imperfect always

It is said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam that our senses are imperfect, all of them. We cannot understand even the material world perfectly. You have seen so many planets and stars in the sky at night, but you do not know what they are. You do not even know what the moon planet is, though men have been trying for so many years to go there in sputniks. Even this one planet, Earth! We do not know what varieties there are even on this planet! If you go to the sea, to the sky, your perception is limited. Our knowledge is, therefore, always imperfect. On that we must agree. If we foolishly think that we have acquired all forms of knowledge and we have advanced in science, this is another foolishness. It is not possible.    (More...)

Knowledge is the light by which the darkness of ignorance is vanquished. Knowledge implies real knowledge, or knowledge free from error. Any kind of knowledge can be obtained in one of two ways. One way is by experimental knowledge, which is compared to blind men feeling the different limbs of an elephant and giving their postulations on the form and nature of the elephant. The blind man holding the trunk thinks and elephant is a gigantic snake, and the man holding the leg thinks another way. In this way different theories are evolved from different angles of observation, with no angle being complete or correct. The other method is by receiving knowledge by the descending process, i.e., through guru-parampara, or disciplic succession. Knowledge handed down from the source of all knowledge, or descending knowledge, is perfect and free form defect because it doesn't depend on the imperfect perceptions of imperfect people. Just as the sun is self-illuminating, real knowledge from Krsna is self-effulgent and doesn't depend on empirical speculation.    (More...)