Academic career
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
- śabda-brahmaṇi niṣṇāto na niṣṇāyāt pare yadi
- śramas tasya śrama-phalo hy adhenum iva rakṣataḥ
“If one is learned in the Vedic literature but is not a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu, his work is a useless waste of labor, just like the keeping of a cow that does not give milk.”
Anyone who does not follow the surrendering process but is simply interested in an academic career cannot make any advancement. His profit is only his labor for nothing. If one is expert in the study of the Vedas but does not surrender to a spiritual master or Viṣṇu, all his cultivation of knowledge is but a waste of time and labor.Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
General Lectures
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Sir Alistair Hardy: Well, I'd very much like to have records of experience, accounts of present-day experience. Although as I say, at the moment I'm rather tending to concentrate on the western. I'm hoping to get scholars who are really Sanskrit scholars and those people who can really understand the language of oriental affairs.
Prabhupāda: No, first thing is: this, this is a different science. Science of God is not material science. Simply material, academic career will not help.
Sir Alistair Hardy: No, no. I agree.
Revatīnandana: "Eastern-Western" will not help.
Sir Alistair Hardy: No, I get example (?) to both, both from the East and the West.
Prabhupāda: Simply by becoming Sanskrit scholar or Latin scholar, it is not sufficient. He must be God-realized, purified. Then it is possible. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ: [Brs. 1.2.234] "By your these blunt senses it is not possible to understand what is God, what is His form, what is His name, what is His quality, what is His kingdom, what is His paraphernalia." These things are to be understood. God means... Just like when we speak of "king." King does not mean alone. King means he has got his queen, he has got his kingdom, he has got his secretary, he has got his minister, he has got his palace, he has... so many things, king, royal. When we speak of Queen, we immediately remember the Buckingham Palace, his (her) bodyguards and so many, so many other things. Similarly, God means He has got His entourage also, everything. He's not alone. To understand God means to understand everything of God—His name, His fame, His līlā, His pastimes. So nāmādi. With all these blunt senses, how can we... We cannot understand even the Personality of Godhead, what to speak of other things? "God is a person:"—it is a very difficult subject matter for ordinary man to take it, very difficult subject. That is stated in the... Even the demigods they cannot understand. That is... Because he's thinking materially that "This cosmic manifestation, then creation, is so big, and it is created by a person. How it is possible?" But... Because they do not know what is that person. Simply by the word "person," he is afraid: "Oh, oh, oh, oh."1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.186]. This is the secret of devotional service: nothing to do independent. Then it will be all right. [break] ...the particular, specific qualification of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. How they are doing? They have got so many other institutions. So what is the result? The Graduate Theological Union... So I saw so many names. What they are doing?
Dharmādhyakṣa: Well, that's why they want us to join.
Prabhupāda: But we cannot join like that way.
Dharmādhyakṣa: Oh, no. On our own standards.
Bahulāśva: We will be independent of that group. They will not dictate anything to us.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Let him come. I shall talk with him.
Bahulāśva: Dr. Judah now is in a theological convention in Boston, and he'll be getting back on Tuesday. So he said he'll come down then immediately.
Prabhupāda: Regulative principle is the groundwork foundation of everything. Academic career has nothing to do with it. [break] ...bhaktasya kuto mahad guṇā. Anyone who is not factual devotee, his good qualification, academic qualification, has no value.
Dharmādhyakṣa: Many of the students at the Graduate Theological Union, they might want to come to our college to take just one or two courses. Would it be all right for them to do that?
Prabhupāda: No, everyone is welcome. But they must see what is our ideal. Then one day they will also come. So our ideal should be always there, not that we make some compromise. Then it will not be effective.
Dharmādhyakṣa: In the catalogue we say that to get a degree one must be following the regulative principles, that that is as much an important requirement as the study, academic study.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is very important thing. Otherwise, just like in India, there are caste brāhmaṇas, but they have no ideal, and therefore it is not working.
Bahulāśva: Two āratiks a day, sixteen rounds—these would be also course requirements.
Dharmādhyakṣa: In the study of theology, Śrīla Prabhupāda, there is a section called phenomenology, and phenomenology means the study of the actual practices. So actually, they already have this, but they don't actually practice themselves in their schools. But in our schools we would demand practice. [break]
Bahulāśva: ...could also learn what is Deity worship, how it should be performed. They'd have to learn about chanting...
Prabhupāda: A brāhmaṇa's business is paṭhan pāṭhan yajan yājan danaḥ pratigrahaḥ. Brāhmaṇa means he is learned himself. He is a very erudite scholar. That is brāhmaṇa's first qualification. And he makes others also scholars, not that he remains himself a scholar. This is called paṭhan pāṭhan. Then yajan yājan. Yajan means he worships the Deity, and he teaches others how to worship. Danaḥ pratigrahaḥ. He accepts charity from others, contribution, and he gives it to others. That we have mentioned, I think. What he gets in the day, he gives in the night. So these are six principles to become a brāhmaṇa. Otherwise, if he gets the degree and he smokes, he does not follow, he does not act... Because cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]. Kṛṣṇa said, "The four divisions are according to quality and work." Whether he is qualified, that will be proved by his work, not that he has taken the degree, and now he is smoking. That is going on. Academic means this. They get the degrees and after that they do all nonsense. That is academic. But this Vedic culture is not like that. He must act. Then it will be all right. [break] ...the western culture, the idea is "Never mind whatever his private character. We don't mind. He has passed Ph.D, so let him become teacher." This is western culture. "By privately, he may be rascal. It doesn't matter." That is not brahminical culture. There is no "private" or "public." Antar bahiḥ. Antar means internally, and bahiḥ means external.Correspondence
1968 Correspondence
1971 Correspondence
So far your editorial work is concerned, I welcome your good service but if you do not follow temple life and Deity worship, it will set a bad example. When I was there in N.Y. last time I saw that the tendency was there in the press members not to follow the principles. So I said better to stop the press. Since then Advaita and the others are attending temple worship. Similarly you must also do the same and chant at least 16 rounds, etc.
I am so glad to learn that you are eager to preach but we should know it that we cannot preach without being solid in our standing as devotee.1975 Correspondence
Page Title: | Academic career |
Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Madhavananda |
Created: | 10 of Aug, 2008 |
Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=2, CC=3, OB=0, Lec=6, Con=2, Let=3 |
No. of Quotes: | 16 |