In this devotional lecture, Gopal Krishna Goswami addresses university students, contrasting material education with spiritual education and urging youth to adopt Krishna consciousness while pursuing professional ambitions. He critiques the commercialization of education in India, points out the moral decay and lack of purpose among many students, and emphasizes that true education is the knowledge of Krishna, the "king of education" as described in the Bhagavad‑gītā. He cites A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda’s MIT lecture, the Bhaktivedanta Institute’s scientific work, and the exemplary life of a young devotee, Ravi Gupta, who combined rigorous academic achievement with devotional practice. Goswami argues that Krishna consciousness does not hinder ambition; rather, it disciplines the mind, provides peace of mind, and enables success in material pursuits. He highlights surveys showing that peace of mind cannot be bought with money and presents Krishna consciousness as the source of that peace. The talk concludes with a call for students to embrace Vedic heritage, use their intelligence for both material and spiritual service, and thereby transform society’s prevailing unhappiness, corruption, and materialism.
Omm no moh Bhagothe Vaasuddheva yaa? Namaha Bahugya Vasudevayi ya... Um numoho Bagote Vassa Deva Yaanumoha Bharato Tevasodiva Yaaa?!
Hare Krishna.
So we have so many educational institutions now.
In fact, they say that education has become the best business. Isn't it? Education previously was viewed as a service to the country, but today education is viewed as the best way to make money. So you have all these ministers in different states, they are all starting their own educational colleges. Even in Pune there are some, isn't it? So, because they tell me that education is the best business. I also work a lot in Russia. In Russia, I regularly meet Indian students. So I asked them, "Why do you come here to study?" They say, "It's a lot cheaper studying in Russia than in India." They say, "In India, if you want admission in an engineering or a medical college, you have to give a few lakhs, bucksheesh, but here it's a lot less." So that's unfortunate.
Anyway, our point is that material education by itself remains incomplete.
You can have many education, you can have degrees, etc., but unless you also understand what is the real goal of life, Everything is a waste. As it says in the Bhāgavad-gītā, sama evahī kevalam. So all of you are, in addition to attempting to cultivate material education, also cultivating spiritual education. In the 9th chapter of the Bhāgavad-gītā, there's a very famous verse which is, who can guess? Who can guess the famous verse that talks about education? Rājavidyarāja-kriyā. Kṛṣṇa says, "This knowledge is the king of education." Prabhupāda was once giving a lecture at a very famous educational institution in America. This is known as the MIT. Have you heard of MIT? Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And in that assembly there were many learned personalities. So Prabhupāda opened his lecture by saying, "Is there any department in this great university which tells you What happens after death? And there was complete silence. Nobody knew the answer. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is complete education because it teaches us the art of living and the art of dying. And material education only endeavors to cater to the needs of the body, and we get— and material education just encourages us to identify with the body and the extensions of the body. Spiritual education helps us to go beyond that. It helps us to see things in the right perspective. So all of you actually By taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, are actually doing a great service to society, humanity, and the country at large. These days, as you know, from a practical viewpoint, there are more PhDs than ever before in India, isn't it?
Is any shortage of PhDs? Is any shortage of educated people? No, but still you hear maximum corruption, immorality, etc., isn't it?
The other day I was talking to some students who are studying in a very prestigious institute in Delhi. It's a private institute, but very prestigious and very, very expensive. They say it's the most expensive institute Almost everyone there is the son or daughter of some millionaire. It's a small institute. They only take 300 or 400 students.
So they were telling me what life is like over there.
They said in the canteen, most of the girls and boys smoke and drink, even the girls. And because these two are devotees, they don't smoke and drink and socialize with them. So now no one talks to them. They say, "Hey, you're an outcast. You don't really belong to us." So people are wasting their valuable life. They're getting all their studies, but what's the value? So As the youth of this country, it's very nice that some of you have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Prabhupāda used to say the youth is the future of the country.
Just like you may have seen all these political parties, they have a youth wing, isn't it? Do they have it in Pune University also? All these political parties, they have a youth wing.
They want to catch the people when they are young and groom them.
You know, these jihadis, these terrorists, they also have a program like this. They catch the kids when they are young, send them to military schools, and teach them how to become terrorists from a young age. So the point is that youth is the best age to learn and to formulate our views.
So people are formulating their views in the wrong direction, but those of you who have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness are formulating your views in the right direction.
Now, being in college, naturally most of you are probably thinking how your careers are going to progress. And everyone's interested in making a career.
And the beauty of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that you can be as ambitious as you want.
Let's say if you are, if any of you are engineering students and you want to become the top engineer in the country, someone studying science, you want to become the top scientist in the country, no problem.
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not going to tell you don't endeavor to do that.
Sometimes people think that if I become Kṛṣṇa conscious And I may not be so inspired to do my studies or my work or my profession, but that's wrong. In fact, my experience with students around the world is our Kṛṣṇa conscious students, they do much better than the other students. We had an Indian devotee in America. He was born in America. His parents had left India long ago. His name was Ravi Gupta. He is now 18 years old, 19, and he is just finishing his PhD from Oxford. He has 4 more months to go and he will finish his PhD. Now, Ravi Gupta did his schooling at home because in America the environment in the schools is very bad. So his parents, they were devotees. His father is an engineer with HP. So he didn't want his two sons to get spoiled. So they did homeschooling. Homeschooling is very, very common in America. Even Christian families are doing it more and more.
But he entered university when he was 13, and he was first class first throughout. And people used to ask him, and he is also a writer. He used to write for a Bhaktivedanta magazine, but he also, shh, he also writes regularly for American newspapers. So his teachers used to ask him, "What's your secret? How do you get such high grades? You're only 13." He wasn't even 13 when he was placed in high school. He was 13 when he entered college, university. At 15 or 15 and a half, he finished graduation. At 17, he finished master's. And by 19 or 20, he's finishing his PhD. So he told everyone that it's my Kṛṣṇa consciousness that has disciplined me. Because he became Kṛṣṇa conscious, he started chanting 16 rounds a day. He started reading Bhagavad-gītā, to lead a regulated life. He was prevented from bad association, bad habits, and he had very sharp intelligence that he used spiritually and maturely.
Same Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we use our intelligence both. Spiritually and materially. We use our intelligence materially in whichever area or specialization you may have. Spiritually, we use it to see how we can use our abilities in service of the Lord. After Prabhupada established the ISKCON Society He established an institute called the Bhaktivedanta Institute. And in that institute there were many, many scientists and people with technical engineering background, highly qualified people. So Prabhupada told them, "You use your mature education to prove that nothing exists without God." and not a blade of grass moves without God's permission.
So Kṛṣṇa consciousness doesn't discourage education.
It doesn't discourage pursuance of your professional agenda. All it discourages is misuse of human life. That's all. So by being Kṛṣṇa conscious, you will be able to progress spiritually and materially.
Now, if you look around at society today, you find society in a very disturbed condition.
You find that everything evil is increasing.
You may see a lot of new cars on the road, You may see a lot of nice new products in the market, but does that mean that people are happier today than before?
No. People are not happier than before. There was a survey done in America, and people were asked a question, "What is it that you want in life that money cannot buy?" Well, generally you think that money can buy everything. Am I right?
So they were asked a question, "What is it that you want in life that money can't buy?" And you know what the number one answer was? What was it?
Love, the ease, peace of mind.
They said peace of mind is something that money can't buy.
So peace of mind is something that you can only buy if you are Kṛṣṇa conscious. So this peace of mind is being offered by the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Actually, it is being offered by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is eternal father, well-wisher, protector, guardian, and it is the Lord's desire that we all be spiritually happy. Just like every father desires that his family, children, be happy, similarly the Lord desires that everyone take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And we in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are only presenting what the Lord has presented. Śrīla Prabhupāda did not deviate. From the original teachings. He gave the original teachings as they were spoken by the Supreme Lord. So the students of this country should all be educated in spiritual values of life. Thousands of years ago, a great Chinese saint said, Kaamana achat pragyad dharmam bhagavatam yah. He said this human life is so rare, it should not be misused, but it should be used to understand spiritual education. So this is what this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is doing. So if you cultivate this spiritual knowledge, you will find that you will be peaceful in all situations. And you'll also be able to pursue your professional life. Naturally, when you are studying, etc., I'm sure all of you are planning into the future, isn't it? What type of profession, what type of job am I going to get, what type of business am I going to do, etc. So that's good, but when you have the blessings of the Lord, then success comes easier. And Krishna says, all of them is surrendered unto me, I reward them accordingly. So today we see so much distrust in society, so much unhappiness, so much cheating, etc., isn't it? People are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided. All this is actually due to lack of God consciousness. Because people have got so deeply identified with the body, they just think taking care of the body is our only real business. And so they work from morning to night just for the pleasure of the body. So Prabhupada's great desire was that the students of this country understand their great heritage, understand the Vedic heritage. The Vedic heritage is for the entire humanity, and by understanding this Vedic heritage, you'll find that you'll be able, you'll be peaceful, and you'll be able to succeed, and you'll be able to lead a happy, peaceful life. So, Radhe Shyam, it's quarter to 7. What do you want me to do?
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Krishna. Lama Lama, leh leh.
