Perfect instruction

Expressions researched:
"perfect instruction" |"perfect instructions"

SB Canto 4

SB 4.24.33, Translation:

Lord Śiva addressed the Supreme Personality of Godhead with the following prayer: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, all glories unto You. You are the most exalted of all self-realized souls. Since You are always auspicious for the self-realized, I wish that You be auspicious for me. You are worshipable by virtue of the all-perfect instructions You give. You are the Supersoul; therefore I offer my obeisances unto You as the supreme living being.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

In the Bhagavad-gītā there is perfect instruction. And if we take it as it is and follow it, then we become perfect.

Lecture on BG 1.13-14 -- London, July 14, 1973:

Real dharma is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, and that real dharma is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). "Just surrender unto me." This is real dharma. Surrender to Kṛṣṇa and follow His instruction; your life will be perfect. Because you follow the perfect instruction, therefore you are also perfect. Simple process. To become perfect, we have to follow the perfect instruction.

So in the Bhagavad-gītā there is perfect instruction. And if we take it as it is and follow it, then we become perfect. To become perfect is not very difficult job. But because we don't want to become perfect, because we want to be cheated, we do not become perfect. This is the difficulty. So we should know from the very beginning that Kṛṣṇa is transcendental. And all His activities, they are all transcendental.

Arjuna is hearing from Kṛṣṇa, and you hear from Arjuna. Then you get the perfect instruction. If you say, "Where is Arjuna? Where is Kṛṣṇa?" but Arjuna's words are there in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa's words are there.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Los Angeles, March 12, 1970:

Because Kṛṣṇa is sitting within yourself. As soon as Kṛṣṇa finds that you are very sincere, seeking Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will immediately give you chance: "Here is chance. Here is chance."

So we have to utilize in that way. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). "Hear from Me." Nobody... Either you hear from Kṛṣṇa or from Kṛṣṇa's representative. Just like Arjuna is hearing from Kṛṣṇa, and you hear from Arjuna. Then you get the perfect instruction. If you say, "Where is Arjuna? Where is Kṛṣṇa?" but Arjuna's words are there in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa's words are there. So if you take the words as it is, then you hear Bhagavad-gītā. If you change, then you don't hear Bhagavad-gītā. You hear something nonsense. These are very simple things. So hearing is very important. So "Hear from Me." Nobody can be a great authority than Kṛṣṇa. And therefore, by hearing from Him, one receives the greatest opportunity for progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

We have to find out guru for perfect instruction. That is the only way.

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

So this is the first business, that "Where we shall take knowledge?" Tad-vijñānārtham. Vedic lesson is that tad-vijñānārthaṁ gurum eva abhigacchet: "You should go to guru." Just like Arjuna has accepted Kṛṣṇa as guru. When Arjuna was puzzled, he surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "I am kṣatriya. It is my duty to fight, but I am declining. Although You are requesting me to fight, still I am declining. So I am puzzled. Anyway, I can understand You can drive away my, this puzzling position. Therefore I am becoming Your śiṣya." Śiṣyas te 'ham. "I become Your disciple. I am not going to argue with You on equal footing." Śiṣya means he is always subordinate. Whatever the guru will say, he will accept. That is the guru and śiṣya. So Kṛṣṇa became guru and Arjuna became a śiṣya, disciple, not friend. Of course, he knew what is Kṛṣṇa. So śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam. So similarly, we have to find out guru for perfect instruction. That is the only way. Otherwise we shall keep ourself in ignorance, in mistake, in illusion, in imperfectness and so many other things.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

You shall never be happy—this is perfect instruction—unless you go back to home, back to Godhead.

Lecture on SB 6.1.26-27 -- Philadelphia, July 12, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa says that this place is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This material world, where we are now living under different change of body one after another, it is duḥkhālayam. Why I have to change my body? Why not... I am permanent. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Therefore we have to learn, we have to be educated, we have to receive knowledge from the perfect. And Kṛṣṇa personally, the Supreme Perfect Person, is giving you knowledge. And if we are so unfortunate that we do not take the perfect knowledge—we concoct, we speculate, we create our own idea—then it is to be understood that durāśayā. We are thinking, "I shall be happy in this way. I shall be happy in this..." Nothing. You shall never be happy—this is perfect instruction—unless you go back to home, back to Godhead. Just like a mad boy, he has forsaken his father. His father is rich man, everything is there, but he has become hippie. So similarly, we are also like that. Our father is Kṛṣṇa. We can live there very comfortably without any botheration, without endeavor for earning money, but we have decided that we shall live here in this material world.

This instruction of Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, so perfect... It must be perfect because it is coming from Kṛṣṇa. It is not the so-called scientist theory. No. Perfect instruction.

Lecture on SB 7.9.6 -- Mayapur, February 26, 1977:

My Guru Mahārāja used to say that the whole world is full of everything. Only scarcity is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Only scarcity. Otherwise there is no scarcity. Everything is full. And if you take the instruction of Kṛṣṇa you will be happy immediately. You can make the whole world happy. This instruction of Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, so perfect... It must be perfect because it is coming from Kṛṣṇa. It is not the so-called scientist theory. No. Perfect instruction. And if we follow the instruction, if we practically utilize, then whole world... Viśvaṁ pūrṇaṁ sukhāyate.

General Lectures

The conclusion is that if you simply follow the perfect instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then automatically you become perfect, however imperfect you may be. That is our duty.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 6, 1971:

If you simply perfectly follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then you become perfect. Other processes, yoga, dhyāna, karma, jñāna... There are many processes to make oneself perfect, but even becoming perfect, you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Yoginām. Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Siddhaye means perfection. Yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ. Even you become perfect, still, it is doubtful whether you have understood Kṛṣṇa. This is the position.

Therefore the conclusion is that if you simply follow the perfect instruction of Kṛṣṇa, then automatically you become perfect, however imperfect you may be. That is our duty. It is not very difficult. Just like a child, a boy, a child. He's asking father, "My dear father, what is this?" An intelligent child questions like that. The father explains, "This is this," and the child accepts. Then his knowledge is perfect. But if he accepts the instruction of the father or mother, immediately he becomes perfect.

Philosophy Discussions

God means He gives perfect instruction. So this perfect instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, we, we have accepted. Not accepted; we have known. God is there; you accept or not accept, it doesn't matter.

Philosophy Discussion on William James:

Prabhupāda: That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām avyakta āsakta cetasām. Those who are impersonalist, for them to think of God becomes very difficult job. Who is God and what to think of, so the so-called meditation is very difficult. But if you have got really conception of a God, just like we have got Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead... Although He has got different incarnations, forms, He is the Supreme, so we think of Him. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We can think, because we have got the form, we have got the Deity in the temple, we have got the picture in our room, and so we have got definite conception of God and definite instruction of God. So this system, following the Bhagavad-gītā, is definitive understanding of God, so people may take this system, and by practical example they can see how those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, how they are advancing in the religious system, in every system, because God has instructed everything—religious, political, social, cultural, philosophical, science, physics—everything perfectly. God, God means He gives perfect instruction. So this perfect instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, we, we have accepted. Not accepted; we have known. God is there; you accept or not accept, it doesn't matter. So those who are fortunate, they will see the actual form of God, follow His instruction, and be perfect in the life. That is wanted.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

That is perfect instruction. God is all perfect, He is speaking. Now you follow that speaking, then you become perfect.

Morning Walk and Room Conversation -- August 9, 1976, Tehran:

Nava-yauvana: Because the leaders, they are thieves, they are taking the most, and then they...

Prabhupāda: They have become thieves because their guardians did not care for them. This is going on paramparā. The paramparā is that God's instructions should be distributed. Evaṁ paramparā. But there is no followers of God's instruction. Therefore the fool's, rascal's paramparā is there. The father is a rogue and the son is rogue. The grandson is a rogue. What is wrong? The paramparā is rogue. And if they follow God's paramparā, then everything is all right. In the beginning, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam: (BG 4.1) "I said." That is perfect instruction. God is all perfect, He is speaking. Now you follow that speaking, then you become perfect. And if you follow Satan, then you become a rogue, thief. The difficulty is they are not following the words of God. And religion means the words of God. It doesn't matter what kind of religion it is. If they actually follow the words of God, they become good.

Unfortunately most men are rascals. That is the difficulty. Otherwise, there is perfect instruction. There is no doubt about it. How can I deny? God is speaking personally.

Evening Darsana -- August 11, 1976, Tehran:

Ātreya Ṛṣi: This is watermelon, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: You are giving all of them?

Ātreya Ṛṣi: Yes, it's from our garden(?).

Prabhupāda: Give me one piece. For any intelligent man, Bhagavad-gītā is perfect knowledge. There is no doubt about it. But unfortunately most men are rascals. That is the difficulty. Otherwise, there is perfect instruction. There is no doubt about it. How can I deny? God is speaking personally.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

His commandment is "Thou shall not kill," but your business is to kill him first. How far you are advanced and civilized, just imagine. And you want perfect instruction. You cannot follow even one instruction. That is your position. In this way try to understand. "Jesus had to deal with rascals like you. Therefore he... Even ordinary moral principles, you could not, what to speak of other things." Actually that is the fact.

Conversation on Train to Allahabad -- January 11, 1977, India:

Rāmeśvara: They believe Jesus came to this world to teach people about God.

Prabhupāda: "Jesus... Jesus had to speak to rascals and fools like you. Therefore he did not speak." This is the argument. "Because you are such a fool that Jesus said, 'Thou shall not kill'—your first business was to kill him. So you are so nice, advanced men. Now, what he'll speak to you? He knew that you are all rascals. Even the one word you cannot understand, 'Thou shall not kill.' So what you will understand? Therefore Jesus Christ did not say." Give them this answer. Jesus Christ was perfect, but because you are rascals, he did not say, because you could not understand even his one word. You are so intelligent. His commandment is "Thou shall not kill," but your business is to kill him first. How far you are advanced and civilized, just imagine. And you want perfect instruction. You cannot follow even one instruction. That is your position. In this way try to understand. "Jesus had to deal with rascals like you. Therefore he... Even ordinary moral principles, you could not, what to speak of other things." Actually that is the fact. Actually that is the fact. He had to deal with rascals and fools. Is that civilization, that first of all argue, "Thou shall not kill"? That means you were all rascals engaged in killing business. Is that civilized men? Why he said like that? Is that very good philosophy? Mean they were so low class that they had to be stopped first of all, these sinful activities.