32 THE PATH OF PERFECTION Learning How to See God 33
service, we become qualified to see God. Otherwise it is not possi- existing, undying, and primeval. He is not slain when the body is
ble. We may be great scientists or scholars, but our mundane slain.”
scholarship will not help us see God. Just as God is eternal, we are also eternal, and when we
This Bhagavad-gita is the science of Krsna consciousness, and . establish our eternal relationship with the supreme, complete
| in order to understand Krsna, we must be fortunate enough to eternal, we realize our eternality. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetana-
associate with a person who is in pure Krsna consciousness. We nam. God is the supreme living entity among all living entities,
cannot understand Bhagavad-gitd simply by acquiring an M.A., the supreme eternal among all eternals. By Krsna consciousness,
Ph.D., or whatever. Bhagavad-gita is a transcendental science, and by purification of the senses, this knowledge will be realized, and
it requires different senses in order to be understood. Our senses we will come to see God.
must be purified by the rendering of service, not by the acquiring A Krsna conscious person has realized knowledge, by the grace
of academic degrees. There are many Ph.D.’s, many scholars, who of Krsna, because he is satisfied with pure devotional service. By
cannot understand Krsna. Therefore Krsna appears in the material realized knowledge, one becomes perfect.. By transcendental
world. Although He is unborn (ajo ‘pi sann avyayatma), He comes knowledge one can remain steady in his convictions, but by mere
to reveal Himself to us. academic knowledge one can be easily deluded and confused by
Thus Krsna is realized by the grace of Krsna or by the grace ofa apparent contradictions. It is the realized soul who is actually self-
Krsna conscious person who has realized Krsna by the grace of controlled, because he is surrendered to Krsna. He is transcen-
Krsna. We cannot understand Him through academic knowledge. dental because he has nothing to do with mundane scholarship.
_ We can only understand Krsna by acquiring the grace of Krsna. | For him, mundane scholarship and mental speculation, which
Once we acquire His grace, we can see Him, talk with Him—do / may be as good as gold to others, are of no greater value than peb-
whatever we desire. It is not that Krsna is a void. He is a person, bles or stones.
the Supreme Person, and we can have a relationship with Him. Even if one is illiterate, he can realize God simply by engaging
That is the Vedic injunction. Nityo nityandm cetanas cetandnam: } himself in submissive, transcendental loving service. God is not
“We are all eternal persons, and God is the supreme eternal per- subjected to any material condition. He is supreme spirit, and the
son.” We are all eternal, and God is the supreme eternal. process of realizing Him is also beyond material considerations.
Presently, because we are encaged within these bodies, we are ex- Therefore, one may be a very learned scholar and still not be able
periencing birth and death, but actually we are beyond birth and _ to understand God. One should not think that because he is very
death. We are eternal spirit souls, but according to our work and poor he cannot realize God, nor should one think that he can
desires, we are transmigrating from one body to another. It is ex- |  fealize God just because he is very rich. God may be understood
plained in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gita (2.20), by an uneducated person and misunderstood by one with great
| education. The understanding of God, like God Himself, is un-
na jayate mriyate va kadacin conditional (apratihata).
nayam bhitva bhavita va na bhiyah In Srimad-Bhdgavatam (1.2.6) it is stated,
ajo nityah Sasvato ‘yam purdno
na hanyate hanyamane Sarire sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
| yato bhaktir adhoksaje
‘**For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once ahaituky apratihata
been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever- yayatma suprasidati
