394 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 8

tions only, which are also beyond our control. The Lord is beyond the
observation of sense perception. Queen Kunti accepts this deficiency of
the conditioned soul, especially of the woman class who are less intelligent.
For less intelligent men there must be such things as temples, mosques or
churches so that they may begin to recognize the authority of the Lord
and hear about Him trom authorities in such holy places. For less intelli-
gent men, such beginning of spiritual life is essential, and only foolish men
decry the establishment of such places of worship, whieh are required to
raise the standard of spiritual attributes for the mass of people. For less
intelligent’ persons, bowing down before the authority of the Lord, as is
generally done in the temples, mosques or churches, is as beneficial as it is
for the advanced devotees to meditate upon Him by active service.

TEXT 20

TH RAAT  FalAMETAATY |
afeamfrarary wi Tea fF fara: Roll

tathaé parama-hamsanam
muninadm amalatmanadm

bhakti-yoga-vidhan-artham
katham pasyema hi strivah

tatha—hesides that: parama-hamsaném—of the advanced transcendental-
ists; muninadm—of the great philosophers or mental speculators; amala-
dtmanam—those whose minds are competent to discern between spirit
and matter; bhakti-yoga—the science of devotional service; vidhadna-artham
—for executing; katham—how; pasyema— can observe; hi—certainly: striyah
—women.

TRANSLATION
You Yourself descend to propagate the transcendental science of
devotional service unto the hearts of the advanced transcendentalists and

mental speculators who are purified by being able to discriminate between
matter and spirit. How, then, can we women know You perfectly?

PURPORT

Even the greatest philosophical speculators cannot have access to the
region of the Lord. It is said in the Upanisads that the Supreme Truth
