Bhagavad Gita -Srila Prabhupada 310

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is -Shri Shrimad A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Knowledge of the Absolute Chapter 7: Verse-3 manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye yatatäm api siddhänäm kascin mäm vetti tattvatah TRANSLATION Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth. PURPORT There are various grades of men, and out of many thousands, one may be sufficiently interested in transcendental realization to try to know what is the self, what is the body, and what is the Absolute Truth. Generally mankind is simply engaged in the animal propensities, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating, and hardly anyone is interested in transcendental knowledge. The first six chapters of the Gita are meant for those who are interested in transcendental knowledge, in understanding the self, the Superself and the process of realization by jnäna-yoga, dhyäna-yoga and discrimination of the self from matter. However,krsna can be known only by persons who are in krsna consciousness. Other transcendentalists may achieve impersonal Brahman realization, for this is easier than understanding Krsna.krsna is the Supreme Person, but at the same time He is beyond the knowledge of Brahman and Paramätmä. The yogis and jnänis are confused in their attempts to understand Krsna. Although the greatest of the impersonalists, Sripäda Sankaräcärya, has admitted in his Gita commentary that krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his followers do not accept krsna as such, for it is very difficult to know Krsna, even though one has transcendental realization of impersonal Brahman. Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, the primeval Lord Govinda. Isvarah paramah krsna hsac-cid-änanda-vigrahah/ anädir ädir govindah sarva-kärana-käranam. It is very difficult for the nondevotees to know Him. Although nondevotees declare that the path of bhakti, or devotional service, is very easy, they cannot practice it. If the path of bhakti is so easy, as the nondevotee class of men proclaim, then why do they take up the difficult path? Actually the path of bhakti is not easy. The so-called path of bhakti practiced by unauthorized persons without knowledge of bhakti may be easy, but when it is practiced factually according to the rules and regulations, the speculative scholars and philosophers fall away from the path.