CC daily 185 – 6.273 – Learn from the learned how to see Krishna in all shastric statements

Text 273 chapter 6 Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying to sarodhama here that since can give these two explanations of the siddhanta of the meaning of the word bhakti padme and both these explanations one can refer to Krishna so what is the need for what is the need for changing the words and sarodhama says oh I was unable to give this explanation so here this is a profound interaction interaction between Sarodhama and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and essential spirit or mood of this interaction that we are all at various levels caught and bound in material existence and because of being caught and bound we have fallible perceptions our perception is always finite because we are finite beings but when we are connected with the supreme then by his grace even within the finite we can get correct perception otherwise our perception remains incorrect now normally when we talk about the four defects Brahma Brahma Vipralipsa and Karanapatam so the limited senses Karanapatam the tendency to be illusion Brahma the tendency to commit mistake Brahma Vipralipsa the tendency to cheat when we talk about these four defects usual context is to recognize that or to acknowledge that to drive home the point that we cannot gain reliable knowledge especially about the transcendental realm through our senses functional knowledge we can get and the functional knowledge is important now we are in this world and the functional knowledge that we seek that we can get by connection with the lord so the key point for us to recognize is that we as souls are limited by these problems not just when we observe the world but also when we study scripture scripture if we see it simply as a text then just as when we look at ordinary texts the author may intend one thing and the reader may may see it as meaning something else that a problem in the communication is a normal unavoidable evil that dogs all of us and there is very little if any way to avoid this problem we all need to face it and that's why even for studying the works of Shakespeare there are scholars of Shakespeare who try to enter really into studying his whole corpus all the books that he has written and based on such studies they try to figure out what could be the meaning of a particular sentence or a particular passage and even among them they can have debates so now when we study scripture there also there can be polemics different scholars can interpret scripture in different ways so scripture if you just see it as a book now the speciality of scripture is not just that it is a book that is coming from god it is a revelation yes that is important that is true as a matter of principle but along with that it is a revelation, its source is infallible but along with that also it is important to understand that our processes of acquiring knowledge still remain fallible what gives us reliable knowledge is not just the source of the book but also the medium through which we receive the book we see Krishna saying in the Bhagavad Gita evam parampara praptam imam rajarishayo viduhum in this way in parampara parampara praptam imam rajarishayo rajarishis rajarishis have come to know about it rajarishiyo viduhum so Krishna is recommending this as the way to acquire knowledge so when we see certain scripture passages which don't make sense or whose sense seems to contradict the sense that is given for scripture in general or the siddhanta of scripture that we know, when we come across certain passages, whose meaning seems to be different from the meaning of the overall siddhanta and at that time we need to recognize that we should take shelter of the mechanism that scripture has given us to understand scripture and that mechanism is the guru shishya parampara to the extent we study scripture through the guru shishya parampara to that extent we will be able to understand it properly to the extent that we will be able to see the various sections of scripture in harmony with the siddhanta of scripture in fact seeing this synchronicity this synergy this harmony between various sections of scripture a harmony that is not seen at first glance but which is revealed by studying under guidance seeing that harmony is one of the greatest intellectual and devotional thrills in the life of a seeker so sometimes people feel that if scripture gives us guidance and then with that guidance if everything is told if all the questions of life are answered then what is there to live for what is left for us to explore what is left for us to people feel that oh there is no scope for our intellectual ambitiousness to be exercised but that is not the case because scripture talks about multiple level of paths for multiple levels of seekers and because different scriptures talk about different paths customized for different levels of people and because the words in scripture are also multivalent often having multiple meanings so that's why actually speaking scripture is a study is the study of revelation is also a revelation that means as we study scripture more and more scripture is a one time revelation that came from god that manifested before us but along with that the study of scripture is also an ongoing revelation which happens in our heart when we consistently practice doctrine and thus the two go together thus the revelation of the revelation is what brings about illumination and Sarvabhauma is experiencing that kind of illumination here by the mercy of lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wherein he has been granted understanding of the devotional import of a word that had initially seemed confused and we too by studying scripture under guidance can get such thrilling illuminations in our practice.