Devotee: "Knowledge is the solution."
Prabhupāda: "Knowledge is the solution."
- tad viddhi praṇipātena
- paripraśnena sevayā
- upadekṣyanti te jṣānaṁ
- jṣāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
- (BG 4.34)
For knowledge, we have got to go to the right person, tattva-darśī. Tattva-darśī means "one who has actually seen or experienced the Absolute Truth." So unless we find out such a person who has actually seen the Absolute Truth or who has in his experience what is Absolute Truth, so there is very little chance of our spiritual advancement.
If we can find out such a person who is experienced in the Absolute Truth, and if we follow the principles, as it is stated here, praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā . . . praṇipāta means to surrender, and paripraśna means to enquire, and sevayā means service. Three things. You should find out a person who is self-realized, who has experience in the Absolute Truth and, on your part, you have to surrender there, and you have to enquire and you have to render service. When these things are completed, there is no doubt about one's spiritual salvation. If we have actually found out a person who is self-realized and we have surrendered there honestly, with enquiry and service, then we must know that our spiritual salvation is guaranteed. Guaranteed. There is no doubt about it. So Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
- yaj jñātvā na punar moham
- evaṁ yāsyasi pāṇḍava
- yena bhūtāny aśeṣāṇi
- drakṣyasy ātmany atho mayi
- (BG 4.35)
People are anxious to see God. Here Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that as soon as one gets knowledge from the right person, then he never comes into the field of delusion. The whole thing is that in the present stage of our life, we are conditioned and deluded. We do not know things as they are. That is the cause of our all miseries. Otherwise, constitutionally, we are ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. By nature, we are jolly. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12).
In the Vedānta-sūtra you'll find, the nature of Brahman is ānandamaya. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1).
Eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, then your botheration of this sat, cit, ānanda. Sat means eternity, cit means full knowledge and ānanda means pleasure. This is our constitution. We are all fragmental portion of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord. Therefore, because He is ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, so we are also ānandamaya, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha.
Unfortunately, we have been put in the contact of this material energy; therefore we are just experiencing the opposite. What is that opposite? That . . . sat, sat-cit ānanda. Sat means eternity. So we have got just the opposite: asat. Asat means non eternity. This body will not exist. We are put into such a condition that however scientifically we may try to keep an youthfulness by so many medicines, injection, and so many things which we have, I mean to say, invented by our advancement material science, but death is sure. This body . . . antavanta ime dehāḥ(MR (BG 2.1). The body must be finished. Therefore there is no question of sat.