The Proof of the Vedas Part 9

by purujit dasa

OPEN YOUR MIND =SUBMISSIVE HEARING

There are many universities, colleges, high schools, primary schools, different courses, teachers and students all over the world in every town and city. They are supposed to give us knowledge. Unfortunately, what is happening is that a student is exposed in these places to what we could call a data, which if he learns to repeat nicely like a parrot never mind that he does not truly understand the meaning of such a data, he can use as a weapon in the dog eat dog society to get four animalistic propensities fulfilled: eating, sleeping, sex and defense. Because we cannot provide a system by which such defective so-called learning could be exposed, the modern education instead of elevating the people keeps them to be just like dogs. As a dog learns to sit down in order to get a bone, similarly the students are learning the so-called knowledge in universities because they know it will give them a job and not specifically in order to understand the knowledge itself. Then, what sometimes happens is that a person who simply learns how to speak in a sophisticated language, or knows how to repeat great amounts of data is accepted to be intelligent.

Prajāpati: They're giving prize to the number one speculator.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That's all. Jugglery of words. That's all. Speculation means jugglery of words. Just like doctors prescribe. They give the medicine, and then water mixed. So they will never say "water" because ordinary people will understand. They'll write "aqua distillata." So ordinary man cannot understand whether it is water or medicine. But that is water. But they'll... So these scientists, they'll manufacture some word which you cannot understand... "Vyāghra mane śārdūla." One student asked the teacher, "What is the meaning of 'vyāghra' ?" He said, "Śārdūla." It is still difficult. You see ? This is going on.

Prajāpati: Most theologians, they write like that, also, Śrīla Prabhupāda...

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is their business. Because they want to cheat people, they'll manufacture some words which they cannot understand, and they'll be: "Oh, very nice. How nice word it is."

Svarūpa Dāmodara: Therefore they're called genius. One can make...

Prabhupāda: A genius for the fools. They are genius for the fools. Not for the person.

Morning Walk -- December 10, 1973, Los Angeles

But this is not actually learning. If a medical student learns about horrible health consequences of tobacco in a class, but lights up a cig after school, how was he hearing the knowledge in the first place? Deep deep inside, he actually never heard it out properly. Otherwise how could he smoke? And yet, he might even become a doctor himself and instruct his patients about the bad consequences of smoking while being a smoker himself. This is going on. The truth is that he simply learned it because it gives him a diploma, a job, money, not because he thinks it’s true. His learning is very superficial. He is exploiting the knowledge for his personal gain, but he actually doesn’t realize what he’s saying.

(to be continued...)