kula-vidyā-ādi upalakṣaṇa sakala |
sabāre poṣaye kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa sarva-bala ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 1.7.132)
“Nobility, learning, and so on are all [merely] incidental characteristics. Kṛṣṇa nourishes everyone; Kṛṣṇa is the strength of all.”
na me‘bhaktaś catur-vedī mad-bhaktaḥ śva-pacaḥ priyaḥ |
tasmai deyaṁ tato grāhyaṁ sa ca pūjyo yathā hy aham ||
(Itihāsa-samuccaya; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.127 and Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.50, 2.20.58)
“One who knows the four Vedas but is not my bhakta is not dear to me, whereas my bhakta, even if he is a dog-cooker [i.e., an outcaste], is [dear to me]. To him, things are fit to be given, and from him, things are fit to be accepted. He is indeed as worshippable as I am.”
vidvān apītthaṁ danujāḥ kuṭumbaṁ
puṣṇan sva-lokāya na kalpate vai
yaḥ svīya-pārakya-vibhinna-bhāvas
tamaḥ prapadyeta yathā vimūḍhaḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.6.16)
[Prahlāda Mahārāja:] “O sons of Danu, although learned [in śāstra], one who bears the disposition of distinction between one’s own and others’, by maintaining his family in this way, is not at all able to look at himself [i.e., to deliberate upon the ātmā] and like a complete fool proceeds into darkness.”
mātrā samaṁ nāsti śarīra-poṣaṇaṁ
cintā-samaṁ nāsti śarīra-śoṣaṇam |
bhāryā-samaṁ nāsti śarīra-toṣaṇaṁ
vidyā-samaṁ nāsti śarīra-bhūṣaṇam ||
(Unknown source)
“There is nothing nourishing to the body like a mother’s care. There is nothing draining to the body like anxiety. There is nothing satisfying to the body like a wife. And there is no ornament on the body like knowledge.”
jñātiṁ vidyāṁ mahattvaṁ ca rūpaṁ yauvanam eva ca |
yatnena parivarjeta pañcaite bhakti-kaṇṭakaḥ ||
(Garga-saṁhitā: 10.62.7)
“Kinsmen, learning, greatness, beauty, and youth—carefully elude these five impediments [lit., “thorns”] to bhakti.”
