Chaitanya Bhagavata
by Bhumipati Dāsa | 2008 | 1,349,850 words
The Chaitanya Bhagavata 2.1.158, English translation, including a commentary (Gaudiya-bhasya). This text is similair to the Caitanya-caritamrita and narrates the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, proclaimed to be the direct incarnation of Krishna (as Bhagavan) This is verse 158 of Madhya-khanda chapter 1—“The Beginning of the Lord’s Manifestation and His Instructions on Krishna-sankirtana”.
Verse 2.1.158
Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.1.158:
শাস্ত্রের না জানে মর্ম, অধ্যাপনা করে গর্দভের প্রায যেন শাস্ত্র বহি’ মরে ॥ ১৫৮ ॥
शास्त्रेर ना जाने मर्म, अध्यापना करे गर्दभेर प्राय येन शास्त्र वहि’ मरे ॥ १५८ ॥
śāstrera nā jāne marma, adhyāpanā kare gardabhera prāya yena śāstra vahi’ mare || 158 ||
sastrera na jane marma, adhyapana kare gardabhera praya yena sastra vahi’ mare (158)
English translation:
(158) “Those who do not know the purport of the scriptures yet teach them to others are simply like asses, carrying the load of the scriptures.
Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:
Those who study the scriptures are of two types: one group consists of those who carry the burden of the scriptures like cows or asses and the other group consists of those who extract the essence of the scriptures like honey bees. The purport is that to gratify their material senses,
asslike teachers induced by ajña-rūḍhi and ignorant of the actual purport of the scriptures do not explain that the goal of life is unalloyed service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the husband of Sarasvatī, the goddess of transcendental knowledge. Just as cows and asses are unable to relish the sweetness of honey or sugar kept in a jar, the study and teaching of the Vedas by such asslike, proud, so-called learned scholars who uselessly labor hard like foolish animals is completely useless and meaningless. Being bewildered by māyā, those foolish persons then mistakenly accept other equally qualified asslike people as learned. But actually for intelligent swanlike devotees who know the causes of bondage and liberation to be addressed as learned scholars is most befitting and appropriate.
In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (4.29.44) Nārada Muni speaks to the saintly King Prācīnabarhi as follows:
adyāpi vācas-patayas tapo-vidyā-samādhibhiḥ paśyanto ‘pi na paśyanti paśyantaṃ parameśvaram
“Although expert speakers continually deliberated on the strength of austerity, knowledge, and samādhi, they could not fully know the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who witnesses all things.”