We have given that picture in the Bhāgavata cover. Perhaps you know. The topmost original planet is the Goloka. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni. That is the abode of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-dhāma. Kṛṣṇa-dhāma. People are searching after God. But actually there is the planet where God lives, Kṛṣṇa lives. But you have got your machine, aeroplane, sputnik. You can reach there, but you cannot reach even the highest planet, even on this material planet, material universe. Everyone sees. We see the stars or planets. Now you have got the machine; you go there. No. You cannot go. You are so limited. Even you cannot go to the moon planet, which is so nearest. You cannot go. But still, we are proud of our these airplanes, sputniks. We are thinking, "Now we have become God." These rascals they do not know what is God. They are all rascals. They have no idea what is God. Therefore they have accepted another rascal as God. This is going on. You cannot reach.
Cannot reach (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"cannot be reached"
|"cannot even reach"
|"cannot immediately reach"
|"cannot reach"
|"cannot, however, reach"
|"never reach"
|"never reached"
|"never reaches"
|"not reach"
|"not reached"
|"not reaching"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
How do you know it? You do not see. But there are other processes by which you can experience. That is called aparokṣa. Pratyakṣa parokṣa aparokṣa. In this way, Kṛṣṇa consciousness means adhokṣaja and aprakṛta, beyond the senses. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said: adhokṣaja. Where direct perception cannot reach. So where direct perception cannot reach, then how you can perceive anubhāva? That is śrota-panthā. That is śruti. You have to take knowledge from the Vedas. And the Vedic knowledge is explained by guru. Therefore one has to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme guru, or His representative. Then all these troubles, means ignorance, can be dissipated. Yac chokam ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām (BG 2.8).
By latitude, longitude, by time and by chart, they are calculating. Now, I was asking the Captain, "Where we have come?" He was saying, in the Mediterranean Sea, "Oh, we are so many miles from Italy. We are so many miles from..." Like this. "Tunisia. Now we are coming to Gibraltar." Like this. But I was seeing all vast of water only. I was seeing, "Just after ten miles I shall reach," but it never reaches. So then how, what are these charts? The charts are that experienced sailors, they have made the charts. The captain was also consulting that chart because it was made by experienced sailors. That is nothing. So similarly in calculating in which way we have to find out our salvation is to follow such liberated souls.
Prabhupāda: How can you? Just like because you have not seen India you cannot say, "Oh, there, there is no living being. It is vacant." So these people are going to the moon planet. They are saying it is full of dust. It is full of clay, or something like that. All these foolishness. You see? That means they have not reached. Outside they take some photo and they come out.
Woman: They announced today on the radio they've seen a lot of flying saucers.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Let them talk all nonsense. But we have got information that this moon planet is a very nice planet, and the inhabitants there, they are very intelligent and the people who perform pious work here in this planet, they are promoted, promoted to the moon planet. And it is very cold also. Just like your European countries and American countries because, due to... You have come from America.
Now, one who has accepted the worship of the Supreme Lord, he has no more anything to do for spiritual realization. He has realized. And nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tathā kim. And undergoing so much severe penances, if one does not understand what is God, then whole thing is spoiled. Tapasā tathā kim. Whole penances is spoiled because he could not reach to the ultimate goal. So ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tathā kim, nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tathā kim. Antar-bahir yadi haris tapasā tathā kim. One who has achieved that knowledge, that he can see within himself and outside always the Supreme Lord, he has no more necessity of any penance. And after undergoing all sorts of penances, if I cannot realize that God is within me and God is without everywhere, then all my penances are spoiled. You see? These are very nice.
There are five karmendriya and five sensory organs and working organs, ten, and the mind is the chief. So mind is also considered as one of the senses, the chief senses. You see? So because it is sense, it is imperfect. So by mental speculation we cannot have a into right conclusion, by mental speculation. Those are simply speculating on mind, they can make some progress to a certain extent, but they cannot reach the ultimate goal. It is not possible by mental speculation; neither it is possible by direct evidence. The only, only possible evidence is authority, authority. Just like yesterday also I gave you that example. Just like if a child asks his mother that "Who is my father?" now the mother says, "Here is your father." Now, if the child says, "I don't believe it," so he has no other source of knowledge. Except the mother's version, that "Here is your father," he has no other alternative to know who is father.
Mlecchas, yavanas, śūdras, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra (SB 2.4.18), so many. Learned means brāhmaṇa. Learned means that one who knows that Brahman. Brahman, the spirit soul, is part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman. So one who has come to that knowledge, that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul; ahaṁ brahmāsmi," that is knowledge. Knowledge begins from there. If one does not reach to that point, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, then he is animal. The animal thinking like that, "I am rickshaw," "I am motorcar," "I am cat," "I am dog," "I am this," "I am that." That is animal thinking. But a person... Learned thinking is that "I am not this body; I am part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi." And when you are farther advanced from Brahman knowledge... The knowledge begins from there. When you make further advancement, then you can understand that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." This is perfect knowledge. First of all knowledge begins that "I am not this body."
It is not possible because I may be a very perfect religious man, but I may not be a very good arguer; another strong man who can argue very strongly, who knows logic very nicely, he can defeat me. He can make my all conclusion null and void. So therefore, simply by argument or logical conclusion one cannot reach to the truth, to the religious truth. It is not possible. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. Śrutayaḥ means revealed scriptures. Revealed scriptures. Just like in the world there are many revealed scriptures. There are Vedas, Purāṇas, the Bible, the Koran, and there are so many religious scriptures also. And if you go on reading them, although the aim is one, still, you will find some discrepancy from one to another. Śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. Vibhinnāḥ means they are diverse. They are diverse. Śrutayo vibhinnā nāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam. And so far philosophers are concerned, one philosopher tries to defeat another philosopher.
So, of course, if you worship impersonal form, brahma-jyotir, that is also Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa has said, kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām (BG 12.5). If you want to approach the Absolute Truth through the impersonal form, then it will be little difficult. Perhaps you may not reach the ultimate goal. You may fall down. There are so many instances. We have seen in India so many big, big sannyāsīs. They give up this world—brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā—but after some days they come down to the jagat and engage themselves in political... (break)
Now, you'll find in the Tenth Chapter how Arjuna understood Bhagavad-gītā. So you have to follow the footprints. The whole thing is... I have several times repeatedly saying to you that mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Mahājana. Dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. It is said that you cannot reach to the right conclusion of the Vedic literature simply by your argument, by your force of argument or logic. That is not possible. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ. There are many things which do not come within our argument, within our sense of logic. So tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ. You cannot understand the Supreme Truth simply by argument. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnāḥ.
Therefore my business is to serve Kṛṣṇa." This is jñāna. And if one does not know this, he is rascal. That's all. No jñāna. This is jñāna. Therefore it is confirmed by Kṛṣṇa: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Jñāna means he must surrender to Kṛṣṇa. That is jñāna.
And so long one does not reach to this point, surrender to Kṛṣṇa, he's a rascal. That's all. Mūḍha. Na māṁ prapadyante mūḍhāḥ, duṣkṛtino narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). That is his qualification. One who has not surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, then he is duṣkṛtinaḥ, mūḍhāḥ, narādhamāḥ... "No, no. He's M.A., Ph.D." Māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. His knowledge has no value. Useless. Māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. Śrama eva hi kevalam. That is the verdict of the śāstras.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "My way is followed by everyone." The impersonalists, they are also aiming to the same goal and the yogis or the localized realizer they are also aiming the same goal. But the devotees, they have reached the same goal. That is the difference. The impersonalists or the yogis, they could not reach the final goal. But the devotees, they have reached the final goal. Therefore you will find in the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births of transcendental realization one surrenders unto Me accepting vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19), Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is everything. Sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. That sort of mahātmā, great soul, is very rare. Go on.
Anyone can think intoxication like anything. He has got the liberty. But that is not the fact.
So ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Their intelligence is contaminated because they have no information of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So long one does not reach to that point, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19), "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is everything." It can take some time but unless you reach to that point your all intelligence is imperfect. Your knowledge is imperfect. That you must know. Therefore one who takes Kṛṣṇa, he is most intelligent. Tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32).
We cannot... If the light is put off, then we cannot see each other, even in this room. So our seeing person is conditional. It is not perfect. Similarly, all our senses, they are imperfect. So by imperfect senses, by speculation of the imperfect mind, we, we cannot reach to the Absolute Truth. It is not possible. Not possible.
Therefore here it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that tad viddhi praṇipātena: (BG 4.34) "If you are at all serious to understand that transcendental knowledge, then you must approach to a person who has experience of the Absolute Truth." Otherwise, it is not possible. If you think that "I shall realize by mental speculation the Absolute Truth, it is not possible." Because you are sub... I mean, you are fructified with only imperfections. Your senses cannot approach. Therefore Brahman is said, avan mānasa gocara.
The other day as I explained, if you keep your mind always seated by Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is just like light, sun. So there is no question of darkness occupying the mind. There will be no possibility. Just like in the sunlight, there is possibility of darkness. Similarly, if you keep Kṛṣṇa on your mind always, this māyā or illusion cannot reach there. She will be unable to reach there. That is the process. He should be free from desire and possessiveness. The whole material disease is that I want to possess and desire. And whatever is lost, I lament for it, and whatever there is, whatever we haven't got, we desire for it. So, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54)—one who is actually God conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has no desire for material possession. He has only desire how to serve Kṛṣṇa. That means his desire is purified. This desire is, you cannot give up desire. That is not possible.
Beyond this material nature there is another spiritual nature. So we do not know what is the formation of this material nature and what to know about the spiritual nature. Then you have to hear from Kṛṣṇa who lives there. Otherwise you remain nonsense all your life.
Here is the information. How can you know which you cannot reach, cannot know with your senses are so imperfect. How can you know? Simply you have to hear. Just like you have to hear about your father from the mother. There is no other way. The father certifies, mother certifies, "Here is your father, you have to accept." You cannot make any experiment. Beyond your names. Similarly if you want to learn about the spiritual sky in God's kingdom, then you have to simply hear from the authority. There is no question of experimental knowledge. Simply hearing.
If you want to know Kṛṣṇa or God by the speculative process, not only for one year, two years... Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi. Not mental speculation, but on the aeroplane running on the speed of vāyu, or air, or mind, the speed of mind, still, by traversing many crores of years, you cannot reach. Still it, it remains avicintya, inconceivable. But if you take to the process of this kṛṣṇa-yoga, or bhakti-yoga, then you can become aware of Kṛṣṇa very easily. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). To understand Kṛṣṇa superficially, that is not sufficient. That is also good, but you must have tattvataḥ, what is Kṛṣṇa actually. That knowledge can be achieved—bhaktyā, by this kṛṣṇa-yoga.
The purport of this verse is that jñāne prayāsam udapāsya: "One should give up his unnecessary endeavor for philosophical speculation about God." One should give it up, jñāne prayāsam, because by speculation you cannot reach to the ultimate truth. How far... How can you... Just suppose we are speculating... Very great scientists are speculating about the nature of the moon from here. But they are speculating. They have not come to any conclusion. So you go on speculating, which you have no experience. You go on speculating, but the real nature of that thing will never come to you.
Here it is said that māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ. So long there is influence of māyā, he is lost of real knowledge. But in spite of that, if he makes progress in understanding the Absolute Truth, then, after many births, not in one birth—bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19)—when he comes to the actual point of knowledge, that Kṛṣṇa is everything, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, prapadyante (BG 7.19), he surrenders. That means to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal of all knowledge, all activities, all tapasya, all yoga. If one does not reach that point, then he is simply wasting his time and energy.
They are mentioned there. The yogi know. The yogi knows everything, and he can transfer his self, any planet he likes. He does not require the help of any sputnik. The sputniks, they are trying for so many years, and they will go on trying for one hundred or one thousand years more. They'll never reach any planet. Be rest assured. This is not the process. This is not the process to reach another planet. Maybe, by scientific process, one man, one man or two man can reach, but that is not the general process. The general process is: if you want to transfer yourself any better planet, then you have to practice this yoga system, or jñāna system, not bhakti system. Bhakti system is not meant for any material planet. That will be explained later on.
If this is not achieved, then all yoga exercise and all philosophical speculation—all nonsense, simply waste of time, simply a waste of time. Ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim. If you can achieve this stage, that there is no other necessity of philosophizing or yogic practice or anything, if you receive that, if you reach that perfection. And if you do not reach that perfection, then it is all useless.
So ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim. Nārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim: (Nārada Pañcarātra) "One who reaches there, for him, all kinds of penances, austerities—no more required. And one who does not reach that place, all these austerities, penances—useless, simply waste of time." So this should be the aim of human life. Human civilization, human society, should be so formed that they should have the opportunity. The human form of life is the opportunity to get this boon.
Govinda, the Supreme Lord, who is so vast that you cannot reach Him by your mental speculation... Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara. Koṭi means ten million, and koṭi-śata-vatsara, similarly, millions and millions of years, with the speed of air and with the speed of mind, if you proceed to speculate, to understand the Supreme, oh, that is not possible. That is not possible. So many speculators at the present moment or in the past, speculating, speculating, speculating. They never reach the point, never reach the point. There is not a single instance that they have reached the point.
What you are? What is your position? You are an ordinary man. So you say that God does not eat, but God says, "I eat." Why shall I not believe?
So this is the question of faith. This is the question of faith. And without faith, you cannot reach the kingdom of God. Your experimental knowledge, your so-called defective reasons and arguments and philosophy, that will not be applicable in the transcendental field. You have to believe. You are believing in every sphere of your life. When you purchase a ticket for transferring yourself in the aeroplane, if you go on arguing, "Sir, I am purchasing ticket. Whether this aeroplane will reach? Whether it will not, I mean to say, crash on the way?" If you go on arguing, there is no question of, I mean to say, getting on the aeroplane. You have to believe that "Aeroplane will take me to the other side." You are doing that. There is no argument.
"In the spiritual matter, you cannot argue." Your argument will be failure because you may be very good arguer, but I may come. I can cut all your arguments. And somebody else comes—he cuts all my arguments. It is a question of logic. So there are many logical experts. So by arguments we cannot reach the Supreme Truth. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. Not by purchasing books from the market and reading it. No. That also will not help you. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. If you purchase Bhagavad-gītā, you purchase Bible, you purchase Koran, or... So many, there are, literatures. They are also authorized. That's all right. But you cannot learn them by your own study. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). One must go and learn it from the spiritual master, exactly you purchase some scientific book, medical science, or engineering and study at home. Oh, you will never be acknowledged as a medical practitioner.
We gather knowledge by sense. But these material senses are very limited. So it is not possible to understand God, or Kṛṣṇa, by speculating our mind. Mind is the center of all senses. So senses help mind gathers knowledge. So it is not possible. Because our senses are all imperfect. By imperfect senses we cannot reach to the perfect or to the unlimited. Therefore we cannot know. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). It is not possible by manipulating your different senses and knowledge and mind you can understand God.
If you want to understand the reality by your arguments, reasoning power, that is not possible. Because I may be very nice arguer, but another person may be better arguer, he can defeat me. And that is going on.
Therefore simply by arguments, you cannot reach the Absolute Truth. That is not possible. Tarko 'pratiṣṭha. And if you simply depend on the śruti, śrutayo vibhinnaḥ. The Vedic literatures are different: Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg, Artharva. And not only that, other scriptures there are. So Śrutayor vibhinnāḥ nāsau ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnā, dharmasya tattvaṁ nihito guhāyām. To understand religious principle, it is very difficult.
Therefore our duty is, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). "We have to accept that way which is given by the mahājana." Mahājana.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Akṣaja, akṣaja means direct perception. Direct means sense perception. Just like we see so many things directly with our eyes; we touch with our hands; we smell by our nose. These are direct perception by our senses. But bhagavantam, Bhagavān, is adhokṣajam. He is beyond direct perception. Adhokṣajam. Adhaḥ, you cannot reach there by direct perception. Just like I do not see God. Then what do you see? Your seeing power is very limited. Why don't you accept that? So He's not appreciable by limited senses. Therefore His name is adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja. Sattvaṁ viśuddham. Sattvaṁ viśuddham. Sattva, goodness, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa. That sattvam, or existence, His existence is adhokṣaja, beyond our sense perception, and viśuddham. Apāpa-viddham, as it is stated in the Īśopaniṣad, viśuddham. He is never touched by the material contamination. Viśuddham.
We cannot take Kṛṣṇa as one of the created beings like us. We are all created beings. But Kṛṣṇa is not created. He is above creation. Before creation, He was existing; therefore His existence is not within this creation. That is adhokṣaja. Within this creation we can understand by experimental science, but which is beyond this creation, because we cannot reach there, adhokṣaja... Because we take everything by direct perception, but that is beyond direct perception. Adhokṣaja. Kṣemāya kalpante ye 'nu tān iha. That is our real benefit, adhokṣaja. In the beginning also of this chapter it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). The same word, adhokṣaje. Ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. If you want real happiness, then you engage yourself in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṣemāya. Then you'll be happy. And if you take to other demigods, those who are material, that will not be your perfect happiness or permanent happiness.
So one who has not reached to that point, to realize Kṛṣṇa, it is to be understood that his knowledge is still imperfect. But these persons who have got imperfect knowledge, they are passing as Vedantists and knows everything. They do not know. Kṛṣṇa therefore says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante: (BG 7.19) "These impersonalists, the so-called men of knowledge, after many, many births..." Because it is not so easy to understand Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. They'll have to wait to understand Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. They'll have to wait for thousands of births to understand Kṛṣṇa. They'll have to wait. Although they are very much proud of their knowledge, we know where they are: partial realization. Of course, they are also in the same field.
Nobody can marry like that. Not only marrying. Mussulman nawabs, they used to marry also many wives. Not many wives. One nawab was there, he married 160 wives. They have got in Lucknow... When you go to India, you will see. That is now fallen. That all the wives of the nawab was living... That's a... Now it has been turned into a big park. There are small houses. So he could not reach all the wives every day or every night. That was not possible. Humanly it is impossible. One hundred sixty, that means if he goes, visits every, it will take at least six months. So after six months one queen or nawab, might have seen her husband. But Kṛṣṇa was not like that. Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself also in sixteen thousand forms, and each and every one of his wife was accompanied by Kṛṣṇa personally.
The yogis can do that. The yogis know how to rise on the aeroplane of air, and they can immediately transfer to any planet. Vāyoḥ. Vāyor athāpi. There were... There were planes made of air. Here... Just like now we have manufactured the planes, iron or aluminium, but there are planes of air, and similarly, there are planes of mind. You see?
So that, these are explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā. Vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām. And manufactured by greatest, stalwart thinker, or scientist. And going in this speed for many, many thousands of years. Still, you cannot reach where is Kṛṣṇaloka.
Then, even it is very difficult, but the knowledge is there. Even it is very difficult. Just like we are taking knowledge from Kṛṣṇa. By our own effort, by the plane of mind and plane of air, we cannot reach where is Kṛṣṇaloka. But Kṛṣṇa says that mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām: (BG 9.25) "Those who are My devotees, they can reach to My planet." So at least, we know that Kṛṣṇa has got a planet, and if we take to devotional service, then we can go. Then why not try? There is no loss, but if there is such gain that we can go to Kṛṣṇaloka, so why not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, simply chanting and dancing and taking prasādam? Is it very difficult job? The authority's Kṛṣṇa. It is confirmed by Vyāsadeva. It is confirmed by Nārada. It is confirmed...
So the more we become disciplined... As it is stated in the śāstras, utsāhād dhairyāt niścayāt tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt. These are disciplines. The more we become advanced... And naturally we get the mercy of the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa. Through the mercy of spiritual... Guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpā. There must be mercy both of them, guru and Kṛṣṇa. Without guru's kṛpā, one cannot reach Kṛṣṇa, and without Kṛṣṇa's kṛpā, one cannot get a bona fide spiritual master. This is correlative terms. So we should follow the disciplinary methods sincerely under the guidance of spiritual master. Then it will be very, very easy to go back to home, back to Godhead. Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni, next life became... Nārada means he went back to home, back to Godhead. He was promoted in the Vaikuṇṭhaloka. Then in the next creation, to distribute this bhakti-mārga, he took birth as the son of Brahmājī, and his business was to convert only all others to devotional life. You'll find Nārada Muni's name in connection with Vālmīki, in connection with Prahlāda Mahārāja. Long, long ago.
So Aśvatthāmā's brahmāstra... We have discussed about brahmāstra. It is almost similar to the modern nuclear weapon or bomb. But it is made with chemicals, but this brahmāstra is made of mantra. That is the subtle way. Modern science has not reached to that point of subtle existence. Therefore they cannot understand how transmigration of the soul takes place. The modern science has no knowledge. Imperfect knowledge. They see the gross body, but they have no knowledge about the subtle body. But the subtle body is there. Just like we do not see your mind, but I know that you have got mind. You do not see my mind, but you know that I have got mind. Mind, intelligence and ego. My conception, identity, "I am," that conception is there. That is ego. And my intelligence and my mind, you cannot see. Neither I can see.
We are very much proud of our eyes, akṣa. So Kṛṣṇa's another name is Adhokṣaja. Where your eyesight fails to see you, see Kṛṣṇa; therefore he is Adhokṣaja. Akṣaja jñānam. Knowledge received through direct perception of the senses is called akṣaja jñānam, and Kṛṣṇa is adhokṣaja, where knowledge by direct perception cannot reach. And perfection of life is when you become attached to that adhokṣaja. In another place of Śrīmad... (break) Peace will be possible when you develop your loving propensity for the Adhokṣaja, who is beyond your senses. Therefore those who are duṣkṛtinaḥ, mūḍhāḥ-many languages have been used in the Vedas they do not know what is the aim of life, they are simply thinking "I am this body," then this kind of thought is there in the dogs and cats also. He is also thinking "I am this body." So, this modern civilization is big dog civilization, that's all. That is not human civilization. Human civilization means that he must be interested to know Kṛṣṇa and God. That is human civilization.
There is no difficulty. Simply we have to practice it. And that practice is bhaktyā. This is only possible through devotional service. Kṛṣṇa was so near to the Pāṇḍavas on account of their devotion. Nārada Muni eulogized the Pāṇḍavas that "Jñānīs and yogis, they cannot reach even, but by your devotion, He is living with you as friend. Not only as friend, but sometimes as your order-carrier." Pāṇḍavas sometimes, during their negotiation with Duryodhana, sometimes asked Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa, You take this letter and deliver to Duryodhana." Agreed, "Yes, I will go." So ordinary peon. Then ordinary chariot driver, Pārtha-sārathi.
The gross materialist, however, without any faith in the Vedic version, remains eternally in darkness, driven by a false conviction on the basis of imperfect experimental knowledge, or so-called material science, which can never reach into the realm of transcendental knowledge.
Therefore unless the gross materialists or the worshipers of the temporary demigods come in contact with a transcendentalist like the pure devotee of the Lord, their attempts are simply a waste of energy. Only by the grace of the divine personalities, the pure devotees of the Lord, can one achieve pure devotion, which is the highest perfection of human life. Only a pure devotee of the Lord can show one the right way of progressive life.
The Lord has His internal energy also, which has another creation known to be the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, where there is no ignorance, no passion, no illusion, and no past and present. With a poor fund of knowledge one may be unable to understand the existence of such things as the Vaikuṇṭha atmosphere, but that does not nullify its existence. A spacecraft cannot reach these planets does not mean that there are no such planets, for they are described in the revealed scriptures. As quoted by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, we can know from the Nārada Pañcarātra that the transcendental world or Vaikuṇṭha atmosphere is enriched with transcendental qualities. These transcendental qualities, as revealed through the devotional service of the Lord, are distinct from the mundane qualities of ignorance, passion, and goodness. Such qualities are nonattainable by the nondevotee class of men. In the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, it is stated that beyond the one-fourth part of God's creation there is the three-fourths part manifestation. The marginal line between..."
There is another world, but what the scientists have got information? They have no information, sufficient information of this material world. But there is another world, another nature. This nature, we can, although we cannot reach, there are millions and trillions of stars glittering in the evening. We can see simply. Simply we can see. We cannot go even to the moon star. Moon is also a star, nearest star. That's all. Similarly, all these stars, they are like moon. Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī. Kṛṣṇa says, nakṣatrāṇām. They are nakṣatra. The nakṣatra, the modern science, they say they are all suns. No. They are like moon, glittering. If we have to believe our śāstra. Nakṣatrāṇām ahaṁ śaśī. So we cannot even go to the nearest planet, nearest star, and what to speak of going beyond? Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ (BG 8.20). The spiritual, there is spiritual sky, paravyoma. That is called paravyoma. This is called material vyoma, and...
No. You may be god. God means controller. But you are not the Supreme God. The Supreme God is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. Parama means Supreme. We are īśvara, we may be īśvara. I may be īśvara for few persons, another may be for a big nation, another may be for the... You can go on increasing. But you cannot reach the, I mean to say, position of God. That is aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ.
Therefore śāstra says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). One who has advanced very much in spiritual knowledge, but he is thinking himself, "Now I have become liberated..." Sometimes they claim, "I have become Nārāyaṇa." Therefore Māyāvādīs, they address one another, "Namo nārāyaṇāya." Everyone has become Nārāyaṇa. So how everyone can become Nārāyaṇa? So many Nārāyaṇas? No. Nārāyaṇa is one. God is one, Nārāyaṇa.
Frog is in the well, three-feet well, and how he can imagine about the Atlantic Ocean? It is not possible. Avan manasa-gocaraḥ. So don't try to speculate upon God. You will never find God. If you want to go by the speculative knowledge, trying to find out what is God just like the theosophist and many other societies—they do that, speculating—you cannot reach God by speculation. That is not. Because your senses are limited. How you can reach God, the unlimited, by speculative knowledge? That is not possible.
Ciraṁ vicinvan: "For millions and millions of years, if you simply speculate, you cannot reach what is God." It is not possible. But athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva: "One who has received a little mercy, causeless mercy, my Lord, he can understand." Little mercy.
So how the little mercy can be obtained? That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). "You can get mercy of the Supreme Lord simply by devotional service, bhaktyā." He doesn't say by knowledge, jñānena, or karmeṇa. He never says. Or yogena. No.
These are not the process to understand the Absolute Truth. You can make little advance, but it is... Avan manasa-gocaraḥ. What advance you can make with your limited senses? That is not possible. He is beyond the scope of my mental activities. So you cannot reach that. Therefore Kṛṣṇa has recommended that "If you want to know Me, then you have to adopt this process, bhakti-yoga." And Kṛṣṇa accepts everything through bhakti. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). Not these karmīs, jñānīs. He doesn't accept anything from the hands of karmīs and jñānīs. Karmīs and jñānīs cannot approach Him, what to speak of accepting their offering. That is not possible. They cannot approach Him.
So, so long we are up to the adhokṣaja knowledge, that is regulative principles. We have to follow the regulative principles strictly. And aprākṛta knowledge is for the paramahaṁsa. There is... That is called rāga-bhakta. In these stages, pratyakṣa, parokṣa, they are called viddhi-bhakti. But without viddhi-bhakti, you cannot reach to the platform of rāga-bhakti, although that is our aim. Rāgānugā, rāga-bhakti is executed following the footprints of the devotees in Vṛndāvana. That is called rāga-bhakti. Kṛṣṇa's personal associates. Not to become directly Kṛṣṇa's personal associate, but following the footprints of Kṛṣṇa's eternal associates, we can come to the stage of rāga-bhakti. That is called parā-bhakti. That parā-bhakti is required.
You have got now airplane. That's nice. But you cannot reach even the material planets. So if you want to go to the spiritual planet, then you can make an airplane which has speed of the mind. Or the speed of the air. Those who are physicists, they know what is the speed of air, what is the speed of light. So above this speed, the speed of mind. Those who are physicists, they know how speedy is air and light. The mind is still more speedy. You have got experience. Now you are sitting here. Immediate, within a second, you can go to America, USA, India, immediately. You can go to your home. You can see things—with mind, of course; the mind speed.
Of course, within five years... So janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī. Everything was there, but Prahlāda Mahārāja was not depending on his material circumstances. He was depending on his profound, ecstatic transcendental bliss of devotional service. That is wanted. So that stage immediately we cannot reach. He is nitya-siddha. As I was going to explain, that whenever Kṛṣṇa descends, His nitya-siddha devotees, associates, they also come. So gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha boli māne, tara haya vrajabhūmi vāsa. Like that. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura... Just like śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī advaita gadādhara śrīvasadi gaura... So these associates of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they are nitya-siddha. You cannot avoid any one of them and make your imagination, that "I shall simply worship..."
Yes, that I have already explained that they employ their energies but if they do not reach the ultimate goal, Kṛṣṇa, they fall down. There is chance of falling down. Because Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate goal. So they are employing their energies, that's all right, but they have to employ their energies more and more to approach Kṛṣṇa. If you do not approach Kṛṣṇa, then they fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa, if they simply... Just like the same example, just like sunshine. Sunshine is also sun. But if you simply try to remain in the sunshine and don't go to the sun planet or any other planet, then again you come back. So the energy employed for realizing the Absolute Truth is good. But if he does not approach or if he is unable to approach the Supreme, then he will fall down.
You are doing your duties very nicely. You are performing your social, national, or family obligations very nicely. But after all these discharges of duty, if your destination does not reach to the devotional service of the Lord, they are simply waste of time. Therefore in every civilized form of human society there is some kind of religious activities. Unfortunately, religious activities have been misinterpreted. Just like any religious sect, either Hindu or Muslim or Christian or anyone, they go to temple or church to pray to God for some solution of problems. People generally think that "If I become religious person, then my economic condition will be very nice." In the Vedic way of thinking, in the material world, there are four stages of development. They are called dharma-artha-kāma-mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90), namely following the religious principles, economic development, sense gratification, and liberation.
Why they have no good qualities? Because mano-rathena: "They are hovering over the mental platform." They have no realization of the spiritual platform. Therefore you'll find all these great scientists, philosophers, they are simply concocting with mind. The mind has no value. With mind you cannot reach spiritual platform, because it is material. With material instrument you cannot go to the spiritual platform. It is not possible. God can be understood. God is all-spirit, and He can be understood by spiritual method, not material method. Material method means up to the standard of mental speculation and mental concoction. That is not the way. Mano-rathena āsato dhāvato bahiḥ.
By mental speculation, mental speed, you cannot reach the spiritual world. Mental speed is very strong. Everyone, we have got experience—you are sitting here. Immediately, within a second, you can go to our London temple by the mental speed. So even by the mental speed for many, many years, if we run over the space, still, we cannot reach the spiritual world. That is not possible.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Then attachment: he cannot go. He cannot go. Athāsaktis tato bhāvaḥ. Then ecstasy. And then he comes to the platform of love of Godhead. So when that platform is reached, then everything is successful. And if that platform is not reached, then everything is simply waste of time. But in the beginning, if you follow these principles, as laid down by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and other ācāryas...
So these things, one after another, everything is very clearly explained in this Nectar of Devotion. So each chapter you should read very carefully. And if you cannot understand, read it repeatedly. Don't all of a sudden, reading one or two page, immediately question, "Prabhupāda, what is this? What is this? What is this?" Go on reading, and the answers will automatically come. So this book is, this valuable book is now published. You should take full advantage.
"So persons who are thinking that they have become liberated by their own ways," ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ tvay asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32), "actually they have not tasted the Absolute Truth. Therefore their intelligence is not yet purified." Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. Anyone who has not reached to the point of surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, it is to be understood that his intelligence is in, still incomplete. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). Actually one who is wise—actually, not falsely—then after many, many births of struggling in karma, jñāna, yoga, he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. When he actually becomes wise. Jñānavān.
Devotee: ...scientists who are going to the moon by some artificial process that even though mechanically, on the gross level, they may reach the moon planet, because they cannot enter into the actual activity on the moon planet, technically, according to Bhāgavata, they have not reached there?
Prabhupāda: Yes. If you go... Suppose if somebody comes on this Earthly planet and goes to the Arabian desert, then what he'll find? He must go back again.
Devotee: So he can say he has been there grossly, but actually he has not been there because he cannot enter into the activity there.
Prabhupāda: Yes. He, they have not gone to the proper place. They have gone to the Arabian desert. That's all. (laughter)
Kṛṣṇa is present in His Goloka Vṛndāvana, in His dhāma. He does not go out, but His expansion goes out and takes, accepts the service of the devotee. This is the bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam. One should understand the bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam. It is a science, how He takes... We have got our limited sense that "I am sitting here." If you offer my foodstuff some yards off from me, I cannot reach, because I am limited. But Kṛṣṇa can expand His hand. He Himself comes. Svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ. Kṛṣṇa becomes manifest to the devotee. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (CC Madhya 17.136). When one becomes devotee, beginning from the tongue, jihvādau, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ, He becomes revealed. Yei nāma sei kṛṣṇa. That is the perfection of chanting without any offenses. Then you'll find the name is not different from Kṛṣṇa. When you are chanting, you'll find Kṛṣṇa is dancing on your tongue. This is the conclusion.
So impersonal Brahman realization, nirbheda-brahmānu-sandhana, is good attempt, but, above that, if one cannot make progress... Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The Absolute Truth is realized as impersonal Brahman, then Paramātmā, then the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So unless a wise jñānavān, jñānī, does not reach to the platform of understanding the personality, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his intelligence is still not very much purified.
- ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ
- tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ
- āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
- patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ
- (SB 10.2.32)
Because unless we get some shelter, we cannot stay in the impersonal feature. Just like yesterday I spoke that you may go very high on your sputnik or airplane, but if you don't get any shelter in some planet, then you have to come back again on this planet.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
So this rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtiḥ is transformation of the pleasure potency. Kṛṣṇa is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, paraṁ brahma. Paraṁ brahma. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). That is the explanation given by Arjuna. This is called paramparā system. If we follow Arjuna, Arjuna's decision should be taken. Arjuna decision is: "Kṛṣṇa is paraṁ brahma." So the Māyāvādī philosophers, they are after brahma-sukha. Brahma-sukhānubhūtyā. Brahma-sukhānubhūtyā. The source of brahma-sukha is Kṛṣṇa, but they cannot reach up to that point.
What is that research? Now, you go on by force. What is that force? The force of mind and force of velocity of the wind, velocity of the wind and velocity of the mind. And you push on in that way for ten millions or more than years in that way, still, you will find avicintya: you have not reached the goal. Research. If you make your research in such a speed and for many millions of years, still, avicintya-tattva, still it will be inconceivable.
So the best thing is that to believe it, and accept the opinion of authorities, and believe by the activities of God and His incarnation, and submit yourself to get the thing. That's all.
Then You will be liberated." The same result as one gets out of studying Vedānta philosophy or Sāṅkhya philosophy, the same result also you will get by simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-nāma haite pābe kṛṣṇera caraṇa. "Not only that, the Vedantists, sometimes they cannot reach up to the Kṛṣṇa planet. But Your advantage will be that You'll not only be liberated, but You will be achieving the highest planet, planetary kingdom, or the kingdom of God, You'll be able to achieve there." And nāma vinu. Nāma vinu kali-kāle nāhi āra dharma. Now Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained that, "This Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa is the only universal religious principle in this age." No other religion process will be effective because people are so many and diverted in different way. This is the common formula and this is the effective formula. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, nāma vinu kali-kāle: "Without chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa, there is no other alternative for self-realization in this age of Kali."
There are different paths, different rituals. So Lord Caitanya says that no other method... Not only... Not Caitanya, but the Vedic literature says. So He is quoting one evidence from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: na sādhayati māṁ yogaḥ. The Lord says that "The yoga process cannot achieve success in reaching Me." Na sāṅkhyam. Sāṅkhyam means philosophical speculation. "That also cannot reach Me." Na dharma. Dharma means religious principles. Uddhava: "O My dear Uddhava." This is an instruction just like Lord Kṛṣṇa gave instruction to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā; similarly, He gave instruction to one of His cousin-brothers whose name was Uddhava. And that is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So in course of that instruction He says, "My dear Uddhava, yoga cannot achieve Me, neither sāṅkhya." Yoga means, real yoga means "connect, plus." Real yoga means "plus," "addition," just like in mathematics we have got addition and subtraction.
Every man was highly elevated. The yoga process is meant for the highly elevated personalities, not for ordinary man. So even that yoga practice is done very nicely and perfectly, that cannot take you to the Supreme Lord. That is denied here. What to speak of this pseudo yoga process, even if you perform it rightly, even if you do it nicely, perfectly, still, you cannot reach God. That is denied here. Na sādhayati māṁ yogaḥ na sāṅkhya. Sāṅkhya means just discriminate what is spirit and what is matter. That is called sāṅkhya. Samyak khyāpayate.
So by philosophical speculation this process is... Now, what is that philosophical speculation? What is this material world? They are divided into twenty-four parts, this material world. What are those? Now, the first thing is that what we see, the five material elements, the earth, water, fire, air, ether. These are material elements. These are studied. Then finer than the ether is the mind, then finer than the mind is the intelligence, and finer than the intelligence... Mana, buddhi, ahaṅkāra.
And where they are? That is in the paravyoma. Paravyoma means... Vyoma means sky, and para means transcendental, beyond this sky. This sky is called material sky, and beyond this there is paravyoma, spiritual sky. They have no information. The material scientists, they have no information. What information they have got? They cannot reach even the moon planet, what to speak of others. It is far, far away. Whatever... We can see the sky just like a pot, and that is the covering of this universe. And if you can penetrate that covering—that space is also many, many times longer than this outer space—then you'll find the spiritual sky. That is not possible for any material scientist to find out where the spiritual sky is. But you can understand from authoritative scriptures and from authorities like Lord Caitanya.
I have realized myself that I am the same. I am God,' " vimukta-māninaḥ tvayy asta-bhāvāt, "but he has no information of Kṛṣṇa... He's thinking artificially that he is liberated, but he has no information of Kṛṣṇa." Tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ: "Therefore, although he has advanced in, to some extent in the spiritual realization path, but because he has not reached up to You, Kṛṣṇa, therefore his intelligence is not yet fully purified. He's still contaminated." In the Bhagavad-gītā also the same thing said, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). After many, many births, one who is actually intelligent, actually in..., wise, in knowledge, he surrenders unto Him. So those who are thinking that "I am now liberated simply by some volumes of philosophical speculation," so Bhāgavata says, "No, your intelligence is not yet purified because you have not yet approached Kṛṣṇa."
"This is our perfection. Because I have come so high, and 20,000 miles off from the earth planet, and there is clapping, 'Oh, sputnik has gone...' " But where is your result? The result must be you must reach to the moon planet. Then That is minus. Similarly, all these exercises, all this cultivation of knowledge, if they do not reach to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, they are sure to come down again to these material activities. They are sure. Because they have no taste for Kṛṣṇa, they have to They will come again for opening hospitals and so on, so many activities, material activities.
Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). This is falldown. Patanty adho anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. "My dear Lord, because they have neglected Your lotus feet."
Festival Lectures
Madhudviṣa: Recently it said in the newspaper where the scientists were sending a sputnik around the moon. I have read in your Easy Journey to Other Planets that no matter how many endeavors they make, they will never reach these other planets. Is this...?
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is not the process of reaching. This is childish. That also I have made statement, this is childish. You cannot go to the moon planet in that way. It is not possible. They'll simply create story, but they'll never be successful.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Will we know Kṛṣṇa as well by thinking always how can we spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Is this the... be good to know Kṛṣṇa as much as if you study thoroughly the Vedas?
Wedding Ceremonies
You can... If you can develop that stage of life, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje... Adhokṣaje. The Lord is beyond your sensual perception; therefore He is called Adhokṣaja. Avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ. But He can reveal Himself. That is His power. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). He reveals Himself. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ (Bs. 5.38). You cannot reach the Absolute Truth simply by mental speculation because He is beyond your mental speculation. Avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ. Sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. If you are absorbed in love of Godhead, then you will see God everywhere, within your heart and outside. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38). That real purpose is bhakti. So anywhere you be situated, you take this process of loving service to the Lord, and the Lord will reveal Himself. Lord will reveal Himself.
General Lectures
"Now, the thing is that I am still living without seeing Kṛṣṇa. That means I have no love for Kṛṣṇa. I am still living. I should have died long ago without seeing Kṛṣṇa." So we should think like that. That is the example. However perfect you may be in serving Kṛṣṇa, you should always know that... Kṛṣṇa is unlimited, so your service cannot reach Him perfectly. It will ever remain imperfect because we are limited. But Kṛṣṇa is so kind. If you offer a little service sincerely, He accepts. That is the beauty of Kṛṣṇa. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. And if Kṛṣṇa accepts a little service from you, then your life is glorious. So it is not possible to love Kṛṣṇa perfectly, to render service to Kṛṣṇa, because He is unlimited. There is a process, worshiping the Ganges in India. The Ganges River is considered sacred river. So they worship Ganges, the river Ganges, by taking water from the Ganges and offering it. Suppose in a small pot like this, either pot or your handful, you take some water from the Ganges and with your devotion and mantra you offer to the Ganges water.
Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ. There are different types of religion, but the best of them... Sa vai puṁsāṁ para. Para means superior, the best. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). Adhokṣaje. Adhokṣaja is another description of God. Adha, "Where material senses cannot reach." Adhokṣaja. Direct experiment knowledge cannot know God. There are many places... In the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is said,
- manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
- kaścid yatati siddhaye
- yatatām api siddhānāṁ
- kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ
- (BG 7.3)
"Out of many millions of persons, one is interested to make his life successful. And out of millions of successful persons, one can very rarely understand what is God." That is the statement in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Guest (6): Swami, in the Christian history, one of the people that many of us look up to was a man called Francis of Assisi, and he talks about knowing God, and he rates it up with experiences such as on the occasion on which he embraced the leper. And he says, "If this, we turn to our fellow man with an attitude like this, then we are not reaching God, or God consciousness." And this is in line with one of the central teachings of the Christian scriptures, which is that if any man says he loves God and does not love his neighbor, then that man is a liar.
Prabhupāda: No. If actually one loves God, he must love everyone. That is the sign. That is the sign. Just like my heart is now thirsty. I am quenching with drinking water and putting here. So as soon as put this water here, immediately the energy distributed all over the body. So a God conscious person cannot be neglectful or envious to anyone. That is the test. This is test. Sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. All good qualities. So this is a good quality, love your neighbor, to give them service. So if actually one person is God conscious, he must be sympathetic with the troubles of his neighbor, or anyone, not only human being. Animals also. They are also living entities. A God conscious person has no discrimination between human being and animal or trees or plants because they are also living entities.
The standard is there, the instruction is there, everything is there. Why should we try to manufacture something new? Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhayaṁ mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. That is our process. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhanam. Simply by argument, you cannot reach the confidential part of dharma. Śrutayo vibhinnā. And if you study Vedas, that is also..., Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg, Atharva, you will be puzzled. So, nāsau munir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam. He is not a philosopher or a muni who cannot give a separate theory.
So we have to follow mahājana because we are tiny living entities. We cannot speculate. This is nonsense. Speculation is nonsense. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso (Bs. 5.34). If we speculate we shall never reach the Absolute Truth. That is not possible. But power is very limited. How long I shall speculate? This is called kūpa-maṇḍūka-nyāya. Just like a frog in the well is informed by his friend, "My dear friend, Mr. Frog, or Dr. Frog, I have seen a big, vast mass of water, Atlantic Ocean." The frog, he has never seen the Atlantic Ocean. So he is speculating, "Atlantic Ocean? The well is three feet round. It may be four feet." "No, no. It is very..." "All right, five feet? Six feet? Ten feet?" So how long he will speculate? There is no comparison. Similarly, the greatness of God we cannot speculate. That is not possible. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48).
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: So this is also mathematical truth. Because even the aborigines, they also offer obeisances to thunderbolt. As soon as there is some sound of thunderbolt, or as soon as there is earthquake, they offer obeisances—any big natural phenomena. That means the devotion is there, but that devotional service is misplaces so long as one does not reach God.
Śyāmasundara: Leibnitz states that there is nothing in the intellect which was not previously in the senses except the intellect itself. In other words, all of our knowledge comes through our senses except the fact...
Prabhupāda: And it is banked in the intellect. That is a fact. That is permanent. Therefore even if we change our body, still we can find out our means of living by that inherent intellect. That is advertised as intuition. But this intuition is previous experience only. (end)
Śyāmasundara: He says there is no other source of knowledge except the senses.
Prabhupāda: No. We don't agree. Therefore it is called avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ, adhokṣaja—there are so many names. The senses are imperfect. They cannot reach. Just like we cannot know what is there in the sun, but a geologist or astronomer, he can say, one who has studied. Therefore our process of knowledge is to take from the authorities. That is perfect. Our senses cannot read, that is a fact. But it is not that without senses, no knowledge can be... No. We receive by senses, but from superior authority, one who knows. That is perfect knowledge. According to him, there is no possibility of having perfect knowledge?
Śyāmasundara: Well, in this particular attempt Kant is trying to form those ideas purely through the reason. Pure reason.
Prabhupāda: You say that material senses cannot reach transcendence. Then what is the meaning of reasoning? If your senses are imperfect, so if you put some reason by the senses, then that is also imperfect.
Śyāmasundara: He says that reason acts a priori, or separate from the senses, independent of the senses; that reason can understand that there is God, there is soul, etc., without use of the senses.
Prabhupāda: That is possible.
Śyāmasundara: He says whereas sense perception cannot provide the information about the soul and about God, pure reason can penetrate into the unknowable and provide us with conceptions in order to grasp the whole of reality.
Prabhupāda: This is not very clear, that sense perception cannot reach soul. But he says that reason is beyond the senses.
Śyāmasundara: Yes. He says that we can grasp conceptions of God and soul and reality through the use of pure reason.
Prabhupāda: How the reason is exercised?
Prabhupāda: When God speaks, then it is possible. That is our process. We hear from God—what, where, how He is—therefore our knowledge is perfect. According to Kant, one cannot reach by reason and senses. Avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ. That's a fact. That is admitted in Vedas: avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ. Vana means words, mana means mind. Neither by words, neither by the mind one can reach. But it is a fact that he is convinced there is God, so if God speaks, God descends by His causeless mercy and speaks, then you can understand about God.
Śyāmasundara: He comes to that point in a way by saying that he has limited all that we can know to mere phenomena, and he has therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge of God, freedom and immortality in order to find a place for faith. In other words, he says that through the reason and the senses we cannot know anything about God, soul, immortality or freedom, so the rest has to be done by faith.
Hayagrīva: Kant says that speculative reason is unable to attain to a sure or adequate conception of God.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our..., that the speculator cannot reach vicinity of God. It is not possible. Athāpi te. Only one can understand by the mercy of God, and this mercy is bestowed upon a person who is devotee, who is surrendered to God. Otherwise this mercy is reserved, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ: (BG 7.25) "I am not revealed to everyone and anyone; rather, I am covered by yoga-māyā." Because revelation means when one becomes devotee this covering curtain is... What is called, curtain?
Devotee: Curtain.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is required. Because in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is also accepted that except a Vedic religion, all others are cheating religion because they have no perfect knowledge. It is clearly stated that cheating type of religion is rejected from the Bhāgavata religion. Bhāgavata... The sum and substance of Bhāgavata religion is accepting God as the supreme controller. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. This is beginning. And what is that Absolute Truth? Janmādy asya yataḥ, itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ: (SB 1.1.1) that there is a principal, Brahman, from whom everything has come. So unless you find out what is the ultimate source of emanation, the knowledge is perfect, hum, imperfect. But you must have to admit, from your experience, that everything has a source of emanation. Anything has. You cannot go beyond your experience. You see this table. This table has got a history. Somebody has collected the wood and he has made into a shape. So everything that you see, it has got a history. So similarly the whole creation, it has got a history, and to know who has created, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), that is perfect knowledge. If you do not know, if you cannot reach, that is your inability. Don't think that it is imaginary, mythological. That is your imperfect of knowledge. You cannot reach, and you make a conclusion like a crazy man. That is not philosophical at all.
Prabhupāda: No. Sleeping too much is bad in all circumstances. So, stop the machine. Stop this machine. Tomorrow is good. (break)
Hayagrīva: In The Ages of Life, Schopenhauer writes, "A complete and adequate notion of life can never be attained by anyone who does not reach old age, for it is only the old man who sees life whole and knows its natural course. It is only he who is acquainted, and this is most important, not only with its entrance, like the rest of mankind, but with its exit too, so that he alone has a full sense of its utter vanity, while the others never cease to labor under the false notion that everything will come right in the end.
Prabhupāda: I could not follow. Old man is perfect?
Hayagrīva: No. But an old man can see the course of life, can see life in its entirety, the ages...
Prabhupāda: No. The science or philosopher, when they are imperfect in their knowledge, they, whatever they give, that is unscientific and without any basic principle of philosophy. So the, first of all we have to learn what is the objective of knowledge, what we are searching, knowledge. The knowledge that... Vedānta. Vedānta, Veda means knowledge and anta means ultimate. Unless you come to the ultimate point of knowledge, your knowledge is imperfect, insufficient. So the ultimate knowledge is God. So if these people, they cannot define any God, they cannot believe in God, that means they have not reached to the ultimate point of knowledge. God is a fact, but we do not have any clear idea what is that God. That means our knowledge has not reached up to the point of clear understanding of God. So unless one is able to reach that point, everything, what he calls knowledge, is imperfect. God is there, that's a fact, and knowledge means to go to that point. If one has not reached to that point, his knowledge is imperfect.
Prabhupāda: He is a, he is a crazy fellow. That's all. And all these rascal philosophers, they are more or less crazy. One who does not know what is God, what is the value of his knowledge? But our criterion of knowledge is one who has known God. As long as you do not come to that point, your knowledge is useless. Simply misleading. And that is not knowledge. It is a fact that there is some supreme controller. Now if one give education how that supreme controller is working, how He is Supreme, that is real education. And you cannot understand how the Supreme is working, you simply deny the Supreme, that is not knowledge. Supreme is there because you are controlled. How can you avoid the control? How you can say there is no supreme controller? You make a plan and it is frustrated. There is supreme controller. You are making arrangement to live here very happily; next day you die. So you are under controller. How can you deny it? So there is supreme controller. Now, knowledge means, "Who is that supreme controller? How He is controlling?" Not that deny it, "Grapes are sour." Jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping, when he could not reach the grapes, he said, "Oh, there is no need of them. It is sour." Their position is like that.
Prabhupāda: If we are not conditioned, then how are we trying to reach the absolute state?
Śyāmasundara: He says that we are conditioned, but we are trying to be unconditioned. But we can never reach that state.
Prabhupāda: No. That is his hopelessness. That is not our (indistinct). We are giving up something paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. We are giving something for getting higher position, that's all.
Śyāmasundara: He says that this is an impossible project, to become absolute.
Dr. Rao: God is greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest. So for the scientist it is very difficult to find an end, which is the smallest particle. That is what it is coming out every day.
Prabhupāda: Well, that means they could not reach to the ultimate goal of knowledge.
Dr. Rao: Not only that, but the scientists, really, they are changing like anything. Einstein developed the theory, and that theory was thought to be superior to that developed by Newton. Now another theory has been developed which is being thought to be superior than that of Einstein. So these things are only relative. The real scientist can see that all these things are relative. Everything is changing. Our conception of life—somebody says that sun is moving; somebody says earth is moving. But (indistinct) calculation you find that eclipse, lunar or..., (indistinct), it does not not matter which thing is moving and which thing is not moving. It is so complicated.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. But you cannot compare. The analogy is mistaken. The season is matter, material changes. But the evolution is not matter. There is spirit soul. He is making his evolution. So he has got independence. He can reject and accept. Just like yesterday we were talking... (plane overhead) ...Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says that "You give up everything, just surrender unto Me," but because you are living entity, you can reject this proposal or accept this proposal. Not that blindly you have to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. No. That is not possible. The proposal is there, but it is up to you to surrender or not to surrender. Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa says that "You do it." If it is automatically, then there was no need of Kṛṣṇa's saying, "Do it." It would have come automatically to the surrendering point. Not like that. They are mistaken in that. The living entity has got the right to accept or reject. So if he takes, he makes his progress, accepting the right path, then he comes to the goal. But if he rejects, he'll not reach the goal (?). That depends on him.
Prabhupāda: Yes, ethics is the basic principle of purification. Unless one does..., knows what is moral and what is immoral... Of course, in this material world everything is immoral, but still we have to distinguish good and bad. That is called regulative principle. Simply by following the regulative principle, if he does not reach the ultimate goal of spiritual life, so that is also not wanted. The real aim is to come to the spiritual platform and become free from the influence of these laws of material nature. So passion is the binding force in the material nature. Just like in the prison house the prisoners are kept sometimes chained by some iron shackles and other method, so material nature has given the chain, shackles, of sex life, passion, rajas tamaḥ. Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ. Rajah-guṇah means the modes of passion. So modes of passion means kama, lusty desires, and krodha.
| Page Title: | Cannot reach (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 23 of May, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=84, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 84 |