Śrīmad-Bhāgavata is not some materialistic philosopher's or writer's, as you have got . . . they are called grāmya-vastavaḥ. Grāmya-vastavaḥ means ordinarily these affairs. A man is meeting woman, woman is meeting man—that story, all these novels and fiction and dramas.
It is not like that. Therefore it is said, mahā-muni-kṛte śrīmad-bhāgavate. It is not ordinary person's writing whimsical, some . . . manufacturing some story, narration, and puzzling the brain. No. Śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte: it is beyond all defects of human life.
When a ordinary person writes, he writes with defective instruments. First of all, any man within this world, however great he may be, he must commit mistake. That's a fact. There are many instances: simply for little mistake. Just like Hitler. Hitler planned so gorgeously winning over the world.
A little mistake: as soon as his attention was diverted toward Russia, he was finished. The Britishers tried to divert his attention towards the Russia. Little mistake. Otherwise, Hitler would have come out victorious. There are many instances, in political field, in sociological field.
So however one man may be great, he must commit mistake. This is called conditional life. There is no man in this world who can say that, "I never committed any mistake." Is there any man? No. That is not possible. And he must be illusioned. Illusioned. What is that illusion?
- yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke
- sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ
- yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij
- janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ
- (SB 10.84.13)
This is illusion. Go-kharaḥ. Go-kharaḥ means animals: cows and asses. What is the fault of the animals? The animals, they cannot take nice instruction. They do not know that the soul is . . . they are spirit soul, they are not this body. They do not know.
So this is called illusion. I am accepting this body as self. I am accepting my father or my son . . . "Here is my son." What is that? "This body." Now when the son is dead, he is crying, "My son is gone. My son is gone. Oh, my son, where you have gone?" Well, why you are crying? Here is your son. Here is your son, lying on the floor. Why you are crying that "My son is gone, gone, gone"? "No, no, no. My son is gone."
This is illusion. He was all along illusioned to accept this body as his son. But at the time of death, he can understand that, "The body was not my son. The son was a different thing which was within the body." So this is conditional life. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body." Everyone is committing mistake. Illusion and mistake.
Then another thing is cheating. So many rascal philosophers and scientist, 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 thousand . . . 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 aeroplane 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 aeroplane is kept down for many thousands of years with all the machine complete, it has no power to fly unless there is a 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. This is called jagat.
Where he is going on? You have heard Rabindranath Tagore, poet Tagore. He wrote one article that, "When I was in London I saw the people are walking very fast, the cars are going very fast. But I was thinking that, 'This England is a small island; they may not fall down on the sea.' " (laughter) If you let loose your dog, it will go on this way, this way, this way, this way, this way. (laughter) 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 to 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. Kīkaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati. Sura-dviṣām. Sammohāya sura-dviṣām, buddho nāmnāñjana-sutaḥ kīkaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati (SB 1.3.24), he's writing. Bhaviṣyati means in future tense.
Lord Buddha appeared on this planet 2,600 years ago, and this book was written 5,000 years ago, and indicating that Lord Buddha incarnation of Keśava will appear in the Bihar province, Kīkaṭeṣu, Gayā Pradesh, near Gayā. This Gayā city is still there. And five thousand years ago, either the Gayā city was there or it was predicted that there will be city of the name Gayā. In that province, Lord Buddha, as the son of Añjanā—his mother's name, Añjanā—he will appear to cheat the atheist.
Lord Buddha appeared to cheat the atheist. "Oh, God comes to cheat?" Yes. Sometimes required. Just like one little child has taken away from the pocket of his father one-hundred-dollar bill, and he's going to tear it. And the father says: "Oh, my son, what you will do with this paper? You take these lozenges." And the lozenges is worth one cent. So he's cheated, giving him one-cent-worth thing and he's taking hundred dollars, "Give me." But that is not cheating. That is required. Sometimes a child requires to be cheated to save him from some . . . making mischievous activities.
So when God cheats you . . . just like I was speaking while coming, Vāmanadeva cheated Bali Mahārāja. Bali Mahārāja thought that "I am the king of the whole universe." The Vāmanadeva came: "My dear Bali Mahārāja, you are so charitable man. Will you kindly give Me three feet of land?" The proprietor has come to beg. This is cheating. This is cheating. Chalayasi vikramaṇe balim adbhuta-vāmana. Chalayasi. Chalayasi means cheating.