Anyone who has received a small particle of the prasādam, mercy, of the Lord, he can understand the Lord.
Nobody can understand the Lord perfectly. It is not possible, because the Lord is unlimited. We have got our senses very limited. Our senses are not only limited, but also imperfect. We commit illusion. We try to cheat. So many defects are there. Therefore simply by exercising our senses it is not possible to understand God.
So to know God, "God is very good. God is great," that is another thing. The science of God . . . just like Bhagavad-gītā, by studying Bhagavad-gītā, we know not only "God is great," but we see what kind of God He is, what is His form. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. We have heard in the śāstras that:
- īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
- anādir ādir govindaḥ
- sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
- (Bs. 5.1)
Now that īśvara, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, how He appears sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha? Those who are present, of course, they saw the sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, but because not all of them were devotees, they could not understand Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11). Because He appeared just like a human being, so mūḍhas . . . mūḍhas means less intelligent or, in plain word, asses. Mūḍha means ass.
So this class of men could not understand Kṛṣṇa, that He's the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the defect of the mūḍhas. They may be very great scholar, academic scholar, but in the matter of understanding God, they're mūḍhas, asses. Why? Māyayā apahṛta-jñānā āsuri bhāvam āśritāḥ (BG 7.15).
At the present moment, people are mostly āsuri bhāvam āśritāḥ. Āsuri, āsuri bhāva means to defy God, "There is no God," "God is dead," "I am God," "You are God," "So many Gods are loitering in the street. Why you are finding out God?" These are so many statements. So God has become so cheap. There are so many incarnations of God, especially in India. It is a breeding ground of Gods, so many. So that is, means, they do not know what is God. Mūḍha. They think God is so cheap thing.
But from the śāstra we understand, from Bhagavad-gītā we understand . . . when Kṛṣṇa was asked by Arjuna, "How You are controlling the whole cosmology, Your vibhūti, Your power, energy?" so Kṛṣṇa explained, and He, at last He concluded:
- athavā bahunaitena
- kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
- viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
- ekāṁśena sthito jagat
- (BG 10.42)
"The whole cosmology, material world, is just sustained by My partial manifestation of energy." Ekāṁśena.
This material cosmology, material manifestation, is one-fourth demonstration of God's energy. The three-fourth manifestation of His energy is the spiritual world. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). There is another nature, which is spiritual nature, para, superior. The spiritual nature is described as parā. Parā means beyond this aparā.
There are two energies working: material nature and spiritual nature. Material nature, it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). These eight types of material nature—earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence and ego—these are material nature. Bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā. They are separated energies. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. Beyond this . . . these are inferior, aparā. And beyond this aparā-prakṛti, there is another, superior prakṛti. What is that? Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). That is the living entity.
So living entity, living being, is energy of the Supreme Lord. Energy. Just like the sun and the sunshine. Sunshine is the energy of the sun globe. Similarly, we living entities, we are also energies of the Supreme Lord. What is this sunshine? It is a combination of a very small shining particles, molecular. That is sunshine. It looks like one homogeneous thing, but they are small particles. That is scientific understanding.