When we understand scripture according to our level of realization is that our false ego at work?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So scriptedity is a something.
And if we want to understand it according to our level of realization, is it that our false ego is trying to massage it and trying to re-exist it through clarification so that it becomes intelligible at our level? It need not be false ego. It is, it may be seen intellectually meaningful. All of us are of different natures.
Some people, when they come to the temple, for them, the temple is very clean. Oh, that’s very good. And some people are unclean.
For some, their cleanliness, you could say, their cleanliness side is very strong. For some other people, they are very musical. So if somebody is playing one musical tune, just can’t absorb it.
Just can’t do it. So for somebody, they come to the temple, one devotee, he used to come to the temple, every time, every morning when he would take darshan, he would go and be like, you cannot put this flower on me. Not like this.
That’s it. That’s what he used to do. So, like that.
And now, there’s a way there. So for some of us, we may be intellectually conditioned. So for us, we need to make sense of things.
We just can’t live without it. So that is the case. We could call it false ego.
But dismissing it as false ego is harsh. Because for that person, it’s a need. So what we can do is, this is the understanding which makes sense to me.
This may not be a complete understanding. There may be deeper aspects to it which I don’t understand. But at the level which I am at, I need to make some sense of it.
And this is how I make sense of it. And we move onwards. We don’t get a complete picture of reality.
But the picture of reality that we get, we need to make some sense out of it. So, Prabhupada was an expert in that. Once Prabhupada was asked by a hippie, what is the bliss of Vaikuntha like? And Prabhupada said, you know this hippie had just come out of drug-induced high.
He was asked what is the bliss of Vaikuntha like? And Prabhupada replied, it is like an ocean of LSD. Now, actually, the pleasure of drugs is thomasic. It’s the mode of ignorance.
Vaikuntha is transcendental. How is Prabhupada comparing this with that? Now, Prabhupada has in other places of scripture talked about how exalted Vaikuntha is. But at that point, for that person, that’s the understanding that works.
So, yeah. Ocean of LSD. I want to go there.
So, we should see that when we are studying scripture or teaching scripture, the point is not just to get it right. The point is also to get it across. Get it across.
Make it understandable to people. And we also have to make it understandable to ourselves. So, suppose somebody comes and gives a class in perfect Sanskrit.
They got it all right. But they got nothing across. The audience doesn’t understand Sanskrit all they use.
So, with respect to a verbal language, we understand the difference. I can’t understand this language. But just as there is a verbal language, we all have a conceptual language.
The way we think is shaped by our own view from where we come. And we need things to be presented in that way. So, serving the intellectual needs is a service.
And we need to associate with those devotees who can do that service. And through them, we can make appropriate understanding. Is the answer clear?