- varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ
- kṛto loka-hitaṁ nṛpa
- ātmavit-sammataḥ . . .
- ātmavit-sammataḥ puṁsāṁ
- śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ
- (SB 2.1.1)
So this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a question and answer. The beginning, the . . . this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, first of all it was narrated by Vyāsadeva, and it was heard by his son, Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Then Śukadeva Gosvāmī narrated this Bhāgavatam to Parīkṣit Mahārāja at the time of his death. And from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the Sūta Gosvāmī heard. This is the paramparā. (aside) Not yet. This is the paramparā. Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Kṛṣṇa millions of years ago to the sun-god. Imaṁ vivasvate, proktavān avyayam. Imaṁ vivasvate proktam, vivasvān manave prāha manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt (BG 4.1). This is the paramparā system.
Our this Bhāgavata system, or Vedic system, is not research work. It is not research work. Nowadays it is a fashion that . . . just like the theosophists, they're searching out God. Since the beginning, they're searching out. And so many leaders came and gone, but they are searching out. And they will go on searching out for lives together. But it is not a thing to be searched out. It is not ordinary thing, not material thing. You know . . .
- athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-
- prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi
- jānāti tattvaṁ . . .
- na cānya eko 'pi ciraṁ vicinvan
- (SB 10.14.29)
Ciraṁ vicinvan. For forever, millions of years, if you speculate to understand what is God, it is not possible. It is not a subject matter of speculative knowledge. No. It is to be received through the right source, deductive process, not inductive process. Because our senses are limited. We cannot have any perfect idea on account of our senses being limited. We cannot see.
So there are so many examples. We have talked. This knowledge is not . . . the exact word used in Sanskrit . . . there are two ways: āroha-panthā, avaroha-panthā. Āroha-panthā means to know something by your dint of knowledge, ascending process. Ascending process. Just like these people are trying to know the moon planet, the Venus planet or other planets. They're going, ascending, by aeroplane, and to know it. But they're doing it for the last twenty years. They do not know what is the actual position of the moon planet. That is not known. They're coming, going. Or whether they have gone, that they know. But from the situation it is understood they're not going. Maybe some other planet they are going. That is my opinion.