View source for But the difficulty is: who is authority? That we require to learn who is actually authority. So authority means who has no mistakes, who has no illusion, who does not cheat, and whose senses are perfect. That is authority

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{{terms|"So authority means who has no mistakes, who has no illusion, who does not cheat, and whose senses are perfect"}}
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{{compiler|MadhuGopaldas}}
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{{first|03Apr12}}
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[[Category:Difficulty]]
[[Category:Who Is]]
[[Category:Authority]]
[[Category:That]]
[[Category:That Is Required]]
[[Category:Learn]]
[[Category:Who Is]]
[[Category:Means]]
[[Category:One Who Has]]
[[Category:Mistake]]
[[Category:Illusion]]
[[Category:Who]]
[[Category:Does Not]]
[[Category:Cheating]]
[[Category:Whose]]
[[Category:Senses]]
[[Category:Are]]
[[Category:Perfect]]
[[Category:That Is]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="General_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="11" parent="Lectures" text="General Lectures"><h3>General Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureEngagementMontrealJune151968_0" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="8" link="Lecture Engagement -- Montreal, June 15, 1968" link_text="Lecture Engagement -- Montreal, June 15, 1968">
<div class="heading">So authority means who has no mistakes, who has no illusion, who does not cheat, and whose senses are perfect. That is authority. That is the definition of authority. A conditioned soul who... Just... "To err is human." Any human being is sure to commit mistakes. However learned he may be, however advanced he may be, he must commit mistake. Therefore this word is, "To err is human."
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture Engagement -- Montreal, June 15, 1968|Lecture Engagement -- Montreal, June 15, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So this movement is very scientific movement, and we have got authoritative statements. You cannot defy authority, authority. As an authority, minister of this Unitarian Church, in one place he has denied authority, and in another place he has quoted so many authorities. So many authorities he has quoted. Why? If you deny authority, then why you quote other authority? So you cannot defy authority. This is not possible. From the beginning of your life, when you were child, you asked your parents, "Mother, father, what is this?" Why? That is the beginning of life. You cannot go even a step without authority. You are governed by authority. You are running your car by authority—"Keep to the right." Why? Why don't you defy it? So authority we have to obey. But the difficulty is: who is authority? That we require to learn who is actually authority. So authority means who has no mistakes, who has no illusion, who does not cheat, and whose senses are perfect. That is authority. That is the definition of authority. A conditioned soul who... Just... "To err is human." Any human being is sure to commit mistakes. However learned he may be, however advanced he may be, he must commit mistake. Therefore this word is, "To err is human." And one must be illusioned. And there is cheating propensity of every man. Even a child, he wants to cheat. The mother asks, "Oh, what is in your hand?" Oh, the child says, "No, mother, nothing," although the mother can see he has got something. So the cheating propensity is there. And above all, your senses are imperfect. You are proud of your eyes: "I want to see." What you can see? If the light is off, your seeing power is immediately gone. If there is no sun, your seeing power is gone. Therefore we see under conditions. Therefore imperfect. So you cannot get perfect knowledge by imperfect senses, by speculative knowledge. You have to accept authority. Just like if you want to know who is your father, the authority is your mother. The mother says, "Here is your father." You have to accept. You cannot make research. Mother is the last authority, who is your father. Similarly, we have to accept authority, and if the authority is not a conditioned soul, if he is liberated soul, if he is not a cheater, if his senses are not imperfect, if he does not make any mistakes, if he is not in illusion, if you receive knowledge from that authority, then your knowledge is perfect. That is the process.</p>
<p>So we have got such authoritative, I mean to say, literature, Vedic literatures. You can test it by your reason, by your arguments, by your philosophical talks, everything. Religion without philosophical basis, without scientific basis, is sentiment. That religion based on philosophy and science, that is right. So Bhagavad-gītā is that book. Any question, any inquiry, any doubt—all the answers are there, and very nicely.</p>
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