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We address a brahmana as panditji. Never we address a brahmana as murkhaji. So that is the etiquette. Brahmana means he must be very learned scholar and a very advanced devotee

Expressions researched:
"we address a brāhmaṇa as paṇḍitjī. Never we address a brāhmaṇa as mūrkhajī. So that is the etiquette. Brāhmaṇa means he must be very learned scholar and a very advanced devotee"

Lectures

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Approaching the guru, Sanātana Gosvāmī, his submission was that "People in general, they talk of me as very learned scholar." He was very good scholar in Sanskrit, in Arabic and Persian language, because he was minister, very responsible post. So . . . and he was born in brāhmaṇa family, Sārasvata brāhmaṇa family. So naturally he was supposed to be very learned scholar, paṇḍita, brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita. Still we address a brāhmaṇa as paṇḍitjī. Never we address a brāhmaṇa as mūrkhajī. So that is the etiquette. Brāhmaṇa means he must be very learned scholar and a very advanced devotee. Brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita, brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava. These are the qualification of brāhmaṇa. So naturally he was addressed as paṇḍitjī, but he denied to accept that he is actually paṇḍita.

Last Sunday we were discussing about Sanātana Gosvāmī's meeting with Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sanātana Gosvāmī was the finance minister of Nawab Hussain Shah, the then Pathan government of Bengal. So he resigned his office. The Nawab was reluctant to give him release. He was arrested, but somehow or other he released himself by bribing the superintendent of jail, and he met Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Benares, or Vārāṇasī. And for two months He gave him instruction how to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So approaching the guru, Sanātana Gosvāmī, his submission was that "People in general, they talk of me as very learned scholar." He was very good scholar in Sanskrit, in Arabic and Persian language, because he was minister, very responsible post. So . . . and he was born in brāhmaṇa family, Sārasvata brāhmaṇa family. So naturally he was supposed to be very learned scholar, paṇḍita, brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita. Still we address a brāhmaṇa as paṇḍitjī. Never we address a brāhmaṇa as mūrkhajī. So that is the etiquette. Brāhmaṇa means he must be very learned scholar and a very advanced devotee. Brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita, brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇava. These are the qualification of brāhmaṇa. So naturally he was addressed as paṇḍitjī, but he denied to accept that he is actually paṇḍita.

So he submitted that,

grāmya-vyavahāre kahaye paṇḍita satya kari māni
āpanāra hitāhita kichui nā jāni
(CC Madhya 20.100)

That "People, they address me as paṇḍita, but I am such a paṇḍita that I do not know what I am." This is the position of everyone. Everyone is very much proud of his learning, scientific knowledge and so on, so on. But if you ask him, "What you are?" "I am Indian," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am American." This is the answer you'll get. But that is, I am not. I am not this body. This is the beginning of paṇḍita. This is the beginning. Bhagavad-gītā teaches in the beginning this primary lesson, that "You are not this body."

dehino 'smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati
(BG 2.13)

So this is the problem, dehātma-buddhi, identifying oneself with this body. That is condemned in the śāstra. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ, sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13): "Anyone who is identifying himself with this body, he is no better than the cows and the asses, animal." This is . . . the whole Vedic civilization is based on this principle, that one has to learn first of all that he is not this body. Then further advancement. If one keeps himself under this misidentification that "I am this body," he remains an animal.

Page Title:We address a brahmana as panditji. Never we address a brahmana as murkhaji. So that is the etiquette. Brahmana means he must be very learned scholar and a very advanced devotee
Compiler:Nabakumar
Created:2022-09-03, 09:57:25
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1