Knowledge through Service

How service to the Lord and the spiritual master results in Vedic knowledge is described in the Svetasvatara Upanishad (6.23):

"Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed." The Vedas enjoin, tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] one must approach a spiritual master who has full knowledge of the Vedas and be directed by him in order to become a devotee of the Lord. Then the knowledge of the Vedas will be revealed. When the Vedic knowledge is revealed, one need no longer remain in the darkness of material nature.

According to his association with the material modes of nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance—a living entity gets a particular type of body. The example of one who associates with the mode of goodness is a qualified brahmana. Such a brahmana knows past, present, and future because he consults the Vedic literature and sees through the eyes of scripture (sastra-cakshuh). He can understand what his past life was, why he is in the present body, and how he can obtain liberation from the clutches of maya and not accept another material body. This is all possible when one is situated in the mode of goodness. Generally, however, the living entities in this material world are engrossed in the modes of passion and ignorance.

One who is in the mode of ignorance cannot know what his past life was or what his next life will be; he is simply interested in his present body. Even though he has a human body, a person in the mode of ignorance and interested only in his present body is like an animal, for an animal, being covered by ignorance, thinks that the ultimate goal of life is immediate happiness—to eat and have sex. A human being must be educated to rise above this platform, to understand his past life and how he can endeavor for a better life in the future. There is even a book, called the Bhrigu-samhita, which reveals information about one's past, present, and future lives according to astrological calculations. Somehow or other one must be enlightened about his past, present, and future. One who is interested only in his present body and who tries to enjoy his senses to the fullest extent is understood to be engrossed in the mode of ignorance. His future is very, very dark. Indeed, the future is always dark for one who is covered by gross ignorance. Especially in this age, human society is covered by the mode of ignorance, and therefore everyone thinks his present body to be everything, without consideration of the past or future.