Live Caitanya Caritamrta · CC Ādi 16.11
Keep Study Focused on Devotional Service
“If one becomes a bookworm, reading many books and scriptures and hearing many commentaries and the instructions of many men, this will produce doubt within his heart. One cannot in this way ascertain the real goal of life.”
What the purport teaches
- Reading many books and hearing many commentaries and instructions can produce doubt. In this way, one cannot ascertain the real goal of life.
- One must give up the ambition to become a learned scholar for worldly reputation and financial facilities.
- Scattered attention to many subjects, especially fruitive activities and philosophical speculation, prevents the mind from becoming fixed in unalloyed devotional service.
Try this today
For today’s study, stay with this passage rather than moving among many books, and reflect on its connection to devotional service.
Ask yourself
Is your study helping you focus on devotional service, or scattering your attention?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport; the practice and question are plain words for trying the verse today.