So you should be very careful in future. That is very easy to understand, who is a serpent. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, because one may inquire, "Who is asat? How can I understand?" asat eka strī-saṅgī kṛṣṇābhakta. Asat means who is attached to, very much attached to woman. You see that man, he was posing himself as yogi, and he is living with one woman. It was God's grace that he came with that woman so that he disclosed himself. By Kṛṣṇa's grace. Asat eka strī-saṅgī kṛṣṇābhakta. Strī-saṅgī. One should not be attached to any woman except his wife. Then he becomes asat. Asat eka strī-saṅgī kṛṣṇābhakta. So we should be very careful, asat, who is asat. It doesn't matter if one is very highly educated; still he should not be associated. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has given instruction that vidhayalam krto 'pi san (?) tyaja durjana-saṁsargam. Durjana-saṁsargam, association of rascals, nondevotees; tyaja, give up. "Oh, he is very learned scholar in Sanskrit, but vidhalayaṁ kṛto 'pi san, in spite of his being very learned scholar, you should kick him out." Vidhalayaṁ kṛto 'pi san. How is that? Yes, he is giving example, maṇinā bhūṣitaḥ sarpaḥ kim asau na bhayaṅkaraḥ. A serpent, you know some serpent has got jewels on the head. Does it mean a serpent with jewel on hood is not ferocious because he has got jewel? He's as ferocious as ordinary serpent. That these things we should know. So I do not know how this man was given shelter in our temple. Nobody could understand that "Here is a serpent," and he was accepted as Sanskrit scholar. So you should be very much careful about this thing in future.
Canakya Pandita gives the example that a serpent that has a jewel on its head is still fearful because it is a serpent
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 4
It may be argued that since Dakṣa was very learned, wealthy and austere and had descended from a very exalted heritage, how could he be unnecessarily angry towards another? The answer is that when the qualities of good education, good parentage, beauty and sufficient wealth are misplaced in a person who is puffed up by all these possessions, they produce a very bad result. Milk is a very nice food, but when milk is touched by an envious serpent it becomes poisonous. Similarly, material assets such as education, wealth, beauty and good parentage are undoubtedly nice, but when they decorate persons of a malicious nature, then they act adversely. Another example, given by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, is that a serpent that has a jewel on its head is still fearful because it is a serpent. A serpent, by nature, is envious of other living entities, even though they be faultless. When a serpent bites another creature, it is not necessarily because the other creature is at fault; it is the habit of the serpent to bite innocent creatures. Similarly, although Dakṣa was qualified by many material assets, because he was proud of his possessions and because he was envious, all those qualities were polluted. It is sometimes, therefore, detrimental for a person advancing in spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to possess such material assets.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “Although it is correct that the King is a great devotee, he is still to be considered a venomous snake. Similarly, even though a woman be made of wood, one becomes agitated simply by touching her form.
Śrī Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has stated in his moral instructions: tyaja durjana-saṁsargaṁ bhaja sādhu-samāgamam. This means that one has to abandon the association of materialistic people and associate with spiritually advanced people. However qualified a materialist may be, he is no better than a venomous serpent. Everyone knows that a snake is dangerous and poisonous, and when its hood is decorated with jewels, it is no less poisonous or dangerous. However qualified a materialist may be, he is no better than a snake decorated with jewels. One should therefore be careful in dealing with such materialists, just as one would be careful in dealing with a bejeweled serpent.
Lectures
Initiation Lectures
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Once there was a big cobra, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in home in Manipura, in our kitchen. He was just coiling and just sitting there, but he was very mild, because he was about to skin his skin. By that time, he doesn't bite anything, very tame.
Prabhupāda: No, sometimes the serpents are tamed.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That's a fact. But still, they are dangerous. That is said by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita. The serpent is so dangerous. That, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said. The serpent is so dangerous that even one imagines there is a serpent, he is, becomes afraid. You see? When Mahārāja Pratāparudra wanted to see Him and Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and others requested, that "He is a devotee." "But I know that he is a devotee, but because he is king, therefore I cannot see him." He gave this encou..., "The serpent even by imagination is also fearful." He said like that. And Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, manina bhujitaḥ sarpa kim asau na bhayaṁkaraḥ. (?) A serpent... You know, sometimes they have got jewel. "So a serpent with jewel, does it mean that he is not fearful?" Even with jewel he is fearful. Therefore, the demon, even with high educational qualification, he is rascal. He is rascal, fearful.
Prajāpati: That high education is just like the jewel.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But still fearful.
Prajāpati: But Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he had a serpent in his cave that he was not so much fearful of.
Prabhupāda: No, I said that, that sometimes, serpents are tame, friendly, everything, with jewel. But still they are fearful. Still, they are fearful. They cannot be trusted. A demon may be your friend, but you cannot trust him. Manina bhujitaḥ sarpa kim asau na bhayaṁkaraḥ. (?) Just like (laughing) your sky in the western world. However clear it may be, you cannot trust. At any moment there will be cloud. Is that all right?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Everyone is concocting some ideas, and they are going on as different organization. That's all. No standard idea. The standard idea is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, that cows should be given protection, go-rakṣya. Who is following this? Everyone is making plan how to kill cows in a more scientific way. This is going on. Who is taking the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā? Nobody is taking. Even in India where Bhagavad-gītā is originally, these rascals also not taking. And they have become so brainless. Therefore the whole human society is a dead society. And the dead society's dressing, decorating, is useless waste of time. That's all. Their education, their advancement... He has no brain. What is the use of education? That is said by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, that snake is a snake. Do you think a snake decorated with a jewel on the hood is gentleman? Similarly, a man without brain, so-called education, is just like a jewel on the head of a serpent. Kim asau na bhayaṅkara. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita asks "Whether a snake with jewel on the head is not fearful? He is as much fearful as the other snake without the jewel." Similarly, if a human being has no brain, with his so-called education or no education, it is as good. The education has no value. He does not know what is good work, what is bad work, what is my aim of life, what is this body, what is the soul? If these things he does not know, then what is the value of his education?
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Naturally so much good reception... So organize. These people will not give.
Jayapatākā: Who?
Prabhupāda: These rascals, Gauḍīya Maṭha.
Jayapatākā: No. But they don't have any... They don't have any sādhu to go there.
Prabhupāda: They have nothing. Still, they have got... That is called in Bengali, bisnai kulavane cakra(?). There is no poison, but the hood is: "Arrhh." (laughs) That is their... Even this bite, there is no poison. But they are showing kulavana cakra(?). Still, it is bhayaṅkara. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, maṇinā bhūṣitaḥ sarpaḥ kim asau na bhayaṅkaraḥ: "A snake..." Sometimes snake has got some jewel on the hood. So he can go in the darkness by the light of the hood. If somebody thinks, "Oh, here is a snake with jewel. Let me embrace him," no, no, no, it is very ferocious. Even it is jewel there, it is ferocious. Similarly, these people are envious. Although they have become so-called Vaiṣṇava, they are ferocious. They have not acquired the qualification of Vaiṣṇava. Simply vesopidin(?), by dress. So what is there? They could not do for the last fifty-sixty years. Still... They wanted to exchange. I stopped it, the Mohini Babu.
| Page Title: | Canakya Pandita gives the example that a serpent that has a jewel on its head is still fearful because it is a serpent |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika |
| Created: | 01 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=1, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=3, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 6 |