Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. So there is sampradāya. Brahmā imparted this knowledge to Nārada. Nārada imparted this knowledge to Vyāsadeva. Evaṁ paramparā. That . . . this is our process of knowledge. We get knowledge from the superior. Everyone gets knowledge from the superior. Nobody gets knowledge automatically. That is not possible.
So things which are beyond the perception of our senses, how we can get that knowledge? By our mental speculation, it is not . . . never perfect. We give sometimes this example: Just like we, if we want to know who is my father, that is not possible to know simply by mental speculation. If we approach the authority, mother, we get the knowledge immediately.
So knowledge from the authority is perfect. Knowledge by mental speculation is always imperfect. This is our conclusion. If you get knowledge, any knowledge, from the perfect, that knowledge is perfect. And if you get knowledge from imperfect, that knowledge is always imperfect. This is our process. Therefore the Vedas says, tad vijñānārthaṁ gurum eva abhigacchet. One must approach the superior who is in knowledge. Then he gets the knowledge.
(break) . . . sometimes disagree. But the . . . our point is very strong, that you cannot get perfect knowledge from imperfect person. That is not possible. That's a fact. You can get knowledge only from the perfect. That is real knowledge. The modern scientific knowledge, taking perfection. The next year, again changes. "This theory is changed." So they, they say that, "This is advancement. We are making progress." This means that whatever knowledge you are making your basis, that is imperfect. 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. There are so many . . . Darwin's theory, others. "Perhaps," "It may be." Like this. These words are there, used. So what is the use of this "perhaps"? That means imperfect knowledge. "It may be. There is something missing." So how we can believe all this imperfect knowledge?
Now we don't take this knowledge, "perhaps," "maybe." Just like in the śāstra it is said, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. There are 900,000's forms of aquatic life, 900,000's. In the Vedas it is said. It doesn't say one more or two less. Nine hundred thousand. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakā (Padma Purāṇa), the living entities. So Veda, that is Vedic knowledge. Veda means knowledge, perfect knowledge.