by his holiness Satsvarūpa Dāsa Gosvāmī

Satsvarupa dasa Gosvami, the Editor of Back to Godhead, is currently traveling with His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, serving as his personal secretary.

EVERYONE WILL AGREE that a human being needs some kind of education. Some teachers stress preparing oneself for an occupation, while others assert that the quest for knowledge itself sufficiently justifies an education. But unless one's vocational education or search for knowledge can reveal to him his own identity, the purpose of life, his relationship with God and the universe, and the path of freedom from material miseries, whatever else he learns is but a waste of time.

The well-known incident of the unduly proud scholar and the boatman illustrates this point. A scholar once engaged a ferryboat man to row him across a river. Observing that his boatman was quite uneducated, the scholar began to show off his own learning and simultaneously criticize the boatman.

"My good boatman," the scholar said, "just see how the first stars are appearing in the sky. We may observe the juxtapositions of planets and stars to a degree that is marvelous. Tell me, do you know the science of astronomy?"

"No sir," the boatman replied, adding that he knew little beyond rowing.

"You don't know astronomy?" the scholar said. "Poor fellow! Then your life is twenty-five percent wasted."

Some time passed, and the scholar began commenting upon the various land formations around them, boasting that he was also a master of geology. "Do you know the science of geology?" he asked. When the boatman said he did not, the scholar declared, "Oh, then fifty percent of your life is wasted." Then the scholar next launched into a dissertation on psychology, and when the boatman admitted he knew nothing about it, the scholar announced, "Indeed, seventy-five percent of your life is wasted!"

Suddenly black clouds began pouring rain, and a squall rocked the little ferryboat. Within minutes the storm became so serious that waves broke over the ferry's sides, and the ferryman, seeing they would have to abandon the boat, turned to the scholar and said, "Sir; I'm afraid this boat is lost. We'll have to swim for it. Do you know the art of swimming?"

But the scholar replied, "I don't know how to swim."

"Oh, sir," said the boatman, "then one hundred percent of your life is wasted!" He then dove into the river and began swimming, while the educated scholar drowned.

Thus although a man may pretend to be educated, his education is useless if he does not learn how to save himself from the miseries of life and ultimately from death itself. The Vedic literature refers to a human being who does not use his human birth to solve life's perplexities as a krpana, or miser. The Garga Upanisad states; "He is a miserly man who does not solve the problems of life and who thus quits this world like the cats and dogs, without understanding the science of self-realization." The real wealth of human life lies in becoming enlightened and solving the problems of life. Education that misses or ignores this must be considered subhuman.