I asked Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad about this difference between Rupa and Sanatan. He simply said, «It is adhoksaja, beyond our understanding.» So, Krishna-lila is «ununderstandable» (achintya). Everything is not bound to come within our fist. The Supreme Lord has «All Rights Reserved». This must be understood if we at all want to be in connection with that plane of reality.
So, Srimad Bhagavatam says jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva: it is a defect to want to understand everything about Divinity. Knowledge may be a qualification here in this world, but in relation to the transcendental truth of the highest order, the tendency to want to know everything is a disqualification.
We want to know the value of everything. We want to have the key to everything in our possession. But this is really a bar to progress. If we assert ourselves in this way, we rather lose what confidence we might have in Divinity, and there will be some delay in extending the key to us. If a servant, upon getting employment in the master’s house, is very eager to be entrusted with the house keys, then the master will suspect him. So, to want to know everything is a type of disease; it is an enemy to our progress.
This is, of course, difficult to accept. But still, it is true. Surrender is everything. What cultivation of knowledge do we find in the gopis — the most exalted devotees of Krishna? What was their acquaintance with scripture? Nothing.
What we understand to be «standard purity», what we think to be knowledge — all these things are disqualifications in giving pleasure to the Absolute. An example of how our misconceived standards of «purity» and «chastity» are a disqualification can be seen in the following story.