If we want to know who is my father, that is not possible to know simply by mental speculation. If we approach the authority, mother, we get the knowledge immediately

Expressions researched:
"if we want to know who is my father, that is not possible to know simply by mental speculation. If we approach the authority, mother, we get the knowledge immediately"

Lectures

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

So things which are beyond the perception of our senses, how we can get that knowledge? By our mental speculation, it is not . . . never perfect. We give sometimes this example: Just like we, if we want to know who is my father, that is not possible to know simply by mental speculation. If we approach the authority, mother, we get the knowledge immediately.

721228 - Lecture NOD - Bombay

It is advised, tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). That is the system. Just like you are a medical man. To acquire your knowledge, you had to accept the medical college, the professors.

So this is natural. If we want to know something which is not, or which is unknown to me, then we have to accept a guru, a superior man. Guru means superior man. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet. Guru means "heavy," or "superior." That is the law.

So our process of Vedic knowledge is that we get knowledge from the superior just like Brahmā, Lord Brahmā. He's the first, original creature within this universe. And he got knowledge from God, Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute. The Vedas means the knowledge which he heard . . .

Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. So there is sampradāya. Brahmā imparted this knowledge to Nārada. Nārada imparted this knowledge to Vyāsadeva. Evaṁ paramparā. That . . . this is our process of knowledge. We get knowledge from the superior. Everyone gets knowledge from the superior. Nobody gets knowledge automatically. That is not possible.

So things which are beyond the perception of our senses, how we can get that knowledge? By our mental speculation, it is not . . . never perfect. We give sometimes this example: Just like we, if we want to know who is my father, that is not possible to know simply by mental speculation. If we approach the authority, mother, we get the knowledge immediately.

So knowledge from the authority is perfect. Knowledge by mental speculation is always imperfect. This is our conclusion. If you get knowledge, any knowledge, from the perfect, that knowledge is perfect. And if you get knowledge from imperfect, that knowledge is always imperfect. This is our process. Therefore the Vedas says, tad vijñānārthaṁ gurum eva abhigacchet. One must approach the superior who is in knowledge. Then he gets the knowledge.

(break) . . . sometimes disagree. But the . . . our point is very strong, that you cannot get perfect knowledge from imperfect person. That is not possible. That's a fact. You can get knowledge only from the perfect. That is real knowledge. The modern scientific knowledge, taking perfection. The next year, again changes. "This theory is changed." So they, they say that, "This is advancement. We are making progress." This means that whatever knowledge you are making your basis, that is imperfect. Progress means then you have to go to the perfect. That means the knowledge which you possessed, that was imperfect.