A man showing that he is a great devotee, he's great man of knowledge, but he has no reference with the books of knowledge, or the authoritative books, oh, that is simply creating disturbance. That is not religiosity, neither devotion, nothing else.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a science. You have to take it scientifically, as they are described in the authoritative books, and test it by your reason and argument and knowledge, and follow it. It is science. It is not sentiment. Whatever we are doing here, the dancing, singing and everything, that is all scientific.
Simply you have to understand it. Therefore jñānī, only a person who is in knowledge, who is in knowledge of the science of Kṛṣṇa, he can make an rapid advancement, and he is very dear to Kṛṣṇa. Because slow but sure, he is making sure progress. It is no sentiment. So jñānī.
Priyo hi jñāninaḥ atyartham. Atyartham means very . . . aham. Kṛṣṇa is very dear to the person in knowledge, and that man is also very dear to Kṛṣṇa. Reciprocal. If you love Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will love more than you. You can . . . what capacity you have got to love Kṛṣṇa? But Kṛṣṇa will love. He has got immense capacity. So that is a science. And what is the next? Now, Kṛṣṇa says:
- udārāḥ sarva evaite
- jñānī tv ātmaiva me matam
- āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā
- mām evānuttamāṁ gatim
- (BG 7.18)
Now, those persons, those who are distressed and those who are poverty-stricken, they go to God. They pray to God. Now, Kṛṣṇa is accepting their endeavor. Udārāḥ sarva evaite: "They are, all of them, these four classes of men, either he is . . . he is coming to Me in distress, or being poverty-stricken, or as inquisitive, or as real man of knowledge, they are welcome. They are welcome." Udārāḥ: "They are very good." Sarva evaite, "But, out of them," jñānī tu ātmaiva me matam, "still, that person who is in knowledge is very dear to Me, still." He is confirming it.
So one should be in knowledge. Devotional service, it is a science. And why others are welcome? Those who are distressed has come to God, and those who are in poverty-stricken has come to God, why they are also welcome? They are welcome in the sense that because they have come to God, in course of time they will also become as good as the man in knowledge—if they continue. But generally it happens, one who goes to the church for some profit, if the profit is not there, he'll say: "It is nonsense." He gives up all connection with church.
I have got information from one of my Godbrother. He is German. He told me that during wartime many Germans, they went to war, and their wives, sister, all woman class, they went to church and prayed for the return of their husband, brother or son. But they did not return, and all of them became atheist: "Oh, there is no God. There is no God." Sometimes it happens like that, that "We want God as my order-supplier. If He does not supply the order, then He becomes no God. There is no God." That is the defect of this kind of prayer. But if they continue . . .
Now, I'll give you one example. There was a little boy, five years old, in royal family, Mahārāja Dhruva. He was insulted by his stepmother. The little boy was sitting on the lap of his father, and the stepmother dragged the boy, "Oh, you cannot sit down . . . sit on the father's, on the lap of your father, because you are not born of me." Oh, the boy became very much, I mean to say, aggrieved at the . . . because he was the son of a kṣatriya—they are in modes of passion—so he took it a great insult, and he went to his own mother.
The king had two queens. The, I mean to . . . the senior queen had this boy, and the junior queen had no son. So junior queen was very much envious of this boy. And so he . . . she dragged the boy from the lap of his father, but the boy felt insulted. He went to his mother and cried, "Mother, my," I mean to say: "Junior mother has insulted me in this way.
I was sitting." "Oh, yes, my boy. What can I do? I am helpless. Your father does not like me." "Then how can I take revenge?" "My dear boy, you are helpless. If God helps you, then you can take revenge." Because womanly character . . . "Oh, where is God?" She said: "Oh, I understand so many great sages and saints, they go to the jungle and forest. They see God there. They undergo penances and austerity and then find God there."
Oh, he at once went to the forest. Then he was asking the tiger, "Oh, you are God?" The elephant, "You are God?" In this way, when Nārāyaṇa saw, "Oh, this boy is very much inquisitive," so He sent Nārada, that "Go and see what is the condition of this boy."
So Nārada came. Nārada is the agent of God. "My dear boy, you are royal . . . you belong to the royal family. You cannot suffer all this penance and austerity. Please go back to your home. Your father is very much anxious for you, your mother is very much anxious for you." The boy said: "My dear sir, you don't try to dissuade me in that way. If you know something about God, how can I see God, then tell me. Otherwise you go away. Don't disturb me." So he was firmly determined.
Now, this boy was initiated by Nārada. When he saw that "This boy is determined," then he initiated him and gave him mantra, that namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. He chanted that mantra and became perfect, and God came before him.