Prabhupada 0506 - Your Eyes Should be the Sastra. Not these Blunt Eyes
Lecture on BG 2.18 -- London, August 24, 1973
So the trees and plants, (they're) two million varieties. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyayaḥ. And the insects, they are eleven hundred thousand. So it is a puzzling thing, that how Vedic literature places everything very correctly. Nine hundred thousand, eleven hundred thousand, two million, as they are. This is called realization. So we take it for granted. Our facility is, because we accept the Vedas as authority, therefore the knowledge is there, ready. If somebody asks me or you, "Can you say how many forms of living entities are there within the water?" it is very difficult. Even the biologists cannot say. Although they are very expert. I cannot say. But our facilities, we can immediately say, there are nine hundred thousand. Although I have never experimented, neither seen personally, but because it is explained in the Vedic literature, I can say you correctly. Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said that you want to see or perceive directly anything... Just like so many rascals come, they challenge, "Can you show me God?" So... Yes. We can show you God, provided you have got the eyes. God can be seen by different type of eyes. Not these eyes. That is stated in the śāstra. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Indriya means these senses, these material senses. With these material senses, you cannot experience directly what is the form of the Lord, what is His quality, what does He do. So many things we want to know about the Supreme. But śāstra describes the qualities of the Lord, the form of the Lord, the activities of the Lord. You can learn. Śāstra-yonitvāt. Yoni means source, source. Śāstra-yonitvāt. Śāstra-cakṣus. Your eyes should be the śāstra. Not these blunt eyes. Everything we also experience by śāstra, by book.
So we have to see through the authorized books the description which is beyond our perception. Acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet. Tarkeṇa, by argument, which is beyond your sense perception. So many things. Even we see daily so many planets, stars in the sky, but we have no information. They are going directly to see the moon planet, but hopelessly coming back. It is very doubtful to say so. And they have got dogmatic impression: "Except this planet, in other planets, so many, there is no life." These are not perfect understanding. From śāstra-yoni, if you want to see through the śāstra... Just like moon planet. We have got information from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that there, the people, they live for ten thousands of years. And what is that measurement of year? Our six months equal to their one day. Now such ten thousands of years, just imagine. It is called daiva-varṣa. Daiva-varṣa means year according to the demigods' calculation. Just like Brahmā's day, that is demigods' calculation. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). We have got information from Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says that they calculate the years of the demigods. Everyone's year is calculated. This is called... This is accepted by the modern science, relative truth or the law of relativity. A small ant, he has got also hundred years' age, but the ant's hundred years and our hundred years different. This is called relative. According to your size of body, everything in relationship. Our hundred years and Brahmā's hundred years, that is different. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said calculate like this: sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17).