JUST KNOWING IS NOT ENOUGH

My father...almost 97... in a nursing home is waiting for his discharge papers.
He sits all day waiting for the papers so he can go to the bank
take out some money to buy gas and pick up his car.

He has macular degeneration. His license was revoked three years ago
and the car was towed away after he totaled it on the freeway
claiming the other two cars were parked
in the passing lane by the troopers as a trap to catch him.

He asks the head nurse fifty times a day when she will have his discharge papers ready.
But then he forgets especially when it is meal time and if I guide the conversation.
Thank God he can still eat and even talk. Many of the people there can do neither.
But just knowing is not enough.

Just knowing that there are discharge papers than can be written.
Just knowing there is a bank somewhere, a car... is not enough.
He is not qualified to access those things.
He just knows they are there and wants them.

This is the same with Krishna and the spiritual world.
Just knowing there is Krishna...the spiritual world is not enough.
Just knowing simply provides a kind of detachment from the immediate suffering.
But does not provide a permanent solution.

There are two kinds of knowledge.
Jnana and Vijnana.

Jnana is knowing "of" ...
Vijnana is knowing "by experiencing"

We can see how this relates to the offenses in chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
Especially the terrible trap of sinning on the strength of the holy name.
Someone may know that by chanting Hare Krishna they can be delivered
but they do not experience that deliverance.
They can go on chanting Hare Krishna for millions of lifetimes.
They do not qualify due to their sinful attachments.

This is different from Ajamila. He did not sin on the strength of chanting
although he was a most sinful man.
When he called out for Narayana he called out in complete helplessness.
Thus his call was accepted and he qualified for further advancement.

Vijnana is not merely a cognitive exercise.
To acquire vijnana requires the participation of the mind and senses.
The activities of the mind and senses engaged in acts of devotion under the guidance
of someone who already has vijnana.

Krishna discusses this in Chapters Four and Five of the Bhagavad gita.
"The Blessed Lord said: The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of works." BG 5.1

Later Krishna explains what He means by work... first according to the varnashram
and then by pure devotion.

Above, a devotee is engaged in various devotional activities for the Deities (authorized incarnations of the Lord, who comes in this form to accept our service). Below, a sankhya-yogi engages in the analytical study of matter and spirit. After some time he realizes the Lord (the forms of Radha and Krsna include all other forms of the Lord) within his heart, and then he engages in devotional service. Bhagavad-gita 5.4-6