Pursue Spiritual Education

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
25 December 2010, part 4

** came the same year as Gurudev, maybe only eight months or so later. He studied at school and finished perhaps 6-9 grades. When he joined the temple, he saw that many brahmacharis and sannyasis were scholars and educated, so he thought, "What will I do? I am not educated, I must go again to school and study, then come back..."

He told this to his his Guru (Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)—he said, "Guru Maharaj, I want to go to my house again and study."

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj replied, "Who will you study with? You are studying here and your classmates are Sukadev, Vyasadev, Brahma, Maheswar, and others. Who will be your classmates if you go there?"

That knowledge is no knowledge—we want para-vidya (transcendental knowledge). And that kind of vidya (material education) is not real knowledge.

জড়বিদ্যা যয়, মায়ার বৈভব,
তোমার ভজনে বাধা ।
মোহ জনমিয়া অনিত্য সংসারে,
জীবকে করিয়ে গাধা ॥

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,
tomara bhajane badha
moha janamiya, anitya samsare,
jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is a manifestation of illusion (maya) and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation with the temporary world and turns the soul into an ass."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

Do you know the meaning? What is material, mundane education? If you try to get so much mundane education, where there is much education life is going on, it is all mayara vaibhava, illusory environment—it only creates bondage to spiritual benefit and it makes a gadha (a donkey, or an ass) out of the jiva.

I heard that ** was giving some lecture to a professor of an engineer university yesterday. When I heard that man speak (dressed in a suit, with a tie, etc.), I thought, "Bhaktivinod Thakur said they become a gadha, but this man is even more than that—he is a double gadha!"

I also give this example almost every day, it happened a few months ago. There was one very educated man, a bank manager or perhaps even more than a manager, a bank director. His wife was a pilot. The father of the man died, and he was very clever—he said to his mother, "Mother, I have many sisters, and when you die, they will occupy the land. Give that land to my name." The lady had to agree and he registered the family land to his name. After the land had been registered, both the husband and the wife kicked his mother from the house. She went to the High Court, but at the trial her son said, "This is not my mother! She was my father's mistress." That is what knowledge is—that is the result of education.

জড়বিদ্যা যয়, মায়ার বৈভব,
তোমার ভজনে বাধা ।
মোহ জনমিয়া অনিত্য সংসারে,
জীবকে করিয়ে গাধা ॥

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,
tomara bhajane badha
moha janamiya, anitya samsare,
jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is a manifestation of illusion (maya) and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation with the temporary world and turns the soul into an ass."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

They are both big scholars, the wife is a big scholar, and he is a big scholar, a bank manager, but he could say that his mother was a bad woman and was not his mother. And what for? Just for a little property, a little money.

কনক-কামিনী প্রতিষ্ঠা-বাঘিনী
ছাড়িয়াছে যারে সেই ত বৈষ্ণব

kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini,
chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava

"Those who have given up money, women, and fame, are the true Vaishnavs."

(Vaishnav Ke? 11)

For money, women, they forget everything and cannot think about anything else... This is what desire to enjoy does.

tomara kanaka bhogera janaka
kanakera dvare sevaha madhava

"Your money is the source of enjoyment, but you must use money to serve Madhava."

kaminira kama nahe tava dhama
tahara malika kevala yadava

"You hanker for women, but they are not meant for you. Their only proprietor is Yadava, Krishna."

dusta mana ! tumi kisera vaisnava ?

"O naughty mind! What kind of a Vaishnav are you?"

Then you must understand that spiritual knowledge is necessary. Spiritual.

জ্ঞান-যোগ-কর্ম্মচয় মূল্য তার কিছু নয়
ভক্তির বিরোধী যদি হয় ।

jnana-yoga-karma-chaya mulya tara kichhu naya
bhaktira virodhi yadi haya

"Karma, jnana (fruitive activities, knowledge) are nothing, have no value if it is against devotion."

There is no value in karma (fruitive action) or in jnana (knowledge) if they are against devotion—it is all false, it is nothing.

Jay Srila Gurudev! Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

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