Bhagavatam-daily 36 – 11.07.26 – Presence of knowledge begs questions about its source and use

Bhagavatam 11.7.26 Shri Yadurvacham Gudobuddhiriyam Brahman akartusubhisharada yamasaddhibhavallokam vidvamscharati balavat Maharaj Yadu is going to ask this Audhubhramana some questions and this is a part of the Uddhav Gita Krishna is narrating so Krishna is narrating an ancient history about events that transpired long ago, which demonstrate the principle of how by using one’s intelligence to observe the world, one can learn valuable lessons about living and the purpose of living so, he is asking now akartusubhisharada akartu, you are actually not doing anything so, Gudobuddhiriyam Brahman actually, where did your great intelligence come from, oh Brahmana akartu, you are not doing anything visubhisharada, visubhisharada is actually broad or wise visubhisharada is expert, very wise yamasaddhibhavallokam so, having acquired bhaval bhaval is a transformation of bhavan, lokam lokam, so, after having acquired this knowledge vidvamscharati, you are now having great knowledge but you are moving around in this world, how? balavat like a child so, essentially he is asking two questions, firstly, you don’t seem to be doing any work, now here he is not just asking about work in terms of work for earning a livelihood, he is asking about doing religious duties that lead to the growth of knowledge when one performs dharma the normal understanding is dharma leads to, dharma produces artha, and that enables one to fulfill kama, and after many lifetimes like this, one may eventually move towards moksha that progression of course is correct at one level, at another level actually, the performance of dharma, we understand how does it ultimately make a way for moksha it is by giving one realization about the nature of reality illuminating one with deeper wisdom so, normally people acquire gyana, they become vidvana by learning from others but then, here he is asking that actually, you are not doing any prescribed duties so, another prescribed duties can actually be to learn from others, another can be just do service and study scriptures and you will learn on your own, or another can be just hear the classes you will learn everything from the classes, or whatever like that we may hear different reasons, or different ways in which you can acquire knowledge, and all these are in their own way valid these are the ways to acquire knowledge, but the common denominator is that, we all have to do some endeavor by which we can acquire that knowledge but here, Margetu is observing that actually, this brahmana is not doing any duty, he is avadhuta, so, what did he do because of which he acquired such knowledge, such a learning, such a wisdom now, the brahmana’s knowledge is not just theoretical or text bookish it is realized and living knowledge, as is demonstrated in his detachment and his absorption in higher truth as will be demonstrated in subsequent verses so, the avadhuta brahmana here, is being asked that firstly, that without performing religious rituals, how did you learn so much what did you do to acquire such knowledge, that is the first question just like, if you find someone on the streets, and that person has more knowledge about say, the latest computer gadgets more than what we find that is available for, available in specialist engineers of those electronic devices of those computers whatever, then we will be amazed how did you get this knowledge so, subject here is of course of transcendental knowledge, but the principle is similar whenever we see knowledge, and we don’t see that person connected with any of the normal systems for acquiring knowledge, naturally the question comes up, where did so much knowledge come in this person so, you know, where you actually educated in IIT or where you, did you earlier work in some MNC and that’s how you know so much, so naturally, whenever we see knowledge, one question that comes up is, what is the source of that knowledge, second question that normally comes up is, what are you doing with so much knowledge what are you doing with so much knowledge so, here he is asking the brahmana, avadhuta that after having so much knowledge, why are you wandering around this world like a Balavat, Balavat is actually lives like a child, so now when a child wanders around, children are often quite frivolous and they don’t seem to have any serious purpose now whatever children do, may be serious for them I want to build a sand castle, I want to play that game, I want to do this, I want to do that, now whatever the Balavat children do, that is done often, the Balavat can actually have two meanings, either it can be childlike or childish, so childish usually has a negative connotation of frivolity, maturity, levity, but all those are negative connotations of childish, whereas childlike often has a more philosophical connotation, where the idea is that one is innocent just like a child, therefore, one acts in whatever ways, one is directed from within the heart, one has no intention of hurting anyone so, children also, in general they are frivolous, they don’t have the intention of hurting anyone, but they may also have their small emotional world in which they think quite strongly so the capacity to be conscious of anything is actually the faculty of consciousness in general but the capacity to be conscious of deep truths is a rare faculty, and when one who has those deep truths, why is that person not sharing knowledge with others, the question may come up that if as I said somebody has huge amount of knowledge about some computer devices, ok how are you using this knowledge, are you sharing it with others, are you fixing things up for people or what, so similarly Maharaja Yadu is asking after having so much knowledge, O Vidwans charatiba alavat, how is it that you are actually just wandering around like a child, and this question, the answer of which will reveal not only the nature of wisdom, but also the nature of the wise, so here Maharaja Yadu on seeing the symptoms of knowledge is asking about its source and its use, thank you