1. Caitanya Mahaprabhu appreciates a brahmana’s reading Bhagavad-gita

    When Caitanya Mahaprabhu was traveling in South India, He saw that a brahmana was reading Bhagavad-gita and his neighbors knew that “This brahmana is illiterate. He does not know even what is A-B-C-D, and still he’s reading Bhagavad-gita.” They were joking, sometimes criticizing him. The brahmana, of course, was reading as far as possible.

    Caitanya Mahaprabhu saw the fun and approached the brahmana.

    “My dear brahmana, what are you reading?”

    The brahmana understood that “Here is a sincere person. He’s not joking with me. He’s simply inquiring.”

    So he replied, “My dear sir, I am illiterate. I do not know even the alphabets. But my Guru Maharaja asked me to read eighteen chapters of Bhagavad-gita every day. So what can I do? I have taken to reading this Bhagavad-gita in pursuance of the order of my spiritual master. So I am simply seeing the cover and trying to understand what is there.”

    Now, he’s illiterate. By seeing the cover, he’s trying to understand Bhagavad-gita by the order of his spiritual master. This is called Krsna consciousness. “Because my spiritual master has ordered me to read Bhagavad-gita – I know I’m illiterate, I cannot read – oh, let me see what it is.”

    Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked him, “Well, you are illiterate, but I see that with feeling you are crying.”

    “Yes, sir, I am crying.”

    “Why?”

    “Now, as soon as I take this book, the picture of Krsna and Arjuna comes before me. I see that Krsna is driving the chariot and Arjuna is hearing, and I simply appreciate, ‘Oh, Krsna is so kind that He has become the chariot driver of His devotee.’ Therefore I am crying. ‘Oh, He’s so kind.'”

    Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “You are reading Bhagavad-gita.”

    At once He embraced him.

    This is reading Bhagavad-gita. Commentary on Bhagavad-gita without Krsna is all rascaldom. Be careful of those who comment in that way. They are all rascals, because they have made Bhagavad-gita minus Krsna. They want to interpret in their own way.

    Similarly, they interpret Vedanta minus God. Caitanya Mahaprabhu warns you, “Don’t go to such rascals.” There is no mistake. Try to understand Bhagavad-gita or Vedanta-sutra or any scripture as it is. Don’t try to change it.

    Srila Prabhupada Quoted in Back to Godhead Magazine #54-06, 2020