SB 1.2.20 (1962)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 20
Ebam prasanna manaso bhagwatbhakti yogatah Bhagawat tatwa vijnanam mukta samgasya jayate.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Ebam—thus, prasanna—enlivened, manasa—of the mind, Bhagwatbhakti—devotional service of the Lord, yogatah—by contact of, Bhagawat—in the matter of the Personality of Godhead, tatwa—knowledge, vijanam—scientific, mukta—liberated, samgasya—of the association, jayayete—becomes effective.
TRANSLATION
Thus (when one is positively fixed up in the mode of unalloyed goodness) the enlivened minded man effected by contact of devotional service of the Lord, can positively know scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association.
PURPORT
In the Bhagwat Geeta it is said that out of many thousands of ordinary men one fortunate man endeavours for perfection of life. Mostly they are conducted by the modes of passion and ignorance and thus they are engaged always in the matter of lust, desire, hankerings, ignorance and sleep. Out of such man-like many animals there is actually a man who knows the responsibility of human life and thus tries to make a perfectien of life by following the prescribed duties. And out of such many thousands of persons who have thus attained success in the matter of human life, one may know scientifically about the Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. (BG 7.6) In the same Bhagwat Geeta it is also said that scientific knowledge of Sri Krishna is understood only by the process of devotional service (Bhaktiyoga). (BG 18.55)
The very same thing is confirmed herein in the above words. No ordinary man or even one who has attained success in the matter of human life can know scientifically or perfectly the Personality of Godhead. Perfection of human life is attained when one can understand that he is not the product of matter but he is in fact spirit. And as soon as one uderstands that he has nothing to do with matter, he at once ceases his material hankerings and become enlivened minded as a spiritual being. This attainment of success is possible when one is above the modes of passion or ignorance or in other words when one is actually a Brahmin by qualification. Brahmin is the symbol of Sata Guna or the modes of goodness. And others who are not in the mode of goodness are either Kshastriya, Vaishya, or Sudra or less than the Sudras. The Brahminical stage is the highest stage of human life on account of the good qualities. So nobody can be a devotee unless one is at least in the qualification of the Brahmin. Or the devotee is already a Brahmin by action. But that is not the end of it. As referred to above such Brahmin has to become a Vaishnava in fact to be actually in the transcendental stage. A pure Vaishnava is a liberated soul and is transcendental to the position of a Brahmin even. In the material stage even the Brahmin is also conditioned soul. Because in the Brahminical stage the conception of Brahman or the transcendence is realised but in that stage scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead must be lacking. One has to surpass the Brahminical stage and reach the Vasudeva stage to understand the Personality of Godhead Krishna. The science of the Personality of Godhead is the subject matter for study of the post graduate students in the spiritual line. Foolish men or the men with a poor fund of knowledge only do not understand the Personality of Godhead and they interpret Krishna according to their respective whims. The fact is, however, that one cannot understand the science of the Personality of Godhead unless one is freed from the contamination of the material modes even up to the stage of the Brahmin. When a qualified Brahmin becomes a Vaishnava in fact in the enlivened stage of liberation he can know what is actually the Personality of Godhead.