Category:Thoughts of Foolish People
Theme Analysis
In the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda, a "foolish person" is defined not by a lack of academic education, but by a fundamental misconception of reality. The primary symptom of this foolishness is the thought that the living force is a product of chemical combinations and that the material body is the self. Because of this bodily identification, foolish people think they are independent of the laws of nature and that they can ignore the Supreme Lord. This leads to the "ostrich mentality" where they think they will live forever and that their family and material possessions will protect them from death.
- Misunderstanding God: The defining thought of a fool is considering Kṛṣṇa to be an ordinary human being or a historical figure. They think the Lord is limited, powerless, or even immoral.
- The Illusion of Chance: Fools think that the material world functions automatically or by chance, failing to see the superintendent hand of God behind the cosmic manifestation.
- Fear of Service: When they hear of eternal service in the spiritual world, they shudder, thinking it is the same as the miserable servitude they experience in the material world.
- False Independence: A fool thinks, "I am the king," "I am God," or "I am independent," not realizing they are strictly bound by the modes of material nature.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Thoughts of Foolish People - The Mūḍha Mindset.
Pages in category "Thoughts of Foolish People"
The following 60 pages are in this category, out of 60 total.
A
- A base fool thinks that devotion to Lord Krsna is merely a mundane psychological state of mind
- A foolish man, if he is informed that there is better life in the spiritual world, to become servant of God, Krsna, they think, "I became servant of this material world. I have suffered so much. Again servant of Krsna? Oh..." They shudder
- A foolish, senseless person cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although always dependent, he falsely thinks himself the Supreme
- A motorcar is moving; that means the driver is moving. So foolish people will think that the motorcar is moving. Motorcar does not move. In spite of all mechanical arrangement, it cannot move. That is the wrong way of education
- A person foolishly thinks that the material body has grown from a combination of chemicals, although he cannot find them. The Vedas inform us, however, that chemical combinations do not constitute the living force
- Atheistic scholars and politicians cannot understand the transcendental vibration. They can only lick at the honey bottle. Fools and rascals eat and drink everything without restriction, thinking that they are doing so in the name of religion
F
- Foolish people think of Krsna as one of them. Not understanding His spiritual potency, they simply decry the personal form of the Absolute Truth, foolishly thinking of themselves as jnanis cognizant of the complete truth
- Foolish people think that devotional service is flattering the Lord to get special mercy. Factually the pure devotees who are engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord are not a mercantile community
- Foolish people think, "Why God has made me poor? Why God has made so many poor men?" God has not made. They have made themselves poor. God has not made. He does not make any distinguish. He says the plain truth
- Foolish people thinks, "I am better off being busy with my material comforts - maintaining a nice apartment, family and sex life"
- Foolish people who because of a poor fund of knowledge think that one can equal Krsna or become Krsna are condemned in every way. No one can equal or surpass Krsna, who is therefore described as asamordhva
- Foolish person thinks he is independent of any law. He thinks there is no God or regulative principle and that he can do whatever he likes. Thus he engages in different sinful activities, and as a result, he is put into different hellish conditions life
- Foolish persons do not take care. They think they are very much advanced, they have no need to attend arati or to play on the mrdanga or cymbal. So many items are there given by the acaryas. Take any one of them, you'll be benefited. This is arcana-marga
- Foolish persons might have thought Him (Krsna) an extraordinary historic figure because they had no intimate touch with the Lord, but more unfortunate were the family members of the Lord, the members of the Yadu dynasty
- Foolish persons think Narayana to be on the platform of ordinary material existence
- Foolish persons think that when Krsna appears as the son of Vasudeva, He is limited like an ordinary child. But Vasudeva was aware that although God had appeared as his son, God had not entered Devaki's womb & then come out. Rather, God was always there
- Foolish persons who do not have sufficient knowledge think that nature is moving without a plan and all manifestations are but accidental formations. BG 1972 purports
- Foolish persons, they do not know what is the ultimate goal of their life. They are thinking that, Satisfaction in the material way of life will give me ultimate pleasure or ultimate satisfaction. That is my ultimate goal
- Fools cannot think that one is not for 50 or 100 years, but one is for eternity
- Fools think of Krsna just like ordinary man. But He is different. He is different from everything of this world because everything of this world is born. You will trace out the history, the birthdate. But you cannot
H
- He thinks that there are many other engagements for a living entity besides the service of the Lord. Such a foolish person does not know that in any position he either directly or indirectly engages in activities of service to the Supreme Lord
- He'll falsely think that, "I am God." Yogis, if they can show some mystic yogic power, then naturally foolish people will think him that, "Oh, here is God." And he's satisfied with that
I
- I know in India there are many foolish persons who think that by reading Bhagavad Gita one is apt to renounce this world. This is completely foolishness. Arjuna was a family man, a soldier, and he was directly taught the principles of Bhagavad Gita
- If one is thinking that he's happy materially, he's a fool. Nobody can be happy. This is the place for distress
- In former times there were many fools like you who did not conquer the six enemies that steal away the wealth of the body. These fools were very proud, thinking, "I have conquered all enemies in all the ten directions"
- In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord (Krsna) says that only fools deride Him, thinking that anyone can speak like Krsna
- In the modern age a certain class of fools think that they can vote anyone into the position of God, as they can vote a man into the position of a political executive head. But the transcendental SPG is perfectly described in the authentic scriptures
- It is understood that when an ordinary person is placed in jail, he is sent there by force because he has been proven a criminal. A criminal may think that he and the governor are one, just as rascals and fools think that Krsna is one of them
K
- Krsna comes once in a day of Brahma, and His incarnations also come, to educate foolish people who think that they are living happily on this earth
- Krsna, the SPG, personally appeared and left His instructions for the benefit of all human society, but fools & rascals unfortunately think of Him as an ordinary human being and twist the instructions of Bhagavad-gita for the satisfaction of their senses
L
- Lord Caitanya distributed this Krsna consciousness langera mango very cheaply, but people are so foolish that they think, - Oh, they are simply chanting Hare Krsna; what is there to it
- Love of Godhead is dormant within everyone’s heart, and if one simply follows the standard process of devotional service, it is awakened. But foolish mundane people who simply read about Krsna mistakenly think that He is immoral or criminal
O
- One should not try to understand Krsna as a human being. As stated previously, only a foolish person thinks Him to be a human being. This is again expressed here in a different way. BG 1972 purports
- Only fools give up the service of the spiritual master and think themselves advanced in spiritual knowledge. In order to check such fools, Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself presented the perfect example of how to be a disciple
- Our sensory prowess, mental power, bodily strength, living force, immortality and mortality are all subject to the superintendence of the SPG. Not knowing this, foolish people think the dull material body to be the cause of their activities
P
- Pracetasa, Daksa offers prayers unto the Transcendence, not to anyone within the material creation. Only fools and rascals think God a material creation. This is confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gita - BG 9.11
- Prakrteh kriyamana-ni gunaih karmani sarvasah (BG 3.27). Everyone is acting under the influence of material nature, and only fools think they can improve upon what God has created
- Princes offered prayers to Krsna, "Foolish persons think that their material possessions will give them protection; engaged in sense gratification, they falsely accept this material world as a place of eternal enjoyment"
T
- The body is not the self, but animals and foolish people think that it is. Vivarta (illusion) does not, however, denote a change in the identity of the spirit soul; it is the misconception that the body is the self that is an illusion
- The contamination of the material world does not affect the Supreme Godhead. Krsna therefore says in the Bhagavad-gita that those who are rascals and fools think of Him as an ordinary human being, not knowing His param bhavam
- The foolish persons, they do not take care. They think they are very much advanced, they have no need to attend arati or to play on the mrdanga or cymbal. But that is not fact. So many items are there given by the acaryas
- The Lord is addressed as prasanta, completely peaceful, free from the disturbances of material existence. The Supreme Lord has no material name or form; only the foolish think that the Lord's name and form are material
- The Lord states in Bhagavad-gita, mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate: (BG 9.10) "Nature is working under My direction." The foolish person thinks that nature is working automatically, but such an atheistic theory is not supported in the Vedic literature
- The SPG is invisible even to Lord Brahma, yet He descends on this earth and becomes visible to people in general. This is certainly an act of His causeless mercy, but fools and nondevotees think that Krsna is an ordinary historical person
- These foolish people, they do not know. They think that by interpreting Bhagavad-gita by their so-called rascaldom knowledge, they can reveal Bhagavad-gita. That is not possible. Naham prakasah yogamaya-samavrtah
- These fools think that the boat is the Kaliya serpent and the torchlight the jewels on his hoods. People also mistake the fisherman for Krsna
- They (the family men) are foolish because they think that their attachment to their family, even at the end of their lives, will be able to protect them from the cruel hands of death
- Those who are fools and rascals think of Me as an ordinary man, - Krsna says in the Gita. He is different from everything in this world. He is anadi, without cause
- Those who are fools, who are like animals, sometimes think that Krsna is defeated, but factually He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and no one can defeat Him
- Those who doubt that the Supreme Personality of Godhead can come as a human being and turn Himself into a human child are fools who think that Krsna's body is material, that He is born and that He therefore also dies
W
- We are bound up by the laws of nature, but those who are fools, vimudhatma, under false prestige, such person thinks that he is independent. No. That is not. So this is misunderstanding. So this misunderstanding has to be cleaned. That is the aim of life
- We cannot compare that Krsna's body and my body, this body, material, is the same. That is condemned in the Bhagavad-gita, avajananti mam mudha (BG 9.11): "Those who are fools, rascals, they deride at Me, thinking Me as ordinary human being."
- We have a very short period to live, and we never know when we are going to die. There is no certainty. Foolish people think that they will go on living forever, but that is simply foolishness
- We should take example, or instruction, from the behavior of Pariksit Maharaja that everyone is on the threshold of death, but the foolish person, they do not know. Foolish person thinks that, "I shall live forever." That is foolishness
- When a sinful man enjoys material facilities, foolish people sometimes think, "How is it that this sinful man is enjoying whereas a pious man is suffering?"