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Learned devotees

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.11.38, Purport:

One may argue that His relation with the goddesses of fortune may be transcendental, but what about His relation with the Yadu dynasty, being born in that family, or His killing the nonbelievers like Jarāsandha and other asuras directly in contact with the modes of material nature. The answer is that the divinity of the Personality of Godhead is never in contact with the qualities of material nature in any circumstances. Actually He is in contact with such qualities because He is the ultimate source of everything, yet He is above the actions of such qualities. He is known, therefore, as Yogeśvara, or the master of mystic power, or in other words the all-powerful. Even His learned devotees are not affected by the influence of the material modes. The great six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana all came from greatly rich and aristocratic families, but when they adopted the life of mendicants at Vṛndāvana, superficially they appeared to be in wretched conditions of life, but factually they were the richest of all in spiritual values. Such mahā-bhāgavatas, or first-grade devotees, although moving amongst men, are not contaminated by honor or insult, hunger or satisfaction, sleep or wakefulness, which are all resultant actions of the three modes of material nature. Similarly, some of them are engaged in worldly dealings, yet are unaffected.

SB 1.13.40, Purport:

There are different types of philosophers, and the greatest of all of them are those who have seen the Personality of Godhead and have surrendered themselves in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Among all such pure devotees of the Lord, Devarṣi Nārada is the chief, and therefore he has been described herein as the greatest of all philosopher devotees. Unless one has become a sufficiently learned philosopher by hearing the Vedānta philosophy from a bona fide spiritual master, one cannot be a learned philosopher devotee. One must be very faithful, learned and renounced, otherwise one cannot be a pure devotee. A pure devotee of the Lord can give us direction towards the other end of nescience. Devarṣi Nārada used to visit the palace of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira because the Pāṇḍavas were all pure devotees of the Lord, and the Devarṣi was always ready to give them good counsel whenever needed.

SB 1.18.23, Translation:

O ṛṣis, who are as powerfully pure as the sun, I shall try to describe to you the transcendental pastimes of Viṣṇu as far as my knowledge is concerned. As the birds fly in the sky as far as their capacity allows, so do the learned devotees describe the Lord as far as their realization allows.

SB 1.18.23, Purport:

The Supreme Absolute Truth is unlimited. No living being can know about the unlimited by his limited capacity. The Lord is impersonal, personal and localized. By His impersonal feature He is all-pervading Brahman, by His localized feature He is present in everyone's heart as the Supreme Soul, and by His ultimate personal feature He is the object of transcendental loving service by His fortunate associates the pure devotees. The pastimes of the Lord in different features can only be estimated partly by the great learned devotees. So Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī has rightly taken this position in describing the pastimes of the Lord as far as he has realized. Factually only the Lord Himself can describe Himself, and His learned devotee also can describe Him as far as the Lord gives him the power of description.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.10.35, Purport:

The impersonalists think of the Absolute Personality of Godhead in two different ways, as above mentioned. On the one hand they worship the Lord in His viśva-rūpa, or all-pervading universal form, and on the other they think of the Lord's unmanifested, indescribable, subtle form. The theories of pantheism and monism are respectively applicable to these two conceptions of the Supreme as gross and subtle, but both of them are rejected by the learned pure devotees of the Lord because they are aware of the factual position. This is very clearly mentioned in the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, which records Arjuna's experience of the viśva-rūpa of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.27.7, Purport:

A devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who seriously engages in devotional service is equal to all living entities. There are various species of living entities, but a devotee does not see the outward covering; he sees the inner soul inhabiting the body. Because each and every soul is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he does not see any difference. That is the vision of a learned devotee. As explained in Bhagavad-gītā, a devotee or a learned sage does not see any difference between a learned brāhmaṇa, a dog, an elephant or a cow because he knows that the body is the outer covering only and that the soul is actually part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. A devotee has no enmity towards any living entity, but that does not mean that he mixes with everyone. That is prohibited. Aprasaṅgataḥ means "not to be in intimate touch with everyone." A devotee is concerned with his execution of devotional service, and he should therefore mix with devotees only, in order to advance his objective. He has no business mixing with others, for although he does not see anyone as his enemy, his dealings are only with persons who engage in devotional service.

SB 3.29.15, Purport:

One has to execute his prescribed duties according to his social position as a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra. The prescribed duties of the four classes of men in human society are also described in Bhagavad-gītā. The activities of brāhmaṇas are to control the senses and to become simple, clean, learned devotees. The kṣatriyas have the spirit for ruling, they are not afraid on the battlefield, and they are charitable. The vaiśyas, or the mercantile class of men, trade in commodities, protect cows and develop agricultural produce. The śūdras, or laborer class, serve the higher classes because they themselves are not very intelligent.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.16.3, Purport:

However expert one may be, he can never describe the glories of the Lord adequately. Nonetheless, those engaged in glorifying the activities of the Lord should try to do so as far as possible. Such an attempt will please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Caitanya has advised all His followers to go everywhere and preach the message of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Since this message is essentially Bhagavad-gītā, the preacher's duty is to study Bhagavad-gītā as it is understood by disciplic succession and explained by great sages and learned devotees. One should speak to the general populace in accordance with one's predecessors—sādhu, guru and śāstras. This simple process is the easiest method by which one can glorify the Lord. Devotional service, however, is the real method, for by devotional service one can satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead with just a few words. Without devotional service, volumes of books cannot satisfy the Lord. Even though preachers of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement may be unable to describe the glories of the Lord, they can nonetheless go everywhere and request people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

SB 4.24.68, Translation:

My dear Lord, all actually learned persons know You as the Supreme Brahman and the Supersoul. Although the entire universe is afraid of Lord Rudra, who ultimately annihilates everything, for the learned devotees You are the fearless destination of all.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.2.28, Translation:

The efficient cause of this material world, manifested with its many varieties as the original tree, is You, O Lord. You are also the maintainer of this material world, and after annihilation You are the one in whom everything is conserved. Those who are covered by Your external energy cannot see You behind this manifestation, but theirs is not the vision of learned devotees.

SB 10.2.28, Purport:

Various demigods, beginning from Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and even Viṣṇu, are supposed to be the creator, maintainer and annihilator of this material world, but actually they are not. The fact is that everything is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, manifested in varieties of energy. Ekam evādvitīyaṁ brahma. There is no second existence. Those who are truly vipaścit, learned, are those who have reached the platform of understanding and observing the Supreme Personality of Godhead in any condition of life. premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). Learned devotees accept even conditions of distress as representing the presence of the Supreme Lord. When a devotee is in distress, he sees that the Lord has appeared as distress just to relieve or purify the devotee from the contamination of the material world. While one is within this material world, one is in various conditions, and therefore a devotee sees a condition of distress as but another feature of the Lord. Tat te'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇaḥ (SB 10.14.8). A devotee, therefore, regards distress as a great favor of the Lord because he understands that he is being cleansed of contamination. Teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt (BG 12.7).

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 11.15.31, Translation:

A learned devotee who worships Me through yoga meditation certainly obtains in all respects the mystic perfections that I have described.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 19.185, Purport:

Vātsalya-bhakti-rasa is described in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (3.4.1) as follows:

vibhāvādyais tu vātsalyaṁ sthāyī puṣṭim upāgataḥ
eṣa vatsala-nāmātra prokto bhakti-raso budhaiḥ

"When eternally existing love of Godhead transforms into parental love and is mixed with corresponding emotions, that stage of spiritual existence is described by learned devotees as vātsalya-bhakti-rasa."

CC Madhya 24.125, Translation:
“"O great learned devotee, although there are many faults in this material world, there is one good opportunity—the association with devotees. Such association brings about great happiness. Due to this good quality, our strong desire to achieve liberation by merging into the Brahman effulgence has become weakened.""

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 1.139, Translation:

""O learned devotees, I am by nature ignorant and low, yet even though it is from me that the Vidagdha-mādhava has come, it is filled with descriptions of the transcendental attributes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, will not such a literature bring about the attainment of the highest goal of life? Although its wood may be ignited by a low-class man, fire can nevertheless purify gold. Similarly, although I am very low by nature, this book may help cleanse the dirt from within the hearts of the golden devotees.""

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 13:

In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.3.1) the state of being in love with the Godhead is compared to the sunshine emanating from the sun; this shining makes the devotee's heart more and more lovely. The heart of such a devotee is situated in a transcendental position beyond even the mode of goodness. The process for making the heart even more sterilized by the sunshine of love is called bhāva. A description of bhāva is given by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Bhāva is called the permanent characteristic of the living entity, and the crucial point of progress for bhāva is called the marginal state of love of Godhead. When the bhāva state becomes deeper and deeper, learned devotees call it love of Godhead. As stated in the Nārada-pañcarātra:

ananya-mamatā viṣṇau
mamatā prema-saṅgatā
bhaktir ity ucyate bhīṣma-
prahlādoddhava-nāradaiḥ

"When one is firmly convinced that Viṣṇu is the only object of love and worship and that there is no one else—not even a demigod—worthy of receiving devotional service, one feels intimacy in his love relationship with God, and this is approved by such personalities as Bhīṣma, Prahlāda, Uddhava and Nārada."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 14:

The symptoms of highly developed devotional service, which are exhibited by the pure devotees, are sometimes imitated by those who are not actually pure devotees. This is described in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Without devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, one may have some motive in exhibiting such symptoms, but it should be known that the symptoms are not actual. Sometimes those who are not conversant with the science of devotional service are captivated by the exhibition of ecstatic symptoms, but those who are in knowledge of the science of devotional service do not accept such symptoms as the all in all. These symptoms only mark the beginning of devotional service. That is accepted by learned devotees.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 35:

The impulse of a saintly person is to be engaged in the study of the Vedas, especially the Upaniṣadic portions, to live always in a place where there is no disturbance from the common people, to think always of the eternal form of Kṛṣṇa, to be ready to consider and understand the Absolute Truth, to be always prominent in exhibiting knowledge, to see the Supreme Lord in His universal form (viśva-rūpa), to associate always with learned devotees and to discuss the conclusion of the Vedas with similarly elevated persons. All of these qualifications of a saintly person serve to raise him to the status of śānta-rasa.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 6, Purport:
Not considering the respective actions of the brāhmaṇa and the dog, the uttama-adhikārī tries to do good to both. Such a learned devotee is not misled by material bodies but is attracted by the spiritual spark within them. Those who imitate an uttama-adhikārī by flaunting a sense of oneness or fellowship but who behave on the bodily platform are actually false philanthropists. The conception of universal brotherhood must be learned from an uttama-adhikārī and not from a foolish person who does not properly understand the individual soul or the Supreme Lord's Supersoul expansion, who dwells everywhere.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

This Gītopaniṣad is just like a cow, and the Lord is famous as cow boy, and He was milking this cow. Sarvopaniṣado. And it is the essence of all Upaniṣads and represented as the cow. And the Lord being expert cow boy, He is milking the cow. And pārtho vatsaḥ. And Arjuna is just like the calf. And su-dhīr bhoktā. And learned scholars and pure devotees, they are to take this milk. Su-dhīr bhoktā dugdhaṁ gītāmṛtaṁ mahat. The nectar, the milk of Bhagavad-gītā, is meant for learned devotees.

ekaṁ śāstraṁ devakī-putra-gītam
eko devo devakī-putra ev
eko mantras tasya nāmāni yāni
karmāpy ekaṁ tasya devasya sevā

Now the world should learn from the Bhagavad-gītā, the lesson. Evaṁ śāstraṁ devakī-putra-gītam. There is one scripture only, one common scripture for the whole world, for the people of the whole world, and that is this Bhagavad-gītā.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 23, 1972:

Unless one is devotee, pure devotee, how he can be spiritual master? Spiritual master means representative of God. So who can become representative of God. Unless he is twenty-four hours engaged in the service of God, Kṛṣṇa, how he can be spiritual master? This is also explained by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. The spiritual master is described as good as Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because the, the spiritual master is representative of Kṛṣṇa because he's most confidential servant of Kṛṣṇa. Kintu prabhor ya priya eva tasya. Yasya pra... Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **. The spiritual master is worshiped as good as the Supreme Person. Sākṣād dharitvena. This is not artificial, but in all the śāstras, this is recommended. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **. Those who are learned devotees, advanced devotees, they also accept this that spiritual master should be treated as good as Hari, the Supreme Person.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Nellore, January 4, 1976:

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa: (CC Madhya 7.128) "Where you are living, you just try to deliver them. But you become a guru." "How I shall become?" Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa upadeśa: "Simply you instruct what Kṛṣṇa has said, that's all. Then you become guru. You don't require any other qual..." "No, I am not a brāhmaṇa; I am śūdra, I am this or..." That is also all right, because He said to Rāmānanda Rāya when... He was śūdra. He was talking with Caitanya Mahāprabhu but he was very learned devotee. So he was feeling hesitation that "Caitanya Mahāprabhu's coming from very high-grade brāhmaṇa, and He is sannyāsa. His position is very exalted. I am a śūdra. How I can advise Him?" He was questioning, and Rāmānanda Rāya was answering. So the answer-giver is in superior position, so he hesitated. So while he was hesitating, Caitanya Mahāprabhu encouraged him,

kibā śūdra kibā vipra nyāsī kene naya
yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya
(CC Madhya 8.128)

He said, "It doesn't matter whether you are a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra or... These are all bodily conception of life. You become above the bodily conception of life. You simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa." Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Can you tell me something about Caitanya's initiation in Vaiṣṇava faith? When He was initiated?

Prabhupāda: After His father's death it is the custom amongst the Hindus to offer oblations at Gayā. There is a temple, Viṣṇu temple. They offer prasādam. This is a Hindu custom. And with that prasādam the forefathers and the father is offered. So He went to perform that ceremony and by chance He met Īśvara Purī and He was initiated by Īśvara Purī. And after coming back from Gayā, He became very much emotional for Kṛṣṇa, and sometimes people thought that He has become crazy. So His mother treated with some oil. But learned devotees, they said that He has got devotional emotion. So His initiation was in Gayā, when He went to perform that ceremony. So you can show the Gayā temple or some temple. And He's offering oblations, He's meeting His spiritual master, he's initiating. In this way you can make it two, three scenes. And He became emotional chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa after initiation.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The scenery will be very simple.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes, yes. That I know. That's all right. There is no need of scenery.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 3, 1975, Hawaii:

Devotee (1): Śrīla Prabhupāda, usually on saṅkīrtana I avoid old people because they just don't understand, and it's very difficult to approach them.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, yes. Old people should be instructed to forget what they have learned. He sādhavaḥ sakalam eva vihāya dūrād caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam. This is the formula of preaching. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, he is begging to the people, dānte nidhāya tṛṇakaṁ padayor nipatya kāku-śataṁ kṛtvā cāham bravīmi: "Taking a straw in my mouth, with folded hands and flattering you hundred times, I am submitting one request." "What is that?" This is the process of approaching these rascals, old fools who have learned something and does not like to forget. So he says, he sādhavaḥ: "Oh, you are such a nice learned scholar-devotee, so my request is that whatever you have learned, please forget." Sakalam eva vihāya dūrāt: "Kick them out." "Then? What shall I do?" Caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam: "Please turn your attention to the teachings of Lord Caitanya." He sādhavaḥ sakalam eva vihāya: "You are very great personality. So my request to you: you forget or kick out whatever you have learned." That is the first business.

Correspondence

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Sri Triloki Natha Acarya -- Mayapur 18 March, 1976:

However, I am so glad to receive your letter and I reply that I require your good help in my preaching work. We are preaching all over the world with great success and you'll be pleased to know that we are selling our books tremendously. The general estimate is collection of Rs. 1 lac to Rs. 5 lac daily. Our preachers are very much enthusiastic but in India they have got a language difficulty. If you cooperate with us along with other learned devotees, we can immediately take up preaching work in India with great enthusiasm. We have got 8 big and small buses and one very nice car for my personal use. If you will start sankirtana movement from town to town and village to village with the cooperation of other learned Indian men like yourself, I'm sure that in very short time our endeavour ill be successful.

Page Title:Learned devotees
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Serene
Created:15 of Jan, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=12, CC=3, OB=4, Lec=3, Con=2, Let=1
No. of Quotes:25