Finding the Cure for Today’s Social Ills 221
their capacity to count all the material things. Why are the scientists so
proud of their energy and capacities? They do not even know of the ma-
terial things, and what to speak of the spiritual. As far as scientists and
other living entities are concerned, their knowledge is limited. But this is
not so for Krsna. If we receive knowledge from Krsna, that knowledge is
perfect. In the scriptures we receive information that there are nine
hundred thousand species of life existing within the ocean. The informa-
tion given in the scriptures is exact because it comes from Krsna, and as
Krsna Himself says: ‘‘As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know
everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the
present, and all things that are yet to come.”’ [Bg. 7.26]

Dr. Singh: We have to take knowledge from the supreme knower.
Srila Prabhupada: For perfect knowledge we have to approach a
superior person, a guru. One may try to learn a subject by reading books
at home, but he can learn much better by going to college and approach-
ing a professor. In the same way, we have to approach a guru. Of course,
if we encounter a false guru, our knowledge is false. But if our guru is
perfect, our knowledge is perfect. We accept Krsna as our guru. If He is
perfect in knowledge, our knowledge is also perfect. As far as we’re con-
cerned, we do not have to be perfect in ourselves, but if we receive
knowledge from the perfect, our knowledge is perfect. We cannot say
that we understand that there are nine hundred thousand species of life
in the ocean because we have studied the entire ocean. Rather, we say .
that we take this information from scriptures and therefore it is perfect.
This is the Vedic process.

Scientists may carry out much research work, but however great a
scientist may be, his senses are imperfect. Therefore he cannot have per-
fect knowledge. What is the value of our eyes? We cannot see without
sunlight, nor can we see small things without a microscope. Our eyes are
imperfect, and the instruments our eyes have discovered are also imper-
fect. How, then, is it possible to get perfect knowledge? Because the liv-
ing entity is limited, his knowledge is limited. A child may know that two
plus two equals four, but when he speaks of higher mathematics, we do
not take him seriously. The senses through which a scientist acquires
knowledge are limited and imperfect; therefore his knowledge is limited
and imperfect. In his ignorance he may claim to know everything, but
that is simply nonsense.

A blind man may lead another blind man, but what does it avail them
when they both fall into a ditch? The laws of nature bind us hand and
foot, yet we think we are free to speculate. This is illusion. Although
