sense perception has no value

Therefore sastra says, harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna mano-rathenasati dhavato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12]. Harav abhaktasya, one who is not a divine nature or devotee of the Lord, he has no qualification. "Oh, he's M.A., Ph.D." No, he has no qualification. "Why?" Now, mano-rathena, he is simply speculating. He has no truth. How by speculation...? Every one of us, we are imperfect. We are very much proud of our eyes: "Can you show me?" What qualification your eyes have got that you can see? He does not think that, that "I have no qualification; still, I want to see." These eyes, oh, they are dependent on so many condition. Now there is electricity, you can see. As soon as there is electricity off, you cannot see. Then what is the value of your eyes? You cannot see what is going on beyond this wall.    (More...)

So don't believe your so-called senses as the source of knowledge. No. The source of knowledge should be by hearing. That is called sruti. Therefore Vedas' name is sruti. Sruti-pramana, sruti-pramana. Just like a child or a boy wants to know who is his father. So what is the evidence? That evidence is sruti, hearing, from the mother. Mother says, "He is your father." So he hears; he does not see how he became his father. Because before his body was constructed the father was there, now how could he see? So by seeing, you cannot ascertain who is your father. You have to hear from the authority. The mother is the authority. Therefore sruti-pramana: the evidence is hearing; not by seeing. Seeing... Our imperfect eyes... There are so many obstacles. So similarly, by direct perception you cannot have the truth.    (More...)

Direct perception is speculation. Dr. Frog. Dr. Frog is speculating what is Atlantic Ocean. He is in the well, three-feet well, and some friend inform him, "Oh, I have seen vast water." "What is that vast water?" "Atlantic Ocean." "How big it is?" "Very, very big." So the Dr. Frog is thinking, "Maybe four feet. This well is three feet. It may be four feet. All right, five feet. Come on, ten feet." So in this way, speculating, how the frog, Dr. Frog, will understand Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean? Can you estimate the length and breadth of the Atlantic, Pacific Ocean by speculation? So by speculation you cannot have. They are speculating so many years about this universe, how many stars are there, what is the length and breadth, where is the... Nobody knows anything even of the material world, and what to speak of the spiritual world. That is beyond, far beyond.    (More...)

Therefore we have seen, because sastra-caksusa. You should see through the sastra. Otherwise what can you see with your teeny eyes? You cannot see, say, three yards more than that. Imperfect. Every senses, all sense, they are imperfect. You cannot see. You are seeing the sun, but what you are seeing? You are seeing just like a disc. But it is fourteen thousand times bigger than this planet. So your this naked sense perception has no value. Don't try to gather knowledge through these naked senses. Try to gather knowledge just like how creation is made. And that is stated here by the authorities, Kapiladeva. And if you take it, then your knowledge is perfect. And if you imagine, "Perhaps there was a chunk, and there was this, there was that, there was that"-all nonsense. At least we, Krsna conscious men, we don't accept this nonsensical proposition. Our knowledge is derived-tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet [Munḍaka Upanisad 1.2.12].    (More...)