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Question: Mahāprabhu always stressed the importance of learning and being scholarly. As young devotees what is the importance of us focusing on both our material and spiritual studies?

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Jayapatākā Swami: You see just like Jīva Gosvāmī, he wanted to serve guru and Kṛṣṇa. So he thought that he should be qualified so that he could render some service. So he went to university and he studied, of course, he studied Sanskrit. What one studies may vary, but if you want to write transcendental literatures you have to study Sanskrit. So like that Lord Caitanya was also known as Nimāi Paṇḍita and He was the greatest of all paṇḍitas, but when He learnt about Kṛṣṇa, He became focused on that. So we should qualify ourselves materially, so that we can survive and do some nice service for guru and Kṛṣṇa. At the same time, we should see to our spiritual education, so that we can reach the actual goal of life as a human being, which is go back to Godhead. So it is only possible if we know about Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-Gītā, ‘janma karma ca me divyaṁ – My birth and My activities are spiritual.’ If you know that then you go back to Godhead. So we should not neglect our spiritual service. We need material studies for this life and the spiritual studies for this life and the next life.
27-June-2021 Sridham Mayapur, India