What is the answer to Pariksits Maharajas question
Philosophy · asked by user [] · 2010-02-24 · 1 answers
SB 10.87.1: uc0u346 ru299 Paru299 ku7779 it said: O bru257 hmau7751 a, how can the Vedas directly describe the Supreme Absolute Truth, who cannot be described in words? The Vedas are limited to describing the qualities of material nature, but the Supreme is devoid of these qualities, being transcendental to all material manifestations and their causes.
I have not read this chapter in Krsna book in a long time. What is the answer? Details or commentary would be helpful. Thank you. Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,
Nityananda Chandra Das
I have not read this chapter in Krsna book in a long time. What is the answer? Details or commentary would be helpful. Thank you. Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,
Nityananda Chandra Das
user [418] · 2010-02-24
All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Hare Krishna. From this link: http://vedabase.net/sb/10/87/2/en
"The question Mahuc0u257 ru257 ja Paru299 ku7779 it has submitted here '97 namely, "How can the Vedas directly refer to the Absolute Truth?" '97 has been answered as follows by u346 ukadeva Gosvu257 mu299 : "The Lord created intelligence and other elements for the sake of the conditioned living beings." A skeptic may object that this answer is irrelevant. But u346 ukadeva Gosvu257 mu299 s answer is not actually irrelevant, as u346 ru299 la Viu347 vanu257 tha Cakravartu299 explains. Answers to subtle questions must often be phrased indirectly. As Lord Ku7771 u7779 u7751 a Himself states in His instructions to Uddhava (Bhu257 g. 11.21.35), paroku7779 a-vu257 du257 u7771 u7779 ayau7717 paroku7779 au7743 mama ca priyam: "The Vedic seers and mantras deal in esoteric terms, and I also am pleased by such confidential descriptions." In the present context, the impersonalists, on whose behalf Paru299 ku7779 it Mahu257 ru257 ja asked his question, cannot appreciate the direct answer, so instead u346 ru299 la u346 ukadeva gives an indirect reply: "You say that Brahman is indescribable by words. But if the Supreme Lord had not created the intelligence, mind and senses, then sound and the other objects of perception would all be just as indescribable as your Brahman. You would have been blind and deaf since birth, and would know nothing about physical forms and sounds, what to speak of the Absolute. So, just as the merciful Lord has given us all faculties of perception for experiencing and describing to others the sensations of sight, sound and so forth, in the same way He may give someone the receptive capacity to realize Brahman. He may, if He chooses, create some extraordinary way for words to function '97 apart from their ordinary references to material substances, qualities, categories and actions '97 that will enable them to express the Supreme Truth. He is, after all, the almighty Lord (prabhu), and He can easily make the indescribable describable."
Lord Matsya assures King Satyavrata that the Absolute Truth can be known from the words of the Vedas:
madu299 yau7743 mahimu257 nau7743 ca
parau7743 brahmeti u347 abditam
vetsyasy anugrahu299 tau7743 me
samprau347 nair vivu7771 tau7743 hu7771 di
"You will be thoroughly advised and favored by Me, and because of your inquiries, everything about My glories, which are known as parau7743 brahma, will be manifest within your heart. Thus you will know everything about Me." (Bhu257 g. 8.24.38)
The fortunate soul who has been graced by the Supreme Lord with divine inquisitiveness will ask questions about the nature of the Absolute, and by hearing the answers given by great sages, which are recorded in the Vedic literatures, he will come to understand the Lord as He is. Thus only by the special mercy of the Supreme Person does Brahman become u347 abditam, "literally denoted by words." Otherwise, without the Lords exceptional grace, the words of the Vedas cannot reveal the Absolute Truth."
Jai Srila Prabhupada!!