Talk:Learning and Knowledge

By Vishal Agarwal

The path of Jñāna Yoga, especially, and also the other paths presume some spiritual instruction and scriptural learning. But, in the path of Bhakti, learning and knowledge are not prerequisites because even the illiterate or ill-educated devotees can love, please, and serve the Bhagavān with their humble and faithful devotion. The scriptures say –

Even those whose Bhakti is immature will eventually perfect it when they enter the realm of the Divine. Śāṇḍilya Bhakti Sūtra 79

A saint of the Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition likewise declares that even a person who is not an ‘old soul’ and whose intellect is not yet mature or ripened can nevertheless tread the path of Bhakti because over time, he attains perfection and reaches the Divine –

The All-Loving Father, the Great Bhagavān, does not force his presence on the soul not yet ripe to receive him. With infinite patience, he waits and watches the struggle of the soul in saṃsāra since the struggle is necessary for the full development of the faculties of the soul. Pillai Lokācārya in Tattvatraya

Story: The Devoted Milkmaid Triumphs Over the Wise Paṇḍita

A milkmaid used to supply milk to a Brāhmaṇa priest living on the other side of a river. Owing to the irregularities of the boat service, she could not supply him with milk punctually every day.

Once, being rebuked for going late, the poor woman said, “What can I do? I start early from my house, but have to wait for a long time at the river bank for the boatman and the passengers.” The priest said, “Woman! They cross the ocean of life by uttering the name of God, and you can’t cross this little river?”

The simple-hearted woman became very glad at heart on learning this easy means of crossing the river. From the next day, the milk was being supplied early in the morning. One day, the priest said to the woman, “How is it that you are no longer late nowadays?” She said, “I crossed the river by uttering the name of the Bhagavān as you told me to do, and don’t stand now in need of a boatman.”

The priest could not believe this and said, “Can you show me how you cross the river?” The woman took him with her and began to walk over the water. Looking behind, the woman saw the priest in a sad plight and said, “How is it, sir, that you are uttering the name of God with your mouth but at the same time with your hands, you are trying to keep your cloth untouched by water? You do not fully rely on Him.”

A prime example given to highlight the importance of Bhakti and the irrelevance of scholastic learning and culture in the path of Bhakti is that of the illiterate and uncouth, but loving and simple-natured women dairy farmers of Vṛndāvana. They stole the heart of Śrī Kṛṣṇa through the purity and the depth of their love alone –

By pure devotion alone, the Gopīs of Vṛndāvana attained to Me and reached the summum bonum of life. So did even unintelligent creatures like cows, elephants, and snakes. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.12.8