SB 1.3.37 (1962)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 37
Na cha asya kaschit nipunena dhatur avaiti jantuh kumanisha utih
Namani rupani manovachovih santanwato natacharyam ivajnah.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Na—not, Cha—and, Asya—of Him, Kaschit—anyone, Nipunena—by dexterity, Dhatur—of the Creator, Avaiti—can know, Jantuh—the living being, Kumanisha—with poor fund of knowledge, Utih—activities of the Lord, Namani—His names, Rupani—His forms, Manovachovih—by dint of mental speculation or deliverance of speeches, Santanwato—displaying, Natacharyam—the dramatical player, Iva—like, Ajnah—the foolish.
TRANSLATION
The foolishman with poor fund of knowledge cannot know the transcendental nature of the Forms, Names and activities of the Lord who is playing like a dramatical actor; neither they can express such things even by mental speculation or by deliverance of different speeches.
PURPORT
No body can properly describe the transcendental nature of the Absolute Truth and therefore it is said that He is beyond the expression of mind and speeches. And yet there are some men, with poor fund of knowledge, who desire to understand the Absolute Truth by imperfect speculation of the mind and faulty description of His activities. To the layman the activities, appearance and disappearance, His Names, His Forms, His parapharnalia, His Personalities and all such things in relation with Him, are something like mysterious acts. There are two classes of materialists namely the fruitive workers and the empiric philosophers. The fruitive workers have practically no information of the Absolute Truth and the mental speculators after being frustrated in the matter of fruitive activities turn their face towards the Absolute Truth and tries to know Him by mental speculation. And for all these men the Absolute Truth is a mystery as much as the jugglery of the magician is to the children. Being deceived by such jugglery of the Supreme Being the non-devotees, who may be very much dexterous in the matter of fruitive work and mental speculation, are always gifted with poor fund of knowledge. With such limited knowledge they are unable to penetrate into the mysterious region of transcendence. The mental speculators are a little bit progressive than the gross materialists or the fruitive workers but because such mental speculators are also within the grip of illusion, they take it for granted that anything which has a form, a name, and activities, is but a product of the material energy. For them the Supreme Spirit is Formless nameless and inactive. And because such mental speculators equalise the transcendental name and form of the Lord as similar to that of mundane names and form they are in fact gifted with a poor fund of knowledge. With such poor fund of knowledge there is no access in the real nature of the Supreme Being. As stated in the Bhagwat Geeta the Lord is always in the transcendental position even when He is within the material world. But men gifted with a poor fund of knowledge consider the Lord as one of the great personalities of the world and are thus misled by the illusory energy.