. But you do not know the reality. If you speak of reality, if you are satisfied only the by-product of the reality, then that is a different thing. But when you speak of reality it does not mean, because it appeals to your senses, therefore it is reality, because your senses are imperfect. You cannot realize anything perfectly with these defective senses.
Purports to Songs
We cannot manufacture a way of life. We have to follow the footprints of mahājana, great personalities. That is the way. Here, at the present moment, everyone is speculating. What is the use of speculation? You are imperfect. Your senses are imperfect. Whatever you establish, because you have established by imperfect senses, they are all imperfect. Therefore, that suffering, there is no solution. So speculative method will not help us. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching is It is not as He had manufactured something. He is also following. He quoted one verse from the prayers of Lord Brahmā.
Don't think yourself that you are very learned. Because if the senses are imperfect, how you can be learned? Whatever you see, that is imperfect. Just like we see every day the sun, these eyes. And what we see? It is just like a disc. Is it a disc? It is fourteen hundred times bigger than this earth. So what is the value of your seeing? You cannot see what is behind the wall. Still, you are proud of seeing—"Can you show me? Can you show me God?" And what power you have got to see? That he does not consider. He thinks, "I have got seeing power." Similarly, you study every sense—they are all imperfect, blunt. So any knowledge you acquire by gymnastic of the senses-useless. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching.
So to know everything perfectly you cannot do it simply by speculating or handling your senses, imperfect senses. San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. You hear from the realized soul. So Kṛṣṇa, hear from Kṛṣṇa. That is He is perfect. And sthāne sthitāḥ. To hear about Kṛṣṇa, you do not require to change your position. Sthāne sthitāḥ. You are medical man? That's all right. Remain medical man. You are scientist? That's all right. You are lawyer? That's all right. You are fool? That's all right. (laughter) Because everyone is fool, but they are divided by mental concoction that "Here is a fool; here is a learned." Because the learned is also a fool.
| Page Title: | Imperfect senses (Lectures, Other) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, ParthsarathyM |
| Created: | 15 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=58, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 58 |