Materialistic education expands the influence of maya.
Becoming Krishna conscious brings about anartha-apagamah, the disappearance of all anarthas, the miserable conditions we have unnecessarily accepted. The material body is the basic principle of these unwanted miserable conditions. The entire Vedic civilization is meant to relieve one from these unwanted miseries, but persons bound by the laws of nature do not know the destination of life. isa-tantryam uru-damni baddhah: they are conditioned by the three strong modes of material nature. The education that keeps the conditioned soul bound life after life is called materialistic education. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has explained that materialistic education expands the influence of maya. Such an education induces the conditioned soul to be increasingly attracted to materialistic life and to stray further and further away from liberation from unwanted miseries. One may ask why highly educated persons do not take to Krishna consciousness. The reason is explained in this verse. Unless one takes shelter of a bona fide, fully Krishna conscious spiritual master, there is no chance of understanding Krishna. The educators, scholars and big political leaders worshiped by millions of people cannot understand the goal of life and take to Krishna consciousness, for they have not accepted a bona fide spiritual master and the Vedas. Therefore in the Mundaka Upanisad (3.2.3) it is said, nayam atma pravacanena labhyo na medhaya na bahuna srutena: one cannot become self-realized simply by having an academic education, by presenting lectures in an erudite way (pravacanena labhyah), or by being an intelligent scientist who discovers many wonderful things. One cannot understand Krishna unless one is graced by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Only one who has surrendered to a pure devotee of Krishna and taken the dust of his lotus feet can understand Krishna.
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (2014 edition), “Srimad Bhagavatam”, Seventh Canto, Chapter 05 – Text 32
