Real education means abandoning all material designations and engaging twenty-four hours in the nine devotional processes of Krishna.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Prabhupāda: So our Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma temple is known as aṅgrej kā temple. It is full with aṅgrej men. [pause] Prabhupāda: śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam iti puṁsārpitā viṣṇau bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā kriyeta bhagavaty addhā tan manye 'dhītam uttamam [SB 7.5.23–24] So the nine different processes of devotional service. So Prahlāda Mahārāja was asked by his father to say something from whatever he had learned. He considered that what he had learned from his spiritual master was the best of all teaching, whereas what he had learned from the..., learned about diplomacy from his material teachers, Śaṇḍa and Amarka, was useless. So the education at the present moment throughout the whole world is Śaṇḍa-Amarka education.
For a devotee such kind of education has no value. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca [Hitopadeśa 25(1)]. Everyone is being educated how to live comfortably with reference to the comforts of the body. This is not education. Real education is to understand oneself, self-realization, and with that purpose one should make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that beginning with śravaṇam. As we are hearing, without śravaṇa there is no beginning of spiritual education.
Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvidaḥ. [SB 3.25.25] That śravaṇa, hearing also, should be accepted from devotee, from real devotee. Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī recommended that a brāhmaṇa, he wrote something about Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and there were so many discrepancies. So Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī was not at all satisfied with such writings. He chastised the brāhmaṇa, that "You cannot write." So unless one is self-realized, there is practically no use writing about Kṛṣṇa.
This transcendental writing does not depend on material education; it depends on the spiritual realization. You'll find, therefore, in the comments of Bhāgavatam by different ācāryas, even there are some discrepancies, they are accepted as ārṣa-prayoga. It should remain as it is. So Sanātana Gosvāmī therefore said, avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtaṁ, śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyam [Padma Purāṇa]: "One who is not Vaiṣṇava, from him one should not hear hari-kathāmṛtaṁ." Hari-kathā. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is hari-kathā, and it is amṛta, nectarean. But if it is recited or explained by some avaiṣṇava, one should not hear.
It is forbidden. The example is given, sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ yathā [Padma Purāṇa]. So professional reciters or one who speaks and writes for living means it is strictly prohibited. Na vyākhyām upayuñjīta [SB 7.13.8].
One should not make Bhāgavata recitation as a means of livelihood. That is..., the process is not accepted. So śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ [SB 7.5.23]. You should hear from Vaiṣṇava, at least one who is trying to become Vaiṣṇava, not professional man. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42].
So the test of advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is that one should be detestful, lose attachment to the material things. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja did not like the material education from Śaṇḍa and Amarka. He very plainly said to his father that "What I have heard from my spiritual master, Nārada Muni..." Spiritual master means Nārada Muni or his representative. Therefore we should follow the Nārada Pañcarātra instructions, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc Madhya 19.170]. According to Nārada Pañcarātra, one should be free from all designation.