If university education isn’t used to establish the supremacy of Krishna and goal of human society, which is to attain to Krishna consciousness or pursue it, then the education is actually a great detriment, and a person would be better off without it, because undergoing the ordeal of getting the education just for the sake of getting a job is not very important.

Futility or Utility of an Education

Getting education and Krishna consciousness in tandem

Yesterday we read that verse [Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.19], that people are like dogs and hogs and camels and asses. In the purport, Prabhupada was pointing out the futility of modern education. Modern university education prepares a person to conform to a particular mentality or mindset, mainly geared to the pursuit of a livelihood, which obliges him to go door to door, begging for some service for a few scraps of bread. Although a person may get a very highly sophisticated, technical education, unless someone employs him, his education is useless. In other words, he could not maintain himself independently without becoming someone’s servant or someone’s dog, as Prabhupada put it. Like a dog, he has to cower down. Although he may be academically very qualified, his livelihood depends on someone giving him a job.

This kind of mentality, or dependence, is not fitting in a person who has supposedly gone for higher education. It is the mentality of the shudras or laborers, those who are in the lowest stratum of the society. And above them are the vaishyas, who earn their living by trade or industry, and above them are the kshatriyas, who live by ruling over, by political administration. They collect taxes, and they organize and administer the social body. And above them are the intellectual class of men, who are known as the brahmanas. They are supposed to know Brahman, and they are supposed to be the head, like the head is the most important part of the body. The brahmanas are supposed to be the head, the eyes and the brains of the social body, to give them direction. Prabhupada often said that in the present day the society has no head. It’s a headless society. And the society has no goal, save and except to produce commodities for sense gratification—televisions, radios, tape recorders, computers and various kinds of foods and other sense-gratificatory indulgences like hotels and motels and vacation resorts, bars and nightclubs and so on. So the society is without any aim and without any direction.

Anyway, his point was that although nowadays everyone goes for university, college education with the aim to get a diploma, and with that they are (at least in the past) almost guaranteed to get a job, to get a job is not really a very laudible thing. To be able to maintain one’s self without becoming someone’s dog or servant is more desirable.

So I wanted to read this verse, because sometimes people – devotees also – get a misunderstanding that Krishna consciousness has a negative attitude towards people becoming educated in university. That’s not really the case. The point is that if university education isn’t used to establish the supremacy of Krishna and goal of human society, which is to attain to Krishna consciousness or pursue it, then the education is actually a great detriment, and a person would be better off without it, because undergoing the ordeal of getting the education just for the sake of getting a job is not very important. That is why I wanted to read this verse:

“Learned circles have positively concluded that the infallible purpose of the advancement of knowledge, namely austerities, study of the Vedas, sacrifice, chanting of hymns and charity, culminates in the transcendental descriptions of the Lord, who is defined in choice poetry.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.22]

Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: Human intellect is developed for advancement of learning in art, science, philosophy, physics, chemistry, psychology, economics, politics, etc. By culture of such knowledge the human society can attain perfection of life. This perfection of life culminates in the realization of the Supreme Being, Vishnu. The shruti therefore directs that those who are actually advanced in learning should aspire for the service of Lord Vishnu. Unfortunately persons who are enamored by the external beauty of vishnu-maya do not understand that culmination of perfection or self-realization depends on Vishnu. Vishnu-maya means sense enjoyment, which is transient and miserable. Those who are entrapped by vishnu-maya utilize advancement of knowledge for sense enjoyment. Sri Narada Muni has explained that all paraphernalia of the cosmic universe is but an emanation from the Lord out of His different energies because the Lord has set in motion, by His inconceivable energy, the actions and reactions of the created manifestation. They have come to be out of His energy, they rest on His energy, and after annihilation they merge into Him. Nothing is, therefore, different from Him, but at the same time the Lord is always different from them.

When advancement of knowledge is applied in the service of the Lord, the whole process becomes absolute. The Personality of Godhead and His transcendental name, fame, glory, etc., are all nondifferent from Him. Therefore, all the sages and devotees of the Lord have recommended that the subject matter of art, science, philosophy, physics, chemistry, psychology and all other branches of knowledge should be wholly and solely applied in the service of the Lord. Art, literature, poetry, painting, etc., may be used in glorifying the Lord. The fiction writers, poets and celebrated litterateurs are generally engaged in writing of sensuous subjects, but if they turn towards the service of the Lord they can describe the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Valmiki was a great poet, and similarly Vyasadeva is a great writer, and both of them have absolutely engaged themselves in delineating the transcendental activities of the Lord and by doing so have become immortal. Similarly, science and philosophy also should be applied in the service of the Lord. There is no use presenting dry speculative theories for sense gratification. Philosophy and science should be engaged to establish the glory of the Lord. Advanced people are eager to understand the Absolute Truth through the medium of science, and therefore a great scientist should endeavor to prove the existence of the Lord on a scientific basis. Similarly, philosophical speculations should be utilized to establish the Supreme Truth as sentient and all-powerful. Similarly, all other branches of knowledge should always be engaged in the service of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita also the same is affirmed. All "knowledge" not engaged in the service of the Lord is but nescience. Real utilization of advanced knowledge is to establish the glories of the Lord, and that is the real import. Scientific knowledge engaged in the service of the Lord and all similar activities are all factually hari-kirtana, or glorification of the Lord.

The point is that those students who are attracted to higher education—science, art, philosophy, music—should be used to prove scientifically, philosophically the existence, to establish and prove the existence of the Lord. People are very attracted to science, and whatever the scientists present as fact, people accept it. So if the scientist uses his scientific technique and language and prestige to establish scientifically the existence of the Supreme Being and the living entity as living spirit soul, as separate from dead, inert matter, then it is very good. Then there is no harm in being advanced in science or music, art and poetry. But if science is used just to further the cause of sense gratification, leading people into the darkness of repeated birth and death, then it is condemned. So the same thing on the one side is praised and on the other side is condemned. A thing in and of itself is not good or bad, but it is the application or the use of the thing. Like money. Everyone handles money. Money in itself is not a good or bad thing. It is the application of the money. When money is applied in the service of the Lord, it loses its bewildering quality. And when money is used for sense gratification, it just causes us to become entrapped materially. A thing, no matter what it is, is neither good or bad. Everything depends on the application or the use of the thing. So I wanted to clarify that misunderstanding that university or college education is in and of itself useless. In some cases it is very useful. Just like Srila Prabhupada organized the Bhaktivedanta Institute headed by highly qualified scientists with PhDs in chemistry, quantum physics and other fields. But their engagement is to show proof scientifically of the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Like Prabhupada said, “Why did I come to America?” He came to America instead of London. At one time London was considered the center of the material world. London was the capital city, because the British were ruling all over the world. But Prabhupada said that “London has lost its position, and everything has shifted to America, especially to New York, so I came to New York, because if American people take up Krishna consciousness, then the whole world, which imitates and adores America, will also take it up.” And actually it proved to be correct, because Prabhupada recruited some devotees and then brought them to India, and when Indian people saw white people from America with shaved head and chanting Hare Krishna, it made an invaluable impression, so they also began to take up Krishna consciousness. It was a tactical maneuver. And similarly, if someone is highly educated and he presents Krishna consciousness in that format and in that circle with his credentials, then people will accept it, because people are impressed with someone who has university credentials or academic credentials and scientific credentials. This is the idea.

And this is the idea not just for education, but for everything. Just like this temple. What makes it a temple? The same bricks, marble, stone, cement. There are many houses that have nice marble floors and expensive, costly construction and environment. So the cement and the bricks in themselves are not good or bad or spiritual or material; it is the use of those materials that makes the thing spiritual. Everything depends on its relation to Krishna. Use this camcorder for Krishna, and it becomes spiritual. We use the printing press for Krishna: it becomes spiritual. When we use our senses and our intelligence for Krishna, we become spiritualized. Or our spiritual life is revived on the basis of our service or our connection to Krishna. When we use the computer for Krishna, the thing becomes ... it loses its material quality and becomes spiritual.

I remember when I first heard Prabhupada say that when we use the automobile for Krishna it becomes spiritual, I thought, “Wow! A spiritual automobile!” And even before that, I got a flyer advertising music, dance, philosophy. Spiritual music, spiritual dance philosophy, and spiritual food. I thought, “Spiritual food? How can food be spiritual?” I was really stuck on that, reading that flyer again and again. The point is that everything connected to Krishna becomes Krishna-ized. Just like anything connected to the electric current becomes electrified. If a child puts his finger in the socket, he becomes electrified. He doesn’t know. It’s not that he has to know about the science. As soon as he puts his finger in that socket, he is immediately connected to the powerhouse, and is electrified. So as soon as we connect anything to Krishna, it becomes Krishna-ized, spiritual. This is the sum and substance of Krishna consciousness.

So anyone can be Krishna conscious. It’s not that we have to give something up, or we have to do something difficult. We have to just whatever our inclination is, we have to connect it with Krishna. Just like Arjuna was a warrior, a political leader. At first he thought, “Why is Krishna asking me to kill? To fight and to kill my countrymen, my teacher and relatives?” He didn’t want to do that, and he gave so many arguments why he should not do. But Krishna informed Arjuna that He wanted him to do it, and He had already decided that everyone was going to be killed, “whether you do it or not. It’s already been done. So you can act as My instrument or servant and get the credit, or you can abstain. And you will be drawn into the fighting even against your own will, because it is your nature to fight. Your nature is fighting, so even if you try to avoid it, you will be helplessly drawn in.” So we have to apply our natural inclination to the service of Krishna. Not that you have to artificially renounce something. We have to apply our natural aptitude for Krishna. Just like the natural function of the woman is to beget children, so they beget children for Krishna, and it becomes spiritual. But the same thing done without Krishna is just mundane. So everything depends on the application. This is the point.