Srila Sridhar Maharaj
on a verse from Srimad Bhagavatam
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| Srila Sridhar Maharaj |
From Follow the Angels
The Path of Dedication
Reject Your Knowledge
jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāḿ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāḿ tanu-vāń-manobhir
ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām
(“Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social
positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with
their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your
personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations,
which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees,
certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise
unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.”)
Jnane prayasam udapasya [“Those who throw away the process of speculative knowledge, jnana”]: Relentlessly we must discard (ud-apa-asya) all proposals that our intellect may offer us. Whatever the intellect can judge and accept or reject must necessarily be of a lower nature. We are to summarily reject that, and understand that we must bow down our heads (namanta eva).
Knowledge is our enemy, because knowledge in this world is all misleading. Its very basis is misleading. However ample it may be, it is a negligible part of the Infinite. We have collected, gathered and pushed into our brain all misleading falsification. Our brains are full of deceptive maya, misunderstanding. That is our enemy. We have to clear these things out and put in fresh things that are received from the other world by pure sources. Theoretical knowledge is one thing, the practical another.
Relentlessly we must cast aside the old knowledge, udapasam. Namanta eva, we must learn submission, and in that way He will be propitiated and come to make something about Himself known to us. Whatever small thing we will come to know, that will inundate our entire being. One drop of the Infinite is sufficient to cover the whole universe; such is His character. The Infinite is not a small thing that we can tackle easily. With one drop of the Infinite the whole finite can be inundated, flooded.
The Infinite has full control over knowledge, science, happiness, everything. If we are to approach such a great, great, great thing, what should be the proper attitude? We must be conscious of our position. We are not masters, but servants of the servant of the servant of the servant. This is the proper way to approach.
In the same manner, we are to approach the scriptures with a submissive heart and attitude. “Please reveal within our heart what is contained herein.” Sastra [scriptures] should be approached with a submissive attitude, not in a challenging mood. By dint of our power we cannot conquer what is described there. We cannot conquer all thoughts. That is not the proper attitude. Scriptural truth is a higher thing; it is cetana, independent. It has free will, this sastra in the form of so many letters. The Lord's associates also exercise His free will in the matter of our approach to the sastra. They can reveal the meaning to us or they can withhold it.
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