God has got both, Direct and Indirect Perception

Prabhupada, Vrndavana, August 6, 1974: So we are misled. We are engaged in studying the machine, that’s all. Instead of using the machine to cross over the ocean, take the advantage, they are very busy in studying the machine. Is that very good intelligence? Machine is already given to you. You cannot study even. You do not know. Even if you study, you cannot say. I claim, “It is my body,” and if somebody asks me, “How many hairs you have got on your body?” I cannot say. How I am eating something, how it is being turned into some secretion, it is going to the heart, it is becoming red and it is again distributed through the nerves and veins—I do not know anything. I can simply theorize. But the machine is not under your control. The machine is made by God or by nature. It is very subtle machine. If you are very expert, the first thing is that what is the use of simply studying the machine? You got it. You utilize it for going to the destination. That is your intelligent. No, they forgot to use the machine for going to the destination; they are simply studying the machine. And that is going on in the name of science. What is this nonsense science? Simply busy in studying the machine.

I am claiming my body, but I am not in full knowledge of my own body. And what to speak of knowing your body or other’s body? Not only body, the mind, intelligence, and ego. What is going on in your mind, I do not know. Neither you know what is going on in my mind. We are so ignorant. Therefore this body is temporary and full of ignorance.
Krsna is unlimited. We are very much concerned with this one planet, but Krsna’s creation contains an unlimited number of planets. We cannot count how many planets there are, any more than one can count how many hairs there are on one’s head. This is the nature of Krsna’s creation. To give another example, on one tree there is an unlimited number of leaves. Similarly, there is an unlimited number of planets, and there are unlimited universes. Therefore, Krsna is unlimited.

I am claiming, “It is my body,” but when the body, there is some disarrangement, then I do not know how it has happened. I know that I am eating something, that is going to the stomach, and the stomach, from the stomach many secretion is coming out. That secretion is going to the heart. It is transforming into blood. Again the blood is diffused all over the body. There is a nice mechanical process. But we do not know. Although I am claiming that “It is my body,” I do not know how, internally, my bodily functions are going on. Therefore my knowledge is imperfect, although I am claiming “My body.” But God’s knowledge is not like that. Janmady asya yatah anvayad itaratas ca arthesu abhijnah [Bhag. 1.1.1]. He knows everything. That is the distinction between God and ourself. I do not know even what is going on within my body. I do not know how my hairs are growing, I do not know how many hairs are on my head, and still, the rascals claim, “I am God.” How much rascaldom it is, you can just imagine. God is not like that. God knows everything. That is God. Anvayad itaratas ca. Indirectly and directly. Directly I can see this is my finger, but I do not know what is the composition of the finger. So direct, indirect. Indirectly I do not know. Directly I can see. So we may have some experience of direct perception, but God has got both direct and indirect perception. We do not know how a flower is coming out, but God knows how the flower is coming out.

So in this way, if we study Srimad-Bhagavatam we can understand what is the nature of God. Not we manufacture, but the reason, the philosophy, the authority, is everything there in the Srimad- Bhagavatam.
Suppose there is some injury in your finger or any part of the body. You do not know how subtle work is going on to cure it. Medicine is not cure; medicine is only helping. But there is automatic way of curing. Even your energy, this is your energy.
I do not know everything of my body. Suppose I am eating, I am eating something. How this eatable substance transforms into vitamin secretion and how it is being distributed all over the body and is supplying the energy? Or take, for example, I have got my hairs, but I do not know how many hairs I have got. Is not that a fact? Can you count your hairs, how many hairs you have got? So, so many things we do not know even of our body, although I am claiming that “This is my body.”
Now, these hairs are coming out, and what is the explanation of these rascals? These hairs are coming. You’re cutting, and coming. Your energy. You do not know your energy, even, what is that energy by which the hair is coming. It is from your body. That means it is your energy. The energy is within you. You do not know how many hairs are there, although it is put in by your…
Although it is by my energy this body is produced. I do not know how these veins are created, how these bones are created. I do not know. Therefore I am not God. I do not know… I say “my body,” but actually this body has developed, me, as spirit soul, but I do not know how many hairs are there on my head and how it is growing. But He knows. That is a characteristic of the Absolute Truth. He must be knowing everything, and that is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita. Vedaham samatitani: “I know everything in the past. I know what will happen in the future. I know everything.” That is God.
We may know directly that “This is my finger.” But indirectly I do not know what is the constitution of finger, how it is working, how it is moving. You do not know. I know directly this is my hair. But indirectly how I am cutting hair and again it is growing, it is unknown. I say these are my hairs, but I cannot count how many hairs are there.

So I am conscious to a certain extent only, not fully. I am not abhijnah. I am not very expert. These are simple truths. But these rascals are claiming that “I am God.”
this body is my product. I am spiritual spark. This spiritual spark, as soon as takes shelter into the womb of a woman, it develops this body. The spiritual spark has that power, develops body. So I am a spirit soul, I have developed this body. That means I am a spiritual spark, which is source of this body, all mechanisms. And similarly, the whole creation, it is…, there is supreme spirit. The whole creation, janmady asya yatah. So He knows everything because He is perfect. But I do not know. Although it is by my energy this body is produced. I do not know how these veins are created, how these bones are created. I do not know. Therefore I am not God. I do not know… I say “my body,” but actually this body has developed, me, as spirit soul, but I do not know how many hairs are there on my head and how it is growing. But He knows. That is a characteristic of the Absolute Truth. He must be knowing everything, and that is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita. Vedaham samatitani: “I know everything in the past. I know what will happen in the future. I know everything.” That is God.
Just like I am cognizant, you are also cognizant. But I do not know myself, how many hairs are there in my body. I’m claiming this is my head. But If ask anybody, “Do you know how many hairs you have got in your body?” That kind of knowledge is not knowledge. But the Supreme, Bhagavata says that He knows everything directly and indirectly. I know I am eating, but I do not know how my eating process is helping my circulation of blood, how it is being transformed, how it is working, how it going through the veins. I do not know anything. But God must be He who knows everything, every corner of His creation what is going on He must know. Therefore the Bhagavata explains, that Supreme Truth, from whom everything is emanated, He must be supremely cognizant. Abhijnah. Abhijnah means cognizant.
Of course, this kind of knowledge is not transcendental, but in Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that the Supreme Absolute Truth knows everything, directly and indirectly. I may know that I am eating, but I do not know the intricacies of the eating process—how my body is exactly assimilating food, how the blood is passing through my veins, etc. I am cognizant that my body is functioning, but I do not know how these processes are working perfectly and all at once. This is because my knowledge is limited.
We are eating, but how the eatables are being transformed into secretion, how they are becoming blood, how they are being passed through the heart, and it becomes red, and again diffuse all over the veins, and in this way the body is maintained, we know something, but how the work is going on, how this factory is going on, how the factory, machine, is working, we have very little knowledge. So indirectly we know that “This is my body.” “Indirectly” means we have heard, but we have no direct knowledge. But Krsna, the Supreme, the original of everything, He knows everything. Anvaya- vyatirekabhyam, indirectly and directly. Krsna knows. I do not know how my body is working, but Krsna knows.