# Receiving and Transmitting Vedic Knowledge *How perfect knowledge must be received and transmitted through disciplic succession.* ← Back to [[wiki/compile/spiritual-master-disciple|The Spiritual Master and the Disciple]] --- ## Vedic Knowledge Must Be Received Through Disciplic Succession ### To attain perfect knowledge of eternal truth, one must receive Vedic knowledge through disciplic succession ![[sb/2/2/32#purport|The truth is eternal, and as such there cannot be any new opinion about the truth. That is the way of knowing the knowledge contained in the Vedas]] —SB [[sb/2/2/32|2.2.32]] Purport --- ### Vedic knowledge was first impregnated within Brahmā ![[sb/2/4/22#purport|The Vedic knowledge was first impregnated within Brahmā, and it appears that Brahmā distributed the Vedic knowledge...No mundane scholar can translate or reveal the true import of the Vedic mantras]] —SB [[sb/2/4/22|2.4.22]] Purport --- ### The language of the Vedas can be revealed only through disciplic succession ![[sb/2/4/25#purport|The language of the Vedas can be revealed only by the abovementioned disciplic succession, and not otherwise]] —SB [[sb/2/4/25|2.4.25]] Purport --- ### Perfect knowledge descends through disciplic succession, not through experimental knowledge ![[sb/2/4/8#purport|the perfect knowledge can descend by the chain of disciplic succession only, and not by any form of experimental knowledge, old or modern]] —SB [[sb/2/4/8|2.4.8]] Purport --- ## To Transmit Knowledge, One Must Have Received It ### One lacking perfect knowledge by disciplic succession cannot present knowledge to others ![[sb/3/24/17#purport|Unless one has perfect knowledge from disciplic succession, he simply puts forth some theories of his own creation; therefore he is cheating people]] —SB [[sb/3/24/17|3.24.17]] Purport --- ### To preach Vedic knowledge, one must have heard from the proper authority ![[sb/3/8/7#purport|unless one hears from the proper authority one cannot become a preacher. In devotional service, therefore, two items out of the nine, namely hearing and chanting, are most important]] —SB [[sb/3/8/7|3.8.7]] Purport --- ### In the paramparā system, one should answer questions with reference to Vedic literature ![[sb/7/13/23#purport|One must refer to the śāstras and give answers according to Vedic understanding...Otherwise one's words will proceed from mental concoction]] —SB [[sb/7/13/23|7.13.23]] Purport --- ### In presenting transcendental knowledge, the speaker must follow the previous ācāryas ![[sb/1/4/1#purport|No obscure meaning should be screwed out of it, yet it should be presented in an interesting manner for the understanding of the audience]] —SB [[sb/1/4/1|1.4.1]] Purport --- ## Only a Humble Devotee Can Transmit Vedic Knowledge Purely ### Only a humble devotional servitor can transmit Vedic knowledge purely ![[sb/2/4/23#purport|Śukadeva Gosvāmī wants to present the truths of creation not as a metaphysical theory of philosophical speculation, but as the actual facts and figures of the subject]] —SB [[sb/2/4/23|2.4.23]] Purport --- ### The guru must accept śabda-brahma through disciplic succession, not mental speculation > One who interprets the divine sound, or *śabda-brahma,* by his imperfect sense perception cannot be a real spiritual *guru,* because, in the absence of proper disciplinary training under the bona fide *ācārya,* the interpreter is sure to differ from Vyāsadeva. —The Science of Self-Realization --- ## Understanding Matters Beyond Perception ### To know matters beyond one's perception, one must learn from a superior authority ![[sb/3/20/9#purport|To know matters beyond one's perception, one has to learn from a superior authority in the line of disciplic succession]] —SB [[sb/3/20/9|3.20.9]] Purport --- ### Transcendental subject matter can be understood not through speculation, but through disciplic succession > The method for understanding transcendental subject matter is given by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself in *Bhagavad-gītā,* where Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna at the beginning of the Fourth Chapter: > > "I instructed this imperishable science of *yoga* to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku." > > This is the method of *paramparā,* or disciplic succession. —Cc. Ādi-līlā, Introduction