Tattva-vid, one who knows tattva, he can speak about tattva. Tattva means the Absolute Truth. So vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam. That thing is spoken as tattva, as the truth, by persons who are tattva-vid. Tattva-vid means one who knows the tattva. Unless one knows the thing, how he can explain? Therefore we have to understand the Absolute Truth from a person who knows it. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam. That knowledge is absolute, advayam, no relativity, absolute.
- vadanti tat tattva-vidas
- tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
- brahmeti paramātmeti
- bhagavān iti śabdyate
- (SB 1.2.11)
That truth is explained as Brahman, as Paramātmā or as Bhagavān. The same thing, just like we see the sun. The sun is a planet and there is a sun-god, just like we have got also in each and every planet one chief person. Here we have got president. Formerly there was one president or king on this planet. Now they have now so many presidents. But according to God's plan, there is one president or king in each and every planet. So in the sun planet there is also one king, or one chief person. His name is also given in the Bhagavad-gītā: Vivasvān. If you accept Bhagavad-gītā, then you have to accept all these things. You cannot make minus anything. That is not knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is.
We cannot use the ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya (CC Ādi-līlā 5.176)—half; I take half of the hen. I take the rear part, and the front part I reject. This kind of logic, argument, will not be very successful. You have to take as it is, in total, and you have to understand. That is understanding of Bhagavad-gītā. If you take something to your choice, that is useless, useless waste of time. Just like Mahatma Gandhi, he wanted to prove from Bhagavad-gītā nonviolence. How it is possible? Bhagavad-gītā is spoken in the battlefield. So in this way if we try to understand Bhagavad-gītā, it will be not Bhagavad-gītā, it will be something else. We must understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is. That is our preaching method. We are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is all over the world. So we accept.
The modern theory, scientific theory, is that "The sun planet is only blazing fire. There cannot be any living entity." No. We don't believe that. Because śāstra says that "The living entity is never burned." Acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam (BG 2.24). Adāhyaḥ. Just like we sterilize by putting into the fire, but that does not mean the living entity is dead. No. Adāhyo 'yam: "It cannot be burned into fire." Acchedyo 'yam: "It cannot be cut into pieces." This information we get from Bhagavad-gītā. So in the sun planet, although it is blazing fire, there are living entities. They have got a particular type of body. That particular type of body is fiery.
Just like you have got living entities in the sea. There are hundreds and thousands. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi (Padma Purāṇa). There are nine lakhs species of aquatic animals. But they are living in the water. They have got particular type of body. You cannot say, because you cannot live within the water, you cannot say, "No, no, there cannot be any living entity." This is nonsense. The living entities, another name is sarva-ga: he can live everywhere. It is not a fact that living entities live only in certain particular place. No. Sarva-ga, anywhere in God's creation there are living entities. This is śāstric vision.