View source for We cannot manufacture God; neither we can speculate. That is not possible. But you can get some idea, but there is no possibility of getting perfect knowledge of God. God is unlimited. I am limited. So my speculative knowledge is limited

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{{terms|"We cannot manufacture God; neither we can speculate. That is not possible. But you can get some idea, but there is no possibility of getting perfect knowledge of God. God is unlimited. I am limited. So my speculative knowledge is limited"}}
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[[Category:Cannot Manufacture]]
[[Category:God]]
[[Category:Neither]]
[[Category:Can]]
[[Category:Speculating]]
[[Category:That Is Not Possible]]
[[Category:You Can]]
[[Category:Can Get]]
[[Category:Some]]
[[Category:Idea]]
[[Category:There Is No Possibility]]
[[Category:Perfect Knowledge]]
[[Category:Knowledge of God]]
[[Category:Unlimited]]
[[Category:God Is...]]
[[Category:Limited]]
[[Category:Speculative Knowledge]]
[[Category:1973 Pages Needing Audio]]
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<h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
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<h3>1973 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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We cannot manufacture God; neither we can speculate. That is not possible. But you can get some idea, but there is no possibility of getting perfect knowledge of God. God is unlimited. I am limited. So my speculative knowledge is limited. So how I can understand the unlimited by my limited knowledge? That is not possible. We can make little progress, and that is impersonal understanding. The perfect understanding is that He is person.
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[[Vanisource:731209 - Conversation - Los Angeles|731209 - Conversation - Los Angeles]]
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Prabhupāda: Just like this sun, the sunshine, the sun globe, and within the sun globe. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, Fourth Chapter, the person sun, whose name is Vivasvān, he was instructed by Kṛṣṇa. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam ([[Vanisource:BG 4.1|BG 4.1]]). You are a Sanskrit scholar.

Professor: No, I'm afraid not.

Dharmādhyakṣa: That was the gentleman whose works he translated. In other words, the gentleman that he worked for was the Sanskrit scholar.

Prabhupāda: I see. So... Oh, you have no seat? They are giving him? All right. So from Bhagavad-gītā we understand that Bha... Just like in this planet we are so many persons, or the President Nixon is the president; similarly, in every planet there are living entities, and the president of the sun planet is called Vivasvān. So he was instructed by Kṛṣṇa long, long ago. In the higher planetary system, the time is different. That was proved when the Russian aeronautics were on the sky.

In one hour twenty-five minutes, he went round the earth, twice or thrice, like that. So time is different. So the point is... Just like the sunshine is impersonal, the sun is localized, and the president of the sun globe is a person; similarly, the Absolute Truth is realized in three phases: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.11|SB 1.2.11]]). The first realization is impersonal, then localized, and then personal. So ultimately, God is person. And that is Kṛṣṇa.

So we are hearing directly from the Supreme Personality of Godhead about Godhead, and that is perfect knowledge. If you speak yourself about yourself, that is my perfect knowledge of yourself. And if I simply speculate that "Professor may be like this, like that," that is not perfect. I am speculating, but if you come to me, "Swāmījī, I am like this," then my knowledge is perfect. Otherwise, I can go on speculating for millions of years, still my knowledge is imperfect.

So we cannot manufacture God; neither we can speculate. That is not possible. But you can get some idea, but there is no possibility of getting perfect knowledge of God. God is unlimited. I am limited. So my speculative knowledge is limited. So how I can understand the unlimited by my limited knowledge? That is not possible. We can make little progress, and that is impersonal understanding. The perfect understanding is that He is person, all-powerful, all-mighty, all-beautiful, all-wise, all..., everything perfect, six opulences: riches, strength, influence, beauty, knowledge and renouncement. These are the six opulences. And God is complete. This is conception of God.

Professor: For me, and I suppose for so many others, the difficulty is getting from the intellectual willingness to accept the notion of God, and even to get beyond a kind of fleeting intuition from time to time that there is something beyond the humanistic world conception to a real inner understanding of that reality. And I suppose that is what your work is all about, to...

Prabhupāda: Yes. God is... God is beyond our intellectual platform. (door opens; someone enters) Come on. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So Professor—give him some seat. He'll stand?

Śrutakīrti: I sent someone out for a chair, but he hasn't found one.

Prabhupāda: And what is that?

(aside:) Good morning. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

There are three stages. First stages of understanding is direct perception, by senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 3.42|BG 3.42]]), in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find. Here, from the material platform, our source of knowledge is direct perception. That is crude, pratyakṣa. It is called pratyakṣa. That is crude knowledge, direct perception. Just like I am seeing the sun. I am getting some idea of the sun, but that is not the perfect idea, although I am seeing it daily. I am seeing just like a disc, but it is very, very big.

So my direct perception cannot give me perfect knowledge. The first... Besides that, at our present stage, material condition, we are imperfect because we commit mistake. By direct seeing the sun, I am thinking that it is just like a disc. Then we are illusioned. We, sometimes we accept something for something. Then, with this imperfect knowledge, we try to become teacher. That is cheating. And at the end, our senses are imperfect. So with so many imperfectness, how we can get perfect knowledge?
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