So our process, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, means we take knowledge from Kṛṣṇa who is liberated from these four kinds of deficiencies. That knowledge is perfect. Similarly, Arjuna is also inquiring from Kṛṣṇa. Etad veditum icchāmi. Etad veditum icchāmi jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava. What is actual knowledge and what is the subject matter of knowledge. That means six questions are presented by Arjuna before Kṛṣṇa. One pair, prakṛti-puruṣa, kṣetra-kṣetra-jña, and jñānaṁ jñeyam, what is knowledge and what is the subject matter of knowledge. Six questions. Śrī bhagavān uvāca. Now, here Kṛṣṇa is speaking, but Vyāsadeva, who recorded this dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, he is writing, "bhagavān uvāca." He does not say, "kṛṣṇaḥ uvāca." "Kṛṣṇa" may be misunderstood. But Kṛṣṇa is bhagavān. He wants to stress on this point.
Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated by Vyāsadeva that kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Similarly, in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Īśvara means controller. So parama means the supreme. So every one of us, we are more or less controller. But we are not supreme controller. We must know this. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). There are some men who claim to become Īśvara, to become God. So we have no objection, that if somebody says, "I am God," or "I am controller," we have no objection. But if somebody says that "I am supreme God," or "supreme controller," then we have got objection. Supreme means he has no controller. And ordinary controller, just like we are... You are controller. You are controlling some sphere of life. I am also controlling some. But I also being controlled.
But īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1) means He is the supreme controller. He has no controller over Him. He controls everyone, but He is not controlled by anyone. Therefore it is called
- īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
- anādir ādir govindaḥ
- sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
- (Bs. 5.1)
These are the Vedic statement. And our process of knowledge, Veda... Veda means knowledge. Vetti veda vido jñāne. Supreme knowledge, perfect knowledge, that is Veda. So Kṛṣṇa is the supreme person. He is the speaker of Vedas. The subject matter of Vedas is to know Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). If you are a student of Vedas, then you must have clear conception of God. That is real knowledge, no vague idea, but clear conception. That is knowledge, Vedic knowledge, ultimate... Therefore the Vedānta philosophy. Veda means knowledge, and anta means the ultimate. Everything has got ultimate. So Vedānta means the ultimate knowledge of Vedas. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. You will find in the fifteenth chapter. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedānta-vid vedānta-kṛd ca aham. (break)