All the devotees of Navadvīpa thus began arranging to come to Jagannātha Purī. At this time Paramānanda Purī was at Navadvīpa, and immediately upon hearing news of the Lord's return, he started for Jagannātha Purī accompanied by a brāhmaṇa named Kamalākānta. Puruṣottama Bhaṭṭācārya, a resident of Navadvīpa, was educated at Vārāṇasī. He accepted the renounced order from Caitanyānanda, but he took the name of Svarūpa. Thus he arrived at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. After the demise of Śrī Īśvara Purī, his disciple Govinda, following his instructions, went to serve Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Due to his relationship with Keśava Bhāratī, Brahmānanda Bhāratī was also respectfully received by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When he arrived at Jagannātha Purī, he was advised to give up the deerskin clothing he wore.
Educated (CC and Other Books)
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
Yogamāyā is the name of the internal potency that makes the Lord forget Himself and become an object of love for His pure devotee in different transcendental mellows. This yogamāyā potency creates a spiritual sentiment in the minds of the damsels of Vraja by which they think of Lord Kṛṣṇa as their paramour. This sentiment is never to be compared to mundane illicit sexual love. It has nothing to do with sexual psychology, although the pure love of such devotees seems to be sexual. One should know for certain that nothing can exist in this cosmic manifestation that has no real counterpart in the spiritual field. All material manifestations are emanations of the Transcendence. The erotic principles of amorous love reflected in mixed material values are perverted reflections of the rea
This yogamāyā potency creates a spiritual sentiment in the minds of the damsels of Vraja by which they think of Lord Kṛṣṇa as their paramour. This sentiment is never to be compared to mundane illicit sexual love. It has nothing to do with sexual psychology, although the pure love of such devotees seems to be sexual. One should know for certain that nothing can exist in this cosmic manifestation that has no real counterpart in the spiritual field. All material manifestations are emanations of the Transcendence. The erotic principles of amorous love reflected in mixed material values are perverted reflections of the reality of spirit, but one cannot understand the reality unless one is sufficiently educated in the spiritual science.
For an ordinary man, worship of Śrī Caitanya and Nityānanda Prabhu or the Pañca-tattva is easier than worship of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Unless one is very fortunate, he should not be induced to worship Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa directly. A neophyte student who is not sufficiently educated or enlightened should not indulge in the worship of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa or the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Even if he does so, he cannot get the desired result. One should therefore chant the names of Nitāi-Gaura and worship Them without false prestige. Since everyone within this material world is more or less influenced by sinful activities, in the beginning it is essential that one take to the worship of Guru-Gaurāṅga and ask their favor, for thus despite all his disqualifications one will very soon become qualified to worship the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa vigraha.
Anyone who takes birth in the land of India (Bhārata-varṣa) has the special privilege of being able to take advantage of the instruction and guidance of the Vedic civilization. He automatically receives the basic principles of spiritual life, for 99.9% of the Indian people, even simple village farmers and others who are neither educated nor sophisticated, believe in the transmigration of the soul, believe in past and future lives, believe in God, and naturally want to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His representative. These ideas are the natural inheritance of a person born in India. India has many holy places of pilgrimage, such as Gayā, Benares, Mathurā, Prayāga, Vṛndāvana, Haridvāra, Rāmeśvaram and Jagannātha Purī, and still people go there by the hundreds and thousands.
Even when imitation incarnations of Godhead speak, people gather in the thousands, for everyone who is born in the land of India has a natural spiritual inclination and is taught the basic principles of spiritual life; they merely need to be a little more educated in the Vedic principles. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says here, janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra: if an Indian is educated in the Vedic principles, he is able to perform the most beneficial welfare activity for the entire world.
At present, for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, the entire world is in darkness, having been covered by the four principles of sinful life—meat-eating, illicit sex, gambling and intoxication. Therefore there is a need for vigorous propaganda to educate people to refrain from sinful activities.
"Every living entity is an eternal part, an eternal servant, of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Every living entity who attains the human form of life can understand the importance of his position and thus become eligible to become a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. We take it for granted, therefore, that all humanity should be educated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Indeed, in all parts of the world, in every country where we preach the saṅkīrtana movement, we find that people very easily accept the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra without hesitation. The visible effect of this chanting is that the members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, regardless of their backgrounds, all give up the four principles of sinful life and come to an elevated standard of devotion.
"It is the duty of a father to educate his son in both religion and morality. If I do not give Him this education, how will He know of it?"
The brāhmaṇa Jagannātha Miśra saw in his dream told him that his son was not an ordinary human being. If He were a transcendental person, He would have self-effulgent knowledge, and thus there would be no need to educate Him.
In this way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu contributed the greatest benefit to the people of East Bengal by initiating them into hari-nāma, the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and making them learned scholars by educating them.
After coming back from East Bengal, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu again began educating others. By the strength of His education He conquered everyone, and thus He was greatly proud.
"I reward everyone according to his surrender unto Me." Māyāvādīs certainly realize Brahman in certain aspects, but realization of Brahman in the aspects of wine, women and meat is not the same realization of Brahman that devotees achieve by chanting, dancing and eating prasādam. Māyāvādī philosophers, being educated in paltry knowledge, think all sorts of Brahman realization one and the same and do not consider varieties. But although Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, by His inconceivable potency He is simultaneously not everywhere. Thus the Brahman realization of the tantric cult is not the same Brahman realization as that of pure devotees. Unless one reaches the highest point of Brahman realization, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is punishable. All people except Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees are to some proportion pāṣaṇḍīs, or demons, and thus they are punishable by the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, as stated below.
The śāstra says, pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalā: one should not be carried away by the propensities of defective conditioned life; one should be guided by the principles of the śāstras. A child's propensity is to play all day long, but it is the injunction of the śāstras that the parents should take care to educate him. The śāstras are there just to guide the activities of human society. But because people do not refer to the instructions of śāstras, which are free from defects and imperfections, they are therefore misguided by so-called educated teachers and leaders who are full of the deficiencies of conditioned life.
Higher education is not meant for everyone. Only selected individuals trained in brahminical culture should be allowed to pursue a higher education. Educational institutions should not aim to teach technology, for a technologist cannot properly be called educated. A technologist is a śūdra; only one who studies the Vedas may properly be called a learned man (paṇḍita). The duty of a brāhmaṇa is to become learned in the Vedic literature and teach the Vedic knowledge to other brāhmaṇas. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we are simply teaching our students to become fit brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. In our school at Dallas, the students are learning English and Sanskrit, and through these two languages they are studying all our books, such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and The Nectar of Devotion. It is a mistake to educate every student as a technologist.
CC Madhya-lila
“You are a most aristocratic family man, well educated and very rich. I am not at all aristocratic, and I am without a decent education and have no wealth.
Due to pious activities, one can be enriched by four opulences: one may obtain birth in an aristocratic family, become highly educated, become very beautiful or get a sufficient quantity of riches. These are symptoms of pious activities performed in one's past life. In India it is still current for an aristocratic family never to consider a marriage with a common family.
Sarasvatī is the goddess of music and learning, and in one hand she holds a musical instrument called a vīṇā. A sannyāsī who is always engaged in music for spiritual elevation is called Sarasvatī. One who has become completely educated and is freed from all kinds of ignorance and who is never unhappy, even in a distressed condition, is called Bhāratī. One who has become very expert in absolute knowledge, who is situated in the Absolute Truth, and who always discusses the Absolute Truth is called Purī.
“Although I am in the renounced order of life and Dāmodara is a brahmacārī, he still keeps a stick in his hand just to educate Me.
Later, the clerical class became the kāyasthas in Bengal. Now there are many mixed classes known as kāyastha. Sometimes it is said in Bengal that those who cannot claim any particular class belong to the kāyastha class. Although these kāyasthas or karaṇas are considered śūdras, they are very intelligent and highly educated. Most of them are professionals such as lawyers or politicians. Thus in Bengal the kāyasthas are sometimes considered kṣatriyas. In Orissa, however, the kāyastha class, which includes the karaṇas, is considered in the śūdra category. Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya belonged to this karaṇa class; therefore he was considered a śūdra. He was also the governor of South India under the regime of Mahārāja Pratāparudra of Orissa. In other words, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya informed Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu that Rāmānanda Rāya, although belonging to the śūdra class, was a highly responsible government officer.
Their pastimes, the seventh to dress and decorate both hero and heroine, the eighth to show expertise in expressing Their desires, the ninth to conceal the faults of the heroine, the tenth to cheat their respective husbands and relatives, the eleventh to educate, the twelfth to enable the hero and heroine to meet at the proper time, the thirteenth to fan the hero and heroine, the fourteenth to sometimes reproach the hero and heroine, the fifteenth to set conversations in motion, and the sixteenth to protect the heroine by various means.
This is a statement given by Prahlāda Mahārāja in answer to a question raised by his father. Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "To hear or chant about Lord Viṣṇu, to remember Him, to serve His lotus feet, to worship Him, to offer prayers to Him, to become His servant and His friend, to sacrifice everything for His service—all these are varieties of devotional service. One who is engaged in such activities is understood to be educated to the topmost perfection."
"You have manifested all these transcendental truths in my heart. This is exactly the way Nārāyaṇa educated Lord Brahmā."
The word jīva-hiṁsā (envy of other living entities) actually means stopping the preaching of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Preaching work is described as paropakāra, welfare activity for others. Those who are ignorant of the benefits of devotional service must be educated by preaching. If one stops preaching and simply sits down in a solitary place, he is engaging in material activity. If one desires to make a compromise with the Māyāvādīs, he is also engaged in material activity. A devotee should never make compromises with nondevotees. By acting as a professional guru, mystic yogī or miracle man, one may cheat and bluff the general public and gain fame as a wonderful mystic, but all this is considered to be dust, straw and grains of sand within the heart. In addition, one should follow the regulative principles and not desire illicit sex, gambling, intoxicants or meat.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa-vijaya is a book of poems considered to be the first poetry book written in Bengal. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura states that this book was begun in the year 1395 Śakābda (A.D. 1473). After seven years, it was completed (in 1402 Śakābda). This book was written in plain language, and even half-educated Bengalis and women could read it very clearly. Even ordinary men with little knowledge of the alphabet could read this book and understand it. Its language is not very ornamental, and sometimes the poetry is not very sweet to hear. Although according to the sonnet style each line should contain fourteen syllables, there are sometimes sixteen, twelve or thirteen syllables in his verse. Many words used in those days could be understood only by local inhabitants, yet this book is still so popular that no bookstore is complete without it. It is very valuable for those who are interested in advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Such are the qualifications of a pure devotee. Materially one may be very opulent, experienced, influential and educated, but if one still thinks himself lower than straw in the street, one attracts the attention of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu or Lord Kṛṣṇa. Although Mahārāja Pratāparudra was a king, he took up a broom to cleanse the road for Lord Jagannātha's ratha (chariot). Because of this humble service, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very pleased with the King, and for that reason the Lord embraced him. According to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instructions, a devotee should never be puffed up by material power. He should know that material power is the result of one's past good activities (karma) and is consequently transient.
Actually Vedānta philosophy is meant for the devotees because in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) Lord Kṛṣṇa says, vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham: "I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas." Vyāsadeva is an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, and consequently Kṛṣṇa is the compiler of Vedānta philosophy. Therefore Kṛṣṇa clearly knows the purport of Vedānta philosophy. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, whoever hears Vedānta philosophy from Kṛṣṇa is actually aware of the real meaning of Vedānta. The Māyāvādīs call themselves Vedāntists but do not at all understand the purport of Vedānta philosophy. Not being properly educated, people in general think that Vedānta means the Śaṅkarite interpretation.
Although this mission was started with insignificant capital, it is now going nicely. The spreading of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in the West has become successful because the young people were not offenders. The youths who joined this movement were not very advanced as far as purity is concerned, nor were they very well educated in Vedic knowledge, but because they were not offenders, they could accept the importance of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. We are now very happy to see that this movement is advancing more and more in the Western countries. We therefore conclude that the so-called mlecchas and yavanas of the Western countries are more purified than offensive Māyāvādīs or atheistic impersonalists.
Whenever a person in the Western world becomes interested in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, he is initiated by this process. In India we are falsely accused of converting mlecchas and yavanas to the Hindu religion. In India there are many Māyāvādī sannyāsīs known as jagad-guru, although they have hardly visited the whole world. Some are not even sufficiently educated, yet they make accusations against our movement and accuse us of destroying the principles of the Hindu religion by accepting Muslims and yavanas as Vaiṣṇavas. Such people are simply envious. We are not spoiling the Hindu system of religion but are simply following in the footsteps of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by traveling all over the world and accepting those who are interested in understanding Kṛṣṇa as Kṛṣṇadāsa or Rāmadāsa. By the process of a bona fide initiation, their names are changed.
Dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa are called catur-varga. They are all within the system of inferior, material knowledge. Any literature giving information about the spiritual world, spiritual life, spiritual identity and the spirit soul is called parā vidyā. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not have anything to do with the materialistic way of life; it gives transcendental information to educate people in the superior system of parā vidyā. Sanātana Gosvāmī was engaged in discussing the bhāgavata-vidyā, which means he discussed transcendental superior knowledge. Those who are karmīs, jñānīs or yogīs are not actually fit to discuss Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Only Vaiṣṇavas, or pure devotees, are fit to discuss that literature. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam itself (12.13.18):
This human form of life is meant for more than these four animal principles. Eating, sleeping, mating and defending are problems found in the animal kingdom, and the animals have solved these problems without difficulty. Why should human society be so busy trying to solve these problems? The difficulty is that people are not educated to understand this simple philosophy. They think that advancement of civilization means increasing sense gratification.
There are many religious propagandists who do not know how the ultimate problems of life can be solved, and they also try to educate people in a form of sense gratification. This is also jīva-hiṁsana. Real knowledge is not given, and religionists mislead the general populace. As far as material profits are concerned, one should know that whatever material profit one has must be abandoned at the time of death. Unfortunately people do not know that there is life after death; therefore mundane people waste their time amassing material profit which has to be left behind at the time of death. Such profit has no eternal benefit.
Actually Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī belonged to a brāhmaṇa family because he belonged to the Sārasvata division of the brāhmaṇas and was well cultured and well educated. Somehow or other he accepted a ministership in the Muslim government; therefore he had to associate with meat-eaters, drunkards and gross materialists. Sanātana Gosvāmī considered himself fallen, for in the association of such men, he also fell victim to material enjoyment. Having passed his life in that way, he considered that he had wasted his valuable time. This statement about how one can become fallen in this material world is made by the greatest authority in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya. Actually the whole world is presently fallen into material existence. Everyone is a meat-eater, drunkard, woman-hunter, gambler and whatnot. People are enjoying material life by committing the four basic sins. Although they are fallen, if they simply submit themselves at the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they will be saved from sinful reactions.
“The forgetful conditioned soul is educated by Kṛṣṇa through the Vedic literatures, the realized spiritual master and the Supersoul. Through these, he can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is, and he can understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa is his eternal master and deliverer from the clutches of māyā. In this way one can acquire real knowledge of his conditioned life and can come to understand how to attain liberation.
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya/ janmādy asya yato ’nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ: "The Absolute Truth is a person who is directly and indirectly cognizant of the entire cosmic manifestation."
The Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, educated Lord Brahmā from the heart (SB 1.1.1): tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye. Therefore the Absolute Truth cannot be dull matter; the Absolute Truth must be the Supreme Person Himself. Sei puruṣa māyā-pāne kare avadhāna. Simply by His glance, material nature is impregnated with all living entities. According to their karma and fruitive activity, they emerge in different bodies. That is the explanation given by the Bhagavad-gītā (2.13):
Thus they are honored all over the three worlds, and they are worth taking shelter of because they are absorbed in the mood of the gopīs and are engaged in the transcendental loving service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement continues the tradition of the six Gosvāmīs, especially Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Serious students of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement must understand their great responsibility to preach the cult of Vṛndāvana (devotional service to the Lord) all over the world. We now have a nice temple in Vṛndāvana, and serious students should take advantage of it. I am very hopeful that some of our students can take up this responsibility and render the best service to humanity by educating people in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
As followers of the Vedic principles, we accept the statements of Nārada Muni in this regard. It is our duty to see that no one suffers due to sinful activities. Foolish rascals are described in the Bhagavad-gītā as māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.15), which indicates that although they are superficially educated, māyā has taken their real knowledge away. Such people are presently leading human society. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam they are described as andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31). These rascals are themselves blind, and yet they are leading others who are blind. When people follow such leaders, they suffer unlimited pains in the future. Despite so-called advancement, all this is happening. Who is safe? Who is happy? Who is without anxiety?
After converting into Vaiṣṇavas all the residents of Vārāṇasī, who were headed by the sannyāsīs, and after completely educating and instructing Sanātana Gosvāmī there, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu returned to Jagannātha Purī.
CC Antya-lila
There are nine different processes of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, the most important being śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam (SB 7.5.23)—hearing and chanting. Haridāsa Ṭhākura knew this science very well, and he can therefore be called, technically, sarva-śāstrādhītī. Anyone who has learned the essence of all the Vedic scriptures is to be known as a first-class educated person, with full knowledge of all śāstra.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Just give up everything and surrender unto Me. I will take care of you and protect you from all the reactions to sinful activities." (BG 18.66) The Lord is very kind to His devotees, and He is very grateful, able and magnanimous. It is our duty to believe His words, and if we are intelligent and educated enough, we will follow His instructions without hesitation. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.48.26) Akrūra tells Kṛṣṇa:
- kaḥ paṇḍitas tvad aparaṁ śaraṇaṁ samīyād
- bhakta-priyād ṛta-giraḥ suhṛdaḥ kṛta-jñāt
- sarvān dadāti suhṛdo bhajato 'bhikāmān
- ātmānam apy upacayāpacayau na yasya
"Who can surrender to anyone other than Yourself? Who is as dear, truthful, friendly and grateful as You? You are so perfect and complete that even though You give Yourself to Your devotee, You are still full and perfect. You can satisfy all the desires of Your devotee and even deliver Yourself unto him."
The Māyāvādī sannyāsī is simply supposed to engage in the study of Vedānta. Therefore when the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs in Benares saw that Lord Caitanya was indulging in singing, dancing, playing musical instruments and always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, they concluded that He was not educated and that, out of sentiment, He was misleading His followers. Śaṅkarācārya's injunction was that a sannyāsī should always be engaged in the study of Vedānta and that he should be satisfied by simply having one cloth and nothing more. Because Lord Caitanya neither studied Vedānta formally nor ceased from singing and dancing He was criticized by all the sannyāsīs at Benares, as well as by their householder followers.
A person who is completely ignorant of the science of God cannot be considered learned. More or less, everyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is subject to foolishness. Sometimes we display our foolishness by accepting someone who is barely educated as a spiritual master. It is our duty to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose lotus feet are worshiped by all the Vedas. One who does not understand Him and is proud of a false understanding of Vedānta is actually a fool. Mundane attempts at academic knowledge are simply another type of foolishness. As long as one cannot understand the cosmic manifestation as a representation of the three modes of material nature, he must be considered to be in the darkness of inebriety and caught in the duality of this material world.
Nectar of Devotion
Anyone who knows the science of Kṛṣṇa and is engaged in the service of the Lord is accepted as being in a higher position than a person born in the family of a brāhmaṇa. That is the original principle accepted by all Vedic literatures, especially by Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The principle of Lord Caitanya's movement in educating and elevating everyone to the exalted post of a gosvāmī is taught in The Nectar of Devotion.
Lord Caitanya met the two brothers Dabira Khāsa and Sākara Mallika in a village known as Rāmakeli in the district of Maldah, and after that meeting the brothers decided to retire from government service and join Lord Caitanya. Dabira Khāsa, who was later to become Rūpa Gosvāmī, retired from his post and collected all the money he had accumulated during his service.
On the other hand, a person who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has no good qualities. He may be highly educated from the academic point of view, but in the actual field of his activities he can be seen to be baser than the animals. Even though a person is highly educated academically, if he cannot go beyond the sphere of mental activities then he is sure to perform only material activities and thus remain impure. There are so many persons in the modern world who have been highly educated in the materialistic universities, but it is seen that they cannot take up the movement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and develop the high qualities of the demigods.
For example, a Kṛṣṇa conscious boy, even if he is not very well educated by the university standard, can immediately give up all illicit sex life, gambling, meat-eating and intoxication, whereas those who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, although very highly educated, are often drunkards, meat-eaters, sexmongers and gamblers.
It has been seen that great Māyāvādī (impersonalist) sannyāsīs—very highly educated and almost realized souls—may sometimes take to political activities or to social welfare activities. The reason is that they actually do not derive any ultimate transcendental happiness in the impersonal understanding and therefore must come down to the material platform and take to such mundane affairs. There are many instances, especially in India, where these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs descend to the material platform again. But a person who is fully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness will never return to any sort of material platform. However alluring and attracting they may be, he always knows that no material welfare activities can compare to the spiritual activity of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
When a person is highly educated and acts strictly on moral principles, he is called highly learned. A person conversant in different departments of knowledge is called educated, and because he acts on moral principles, he is called morally stout. Together, these two factors constitute learning.
Kṛṣṇa's receiving education from Sāndīpani Muni is described by Śrī Nārada Muni as follows: "In the beginning, Lord Brahmā and others are like clouds of evaporated water from the great ocean of Kṛṣṇa. In other words, Brahmā first received the Vedic education from Kṛṣṇa, as the clouds receive water from the ocean. That Vedic education or instruction which was spoken by Brahmā to the world was then reposed upon the mountain of Sāndīpani Muni. Sāndīpani Muni's instructions to Kṛṣṇa are like a reservoir of water on the mountain, which flows as a river and goes again to mix with the source, the ocean of Kṛṣṇa."
One householder devotee once said, "My Lord, I am so wretched that these two eyes are never desiring to see the glorious city of Mathurā. Therefore, my eyes are actually condemned. I am nicely educated, but my education has simply been used in government service. I have not considered formidable time, stronger than anything else, which creates and annihilates everything. To whom shall I leave all of my wealth and fortune? I am becoming older and older. What shall I do? Shall I execute devotional service from here at home? This I cannot do, because my mind is being attracted by the transcendental land of Vṛndāvana."
This is an instance of hopelessness, pride, doubt, patience, lamentation, determination and eagerness—an aggregation of seven different symptoms in ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa.
Nectar of Instruction
The world is full of Māyāvādīs and atheists, and the political parties of the world take advantage of Māyāvāda and other atheistic philosophies to promote materialism. Sometimes they even back a strong party to oppose the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The Māyāvādīs and other atheists do not want the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to develop because it educates people in God consciousness. Such is the policy of the atheists. There is no benefit in feeding a snake milk and bananas because the snake will never be satisfied. On the contrary, by taking milk and bananas the snake simply becomes more poisonous (kevalaṁ viṣa-vardhanam). If a snake is given milk to drink, its poison simply increases. For a similar reason, we should not disclose our minds to the serpent Māyāvādīs and karmīs. Such disclosures will never help. It is best to avoid association with them completely and never ask them about anything confidential because they cannot give good advice.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
This is the perfect example of Kṛṣṇa consciousness: to somehow or other remain always engrossed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa. The vivid example is always present in the behavior of the gopīs; therefore Lord Caitanya declared that no one can worship the Supreme Lord by any method which is better than the method of the gopīs. The gopīs were not born in very high brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya families; they were born in the families of vaiśyas, and not in big mercantile communities but in the families of cowherd men. They were not very well educated, although they heard all sorts of knowledge from the brāhmaṇas, the authorities of Vedic knowledge. The gopīs' only purpose was to remain always absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa.
Another word Mahārāja Parīkṣit used when he addressed Śukadeva Gosvāmī is suvrata, which means to take a vow to enact pious activities. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was an educated brahmacārī, and under the circumstances it was not possible for him to indulge in sex. This is strictly prohibited for brahmacārīs, and what to speak of a brahmacārī like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. But because the circumstances of the rāsa dance were very suspect, Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired for clarification from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Śukadeva Gosvāmī immediately replied that transgressions of religious principles by the supreme controller testify to His great power. For example, fire can consume any abominable thing; that is the manifestation of the supremacy of fire. Similarly, the sun can absorb water from a urinal or from stool, and the sun is not polluted; rather, due to the influence of the sunshine, the polluted, contaminated place becomes disinfected and sterilized.
Actually, whatever knowledge you and I received in life was accumulated in our student life.
“If a man is sufficiently educated in student life under the guidance of a proper teacher, his life becomes successful in the future. He can very easily cross over the ocean of nescience, and he is not subject to the influence of the illusory energy. My dear friend, everyone should consider his father to be his first teacher because by the mercy of one's father one gets this body. The father is therefore the natural spiritual master. Our next spiritual master is he who initiates us into transcendental knowledge, and he is to be worshiped as much as I am. The spiritual master may be more than one. The spiritual master who instructs the disciple about spiritual matters is called the śikṣā-guru, and the spiritual master who initiates the disciple is called the dīkṣā-guru. Both of them are My representatives. There may be many spiritual masters who instruct, but the initiator spiritual master is one.
It is stated herein that such sages, including Nārada Muni, hardly ever travel on land; they perpetually travel in space.
Sages like Nārada and the Kumāras travel throughout the universe to educate the conditioned souls that their business in the world is not that of sense gratification but of reinstating themselves in their original position of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is stated in several places that the living entities are like sparks of the fire and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is like the fire itself. If the sparks somehow or other fall out of the fire, they lose their natural illumination; thus it is ascertained that the living entities come into this material world exactly as sparks fall from a great fire. The living entity wants to imitate Kṛṣṇa and tries to lord it over material nature in order to enjoy sense gratification; thus he forgets his original position, and his illuminating power, his spiritual identity, is extinguished.
To preach this process of devotional service, sages and saints like Nārada and the Kumāras travel all over the universe educating people and increasing their disciples. Their aim is that all the conditioned souls may be educated to revive their original consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and thus gain relief from the miserable conditions of material life.
Śrī Nārada Muni is a naiṣṭhika-brahmacārī. There are four types of brahmacārīs. The first is called sāvitra, which refers to a brahmacārī who, after initiation and the sacred thread ceremony, must observe at least three days of celibacy. The next is called prājāpatya, which refers to a brahmacārī who strictly observes celibacy for at least one year after initiation. The next is called brāhma-brahmacārī, which refers to a brahmacārī who observes celibacy from the time of initiation up to the time of the completion of his study of the Vedic literature.
Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī informed Mahārāja Parīkṣit that he had heard from reliable sources that simply to teach the children of the Yadu dynasty there were as many as 38,800,000 tutors, or ācāryas. If so many teachers were needed to educate their children, one can simply imagine how vast was the number of family members. As for their military strength, it is said that King Ugrasena alone had ten quadrillion soldiers as personal bodyguards.
Before the advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa within this universe, there were many battles between the demons and the demigods. Many demons died in the fighting, and they all were given the chance to take birth in high royal families on this earth. Because of their royal exalted posts, all these demons became very much puffed up, and their only business was to harass their subjects. Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared on this planet just at the end of Dvāpara-yuga to annihilate all these demoniac kings.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
Human beings are divided into two categories: the law-abiders and the law-breakers. Those who care only about satisfying their senses and do not submit to discipline and law are like animals, completely uncontrolled. Whether such an uncontrolled person is cultured or uncultured, educated or uneducated, weak or strong, his actions are always bestial. Their can never benefit anyone.
The law-abiding human beings are further divided into three groups: the karmīs, or fruitive workers, the jñānīs, or knowledge-seekers, and the bhaktas, or devotees. The karmīs are divided into two sections: the sakāma-karmīs, or fruitive workers who want to enjoy the results of their labor, and the naiṣkāma-karmīs, who renounce the fruits of action. The sakāma-karmīs are greedy after insignificant, transient happiness.
Our youth are being brought up in a tradition of veiled contempt for religion and everything religious. Spiritualists and religious devotees are the laughing-stock of the educated youth, and as the general masses are religious-minded and have great respect and reverence for such devotees and spiritualists, they feel generally disgusted with the attitude of the educated class and have no regard for them. The educated class has also no affection for the masses, whose way of life is mostly molded by religious ideas. The result is that the educated classes have not been able to produce a sufficient number of servants to work with a real missionary spirit for the amelioration of the suffering of the masses.
Dr. Ane goes on to say that the existing academic courses in schools and colleges exclude classes on religion.
Members of the so-called educated class ask, "If one is busy all the time rendering devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, how is one to maintain himself and his family?" The so-called educated men think only a fool would be blind to his immediate physical needs and uselessly waste his time in devotional service so he could rise to the platform of a mahātmā. In fact, they think that a real mahātmā is he who strives to improve his material facilities from good to better. They say that it is because of the economists' poor planning that the world is facing a major crisis in food production. Both the economists and their critics should turn to the Bhagavad-gītā (9.22) and hear what Lord Kṛṣṇa has to say on this subject:
The devotees and saints are solely concerned with receiving the Lord's message in the Gītā as it is, while the mundane scholars fond of word jugglery look for secondary meanings.
To educate those who are enamored by empirical arguments and who do not receive transcendental knowledge through any bona fide disciplic succession—and who are thus going astray—we have compiled the essential knowledge of the Bhagavad-gītā in a nutshell:
1) Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes. The definition of God is given in this aphorism from the Vedas: "By Him and from Him is manifest this universe, and He controls its creation, sustenance, and annihilation." He is the mainstay of both this unlimited variegated cosmic manifestation and the immeasurable spiritual sky, the Vaikuṇṭhas.
Light of the Bhagavata
In Kali-yuga, however, the entire system has gone topsy-turvy. The student lives in luxury at the expense of the father or the father-in-law. When the educated, indulgent student becomes a householder by the strength of university degrees, he requires money by all means for all kinds of bodily comfort, and therefore he cannot spare even a penny for the so-called vānaprasthas and sannyāsīs. The vānaprasthas and sannyāsīs nowadays are those who were unsuccessful in family life. Thus the so-called sannyāsīs try to construct another home in the name of the sannyāsa-āśrama and glide down into all sorts of luxury at the expense of others. So all these varṇas and āśramas have now become so many transcendental frauds.
Sri Isopanisad
The more a man forgets this fact of life, the more he is in darkness. In view of this, a godless civilization directed toward the so-called advancement of education is more dangerous than a civilization in which the masses of people are less "educated."
Of the different classes of men—karmīs, jñānīs and yogīs—the karmīs are those who are engaged in the activities of sense gratification. In the modern civilization, 99.9 percent of the people are engaged in the activities of sense gratification under the flags of industrialism, economic development, altruism, political activism, and so on. All these activities are more or less based on satisfaction of the senses, to the exclusion of the kind of God consciousness described in the first mantra.
The primeval Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, also says in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.26) that He is fully conscious of past, present and future and that no one, including demigods such as Śiva and Brahmā, knows Him fully. Certainly half-educated "spiritual leaders" who are disturbed by the tides of material existence cannot know Him fully. They try to make some compromise by making the mass of humanity the object of worship, but they do not know that such worship is only a myth because the masses are imperfect. The attempt by these so-called spiritual leaders is something like pouring water on the leaves of a tree instead of the root. The natural process is to pour water on the root, but such disturbed leaders are more attracted to the leaves than the root. Despite their perpetually watering the leaves, however, everything dries up for want of nourishment.
This is the Lord's last instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.66): sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. "Give up all other processes and just surrender unto Me alone." Unfortunately, foolish men have misinterpreted this prime teaching and misled the masses of people in diverse ways. People have been urged to open hospitals but not to educate themselves to enter into the spiritual kingdom by devotional service. They have been taught to take interest only in temporary relief work, which can never bring real happiness to the living entity. They start varieties of public and semi-governmental institutions to tackle the devastating power of nature, but they don't know how to pacify insurmountable nature. Many men are advertised as great scholars of the Bhagavad-gītā, but they overlook the Gītā's message, by which material nature can be pacified. Powerful nature can be pacified only by the awakening of God consciousness, as clearly pointed out in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.14).
By knowing the material manifestation alone, one cannot be saved, for in the course of nature there is devastation at every moment (ahany ahani bhūtāni gacchantīha yamā-layam). Nor can one be saved from these devastations by the opening of hospitals. One can be saved only by complete knowledge of the eternal life of bliss and awareness. The whole Vedic scheme is meant to educate men in this art of attaining eternal life. People are often misguided by temporary attractive things based on sense gratification, but service rendered to the sense objects is both misleading and degrading.
We must therefore save ourselves and our fellow man in the right way. There is no question of liking or disliking the truth. It is there. If we want to be saved from repeated birth and death, we must take to the devotional service of the Lord. There can be no compromise, for this is a matter of necessity.
| Page Title: | Educated (CC and Other Books) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 26 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=36, OB=24, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 60 |