Purport

In this mantra there is a comparative study of "Vidya" and "Avidya." Avidya, or ignorance, is undoubtedly dangerous, but Vidya-knowledge which is misguided-is still more dangerous. In modern human civilization this explanation of Sri Ishopanishad is more applicable than at any other time in the past. Modern civilization has advanced considerably in the matter of mass education, and yet the resuIt is that people are more unhappy than before on account of too much stress on material advancement, without any taste for the most important aspect of life, the spiritual aspect.

So far as Vidya is concerned, the first mantra of Sri Ishopanishad has explained very clearly that the Supreme Lord is the Proprietor of everything, and forgetfulness of this fact is called ignorance. The more a man forgets this fact of life, the more he is in darkness; and in view of this, a godless civilization directed toward the so-called advancement of education is more dangerous than a civilization in which the mass of people are less advanced.

There are different classes of men, called "karmis," "jnanins" and "yogis." The karmis are those who are engaged in the activities of sense gratification. Almost 99.9 percent of the people in modern civilization are engaged in the activities of sense gratification under the flags of various activities such as industrialism, economic development, altruism, political consciousness, and so on. But all these activities are more or less based on the satisfaction of the senses, without any reference to the sort of God consciousness described in the first mantra of Sri Ishopanishad.

In the language of The Bhagavad-gita, people who are engaged in gross sense gratification are "Mudhas"-in darkness like the ass, the symbol of stupidity. People who are simply engaged in the pursuit of sense gratification, without any real profit in life, are in the estimation of Sri Ishopanishad worshiping Avidya. And those who play the role of helping this sort of civilization in the name of educational advancement, are doing more harm than those who are on the platform of gross sense gratification. The advancement of learning by the godless people is as dangerous as a valuable jewel on the hood of a cobra. The cobra decorated with such a valuable jewel is quite as dangerous as one which is not so decorated.

Again, the advancement of educational activities by a godless people is, according to the Hari Bhakti Sudhodaya, a decoration for a dead body. In India as in many other countries, some people follow the custom of leading a procession with a decorated dead body for the pleasure of the lamenting relatives. In the same sense, modern civilization is a patchwork of activities meant to cover the perpetual miseries of material existence. Such activities are targeted toward sense gratification, but above the senses there is the mind, and above the mind there is the intelligence, and above intelligence there is the soul. Therefore, the aim of education should be self realization, realization of the spiritual values of the soul. Any education which does not lead to such a realization of life must be considered "Avidya," or nescience. And to culture such nescience means going down to the darkest region of ignorance.

Such mistaken educators are known in the Vedic language by four names:

The Vedabadarata people pose themselves as very learned in the Vedic literature, but unfortunately they are completely diverted from the purpose of the Vedas. In The Bhagavad-gita it is said that the purpose of the Vedas is to know the Personality of Godhead, but these Vedabadarata men are not at all interested in the Personality of Godhead. On the contrary, they are fascinated by such results as the attainment of heaven.

As is said in Mantra One of Sri Ishopanishad, we should know that the Personality of Godhead is the Proprietor of everything, and we must be satisfied with our allotted portion of the necessities of life. The purpose of the whole Vedic literature is to awaken this God consciousness in the forgetful living being, and the same principle is presented in various ways in the world's various Scriptures for the understanding of foolish mankind. Thus the ultimate purpose is to bring one back to Godhead.

But the Vedabadarata people, instead of realizing the purport of the Vedas, take it for granted that side issues such as the attainment of heavenly pleasure for sense gratification-the lust for which is the very cause of their material bondage in the first place-is the ultimate end of the Vedas. Such people misguide others by misinterpreting the Vedic literature, and sometimes they condemn the Puranas, which are authentic Vedic explanations for laymen. The Vedabadaratas make their own explanations of the Vedas, neglecting the authority of the great teachers, called Acharyas; and they tend to raise some unscrupulous person from among themselves as the leading exponent of Vedic knowledge.

These men are especially condemned by this mantra of Sri Ishopanishad with the very appropriate Sanskrit word "Vidyarata." "Vidya" means Veda, because the Veda is the original in all knowledge; and "rata" means engaged. Vidyarata means engaged in the study of the Vedas. As such, the so-called Vidyaratas are condemned here because they do not know what the purpose of the Vedas is, on account of disobeying the Acharyas. Such Vedabadaratas are accustomed to finding meaning in every word of the Vedas to suit their own purposes, without knowing that the Vedic literature is not a collection of ordinary books which everyone can understand, unless trained through the chain of disciplic succession.

One must approach a bona fide spiritual master in order to understand the transcendental message of the Vedas. That is the direction of the Katha Upanishad. But these Vedabadarata people have their own Acharya, who is not in the chain of transcendental disciplic succession. Thus they will progress into the darkest region of ignorance by misinterpreting the Vedic literature, even more so than those who have no knowledge of the Vedas at all.

The "Maya apahritajnana" class of men are self-made "Gods." Such men think that they are themselves God, and there is no necessity of worshiping any other God. They will agree to worship an ordinary man if he happens to be rich, but will never worship the actual Personality of Godhead. Such foolish men cannot recognize their own foolishness, regarding the question of how God can ever have been entrapped by illusion. If God were ever entrapped by illusion, then illusion would be more powerful than God. But they also say that God is all-powerful. If God is all-powerful, then how can He be overpowered by illusion? The self-made Gods cannot answer all these questions very clearly, but they are satisfied that they have become God themselves.