Never instruct a person who is foolishly proud of the little knowledge he/she has received. In the Bhakti-sandarbha, Srila Jiva Goswami uses a special term for a fool who is proud of the little knowledge that he has. The term is — 'jñāna-lava-durvidagdha'. This term literally means 'burnt out in the pride of a mere fraction of knowledge'.
There are many people who receive some higher knowledge from a senior vaishnava, and considering this knowledge to be the only and the absolute version of truth, they start preaching it vigorously. Nobody can convince them otherwise, not even if you put the plain facts in front of them. It's their way or the highway. This term 'jñāna-lava-durvidagdha' describes such a person. It was taken by Sri Jiva Goswami from Bhartṛhari's Nīti-śataka, which describes such a person:
ajñaḥ sukham ārādhyaḥ
sukhataram ārādhyate viśeṣajñaḥ
jñāna-lava-durvidagdhaṁ
brahmāpi taṁ naraṁ na rañjayati
sukhataram ārādhyate viśeṣajñaḥ
jñāna-lava-durvidagdhaṁ
brahmāpi taṁ naraṁ na rañjayati
"The completely foolish person can be convinced easily [by giving him sweet words]. The intelligent can be convinced even more easily [by speaking the plain truth]. However, even Lord Brahma cannot convince a person who has become puffed up due to little knowledge [therefore, keep far away from such people]." (Nīti-śataka, Verse 3)
(Originally posted on Facebook on 26-March-2015).
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