CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Why Study the Vedanta Sutra?

Knowledge means information gathered from the Scriptures, and science
means practical realization of the knowledge gathered from the Scriptures.
It is scientific knowledge when it is gathered from the Scriptures through
the practical application of the bona fide Spiritual Master, but when interpreted -
by mental concoction it is personal. By scientific understanding of the informa-
tion from the Scripture, through the bona fide Spiritual Master, one learns,
by one’s own realization, each actual conception of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. The transcendental Form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
is different from material manifestation and different from the reactions of
matter. Therefore, without scientific understanding of the Spiritual Form of
the Personality of Godhead one becomes an impersonalist. The sunshine is
itself an illumination, but that illumination is different from the Sun. Yet
the Sun and the sunshine are not differently situated; without the Sun there
is no sunshine, and without the sunshine there is no Sun.

Unless one is freed from the influence of material energy, one cannot

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