Jada-Vidya

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary
27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 11

Do you have any other questions?

[A question about knowledge follows.]

Material knowledge (jada-vidya) means,

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)

Jada-vidya means all knowledge besides the knowledge about devotion. That includes school knowledge, yoga-vidya, karma-vidya, jnana-vidya, etc. In the place of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya there is a school of Vidya Vachaspati, and there you will find patanjali-vidya also. This is described in Nabadwip-dham-mahatmya.

Through such knowledge you cannot get devotion. If you want to get devotion, you must renounce, give up all kinds of material knowledge. Vidya Vachaspati and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya were experts of all material knowledge, but when Mahaprabhu came to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya left all material knowledge and accepted the knowledge that gives devotion to the Lord.

Sometimes they say in Nabadwip that Mahaprabhu went to Vidya Nagar to study there, but it is wrong—Mahaprabhu actually studied material subjects from a Bangladeshi pundit, and the knowledge that is there in Vidya Nagar actually destroys devotion, it is apara-vidya. Our prayer is, "When will we be able to give up such knowledge?"

কবে হবে বল, সে দিন আমার ।
অপরাধ ঘুচি' শুদ্ধ নামে রুচি
কৃপা-বলে হবে হৃদয়ে সঞ্চার ॥

kabe habe bala se dina amara
aparadha ghuchi suddha name ruchi
krpa-bale ha'be hrdaye sanchara

"Please tell me, when will that day be mine? When will my offences be removed? When will the taste for the pure Name arise in my heart by the power of mercy?"

('Kabe habe bolo, se dina amar?' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Knowledge, on the other hand, can only give liberation...

[His Divine Grace then sings "Kabe habe bolo..." and thus finishes the class on the holy festival of the Deity installation anniversary.]

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