Present Bhagavad-gita as it is without adulteration, and watch Krishna consciousness transform the world.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Bhagavad-gītā 7.1 [with Translator] — December 25, 1975, Sanand 751225BG-SANAND [43:22 Minutes] BG-07.01_751225BG-SANAND Prabhupāda: ...samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu [Bg. 7.1] [begins lecture in Hindi] [translator translates] [aside to translator:] Just translate. [01:19] So if you have to translate, why not translate from English? That will be easier for me, and they will also understand. Huh? Thik hai?
If he has to translate, then why not let me speak in English so that they will also understand? Huh? Yaśomatīnandana: I will translate. [translates throughout] Prabhupāda: So Bhagavān means the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Absolute Truth is realized in three phases: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11].
Absolute Truth can be realized in the beginning as impersonal Brahman, which is the objective of the jñānīs, and next, Paramātmā, which is the objective of the yogīs, and at last, the last word in the absolute understanding is person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The ultimate issue is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, just like we understand that in the sun globe there is the Supreme Person or the sūrya-nārāyaṇa, or the chief person within the sun planet. His name is also given in the Bhagavad-gītā—Vivasvān. The Lord says in the Fourth Chapter, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1]: "I first of all explained this science, this yoga system of Bhagavad-gītā, to Vivasvān, the sun-god." Vivasvān manave prāhur manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt.
And Vivasvān, the sun-god, he explained to Manu, and Manu explained to his son. In this way, by the disciplic succession the knowledge has come down. So when we speak of jñāna, knowledge, it must be learned from a person. So Bhagavān, the last word in the understanding of Absolute Truth, He says in this Bhagavad-gītā. So Vyāsadeva specifically means here, bhagavān uvāca.
He does not say kṛṣṇa uvāca, because sometimes Kṛṣṇa is misunderstood by the fools. So bhagavān uvāca, this word, means whatever He says, there is no defect or deficiencies. For ordinary person like us there are four defects: bhrama pramāda vipralipsā kara-ṇāpāṭava. [correcting translator] Vipralipsā, cheating.
Vipralipsā, cheating. So in the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa or self-realized person, servants of Kṛṣṇa, those who have understood Kṛṣṇa, for them there are no deficiencies. They are perfect. For this reason Kṛṣṇa gives the instruction, tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ [Bg. 4.34] One who has actually seen or actually realized the truth, you have to take knowledge from there.
So we have to approach such person. Otherwise, if we approach some speculator, we cannot get real knowledge. So those who are speculators, they cannot understand what is God. Therefore they commit mistake that "God is like this," "God like that," "There is no God," "There is no form." All these nonsense things are proposed, because they are imperfect.