CC-Adi 16. 43-44
The lecture deals with the topics of intellectual pride, irrational claims of Christianity, Fideism and St. Anselm’s ontological proof of God
TEXT 43
jhanjhavata-praya ami sloka padila
tara madhye sloka tumi kaiche kanthe kaila
TRANSLATION
“I recited all the verses like the blowing wind. How could You completely learn by heart even one among those verses?”
TEXT 44
prabhu kahe, devera vare tumi — ‘kavi-vara’
aiche devera vare keho haya ‘srutidhara’
TRANSLATION
The Lord replied, “By the grace of the Lord someone may become a great poet, and similarly by His grace someone else may become a great sruti-dhara who can memorize anything immediately.”
Summary
Kesava Kasmiri has many followers today, scholars who are proud of their learning. There are also scholars who are proud of their ignorance. Everyone can find something to be proud of because we are conditioned souls.
There was Christian position called Fideism (with comes from faith), because many great Christian thinkers found some strong irrational claims in Christianity. It is the view that God has intentionally given the world an irrational revelation so that people don’t become proud of their intelligence and education, thus it completely depends on faith. Pascal in the 17th century and Kierkegaard in the 19th century held this view.
Some of these irrational claims are that we all deserve to be killed because we are not perfectly obedient. However, in order to proof his love for us, our father send his son, who is God himself, and killed himself instead of his children.
Anselms ontological proof of God is that being than whom no greater being can be conceived. Rupa Goswami is giving a similar argument 450 years later, paraphrasing what Anselm says: The highest conception of God is the truest. Thus Krsna is the candidate, and not Anselm’s conception of God which is psychotic and evil: a God who punishes and tortures His children forever even for thought-crimes.
Krsna has no anger issues and is no jealous God. In the Gita is declares that you can even materially be happy in this world without Krsna if you are pious. One of his qualities is that he is detached.
Back to the verse: Krsna warns us here against intellectual pride.
