Imperfect senses (Lectures, SB)

Expressions researched:
"imperfect experience of the senses" |"imperfect in his senses" |"imperfect material senses" |"imperfect of senses" |"imperfect sense" |"imperfect senses" |"imperfect, illusioned, and cheating senses" |"sense - they are all imperfect" |"sense are not the perfect" |"sense impressions, imperfect" |"sense is always imperfect" |"sense perception are all imperfect" |"sense perception for their imperfect knowledge" |"sense perception, that is imperfect" |"sense, it is imperfect" |"sense, they are imperfect" |"senses are admittedly imperfect" |"senses are all imperfect" |"senses are also imperfect" |"senses are blunt, imperfect" |"senses are faulty, imperfect" |"senses are imperfect" |"senses are neither imperfect" |"senses are not imperfect" |"senses are not perfect" |"senses are so imperfect" |"senses are so imperfect" |"senses are so limited, imperfect" |"senses are very blunt, imperfect" |"senses are very imperfect" |"senses is always imperfect" |"senses must be imperfect" |"senses you will find imperfect" |"senses, all are imperfect" |"senses, you become imperfect" |"senses? They are all imperfect"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "imperfect sense*"or " imperfect * sense*" or " imperfect * * sense*" or " sense* * imperfect" or "sense* * * imperfect" or "sense* * * * imperfect" or "senses are not perfect"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:

Then another thing is cheating. So many rascal philosophers and scientists, they have no knowledge, accurate knowledge, but they are writing books. This is cheating. If you do not know what is what, why you are misleading others by writing books? No. He is making money. So cheating. Cheating, illusion, committing mistake. Three. And fourth: that the senses imperfect. They are gathering knowledge through senses. I see... I want to see personally. "All right, put up the light. Now see." That is your seeing power. You see under condition. Therefore your seeing power is imperfect. Your thinking power is imperfect.

So every sense... We are gathering knowledge by the imperfect senses. We are seeing every day, morning, the sun which is bigger than this earth by fourteen hundred thousand times. And we are seeing just like a plate. If he's not informed by an authority when he goes to school... The teacher of geography, when he informs, "My dear boy, the sun is very, very big," then he can understand. I am seeing that the one airplane is running very fast, flying in the sky. A child sees, "Oh, such a big thing. How it is flying?" He does not know that this machine is not flying independently. There is a pilot. Without this pilot all this mechanical arrangement is simply void. If that airplane is kept down for many thousands of years with all the machine complete, it has no power to fly unless there is the expert pilot who pushes on the button, it will fly. So therefore imperfect senses.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:

Without this pilot all this mechanical arrangement is simply void. If that airplane is kept down for many thousands of years with all the machine complete, it has no power to fly unless there is the expert pilot who pushes on the button, it will fly. So therefore imperfect senses.

Just like they do not see, the so-called scientist, philosophers, they don't see that who is pushing on this button. This material world is going on. Jagat. Jagat means going on. Gacchati iti jagat. Every planet is going on. This planet is going on. One thousand miles per hour, going on. The sun is moving sixteen thousand miles per second. This is called jagat. Everything is going on. Your motorcar is going on. You are going on. We have a big city, especially in Europe, America, simply going on. This way, this... Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. No rest.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:

This is jagat, going on. Going on, but condition: "You cannot go beyond this." Just like these so-called scientists are going to the moon planet and coming back—because conditioned. You have remain where you are placed by your karma. You cannot move. I cannot move beyond this body. Therefore our senses are all imperfect. We think that "I have got my legs; I can walk very fast." No. You cannot go fast as it is destined by you. Relative. This is called relative world.

Therefore, here it is said that this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not written by such rascal who is sure to commit mistake, who is sure to become illusioned, who is sure to cheat others, and whose senses are imperfect. This is the meaning. Śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte. How it is? Vyāsadeva writing... Five thousand years ago this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was written, and he is describing Lord Buddha's incarnation.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:

So because we are cheater in conditioned stage... Because that is my qualification, from qualification. Conditioned life means we must have four disqualifications. What is that? To commit mistake, to become illusioned, to become cheater, and to possess imperfect senses. This is our qualification. And we want to write books and philosophy. Just see. One does not consider his position. Andha. One man is blind, and he is saying, "All right. Come with me. I shall cross over the street. Come on." And if one believes, "All right," He does not inquire that "Sir, you are also blind. I am also blind. How you can help me crossing over the road?" No. He is also blind. This is going on. One blind man, one cheater is cheating another blind man, cheating.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- Caracas, February 23, 1975:

"Perhaps, it may be..." What is this knowledge "perhaps"? That means cheating. One hasn't sufficient knowledge and "perhaps, maybe"—he is giving knowledge. And above all of them, we should know that our present material senses are imperfect. For example, just like we are very much proud of our eyes. We say, "Can you show me God?" But our eyes are so long perfect as long the light is. It is conditional. Therefore every sense now we are possessing, they are not perfect. So we acquire knowledge by using our different senses. Therefore, because they are imperfect, whatever knowledge we gather by speculation, that is imperfect. So if we take knowledge from such personalities who are liberated, then that knowledge is perfect. This is the process of acquiring knowledge in Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement—that we receive knowledge from the perfect person.

Lecture on SB 1.2.5 -- Aligarh, October 9, 1976:

So Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura said bhāgavata kahe. He doesn't say, "In my opinion." Nowadays it has become a very good fashion, "I think." "In my opinion." Without knowing his own value, he gives his opinion. He does not know that he's imperfect. He's imperfect in his senses, he's liable to commit mistake, he's illusioned, and he's a cheater. Everyone knows that "How I am cheating the other party." Especially amongst businessmen, when there is conference, so each one is trying, "Now how much I have cheated him." So this cheating, vipralipsā, is one of the qualification of the conditioned soul. Bhrama pramāda vipralipsā karaṇāpāṭava. So a person, authorized person in the line of disciplic succession, he does not speak by his own authority. Immediately he'll quote from the Vedic literature to support his proposition. So Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura says bhāgavata kahe. He doesn't say that, "I say" or "In my opinion." No. Bhāgavata kahe taha pari purṇa chole.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Delhi, November 12, 1973:

Everything is there. How important this Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means we are not manufacturing anything by our fertile brain. No. We don't create anything. We simply repeat, but we try to explain for modern understanding. That's all. Otherwise there is no question of manufacturing. Because nobody can manufacture the perfect knowledge, because we are all imperfect. Our senses are imperfect. However we may be learned, but the senses are imperfect. Therefore we cannot give perfect knowledge. Perfect knowledge can be received from higher authorities.

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, April 18, 1974:

So why they have joined this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement? Because they have forgotten this bodily concept of life. They are no more proud that "I am American" or "I am European." Why...? You know in the British rule, the Britishers they were always maintaining the superior complex. They were thinking because they are European... Everyone thinks. If he is in position in the material world, he thinks like that. That is not fault. That is natural.

But here it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). Adhokṣaja. God's another name is Adhokṣaja, "beyond," I mean to say, "material conception." Adhah-kṛta akṣaja-jñānaṁ yatra. Akṣaja means direct perception, that I see directly by my eyes, I can hear directly by my ears, or I can smell. Not by direct. Directly, because our senses are imperfect. (break) Then you can understand that we are not different.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:

Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). (aside:) Don't make sound. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi, God's name, God's form, God's quality, God's pastime, God's paraphernalia, and so many things, na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. Indriya means senses. Our present senses are blunt, imperfect. They are defective with so many faults. Everyone can understand that I am very much proud of my eyes, I want to see God, but I cannot see my eyelid. When I block my eyes, I cannot see what is this little fragment of the skin, and still I am proud, I want to see God. Just see. You have to qualify yourself, then you can see God. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when (He) entered the Jagannātha Temple, He immediately fainted, "Oh, here is My Lord." And other person says, "What is this nonsense. A wooden, not even very beautiful form, and He is..." So because he hasn't got eyes.

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- New Vrindaban, September 5, 1972:

There are so many philosophers in the world, so many scientists, they are declining. Because they could not find what is God, they are denying. Just like, my inefficiency of my eyes, I see that beyond this wall I cannot see. I say, "Oh, there is nothing beyond this wall." (indistinct) That is my lack of education. Not that there is nothing beyond this wall. My imperfect eyes cannot see, my imperfect senses cannot realize, but you can make your senses perfect to see God by a process. What is that? Bhakti-yoga. That is explained by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). In one place Kṛṣṇa has said, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye (BG 7.3). Out of many millions of persons, one is very much anxious to make his life perfect. Everyone is not. They are simply working like cats and dogs.

Lecture on SB 1.2.9 -- New Vrindaban, September 7, 1972:

The conclusion should be to take authoritative knowledge from authorities—one who is beyond the four defects of common man; one who does not make any mistake. One who is not illusioned, one who does not cheat, and one whose senses are perfect. We are devoid of all these qualifications. We commit mistakes; we are illusioned; we cheat; and at the same time, our senses are imperfect. So how we can give by speculation perfect knowledge? That is not possible. Therefore, our principle, Vedic principle, is to receive knowledge from the perfect. So-called scientists, so-called philosophers... Because basically they're imperfect, how they can give you perfect? They can speak something, "Perhaps it it like that," "Maybe like that," "Perhaps it was like that." All their theories are like that. But actual fact is different. Actual fact we get from the Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa, that dehāntara-prāptiḥ, tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13).

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

In this way there is a paramparā system, handing down the knowledge from disciplic, from disciple to disciple, evaṁ paramparā. That is perfect knowledge.

So those who are trying to understand the Absolute Truth by exercising their, exercising their limited knowledge... After all, we are living entities. Our knowledge is always imperfect. That we do not admit, but actually it is so because our senses are imperfect. I am very much proud of my eyes, but I cannot see as soon as the electricity, light, is not existing. I cannot see. Then what is the importance of my eyes? My eyes can see under certain condition. When there is sunlight, then I can see. At night I cannot see. Then what is value of these eyes? So people say that "I cannot see." So what is the value of your eyes? Because you do not see, the fact cannot be zero.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Bombay, December 28, 1972:

This is our process. That is the recognized process, Vedic process, śrota paramparā.

So those who are anxious to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of imperfect knowledge, this is right conclusion. If your senses are imperfect, whatever your knowledge may be, that is imperfect, because you are gathering knowledge from..., by imperfect senses. You know the story of studying..., blind man studying an elephant. So blind man is going, somebody is catching the leg. So they, "Oh, elephant is just like a pillar, a column." And somebody is studying the tail, somebody is studying the trunk. So different knowledge, because they have no eyes. And one who sees the elephant as it is, he can understand that elephant is neither column, nor a trunk, nor this; he is a complete body.

Lecture on SB 1.2.25 -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972:

That I can say. So my consciousness is not perfect. It is perfect so far I am concerned. But I, my consciousness does not spread upon you. But here it is said, anvayāt itarataḥ abhijñaḥ artheṣu abhijñaḥ. "The Absolute Truth knows everything, directly and indirectly." My knowledge is imperfect in this sense that I am eating something, it is being digested in the stomach. So many secretions are coming out. How they are forming into blood, and so many things are going on within the body, I am not directly concerned. Neither I know directly. But the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Being, He knows everything, in any corner of the cosmic manifestation. Therefore His consciousness and my consciousness is... As, so far possessing consciousness, the Absolute Truth and myself are one, but His consciousness is all-pervading. My consciousness is limited. So the Absolute Truth cannot be limited, but we are limited.

Lecture on SB 1.3.8 -- Los Angeles, September 14, 1972:

Otherwise it is useless. When you speak something and corroborate it by the quotation from the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Upaniṣads—there are so many Vedic literatures—then it is correct. That is the Vedic system. Not that I create knowledge by my research. What is the value of your research? Because you are imperfect, your senses are imperfect, you cannot even see properly. Even you cannot see your eyelids, so what is the value of your seeing? You cannot see something from a distant place, the nearest place. There must be some adjustment, there must be light under so many conditions you can see. Then what is the value of your eyes?

Lecture on SB 1.3.16 and Initiation -- Los Angeles, September 21, 1972:

It is nothing. It is simply under certain condition we can see a little portion. We cannot see perfectly, so we should not believe in our seeing power. So therefore śāstra says, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ: "You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa and God by your present imperfect senses. That is not possible." Na bhaved grāhyam, "You cannot accept or you cannot receive by your blunt senses." That is not possible. Then how it is possible? "I have... My only asset is these blunt senses. How can I understand God?" Yes. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you engage in devotional service, then God will reveal to you, "Here I am. Here I am. I am like this." Just like Arjuna saw Kṛṣṇa. He understood God. So if we take the position of Arjuna, submissive... Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7), surrender, then God, by kindness, because you have surrendered, He will reveal to you.

Lecture on SB 1.3.29 -- Los Angeles, October 4, 1972:

And so far the jñānīs, yogis are concerned, they will come to that point of bhakti-yoga after many, many births. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). At the end of millions of births, jñānī, jñānavān, those who are searching through knowledge... So what is the value of our knowledge? Teeny knowledge. Imperfect senses. We are gathering imperfect knowledge. But we don't neglect knowledge. We give credit to the philosophers, scientists, because... But we advise them that "Your research work should be for God, not for any temporary physical or chemical compound. No."

Lecture on SB 1.5.12-13 -- New Vrindaban, June 11, 1969:

Anu means following. Following. We have to follow the ācāryas. Just like Vyāsadeva. Amogha-dṛk: his vision is without any impediment. There are four kinds of impediments for the conditioned soul. What are those? That we are subjected to commit error. Any man will commit error because he's conditioned, he'll be illusioned, and he will try to cheat, and his senses are imperfect. These four imperfectness of a conditioned soul. Anywhere, you take any great man, any big man, he has got these four imperfections. Therefore without liberated man, you cannot get real knowledge. Therefore you'll find even the so-called scientists, astrologer, and the astronomer, or... They're studying this nature, "Perhaps," "It might be," because they have no clear vision. And another scientist comes. They changes. But you'll find in the Vedic literature, everything clear understanding. Just like the Vedic literature says the division of the living entities. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi.

Lecture on SB 1.8.18-19 -- Bombay, April 9, 1971:

Can you show me?" So the answer is, "Whether you have got eyes to see?" God or Kṛṣṇa cannot be seen by these eyes. So Adhokṣaja. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Adhokṣaja. Adhaḥ. Adhaḥ means down, made down, or defeated. Your sense perception will be defeated if you want to realize by God by your imperfect sense perception. That is not possible. You will be defeated. Adhaḥ akṣaja. Akṣaja means akṣa. Akṣa means eyes. Just like we say, "Can you show me?" You cannot see. Because māyā-javanikācchannam, by the māyā there is a curtain. What can you see? Just like we are very much proud of seeing, but we are seeing because there is light. If the light is taken away, you cannot see.

Lecture on SB 1.8.40 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1973:

So three ways, nyāya-pramāṇa, śruti-pramāṇa and smṛti-pramāṇa. So of all these, the śruti-pramāṇa, or the evidence by the śruti, is very important. Pratyakṣa, anumāna and śruti. Pratyakṣa: direct perception. Direct perception has no value because our senses are all imperfect. So what is the value of direct perception? Just like we are seeing every day the sun just like a disc, say, about twelve inches or eleven inches. But it is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth. So therefore our direct perception with the experience of these eyes has no value. Similarly all the senses, either eyes or nose, by smelling, by touching, by tasting, by hearing... There are so many senses we can experience knowledge. But because the senses are imperfect, whatever knowledge you are getting by exercising your senses, they're all imperfect. Just like the so-called scientists.

Lecture on SB 1.8.40 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1973:

Because they're trying to understand by exercising their, this imperfect senses, they always remain imperfect. Just like our Svarūpa Dāmodara inquired, that "If I give you the ingredients to produce life, will you be able to produce life?" He questioned one scientist. He said, "That I do not know." Imperfect knowledge. If you do not know, then your knowledge is imperfect. Why you have become teacher? That is cheating. When you have got imperfect knowledge, why you take the position of the teacher? That should, you should not have done that. Therefore our position, to become perfect, is to take lesson from the perfect. Kṛṣṇa is the perfect. Kṛṣṇa says, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). So we take the knowledge from the perfect.

Lecture on SB 1.10.20 -- London, May 24, 1973:

Perfect scheme system for human society, based on Vedic civilization. Everything is correctly visioned, and the ideas are given by persons who are above material contamination. Mukta-puruṣa. Mukta-puruṣa means one who is not affected by the material incompetency. There are material incompetencies. We commit mistakes. We are illusioned. Our senses are imperfect. And sometimes... Sometimes not. Always. We want to cheat. These are the defects of material knowledge. And one who is above these material incompetencies, he's called mukta-puruṣa. So one has to become mukta-puruṣa. That is called Vedic knowledge. That is called Vedānta. Vedānta-sūtra. Athāto brahma jijñāsā.

Lecture on SB 1.15.27 -- New York, March 6, 1975:

So read Bhagavad-gītā. Our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on this Bhagavad-gītā. We do not manufacture anything. Yata mata tata patha. This is rascaldom. This is rascaldom, that if you manufacture some way for relief, that is not possible. Because you are imperfect, how you can manufacture? Your senses are imperfect. You cannot manufacture. If you manufacture, then you will simply waste your time. Then real religious life means dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19), to abide by the orders of Bhagavān, the Supreme Person. Śrī Bhagavān says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru: (BG 18.65) "You simply always think of Me, man-manāḥ, you become My devotee, worship Me, and offer your obeisances. Then you are sure that you are coming back to Me." Very simple method. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa... and here is Kṛṣṇa present. Just offer Him obeisances and worship Him, decorate Him, give Him nice food. In this way you become devotee of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.15.44 -- Los Angeles, December 22, 1973:

Anything without any mistake, that is perpetually right. And anything based on mistaken idea, that will change. You have to correct the mistake. The so-called modern scientists, they are simply correcting their mistake. Therefore they have no real knowledge. Nobody can have real knowledge, because we are imperfect. Our senses are imperfect. That is our defect in the conditioned life. We have got four defects: we commit mistake, we become illusioned, our senses are imperfect, and we cheat. Because our knowledge is imperfect, still, we take the position of teacher; therefore we are cheater—not teacher, but cheater. So the teacher society nowadays is the cheater society. And this modern world is a society of the cheater and the cheated. That's all. Somebody is cheating and somebody is being cheated. This is going on.

Lecture on SB 1.15.45 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1973:

So bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā(?) and karaṇāpāṭava. Then if somebody says that "Why you are speaking that these men are cheaters and cheated and illusioned and in māyā?" Now, because the senses are imperfect. Because you are gathering knowledge by the senses. There are five senses, acquire knowledge, and the five senses act according to that knowledge. And these sense objects. There are sense objects. Just like you have got eyes, you have to see something objective, rūpa, form. The knowledge acquired by the eyes is to understand the form. Similarly, the knowledge acquired by the ears is to acquire knowledge from the sound. Because physical means the sound, light, form. These things are physical things. So we have got senses to acquire knowledge. So five knowledge-acquiring senses, five working senses, and five sense objects, and I am there. This is called sixteen elements.

Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973:

Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam (SB 2.1.2). Yesterday we have discussed this verse. Apaśyatām means one who does not see. Apaśyatām, paśyati. Paśyati means "one who sees," and apaśyati, "one who does not see," "blind." So there are two kinds of men within the world: paśyati, apaśyati. Simply having the eyes, one cannot see. This is not... Because our senses are imperfect. We see every day the sun just like a small disc. But it is not a small disc. It is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this planet. Therefore our sensual perception is not all. That is not perfect. We are deficient: we commit mistake, we are illusioned, we cheat, and our senses are imperfect. As such, there is no possibility of having perfect knowledge by a conditioned soul. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 2.3.13-14 -- Los Angeles, May 30, 1972:

So then why shall I hanker? Without hankering. Simple. No duplicity. Simple. The worldly men, they are duplicatous (?), speaking something, cheater. That is the, one of the qualification of the materialistic man. He must be cheater. There are four defects: commit mistakes, to be illusioned, to become cheater, and imperfect senses. This is called material life, conditioned life. He must commit mistakes. However a great philosopher... We are talking about the philosophers. So many contradictory things they say. Because he's an ordinary man. How he can say the right thing? It is not possible. The right thing can be said only by liberated person.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4 -- Japan, April 22, 1972:

Purification means that one will be able to see God face to face. That is purification. Just like in the sky, as soon as the cloud is moved, dissipated, you can see the sun immediately. This is the process. God is everywhere, within and without. So why He is not seen? Because our senses are not perfect. God is everywhere. They say, "Oh, why you are going to temple. God is everywhere," as if he has seen God. These rascals say like that. "What is the use of going to temple? God is everywhere." Have you seen? No one has. You see?(?) Is it not, sometimes they say?

Lecture on SB 2.9.4 -- Japan, April 22, 1972:

So actually God is everywhere. That's a fact. But so long I am not purified, I have to see God as they are prescribed in the śāstra. Here the Deity, He is God, but because I have no power to see God, therefore I see that "Oh, it is made of wood. It is made of metal." That is my imperfect senses (perception?). But God is there also. God is everywhere, so God is here also. Why you are talking of metal and wood? From reasoning, argument, if God is everywhere, why not He is in the metal or wood? In your eyes it is metal, but we see God. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as soon as saw Jagannātha, He fainted. Therefore viśuddhy-artham. Ātma-tattva-viśuddhy-artham.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

You don't see with your, these blunt eyes, rascal eyes We see through the śāstras. That should be. That is real knowledge. What is our capacity of these eyes, these senses? They are all imperfect. So whatever knowledge you gather, the so-called scientists, they are all imperfect. Real perfect knowledge is here, Veda. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ. Therefore you should see through the Vedic version what is actually the fact. So the living entities, sarva-ga. Sarva-ga means a living entity can enter anywhere, and the material function is there. Just like we say "The point has no length, no breadth." Why? But I can see point. Why length and...? "I have no instrument to measure it." That you say. You cannot say there is no length and breadth. You have no instrument to measure what is the length and breadth of the point.

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

Here it is said that rūpaṁ sa ādi-devo jagatāṁ paro guruḥ. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam. So if God has no form, how He showed His form to Brahmā? He has form. Brahmā has attained the perfection to see the form of God, and the rascals who have no such perfection, they say "No form." That is the position. They, with their imperfect senses, all rascal theories, they are thinking that they have become perfect. But they are not perfect. First thing is that the senses with which you are studying, they are imperfect. What is the value of our eyes? Unless there is sunlight, you cannot see. So how can you say that "Our seeing is absolute"? It is relative. So whatever knowledge we are getting, they're all relative knowledge. Relative means according to my power I am studying, "This is this. This is this."

Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972:

Prabhupāda: So one has to become ascetic and therefore penance. Then these things will be learned. Not with imperfect senses, imperfect conclusion we can understand. No. Then?

Pradyumna: "Purport: Lord Brahmā then heard the occult sound tapa, but he did not see the person who vibrated the sound. And still he accepted the instruction as beneficial for him, and therefore he engaged himself in meditation for one thousand celestial years. One celestial year is equal to 6 x 30 x 12 x 1000 of our years. His acceptance of the sound was due to his pure vision of the absolute nature of the Lord. And due to his correct vision he made no distinction between the Lord and the Lord's instruction.

Lecture on SB 3.12.19 -- Dallas, March 3, 1975:

Therefore His name is Adhokṣaja. Adhah-kṛtaṁ akṣajaṁ indriya-jñānaṁ yena. Akṣajaṁ jñānam means "knowledge acquired by sense perception." Akṣaja. Akṣa means "eyes," and ja means "generated." So I see this book because my eyes are seeing it is book. But as soon as the light is off, I cannot see where is the book and where is the table, where you are. Similarly, we cannot see at the present moment by the imperfect senses what is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is Kṛṣṇa's kindness that He has appeared before you in a manner by which you can see Him. This is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Not that the atheistic philosophy, "They are worshiping Deity, some stone, some metal," not like that. He is adhokṣaja. We cannot see Kṛṣṇa with our present eyes, but we can see Him through the scripture. The "through the scripture" is that although we cannot see Him by our present imperfect senses, adhokṣaja, beyond our perception, still, we can see Him. How?

Lecture on SB 3.25.22 -- Bombay, November 22, 1974:

That will be not feasible. That will be not useful for anyone. You can make thousands of laws: "I think this should be done..." That is the fashion now. Everyone thinks in his own way. That is not philosophy. That is not law: "I think..." "We think..." No. You cannot think. What is your value? You are imperfect. Your senses are imperfect. How you can think perfect things? No, that is not possible.

Lecture on SB 3.25.26 -- Bombay, November 26, 1974:

Kṛṣṇa has agreed to be seen by you or by us. How? He has assumed this arcā-vigraha. Kṛṣṇa, this vigraha-don't think it is stone. Even it is stone you think, but Kṛṣṇa can become visible before you like a stone, because you cannot see beyond stone. That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. Because your eyes or senses are so imperfect that you cannot see Kṛṣṇa present everywhere in His original spiritual... We have got difference between spiritual and material. We have got because we are imperfect. But Kṛṣṇa has no such distinction. Because He is Absolute, He can become spiritual, He can become material, as He likes. That does not make any difference of Kṛṣṇa. Then how Kṛṣṇa is almighty, all-powerful? He can change matter into spirit, spirit into matter. That is Kṛṣṇa. So don't think that, as the atheist class men, they think, that "They are worshiping an idol." Even it is an idol, still Kṛṣṇa. That is absolute. That is absolute nature of Kṛṣṇa. Even you think it is stone, it is metal, it is wood, still, He is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 3.25.31 -- Bombay, December 1, 1974:

You cannot make any new thing beyond the scope of the āmnāya Sāṅkhya philosophy system. That is called āmnāya. Because we are imperfect. We must first of all know that we are all imperfect. However great scholar I may be, because my senses are imperfect, therefore, whatever conclusion I make by my so-called scholarship, that is imperfect. Therefore all these scientists, philosophers, they use this word "perhaps," "it may be," because there is no right conclusion. There is no right conclusion. He is simply speculating.

So speculative knowledge cannot be perfect. Just like we are sitting here. If there is some sound on the roof... Now we are, say, one hundred persons sitting here. We can speculate that "This sound may be for this reason." That, all of them, may be imperfect, and if somebody says from the roof that "This sound was caused for this reason," that is perfect.

Lecture on SB 3.25.32 -- Bombay, December 2, 1974:

That is not our business. Because how we can manufacture? We are defective. We are deficient, imperfect. What is the use of my philosophy? What is the use of my thinking? Generally they say, "I think," "In my opinion." He does not think that "I am a rascal. I have no value of my opinion." He thinks that he is something very big. No. Because our senses are imperfect, whatever knowledge we have gathered by our sense speculation, that is imperfect. That cannot be perfect. Therefore we have discussed already, tattva āmnāyam. We have to receive knowledge from disciplic succession, tattva. Then we will understand the truth. Tattvāmnāyam. This subject matter we have discussed already, āmnāyam, evaṁ paramparā, that we should not manufacture knowledge. We should take knowledge from the perfect. Just like here it is said, bhagavān uvāca. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, bhagavān uvāca. If we follow this āmnāya system, then we become guru.

Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974:

The Māyāvādīs say that "We can imagine God. God, it is so great that it is not possible to understand the Brahman, but we can imagine some form." This is Māyāvādī philosophy. This imagination will not... You cannot imagine God. God is fact. God is not subjected to your imagination. And your senses are imperfect. How long you will simply speculate? Give up this practice, foolishness. Don't... Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya nam... Just become submissive. Jñāne prayāsam udapā..., namanta eva: "Be submissive." That is bhakti-mārga. Bhakti-mārga is submissive.

Lecture on SB 3.26.32 -- Bombay, January 9, 1975:

They are called timiṅgila. So you have not seen. We have not seen. But the śāstra says.

Therefore we have seen because śāstra-cakṣuṣā. You should see through the śāstra. Otherwise what can you see with your tiny eyes? You cannot see, say, three yards more than that. Imperfect. Every senses, all sense, they are imperfect. You cannot see. You are seeing the sun, but what you are seeing? You are seeing just like a disc. But it is fourteen thousand times bigger than this planet. So your this naked sense perception has no value. Don't try to gather knowledge through these naked senses. Try to gather knowledge just like how creation is made. And that is stated here by the authorities, Kapiladeva. And if you take it, then your knowledge is perfect. And if you imagine, "Perhaps there was a chunk, and there was this, there was that"—all nonsense. At least we, Kṛṣṇa conscious men, we don't accept this nonsensical proposition. Our knowledge is derived-tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet (MU 1.2.12).

Lecture on SB 3.26.32 -- Bombay, January 9, 1975:

God gave lessons to Brahmā. Brahmā gave lessons to Nārada. Nārada gave lessons to Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva gave lessons to us. This is Vyāsadeva's contribution. And if you follow this disciplic succession, then you get perfect knowledge. Otherwise, if you speculate, then you are in darkness, tamasi. What power you have got? All your senses are imperfect. How you can get perfect knowledge? That is not possible. Therefore the injunction is, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet: (MU 1.2.12) "You must go to guru." And who is guru? This paramparā system. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2).

Lecture on SB 3.28.1 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1975:

So "I will speak to you about the symptoms of yoga system." Yogasya lakṣaṇaṁ vakṣye sabījasya. With authorized statement. He is Bhagavān, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Whatever He speaks, that is authorized. You cannot argue, because for the..., for us, we are conditioned soul. We have got four defects—means we commit mistake, we become illusioned or bewildered, our senses are imperfect, and, because everything is imperfect, still we want to become teacher, that is cheating. I am imperfect. How can I teach? That is going on. A imperfect person is teaching about transcendental knowledge. Therefore people are being cheated. Our process is to take lesson from the perfect person and distribute it, just we are doing. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means we are preaching what Kṛṣṇa has said, that's all. Not that we have manufactured something new. No. That is not our business. How I can manufacture? I am imperfect. How can I manufacture?

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 11, 1975:

Therefore it is authority. There is no contradiction. In the material platform you write one book, I write one book, then I disagree with you, and you disagree with me. That is material platform. But in the spiritual platform, there is self-realized platform. There is no mistake, there is no illusion, there is no imperfect senses and there is no cheating. That is spiritual platform. So the Bhagavad-gītā says, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). The same thing is confirmed in the Nārada Pañcarātra:

Lecture on SB 5.5.14 -- Vrndavana, November 2, 1976:

If we want to understand this science... It is science, it is not sentiment. Bhakti-yoga is not sentiment, it is a science. Therefore we have to take it from authorized Vedic instruction. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has advised that science means you have to take it from the Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means there is no mistake, there is no cheating, there is no imperfect senses. Everything is perfect. So science means, which is perfect knowledge. Not perhaps, it may be, that is not science, theory. Theory is not science. Science, the most important items of science is observation and experiment. First of all to study the situation by observation, and then practically, when you are able to make an experiment, then it is science. Otherwise, theoretical knowledge has no meaning.

Lecture on SB 5.5.19 -- Vrndavana, November 7, 1976:

We should always think like that, not that it is idol worship. But durvibhāvyam means although He is present, the less intelligent class of men, they will think that "They are worshiping one statue." But that is not possible.

You do not know what is the form of the Lord because your present senses are imperfect. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam idriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136)—the Lord's name, His form, His pastimes—na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ—our present senses are unable to conceive. Just like the soul is there within the body but nobody can see where is that soul, similarly, God is also within this body but nobody can see. It is specifically mentioned, īśvaraḥ sarva bhūtānām hṛd deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Lord is situated in everyone's heart, but find out the heart, where is God.

Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- San Francisco, March 1, 1967:

At least your senses, by which you will produce knowledge... Sense, there are senses to acquire knowledge. Just like by hearing, I have acquired knowledge, and by speaking, I am distributing knowledge. So these are all sense activities. But our senses are imperfect; therefore we cannot manufacture knowledge. We have to receive knowledge from the authority. Just like we receive knowledge from our father, mother, "This is this." The child learns, "This is lamp." The father tells, "My dear boy, this is called lamp," and the boy understands, "This is lamp." The mother says, "My dear boy, this is your father," and the boy accepts, "This is my father." He doesn't make any research "Who is my father?" because mother is the authority.

Lecture on SB 6.1.7 -- San Francisco, March 1, 1967:

Similarly, perfect knowledge is from the authority. Perfect knowledge is not by speculation. Speculation, how much speculation you can do? What is the worth of your speculation? Because you are imperfect. Your senses are imperfect. You have got cheating within your heart; you commit mistake; you are illusioned. So how you can give perfect knowledge? This is our tendency. Nobody will say that "I am fool number one." Everyone will say that "I am very much learned," although he is fool number one. This is cheating. So this cheating propensity is there in everyone—even in our ordinary dealing, in business dealing or any other dealing, even within husband and wife. The husband thinking, "Oh, I have bluffed my wife in this way," and the wife is thinking, "Oh, I have bluffed my husband in this way." So the cheating process is there in me, in you, everywhere, because we are imperfect.

Lecture on SB 6.1.15 -- Nellore, January 8, 1976:

So we should give up this habit of speculating to understand God. One should become submissive, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, that very submissive to hear from the right person. So hearing is so important. Therefore our all Vedic literature is called śruti. So the subject matter which is beyond our sense perception, avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ, that cannot be understood by using our imperfect senses. Now the question is: from whom to hear? So in the śāstra it is said, san-mukharitām: "You have to hear from realized saintly person."

Lecture on SB 6.1.31 -- Honolulu, May 30, 1976:

Just like if there is some particle within the eyelid, we become embarrassed. But the eye is attached. Why not see and take it away? This is practical. So what is the power of your eyes? You cannot see the nearest and you cannot see distant place. You cannot see in darkness. So many conditions. So you're always under the conditions, and you declare "Independent." How foolishness it is. Your senses are all imperfect. No senses are perfect. You can use the senses under certain condition only. I'm claiming "This is my hand," and as soon as there is some nervous disability it is paralyzed, finished.

Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- Surat, December 22, 1970:

"This body is everything," that is called pramāda. Bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā. Vipralipsā means cheating. Every conditioned soul has a cheating propensity. "For my purpose, to fulfill my purpose, I say something to you which is not beneficial to you, but still, I impress that this is right." That is called cheating. And karaṇa-pāṭava. Karaṇa means the senses. The senses are also imperfect. I am seeing the sun daily with my eyes, but still, I have no full knowledge of the sun because my eyes are imperfect. If there is any sound upstairs, and I inquire, "What is this sound?" (aside:) Why he is crying so much? What is that? (man talking loudly outside the room)

Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- Los Angeles, June 6, 1976:

Because God created, therefore God existed before the creation, so whatever we get out of this created world, that is not Veda. If some person, great philosopher of this material world, he thinks, he says "I believe," and he writes something, that is nonsense. That is not Veda. Because he is a created being, and as created being he has got four defects. The most important defect is that his senses are imperfect. Therefore by sense perception, by so-called mental speculation, whatever he creates, that is defective. That is not perfect knowledge. Perfect knowledge is there, Veda, because Vedas existed before the creation. And whatever there is within the creation, they're imperfect. Therefore it is clearly said that vedo nārāyaṇa sākṣāt. As Nārāyaṇa is beyond this created, manifested cosmic manifestation, similarly Vedas also are like that. Don't think it is written by... It is called therefore apauruṣeya.

Lecture on SB 6.1.42 -- Los Angeles, June 8, 1976:

Anyone who is proud of his so-called knowledge, so-called experience—simply "I believe," "I think," "It may be," "Suppose"—what is this knowledge? They're all nonsense. When you get knowledge śuśruma, from the authority, that is knowledge. Otherwise all useless. All useless. Because your senses are imperfect. You cannot see properly. You cannot hear properly. You cannot touch properly. You cannot smell properly. These are your instruments for getting experience. You cannot go. How you can say in other planets there is no life? You cannot go. According to the scientists' calculations, they say that to go to the topmost planet it will take forty... Eh? Forty thousands of years. Who is going to travel forty thousand years? But we are seeing. The planets are there. Go there and see. You cannot estimate of one universe, which you are practically seeing. And in the śāstra we hear that there are millions of universes.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

Yes. Therefore you should read. That... Just try to understand. If somebody, ordinary man writes a book, he'll write book on his own experience. Therefore he's a, because he is imperfect, because his senses are imperfect, he has got a cheating propensity, he is sure to commit mistake and he's sure to be illusioned. His position being such, he cannot give us any perfect knowledge. Because he's imperfect by constitution. Every man will commit mistake. Every man will be illusioned. Just like every one of us illusioned. I am not this body but I'm thinking I'm this body. And the whole activity of my life is based on this body. So therefore whole thing is mistake, illusion. Similarly, a conditioned soul, anyone, he has got a propensity to cheat.