In the Kali-yuga we do not expect everyone to be very great scholar. That is not possible. But if he knows what is the aim of education, what is the objective of education, then he is also scholar. Just like our Gaura-Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. He was illiterate. He could not sign his name even. But he became the spiritual master of the best scholar of his time, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. So it is not the education, A-B-C-D. In Bengal we say anguam(?). No. What is the purport of education? The purport of education is spoken by Kṛṣṇa Himself: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). If one understands Kṛṣṇa and takes to the shelter of His lotus feet, he is also the biggest scholar.
- yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
- mad-gata antarātmanā
- śraddhāvān bhajate
- sa me yuktatamo . . .
- (BG 6.47)
So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā (CC Adi 17.21). By His practical life, when Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī criticized Him, that "You are a sannyāsī, and You do not read Vedānta, and You simply chant and dance . . ." This was the question. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied that "My Guru Mahārāja found Me a great fool. Therefore he advised Me that 'You have no jurisdiction in studying Vedas, because You are not a scholar. You are not a very highly learned. You are a mūrkha.' " Guru more mūrkha dekhi karilā śāsana (CC Adi 7.71).
So who will read Vedānta at the present moment? There is no education. But if we follow the footsteps of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that Vedānta philosophy is not for ordinary person, simply if we chant—harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21)—then you get the same result. What we get by studying Vedānta and Vedic literature, if we understand that kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28), and we sacrifice everything for achieving the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, then our Vedānta study is complete. That is the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
And practically we see in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, all you are young Westerners, you never study Vedānta, but you can surprise many so-called Vedāntists how to understand Kṛṣṇa. How it has become possible? Simply by your firm faith in your spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau (ŚU 6.23). This is the Vedic process. If we have got firm faith in guru and firm faith in Kṛṣṇa—guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpayā pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151)—then you get the seedling of bhakti-latā. Some way or other, we have to come to this bhakti-latā, increasing or nourishing the bhakti creeper. That will be effective.