Saturday, December 15, 2012

A Highly Intelligent Design



Recently there has been a debate over whether God is the creator of the universe or that the creation is formed by combination of chemicals, a chance occurrence if you will.
The scientific group who supports a “theory” called Intelligent Design says that there is an intelligence behind the creation. There must be intelligence behind something so complex and intricate which works so perfectly.
The anti-Intelligent Design scientific group argues that the Intelligent Design group is pushing the old Creationist theology and that there is no science in something that requires faith.
They say there is no place in science for religion. “Creationism, intelligent design and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science,” The National Academy of Sciences said in an assessment in 1999.
At a news conference, former president Bush commented on whether or not Intelligent Design should be taught in schools, “I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,” Bush said. “You’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas. The answer is yes.”
In a 2008 interview President Obama commented:“Intelligent design is not science,” he said at a town hall event in Illinois. “I think it’s a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don’t hold up to scientific inquiry,” he told the York Daily Record.

THE ORIGIN OF A THOUGHT?

Back in the 1920s Einstein came up with this theory called “The Theory of Relativity” and it started out like any scientific theory does. It was an idea, a thought. Then he did the research and then he did experiments and math equations and came to a conclusion. “The Theory of Relativity” would not have been a theory at all if it wasn’t for Einstein. The idea, the thought, originated from him. We won’t look at the details of the theory, just that this theory has an origin and that origin is Einstein.
This can be said of anything. Everything has an origin. Just like a automobile, someone wanted to create a certain type of automobile, so he thought about it, and then began to get people together to design it and after a while it was manufactured.
The origin of anything and everything is always traced to “someone.” But who is that “Someone.”?
It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita
aham sarvasya prabhavo
mattah sarvam pravartate
iti matva bhajante mam
budha bhava-samanvitah
TRANSLATION
I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.
What Einstein used for his “Theory of Relativity” is generally called “modern science”. There are many different kinds of sciences: the science of cooking, the science of painting, the science of astrology, the science of music. The purpose of these sciences is to know the subject better, to master the subject matter. The purpose of modern science, in this case, is to understand the universe and its workings.
The problem with “modern” science today is that the scientist has imperfect senses. How can they really prove anything? In the day time you can not see the stars in the sky, but at night you can see them. A small child who has never seen stars in the sky may argue in the day time, “there are no stars in the sky”, but an older person with experience and knowledge will tell the child that you can only see them at night. Human eyes have imperfect vision.
In a room conversation with Srila Prabhupada in New Delhi, 12-11-71, he explains this nicely.
Prabhupada:
(bhakti-yogena manasi)
samyak pranihite ’male
apasyat purusam purnam
mayam ca tad-apasrayam
The materialistic person, they have only one experience: this cosmic manifestation. Beyond this they have no other vision. Their senses are imperfect. Just like the astronomers, they have got big, big telescope, many other instruments. They want to see through the eyes how many stars are there, how the planets are moving, and whatever imperfect knowledge they receive, by that little knowledge they advertise themselves as great scientists. But they do not calculate that “We are trying to see the stars and planets with powerful binoculars. That means our eyes are imperfect.’’
And what is the guarantee that the instruments which they’re using, they are also perfect? Because that machine, that binocular, is also made by a person who is imperfect. So what is the guarantee that by seeing through binocular or microscope, the conclusion arrived, it is perfect? What is your answer? Your eyes are imperfect, that’s a fact. Otherwise, why you are using binocular, microscope? Eyes are imperfect. Originally your eyes are imperfect. Now, eyes or other senses, it does not matter. Sense is sense. So you are manufacturing a machine, some instrument, by the same imperfect senses, then what is the guarantee that this machine, this binocular, if you see through the binocular, the knowledge is perfect? What is your answer?
Devotee: Can’t be perfect.
Prabhupada: Answer? Any one other?
Devotee (2): Perfect knowledge cannot be received with imperfect senses. Only through perfect senses can perfect knowledge be received.
Prabhupada: Therefore it should be concluded that the so-called scientists, astronomers, they are all imperfect, and they are passing off the scientists as learned. So you can challenge them, “What is the guarantee that your knowledge is perfect?’’
Actually it is not. They do not know how the stars are moving. They are always imperfect. Simply putting some theories. They say all this, Darwin’s theory and this theory, that theory. They are simply speculating on imperfect senses, and therefore they’re cheating, because the conditioned soul has got a tendency to cheat others. If one can cheat others, he thinks himself as very intelligent.
The conditioned souls, they commit mistake, they are illusioned, they cheat, and their senses are imperfect. This is the, the four condition. Therefore, if we receive knowledge from the conditioned soul, there is no possibility of getting perfect knowledge. If by nature you are cheater, then how I can expect fair dealings? It is to be understood that we cannot have any fair dealings with this conditioned soul. And he’ll protest.
The whole world is full of conditioned living entities. They’re conditioned. Conditioned means under the control of the material nature. Gunaih karmani. There are different types of conditioned souls. Some of them are good conditioned soul, some of them are passionate conditioned soul, some of them are rascal conditioned soul. So good conditioned soul means that, er, “(indistinct) that I have become very much learned, I have studied so many books, so now I am perfect.’’ There is little goodness, because he has studied, he, he has labored, but still he’s conditioned soul, because he has no perfect vision. Vimukta-maninah.

A MORNING WALK WITH SRILA PRABHUPADA ON 12-03-73

Dr. Singh: The scientists argue that before Darwin’s biophysical type of evolution could take place, there had to be what they call prebiotic chemistry, or chemical evolution.
Srila Prabhupada: Yes. And the term “chemical evolution” means that chemicals have an origin, and that origin is spirit, or life. A lemon produces citric acid, and our bodies produce many chemicals in urine, blood, and bodily secretions. This is proof that life produces chemicals, not that chemicals produce life.
Dr. Singh: Scientists say that once the seed of life is present in the cells, then the living entity automatically develops and functions.
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, but who gives the seed? In the Bhagavad-gita (7.10) Krsna answers this question. Bijam mam sarva-bhutanam viddhi partha sanatanam: “O son of Prtha, know that I am the original seed of all existences.” And later (14.4):
sarva-yonisu kaunteya
murtayah sambhavanti yah
tasam brahma mahad yonir
aham bija-pradah pita
“It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.”

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Subterfuge & The Bowdlerization of The Bhagavad-Gita As It Is


Govinda dasi is a devotee of the early days of ISKCON and was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in February of 1967, but was coming to Srila Prabhupada's gatherings before that time.

On January 19th 2003 she met with Jayadvaita swami, the "editor" of the bowdlerized editions of Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As It Is (the 1980s and current editions). It should be noted that the current edition of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is is now 77 percent changed from the 1972 author approved edition.

This article is meant to highlight some important issues that Govinda dasi has brought up and shed light on Jayadwaita's distortion and fabrication of the history in creating the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.

Govinda dasi: …in 1966, ’67 and ’68, Hayagriva spent many, many hours alone with Srila Prabhupada, discussing the different aspects of the editing work. They went over each verse extensively, and Srila Prabhupada was actually quite clear in expressing what he wanted. He, even in the case of legal matters, or something else that he might not know how things worked, he knew what he wanted. So he had an uncanny ability to see through any situation. That’s an understatement, and I’m putting that way so that people can appreciate it.



Jayadvaita swami claims that he was the "production manager" at the very time the 1972 Bhagavad-Gita manuscript was being worked on (1969-1972)" Jayadvaita says, "…he [Rayarama] was the final editor [for the 1972 edition]. [inaudible] The unabridged edition, uh, the unabridged edition, um, I was the production manager at the time…[inaudible] and, for that edition, Hayagriva had some manuscripts already with him. And, he called for whatever other manuscripts we had available at that time at ISKCON Press"

Jayadvaita also claims that Srila Prabhupada was "not involved" in the 1972 edition except that there were "some meetings". Then he admits that he doesn't really know if Srila Prabhupada worked on the manuscript with Hayagriva, "He [Hayagriva] may have, for some brief time, spent some time with Prabhupada. It’s possible." Then he repudiates that statement by saying, "he just didn’t have, couldn’t possibly".

Above Jayadvaita has said that Hayagriva was not the final editor of the Bhagavad-gita 1972 edition and that Rayarama was the "final editor".

Jayadvaita then leads us to believe that he edited the manuscript himself before Hayagriva edited it, yet he still refers to the manuscript as "Haygriva's manuscripts".

Jayadvaita: "I worked with Hayagriva’s manuscripts; I worked with manuscripts that Hayagriva had not yet edited; I worked with manuscripts that Rayarama had worked on; I retyped the entire Bhagavad-gita As It Is from, from beginning to end"

So out of Jayadvaita's own account of the production of the 1972 edition of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, we can gather the following points that he makes:

1) Hayagriva with Srila Prabhupada created the manuscript to the Bhagavad-Gita 1972 edition. (but he is not really sure)

2) Jayadvaita retyped the entire manuscript(s)

3) Rayarama was the "final editor" (we are not really sure what he means, but maybe he means Rayarama was the last person to work on it?)

Jayadvaita: ". . .he [Srila Prabhupada] really didn’t see in its preparation for its, um, pre-publication stages, except perhaps there were some meetings at some point, you were there to…

Govinda dasi: He signed it in ’71…

Jayadvaita: I mean to say, in terms of actually going over the text, seeing what was being done, approving or disapproving the particular ways that things were edited, Prabhupada wasn’t involved. With the possible exception, you know, that there were some meetings, on some…occasional meetings. Like when the manuscript came to me, it was clear, that this was not something that Prabhupada had, um, gone over in the same kind of painstaking detail that you described for the abridged edition. Um…

The first thing to note here is that Jayadvaita is trying to make us believe that the manuscript for the 1968 edition of the Bhagavad-Gita is different than the manuscript of the1972 edition of the Bhagavad-Gita. Srila Prabhupada writes in the preface to the 1972 edition of the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is the following:

"Originally I wrote Bhagavad-gītā As It Is in the form in which it is presented now. When this book was first published, the original manuscript was, unfortunately, cut short to less than 400 pages, without illustrations and without explanations for most of the original verses of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. In all of my other books-Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrī Īśopaniṣad, etc.-the system is that I give the original verse, its English transliteration, word-for-word Sanskrit-English equivalents, translations and purports. This makes the book very authentic and scholarly and makes the meaning self-evident. I was not very happy, therefore, when I had to minimize my original manuscript. But later on, when the demand for Bhagavad-gītā As It Is considerably increased, I was requested by many scholars and devotees to present the book in its original form, and Messrs. Macmillan and Co. agreed to publish the complete edition. Thus the present attempt is to offer the original manuscript of this great book of knowledge with full paramparā explanation in order to establish the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement more soundly and progressively."

So we can see the history of the manuscript right there in the 1972 edition. The manuscript to the 1972 and 1968 editions were the same. The main reason the two books came out differently is that Macmillan and Co. edited the book themselves by cutting "short to less than 400 pages, without illustrations and without explanations for most of the original verses". The other reason is that the manuscript was worked on more intensely by Hayagriva as we will show later on in this article where he says that he will double check everything and prepare for the 1972 edition.

Govinda dasi's personal account of Srila Prabhupada working on the 1972 edition of the Bhagavad-gita manuscript:

Govinda dasi: Hayagriva was living with Srila Prabhupada in ’68, and they were going over things, and that was after this book [the abridged edition] was printed. So that must have been for the ’72 one [Bhagavad-Gita].

In Hayagriva's book "The Hare Krishna Explosion", we find further proof that he worked for 3 months straight extensively with Srila Prabhupada on this manuscript to the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is in San Francisco:

January 17, 1967:

“Swamiji continues translating Bhagavad-gita. He is so eager to print it that we begin negotiations with a local printer. Prices are very high. In New York, Brahmananda continues his pursuit of publishers.”

“The days of February are beautiful with perfect temperatures in the seventies, fog rolling off early, skies very blue and clear, sun falling bright and sharp on the lush foliage of Golden Gate Park. The park encloses the largest variety of plant and tree life to be found in any one spot on earth. We are at a loss to identify plants for Swamiji.”

“I rent an electric typewriter, set it up in the back temple room, and continue typing up stencils for Back To Godhead, writing and editing [Bhagavad-gita] while Harsharani sends people after food, and cooks noon prasadam.”

“Apart from kirtans, I find myself spending many sunny hours in the park, walking past the tennis courts to large, quiet bowers surrounded with hybiscus and eucalyptus. And at times I sit in the shade beneath the white and pink rhododendrons and edit Bhagavad-gita. After editing, I sometimes visit the museum and stroll through the replica eighteenth century gardens, chanting my daily rounds while perusing the curlicues of rococo art.”

“Although I write on the Lord Chaitanya play through the spring days, my primary service is helping Swamiji with Bhagavad-gita. He continues translating, hurrying to complete the manuscript but still annotating each verse thoroughly in his purports. Daily, I consult him to make certain that the translation of each verse precisely coincides with the meaning he wants to relate. “Edit for force and clarity,” he tells me. “By Krishna’s grace, you are a qualified English professor. You know how grammatical mistakes will discredit us with scholars. I want them to appreciate this Bhagavad-gita as the definitive edition. All the others try to take credit away from Krishna.”

“I am swamped with editing. Since much of the text is equivocal due to grammar, I find myself consulting Swamiji on nearly every verse. It seems that in Sanskrit, Hindi, and Bengali, phrase is tacked onto phrase until the original subject is lost.”

April 9, 1967:

“Swamiji leaves for the airport. Before entering the car, he stops, cane in hand, and gives a long look at the little storefront temple. It is a look that says a great deal. Gurudas snaps a photo at that very instant. ‘That’s a farewell look,’ I think to myself.”

Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva worked together on editing the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is manuscript daily, almost three months, while Hayagriva Prabhu was living with him in the San Francisco, from Janurary 17, 1967 until April 9, 1967.

So what was it that Jayadvaita actually did on the 1972 edition? Well Govinda dasi tries to pin him down on this and he replies;

Jayadvaita: ". . .Some of the very few verses that we had issues with, there’s no question in my mind that Prabhupada didn’t see them.

Govinda dasi: You mean there were errors?

Jayadvaita: Um, I mean there were, um, yes.

Govinda dasi: Typos?

Jayadvaita: No, I don’t mean typos. I mean, um, no, I’m reluctant to talk about it, Govinda dasi. I’ve always had the policy that as a matter of professional courtesy and personal courtesy, um, I talk about all positive things, um, in the editing of the first edition. And as far as possible I’d like to keep that policy.

Jayadvaita does not give us enough information to go on what exactly he did on the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is 1972 edition, he admits that the BBT staff had issues with "very few verses" so we guess that he fixed them, after all he was in discussion with Srila Prabhupada about it through letters, of coarse after claiming that Srila Prabhupada was "not involved".

Not only do we have evidence from Govinda Dasi's personal statement about Hayagriva and Srila Prabhupada and Hayagriva's own personal account "The Hare Krishna Explosion" that they were working closely on the revision of the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is 1972 manuscript, but we have evidence from Srila Prabhupada's personal letters as well.

Srila Prabhupada Letter to: Hayagriva: San Francisco 17 March, 1968:

"Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter dated March 9, 1968. I have come back to San Francisco on the 8th March, and while I was in Los Angeles for two months, I received the balance portion of Bhagavad-gita edited by you. I am expecting the foreword also, but I can understand that it was not yet dispatched. So, when it is prepared you can send it to me here in S.F.

Srila Prabhupada letter to Satsvarupa -- London 5 November, 1969: "So far as my books are concerned, I think there are materials for at least ten books which are ready for printing. Now all the manuscripts are with you. So now the editorial department is under you and Hayagriva, and you combinedly please get my books printed, one after another."

Srila Prabhupada Letter to: Brahmananda -- London 7 November, 1969 : "I am writing a letter to Hayagriva that he should take care of composition of our books."


Srila Prabhupada Letter to: Pradyumna -- London 27 November, 1969:

"I am also going there, so we shall sit down together and call also Hayagriva and Syama Dasi to hold a nice meeting of all the editors, printers, etc. We will chalk out a nice program so that our work may go on very smoothly without any impediments, and surely Krishna will help us."

Srila Prabhupada Letter to: Mandali Bhadra -- Los Angeles 3 February 1970: "I am asking Hayagriva to send you the MS [manuscript] for Bhagavad-gita, and you can also write him directly to send a copy."

Srila Prabhupada Letter to: Syama -- Los Angeles 23 February, 1970:

"Please ask Hayagriva Prabhu to finish the Bhagavad-gita As It Is with full explanation and text, and as soon as it is finished I shall send you some new tapes which you shall work husband and wife conjointly and you will be very pleased"

According to a conversation found in the Vedabase and correspondence, Rayarama also worked on the manuscript, for a short time in 1969 from April to June, this much is true.

But it is here (below) that we find that Jayadvaita is caught in a fabrication of the facts. Rayarama was not the "final editor" as Jayadvaita claims he was. Not only was he "NOT" the final editor, but he had left the movement entirely by November 1969! This would be three years before the 1972 edition came out.

Srila Prabhupada letter to Brahmananda on 11-25-1969.:

“The idea is that BTG is our backbone of Krishna Consciousness propaganda, and since you have taken charge from Rayarama’s hand, certainly it has improved in so many ways. Recently I have received one letter from Rayarama which he has signed his name to as “Raymond”. That means he has drifted from our society completely and his letter is very discouraging. He has accused everyone save himself. So I do not know what can be done with him.”

And then a month later on December 24, 1969, Boston. The following conversation takes place where we learn that Hayagriva is again working on the manuscript. He even says, "I'll have to go over it chapter by chapter."

Conversation: December 24, 1969, Boston:

Jayadvaita: There's another manuscript of Bhagavad-gītā also in New York, the original.

Prabhupāda: Oh. You have got?

Jayadvaita: Yes. It's in New York except for the first two chapters. Everything else is there.

Prabhupāda: So first two chapters might be with Janārdana. But you have got the whole thing, Hayagrīva.

Hayagrīva: Yes. That has been... I have gone over that, the one I have. The one that is in New York, no one has gone over that.

Jayadvaita: Some of it has been edited by Rāyarāma, but you can see around it and go to the original behind it.

Prabhupāda: So whatever is lacking, you ask me. I will supply you.

Hayagrīva: Well, I have nothing lacking. But I would like to see that version.

Jayadvaita: That's with a dictaphone. So it's...

Hayagrīva: I would like to see that in going over mine. I'll have to go over it chapter by chapter. But I will compare the version I have with that version, and... I know the translations themselves, they were somewhat changed in Bhagavad-gītā As It Is as it came out in Macmillan. Did you like those translations?

Prabhupāda: Whichever is better, you think. That's all. You can follow this Macmillan.

Hayagrīva: That was the second... They're good. I think they're very good.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You can follow that translation. Simply synonyms he can add, transliterations.

Hayagrīva: And we have all the purports. We can include everything. Nothing will be deleted. Everything will be in there.

Prabhupāda: That's all right.

Again Jayadvaita is caught in yet another fabrication, he claims that Srila Prabhupada never saw the "Galley Proofs" of the 1972 edition. Below is a testimony from a devotee who personally gave them to Srila Prabhupada in the summer of 1968.

Dear Srimati Govinda dasi,

Please accept my humble obeiscances. Srila Prabhupada jayatah.

I just came upon this in Folio – SPL Ch 4, “A Summer in Montreal” and I am
sending it to you just in case this point is not in your awareness.

Brahmananada had just come from Boston:

“I came up to show Prabhupada the galley proofs for both Teachings of Lord Caitanya and Bhagavad-gita As It Is. I just happened to have both galley
proofs that had arrived. So it was a wonderful thing to bring these galley
proofs to Prabhupada for checking. I was there only for a few days, maybe a
weekend or so. Prabhupada personally read through the entire galleys and
made notations in his own hand. He did the proof reading of the galleys.
Everything was done by Srila Prabhupada. It was a very personal kind of thing. Of course, that gave Prabhupada great pleasure because he wanted his books published, and we had started to do it. So Prabhupada took great pleasure in proof reading those galleys. And he handed them to me, and it was very wonderful.”



Now everybody knows that Srila Prabhupada never intended his Gita to be abridged. MacMillan did (abridged it) it for their own reasons. So the Gita here being referred to is the complete work.

With one exception I am not in touch with any ISKCON or BBT leaders or I
would be copying this to them. But I _have_ copied it to the BBT personnel
on PAMHO’s address list who I am at all familiar with.

Your servant

Rasananda das


Just to recap how Jayadvaita has been caught being dishonest and fabricating history:

1) Jayadvaita resorts to subterfuge in his public talks with Govinda dasi regarding the changes to the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.

2) Jayadvaita has created a fictional history of the creation of the Bhagavd-Gita As It Is manuscript.

3) Jayadvaita claims that Srila Prabhupada was "not involved" with the manuscript, the exact opposite of the real history.

4) Jayadvaita again fabricates another fiction by saying the Srila Prabhupada never saw the Galley Proofs for the 1972 edition

In this article we have proved that:

1) Jayadvaita resorts to subterfuge in his public talks with Govinda dasi regarding the changes to the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.

2) Srila Prabhupada was very involved in the creation of the manuscript to the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, both the 1968 edition and the 1972 edition.

3) Srila Prabhupada wanted and approved Hayagriva to be the editor of the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, as well as other books.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Lance Armstrong: Among The cheaters & cheated


Back in 2005 news outlet L'Équipe reported that Lance Armstong used performance enhancing drugs to win previous Tour De France bicycle races. And now the latest is that he may have not only used these drugs but he may have also been pushing them to others as well.

Every conditioned living entity in this material world has four defects. They are sure to: 1) commit mistakes, 2) become illusioned, 3) have imperfect senses, and 4) to cheat others. Out of these four, the cheating propensity is the most prominent. This is because the conditioned soul's are trying to become "the Lord of all that I survey". In this way there is war and fierce competition to become "Number One". In this day and age practically everyone is cheating and being cheated. The famous politician from 200 BC India, Chanakya Pandit, once said that in order to head off being cheated, one must also inevitably cheat the cheater. And so goes the dog eat dog world known as the "Rat Race".



Our government's educational institutions are cheating its citizens into thinking that they can climb the latter of material life and rise "to the top", but those same leaders who are "at the top" are also victims of conditional life. The leaders as well as the everyday man, are all conditioned by nature's laws; repeated birth, death, desease, and old age.



Why is one man born rich, while another man is born poor? Why are there babies born with birth defects? It is because they are conditioned to nature's law of Karma, the law of "activities" or "action and reaction". It is stated in the Eighth chapter of the Bagavad-Gita As It Is "yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram", "Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail" and henceforth there is birth, death, disease, and old age and than again it is repeated. It is stated in the Vedic literature that there are 8,400,000 different types of bodies that the soul can take. Each one is trying to lord it over the other, trying to become dominant, trying to cheat the other. And so much energy is being waisted in cheating and being cheated. 

The Vedic literature recommends that one break free from this conditioned life by finding a person who is not conditioned. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam (11th canto, 3rd chapter, verse 21) it is stated, "tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam", “One who is inquisitive to understand the highest goal and benefit of life must approach a bona fide spiritual master and surrender unto him.” It is also stated in the Bhagavad-Gita in the 4th Chapter, verse 34, "tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā..." "Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth." 



It is understood that because the spiritual master is liberated from this repeated cycle of nature's laws (Samsara), that he can impart perfect knowledge unto the conditioned souls. And this is done because the bona fide Spiritual Master is following the "perfect person" or the Maha Purusha



Who is that perfect person? The Vedas state that the perfect person has six opulences; 1) He is the richest, 2) He is the most powerful, 3) He is the most famous, 4) He is the most beautiful, 5) He is the greatest in knowledge, and 6) He is the greatest renouncer. It is stated that one who has these 6 opulences in full, he is God, or Krishna. 



The Vedic knowledge comes directly from the Maha Purusha, Krishna, by way of succeeding disciples who are fully considered liberated persons. Krishna Himself says in the 4th chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita, "imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam" , "I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku." This disciplic succession today is being carried on by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his disciples.