Spiritual knowledge transcends bodily designations through understanding the eternal soul's relationship with Krishna.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Bhagavad-gītā 13.4 — April 20, 1974, Hyderabad 740420BG-HYDERABAD [35:03 Minutes] Bg-13.04_740420BG-HYDERABAD Nitāi: [leads chanting of verse, etc.] [devotees repeat, etc] tat kṣetraṁ yac ca yādṛk ca yad vikāri yataś ca yat sa ca yo yat prabhāvaś ca tat samāsena me śṛṇu [Bg. 13.4] [break] [00:51] Translation: "Now please hear My brief description of this field of activity and how it is constituted, what its changes are, whence it is produced, who that knower of the field of activities is, and what his influences are." [break]
Prabhupāda: Hmm. So yesterday we had been discussing about the questions put forward by Arjuna: prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva kṣetraṁ kṣetra-jñam eva ca etad veditum icchāmi jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava [Bg. 13.1] So to some extent we have discussed from where we have to receive knowledge, perfect knowledge, without any mistake, without any illusion. Our knowledge... We are possessing four defects: we commit mistake, we are illusioned, our senses are imperfect and we have got a cheating propensity.
We are possessing these four defects. However great a man may be, he makes mistake in calculation. "To err is human." Then we are illusioned. Illusioned means we accept something for something.
Just like we are accepting this body as myself. This is illusion. The whole world is illusioned. Everyone is thinking in terms of the body.
And according to Vedic knowledge, anyone who is under the concept of this body as self, he is no better than the cow and the asses. Sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13]. So these are our defects: bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsa, karaṇa-pāṭava. Karaṇa. Karaṇa means senses, the instrument through which we gather knowledge.
They are imperfect. So with so many imperfectness, how we can give right knowledge? That is not possible. So any knowledge received from these defective person is imperfect.
Therefore we should receive knowledge from the Supreme. Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya says, "Nārāyaṇa is beyond this material creation. He is..., exists before the material creation." Aham eva asam agre. Before the material creation, the Nārāyaṇa is there, and after the annihilation of this material creation, the Nārāyaṇa is there.