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No knowledge (Lectures, BG)

Expressions researched:
"no knowledge" |"no such knowledge" |"not in knowledge" |"unknowledgeable"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966:

Now just we can compare our present body, whether this body is sac-cid-ānanda. No. This body is asat. Instead of being sat it is asat. Antavanta ime dehā (BG 2.18), Bhagavad-gītā says that this body is antavat, perishable. And... Sac-cid-ānanda. Instead of becoming sat, it is asat, just the opposite. And instead of becoming cit, full of knowledge, it is full of ignorance. We have no knowledge of the spiritual kingdom, neither we have got any perfect knowledge of this material world. So many things unknown to us, therefore this body is ignorant. Instead of becoming full of knowledge it is ignorant. The body is perishable, full of ignorance, and nirānanda. Instead of becoming full of bliss, it is full of miseries. All the miseries that we experience in this material world, it is all due to this body. The Lord says that anta-kāle ca mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram (BG 8.5). One who quits this material body, simply by remembering Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he at once gets the spiritual body of sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1). The process of quitting this body and getting another body in the material world is also organized.

Lecture on BG 1.32-35 -- London, July 25, 1973:

You are suffering in this material world, dāvāgni, now, forest fire. This material world is forest fire. But they are so ignorant, they cannot understand that "We are burning in the blazing fire of this material existence. Our attempt should be how to get out of it." But there is no such knowledge. Just like animals. The animals are suffering. They are being taken to the slaughterhouse. There is no, I mean, strength of protesting. They are being slaughtered. So we are being also being slaughtered by the laws of nature. We are also being slaughtered. So we do not know how to make progress. That is slaughtering.

Lecture on BG 1.32-35 -- London, July 25, 1973:

I belong to that 'ism,' that 'ism,' that..." "Ism," what is that "ism"? Dharma, or "ism," what is that required? Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam... (SB 6.3.19). It is simple thing that the dharma means, religious code means, the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We have to obey. That is called dharma. But they have no knowledge, what is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, what is His order. They are here in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Supreme Personality of Godhead comes down to teach us, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). "When people forget their regulative life, I come down." So He has come down. He has come down. He will teach Arjuna that "You are so family-wise attached." Then He will teach. From the Second Chapter He will begin the teaching. Prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11). When Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa, that "I am now puzzled, what to do. So I know I am puzzled, I am kṣatriya. It is my duty to fight, but I am hesitating.

Lecture on BG 1.44 -- London, July 31, 1973:

So did he take permission from Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's representative? But he does not know the technique. He has unnecessarily accused, committed a great offense to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. So therefore inexperienced persons, they should not try to teach Bhagavad-gītā to others because he has no knowledge. This knowledge has to be received by paramparā system. Evam paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). So simply by academic career, by knowledge of ABCD, you cannot understand Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me (BG 4.3), without becoming bhakta... Therefore Sanātana Gosvāmī has forbidden that "Don't hear anything about Kṛṣṇa from a person who is not a Vaiṣṇava."

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Such persons are captivated by the external features of the material world, and therefore they do not know what liberation is. Persons who have no knowledge of liberation from material bondage are called non-Āryans. Arjuna was trying to deviate from his prescribed duties, declining to fight, although he was a kṣatriya or warrior. This act of cowardice is described as befitting the non-Āryans. Such deviation from duty does not help one in the progress of spiritual life, nor does it even give one the opportunity of becoming famous in this world. Lord Kṛṣṇa did not approve of the so-called compassion of Arjuna for his kinsmen."

Prabhupāda: So-called compassion. He was thinking that by showing that compassion he'll be, I mean to say, eulogized by Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa condemned it. Yes. Just the opposite. In other words, Kṛṣṇa is very strict also. That is the qualification of Kṛṣṇa and His associates. Vajrād api kaṭhora and kusumād api kamala. Softer than the flower and harder than the thunderbolt. Two sides. When Kṛṣṇa is strict He's harder than the thunderbolt, and when He's soft, He's softer than the flower. These two examples are given.

Lecture on BG 2.1-10 and Talk -- Los Angeles, November 25, 1968:

So if that technique becomes perfect, then our life is perfect. At once you are transferred to the Kṛṣṇaloka. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). "My dear Kaunteya, My dear Arjuna, that person, after quitting this body, he never comes back again to this nonsense material world, but he comes to Me." That is perfection. People have no knowledge who is transferred, where it is transferred, what is God, what is... No, nothing of the sort. Simply eat, drink, be merry and enjoy, and die like cats and dogs. That's all.

So we have tried to explain all these things in this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. Try to read it repeatedly and you get all information, all techniques. This life should not be misused. That should be the first point. It should be very properly utilized in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Consciousness is there. Just absorb it in Kṛṣṇa. Consciousness must be absorbed in some thought. Make it Kṛṣṇa thought always. Make your program in such a way that you cannot go out of Kṛṣṇa thought.

Lecture on BG 2.7-11 -- New York, March 2, 1966:

Generally goat. Now, these goats are sacrificed before a goddess Kālī, Goddess Kālī. So I have seen it, that one animal is being killed, slaughtered, and the, another animal, which will be slaughtered next, he's... It has been given some grass, and it is standing there. You see? It has no knowledge that "My next turn is mine," so it is not going away. So this is animal. This is animal. A human, human being, is not so fool. If there is sign that "Next time my killing is to be taken up," then he... At least he will protest or try to go away, something like that. But there is no such thing. So the distinction between animal and man is that that animal is not aware of the sufferings he is undergoing. There are sufferings both for the animals and for the man, but man is conscious. If a man is not awakened to his suffering, then he is in animal consciousness.

Lecture on BG 2.11 -- New York, March 4, 1966:

Illusioned. Now, illusioned you can see. Illusioned means taking one thing for another. That is called illusion. Just like in the desert, accepting the sand as water. That is called illusion. Similarly, every one of us who are identified with this body, he's under illusion. That is a false thing, but he has no knowledge. Even President Johnson, he's under illusion. Even the greatest scientist, he's under this illusion. So that, one is sure to commit mistake, and one is under illusion, and bhrama, pramāda and vipralambhana... Vipralambhana means the tendency for cheating.

Lecture on BG 2.12 -- New York, March 9, 1966:

Water in the desert. Now, in the desert, due to sun's reflection... You might have experienced in the street also, during blazing sun. It appears like water. Now, that animal, because it has no knowledge, it is, I mean to say, flying towards water in the desert. Although there is no water. But a sane man like you and me, or a human being, he knows that there is no water. There is no water. So this direction, that there is water, this mistake is committed by the animal because he, it has no sufficient knowledge. But one, a human being who has got sufficient knowledge, he does not commit that mistake. Yes.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:

So the finer materials, the mind, intelligence, and egotism, and still finer is the soul. Try to understand. There is soul, but because we have got no vision to see, we think... The so-called scientists, philosophers, they are under conclusion that there is no soul, this is only body, that's all. This is the disease of this present material world. They are... They have no knowledge practically what is the basic principle of this life, and still they are passing on as scientists, philosophers, religionists, yogis, swamis, but they have no knowledge—clear conception of the soul—they have no knowledge.

So that clear conception of soul you can have from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. He is speaking to Arjuna, and that is recorded by Vyāsadeva and which is presented before us as the Bhagavad-gītā. So we are presenting the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gītā, as it is, without any malinterpretation, because we cannot interpret Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:

Then where is your knowledge? Somebody is accepting the mind as the self, and somebody is accepting the, this gross body as the self. They do not know that both the body and the mind, both of them are material. And the force or the entity which is moving this body and mind, that is spirit. So they have no knowledge.

So that knowledge is being imparted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). Dehī, the soul, the proprietor of the body, just like you are the proprietor of your body. When I touch your finger, if I ask even a small child, "What is this?" He will immediately say, "My finger." He'll never say, "I finger." "My finger." Just try to understand. When any part of your body I touch, if I ask, "What is this?" You will say, "This is my hand, this is my leg, this is my nose, this is my..." Everywhere you will say "my." But nobody knows what is that "I." Nobody knows. But the "I" is there. Otherwise, how you say "my"?

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Mombassa, September 13, 1971:

The one dog is claiming, "It is my flesh," another dog claiming, "My flesh." But they cannot understand what is that "I." They are claiming "my," but they have no understanding of "I." Therefore, if a human being simply claims "my," "my country, my society, my wife, my husband, my body, my dress, my furniture, my home," where is "I"? This they do not think. They have no knowledge. In the school, college, university, there is no such knowledge what is that "I." Simply "my." So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for educating, educate people what is that "I." Everyone is engrossed with things, illusory thinking "my," but he has no identification what is that "I."

So Kṛṣṇa is giving instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā that "I" within the body is there. And the "I," or the spirit soul, that is changing the body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13). How changing? Just like a baby. A baby grows to become a child, a child grows to become a youth.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 19, 1972:

They are thinking that hanyamāne śarīre, hanyate. After killing the body, the body's finished, the man is finished. I was talking with a big professor in Moscow, Professor Kotovsky. He said: "Swamijī, after destruction of this body, there is nothing more. Everything is finished." So just see, a big professor, a responsible person, he has no knowledge about the soul, what is soul, what is body. He's superficially, he is studying that after this body is finished, everything's finished. But that is not the fact. And persons who do not know this fact, they are becoming leaders, they are becoming educators, they are becoming spiritual master, and so on. So how these people will be in knowledge? Because those who are teaching them, they are in ignorance. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). One blind man is leading so many blind men. So where is the education?

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- Hyderabad, November 22, 1972:

"In future we shall be able to inject some matter within the body and the body will again become alive." That is their dream. In the past history, it was never possible; at present also, it is not possible. How you can expect in future? But they are under illusion. They think like that, that "We are making progress." At all, no progress, practically. They have no knowledge. That is their position. They have no knowledge. So we have to understand from the authority. There are so many arguments. Now, if you say "This body's dead because the blood has become white. Blood corpuscles, they are now become white instead of becoming red." So if that is the possible, so why don't you make the blood red? By some chemical injection or by adding some color, as soon as the blood becomes red... Why don't you do that? No. If you say "That was 'natural' redness. That natural redness cannot be brought," then your science is defective.

Lecture on BG 2.17 -- (with Spanish translator) -- Mexico, February 17, 1975:

Therefore... Because this kind of activities will oblige me to accept another body, and as soon as we accept another material body we become subjected to the stringent laws of material nature. And the material miserable conditions are summarized into four items: birth, death, old age and disease. So those who are not in knowledge of the spirit soul, they are very irresponsibly prolonging his life in material activities. Material science could not find out the spirit soul within the body because the magnitude, the dimension of the spirit soul, is very, very small. That is stated in Padma Purāṇa,

bālāgra-śata-bhāgasya
śatadhā kalpitasya ca
bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ
sa cānantyāya kalpate

Bālāgra means the tip of your hair. Divide into ten thousand parts. That one part is the dimension of the soul. That is there within the body. So material science has no such instrument or perfection of study that they can see such a small particle.

Lecture on BG 2.18 -- London, August 24, 1973:

Ahaḥ means day. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). This is the one day of Brahmā. One day means morning to evening. Forty-three hundred thousands of years your calculation. Therefore these things are to be understood through the śāstra. Otherwise, you have no knowledge. You cannot calculate. You cannot go to Brahmā, you cannot go even to the moon planet. And what to speak of Brahmaloka is the ultimate, the remotest part of this universe. So by your direct experience, you cannot calculate, and neither you can go. They estimate, the modern aeronautics, they estimate, that in order to go to the topmost planet will require forty thousands of years by going in the light year. Just like light year, we have got calculation.

So we cannot estimate by direct perception, even in this material world, and what to speak of the spiritual world. Not (possible.) Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām (Bs. 5.34).

Lecture on BG 2.19 -- London, August 25, 1973:

You are a madman. Your brain is cracked, crazy. So what is the value of your work? But this is going on.

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you just imagine how important movement it is. It is the best welfare activities for the human society. They are all fools and rascals, and they have no knowledge, ignorant of their constitutional position, and they are unnecessarily working hard day and night. Therefore they have been said, mūḍha. Mūḍha means ass. The ass works day and night for the washerman for little grass. Grass is available everywhere, but he, still, he thinks that "If I do not work for the washerman, very hard, I'll not get this grass." This is called ass. Therefore, when one becomes intelligent after cultivating knowledge, one becomes intelligent by and by. First of all brahmacārī. Then, if one cannot remain a brahmacārī, all right, take a wife, gṛhastha. Then give up, vānaprastha. Then take sannyāsa. This is the process.

Lecture on BG 2.25 -- London, August 28, 1973:

Āgamāpāyinaḥ anityāḥ, such bodily pains and pleasures come and go; they are not permanent. Tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata. So you have to learn how to tolerate these bodily pains and pleasures, but you have to take care of the soul. But the modern civilization, they have no knowledge of the soul, what to speak of taking care of it, and, like animals, they are in the bodily concept of life, taking much care of the body, but they have no information of the soul, and what to speak of taking care of it.

This is the lamentable condition of modern civilization. Animal civilization. The animals simply take care of the body, has no information of the soul. So this civilization is animal civilization, mūḍha. Mūḍha means animal, asses. Now if we say to the people in general they'll be angry upon us, but actually this is the position. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13).

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Los Angeles, December 6, 1968:

Yes. Tell them that "You are all rascals." (laughter) "You just come and learn here from us. Then you say what is God. You have no knowledge." Just like somebody says that the sunlight, the dazzling sunlight. Clear sun planet is there. And because they cannot enter even into the moon planet, how they can enter in the sun planet? If they enter sun planet, they will find that there is a person whose bodily effulgence is this sunlight. Similarly the original person, Kṛṣṇa, has got His effulgence. We get information from Brahma-saṁhitā, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Just like the sun-god is diffusing the effulgence of his bodily light in this universe, in one universe. Similarly the original person, He is diffusing that light. So those who are less intelligent, they simply can see that light; therefore they say light. But in the Vedic literature there is information that you have to search out the Supreme Person penetrating the light. In the Īśopaniṣad it says, "My dear Lord, please wind up this effulgent light so that I can see Your face actually." That is stated in the Vedic literature. So originally the Absolute Supreme Truth is a person. If you want proof from Vedas, there is proof. Bhagavad-gītā is proof.

Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:

These are the four principles of pious activities, according to śāstra. And if you do just the opposite, you take your birth in abominable family or in lower, degraded animal species of life, no education, no beauty, no knowledge. There are so many things. So if you have to believe śāstra, these are the effects of bad and good works. Now for a person who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is not concerned with aristocratic family or abominable family. He wants to stop birth. So suppose one gets birth in aristocratic family or very nice family, what is the gain there? You have to live ten months within the womb of your mother in suffocated condition, either you take your birth in aristocratic family or in abominable family, either in human mother's womb or animal mother's womb. That does not make any difference.

Lecture on BG 2.27-38 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1968:

So according to Vedic injunction, he immediately becomes indebted to so many items. What is that? He becomes indebted immediately to the different demigods, sun, moon, Indra, Candra, so many. Because we are receiving light from the sun, from the moon, so we are indebted. People do not care for it because they have no knowledge. Therefore in the Vedas, the sacrifice is recommended, to perform respective duties to become discharged from the indebtedness. So you are indebted to the demigods, indebted to the sages. Just like Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva, he has given us so many Vedic literatures. So we are taking advantage. So deva, ṛṣi, bhūta, ordinary living entities, even cats and dogs. But we, instead of being indebted, we do something else. Just like we are drinking milk. So we are indebted to the cows. So instead of repaying the indebtedness, we are killing them. So in this way we are complicated in so many ways. Devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṟṇām (SB 11.5.41). Pitṟṇām means in the family in which you are born. You are indebted because you are inheriting property, you are inheriting the mother's affection, father's affection. So you are indebted. People should consider. That is civilization.

Lecture on BG 2.28 -- London, August 30, 1973:

I understand that one gentleman comes here, his wife is a medical doctor and her business is to check the pregnant wife, woman, and advise whether the child should be killed or not. This is the business.

So the situation of the world, due to ignorance of the soul they are creating so many sinful activities and becoming entangled. But they have no knowledge how they are becoming entangled. This is māyā's, prakṣepātmika-śakti, āvaraṇātmika. Although he is being entangled, but he's thinking that he's advancing, advancing in scientific knowledge. This is their knowledge. The gentleman was talking that he's a mining engineer. So mining engineer, his business is to make the atmosphere within the mine very comfortable. Just imagine, he has gone down within the earth just like the mousehole, and he's improving that mousehole. After being educated, after getting degrees, his position is to enter into the dark, dark, I mean to say, hole of the earth, and he's trying to scientific advancement by cleansing the air within the mine. He's condemned that he has been forced to give up the outer, outer space, free air. He has been condemned to go within the earth, and he's proud of scientific advancement. This is going on.

Lecture on BG 2.40-45 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1968:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavata says that all these acquisitions will be finished as soon as the body is finished. The people, they do not know it. They are thinking that "Whatever I am acquiring in this body, that will go with me, or I shall be happy with these acquisitions." That is called illusion, māyā. Because they have no knowledge that "I am spirit soul. I am changing this position of different bodies." Vāsāṁsi jīrnāṇi yathā vihāya (BG 2.22). Just like we change our dresses. This knowledge is lacking in the present civilization. They want to make permanent settlement here, but forget that "Any moment, I shall be kicked out of this situation. I shall have to accept another situation." That is the lack of education in the modern civilization. They are accepting something temporary as permanent settlement. This is called illusion.

Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

Now, that requires study, and that requires knowledge also. Now, suppose a man is neither educated, neither he has got sufficient knowledge, philosophical knowledge. Then what happens to him? He will not be able to perform yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi? No. He is also a bona fide person. He can also perform the work. Because he has no knowledge and because he is uneducated, that doesn't mean that he cannot do the..., or he cannot work from the spiritual platform. He can also do. That, how he can do, that is the technique. This technique is explained herewith, the siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā, siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā, that "You do not be anxious for the success and failure of the attempt you are making." Success and failure. A common example can be cited in this connection. Suppose you are working for your master. You are working in a firm for selling something. The master says that "You go and find out some customers for this particular thing." You go out. You go out. Now, you sincerely work for it.

Lecture on BG 3.18-30 -- Los Angeles, December 30, 1968:

The person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. With him there is no consideration that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature or that material nature is under the supervision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A materialistic person has no knowledge that ultimately he is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. The person in false ego takes all credit for doing everything independently, and that is the symptom of his nescience. He does not know that this gross and subtle body is the creation of material nature under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and as such his bodily and mental activities should be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He does not know that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as Hṛṣīkeśa or the master of all senses. But due to his long misuse of his senses he is factually bewildered by the false ego and that is the cause of his forgetfulness of his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa."

Lecture on BG 3.25 -- Hyderabad, December 17, 1976:

Not for all, but a class of men, they are in the third category. The first category is the brāhmaṇa, the man in knowledge. He knows what is the value of life, how life should be directed this way and that way. They know, themselves, and they give guidance to the other who have no such knowledge. Therefore brāhmaṇa is the guru of all other classes of men, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas.

Just like our position is brāhmaṇa, but we are anāsakta. Without any attachment we shall try to give them the direction how one can live very peacefully and save time for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is stated here. Kuryād vidvāṁs tathā asaktaś cikīrṣur loka-saṅgraham. The idea is how to direct common men to live peacefully and become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)

Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:

Yes. The birds and beasts, they can move. They can protect themselves from somebody who is coming to harm, but still, they have no knowledge. The same... A little better than the trees. Go on.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "In the form of a human being, the living entity can perceive a little Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and if he makes further development the fire of spiritual life can be kindled in the human form. By careful handling of the smoke in the fire, the fire can be made to blaze."

Lecture on BG 3.31-43 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1969:

Therefore we should not miss this chance. This is intelligence. If I miss this chance, then I do not know where I am falling down again. So there is no teaching. There is no knowledge in the whole world. They are driven out just like animals. This educational institution, universities—there is no department of knowledge how the living entities are working, how they are being transmigrated, they are falling down, how they are... No. A very risky civilization. So people should try to understand this Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy very seriously if they at all want their own good.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:

After this body is finished—big, big philosophers, big, big professors, I have talked with... I was talking with one professor, Mr. Kotovsky, in Moscow. He is in charge of a big department. He said, "Swamijī, after finishing this body, everything is finished. There is nothing more." Just see, and he is a great professor. He has no knowledge that after finishing this body, there is another body. We are going to accept another body, not that after death, everything is finished. This conception is going on very strong, but this is a great mistake. That is being explained here by Kṛṣṇa. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir (BG 2.13). This is the first state to understand God. What is the nature of God. This is the first state. That I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God. If I study myself as sample of God, a little sample of God, then you can understand God.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Delhi, November 10, 1971:

They do not know what is going to happen after death. There is no education. There is no department of knowledge in the universities, what is going to happen after death. They are simply taking account of this body, which exists, say for twenty years or fifty years, or utmost hundred years. And they have no knowledge what is after this body. Therefore śāstra says that,

yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma-ijya-dhīḥ
yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ
(SB 10.84.13)

When one person thinks that this body is I am, I am this body actually do so. If I ask you, what are you, what you are, you'll give all description of your body. I'll give all description of my body. I am Mr. such and such, I am born of such and such father, my national country is such and such, but these are all designation of this body. I do not know what I am, therefore I give only the designation. Therefore my intelligence is bodily concept of life.

Lecture on BG 4.2 -- Bombay, March 22, 1974:

I have already explained. Because the nature wants to help us because we are now forgotten souls. We have forgotten God. The animals have also forgotten God. They are thinking they are this body, bodily concept of life. They have no knowledge. But when you come to the, by evolutionary process, come to the human form of life, then it is your duty to inquire about the Supreme Brahman. That is Vedānta-sūtra. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. "Now you have to ask about Brahman." Not the matter. So that Brahman is Vedic knowledge. From the material standard, gradually we have to go upwards and come to the point of understanding Kṛṣṇa. That is Vedic knowledge. That is Vedic knowledge. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). To pursue Vedic knowledge means to understand Kṛṣṇa. But if you do not understand Kṛṣṇa and if you speak as, like so many nonsense things, and if you pose yourself as paṇḍita, that is śrama eva hi kevalam. That is stated. Śrama eva hi. Simply wasting time and laboring for nothing. Vāsudeve bhagavati...

Lecture on BG 4.5 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

So when there is no these material impediments, naturally the life is eternal, the knowledge is eternal, the bliss is eternal. As soon as we are free from this material body, then these questions of past, present, future, pleasure, not pleasure, knowledge, no knowledge, these dualities, this world of duality will finish. The impersonalists, the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that because the past, present, and future, and this duality is finished, therefore there is no variegatedness. They cannot understand. They cannot accommodate in their tiny brain that this is possible.

Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, now it is established that He hasn't got this material body. It will be confirmed in the Tenth Chapter also: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Rascals... Mūḍha means rascals. Most ignorant, he is called mūḍha, or an ass.

Lecture on BG 4.8 -- Montreal, June 14, 1968:

There is no God," and trying to prove by so-called scientific method there is no God, the matter is working out of his own way, and things are taking place—there are so many theories—they are called classified as miscreant. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. Miscreants, and mūḍhāḥ means rascals. Mūḍha... Real meaning of mūḍha is ass. Ass has no knowledge. He is working day and night, oh, very... But he does not know what for he is working. He has no ambition, he has no information where is the destination of perfection. Therefore they are called mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍhāḥ means rascals. So na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Narādhama means lowest of the mankind. Na prapadyante: "They do not surrender unto Me, God." Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Bombay, March 30, 1974:

Just like we are advising our student not to have illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. This is tapasya. Because everyone is prone to all these things. Everyone likes illicit sex. Everyone likes to eat meat. Loke vyavāyāmiṣa-madya-sevā nityā hi jantoḥ. Jantoḥ, jantu means animal, or ignorant person. A person who has no knowledge, he also a jantu, animal. So vyavāyāmiṣa-madya-sevāḥ. Sex life and meat-eating, āmiṣa, and madya-sevāḥ, intoxicant, and natural tendency. Pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānām. This is pravṛtti. They have got inclination. That is material life. Āmiṣa-madya-sevāḥ. But they have to be controlled by tapasya. That is tapasya. If because I have got this inclination, I have got a desire to drink or have intoxication, therefore I shall take it.... There is a Bengali song, cakṣe yadi lāge bhāla kena dekha nā:(?) "Now if I, my eyes like to see it, why shall I not see?" This is sense enjoyment. This is animalism.

Lecture on BG 4.10 Public Meeting -- Rome, May 25, 1974:

This is chanting. And for hearing about Kṛṣṇa, you can read our books. We have got about twenty books like this, as you are seeing in my front. So if you want to understand Kṛṣṇa through philosophy and knowledge, there are immense provisions for this philosophy and knowledge in these books. So if you are unable to read or if you have no knowledge, if you have no education, you can simply chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. This is open to all. There is no secrecy.

So our request to all, we are requesting all over the world the same thing, "Please chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and be cleansed of your consciousness and understand your spiritual identity." We are preaching this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra all over the world, and people are accepting it. Even the child is accepting and chanting this mahā-mantra. Your culture, the Roman culture, is well-known all over the world, and you are the pioneer of civilization in Europe.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:

Antya 20.12] means to drive away the fog in the mind. That's all. Because we are covered by the fog in so many ways, and it is very difficult to drive away. But you keep yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it will be driven away. It will be driven away. There is no doubt about it.

So Kṛṣṇa is suggesting that first of all jñāna. The rascals have no knowledge how to become happy. They are thinking, "We shall...," they will be happy by drinking wine and eating meat and having sex life unlimitedly. They're thinking like that, so rascal. The whole civilization is condemned. They do not know how to become happy. They do not know how to become happy. Mūḍha. They do not know. The happiness is only in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the fact. Kṛṣṇa assures that, that bahavaḥ, many, jñāna-tapasā...

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Vrndavana, August 2, 1974:

That is painful, but to cure the disease we should accept that thing. Similarly, if you want to become free from this material body, then you should accept, accept this pain. This is not pain. It is simply imagination. Actually, it is pleasure.

So... Because we have no knowledge, therefore jñāna-tapasā. And if there is knowledge and if there is tapasya, penance, then pūtā, purified. You become purified. Therefore it is said, bahavo jñāna-tapasā pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ. Then you come back to home, back to Godhead. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for teaching how one can be detached from this material existence and voluntarily accepting some so-called, I mean to say, sufferings. We should be steady. But actually, there is no suffering. It is simply imagination.

Just like there are many meat-eaters. We do not eat meat. What is our suffering? It is simply imagination.

Lecture on BG 4.10 -- Calcutta, September 23, 1974:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says here, vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ (BG 2.56). Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ (BG 4.10). If somebody understands that "This is not my home. I am wandering in these foreign countries," that is knowledge. But those who have no knowledge, they think that they are this body.

yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ
(SB 10.84.13)

This is animal conception of life. "I am this body." "I am Indian." "I am Hindu." "I am Muslim." "I am American." "I am Christian." "I am Hindu." Like that. This is all bodily conception. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). This conception of life is animal conception.

Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966:

So this is the opportunity in the human life to understand this. We are submitting to different energies of Kṛṣṇa. But if we directly submit ourself to Kṛṣṇa, what He, Kṛṣṇa, what He is, that is not very difficult to know because Kṛṣṇa comes in this material world and displays His real nature. Anugrahāya manuṣyāṇām, in Bhāgavata. Just to inform the human society that "If you have no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, just see. I have incarnated. How I am doing, you can see. You can have."

Just like something extraordinary happening in India, and if there is some photograph, cinematograph, and you see in the picture by a scope, cinema, you see the actually, what is happening. But Kṛṣṇa's pastimes is not like that. Just like originally, the incidence which is happening in India, you have got a photograph. You see in cinema. This cinema picture is a shadow of that actual picture.

Lecture on BG 4.18 -- Bombay, April 7, 1974:

And that is called enjoyment.

Just like a businessman, he is working very hard, whole day and night, and he gets some profit, say, two lakhs; he thinks that he is very happy, he is enjoying. But actually, he is working very hard. But because he has no knowledge, he is thinking that "I am profiting. I am making profit. This is my happiness." But in the śāstras those who are working so hard simply for some sense gratification... Especially in Western countries we have seen, this is very factual. Even very old man, he is working very hard, very big business magnate, very big politician, working very hard, and at night he goes to the nightclubs, pays $50 for entrance fee, and then he spends for wine and women lots of money. So this is his happiness. Even old man, eighty years old, he is also going to the club. Because in the material world the happiness means wine and women. That's all.

Lecture on BG 4.19 -- Bombay, April 8, 1974:

Or for my son, for my grandson, for my this, for my that, and..." This is called mūḍha. Therefore it is said, jñānāgni-dagdha-karmāṇam. When one understands by knowledge that "I am uselessly working this. I am uselessly working. What is the benefit of this work?" But he has no knowledge. He does not know that everything, what he is building in this life, after death, everything will be taken away. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Kṛṣṇa will take away. All your skyscraper building, bank balance, nice family, car and everything—all lost.

With the loss of your body, everything is lost. Then you take another body. Then what is the guarantee that you will come into this family again and enjoy your car and building and society and friendship? Where is the guarantee? There is no guarantee. When you accept another body... Kṛṣṇa says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to change this body, but you do not know.

Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974:

This is the science. One has to be situated in full knowledge, and full knowledge is.... The beginning of knowledge is that one must understand that "I am not this body." This is knowledge. And if one is working like cats and dogs, thinking himself "I am this body," he has no knowledge. Just like animals. They are not expected to be in knowledge. A man is expected to be in knowledge and he must know that "I am not this body." Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). So one has to know that "I am not this body, but circumstantially and according to my association with the modes of nature, I am transferring, transmigrating from this body to another body."

So therefore in the Vedic culture the karma-kāṇḍīya-yajña is recommended. At least, you get a better body. Don't go to the lower body. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). Better body in higher planetary system.

Lecture on BG 4.26 -- Bombay, April 15, 1974:

They think the sense gratification, "This is enjoyment, this is happiness." But actually that is not happiness. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriyam (BG 6.21). What is actual happiness, ātyantikam, that is atīndriya. Atīndriya means beyond the senses. But because we have no such knowledge, because we are in the bodily concept of life, "I am this body," so I am interested in the matter of gratifying me senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ.

And those who are little advance, they are in the enjoyment of the mind, mental speculation, philosophy, or theosophy. So many "sophies" are there. Somebody putting some theories, this theory, that theory, that theory. Mental speculation. They derives poetry, writing poetry, nice poetry. They are not on the gross platform of sense gratification but on the subtle platform of sense... Mind is also sense. Mind is also sense.

Lecture on BG 4.27 -- Bombay, April 16, 1974:

Let us preach Bhagavad-gītā." I wrote this letter. Unfortunately, a few days after, he was killed. So this is the position. All big, big leaders, they do not want to take relief from this sense gratification business. No. This is the...

Therefore jñāna-dīpite ātma-saṁyama-yogāgnau. Because there is no knowledge, they think the sense gratification extended, expanded sense gratification, will make the world happy. No. That is not possible. Therefore jñāna-dīpite means that by this kind of sense gratification we will not solve the problems. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās teṣāṁ jātā mayi na karuṇā. Karuṇā. "There is no mercy. Therefore I have given up them. Now I have come to You, my dear Lord. I was serving the senses so long. Now I want to serve You." This is knowledge, jñāna-dīpite. "Because my business is to satisfy the senses, either my senses or my relative's senses, but it has not made me happy, therefore I have come to You to satisfy Your senses. Kindly engage me in Your business."

Lecture on BG 4.34-38 -- New York, August 17, 1966:

This body... Antavanta ime dehāḥ. The body must be finished. Therefore there is no question of sat.

And cit. Cit means knowledge. Knowledge, we have no knowledge. Our... We have got senses, but these are all imperfect senses. We are very much proud that everything we say... Somebody... If somebody preaches about the Lord, we challenge, "Can you show me the Lord? Have you seen the Lord?" or "Can you show me the Lord?" But we do not know that our senses are so imperfect that we cannot see even what we are daily seeing. We cannot... If the light is put off, then we cannot see each other, even in this room. So our seeing person is conditional. It is not perfect. Similarly, all our senses, they are imperfect. So by imperfect senses, by speculation of the imperfect mind, we, we cannot reach to the Absolute Truth. It is not possible. Not possible.

Lecture on BG 4.39-42 -- Los Angeles, January 14, 1969:

This is knowledge. I am very small, and He is very great. "God is great." That is definition of every theistic man. So I cannot be equal with God. This is transcendental knowledge.

But unfortunately, we are declaring, "I am God." This is insanity. How you can be God? Do you know what is God? Because you do not know what is God, therefore you are claiming that "I am God." What you have done? What is your testimonial that you are God? Simply by declaring "I am God," you become God? This is no knowledge, less intelligent, no knowledge about God. This is knowledge that God is great. God is infinite. I am finite. I am infinitesimal. That is knowledge. Yes?

Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:

Now, here one ātmā is named mind. Mind is the friend of oneself, and mind is the enemy of oneself. So we have to train the mind. If I train my mind for becoming my friend, then my life is successful. If I train my mind to become my enemy, then my life is unsuccessful. Anātmanas tu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat. But one who has no knowledge of the spiritual self, then his mind acts like his enemy. One who has got the conception of this body as "my self," his mind is his enemy. And one who has got the conception of the spirit self, his mind is his friend.

So mind has nothing to do. Mind, simply training of the mind required. And how the mind is trained up? It is by good association. Good association, our mind is trained up. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. Kāma means desire. Desire is the function of the mind. And saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ. And according to the association, my mind desires like that.

Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969:

So God has form, but He has got a form which is full of pleasure, full of knowledge, and eternal. Now compare your body. Your body is neither eternal nor full of pleasure nor full of knowledge. Therefore God has form, but He has got a different form. But as soon as we speak of form, we think the form must be like this. Therefore the opposite, no form. That's no knowledge. That is not knowledge. Therefore in the Padma Purāṇa it is said that you cannot understand about the form, name, quality, paraphernalia of God with these material senses. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). By your sense speculation, because your senses are imperfect, how you can speculate on the supreme perfect? That is not possible. Then how it is possible? Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. If you train your senses, if you purify your senses, that purified sense will help you to see God.

Lecture on BG 6.21-27 -- New York, September 9, 1966:

You will say, "Oh, this is the standard of his enjoyment."

Similarly, there are different kinds and different grades of living entities. Their standard of feeling happiness and miseries are also different grades. Animal. In the animal kingdom, they have no sense. One animal is being slaughtered. The other animal is seeing because he has no knowledge the next turn is he is being turned..., being slaughtered, but he is chewing some grass. He is happy. He is thinking that "I am happy." Next moment it will be slaughtered, but he does not know. So these are all different grades of happiness. But the highest standard of happiness is described here, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam (BG 6.21). Buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam. Buddhi means intelligence. One has to be intelligent. If you want to enjoy life, then you must be intelligent also. Just like the animals, they are not intelligent enough. Therefore they cannot enjoy life as a human being can, standard.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1968:

In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find Kṛṣṇa says that the four divisions of society: brāhmaṇas, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra... That is natural. Somebody is inclined for spiritual advancement, oh, they should be picked up as brāhmaṇas. Now, we are training boys who are spiritually inclined, and now unnecessarily we are being called for military service. Just see, how discrepancy! The foolish person has no knowledge that "This boy is being trained up in higher science. Why he should be disturbed?" But they have no idea. Therefore imperfect. The intellectual persons, those who have got brahminical qualification... These boys are being restrained for being trained up as brāhmaṇa, brahmacārī. They don't take, I mean to say, meat-eating; they don't take part in intoxication; they don't take part in gambling; they don't take part in illicit sex life. So they are being trained as complete brāhmaṇa, the highest intellectual person, purified person in the society.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Francisco, March 17, 1968:

So they are being trained as complete brāhmaṇa, the highest intellectual person, purified person in the society. If there is one brāhmaṇa in a family, or one society, the whole family, whole society becomes sanctified.

So these rascals, they have no knowledge how to train as brāhmaṇa, how to train as kṣatriya, how to train as vaiśya. Just like, of course, in other field of action, in the śūdras and vaiśyas, there is nice training in your country. If anyone wants to become a businessman, oh, there is training, colleges and schools, technological. That's nice, very nice. But why everyone should be dragged for technology? This is foolishness. Just like in your body, for maintenance, proper maintenance of the body you require the head, you require the arms, you require the belly, you require the legs. So all these four divisions of the body required. You cannot say, "Oh, we don't require this head." Oh, it is nonsense. You require everything.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Gainesville, July 29, 1971 University of Florida:

The things are changing. Especially the duration of life will be reduced. There are prediction in the śāstras. In this age the duration of life, people's sentiment for becoming merciful, brain substance, in so many ways they are being reduced. They are not so powerful. So the duration of age is very small. We are always disturbed, and practically we have no knowledge about spiritual science. For example, that in this university... Not only in this university—there are hundreds and thousands of universities all over the world—there is no department of knowledge where the science of the soul is taught.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Auckland, April 15, 1972:

These are Vedic mantras. We have to understand the transcendental science through Vedic knowledge. By our imperfect knowledge, if we try to understand the Absolute Truth, naturally we shall find Him.

We can imagine. Just like gagana-sadṛśa. So God is great, but we have no knowledge how He is great. We can simply think of gagana, the sky. That is the greatest. That is our... But we do not know that millions of skies are within the belly of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There our estimation, gagana-sadṛśa, is imperfect. How He can be gagana-sadṛśa? Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). Jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. Jagad-aṇḍa means universe, and the gagana is within the universe. Gagana, we cannot see beyond this gagana, but beyond this gagana there is another gagana. In the Bhagavad-gītā... You are reading Bhagavad-gītā.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Auckland, April 15, 1972:

So you come and take the advantage of this center and learn how to do it. This center is open for this purpose, that people may take advantage how to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Just like you go to a school and you learn how to read and write, and then you pass M.A. examination, similarly, if you think that you have forgotten, you have no knowledge, please come, take the process. And just like these people, they were not born in India. They are not Hindus. They are not Vaiṣṇavas. Their forefathers never heard what is Kṛṣṇa, neither they heard. How they are taking? It is the process. That process we are giving to everyone without any discrimination. We have got students from all communities: Hindus, Muslim, Christian, Parsis, and Africans. The process is so perfect. If you take the process, you will also understand. So for this teaching this process, we are opening center here. You all Indians, your chance is first. So why don't you cooperate and learn?

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Upsala University Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

Na jāyate na mriyate vā kadācit. This description we have got in the Vedic literature. So God is also nitya, eternal. We are also eternal. God is also cognizant, and we are also cognizant. We have got knowledge, and God has got knowledge. The difference is that I have got knowledge limited within this limit of this body. I have no knowledge what is going on in your body; neither you know what is going on in my body. Therefore, we are individuals. But God is, although individual, He's spread everywhere. That is God.

Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). God is within this universe, within yourself, within myself, within the atom. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu... Paramāṇu means atom. He's within the atom also. But I, you, we are limited within this body. We are limited. I cannot say that I understand what is going in your body, pains and pleasure. That I cannot say.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Hong Kong, January 25, 1975:

There are two living beings. One is Bhagavān, and the other is the living being as we are. That is the Vedic version. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). Bhagavān means He is also a living being. He is not nirākāra. When we say bhagavān nirākāra, that means either we have no knowledge of Bhagavān or nirākāra means He is not a form like us. Our form and Kṛṣṇa's form—different. Kṛṣṇa is complete spiritual, divine, and we are, at the present moment, although we have got our spiritual form within this body, but because we have no vision of the spiritual form, we are taking this body as our form. This is called illusion.

The spiritual form is there. That is realization of Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. The Vedic injunction is just to understand that I am not this body. If anyone is under the concept of this body—"I am this body," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am American," "I am Indian"—in this way, with the bodily concept of life, we are thinking we are different from one another.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- London, March 9, 1975:

So it is not sat. It is asat. Sat means which exists, and asat means which does not exist. Therefore, how you can say Kṛṣṇa's body and my body is the same? No.

Then cit. Cit means knowledge, and our body is full of ignorance. We cannot understand knowledge. We have no knowledge immediately what is beyond this wall. If you ask me what is beyond this wall, then I will have to ask some of my disciples, "What is there beyond this wall?" Therefore it is not cit, not full of knowledge. But Kṛṣṇa knows, He says in the Bha..., vedāhaṁ samatītāni: (BG 7.26) "I know everything past, present, and future." When Arjuna enquired... Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna, he is also playing just like Kṛṣṇa's friend. So he enquired for dissipation of the ignorance that "My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are saying that You spoke this philosophy, Bhagavad-gītā, formerly to the sun-god." Without asking Him, "How did You go?

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Nairobi, October 27, 1975:

He has to stand up in scorching heat, in cold. He cannot protest. If you cut, he cannot cry. Of course, he feels, but he cannot do anything. This is also life and I am also life, so why these differences? But they do not consider, "How he has got this life, and how I have got this life?" There is no university education wherefrom they are coming, no knowledge. Still, they are passing on as great scientist, great philosopher. This is the position.

So our real business is to understand Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself. Then there is no difficulty. If you want to know me, you can imagine so many things: "Swamiji may be this. Swamiji may be that, like that, like this, like that." They are all imperfect. But if I tell you about myself openly that "I am like this," then your knowledge is perfect. Everyone says, "There is no God." Somebody says, "God is there, but He has no form," and somebody says, "He has any form you like. Imagine any form." In this way speculation is going on all over the world.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Nairobi, October 27, 1975:

That is cheating. That is not religion. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said that "If you want to know Me," asaṁśayam, "without any doubt..." God may be personal, impersonal, or this, that, but you must know it perfectly well. Don't say, "Perhaps it may be like this. Perhaps may be like this..." That is imperfect knowledge. That is no knowledge. So therefore Kṛṣṇa personally says, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan. This is a yogi. This is the first-class yogi. Kṛṣṇa has explained that yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yukta... (BG 6.47). So śraddhāvān bhajate yo mām, one who is worshiping Kṛṣṇa with śraddhā, with faith, complete faith, bhajate, and serving Him, so who is that person? A devotee. Without being a devotee, how with faith and adherence and reverence and obedience you can serve Kṛṣṇa unless you love Kṛṣṇa?

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

So what is the value of your seeing? Imperfect eyes.

So similarly, our eyes are imperfect, our all senses are imperfect. We gather knowledge by the sense, five knowledge-gathering senses and five working senses and mind. So if the senses are imperfect, then how can I gather real knowledge? And without getting real knowledge, if I preach, that is cheating. If you have no knowledge, then... Just like so many scientists, philosophers, they are cheating. Actually they have no knowledge that life cannot be produced by chemical combination; still, they are cheating people throughout the whole world that life can be produced by chemical combination. And this cheating is accepted. So there are so many other things. They are claiming they have gone to moon planet, this, that. But according to śāstra, they are all cheaters. All cheaters. They cannot go. It is not so easy thing. Just like to enter your African city, African country, there are so many rules and regulations, immigration.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Bombay, February 19, 1974:

Therefore, whatever we speak, we do not speak anything which Kṛṣṇa does not speak. That is our quality. I have several times, I was eulogized by many persons, "Swamiji, you have done wonderful." So I say that I am not a wonderful man. I simply follow Kṛṣṇa. What Kṛṣṇa says, I repeat, like parrot. That's all. I have no knowledge. But Kṛṣṇa says that "This is this." I accept it. And then that will be... That we shall be benefited. Just like a child. If he accepts the instruction of the parents, he gets knowledge. Parent will not cheat. If a child does not know a small watch, he asks, "Father, what is this?" Father can explain, "My dear child, this is called watch. You can see time, what is the time now." That is perfect knowledge. So that knowledge is perfect. Therefore in the beginning of this chapter and in the Fourth Chapter we said, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). If we get knowledge by the pure paramparā system, pure disciplic succession, that knowledge is perfect. Then our life is perfect. And if we want to try to expound knowledge by our limited power, that is imperfect knowledge.

Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975:

They cannot see, but soul is there. Therefore when the soul departs from the body we see the bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhi-ahaṅkāra... (BG 7.4). Buddhi-ahaṅkāra The man, the dead man, is lying. The gross thing we are seeing, but the mind, intelligence, ego, which is carrying that soul, that we do not see. How transmigration of the soul takes place, that we have no knowledge, poor fund of knowledge. We can simply think gross. Jaḍa-darśana. It is called jaḍa-darśana. Even there is no sūkṣma-darśana. Although there is mind, but we cannot see. Then how you can see the soul?

So this is the defect of modern education. So what is beyond your perception, sense perception, that you have to hear. There are two kinds of knowledges: by practical experience, direct perception, and by hearing from authority, aitihya. According to Vedic system, there are three kinds of evidences: direct, and pratyakṣa... Pratyakṣa means direct. And then aitihya and śruti. Śruti.

Lecture on BG 7.18 -- New York, October 12, 1966:

Just like when, before my coming to your country, I had some experience by hearing: "Oh, America is such and such. New York is such and such." Somebody might have gone there, and he explains that "The climate of New York is like this." So this is by hearing. So hearing is the first experience. Similarly, if you want to get experience of the planet where God lives, then you have to hear. There is no other way. You cannot immediately make experiment. That is not possible. You cannot make experiment even on this material planet. You have no knowledge what other planets are, but you can hear from a description of the scriptures. Similarly, we have got experience by hearing from authorized scriptures, the Kṛṣṇaloka:

Lecture on BG 8.1 -- Geneva, June 7, 1974:

Adhama means the lowest. We cannot enjoy independently. We require so many favorable circumstances. Just like we cannot see without the sunrise. Still, we are very much proud of seeing. We say, "Can you show me God?" Well, can you see God? You cannot see without sunshine, and still, you are so much proud of your eyes. That is called adhama. He has no knowledge; still, he's taking Ph.D. degree and getting Nobel Prize. This is going on. So Kṛṣṇa is the Puruṣottama, uttama-puruṣa. The madhyama-puruṣa is the Supersoul. Via media between Kṛṣṇa and we. We are adhama-puruṣa. So Kṛṣṇa is addressed as uttama-puruṣa, "the best of all puruṣas, or enjoyers." Adhibhūtam, the matter, five elements of matter. Kiṁ proktam. Which of them are called the Brahman, ātmā.

Everything, Kṛṣṇa..., Arjuna wanted to know from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, he has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the spiritual master, and spiritual master means the authority.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 7, 1972:

Every word has got meaning. Jīva ke karaye gadha. This gāḍha, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said... It is not Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wordings; it is the Vedic scripture. Kṛṣṇa also said, na māṁ prapadyante mūḍhāḥ duṣkṛtino narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Mūḍhāḥ, mūḍhāḥ means gāḍha, "who has no knowledge." So anyone who does not surrender to Kṛṣṇa, what he is? He is in the four classes: na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). Either he's a narādhama or he's an ass, mūḍhāḥ, or he's full of sinful activities, or if you say that he's so learned scholar, then māyaya apahṛta-jñānā, his knowledge has been taken out by māyā. Otherwise, how he cannot surrender to Kṛṣṇa? How he cannot surrender to Kṛṣṇa? Because he is not surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, he must be classified in either of these categories—mūḍhāḥ, duṣkṛtino, narādhama, māyaya apahṛta-jñānā (BG 7.15). Therefore we have to take shelter of this rāja-vidyā. not the jaḍa-vidyā. Jaḍa-vidyā will not help. Rāja-vidyā, rāja-guhyam.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- Calcutta, March 8, 1972:

So duṣkṛtinaḥ, mūḍhāḥ, and rascal who does not know anything—what is God, what I am, what is this world—he's a rascal. He's animal. Mūḍhāḥ means ass. As ass does not know what is God, what I am, what is this world, what is our relationship, what is this universe, nothing, no knowledge—mūḍhāḥ—and narādhamāḥ, narādhamāḥ means human being is especially meant for understanding this philosophical aspect of life, but one does not care. He is simply acting where to eat, where to sleep and where to get woman, and that's all. That's his business. This is mūḍhāḥ. This is the business of hogs and dogs. So therefore, mūḍhāḥ, duṣkṛtinaḥ, narādhamāḥ, these description was there.

So our test is there. If one is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, then he must be within these division: narādhamāḥ, mūḍhāḥ, duṣkṛtinaḥ, māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. And one who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, then what he is? Aahh, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ.

Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966:

There are unlimited energies, different varieties of energy. Out of that, those who are in the knowledge, they have divided the whole energy into three divisions. What is that? Material energy, spiritual energy and marginal energy. This material energy, you are seeing. And the spiritual energy, now we have no knowledge. But the marginal energy, something spirit, something matter, that we are, we living entities. I am... As I am, I am spirit. But I am mixed up with this matter. Therefore I am marginal energy, between spirit and matter. I am combination of spirit and matter. As soon as I am spirit, I am away from this matter, this bodily matter. "Dust thou art; dust thou beist." Yes. So those who are mahātmā, they have take shelter of the spiritual energy. Of course, for God, every energy is His energy. Therefore He has no distinction what is spirit and what is matter. But for me, because I am in marginal energy, I have to make distinction that "This is spirit; this is matter."

Lecture on BG 10.4-5 -- New York, January 4, 1967:

Similarly, the present civilization we sometimes find that there is overpopulation. Overpopulation means we are not being promoted to higher life. We are being blocked, and therefore nature's course is: there must be some pestilence; there must be some war to finish it.

So there is no such intelligence, there is no such knowledge, and they are very much proud. So if we want really... Because these things are God gift, knowledge... It is explained here, buddhir jñānam asammohaḥ. All these things are gift of God. So we must utilize. This human form is developed for utilizing the gifts of God. God has given us nice foodstuff; God has given us intelligence; God has given us knowledge; now God has given us books of knowledge. He is personally speaking this Bhagavad-gītā. Why don't you utilize it? Why don't you utilize it? If we utilize it, then we may be proud of become Aryan or human being.

Lecture on BG 12.13-14 -- Bombay, May 12, 1974:

This is demonic. Bhakta's business is... Here it is clearly stated, adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānām. You should be equally kind to everyone, to the daridras, to the dhanīs also. Here everyone is daridra because everyone is lacking knowledge. So nobody is rich. Here the so-called rich is also daridra because he has no knowledge. And the so-called daridra is also daridra.

Because everyone's knowledge is the bodily concept of life, "I am this body." But Kṛṣṇa does not say that "A particular body is very dear to Me." He says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya: (BG 14.4) "All species of life, they are all sons." They are simply in different dress. We are sitting here, so many people in different dress. That does not mean that one who is in black dress or dirty dress, he is not a human being. He is also human being. Or one who is dressed very nicely, he is also human being.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Miami, February 27, 1975:

Take our human society. Some of them are very good men, very truthful, very honest, very learned, and knows what is God. You find such men also. And you will find also very much passionate. And you will find also men like cats and dogs, no knowledge, blind. So there are three types of men. Why? Because there are three qualities or modes of material nature: goodness, passion and ignorance. Now, you mix up these three qualities with another three varieties of qualities. Just like the painter, they mix up different colors. The original color is blue, yellow and red. Now, you mix up these colors. You can... Hundreds and thousands of colors you can make. It requires expert handling. Similarly, originally these three qualities, goodness, passion and ignorance. Now, three into three equal to nine, and nine into nine equal to eighty-one. So we get immediately account for eighty-one varieties, and each variety is thousand and millions.

Lecture on BG 13.5 -- Bombay, September 28, 1973:

"There is no more superior authority than Me." If we accept that, that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme authority, then you'll learn Bhagavad-gītā. And if you try to make minus Kṛṣṇa, or if you want to take the position of Kṛṣṇa like the Māyāvādīs, then you become a rascal. There is no knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā means to accept Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And Kṛṣṇa also demands, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That is the authority.

So when one accepts Kṛṣṇa as the supreme authority, then he can be... Just like after passing your entrance examination, you can be admitted in the degree college, similarly, Bhagavad-gītā is the ABCD of spiritual knowledge. People even cannot understand the ABCD, what to speak of graduation, bas, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They have become so fool, so degraded.

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 3, 1973:

They are happy, they are getting ample food, life is very happy. They have got their eating, they have got their sleeping, they have got their mates for sex life and they know how to defend. Everything is there. There is no problem. Only in the human society they have created problem because they have no knowledge. The so-called knowledge is useless not unless you can solve the problems (?) what is the meaning of this knowledge? Therefore Kṛṣṇa says knowledge means one must know this is my real acute miserable condition of life, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). This is knowledge.

So to begin with knowledge, Kṛṣṇa recommends amānitvam, humility. Because the real disease of material life is that he is not humble. He is always proud. Little possession. Svalpa-mātrena. Just like the big fish in the ocean. They are deep within the water and if you find out a small lake, little water, you'll find small fishes (makes sound) they're doing there. So there is no depth of knowledge.

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 3, 1973:

Just like nowadays people are being taught drink wine, eat meat, and do whatever you like. Jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). So they will go down, animal life. So they have no knowledge. And the leaders, andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). The leaders are blind and they are leading other blind men. So it is a very dangerous civilization. In spite of being born in India, in spite of having the privilege of studying Bhagavad-gītā, they are not taking advantage of it, and they are being misled like cats and dogs. Very regrettable condition.

So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the only challenge to this devilish life of the human society. So I request everyone to study this philosophy very carefully and take advantage of it. Thank you very much. (end)

Lecture on BG 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973:

We should not be disturbed by these so-called bodily pains and pleasure. We can try, we can get as much... But this is not our business. Our business is how to get out of these clutches of birth and death. That is real business. That they do not know. Because they have no knowledge. All fools and rascals, they are busy for the temporary pains and pleasure. That's all.

So here it is said, jñeyaṁ yat tat pravakṣyāmi yaj jñātvā 'mṛtam aśnute. That is knowledge. "I shall speak to you about that supreme knowledge." That supreme knowledge means if you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9), why Kṛṣṇa appears, janma karma, why He works like an ordinary human being... He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why he takes part in these ordinary activities? Just like Kṛṣṇa took part in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. He's Supreme Personality of Godhead; why should He take part in the battleground?

Lecture on BG 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973:

This is done by the cats and dogs. Any animal, they do not know anything. They take birth and again die. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to accept. So if in ignorance I take birth and again die, what is this life? Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). That is no knowledge. Spoiling. This human form of life is the boon where you can make a solution simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). This is knowledge, how to become immortal, how to understand Kṛṣṇa, how to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is the mission of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)

Lecture on BG 13.19 -- Bombay, October 13, 1973:

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that this knowledge, to surrender unto Me, how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, comes after many many births. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). We are taking birth one after another, one after another, one after another. So in this way, not ordinary person. Ordinary persons, if they have no knowledge, then their next birth may be cats, dogs, trees, or anything else. Those who are in knowledge, ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ. Knowledge means those who are situated in the quality of goodness, prakāśa, everything is clearly understood. That is knowledge.

So they, persons who are actually in knowledge, they are promoted to the higher planetary system. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ (BG 14.18). If you have no knowledge, simply you are trying to enjoy the senses, as in this material world, everyone is busy how to enjoy senses, then you remain here.

Lecture on BG 1322 -- Hyderabad, August 17, 1976:

Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to change your body within this material world, according to your karma. You have to change your body.

Unfortunately there is no education, there is no knowledge about this throughout the whole world. We are thinking that after annihilation of this body everything is finished. No, that is not the fact. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. If a young man thinks that "I have got now this body for enjoyment. I am young man. I shall not become an old man." That is not the fact. Young man has to become old man. That is prakṛti-jān guṇān. cannot say that "I shall remain young man forever and enjoy life." That is not possible. Similarly you have to change your body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Unfortunately there is no discussion, there is no education, there is no institute for this important factors of life and people are kept in darkness. This is Kali-yuga. They do not care to know neither there is arrangement in the educational institution to know this fact although the fact is there it is explained by Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 13.22-24 -- Melbourne, June 25, 1974:

So where is this science? They have the botanical garden, but do they know what is the science why there is tree and why there is ant, why there is bird, why there is man? They have no knowledge. This material school, college, university, simply producing ordinary animal life.

Actual knowledge is here in the Bhagavad-gītā. These are the... Why one is forced to accept a certain type of body. Because after death I will have to accept a certain type of body. That is natural. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). As I am getting dehāntara, one body after another, baby's body, then another body, child's body, then another body, boy's body. You may say, "It is growing." Growing or not growing, it is another body. Try to understand this. This child is playing. Now he will get another body when he will be called boy. He will get another body when he will be called youth. He will get another body when he will be called old man. So why not another body? This is called transmigration of the soul. Very simple thing.

Lecture on BG 13.24 -- Bombay, October 23, 1973:

There are eight million four hundred thousand forms of life. Wherefrom they come? What is the purpose of so many forms of life. What is the purpose of life? What is the distinction between the form of human life and these lower grades of life. Higher grades of life—no knowledge, no knowledge. Everyone is ignorant, foolish. Therefore they have been addressed as mūḍha, mūḍha, all rascals.

If we say that "This is a civilization of rascals," it is not very strong word. Actually, they are rascals. They do not know the value of life. And the real problem of life. Simply like animals, they are eating, sleeping, having sex life and dying. That's all. This is their life. So one has to learn.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ya evaṁ vetti puruṣaṁ prakṛtim (BG 13.24). You must learn what is this living entity. That also we do not know. Prakṛti. This body is prakṛti. And the living force which is within the body, that is puruṣa.

Lecture on BG 13.24 -- Bombay, October 23, 1973:

Those who have no knowledge, they cannot understand, there are two puruṣas. One is apara, and one is para. Apara-puruṣa is the living entity, who is trying to enjoy this material world. But para-puruṣa is the anumantā, guiding principle or order-giving. There are two puruṣas, not one. One is inferior and other is superior. Superior puruṣa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa Himself. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). That is puruṣa-para. And apara. As there are aparā-prakṛti and parā-prakṛti. This material world is aparā-prakṛti, but there is spiritual world also. That is called parā-prakṛti.

When there is such a statement in the Vedas that "The Supreme Spirit is nirākāra, or without form," that does not mean He has no form. He has His form, but that is spiritual form, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). When it is negativated, that means the negative idea is of this inferior energy. So these things we should know. And if you know, then the result will be sarvathā vartamāno 'pi, wherever you stay, Sarvathā vartamāno 'pi, you are mukta. As it is stated by Rūpa Gosvāmī, īhā yasya harer dāsye... (aside:) Stop that talking.

Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Bombay, October 25, 1973:

So again Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is stressing on the point, how to avoid death. This is the whole scheme of Vedic knowledge, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9), but people have no knowledge. They have become just like animals. Animal, you take them to the slaughterhouse, they cannot do anything. They are becoming slaughtered. So people at the present moment, they are also being slaughtered by the laws of nature. But they do not know. As the animals do not know how to protect. They do not know. The animal thinks that "What can be done? I must be slaughtered." So the present civilization, also given to the laws of nature, being carried away by the waves of nature, and subjected to the repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. No scientist can stop it. But still, they are very much proud of advancement. They do not know the real problem and how to solve it, but still, they are very much proud. Actual problem is this.

Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Bombay, October 25, 1973:

"I am black," "I am male," "I am female," so many bodily concept of life—the śāstra says all of them are no better than the cows and the asses. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Yasyātma-buddhiḥ. This body is a bag made of tri-dhātus, kapha, pitta, vāyu. Or a bag of flesh and blood and bones. I am not this. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. I am spirit soul. That is knowledge. But people have no such knowledge. Therefore they are called, according to śāstra, go-kharaḥ. Go means cows, animal, and kharaḥ means ass. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13). Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape.

So generally people, at least at the modern age, they do not know. They have no information. Big, big professors. I have several times, I mean to say, repeatedly spoken to you that one professor Kotovsky in Moscow, he says... He is a big man of Indology, and he said, "Swamiji, after this body is annihilated, there is nothing. Everything is finished." This is their knowledge. Go-kharaḥ, all go-kharaḥ.

Lecture on BG 13.35 -- Geneva, June 6, 1974:

Within this body, the owner of the body is there. This is the beginning of knowledge. So this knowledge is lacking. Nobody knows that "I am within this body." Everyone is thinking, "I am this body." I am American, I am Indian, I am Czechoslovakian, or I am Swiss, and... Everyone is thinking. That means they have no knowledge. All fools and rascals. So the all fools and rascals civilization, how we can be happy?

There must be intelligence. They have no intelligence. They are thinking of philanthropic work, but still thinking that "I am this body." So what that philanthropic work will do? We... With ignorance, with no knowledge, whatever you do, it is foolish. As there are... Sometimes they divide, four classes of men: lazy intelligent, active intelligent, and lazy fool and active fool. The active fool is fourth-class because whatever he'll do, it is foolish. So result will not be very good. Active fool. So lazy fool is better than the active fool.

Lecture on BG 16.5 -- Calcutta, February 23, 1972:

They do not know. They do not know what is next life. There is no educational system. I am traveling all over the world. There is not a single institution which is meant for giving education about the transmigration of the soul, how one can get better life. But they don't believe. They have no knowledge. That is āsurī sampat. That will be described here: pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca janā na vidur āsurāḥ. Pravṛttim. Pravṛttim means attraction, or attachment. In what sort of activities we should be attached, and what sort of activities we shall be detached, that, the asuras, they do not know. Pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca.

Lecture on BG 16.5 -- Hawaii, January 31, 1975:

Because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is everyone's property. He is not... Don't think in that way, just like it is stated in the English dictionary: "Kṛṣṇa, one of the Hindu gods." But Kṛṣṇa does not say that "I am the Hindu god." They have made in the dictionary, "Kṛṣṇa, one of the Hindu gods." They have no knowledge about Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya: (BG 14.4) "In all species of life." There are 8,400,000 species of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Nine lakh species in the water, and trees and plants, there are two million species. Similarly, insects, sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyayaḥ. Eleven lakhs species, 1,100,000 species of insects, serpents, snakes, like that, gradually developing from water, fish, to... As the water dries up, then they come out as grass, as vegetables. Then grow, different types of trees, plants, creepers. Then gradually develops to become insects, flies. Then develops to serpents.

Lecture on BG 16.7 -- Sanand, December 26, 1975:

They are called devatās. And the asuras, they are not aware of the spiritual world; neither they are endeavoring to go back to home, back to Godhead. So Kṛṣṇa has described about the devotees in so many ways. Now He is discriminating who are the demons. So for the asuras there is no knowledge what is the aim of life. So they are described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also,

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ
(SB 7.5.31)

These asuras, or the persons who are in ignorance, in material enjoyment, they do not know what is the goal of life. Everyone is in the bodily concept of life, and they are trying to improve the condition of bodily comforts. The more we are interested in the bodily comforts of life the more we are asuras. So these asuras, they are not very cleansed, na śaucam. Na śaucaṁ nāpi ca ācāraḥ: "They have no good behavior, neither they are very clean."

Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Tokyo, January 28, 1975:

Prabhupāda: This is demonic. Now any question? (pause) This demonic conclusion will not help us. Then we shall remain in ignorance; there is no knowledge. Any question? Can you put any question on behalf of the demons? (laughter)

Trivikrama: Well, I am very expert at the demon mentality, but I'm afraid you've destroyed all arguments that I might put forth.

Prabhupāda: Any of our friends, Japanese friends here?

Japanese man: Yes, I have one question. You mentioned that we can hear a car from outside, but we cannot see car. But...

Prabhupāda: No, we can see car. But just like here we are sitting. We do not see the car, but the sound is there, but you conclude that there is a car. So therefore seeing is not always the sound reasoning. Even without seeing, we can conclude there is car. That is my point.

Japanese man: And what is the example of sound of God in this world?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Lecture on BG 16.8 -- Hawaii, February 4, 1975:

We don't find that this material energy is false. We don't say. But the asuras. those who have no knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, they say, asatyam: "This is all false." Why it is false? If the source of energy is fact, brahma satyam, then the energy of the satya must be satya. If the cause is fact, then the effect is also fact. Just like cotton. If cotton is fact, then the thread is also fact. How you can say that thread is false and cotton is fact? That is not possible. If the cotton is fact, then the thread, effect of cotton, that is also fact. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī says that prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. Anything which has got connection with Hari, Kṛṣṇa, prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi..., mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgaḥ. Mumukṣu, those who are aspiring after liberation, mumuk... Mokṣa. The Māyāvādīs, they are aspiring after mukti. Mukti. A devotee does not care for mukti. Mukti's not very important thing for them because, actually, one who is pure devotee, he's already mukta, liberated. He doesn't care for mukti.

Lecture on BG 16.9 -- Hawaii, February 5, 1975:

So Kṛṣṇa says, on this blind vision, etāṁ dṛṣṭim avaṣṭabhya. Accepting these are the basic principles of this material creation. Etāṁ dṛṣṭim avaṣṭabhya naṣṭa ātmānaḥ. Lost their spiritual consciousness. Naṣṭa means lost. Ātmānaḥ means the soul, the Supersoul. So ātmā, Paramātmā. The Supersoul is Paramātmā, and we are soul. So they have no knowledge. The defect of the modern civilization...

The demons and the rākṣasas, they're existing always. As I have told you, two classes of men are always there. But in this age the number of atheist class, or demons, are very much increased. Otherwise, material world means for the demons, atheistic class. Just like the prisonhouse. The prisonhouse means it is meant for the criminals. One may be a first-class prisoner, one may be a third-class prisoner, but it is prisonhouse. Similarly, anyone who is in this material world—never mind whether he is Lord Brahmā or the insignificant ant—they are more or less all criminals. Criminal means disobeying.

Lecture on BG 16.11-12 -- Hawaii, February 7, 1975:

Spiritual body never annihilates. The material body annihilates. Every one of us, we have got now material body. It will annihilate. But in the spiritual world, when you have got spiritual body, it does not annihilate. Eternal. Eternal life. And cit means knowledge. So in this material body we have no knowledge. Even if we have got..., now imperfect knowledge, limited knowledge. But in the spiritual life you have got full knowledge. That is spiritual life. And ānanda.

Here is no ānanda. In this material world... Ānanda means pleasure, bliss, but here it is not possible. First of all, you have to die. You may manufacture some so-called ānanda, but you'll die. Now, suppose we are dancing here, and if we understand that immediately death will take place, then we shall not be able to enjoy the dancing. Immediately the anxiety will come. So here, ānanda, there is no ānanda. Why there is ānanda?

Lecture on BG Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972:

Because Arjuna was not a Vedantist. He was a military man. He's not supposed to become a great philosopher. He was a gṛhastha. But the real qualification is to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Then one can understand what is Bhagavad-gītā. Not by so-called knowledge. No. Knowledge is not perfect unless one understands Kṛṣṇa. That is not knowledge. That is still illusion. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Māṁ prapadyate: "He surrenders unto Me." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). When one understands Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, as everything, as the origin of everything, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), then his knowledge is perfect. And so long he's hovering here and there, without any understanding of Kṛṣṇa, his knowledge is not perfect. That perfection of knowledge is attained, as it is described by Kṛṣṇa: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19).

Page Title:No knowledge (Lectures, BG)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:27 of Jun, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=91, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:91