have four defects
|
A mundaner 1) is sure to commit mistakes, 2) is invariably illusioned, 3) has the tendency to cheat others and 4) is limited by imperfect senses. Vedic knowledge is not a question of research. Our research work is imperfect because we are researching things with imperfect senses. We have to accept perfect knowledge which comes down, as is stated in Bhagavad-gita, by the parampara disciplic succession. We have to receive knowledge from the proper source in disciplic succession beginning with the supreme spiritual master, the Lord Himself, and handed down to a succession of spiritual masters. Arjuna, the student who took lessons from Lord Sri Krsna, accepts everything that He says without contradicting Him. One is not allowed to accept one portion of Bhagavad-gita and not another. No. We must accept Bhagavad-gita without interpretation, without deletion and without our own whimsical participation in the matter. The Gita should he taken as the most perfect presentation of Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is received from transcendental sources, and the first words were spoken by the Lord Himself. The words spoken by the Lord are different from words spoken by a person of the mundane world who is infected with four defects. A mundaner 1) is sure to commit mistakes, 2) is invariably illusioned, 3) has the tendency to cheat others and 4) is limited by imperfect senses. With these four imperfections, one cannot deliver perfect information of all-pervading knowledge.
(More...) Imported quote 15655 Then the Lord began to speak about Vedanta philosophy as follows: Vedanta Sutra is spoken by the Supreme Lord Himself. The Supreme Lord, by His incarnation as Vyasadeva, has compiled this great philosophical treatise, Vedanta Sutra. Vyasadeva's incarnation of the Supreme Lord means that He cannot be likened to the ordinary person, who has the four defects of material existence. The defects of the conditioned soul are: 1. he must commit mistakes, 2. he must be illusioned, 3. he must possess the tendency to cheat others, and 4. his senses must be all imperfect. When we speak of the incarnation of Godhead, we understand that He is transcendental to all these defects of the conditioned living entity. Therefore, whatever has been spoken and written by Vyasadeva is to be understood as perfect. The Upanishads and Vedanta Sutra aim at the same subject matter: the Supreme Absolute Truth; and, when we accept the import of Vedanta Sutra and the Upanishads directly, as they are stated, it becomes very glorious for us. But the commentary made by Sankaracharya is indirect, and is very dangerous for the common man, because, by understanding the import of the Upanishad in such an indirect, disruptive way, one becomes practically barred from spiritual realization.
(More...) Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/?qg=54
|