There is a story, it is very instructive story, that Nārada Muni was passing to go to Vaikuṇṭha, and on the way one very learned scholar, brāhmin, met him, and he inquired from Narada Muni where he was going. Nārada Muni said that, "I am going to see Nārāyaṇa, my Lord." So the brāhmin asked him, "Oh, you are going to meet Nārāyaṇa. Will you kindly inquire for me when my . . . when I shall be liberated," Nārada Muni said: "Yes, I shall inquire."
Similarly, on the way, he met one cobbler. He also inquired Nārada Muni where he was going, and he said, will you kindly inquire from Lord Nārāyaṇa when he would be liberated? So when Nārada Muni met Nārāyaṇa, so he inquired—because he's saintly person, he promised—that "Such-and-such brāhmin inquired like this, and the . . . and a cobbler also inquired like this." So Nārāyaṇa said: "The . . . this cobbler will be liberated in this life, and that brāhmin will take some time, some many births."
So Nārada Muni became astonished that he, he was a learned scholar and brāhmin, and he would take so much time, and the cobbler would be liberated in this life? "Oh, what is the reason, Sir?" So Nārāyaṇa gave him one needle, and He requested him that, "When they inquire what Nārāyaṇa was doing, you can say that Nārāyaṇa was pulling one elephant through the hole of the needle, this side and that side," in this way.
So when he came back, the brāhmin said: "Sir, you are . . . I offer my respectful obeisances unto you and Nārāyaṇa. We cannot believe this, that through the needle, or through the hole of a needle, a elephant is being passed, this side and that side." And when it was informed to the cobbler, he began to cry. He said: "Oh, my Nārāyaṇa is so powerful that He can do everything." He believed immediately that, "Yes, for Nārāyaṇa it is possible to pull the elephant through the hole of the needle, this side and that."
So Nārada Muni inquired, "How do you believe this? The other person, the brāhmin, he's learned person. He did not believe. How do you believe it? What is your conviction?" He said: "Sir, I believe in this way, because I am sitting under this tree. This is a banyan tree. And so many," what is called, "figs are falling down. And each fig there are thousands of small seed, and in each seed there is a banyan tree. So if Nārāyaṇa can keep thousands of banyan trees within this fig fruit, how it is not possible for Him to pull an elephant through the hole of a needle?"
So this is called faith. The faith is not blind. There is proof. He . . . the cobbler was not blindly believing that Nārāyaṇa was pulling an elephant through the hole of a needle, but he sees practically the potency, the power of the Lord, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 7.10), how He keeps all the potencies of the banyan tree within the seed. So otherwise there is no meaning "all-powerful." He can do whatever He likes. Inconceivable.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī therefore explains that unless we believe inconceivable potency of the Lord, then we cannot understand the activities. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate, svābhāvikī-jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, CC Madhya 13.65, purport). We cannot judge how things are happening, but we have to believe. Therefore Vedic knowledge is so important. We cannot make research. We cannot judge. Simply if we take the Vedic truth . . .
Just like we have several times explained, the Vedas accept the cow dung pure, whereas the stool of other animal is impure. So we have to accept like that. So veda-vāṇī. Veda-vāṇī means you cannot deny it. You cannot argue on it. You have to accept as it is. Therefore learned scholar, when he speaks something, he gives evidence from the Vedas, śruti, śruti-pramāṇa. That is the best evidence.