Never Be Able to Understand - The Consequences of Envy and Sin
The supreme science of God cannot be grasped by material calculation or academic prowess. As beautifully explained by Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Absolute Truth remains forever hidden from those who harbor envy, cling to sinful habits, or approach the subject with a challenging attitude. By understanding the severe consequences of these mentalities, a sincere seeker learns to adopt the path of submissive devotion, which is the only true way to comprehend the Supreme Lord.
The Futility of Mental Speculation
The material mind is extremely limited, making it completely inadequate for understanding the unlimited Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who attempt to figure out the nature of God by manufacturing their own theories or relying on empirical observation will ultimately fail. If a spiritual seeker insists on the ascending process of speculation, they will waste countless lifetimes without ever reaching a solid conclusion about the Absolute Truth.
- Adhah-krtam aksajam jnanam: You may go on speculating for many thousands of years, still you will be cut down. You will never be able to understand what is God.
- If you go on speculating, you will never be able to understand. Therefore give up this practice.
- If you manufacture your own knowledge, then you'll never be able to understand - God.
- There are so many Mayavadis, they are going on perpetually: "What is God?" Neti neti: "This is not, this is not, this is not. What is Brahman?" So by that process you'll never be able to understand what is God.
The Poison of Unauthorized Hearing
Spiritual knowledge must be received from authorized sources, namely the pure devotees who represent the disciplic succession. Hearing scriptural commentary from impersonalists (Māyāvādīs) or those devoid of devotion (avaiṣṇavas) is spiritually fatal. Their envious interpretations act like poison, permanently crippling the listener's ability to understand the true, personal nature of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
- Anyone who listens to the commentary of the Mayavadi philosopher, then his fate is doomed. He is finished. He will never be able to understand bhakti philosophy.
- Be careful of these rascals. Mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva nasa (CC Madhya 6.169). Then you'll never be able to understand Krsna.
- There is a very famous Bhagavata reader in Bombay. He is a pakka avaisnava. But he is going on, and he is infusing poison - means those who are hearing him, they will never be able to understand what is Krsna. They will never be able. It is so poisonous.
Sinful Habits and Animal Killing
Engaging in sinful activities fundamentally degrades the human consciousness and destroys the fine brain tissues required to comprehend higher philosophical truths. Among these activities, unnecessary animal killing is particularly disastrous for spiritual advancement. For those who refuse to give up meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling, the door to spiritual realization remains firmly locked for hundreds of lifetimes.
- If in the human society unnecessary animal killing is encouraged, he will never be able to understand what is God. The greatest sinful activity, pasu-ghnat.
- If you are animal killer, your God consciousness is finished. You'll never be able to understand what is God. Then your life is finished.
- No illicit sex, no meat-eating, no intoxication, no gambling. If one refrains from these four prohibited things, then he can develop his brain to understand. And if one indulges in these four things, his brain will never be able to understand.
- Those who are addicted to these bad habits (prostitute-hunting, meat-eating, gambling, etc.), in their hundreds and thousands of life they will never be able to understand what is God. The door is locked for them.
The Reciprocation of Forgetfulness
The Supreme Lord is entirely fair and perfectly reciprocates with the desires of the living entities. If a conditioned soul is envious of God and simply wants to enjoy the material world, Kṛṣṇa will facilitate that desire by placing them in an illusion where they can entirely forget Him. This divine punishment ensures that the demoniac are placed in circumstances where spiritual understanding is perpetually out of reach.
- Because they (those who are envious upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead) want to forget God, therefore God puts them into such condition that they will never be able to understand what is God. This is the version from Bhagavad-gita by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- If anyone wants to forget Krsna, Krsna will give him such intelligence that he will never be able to understand Krsna. But if anyone tries to love Krsna, understand Krsna, He'll give full of intelligence, you can understand. That is Krsna.
- Those who are envious, asuric, demons, I put them in such abominable life that they'll never be able to understand Me (Krsna) - It's the greatest punishment. For a living being, if he forgets Krsna, in any condition of life, it is the greatest punishment.
- You enjoy. You want to forget Krsna, or God? All right. I'll give you intelligence so that you will never be able to understand what is God.
The Only Path is Submissive Devotion
A challenging, arrogant attitude acts as a thick wall between the soul and the Absolute Truth. The science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is revealed only through bhakti, or unalloyed devotional service. By approaching a bona fide spiritual master with submissive inquiry (praṇipāta), the sincere student qualifies themselves to receive the divine knowledge that cannot be accessed through any other method.
- Can you tell me like this? - No, that is challenge. Very submissively. Tad viddhi pranipatena (BG 4.34). The question should be put by surrender. If somebody challenges, he will never be able to understand. The question asked should be very submissive.
- You have to understand by pranipatena, by submission, not by challenging. If you challenge, then you will never be able to understand. This whole process is submission. Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja.
- If you want to know God and your relationship with God, then only through bhakti, no other. That is stated in the Bha . . . bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah (BG 18.55). Otherwise you will never be able to understand.
- If we give up the process of understanding as Arjuna did, then you'll never be able to understand Krsna, or God. That is not possible. You have to take up the process which Arjuna accepted.
Conclusion
The spiritual path is not a matter of intellectual conquest, but rather a process of purification and surrender. Those who insist on clinging to their sinful habits, harboring envy, or indulging in mental speculation will simply find the doors to spiritual knowledge firmly locked. Through his compassionate warnings, Śrīla Prabhupāda reminds us that the Lord perfectly reciprocates with our desires; if we wish to forget Him, He provides the intelligence to do so perpetually. However, by giving up the challenging attitude and embracing the submissive process of bhakti, anyone can successfully overcome these barriers and finally understand the true, loving nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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