32 THE PATH OF PERFECTION Learning How to See God 33

service, we become qualified to see God. Otherwise it is not possi-
ble. We may be great scientists or scholars, but our mundane
scholarship will not help us see God.

This Bhagavad-gita is the science of Krsna consciousness, and
in order to understand Krsna, we must be fortunate enough to
associate with a person who is in pure Krsna consciousness. We
cannot understand Bhagavad-gitd simply by acquiring an M.A.,
Ph.D., or whatever. Bhagavad-gitd is a transcendental science, and
it requires different senses in order to be understood. Our senses
must be purified by the rendering of service, not by the acquiring
of academic degrees. There are many Ph.D.’s, many scholars, who
cannot understand Krsna. Therefore Krsna appears in the material
world. Although He is unborn (ajo ‘pi sann avyayatma), He comes
to reveal Himself to us.

Thus Krsna is realized by the grace of Krsna or by the grace ofa
Krsna conscious person who has realized Krsna by the grace of
Krsna. We cannot understand Him through academic knowledge.
We can only understand Krsna by acquiring the grace of Krsna.
Once we acquire His grace, we can see Him, talk with Him—do
whatever we desire. It is not that Krsna is a void. He is a person,
the Supreme Person, and we can have a relationship with Him.
That is the Vedic injunction. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam:
“We are all eternal persons, and God is the supreme eternal per-
son.” We are all eternal, and God is the supreme eternal.
Presently, because we are encaged within these bodies, we are ex-
periencing birth and death, but actually we are beyond birth and
death. We are eternal spirit souls, but according to our work and
desires, we are transmigrating from one body to another. It is ex-
plained in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gita (2.20),

existing, undying, and primeval. He is not slain when the body is
slain.”

Just as God is eternal, we are also eternal, and when we
establish our eternal relationship with the supreme, complete
eternal, we realize our eternality. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetana-
nam. God is the supreme living entity among all living entities,
the supreme eternal among all eternals. By Krsna consciousness,
by purification of the senses, this knowledge will be realized, and
we will come to see God.

A Krsna conscious person has realized knowledge, by the grace
of Krsna, because he is satisfied with pure devotional service. By
realized knowledge, one becomes perfect.. By transcendental
knowledge one can remain steady in his convictions, but by mere
academic knowledge one can be easily deluded and confused by
apparent contradictions. It is the realized soul who is actually self-
controlled, because he is surrendered to Krsna. He is transcen-
dental because he has nothing to do with mundane scholarship.
For him, mundane scholarship and mental speculation, which
may be as good as gold to others, are of no greater value than peb-
bles or stones.

Even if one is illiterate, he can realize God simply by engaging
himselfin submissive, transcendental loving service. God is not
subjected to any material condition. He is supreme spirit, and the
process of realizing Him is also beyond material considerations.
Therefore, one may be a very learned scholar and still not be able
to understand God. One should not think that because he is very
poor he cannot realize God; nor should one think that he can
realize God just because he is very rich. God may be understood
by an uneducated person and misunderstood by one with great
education. The understanding of God, like God Himself, is un-
conditional (apratihata).

In Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.6) it is stated,

na jayate mriyate va kadacim

nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhiiyah
ajo nityah Sasvato ‘yam purdno

na hanyate hanyamane Sarire sa vai pumsam paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata

yayatma suprasidati

‘**For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once
been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-

