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We commit mistake, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect and we have got a cheating propensity. We are possessing these four defects. However great a man may be, he makes mistake in calculation. To err is human

Expressions researched:
"we commit mistake, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect and we have got a cheating propensity. We are possessing these four defects. However great a man may be, he makes mistake in calculation" |"To err is human"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Our knowledge . . . we are possessing four defects: we commit mistake, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect and we have got a cheating propensity. We are possessing these four defects. However great a man may be, he makes mistake in calculation. "To err is human." Then we are illusioned. Illusioned means we accept something for something. Just like we are accepting this body as myself. This is illusion. The whole world is illusioned.

Our knowledge . . . we are possessing four defects: we commit mistake, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect and we have got a cheating propensity. We are possessing these four defects. However great a man may be, he makes mistake in calculation. "To err is human." Then we are illusioned. Illusioned means we accept something for something. Just like we are accepting this body as myself. This is illusion. The whole world is illusioned. Everyone is thinking in terms of the body. And according to Vedic knowledge, anyone who is under the concept of this body as self, he is no better than the cow and the asses. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13).

So these are our defects: bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsa, karaṇa-pāṭava. Karaṇa. Karaṇa means senses, the instrument through which we gather knowledge. They are imperfect. So with so many imperfectness, how we can give right knowledge? That is not possible. So any knowledge received from these defective person is imperfect. Therefore we should receive knowledge from the Supreme. Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya says: "Nārāyaṇa is beyond this material creation. He is . . . exists before the material creation." Aham eva asam agre. Before the material creation, the Nārāyaṇa is there, and after the annihilation of this material creation, the Nārāyaṇa is there. Just like we are part and parcel of Nārāyaṇa, living entities, soul. We existed before the creation of this body, this present body, my body or your body, and we shall remain also after the destruction of this body. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The real we—means the spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi—I am not annihilated even after the destruction of this body. Similarly, the huge, gigantic material body also, when it is destroyed, Nārāyaṇa exists. And we are part and parcel of Nārāyaṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).

Nārāyaṇa has got two kinds of expansion. One is called svāṁśa, personal expansion. Just like there are so many incarnations:

rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan
nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Bs. 5.39)

So Nārāyaṇa, He has got many forms. Kṛṣṇa is the original Nārāyaṇa. And from Kṛṣṇa there are expansion, catur-vyūha: Vāsudeva, Śaṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna. Then Nārāyaṇa. From Nārāyaṇa, puruṣāvatāra: the Mahā Viṣṇu avatāra, the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu avatāra, the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu avatāra. In this way Nārāyaṇa has got personal expansion. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca (Bs. 5.33). We get this information from Vedic literature.

So Nārāyaṇa . . . and we are also expansion of Nārāyaṇa, vibhinnāṁśa. We are called vibhinna, separated particles, part and parcel of Nārāyaṇa. And Nārāyaṇa has got personal expansions. So we are to get knowledge from Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. That is perfect. That is perfect knowledge. The Vedas means the knowledge from Nārāyaṇa. Therefore it is perfect. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). He imparted the Vedic knowledge. Lord Brahmā is not independent. He received knowledge from Nārāyaṇa. So if you receive knowledge from Nārāyaṇa, that is perfect knowledge. That Nārāyaṇa, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ nārāyaṇaḥ (Śaṅkarācārya). If you receive knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect.

Page Title:We commit mistake, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect and we have got a cheating propensity. We are possessing these four defects. However great a man may be, he makes mistake in calculation. To err is human
Compiler:SharmisthaK
Created:2022-08-29, 11:30:10
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1