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Generally, people who are attached to the bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful.

Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purifled by knowledge of Me-and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me. (More...)

As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable, full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore, people in general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed of the personal form of the Lord. For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme. Consequently they consider the Supreme to be impersonal. And because they are too materially absorbed, the conception of retaining the personality after liberation from matter frightens them. When they are informed that spiritual life is also individual and personal, they become afraid of becoming persons again, and so they naturally prefer a kind of merging into the impersonal void. Generally, they compare the living entities to the bubbles of the ocean, which merge into the ocean. That is the highest perfection of spiritual existence attainable without individual personality. This is a kind of fearful stage of life, devoid of perfect knowledge of spiritual existence. Furthermore there are many persons who cannot understand spiritual existence at all. Being embarassed by so many theories and by contradictions of various types of philosophical speculation, they become disgusted or angry and foolishly conclude that there is no supreme cause and that everything is ultimately void. Such people are in a diseased condition of life. Some people are too materially attached and therefore do not give attention to spiritual life, some of them want to merge into the supreme spiritual cause, and some of them disbelieve in everything, being angry at all sorts of spiritual speculation out of hopelessness. This last class of men take to the shelter of some kind of intoxication, and their affective hallucinations are sometimes accepted as spiritual vision. One has to get rid of all three stages of attachment to the material world: negligence of spiritual life, fear of a spiritual personal identity, and the conception of void that underlies the frustration of life. To get free from these three stages of the material concept of life, one has to take complete shelter of the Lord, guided by the bona fide spiritual master, and follow the disciplines and regulative principles of devotional life. The last stage of the devotional life is called bhava, or transcendental love of Godhead. (More...)

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In the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said: muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. Great demigods like Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Indra and Candra are sometimes bewildered trying to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It so happened that when Krsna was present on this planet, Lord Brahma and King Indra also mistook Him. And what to speak of great yogis or jnanis who conclude that the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is impersonal? In the same way, great personalities and Vaisnavas like the four Kumaras are also invisible to ordinary persons, although they are traveling all over the universe in different planetary systems. When Sanatana Gosvami went to see Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he could not be recognized by Candrasekhara Acarya. The conclusion is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated in everyone's heart, and His pure devotees, the Vaisnavas, are also traveling all over the world, but those who are under the modes of material nature cannot understand the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the source of this cosmic manifestation, or the Vaisnavas. It is said, therefore, that one cannot see the Supreme Personality of Godhead or a Vaisnava with these material eyes. One has to purify his senses and engage in the service of the Lord. Then gradually one can realize who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and who is a Vaisnava. (More...)

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This is a verse, it is said, "My dear Lord, Your lotus feet," padambuja-dvaya, "can be understood by a person who has received a little favor of You." Athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi: "One who has received little favor, he can understand You." And what for others? "For others," na ca anya eko 'pi ciram vicinvan, "if they speculate for millions of years, still, they will not be able to understand." Just like in your country Bhagavad-gita was being read for the last two hundred, three hundred years. So many scholars, so many Indian scholar or American, they have written Bhagavad-gita. But not a single person understood Krsna. Not a single person. But now, when they are reading Bhagavad-gita As It Is, they are understanding by the mercy of God. The mercy is shown if you follow the process, authoritative process. Prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi. One who has received a little, minute quantity of the favor of Krsna, he can understand Krsna. And others, if they go on speculating for millions of years, they will not be able to. This is a fact. Therefore He is called Adhoksaja. So our Krsna consciousness movement is the authorized process by which you can understand Krsna, the Supreme Lord. By other methods it is not possible. Krsna personally says, (More...)

Nobody can understand. Out of many millions and trillions of persons, one is interested how to make his life success. Otherwise they are not interested even. Like cats and dogs they are jumping here and there, that's all. And out of those persons who are interested, some may understand what is Krsna. So Krsna is not so very easily understood, but by the grace of Krsna we can understand Him if we follow. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, mattaḥ parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg 7.7]: "My dear Dhananjaya, there is no more superior power than Me, or greater than Me." So if we accept the statement of Krsna, then we understand Krsna immediately. Otherwise, by speculation, it is not possible. That is the fact. (More...)

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One..., all the Vedic literatures, they aim at understanding Krsna, and Krsna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg 18.66]: "Give up all these things. Simply surrender unto Me." It is so easy. Patram puspam phalam... Any, any part of the world, any poor man can offer Krsna. This is the poorest, not that who are rich, for them it is prescribed. Anyone can offer Krsna according to his capacity. Krsna is not hankering after your offering, but if you offer Krsna, that is for your own interest, own benefit. Maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-mūrtina [Bg 9.4]. (More...)

It is not so easy. But any person, either in karma-yoga or jnana-yoga or dhyana-yoga or hatha-yoga, if he comes in contact with a devotee, bhakti-yogi, then he can understand Krsna. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, (More...)

Bhakti-lata-bija, that is not very easily available. But it is available-guru-krsna-krpaya. Because Krsna is situated in everyone's heart, if you are actually eager to understand Krsna, then Krsna can understand that "This living entity is trying to understand." So He gives a guru. He gives... Caitya... He's caitya-guru. He is guru Himself within one's heart, and He gives intelligence. Buddhi-yogam dadami tam yena mam upayanti te [Bg 10.10]. To a sincere person, He gives the intelligence that "You accept this guru." (More...)

Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.

There are various grades of men, and out of many thousands one may be sufficiently interested in transcendental realization to try to know what is the self, what is the body, and what is the Absolute Truth. Generally mankind is simply engaged in the animal propensities, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating, and hardly anyone is interested in transcendental knowledge. The first six chapters of the Gita are meant for those who are interested in transcendental knowledge, in understanding the self, the Superself and the process of realization by jnana-yoga, dhyana-yoga, and discrimination of the self from matter. However, Krsna can only be known by persons who are in Krsna consciousness. Other transcendentalists may achieve impersonal Brahman realization, for this is easier than understanding Krsna. Krsna is the Supreme Person, but at the same time He is beyond the knowledge of Brahman and Paramatma. The yogis and jnanis are confused in their attempts to understand Krsna, although the greatest of the impersonalists, Sripada Sahkaracarya, has admitted in his Gita commentary that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But his followers do not accept Krsna as such, for it is very difficult to know Krsna, even though one has transcendental realization of impersonal Brahman. (More...)

Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, the primeval Lord Govinda. Īsvaraḥ paramaḥ krsnaḥ sac-cid-ananda-vigrahaḥ anadir adir govindaḥ sarva-karana-karanam. It is very difficult for the nondevotees to know Him. Although nondevotees declare that the path of bhakti or devotional service is very easy, they cannot practice it. If the path of bhakti is so easy, as the nondevotee class of men proclaim, then why do they take up the difficult path? Actually the path of bhakti is not easy. The so-called path of bhakti practiced by unauthorized persons without knowledge of bhakti may be easy, but when it is practiced factually according to the rules and regulations, the speculative scholars and philosophers fall away from the path. Srila Rūpa Gosvami writes in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu: (More...)

"No one can understand Krsna as He is by the blunt material senses. But He reveals Himself to the devotees, being pleased with them for their transcendental loving service unto Him." (Padma Purana) (More...)

"Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth." The yogis and jnanis-that is, the mystic yogis and the impersonalists-can understand the Absolute Truth as impersonal or localized, but although such realized souls are above ordinary human beings, they cannot understand how the Supreme Absolute Truth can be a person. Therefore it is said that out of many siddhas, the souls who have already realized the Absolute Truth, one may understand Krsna, who exactly resembles a human being (narakrti). This human form was explained by Krsna Himself after He manifested the virat-rūpa. The virat-rūpa is not the original form of the Lord; the Lord's original form is Dvibhuja-syamasundara, Muralidhara, the Lord with two hands, playing a flute (yam syamasundaram acintya-guna-svarūpam). The Lord's forms are proof of His inconceivable qualities. Although the Lord maintains innumerable universes within the period of His breath, He is dressed with a form exactly like that of a human being. That does not mean, however, that He is a human being. This is His original form, but because He looks like a human being, those with a poor fund of knowledge consider Him an ordinary man. The Lord says: (More...)

"Devotional service of the Lord that ignores the authorized Vedic literatures like the Upanisads, Puranas and Narada Pancaratra is simply an unnecessary disturbance in society." [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu ], without following, aikantiki harer bhaktiḥ, the show of a devotee, the aikantiki harer bhaktir utpatayaiva kalpate, it is simply disturbance. Simply disturbance. (More...)

"It is not possible for the Brahman realized impersonalist nor the Paramatma realized yogi to understand Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as the son of Mother Yasoda or the charioteer of Arjuna. Even the great demigods are sometimes confused about Krsna: muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ, mam tu veda na kascana, 'No one knows Me as I am,' the Lord says. And if one does know Him, then sa mahatma sudurlabhaḥ [Bg 7.19], 'Such a great soul is very rare...' If one does know Him, such a great soul is very rare. Therefore unless one practices devotional service to the Lord, he cannot know Krsna as He is [tattvataḥ], even though one is a great scholar or philosopher. Only the pure devotees can know something of the inconceivable transcendental qualities in Krsna, in the cause of all causes, in His omnipotence and opulence, and in His wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, because Krsna is benevolently inclined to His devotees. He is the last word in Brahman realization, and the devotees alone can realize Him as He is. Therefore it is said: (More...)

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