The other day we discussed about literature which is very nicely composed from literary point of view or poetic or rhetoric. Very nicely . . . but if there is no description of the Absolute Truth, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that sort of literature is enjoyed by a class of men who are compared with the crows. That we have discussed. It is simply wasting time, valuable time in the human life, to divert our attention to such ordinary literature. They are called grāmya-kathā. In Sanskrit language it is called grāmya-kathā.
Grāmya-kathā means any book, any poetry, or any novel, or any drama, there is some hero and heroine, a man or woman, about their loving affairs, tragedy, comic, like that. Actually, it is grāmya-kathā—the same thing as we are experiencing daily, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam (Hitopadeśa 25), this eating, sleeping, mating, that's all. What is the value of such literature? What do you gain by that? No. Simply mental agitation.
And if it is sex literature, then it is very appealing. So that means it is something like haviṣya kṛta . . . just like if you offer fuels on the fire, the fire will go on, and it will, I mean to say, consume as much as you go on giving fuel. But there is no śānti. The fire will never be extinguished. Actually, what we want? What is the mission of our life? What is the aim of our life? We are hankering after śānti, or peace. So that sort of literature will not give us any peace. It will simply agitate the mind.
Therefore those who are paramahaṁsas, those who have understood the essence of this cosmic manifestation, they are not interested in such literature. On the other hand, it is said that, tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavaḥ. (commentary) Vināpi pada-cāturyaṁ bhagavad-yaśaḥ-pradhānaṁ vacaḥ. Śrīdhara Svāmī gives note that there may not be any poetic, metaphorical or analogical, ornamental language, but vināpi pada-cāturyam. Pada-cāturyam. Pada means composition. In every language there are rules and regulations for composing poetry or prose, grammatical, rhetorical. So even such knowledge, even without such knowledge, pada-cāturyaṁ bhagavad-yaśaḥ-pradhānam.
Just like we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we are not training our students any way about musical science that, "We have to chant in this way or that way; we have to dance in this way or that way." Without any musical knowledge, without any poetic understanding, even a child can take part in it, and he become immediately absorbed in ecstasy. Why? This is because we are chanting the glories of the Lord.