A wealthy landlord was known for his fanciful whims; thus he was surrounded by sycophants who stood ready (in hopes of reward) to help him fulfill even the most silly and unrealistic wish.

One evening the landlord gazed at the new moon sky and wondered aloud, “Is there a way to see the sun on a dark night like tonight?”

One of his “loyal” flatterers spoke up instantly. “When you our lord desires, it must be fulfilled. Certainly the world will will resound all the more with your glories when this visionary undertaking is accomplished. I shall return in a moment with the means by which your desire may be fulfilled.”

He scampered off and returned a few minutes later with a huge oil lantern. Lighting it with a flourish, he held it up high.

“Please have a look into the sky now, my lord. Can you now see the sun with the aid of this bright flame?”

Two crafty fellows among the landlord’s good-for-nothing associates saw their chance. “Ah, put down that lamp, you fool,” they cried. “You mock our lord’s intelligence. That lantern is too weak to reveal the sun on such a night as this. But we have access to a powerful searchlight mounted on a truck. Give us time, oh lord, and we shall return with it and satisfy your sublime desire.”

Getting the landowner’s nod, they rushed off. Some time later they returned in a flatbed truck that had a big searchlight and generator mounted on the back. Revving up the generator motor, they flashed a powerful beam of light into the dark firmament above and played it about. “Just tell us, master, when you catch a glimpse of the sun and we shall focus this light upon it”, they called to the landlord. Then a new voice spoke, one of a real well-wisher of the landlord. “All the artificial light in the whole world will not help you see the sun, my friend. It is by the power of the sunshine alone than the sun becomes visible. Don’t waste your time in these useless attempts.”

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And the same is true of the attempt to understand the Supreme Lord. If that attempt is by some artificial power, it will come to no use at all. God reveals Himself to us by His own power which manifests through Guru and Vaisnava.