Mantra Ten
51
sonality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and serve Him with rapt attention.
17. One should develop a feeling for residing in a secluded place with a calm and quiet atmosphere favorable for spiritual culture, and thus avoid congested places where the non-devotees congregate.
18. One should become a scientist or philosopher, and make research into spiritual knowledge—not material knowledge—recognizing that spiritual knowledge is permanent, whereas material knowledge ends with the death of the body.
These eighteen items form a gradual process for developing real knowledge. Except for these eighteen items, all other items whatever are grouped within the category of nescience. Śrīla Bhaktivinode Thākur, a great  ācārya , said that all the forms of material knowledge are merely external features of the illusory energy, and by culturing them one becomes no better than an ass. Here in  Śrī Īśopaniṣad  the same principle is repeated. Material advancement of knowledge means actually converting a human being to the status of an ass. Some materialistic politicians, under cover of spiritual garments, do decry the present system of civilization as satanic, but unfortunately they do not care for the culture of real knowledge which is described in the  Bhagavad-gītā , and therefore they cannot change the satanic situation.
In the modern setup of things, even a boy thinks himself self-sufficient, and pays no respect to elderly men. Thus, due to the wrong type of education imparted by our universities, boys all over the world have become the cause of headache to the elderly people. Therefore  Śrī Īśopaniṣad  warns very strongly that the culture of nescience is different from that of knowledge. The universities are, so to speak, centers of nescience only, and therefore the scientists are busy discovering lethal weapons to wipe out the existence of other countries.
University students today are not given instructions on the regulative principles of  brahmacārya , the spiritual process of