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TEXT 3 manusyanam sahasresu
SYNONYMS  manusyanam--of
men; sahasresu--out of many thousands; kascit--someone; yatati--endeavors;
siddhaye--for perfection; yatatam--of those so endeavoring;
api--indeed; siddhanam--of those who have achieved perfection;
kascit--someone; mam--Me; vetti--does know; tattvatah--in
fact.
TRANSLATION Out of many
thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who
have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.
PURPORT There are various
grades of men, and out of many thousands one may be sufficiently interested
in transcendental realization to try to know what is the self, what is
the body, and what is the Absolute Truth. Generally mankind is simply engaged
in the animal propensities, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating,
and hardly anyone is interested in transcendental knowledge. The first
six chapters of the Gita are meant for those who are interested
in transcendental knowledge, in understanding the self, the Superself and
the process of realization by jnana-yoga, dhyana-yoga, and discrimination
of the self from matter. However, Krsna can only be known by persons who
are in Krsna consciousness. Other transcendentalists may achieve impersonal
Brahman realization, for this is easier than understanding Krsna. Krsna
is the Supreme Person, but at the same time He is beyond the knowledge
of Brahman and Paramatma. The yogis and jnanis are confused
in their attempts to understand Krsna, although the greatest of the impersonalists,
Sripada Sankaracarya, has admitted in his Gita commentary that Krsna
is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But his followers do not accept
Krsna as such, for it is very difficult to know Krsna, even though one
has transcendental realization of impersonal Brahman.
Krsna is
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, the primeval
Lord Govinda. Isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah anadir
adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam. It is very difficult for the nondevotees
to know Him. Although nondevotees declare that the path of bhakti
or devotional service is very easy, they cannot practice it. If the path
of bhakti is so easy, as the nondevotee class of men proclaim, then
why do they take up the difficult path? Actually the path of bhakti
is not easy. The so-called path of bhakti practiced by unauthorized
persons without knowledge of bhakti may be easy, but when it is
practiced factually according to the rules and regulations, the speculative
scholars and philosophers fall away from the path. Srila Rupa Gosvami writes
in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu:
sruti-smrti-puranadi-pancaratra-vidhim vina
atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih
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