Anartha Nivritti. Lecture 6

Shri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nithana Shri Advaita Tadadara Shri Vastadipo Rabakta Vinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Thank you. Kalā kalīrbalinandriya vairivārga śrībhakti mārga ihakantaka koti rūdha ahasvayā mirikala kīmaham karovi caitanya chandram yavinādhyā kripam karoṣvi Arandyabhagavan vraje satanayastadham vrindavanam Ramyaka chidupasana vrajavadu vargenaya kalpidam Shri man bhagavatam pramanam mamam Prema pumarta mahan Shri chaitanya maha prabhormatam idam Tatra dharam naparam I read this, then. Vishvasyanatha rupasol bhaktivartmā pradāshanā bhakti-chakra-vakti-vartpa chakra-vakti-vartya-evaret So, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati explains the title of Harivalava Prabhu Vishvasyanatha Rupa Sovvakti Vartma Pradarsanatha. He is the leader of all people in the universe because he is showing the path of bhakti. And bhakti chakra varthita tvar, because he is rotating this chakra, the bhakti chakra, because he is basically giving the dynamic impetus for bhakti movement to spread around through his books, through his writings. He is called Chakravarti, the one who is rotating the chakra. Okay, so next verse. Hridvā prenavā bhakti rāsya nīkale Sanjīvā nīsvā dhamā Ramre kāmaḥ prapārtudā dhamāyī Viṣvā pāgola sīni Dūrāngne maruṣākī nopi sarasi Bhāvāya Bhūyā Prabhu Śrī Chaitanya Kripāni Rāṅkursa Maha Madhurya Kādambini Śrī Chaitanya Kripāni Rāṅkursa Maha Madhurya Kādambini So He is glorifying the unrestricted mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, because of which even we, dried trees in the desert of this material world, can obtain the life of bhakti. Bhakti purvai shritatam tu rasam paśyetya dāptadī tam nomi satatam rūpa namā priyājana mare and by paying constantly obeisances to Śrīvārūpa Goswami, who explained bhakti as rasa, who gave us the intelligence to see the amazing taste of rasa in all activities of bhakti. We are proceeding to study this book. So we are reading Tritia Amrita Bristi, the Third Shower of Nectar. And in the beginning, Vishwanath Chakravarty Takura explained the obstacles on the path of bhakti. Kalah Kaleir Balina Indriya Bhairi Vaka Antaraya Nahi Jai Eita Paramah Bhai My biggest fear in my heart is not to be able to overcome all these obstacles. I started this beautiful path of bhakti, but then because of so many obstacles I can be diverted and go back again to this useless repetition of birth and death in the material world. Yeah, this is one of the obstacles. So many of them. Okay, so and then he said that let's classify all the obstacles which we have, all the impediments on our path by its origin, because the origin defines the difficulty which is in this obstacle. Depending on the origin of particular anarta, it could be overcome more easily or with great difficulties. And therefore he, Visvanacca Kravartipad, he classified all the Anarthas according to its origin. Those who are coming from Duskriti, from impious activity, those escape. This is what we are trying to do, we are trying to escape all these problems. Did we escape? No, we didn't escape. The apparatus which are coming from sukriti, from pious activities, which is very unusual. Very seldom you hear the condemnation of sukriti. But sukriti is a selfish activity which is basically meant for our sense enjoyment Therefore, ultimately it's not beneficial for bhakti. And then the most formidable one is anarthas, which are coming from aparata, aparadopta. And the very peculiar one, anarthas, which are coming because of practice of bhakti. Again, this is very unusual and that actually is evidence of the intellectual honesty of our Acharyas. They are not trying to paint the paths of Bhakti as totally safe and sure. They say, even by practicing bhakti you can create an artas within your heart. So, this is all very important. And we dealt already with Duskritotma an artas, which is basically avidya, smith, ragadvesha, and aminivesha. the skeleton of our material conditioned existence based on avidya. And as I explained, this is the description of our internal organ of perception of this world. Chitta is the abode of avidya. False ego, ahankara, is the abode of asmita. All these conceptions, who I am, what I am to do, what are my plans, how I will be happy, and what belongs to me, what I am entitled to enjoy. Then Raga and Vesha is the manifestation of manas connected with Sankalpa and Vikalpa, with two functions. And ultimately Abhinivesa, the complete absorption, when our consciousness is completely absorbed in the matter and in all the considerations about matter. and all the plants and ultimately the fear of death. Fear of death is the most vivid proof and manifestation of our material absorption. Even when the body is totally useless, like Prabhupada, he was telling this story how one man who was very old, he was begging the doctor, please give me two more months to leave. What's the use? No, I still have some plans. So that's a binivyasa, plans. And when we die, we think about unfulfilled desires and unfulfilled plans. And sure enough, Krishna says, yes, we want to fulfill them, no problem. You are not frustrated enough, old man. May you be fully frustrated in the next life. That's the blessings we should get. That's a result of our sinful activity when we try to enjoy in this material world the world foolishly by misusing the faculties of our body. This avidya, hasmit, ragadvesha, and abhinivesha become reinforced in our consciousness. And then Sukritotha, it can also manifest in creating especially raga, the attachments, and also strengthening kavidya. But Sukritotha specifically means desire for heavenly pleasure, the dreams about very very nice area of this world where we have hapsaras who are always, anyway, whatever they are. This, yes, some religions, it's very prominent. This is what we are performing, this religious practice, only to get to this place where we can unrestrictedly enjoy. Here everything is restricted, everything is unrestricted, this is a very nice place. No restrictions whatsoever. And desire for liberation, this is a very big anarta. Because desire for liberation deprives us happiness of bhakti. And desire of mystic power, of course, is also a very big obstacle. So it basically in correspondence with the pious ways of this life, karma, dhyana and yoga. And we studied this verse, until these riches of desires for bhakti-mukti live, we will never be able to experience happiness or bhakti. And now he starts from apparatus and immediately from the outset says that apparatus means Nama apparatus. Nama apparatus is the most important of all apparatus because everything else will be notified just by chanting the holy name, the holy name changing certain stotras and so on and so forth. But Nama apparatus are very sticky. Nama apparatus leave very deep impression. And therefore, like in Judaic tradition, There is a lot of fear of pronouncing the name of God. Jews, they don't even put the name of God in written form. You cannot put it. Even this may be a parato neglect. You have to be really careful and once a year you can once pronounce the name of God. So powerful in this. So it's a completely different approach because again, the idea of this Judaic tradition is different. They want to obtain ultimately heaven. But we want to obtain love of God. And there is no question of obtaining love of God without constantly changing the holy name. But then still the problem remains because when we're so familiar with this practice, when we're so familiar with the Holy Name, because we are human beings, we tend to be very neglectful. When it's so easily available and it's so common, we tend to forget the greatness of the Holy Name. Therefore, again and again and again we have to be reminded about this. And therefore he says that other apparatus are not so great because they can be nullified easily. so if somebody is chanting inoffensively, even if he commits by some chance, some other apparatus, he will be emerged in the ocean of bliss, according to Shiva Rupa Goswami. Okay, so this is the new material which we start now. How do we know that we commit offence? Srila Krishna Daskaraja Goswami explains it very clearly. Hena Krishna Nama jadi, Laya Bahubar, Tabu jadi, Prema Nahi, Nahi Ashrudhar. If you just chant Krishnanama and you don't experience love and you don't cry, it means that you are an offender. Very simple. Tabijjani aparadha tahate prachur krishnanama bhija tahe napareyankur So basically he says that because of aparadha, Krishnanama bhija, the seed of Krishnanama It does not give sprouts. Nakare and kur. It does not sprout and it doesn't give an effect. When you are very innocent, then just by chanting Krishna's name, all the symptoms of ecstasy come. I, to be honest with you, to confess to you, I never believed it until I went to Bali. Bali is a very peculiar place where people are still very innocent. They're following kind of Hindu tradition, worshiping many demigods, but by nature they're innocent. Practically every citizen of Bali spends 70 or more percent of his income to worship for different worship rituals. Everywhere in Bali, you know, you go to a marketplace and then there is huge area where they sell all kinds of paraphernalia, all kinds of fruits and flowers for worship and then a little area for everything else. So it's an amazing place and people are very innocent there. So one of such people came to me and first he proudly said, I am Shiva Bhakta and he showed the trishul in his hand. He said, but I also love Krishna. And he said, I have Bhagavad Gita in my home. Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita and it's on my altar. And then he showed to me his hand and he said, look. As soon as he mentioned Krishna and Bhagavad Gita, His whole body became pulakasarira. Huge, huge. I mean, really. All the hairs stand on there. And he said, look, look, look. Very innocent, he said. Not proudly, but still with a lot of natural innocence. And then next day he came again and again somehow rather he said about Krishna and again said, look, look, look. Every time he mentions Bhagavad-gita and Krishna, he experienced ecstasy. Welcome to Hare Krishna movement. So, that's our problem and we have to understand that this is a problem. It's possible, but it's only possible when we are innocent. And therefore, the consideration of aparada is such an important part of our tradition, of our Siddhanta. So, Krishnanama bhija, tahinakare and kur, the seed of Krishnanama does not grow in the heart and does not give its effect. So, basically, this is the inference which we should make. We can infer the presence of apparadas because of the symptoms. So, basically, what is apparada? It's very important. We have to try to develop this inoffensive mentality, which is very difficult because we are living in a very offensive environment. Why offenses are so bad? Because they are diametrically opposed to love. And therefore they are called aparada. something, apa means a part of, something which is far away of. Apa-rada means something which actually displeases other people or ultimately Krishna and his associates. Apa-rada, we will study it a little later. So it's very difficult to be inoffensive because we're living in an offensive environment. The environment is very aggressive. And offenses are our weapons or our arms to counteract this aggressive nature of the environment. We are trying to defend ourselves and therefore we become aggressive. When we are in an aggressive environment, naturally we also become aggressive. Tit for tat, we start reacting in the same way, and therefore modern world is very offensive by nature. And ultimately, this inoffensive mentality is childlike innocence. children for some time they are very inoffensive then they become teenagers and they make up for their inoffensive years but originally by nature they are nice they are very simple inoffensive so therefore Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswajita Kuru Prabhupada he used to say Saralata and Vaishnavata. Vaishnava is inoffensive, innocent. You can see this natural innocence in inhabitants of holy dam. Not every one of them, but in many of them you can see this very natural innocence. And but if we live in a big city, it's very difficult to be innocent in a big city because of the environment of this and therefore it is said in Mahabharata that Kali Yuga will start in the cities Kali Yuga is the prerogative of the cities whereas in the village atmosphere you still can be relatively innocent and basically what it is in In Christianity there is this concept of original sin. And according to Bible, the original sin is this lust or sexual affair which Adam and Eve had. But it's very interesting. Actually, they are not talking about original sin. They are talking about original offense. The proper understanding of the concept according to our tradition is the original offense because if we study this Kamakrodha, Lobamada, Molho Matsarya, we very clearly understand, but Kvinav Takuro explains this, that Matsarya is the sum total of all other five. Lust, anger, greed, pride, and illusion, when they come together, they create matsarya. And matsarya is this malice. Matsarya means jealousy, envy, malice. And literally matsarya means competitive spirit. I consider myself competing with God. I become His competitor and that's what original sin is. Original sin is this understanding that I should enjoy independently on Him. Srila Prabhupada explains very beautifully in the introduction to Bhagavad Gita that we are entitled to enjoy. We should enjoy, no problem with enjoyment. It's just the enjoyment has to be in cooperation with God, dependent on God, not independent. The spirit of independent enjoyment is the original seed. The desire to prove that I am on equal level with God and therefore I can dictate my terms of my enjoyment. So, and that's aparada. This is the offensive attitude which we have because ultimately we want to compete. This spirit of competition, very prominent in certain areas of the world, is actually a manifestation of this deep problem which we have. So, let's differentiate very clearly what is sin and what is aparada. Activities done by the body, words and mind under the influence of false ego, of bodily consciousness, the Hatma Bodhi, for enjoying the material senses are known as sins. So basically sins is, we may be acting quite innocently from this conception, I am this body. And if we are trying to squeeze out the enjoyment from the body, that is called sins ultimately. since, you know, there are innocent enjoyment and vicious enjoyment. The difference between the two is that the innocent enjoyment are not so addictive. But vicious enjoyment are very addictive. Eating always brings enjoyment. But eating certain food is forbidden because it becomes addictive. And it develops by eating this, we develop bad tendencies in our character. But basically this addictive nature of sin is very important. Therefore, sin in Sanskrit is called agha. from the root gni, to kill or to eradicate. Agha means something which leaves very deep impression within our consciousness. Something which forces us to repeat the same activity again and again and again. That is sin. Just, you know, that I innocent enjoyment. you can eat some vegetables no problem but mushrooms are already maybe problematic especially certain kinds of mushrooms which gives you special mental illusions or whatever so again sins are only in relation to body and to senses and maybe to the mind. But when we commit apparatus against Shri Krishna, his devotee, his holy name, holy scriptures, and holy abode, holy dhamma. So, Krishna manifests himself in these five features in this material world. he can come himself in the form of his archa he manifests himself in the form of devotee because bhakti carries the energy, the most important energy of the Lord bhakti shakti he comes recklessly in the form of holy name very very careless from his side to come so easily and become so easily available. He comes to the holy scriptures as Bhagavad Gita, Sima Bhagavatam and he also manifests himself in the form of holy dhamma. And when we disrespect Sri Krishna in the form of Archa, his devotee, holy name, scriptures and holy dham, then we commit a parada. Why? Because we consider them material. This attitude that this is something material, something ordinary, something which we can deal in a usual manner, neglectfully, that constitutes the apparatus. And this apparatus is so deep because it is in connection of spirit soul. So later in the same chapter, Vishwana Chakravar Takur will give a slightly different definition of sin. He says, sin refers to those actions condemned by the scriptures requiring remedial measures. So again, very important definition of sin. The scriptures, they list different sins. And with the sins, they also list It's the remedial measures which try to eradicate, to erase the consequences of this sin upon our psyche, upon our mind. So that's the sin. But if we are offensive towards those features of God in which He is manifesting Himself in front of us to save us because of His mercy, then we create aparada and that becomes a very serious obstacle in our path. Because it basically reinforces those traits of our personality which are completely opposite to bhakti. Therefore it is called aparada. Rad means satisfaction, Rad means worship. Radarani is called Radarani. Her name is Radha because she is the best worshipper. She worships in the best way and worship basically means satisfying others. It's an activity to please others. She is the best. She can please Krishna in the most beautiful way. And aparada is something which is completely opposite. Like this English word opposite or opposition. It's coming from aparada. This prefix, apa, is in this word oppo. Somehow rather in English it's become oppo, but in reality it's apa, so it has to be opposition. Yeah, this is the position which is contrary, which is diametrically opposed to what we want to achieve. So we want to achieve love, instead we are doing some actions which are impelled by hatred, which are impelled by malice, deeply rooted malice within our heart. And therefore, aparada basically dissatisfies the Holy Name, Guru and Vaishnavas. And we all know as soon as somebody commits a parada towards us, we immediately feel that our heart closes. When we feel this offense coming from somebody, immediately we feel how we want to become further away from this person. So in the same way when we commit offenses against God or His Holy Name or His Holy Dham or the devotees, the same reaction is also experienced by God. He wants to be further away from us. He doesn't want to have anything to do with us. His heart, even though it's very soft, and then he's ready to give mercy. And if somebody is offensive, he just... he establishes distance, which is necessary. And that's why we don't experience the effect of the Holy Name. And that's why we don't experience the glorious results of the practice of bhakti described in the scriptures. It's just because something is wrong with us and therefore we have to be very, very careful and very clearly understand what we should avoid. So, because aparada is directly against God, devotees, holy dame, holy scriptures, or holy name, Because it is against this transcendental tattvas. It's almost as powerful as bhakti. Bhakti is powerful because it's original spiritual energy of God. But because our attitude is against this original spiritual energy, this apparat becomes very powerful. and therefore it causes either disappearance of bhakti or drying bhakti at the very root. Bhakti is eternal. Nothing can extinguish bhakti, but apparata can, because apparata is also eternal. It's a joke. It's a bad joke. It's a joke. Aparada is not supposed to be eternal, but because it is against these transcendental objects, it's very, very dangerous. And therefore, Srila Rupa Goswami explains that it cannot really extinguish bhakti, but it can cover bhakti very deeply. Whatever bhakti we have, neha bhikrama na shasti pratyavayona vidyate, Krishna is very clear, if you did some advancement, this advancement will always be with you, but a parada can cover this advancement for a long, long time. Therefore, it's very important to avoid all apparades. And as a result of apparada, what happens? Our consciousness becomes distorted. We start thinking ourselves as very elevated devotees, exalted devotees. That's the result of apparada. The moment you think you are pure devotee, it basically means that you committed some offense. Because pure devotee always feels himself very fallen. The moment you feel that you are not fallen, congratulations. That's the manifestation that something is wrong, you committed something wrong. something wrong. So because bhakti, it's such an energy which makes you very humble. By the presence of bhakti within our heart, we become naturally very humble and nice. Actually, humble people are very nice people. We want to deal with humble people. Of course, sometimes we deal improperly with humble people, unfortunately. But we start thinking of ourselves as very intelligent, even though we may not be very intelligent. And we start... the problem with apparata is that it's again a vicious circle. You committed one apparata and you heard so much about this, that apparata is so bad. And then somehow rather you committed aparada and nothing happened. No lightning bolt hit you at this moment. And you're still chanting Hare Krishna and you think, oh fine, that's good. It means I can continue committing aparadas. So that's very bad. We have to be very, very conscientious when it comes to our practices. And we have to understand that great Vaishnavas, spiritual masters, all the inhabitants of Holydom, Holy Scriptures, they are objects of our worship. We may not understand them, we may see some strange things, but still we should be very, very careful and not committing the apparatus against this Mahat, against these representatives of Krishna's spiritual energy. So, and when we neglectfully relate to them, we basically displease these people. And what happens, please listen very carefully, it's a very interesting and very severe effect. The moment we commit apparada, apparada materializes our consciousness, our vision. It distorts our vision and deprives us the ability to see subtle things, to see manifestations of spirit. And everything becomes ordinary to us. Holy Name becomes just ordinary sound. Archeligraha becomes just a statue. Guru becomes just an ordinary man. And we see it like this. We are deprived because the apparata deprives us the ability to see manifestations of spirit even where they are. Like the other day we were driving here in Govardhan and Abhinav Krishna Prabhu said, this holy dam, nothing is like this. Nothing in the three worlds, I don't know if you've traveled in all three worlds, so that nothing is comparable to it. And you know, if you look with the ordinary eyes, what do you see? You see some gehu is growing, some fields, few rocks. And you don't feel that this is a holy dam. You can look at it with completely material vision and that's fine. That's what everyone else sees. A devotee who is little purified, he can feel this is something special. This is incomparable with anything else. We are here in this holy place and we feel. It's a very pronounced distinct feeling which we have. That this is something very, very special. But when we commit aparato, we lose this ability. We lose the ability to see that something is special in the Holy Name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Hare Hare. And therefore this verse from Padma Purana which Srila Prabhupada often quotes, Archevi Shno Shiladhir, Gurushu Namamathir Naramathir, Vajshnavejjati Buddha. You just look at Arche and see it's just a stone. Shiladhi. You have this dhi, this intelligence by which you cannot see or feel the spiritual power. He's just an ordinary human being. Oh Vaisnava, he belongs to certain jati, to certain caste. And you take this tirtha, take this caranamrita and think, oh, this is just ordinary water. water. And Sri Vishnuar Namni Mantri Sakala Kalushahe. This mantra or the holy name of Krishna which can eradicate all the dirt from your heart. You just say, oh this is This is just sabda samanya budi. This is just sabda samanya. No, this is Hare Krishna. This is something very, very special given to us by Lord Himself. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. And Vishnu is just Sarveshvara, but you think that he is somebody very ordinary. And therefore it is said, Yasyavan Arikisaha, the person who has this vision, this kind of buddhi, this kind of intelligence which doesn't allow him to feel the presence of spirit within these entities, This person is living in hell. Already. He already lives in hell. No need to be afraid of it. You already live in hell. This is the hell because this is the... You are completely in this material consciousness without any hope to get out from this hell. That's the point, this distortion of our vision is the most grievous effect of aparada, which we should be very careful. And basically, we're living... In other words, aparada is sacrilege. Aparada is offense against something sacred, and by offending something sacred, you basically drag down these sacred things to your own level. It's just ordinary, normal, material things. And that is called sacrilege. And we're living in this culture of sacrilege. We're living in a very sacrilegious, I don't know if it's correct, renunciation of this world, culture when nothing is sacred. As opposite to this, Badi culture is instilling this sense of sacredness in the hearts of people. Everything is sacred. The material nature is sacred, rivers are sacred, it's just goddesses are there, we have to understand. That's the proper vision. And of course, the saintly people are sacred, the saintly places are sacred, parents are sacred, women are sacred. This sacredness of women is very prominent in Vedic cultures. Of course, children are sacred, cows are sacred. So this sense of presence of something which is sacred something which is directly connected with God is very prominent in proper culture. But unfortunately there is no culture in the modern world and therefore we only have this culture of total sacrilege. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is sacred. Everything is an object of derision. You can just deride it, no problem. So that's unfortunately this modern so-called culture where atheistic values become very prominent. And ultimately it means that nothing is real. Sacred means something is real, something is eternal. So, but ultimately nothing is just real, there is no truth, everything is just dead matter and dead matter actually doesn't matter because it's dead anyway. And everything is just the object of exploitation. Everything is just, it's just, yeah, it's nothing is, if something is sacred you cannot exploit it. You have to worship it. If a woman is sacred, you cannot exploit her. But if you look at her as a prostitute, then you can exploit her. So that's the difference. In the Vedic culture, proper culture, all the women are sacred and they have to be revered as mothers. And in the modern culture all the women are supposed to be looked as prostitutes. And it's very sad, the whole situation is extremely sad. With this leftist attitude, it's coming from this leftist, communist attitude. Nothing is sacred. And therefore, the first thing which we should learn, This is the lesson number one in our Bhakta program, how to respect devotees. Kriśneti yāsya-giritam mana-sādriyata diksas-ti-cet pranati-viśca-pacchantam-iśyam susrushaya paja-na-vigya-mananya-manya-ninda-di-sunyam vidamipsita-sangalabya This fifth verse from the nectar of instruction of Upadhi Samrita is extremely important. After describing the preliminary things about the Paso Bhakti, the practice of the Paso Bhakti, Shiva Rupa Goswami gives this verse and he says, all the devotees have to be respected. Respected in a different way. We should not be too intimate with neophyte devotees. Because, you know, we have enough problems ourselves. We don't need their problems. When we become too intimate, their problems become our problems and we don't really need it. I mean, but still we should be respectful. Still he's a devotee, he's sacred, he's chanting the holy name. If he just, Krishna it, if he just one said Krishna, oh my goodness, such a Mahabhagata. I have to keep distance from him. Tammanasadriyata in my mind, by my mind, I have to respect him in my mind, but not coming too close perhaps to him. Not becoming too intimate because When we have like normal association with devotees, it's okay, it's fine, we should be. But when it comes to some intimate association with devotees, then it may be a little contagious. It may be some infection from their heart can come to our heart, therefore we have to keep some distance. If somebody is doing devotional service, chanting the holy name, then we have to pay obeisances to them. We have to bow down to them. And For somebody whose heart is completely free from the tendency of offense, who is completely free from the slightest tendency to offend others. Anya ninda adi sunyam hridam iksita. Ninda adi. If you are free from this tendency to offense, all other bad qualities, you will also be free from it. But if you are not free from the tendency of offense, all other bad qualities will be welcome to your heart too. So, Ninda will invite. Ninda is a very generous host. If it's there within our heart, she will invite. She says, come in, come in, no problem, feast. It's nice here. So, Nindadi Sunya Hridam Ipsita. If somebody has this Anyaninda Adi Sunyam Hridam, if somebody has this heart which is completely free from the tendency to offend others, then we should Sushruhshaya. And such people are Bhajana Vigya. They are very experienced in Bhajana. They know what Bhajana means. Because Bhajana means to please Krishna by our reaction. Bhajana means to chant the Holy Name in such a way that it's pleasing to Krishna. To pronounce Holy Name in such a way that it really melts the heart of Krishna. Like Ratharani, how she pronounced the Holy Name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Hare. So he is Bajanavigyaya because his heart is completely free and for that means we have to be eager to follow their commands. We have to be eager to hear them and we have to be eager to follow what they tell us. And I remember, you know, I had a quite close association with Gopal Krishna Maharaj. And I know how careful he was. Never over the years, never, never, never, ever, you know, He could have been offended. Somebody sometimes offended him. I was a witness, unfortunately, of these things. He never, never criticized anyone. And, you know, some other people we know, great devotees among us. That's the sign of a real devotee who wants to develop akdi. He avoids by all means, by all endeavors, the critical attitude against something which is very sacred. So, we'll go further. That's the text of Madhuri Kadamini. At the beginning he says that we should avoid nam-apparat because nam-apparat distort our intelligence and distort our vision of reality and leave very lasting impressions. We should be very, very careful. And of course, he will, Vishwanacharya Pravartipata will explain later that the main offense is, of course, satam ninda, the offense of devotees. We are getting a little ahead. So now he says, the author, Vishwara Chakravarti Takur, says, the Acharyas have discerned that several apparatus do not usually have effect being nudified by chanting and the name by recitation of Stotras. We already read this. Constant engagement in these activities practically nips to the slightest effect of seva aparata. So he says, yes, seva aparata can easily be nullified by chanting all the stotras, because the sound is very powerful. But then he says, however, one should not become careless and take advantage of being protected from all the effect of seva aparata by the above measures. So, he now comes to a very important section of Manduri Kadambini saying that even though some things can be usually nullified, even though we can get rid of the certain, of the consequences of certain actions by means indicated in the Shastras, we should not nevertheless still never should consciously commit these activities. Inoffensive attitude, this is the root of inoffensive attitude. Inoffensive attitude basically means I'm very attentive. Escape. Yes, escape. Please don't pay attention to that, because the inattention is the root cause of all apparatus. So, attentiveness, if inattention is the root cause of all apparatus, attentiveness is the remedy against all apparatus. And it's not without a reason that in English language, to serve somebody... How you say to serve somebody? What is the synonym to serve? To attempt. To attempt. To attempt. So, service and attention is of the same nature. And therefore worship or service is called upasana. Upasana, you come close to the object of your worship or to the object of your service, to someone whom you want to serve and you become very attentive. Service means attentiveness. Apparat means inattentiveness. When you are neglectful, when you are just completely spaced out and you are doing something which you are usually doing, without really paying attention or placing your consciousness within the person whom you want to serve, then it's a parat. So, and we know when we respect somebody, as we explained in the beginning that Shraddha means respect, and when we respect somebody we become very attentive, we become alert. This alertness is a sign of proper developing of our heart. That's what we should be. But if we, by using the measures which are there in the shastras, which help us to nullify some apparatus, we misuse these measures, then we become even more offensive. So that's what Vishwanath Chakravartyita Kurs says. Yes, Seva Paradas can easily be nullified by chanting Stotras. Does it mean that we should consciously do Seva Paradas? No. Never. Because if we consciously do Seva Paradas, it becomes Nama Parada. And it cannot be nullified so easily. so sometimes people in devotees by hearing so much about glory of the holy name they become little neglectful towards other things or because we are Raganugia we follow this path of Raganuga, it basically means that everything is is just I don't know, everything is just a mess Raganuga doesn't mean that everything is a mess. Raganuga means we are very careful inside. This attitude is very, very important for practicing bhakti. And therefore, Vishwanachakravartita Kuru, he says that if we commit serva-apparadas on the pretext that they can easily be nullified then we commit actually the offense of the holy name it's a very strong formulation of this sixth offense seventh offense seventh offense of the holy name so So if you have this Papa Budhi sinful mentality, which impels you to commit some sins by counting on the purifying strengths of the Holy Name, Navidya te tasya yamari hi sudi. you will not be purified even in hell. It's very clear said here, Yamair Hissudi. It basically means that for a long time you have to be there. Ultimately you will be purified, it's pretty hot there so all the toxins will be expelled. But, that's of course, you can also translate Yamayi as the following the rules and regulations. But Yamayi means that even Yamaraj will not be able to purify you. So we have to be extremely careful against consciously committing sinful activities, inflicting pain to other people and so on and so forth, because it becomes this Nama Parade. And Bhakti Vinod Takur in Harinam Chintamani, he explains, a devotee may commit sin by accident, but even so he is unable to abide the misery of ritualistic atonements. It basically says that sometimes devotee commits sin and he cannot really go through this atonement which is there in Dharma Shastra. The devotee's fall into sin is momentary. it does not become a habit it is merely a passing phase that is drowned in the nectar of the holy name, on the other hand if someone thinks that because of the name the name is so powerful he may go on committing new sins he is fickle and undependable so this is a very important point which Bhaktivinoda Thakur is making explaining this he says if accidentally you commit sin and you don't care about doing some prayashita, it's fine. No problem. Just by changing the holy name all the prayashitas accomplished. In bhakti there is no prayashita. Why there is no prayashita in bhakti? Because prayashita strengthens your sinful mentality. If you know that I have a means to purify myself from committed sins, you become little less fearful of sins. Bhakti basically means I have the very lofty, very high goal, I want to achieve Krishna. This is my goal of all my endeavors. This is what I'm doing for. And therefore, yes, sometimes accidentally some previous habit overpowered me. Okay, fine. Let's go on. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram. It's not sinful to think that I should just go on with chanting the holy name and all the sins will be purified. What is sinful is that then I say, oh this is a great idea. Now I can commit sin and then chant the holy name. Now I can kill a Brahmana and then go Yannika Nicha Papani Brahma Hattaya. You know, Tulasiddheli is here, no problem. Who is the next Brahmana? So, no, that's Papa Bodhi, that's the sinful mentality. This sinful mentality should not be there. If accidentally you did this, that's fine. But if you're doing this and you're developing the habit, if you're more or less strengthening the habit, sinful habit which is there, if you become the habitual sinner and at the same time you're changing the holy name, that's very, very bad. Like there is this story how Bhakti Vinod Takur was once traveling with Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati who was a kid at that time. And they came to one place in Bengal, Navadvim. And they were placed in a house which was ghost haunted. And there was nothing else so they stayed there at night. And in the morning the villagers came and asked Bhaktivinoda Thakur, how was your night? He said, oh, it was very nice night. I said, how is that it was nice? Because there is a powerful Brahma Rakshas who is living here and he just, he really chases and disturbs everyone who is here in the house. Bhaktivinoda Thakur said, no problem, I just chanted Hare Krishna and this Brahma Rakshas went away. He came in the beginning and then I chatted Hare Krishna and he went away. So the villagers became even more surprised by hearing this. They said, by chanting Hare Krishna this ghost went away. This ghost was a priest and this priest was always chanting Hare Krishna. And he is probably still chanting Hare Krishna as a ghost. How you could chase him away by chanting Hare Krishna if he himself chanted Hare Krishna? Bhaktivedanta says, no, no, he doesn't chant Hare Krishna, he chants Namaparata. And I chanted the holy name. And that's how he, that's why he was chased away. So, if you commit sin and you become a professional sinner by counting on the power of the Holy Name, and then it's extremely bad, then you become a ghost. Even Yamaraj will not want to see your face. But if we accidentally commit some sins and we know that just by chanting of the Holy Name everything will be nullified, that's not a problem. That's why there is no Prayaschita in Bhakti. Chanting the holy name is the highest prayashita. But only for those who are... Just one second, I will go a little further away. Yes. Bhakti-le-notta-kur explaining this... Oh, sorry, not Bhakti-le-notta-kur. Vishana Chakra-vartita-kur explaining this, He says that even according to Dharma Shastra's scriptures dealing with the codes of karma, one should not commit sin knowing that he can be exempted from the effect by prayaschita remedial measures. Then the effect of the sin will not be destroyed, but rather increased. Please listen very carefully. That's a very powerful statement. He says, even in orderly karmakanda, if you consciously commit sin, knowing that after that you can perform some prayaschita, and by prayaschita you will be purified from the effects of the sin, if you have this mentality, by doing this and by performing prayaschita, the sin will not be destroyed, it will rather increase. So this crooked mentality, which is again manifestation of our laws that we lost the innocence, original innocence of the heart, this should be avoided and that's the manifestation of the apparatus. And this very beautiful verse from Padma Purana, again Srila Prabhupada quoted it often and it's quoted in Chaitanya Charita Vlita. Very interesting. Nama is so powerful that even if you say and then and then it still will work. Even if it is disconnected the two syllables of Rama or Krishna are disconnected, it still will work. Even if you pronounce the holy name improperly, like is usually in our kirtans. We are following the fashionable style of Bengali kirtaniyas and instead of Rama, we chant Ramo, Ramo, Ramo, Ramo. It doesn't matter. Śrīla Prabhupāda didn't like it. He said, What is Ramo? Who is this Ramo? So we have to be careful because he didn't like it. But ultimately, from the point of view of the Holy Name, Holy Name, Krishna in the form of the Holy Name, knows what we mean, whom we mean, when we call Ramo. So, or sometimes Chinese people, there is no R in Chinese, there is only L. So, Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Lam, Hare Lam, Lam, Lam, Hare Hare. Very nice. So, Hare Krishna knows what Chinese devotees mean when they say. So, improper pronunciation is not a problem. Vyavahita, the separation of the syllables is not a problem. Nama ekam yasya vachis marunapatah gatam When you just remember the Holy Name. When just you remember the Holy Name. Or shrotam ulam gatam va, or when the Holy Name enters into your ear. Sudham Vashudham Varnam. The Varnam, the pronunciation could be proper or improper. Vyavahitara hitam. It may have some impediments. Tarayam evasatyam. It will save you. It will give you some good effect. Tad ced deha dravina janatala bhapashanda maddiye. Niksiptam syan naphala janakam. Sigram evatra vibra. However, if you pronounce the holy name Deha Dravina Janata Lobha Pashanda Madi, with this attitude that you are doing this for your Deha, for the strength of your body, for the material possessions, dravina, janata for the relatives, lobha and you have this greed. If you're doing this, pasanda, if you're doing this in a materialistic way, then nikshikta msyan naphala janakam shikram. it will bring an effect, but not very soon. The effect will be delayed of the Holy Name. And so that's why we should avoid this materialistic approach to the Holy Name, changing the Holy Name for the sake of material aggrandizement. And Vishwana Chakravatthakur explains that Here the word Nama in the phrase Nama Aparada is used to present all the angles of bhakti that destroy sin and aparada, of which the holy name is the primary anger. In other words, there are so many other things in our scriptures, you take the holy bus in Yamuna and you will be purified. you go around Govardhan and you will be purified. You go around Tulisi, you will be purified. That's fine. You fast on a certain day, you will be purified of all the sins. That's fine, but it's not the reason to commit sins again. It's not an encouragement to commit sins again. Be fearless, no problem, Govardhan is here. Tulisi is there. So, this is the mentality which should never be there. Never be there. We have to be very, very attentive. And very, very careful when it comes to bhakti. Because in the past of bhakti we are dealing so intimately with all these features of the Lord. His bhaktas, the spiritual master guru, and Archa, and Holy Dham, and scriptures. And therefore, we have to remind ourselves again and again and again. Familiarity breeds contempt. Sri Pramupad always said this. And therefore, again and again and again, we have to bow down. How to avoid offenses against Vaishnavas? Just bow down to them. Just don't be too stingy. Don't be greedy. Just bow down. Put your head down. And your legs and your hands. And same thing as everything else. Srimad Bhagavatam never should be neglectful. Archivigraha, tulasi, always. And the greatest Acharya, Raghunath Das Goswami, he was paying obeisances to 2000 Vaishnavas. And it's not that he is running behind 2000 Vaishnavas to pay them obeisances. Mentally, he would bring the image of a Vaishnava and would pay the Andhavatpranam and then another Vaishnava or the name of Vaishnava. 2,000 Vaisnavas, 2,000 Dandavas every day. Good exercise for the heart. To purify the heart from this offensive, neglectful or very, how to say this, scornful mentality which we are unfortunately infected by. So this is what... Okay. Let's not take the next section. We can... Right? Shall we ask for questions? So that's the beginning of this consideration. and later he will explain what is not offense. In the next section, Vishwanachek Ravartakur will say that if we don't perform certain activities in bhakti, it's not an offense. It's not that we try to do everything perfectly. We should try to do everything perfectly, but if something is not an offense. So that's the next paragraph. And then he'll start describing Nama Paradas in very great details. Maharaj, devotees are serving also and then there are offenses also. Sometimes there is neglect but sometimes we are attentive. So in that case what happens to the devotees? They are doing so much of service but they are neglectful towards maybe some Vaiṣṇavaas or certain aspects of it. If they are consciously neglectful, we have to be very careful. The culture, the Weissnerva culture is actually very strict and very sweet. When you come into association of real Weissnerva, you feel how elevated they are and how humble they are and how they are not neglectful, how they are very attentive to you. It's amazing. It's actually even painful to the heart to be near real Vaishnava, to see how humble, how sincerely humble they are and how they are ready to accommodate you and to push you forward. So that's the culture, so we have to be attentive. What will happen with them, it's not our business to judge, we have to look in our heart. When we do like, for deities and all, sometimes it is in very less time we have to do service. And then some other services, polinian chanting and class, so many things come at a time, So we try to do multitasking and hear the lecture and also do service to titres. Multitasking bhakti. Multitasking is the manifestation of instability of our mind. Our mind needs several engagements at once because he cannot find happiness in one engagement. So he needs to be distracted. We psychologically feel the need to be distracted. That should be avoided. That's a bad habit. So, whatever we do, we should do with carefulness. and when we are very careful, we can do the same thing in a shorter amount of time. Like when we are very attentive while chanting, we can chant one round within four minutes easily. Four minutes for one round? No problem. Usually it's more like six, seven, eight minutes, whatever it is, but it's only because of the inattentiveness. When the attentiveness is there, then you do the same amount of job in a shorter period of time. So, yes, sometimes we may be pressed to do this, but we should still try to do everything properly. We should try everything properly. We should be careful, we should be attentive, And that means to attend the needs of Krishna. Give to Ramabhadar Priya. He is the next. Please, please. We already started talking about it and I've been really thinking about it for a long time. Maybe you'll explain it later. When I think about this offensive mentality, it seems like we can't just avoid certain things, because mentality can manifest in many different things. You cannot ever list all of them. And it seems like we will have this mentality until we are completely free of the false ego. So, what do you see there? The key for all these questions, yes, definitely offensive mentality is very deeply rooted. But if the association is proper, if the sangha of devotees are very strict, if the devotees are strictly guarding against this offensive mentality ultimately we can unlearn this offensive attitude we actually learned it because by nature like we have this in Bridge Vasundara where I live two dogs and they were when they were little small puppies, devotees, or rather they were playing with them. And because they were raised up with so much love and affection, now they're grown up, but they're still very playful and very innocent. Whereas you go out and there are some other dogs and they bark. and they are very offensive. So, the offensiveness can be learned and can be unlearned. If we are in a protected environment, environment which is firmly based on this loving relationship, then we feel no need to remain offensive. And we can easily unlearn this habit and it's actually much more pleasant to be inoffensive. So it very much depends on the society and therefore Shiva Prabhupada said that you cannot become really Krishna conscious without society. You can only change yourself in a significant way if the society is there and if this society is proper. And the culture in this society is properly established. That's why it's very important to establish the proper communities of devotees. Because otherwise, you know, we have so many different sanghas and some sanghas, the politics are there, all kinds of stuff is there. And offenses are very prominent. So, what I mean by offensive mentality, which comes from the false ego, is this material vision that you described. Because if I, I mean very deeply inside, I still think that I am the body, so I also think that maybe the body is also just the body. Yeah, again, we cannot hope that we will get rid of this mentality and this body immediately. But in a proper association, this mentality will be less and less prominent, Because why it is so difficult to get rid of this understanding of this body? One of the reasons, one very important reason is that because I am treated as if I am my body by others. Others always reinforce this conception in me by pointing out you are woman and you are this and you are that and you are bad or this. And you know, how you can feel yourself as a spirit soul? Everyone around you always says you are this body, you are this body, you are this body and this is your place. But if we are in a society where everyone is saying you are soul, your beautiful devotee who has so much devotion and so strong connection with the Lord, then naturally this understanding and this body will also be slackened. The understanding I just got this... So I might still have the false ego, but thanks to some elevated devotees around me, I can catch a glimpse of some spirit. The false ego completely disappears on the level of Prema. Vishwanathya Kravartakura is very clear about this. Before that, you still have some traces of material ego. And the traces of material ego will coexist with your spiritual ego. And sometimes you act in the capacity of your spiritual ego, sometimes you act from the point of view of your material ego. That's inevitable, till the level of prema. And the level of prema there is no material ego whatsoever, but it will take little time before we reach this level. Thank you. has to begin again from the stage of Shadhar to Sadhu Sattva, Shri Mataji Kriya, or from where he left his practice, from there he left. Many times it is seen that after many years of Shri Mataji comes back, but he starts from, if you have sixteen rounds, he comes back to starting that one round, and then slowly over many years. No, it is like this. It is like this. Even though the memory is there, the memory about devotional experiences, experiences in devotion is there, but because it's so covered by material contamination, it's very difficult to invigorate these memories. The memory becomes active force in our life and impending us in a certain direction when they are very strong, when they are like little faint. It's difficult. So what happens, we commit a parat and it covers our devotional impressions. They become faint. And we sometimes think, oh, it was just imagination. Whereas the material thing becomes very, very prominent in our life. And these faint memories are still there. Nothing will happen with them. But because they become weak, they are not influencing our actions, our thoughts and our process, our speech. But when we come back, yes, gradually, gradually we can restore and the impressions again become very vivid. So we are driven by the impressions, by the experience which we have. and the apparatus they make the spiritual experience very weak and kind of deluded. Maharaj, as we spend more years practicing devotional service, one can experience those material desires that were very obvious earlier have gone down, but at the same time one is confronted with more subtle desires and it seems like an endless pit. How can one come out of such a situation? It's not that the subtle desires were not there. The subtle desires were there before, but they were somewhat overshadowed by these gross desires. Now gross desires are gone and therefore subtle desires are more prominent. If you continue then subtle desires will also wither away gradually. So it's not endless. There is an end to it, although the end is not very close. But sometimes it feels like it is endless, but it's not endless. Karma can be finished and it very much depends on determination and on our association. And what we feel immediately, that we can feel from the very beginning, from the scratch, karma becomes less insistent. It becomes, we are not so much dependent on the karma. Yes, desires are there, but you know, there are desires and desires. There are desires which are so insistent that we cannot really resist to them. We have to act on them. And there are some desires and that they are, yeah, it would be nice to have it, but ultimately I can live without it. So, even though the subtle desires may be there, but they are not really impelling us to act upon them. That's the difference. Thank you so much, Father. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Karim. Maharaj, in your essay on how to prevent this concept of becoming a religion, You write there that sometimes when people come to a scorn as a religious organization, there is an overemphasis on submissiveness and obedience. And you say that this is in return of some expectation of salvation or some such thing. But I want to understand if this is also because of fear of aparath. Many a time there is submissiveness because there is fear of apparatus and then there is switching off of intelligence again. When we are talking about apparatus, we are invoking the intelligence, discriminating intelligence. The submissiveness is good if it does not turn off our intelligence. If the submissiveness becomes like blind attitude, you know, I'm ready to accept everything, just save me, you know, That's not submissiveness we are talking about. We are talking about the other quality. Yes, we become submissive, we become humble, we become meek. But at the same time, we do not turn off the discriminating intelligence. If all these qualities turn off our discriminating intelligence, something is wrong. because we can only practice bhakti if we have intelligence. If we don't have intelligence, it's not possible to practice bhakti properly. So when we study Shastra, when we hear, we're basically sharpening our discriminating intelligence. And then the submissive attitude becomes our free choice. not the result of brainwashing techniques. What I'm talking there is that sometimes, you know, some inscrupulous people, they misuse this natural submissiveness of religious people and push them into this sort of situation or condition or mentality just to exploit them. That we should avoid. Somebody who has very sharp intelligence, he will be able to understand somebody is exploiting me, trying to exploit me, or somebody is trying to guide me and explain to me how I should behave. And even at that point, he may choose, yes, he's trying to exploit me, but it's fine with me. I'm not, he's not exploiting me. I'm still very submissive, and I will do whatever he wants, but not because he wants, but because I want to manifest my submissiveness. That's also possible. So, but the intelligence should never be turned off. There was this beautiful story. There was one Sankirtan leader in early days in Los Angeles temple, I believe. And he was always explaining everything. Krishna wanted it like this, you know. We forgot to put petrol in the cars and we stopped in the midway. But, oh, Krishna wanted it. So let's sit in these cars and read Krishna's book or something like this. always, he was always saying this, Krishna wants it, all his stupidity he explained by the will of Krishna and the other devotees, they suspected that something is wrong with this mentality and they wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada could you explain what it means to be completely surrendered to God, so he was explaining I'm totally surrendered, whatever happens it's just God's will and I just accepted it Prabhupada wrote a letter and they all gathered together to read the answer to their questions including this Sankirtam leader and Sri Prabhupada says as far as surrender is concerned, surrender means to use one's intelligence in the service of God that's surrender you know how to use your intelligence God-given intelligence in the service of him, you know, how to discriminate what is right, what is wrong, and use it. And that's why we study Shastra, that's why we study Madhuri Kadamini. Okay. Okay. I said that it's not so advisable to intimately associate with neophyte devotees because it may create some extra problems which they have. Like, could I elaborate on what kind of problems we can receive from them and inherit from them? all kinds of problems. They may have some desires, some not very nice desires. We can be infected by their desires if we associate too closely. That's the nature of desire. Desires are infectious. If somebody has very strong desire, we come close to him, we get the same reflection of the same desire. we can also you know neophyte devotee he doesn't know he has still offensive mentality and he will speak ill about other people and we will hear and it will also affect our class therefore we should associate we should be nice with anyone but the beauty of nice association is that it establishes certain proper distance Therefore the rules of etiquette are there. So offensive mentality is the worst thing which we can get from other people. And people because they are so habituated to these offenses. Therefore we have to be very careful. We should be so polite with them as not to allow them to manifest their offensive mentality towards others. This politeness is very nice, it's very good. Because politeness means some distance. But at the same time it's nice and we can still have some relationship. But as far as the really close relationship and intimacy, we have to be only with those people who are free from offenses. Okay, I'm all right. Manal, you discussed four types of ananasas. It's a very nice ritual to give this kind of a word, Shasta. When I look at those who are materialistic, I see that they are doing only one of the, they have only one of the ananasas which is Dushkripti, coming from Dushkripti. Whereas, those who are practicing Krishna consciousness, they have to deal with all the four kinds of Anathya. Then what is the conclusion we can get out of it, then at least it seems like it's more dangerous to follow the solution, because then you... At least we are dealing with them. Those who just commit sinful activities, they don't deal with it. So, it's not easy for them. Yes, for us it's more difficult because we commit sinful activities, We can make pious activities, we can make apparatus and we can perform bhakti. And everything is on earth. You are right. But we know how to deal with them. Those who just deal with their sinful activities, they don't know how to deal with them. So it's not easier for them, not at all. So is that like there are other parts, yoga and all, do they also have this conception of offenses that is very dangerous or that is more easier in terms of offenses? No, offenses, this consideration of offenses is a very special feature of Godi Vaishnava practice because we are about love. Others, they are about moksha, about liberation. And liberation is easily available. Offences destroy love. And because we are aspiring for love, therefore offenses are so important for us to understand and to avoid. To achieve moksha is not that difficult. Mukti-mdadati-karhi-chit vajates-mana-bhakti-yoga. Krishna Himself says, I easily give mukti, but bhakti-yoga I don't give to offensive people. At the level of citta, the ascents are till level of citta, but offenses are till the level of soul. It's like that? So it affects the desire of the soul. Yes, it affects the desire of the soul. We were discussing about that, that if one commits sins, so he should not take the shelter of the process or plancheed life, not use the naam aban for overcoming it. So in the life of a sadhaka, like sometimes it happens, There are multiple slips against principles or something. Now it becomes a very diplomatic situation for that. He can't take shelter properly to the spiritual practices. If he takes, then he is committing it again and again. But at the same time, if he will do on the strength of the spiritual practices, and it will reinforce the sinful things. But at the same time he can't be able to overcome his slips or his sinful activities, propensities. So where you should head him now? Yes, sometimes the habits are very strong. and the passions which we experience can be very strong. And sometimes we do fall victims of these previous passions because the force of them is very strong. And at the same time, our practice of bhakti is weak. We don't, our sadhana is not so strong. So, first of all, if we are in association of, loving association of devotees, all these impulses within our heart become less strong. they become less impelling and so that's definitely one solution because usually it is even explained in normal books, psychological books. People are so prone to commit sinful activities only because they are unhappy. Because they are dissatisfied. because it is actually explained in Ayurveda, I believe also, in regard to karma. Because most probably the implication of this question is karma is so strong, the desires are so strong. It is explained in Ayurveda that if you are sad, If you have some sort of shock, some grief, some internal dissatisfaction, then Kama becomes strong. The moment you become happy, Kama doesn't have so much effect upon you. So, if the association of devotees is very sweet and if the sangha of devotees gives you a lot of satisfaction and happiness, then it already kind of brings down the power of previous habits. So that's why we can only practice bhakti in a proper way, in a strong way, if we are in the society of devotees. But there are different grades of devotees. Those who are more senior and we can always come to them and confess to them and it also will relieve us from this guilt. and those who are junior to us and we can help them and this desire to help them and this activity of helping them also relieves us from all these powerful passions. And of course if we have peer association of equal devotees, which is also very close and intimate and nice, that also will help us. So, we take shelter not only in the practice of bhakti, we take shelter in the society of devotees. When we take shelter both in the society of devotees and the practice of bhakti, then we can break this vicious circle. So, that's my answer to this. We will have tonight one and a half hour or so for questions and answers. So please keep your questions and we will try to answer them. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jādhā, kāvara premanandī.