Who Can Understand All This?

One cannot understand anything about Radha and Krsna through mental speculation. Krsna and His potencies are acintya, inconceivable, and ananta, unlimited. He is the very source of the mind itself, and therefore He is beyond the mind. The limited mind cannot understand the unlimited Personality of Godhead. The Vedic literature explains this very logically: "That which is transcendental to material nature is inconceivable, whereas speculative arguments are all mundane. Since mundane arguments cannot touch transcendental subject matters, one should not try to understand transcendental subjects through mundane arguments."

When ordinary mundane intellectuals try to explain or interpret the identity or pastimes of Radha and Krsna, Krsna's unlimited nature bewilders them, and therefore they misconstrue everything. Thus they sometimes consider Radha and Krsna to be like an ordinary girl and boy of the material world. But although they often pose as learned scholars, they do not know what they are talking about. One should therefore strictly avoid the contused mundane ideas ot such blundering intellectuals. If one wishes to understand Radha and Krsna, one must understand Them by hearing submissively from a bona fide authority.

The original authority on Krsna is Krsna Himself. Everyone is first an authority regarding his own self, and this is also true of Krsna. Moreover, since Krsna is unlimited, no one can understand Him fully. Krsna's disciple Arjuna confirms this as follows in Bhagavad-gita:

"Indeed, You alone know Yourself by Your own potencies, O origin of all, Lord of all beings, God of gods, O Supreme Person, Lord of the universe!" (Bg. 10.15)

Although Krsna is inconceivable to mental speculation, those to whom He reveals Himself can understand Him. Krsna first gave such transcendental understanding to Brahma, the first created living being. Brahma later transmitted this knowledge to his son Narada, who transmitted it to Vyasa, the author of Bhagavad-gita. In this way, the knowledge has descended from master to disciple, through a chain of disciplic succession, even down to the present day. A spiritual master in this disciplic line is a bona fide authority regarding Krsna. He is the proper person from whom to receive transcendental knowledge.