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Mudha-mate means

Lectures

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Mūḍha-mate means "You foolish nonsense, you kindly worship Govinda."
Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.109-114 -- San Francisco, February 20, 1967:

Śaṅkarācārya is the incarnation of Lord Śiva, and he's a great devotee. Śaṅkara... Vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ: "There are many devotees of the Lord, but the foremost devotee is Lord Śiva." And he has got a disciplic succession which is called Viṣṇu Svāmī-sampradāya. So Śaṅkarācārya was covered devotee. He's covered devotee. His aim was to bring men to the standard of devotional service, but the time and circumstances in which he was preaching, he could not place his real object because they were unable to understand. At last, at the end of his life, he composed so many poetries in praise of Vṛndāvana-līlā, and especially his very famous Catpar pandika (?), that is, he has stated,

bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ
bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate
prāpte sannihite kāla maraṇe
na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ-karaṇe

"My dear foolish brothers, you kindly worship Kṛṣṇa, Govinda..." Thrice he has said, bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate. Mūḍha-mate means "You foolish nonsense, you kindly worship Govinda." Why? Now, prāpte sannihite kāla maraṇe: "When death will be nearer, your this grammatical interpretation, ḍukṛñ karaṇe, this pratha (?), that pratha (?), arguing, jugglery of words, will not save you, will not save you. You please worship Govinda." That is his instruction. And there are many others.

So Śaṅkarācārya was a covered devotee. He was devotee. Somebody accuses Śaṅkarācārya that he was covered Buddhist. But so far I am concerned, I say that Śaṅkarācārya was covered devotee.

Muḍḥa mate means "you fools."
Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.353-354 -- New York, December 26, 1966:

So there is a very famous prayer made by Śaṅkara... Śaṅkarācārya has made many prayers about Kṛṣṇa, especially about His Vṛndāvana līlā, he has made. He has worshiped Kṛṣṇa in many ways. And last, this is his last composition of poetry. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha mate: "You fools, you mūḍha mate..." Muḍḥa mate means "you fools." He was addressing the whole world, "you fools." Bhaja govindam: "Just become devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Just become Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Prāpte sannihite kāle maraṇe na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ-karaṇe: "You are philosophizing. You are talking on grammar and this way and that way." Because these people, they want to establish impersonalism from Bhagavad-gītā by strength of grammar. Such a nonsense they are. They want to understand God by..., through grammar. God is so cheap that He can be understood through grammar. Therefore especially he specified, prāpte sannihite kāle maraṇe: "When death will catch you, your grammar, ḍukṛñ, prata, this will not save you. You fools. You please become Kṛṣṇa conscious, Kṛṣṇa conscious." That was the instruction of Śaṅkarācārya. And he has especially mentioned Bhagavad-gītā and Ganges water. He especially mentions. "A little quantity of Ganges water and a little study of Bhagavad-gītā will save you from many dangerous positions."

General Lectures

Mūḍha-mate means "you rascals and fools"
Town Hall Lecture -- Auckland, April 14, 1972:

Even Śaṅkarācārya, from whom we differ in philosophical discussion... Not very much different—so far the procedure is concerned, the regulative principles are concerned, they are all the same. The only difference is that Śaṅkarācārya's sampradāya, they take the ultimate Absolute Truth as impersonal, and we Vaiṣṇavas, we take the Absolute Truth as person. But Śaṅkarācārya, in his later stage, he also admitted in a different way. He said in his last prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead,

bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ
bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate
samprāpte sannihite kāle marane
na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ-karaṇe

So he said to his disciples, "You foolish, mūḍha-mate..."—mūḍha-mate means "you rascals and fools"—"you just take to Govinda. You just worship Govinda, personal Govinda." Bhaja govindam, three times. Three times means he is giving stress. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate: three times. Prāpte sannihite kāle marane: "When your death will be near, at the point of your death," na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ-karaṇe. Ḍukṛñ-karaṇe means a grammatical jugglery, that "This word should be interpreted like this. This word should be interpreted like this." So, "This fight of interpretation will not save you. Better from the very beginning you worship Govinda. That will save you." This is his instruction. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate. And so far we are concerned, Vaiṣṇavas, we all accept govinda, ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi, Govinda, the Supreme Person, the original Personality Godhead, govindam.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Mūḍha-mate means "You rascal."
Room Conversation With John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison -- September 11, 1969, London, At Tittenhurst:

Prabhupāda: So authority means one who has accepted Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord. Then he is authority.

Yoko Ono: Now, who said that?

Prabhupāda: Everyone says. All authorities. Śaṅkarācārya says. Rāmānujācārya says. Those who are really authorities, those disciplic succession is going on. In India, there are five sects. Actually two sects. Vaiṣṇava and Śaṅkara. So the Vaiṣṇava accept Kṛṣṇa as the authority, and Śaṅkara accepted Kṛṣṇa authority. There are no third sect. Practically, actually, there is one sect, the Vaiṣṇava. Anyway, later on, later ages, Śaṅkarācārya established his sect. But Śaṅkarācārya accepts that kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam: (SB 1.3.28) "Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead," in his writing. And at his last stage of his life he said, "You rascal fools, what you are dealing with? That will not save you." Bhaja govindam: "You just worship Kṛṣṇa." Bhaja govindam bhaja govindam bhaja govindam mūḍha-mate. Mūḍha-mate means "You rascal." (laughter)

John Lennon: Means what?

Gurudāsa: "You rascal."

Prabhupāda: "You rascal, just worship Kṛṣṇa and become devotee of Kṛṣṇa, Govinda."

bhaja govindam bhaja govindam
bhaja govindam mūḍha-mate
prāpte sannihite kāle
na hi na hi rakṣati dukṛñ-karaṇe

"When your death will come, all this grammatical jugglery of words will not save you. Kṛṣṇa can save you. So you bhaja govindam." That is instruction of Śaṅkarācārya.

Page Title:Mudha-mate means
Compiler:Rishab
Created:14 of Feb, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=3, Con=1, Let=0
No. of Quotes:4