Prabhupada: Today's subject matter . . . what is that subject matter?
Devotee: "Knowledge is the solution."
Prabhupāda: Eh? Knowledge?
Devotee: "Knowledge is the solution."
Prabhupāda: "Knowledge is the solution."
- tad viddhi praṇipātena
- paripraśnena sevayā
- upadekṣyanti te jṣānaṁ
- jṣāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
- (BG 4.34)
For knowledge, we have got to go to the right person, tattva-darśī. Tattva-darśī means "one who has actually seen or experienced the Absolute Truth." So unless we find out such a person who has actually seen the Absolute Truth or who has in his experience what is Absolute Truth, so there is very little chance of our spiritual advancement.
If we can find out such a person who is experienced in the Absolute Truth, and if we follow the principles, as it is stated here, praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā . . . praṇipāta means to surrender, and paripraśna means to enquire, and sevayā means service. Three things. You should find out a person who is self-realized, who has experience in the Absolute Truth and, on your part, you have to surrender there, and you have to enquire and you have to render service. When these things are completed, there is no doubt about one's spiritual salvation. If we have actually found out a person who is self-realized and we have surrendered there honestly, with enquiry and service, then we must know that our spiritual salvation is guaranteed. Guaranteed. There is no doubt about it. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
- yaj jñātvā na punar moham
- evaṁ yāsyasi pāṇḍava
- yena bhūtāny aśeṣāṇi
- drakṣyasy ātmany atho mayi
- (BG 4.35)
People are anxious to see God. Here Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that as soon as one gets knowledge from the right person, then he never comes into the field of delusion. The whole thing is that in the present stage of our life, we are conditioned and deluded. We do not know things as they are. That is the cause of our all miseries. Otherwise, constitutionally, we are ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. By nature, we are jolly. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12).
In the Vedānta-sūtra you'll find, the nature of Brahman is ānandamaya. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1).
Eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, then your botheration of this sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternity, cit means full knowledge and ānanda means pleasure. This is our constitution. We are all fragmental portion of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord. Therefore, because He is ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, so we are also ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha.
Unfortunately, we have been put in the contact of this material energy; therefore we are just experiencing the opposite. What is that opposite? That . . . sat, sat-cit ānanda. Sat means eternity. So we have got just the opposite: asat. Asat means non eternity. This body will not exist. We are put into such a condition that however scientifically we may try to keep an youthfulness by so many medicines, injection, and so many things which we have, I mean to say, invented by our advancement material science, but death is sure. This body . . . antavanta ime dehāḥ(MR (BG 2.1). The body must be finished. Therefore there is no question of sat.
And cit. Cit means knowledge. Knowledge . . . we have no knowledge. Our . . . we have got senses, but these are all imperfect senses. We are very much proud that everything we say . . . somebody . . . if somebody preaches about the Lord, we challenge, "Can you show me the Lord? Have you seen the Lord?" or "Can you show me the Lord?" But we do not know that our senses are so imperfect that we cannot see even what we are daily seeing. We cannot . . . if the light is put off, then we cannot see each other, even in this room. So our seeing power 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 fortified with only imperfections. Your senses cannot approach.
Therefore brahman is said, avan mānasa gocara. Avan mānasa gocara: it is beyond, beyond the mental speculation. And there is another name of the Supreme Lord, Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means adhah-kṛtaḥ akṣajaṁ jṣānaṁ yatra, "where our material senses are defeated." Our material senses are defeated. We are defeated in every respect. So it is not possible to realize the Absolute Truth if we do not find a person who is realized soul, who is absolute, who has understood. It doesn't matter who is he.