INTRODUCTION (Teachings of the Vedas)
[Delivered as a lecture by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda on October 6, 1969, at Conway Hall, London, England.]
Ladies and gentlemen, today's subject matter is the teachings of the  Vedas . What are the  Vedas ? The Sanskrit verbal root of  Veda  can be interpreted variously, but the purpose is finally one.  Veda  means knowledge. Any knowledge you accept is  Veda , for the teachings of the  Vedas  are the original knowledge. In the conditioned state, our knowledge is subjected to so many deficiencies. The difference between a conditioned soul and a liberated soul is that the conditioned soul has four kinds of defects. The first defect is that he must commit mistakes. For example, in our country, Mahātmā Gandhi was considered to be a very great personality, but he committed many mistakes. Even at the last stage of his life, his assistant warned, "Mahātmā Gandhi, don't go to the New Delhi meeting. I have some friends, and I have heard there is danger." But he did not hear. He persisted on going and was killed. Even great personalities like Mahātmā Gandhi, President Kennedy—there are so many of them—make mistakes. To err is human. This is one defect of the conditioned soul.
Another defect: to be illusioned. Illusion means to accept something which is not:  māyā .  Māyā  means what is not. Everyone is accepting the body as the self. If I ask you what you are, you will say, "I am Mr. John; I am a rich man; I am this, I am that." All these are bodily identifications. But you are not this body. This is illusion.
The third defect is the cheating propensity. Everyone has the propensity to cheat others. Although a person is fool number one, he poses himself as very intelligent. Although it is already pointed out that he is in illusion and makes mistakes, he will