Anartha Nivritti. Lecture 4

Viśvasyanātha rūpa so bhaktivārtmā pradarshana bhakti-chakrevartitātvāt cakravartyakya ye bhavet pridvā preṇava bhakti-śāśyavitate saṃ jīvani svāgamā Vārāya Bhūya Prabhu Shri Chaitanya Kripani Ranku Samaha Madhurya Kadam Vini. Shri Chaitanya Kripani Ranku Samaha Madhurya Kadam Vini. Bhakti purva-shritatam tu rasampasyet yatatadi tamnomi satatam rupa nama priyajanam bhaleh Hare Krishna. So I'm studying Madhuriya Kadambini and the goal of our study is Sri Chaitanya Prabhu Kripa Nirankusa Madhurya Kadambini to attract towards us the cause of this mercy of Lord Chaitanya. So that our dry heart, which is growing in the desert of this material world, would become again full of life. Now our heart is very dry and the emotions which we experience are also very meagre. It's actually the emotions of stress. anger, stress, irritation, dissatisfaction, anxiety, fear. These are all emotions which we are mostly capable of experiencing and elevated emotions. I want to speak about spiritual emotions, even the emotions which belong to the realm of sattva. are very difficult to attain. The emotion of gratitude, the emotion of humility, the emotion of compassion. These are sattvic emotions, but they're very elevated emotions. And in our normal state of life, normal quote-unquote, we don't experience them. And Vishwanathya Kravarti I want to speak about prema, pranaya, sneha, mana, raga, nuraga. So even these sattvic emotions are not easy because of the predominance of rajas and tamas within our consciousness and the environment which we live in. And therefore, Sri Vrishvanachya Kravartyatakur, he wrote this book for us to give us the way towards these emotions, when our heart will become again enlivened by the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Now, yesterday I finished by describing Sraddha, which is an important part of the second chapter of Madhuri Kadambini. I still want to say a few words about this because it's so important and it is directly connected with the topic which we are about to commence, but having difficulty to commence because we are too much dwelling in the past. so it directly related to the anarthas so let's again go back a little bit to what is Shastriya Shraddha that there is material Shraddha or conditioned Shraddha and it's so important, this topic is so important that Shri Krishna devoted the whole chapter the whole Adiyaya, 17th Adiyaya, to describe these three kinds of Shraddha in the modes of material nature. And there, this important verse in the very beginning of the 17th chapter, Sattva Anurupa Sarvasya Shraddha Bhavati Bharata. Sattva Anurupa. Here, Sattva doesn't mean Sattva Gun, although it may mean Sattva Gun, Srila Prabhupada alludes to this in the purport, but primarily sattva here means mind mind is also called sattva because it's creation of sattva gun or it's antahkarana you may say sattva anurupa sarvasya shraddha vavati bharrata so our shraddha follows its anurupa our sattva whatever is there within our mind whatever karma we have whatever value system we have, our shraddha, our face, sorry, whatever we have in our mind, whatever karma we have, our shraddha, our value system. This is another very important understanding of what shraddha means. Shraddha means what we hold sacred or what we hold valuable. So it's basically a value system. When we believe in God, it means that we value the supreme power which is ruling everything. When we believe in some powerful man, it means that this is on the top of our value system. If we worship some ghost or demons to fulfill our desires, it also reveals what we hold sacred or what we hold valuable. So, sattva-nurupa-sarvasya, our shraddha depends on our sattva or our mind. And then next, shraddha-maya-yam purusha. Ayam purusha, this purusha or living entity, conditioned living entity, is made of shraddha. and he becomes the same as his Shradha. So our Shradha depends on our mind and we, in other words, our way of living, our speaking, our acting, it all basically derived from Shradha. So this very intricate and tight connection, bondage between Sraddha and our the form of our Sraddha conditioned Sraddha and our karma or existence is indicated in this verse and Srila Prabhupada he wrote a beautiful purport, this is an excerpt from this purport when one forgets his relationship with the supreme personality of God and comes into contact with the material nature in conditional life. He generates his own position by association with different varieties of material nature. So we ourselves generate our own position. The resultant artificial phase, he calls material or conditioned phase artificial phase because it's false ultimately. The resultant artificial phase and existence are only material. although one may be conducted by some impression or some conception of life originally he is nirguna or transcendental therefore one has to become cleansed of all material contamination that he has acquired in order to regain his relationship with the supreme lord that is the only path back without fear so in this purport, Srila Prabhupada, excerpt, Srila Prabhupada speaks about artificial shraddha, false shraddha, conditioned shraddha, which is imposed upon us by our association with the modes of nature, and the real shraddha, spiritual shraddha, which is supposed to bring us back and reestablish our spiritual relationship with our source. So, and basically when Krishna says, if you understand that shrada means something which we revere or which we worship, so we are what we worship. And if we change the object of our worship due to the association with sadhus, if by saintly association we understand who is the real object of our worship, we change our existence. Everything is changed by this change of the object of our worship. So Shraddha is this reverential attitude towards something which we hold sacred or valuable. And therefore, in Bhakti Sandarbha, I made a mistake yesterday, I said that this is the quote from Madhuri Kadambi. No, this is the quote from Bhakti Sandarbha. Silajiva Goswami says the same thing. He says, in this verse, Sraddha and Bhakti, these two words means adhara, respect. So, and why do we need respect? This is a very important topic of today's discussion because offenses which we are hopefully starting to describe today is the opposite of respect. So, Śrīla Jīva Goswami says, Satu Bhagavat Tosha Lakshanapala Vishayasayotpattau Anadara Lakshanatat Vignataka Aparadhasya Vignataka Aparadhasya Nirashanaparaha So he says that this respect which we get when we receive Shraddha by meeting with the devotees destroys the offensive attitude, aparada, which produces disrespect and when this offensive attitude of ours is destroyed, then we get the fruit of satisfaction of the Lord. the moment we become reverential we get this very valuable fruit or result that the Lord becomes pleased with us and when the Lord becomes pleased with us what else do we need if the Lord is pleased everything is there, if the Lord is displeased what do we need we don't need anything because were doomed. So that's the only thing and therefore Shraddha is so extremely important. And therefore I said that actually this spiritual Shraddha, the inner desire of us to understand the truth which brings us into the association with saintly people, with Saddhus. Because we So if we want to understand the truth, we come, we're seeking for some saintly association. And in this association, if we are respectful towards those saintly people, then Shrada develops. And it gives us tonic. It becomes rasayana, it gives us strength, it gives us the immunity to resist all the unwanted influences. and ultimately it rejuvenates our whole being. So this we all did yesterday. And I said yesterday I skipped this, but I think it's important to repeat again. Vishwanaya Chakravartakura explains that Shraddha has two aspects. One aspect, Shastriya Shraddha has two aspects. One aspect is believe in Shastra. And another aspect is believe in the way which is indicated by Shastra. Two very important aspects of Shraddha. If you only say believe in Shastra and do nothing, it means you have no Shraddha, zero Shraddha. If you claim that you have Shraddha, it means that you will have to act according to this Shraddha. So the first aspect, quote unquote, theoretical belief in Shastra is indicated how we should check ourselves, whether we have Shrada or not, Shrada and Shastra. So the first feeling which we should notice within our heart is this kind of feeling that if I don't worship the Lord I feel that my life is wasted if we get this feeling that means we have Shastra Esradar it's like it's also one of my very favorite experiences I once was talking with two young devotees two ladies for twin sisters and they told me the same sort of experience. They told me that many times we tried to give up this possible bhakti. We started chanting and everything is nice, but then we had some other priorities, this and that, we become busy and we go up chanting and they say immediately, not immediately, one day is okay, two days is okay, three days is a little strange. And then they say that some strange anxiety comes to our heart. that something is wrong and this anxiety is just, it's there and we don't know the cause of this anxiety, the anxiety in there. And then we start chanting again and the anxiety disappears. So this is the feeling when we have little Shastra Shraddha. It basically means that within the heart we feel if I don't worship the Lord, I just waste my time. I'm living like a mouse. I'm just eating and sleeping and then dying. This is the essence of material life. Well, there are some other fun experiences too. But ultimately the most fun is dying. Eating, sleeping and then dying. So this feeling should be there. This is the first sign of Shastriya Shradar. Yes, yes, there is higher purpose of my existence. And then another sign of this is the hope. Hope that I will encounter this beautiful Lord who is embellished by all different beautiful qualities like compassion, mercy, beauty. And this hope overshadows our desires to enjoy senses. Our taste for sense enjoyment become less. We still love pizza, but not so intensely. Or ice cream. Basically, it doesn't become the important part of our life. Yes, of course. It's nice if it's there, but I can live without it. But I cannot live without God. Because we understand it's temporary. Everything else is temporary, whereas I need something permanent in my life. and the only permanent experience which I can have is the experience of association with God. And ultimately, the life without worship becomes intolerable and surrender to Krishna becomes very natural. So this is one aspect. Tatchastra arti dridha pratyayamai. Something which reveals our conviction in the meaning of Shastra. The meaning of Shastra is that God is there and he's beautiful, he's merciful and what reveals our conviction is this attitude within the heart. And the second aspect is that desire to attentively follow the process of devotion. Sadara Spriha. Not just follow the process of devotion but to follow it with reverence. Sa-adharas priha, the desire to follow the path of devotion prescribed in the scriptures combined with the hope for achieving the goal they describe. So this is another manifestation of Shraddha. I get this desire to really carefully, attentively follow the path described in the scriptures. because I believe in scriptures. And to achieve this, we apply concentrated endeavors. We become very fixed in our practice of devotional service. So this is the second aspect which should follow. anyway so I gave this very important recipe of Shastriya Shraddha so first the beginning of Shraddha is respect respect to those who have bhakti without this nothing can happen respect makes us very attentive when we hear such person you all know if you don't respect somebody you hear him and you know this guy oh my goodness, you know, what is he saying? And anyway, you know, and we think about something else. So without respect, we cannot even hear properly. We cannot even understand properly the Shastra. Respect is necessary to fix our attention because, you know, we all know, we all, you know, studied. If we respect the teacher, we hear him. If we don't respect the teacher, you know, We just mock at him. The students are sitting somewhere back and just mocking at the professor who is trying to teach them. That's not the way to obtain Shastriya Shradar. First respect, then attentive hearing. And not only attentive hearing, but systematic hearing. As I explained yesterday, from beginning to end, to Pachrama, Pachamas. We try to understand the meaning, to extract the meaning of what is being said. Because again, the tendency of inattentive hearing is to hear something here, something there. In the meantime, we thought about something else, about some engagement which I have or about some quarrel which I have, some unpleasant things. And we lose the meaning. oftentimes you know somebody asks the question and you understand that you didn't understand what you wanted to say so it's important to kind of really follow and to try to get the essential message and then we should ask the questions to remove doubts if we have you know please explain to me how Putana grew so high. Whatever else is there. And then the firm face will be formed in the meaning of Shastran. Then as she would Vishwanac Chakravartakur says, then the surrender becomes very natural because what is surrender? Surrender means we accept the meaning of the Shastra and we want to follow Shastra I will do whatever Krishna says I should do and I should not do whatever he doesn't want me to do so Saranagati becomes natural if we try to do Saranagati without the previous thing it will become very artificial and not real. Saranagati is based on a very firm foundation of Shastric knowledge. Then only we can follow this path. And then we can start acting with a very strong hope. I will achieve this. not in the next life like Srila Prabhupada used to say don't become next lifetime Baba don't try to postpone it ok this life didn't work next life maybe ok I will get a better birth no next life will happen the same thing because the same attitude you will carry the same neglect the same thing you will carry with you therefore this is the recipe this is the past this is how to strengthen our Shastriya Shraddha that's the formula of it and just very quickly about these two types of Shraddha Balatut Padita Shraddha or Lokika Shraddha Lokika basically means forced external conventional faith without internal conviction coming from the customs of the society we live in, faith without freedom why it is called Balatut Padita because people there are so many people who follow this sometimes children follow the path of bhakti it's not that they want to follow the path of bhakti but they know that if they're obedient, they will get some benefits from their parents. So in a similar way, we are dependent on the opinions of others. Like children, little children, they're dependent on the opinion of their parents because they don't want to be rejected and they know that parents somehow rather, parents are very strange creatures. sitting and mumbling something, so maybe I should do the same to get some extra mileage. But in a similar way, we are dependent on the opinion of other people. We are living in a society and to conform with the customs of the society, we sometimes adopt certain external behavior which is not based on our internal conviction. But when we do this, we don't feel that we are doing it according to our free will. That's a very important difference between these two kinds of shraddha. So, how to recognize this Balatut Padita Shrada or forced Shrada, conventional Shrada, Shrada which is based on some external influences. So, oftentimes the sign of this forced Shrada is extreme fanaticism. This is the only right thing everyone else is just, if he doesn't do what I am doing, he's a demon and I have to convert everyone else. Instead of trying to convert oneself, he's trying to convert his relatives. You know, it's a very common phenomenon, a neophyte devotee, he got some bright idea that he should worship Krishna And then the first thing which he is doing is just to save his relatives. Let me save them. Please try to save yourself. So this impetus trying to convert everyone else into the right path is a sign of very forced faith. I remember I was in the year 2000, I was part of Hindu delegation to the summit of religions. And, you know, there were many people from many different, it was in the United Nations, many different people came everyone was talking a little bit very politely and then one lady she's the daughter of very famous tele preacher protestant preacher she comes up on the dais and she speaks two sentences and then all of a sudden she starts yelling just believe in Jesus otherwise you will go to hell this is the sign of forced shraddha because you feel the force, the pressure yourself and you want to apply the same pressure to everyone else that's how it works psychologically so this kind of self-righteous attitude is one of the signs and then it's usually based on some superstitions in all these forms of conventional shraddha, the superstitions are more important than scriptural knowledge. All kinds of strange traditions which are not based on Shastra. They appear gradually. We all know the tale of the cat, black cat in a basket which has to be there while you're doing puja. So all kinds of different things, they appear. It's based on superstition, and it breeds superstitions. It breeds some new rituals, and that's very much dependent on miracles. You know, if you don't have real Shastri Ashrada, then you need miracles to be convinced. if somebody doesn't perform miracles he's not bona fide I need to find some miracle maker another miracle maker so that's why all this Sai Baba and they all this is the talk this is Harikatha miracle katha just you know oh he can perform this miracle and that miracle and if one day a miracle is not performed you should invent the miracle. You should somehow or other concoct the miracle. And then also, there are some concocted practices which are not really approved by Shastras. Severe fasting or severe austerity. It's also a result of this. and then it's usually very shallow, it's unstable and it's usually centered around the person personality cult this cultish sort of mentality is a very prominent sign of this Balatutparita Shrada you need to believe into somebody to, because you don't have inner conviction and the basis in the Shastra and that's why you artificially inflate some person and place all your face into this person and this whole foundation of this is this relationship with this inflated figure which more or less your own creation so that's and this cultish mentality is very much there even in is gone. You know, there are different cults. They periodically pop out of nothing. But it's all lack of Shastriya Shrada. You don't need this. If you have firm Shastriya Shrada, you don't need all this stuff. You're just happy and you're respectful and you're respectful to everyone, but you're not cultish. And Swabhavikishrada is completely different. Svabaviki means natural, spontaneous and it's Shastriya Shrada according to the nomenclature of Shilajiva Goswami. It's based on Shastri internal conviction and it's not dependent on miracles and it gives the stability. Okay. Okay, that's Sadhu Sangha. More or less there is not much to say about this. It's just one sentence which Vishwanath Chakravarti Takur gives in Madhurya Kadambini. He says that real Shraddha brings us into the association with real Sadhus. And this association is based on heart-to-heart relationship with them. It always has snigda, sneha. The real shrada brings us into close association with sadhus, and we inquire from him, ask questions from him, and that's basically this. and we ask him what to do and he says us what to do and we start Bajanakriya and then Bajanakriya has six unstable varieties Utsahamaeg, Anatarala Vyudavikalpa Vishayasangara Niyama Akshama and Tarangarangini so we all know this you probably heard about this I will not dwell on this because initially our mind is not stable. We cannot really completely apply our mind to the practice of bhakti. While we're hearing śravana or while we are chanting kirtana or what to speak while we are remembering, the flow of devotional activity is often interrupted by different desires and thoughts which are still there. And therefore, it has to be unstable in the beginning. But instability takes different forms. In the beginning, it becomes very fanatical. this is the first manifestation of instability of mind fanatical devotee or another name for this, synonym for this is the syndrome of a pure devotee in the beginning everyone is a pure devotee later on he comes back to reality but in the beginning you're full of enthusiasm but this is false enthusiasm this is not real enthusiasm Utsa Hamai and then you become very much dependent on the external circumstances and mechanical you do suddenly in a very ritualistic way and it doesn't really give you satisfaction, sometimes it does when when somebody is kind of giving some flattery to you and says oh you're such a nice devotee wow my goodness and immediately yes yes yes bhakti is the real path but as soon as somebody is not really happy with us well we're not very happy with this path of bhakti I thought the path of bhakti is so nice, but it's not. And then we become undecisive, become wavering whether I should do this or not, whether I should remain brahmachari or become the grihasta. No, in the beginning I should remain brahmachari, and then, you know, I'm too old already to become grihasta, What shall I do? Like sometimes people say, I gave my best years to Krishna consciousness. So my answer to this, why don't you give your worst years too? What do you lose? So this kind of favoring, whether I should do this or should not do this, he gives this example about marriage or not marriage, but there are so many different examples which are there. Which service I should do, should I distribute books, should I do this or should I do that. Again, this is Yudavikalpa, this intense speculation of what to do without real determination. And then Vishayasangara, when you start fighting with the senses, and every now and then break the principles, and then you give some exaggerated vows, and you cannot follow the swath, this is the fifth swan. And then ultimately, Tarangarangini, you become senior devotee. That's the best out of them. Everyone respects you, everyone bows down, and you have the full plate of prasadam. I always knew that the path of bhakti is very nice. This is not the path of bhakti, This is the path of prasada. So, and you just enjoy the perks which you gained by remaining in Krishna consciousness for too long, but still, you have some unresolved doubts, some, perhaps, some unfulfilled desires. they are still internally slackening, weakening the foundation of your bhakti. So this is the second chapter of Madhurya Kadambini, and we are coming to the third chapter of this book, Tritiya Amrita Vristi, the third shower of Amrita. the third installment of Krishna's mercy. If despite of all these instabilities, we still follow the path of bhakti, we will find out that anartha's will start vanishing. So this chapter discusses this anartha-nivrity or cessation of unwanted desires. And the very word anartha means something which is un-arthak. which is something which is unwanted or something which is without value, un-artha, something which is useless. And nivritti means to cease, to eradicate, and to free. So, very important point that anarthas are opposed to paramartha. There is a highest value, paramartha. the highest possible value which is there which we can achieve by following bhakti and anarthas is something which is diametrically opposed to paramartha and therefore they have to be removed for us to achieve they become the obstacles on our path they become the weakness and everyone of us has obstacles everyone has obstacles and Śrīla Prabhupāda explains why these obstacles are there. It's a very beautiful explanation in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. To become restless in the contact of women and wealth is not an astonishment. For a pure devotee, nothing is an astonishment. He understands very clearly the reality because every living being is associated with such things from a remote time practically immemorial and it takes time to recover from this foreign nature but if one is engaged in hearing the glories of the Lord gradually he realizes his real position by the grace of God such a devotee gets sufficient strength to defend himself from the state of disturbances and gradually all disturbing elements are eliminated from his mind So all this Abhadra, what is Abhadra? This is another synonym of Anartha. Abhadra, which is something which is disturbing our mind. Like Silaprovat says, pinprick, which is there. And Narotam Dastakur, he says, Antarae nahiaya, eita paramabhaya, Nivedana Karan Nuksan he says my greatest fear is that I will not be able to surpass the impediments on the path of devotional service Antarae means Sanarta or impediments Vigna Nahijaya Eita Paramabhaya so this is we should expect that the obstacles will be there we should be very very sober about this. There will be obstacles on our path of devotional service. Kalah Kalir Balina Indriya Vairi Vardha Sri Bhakti Marga Iha Kanta Kakoti Rudha Prabhada Nanda Sarasvati Takur says that the path of bhakti Sri Bhakti Marga Iha Kanta Kakoti Rudha There is a lot of kantakas. There is a lot of thorns on the path of bhakti. and Silarupa Goswami explains that the obstacles, internal obstacles, the external obstacles is just the manifestation of internal obstacles. Ultimately the internal obstacles is what matters. And Silarupa Goswami says that up to the level of bhava, including bhava, he says even on the level of bhava One has some shadows of obstacles. Only in the level of prema you are completely free from this. But what to speak about us, sadhakas. So Narottam Dastakur says, Antarae Nahijaya, this is my fear, Paramabhai. I am very afraid that I will not be able to overcome these obstacles which lead to this Paramarthaya, to the highest achievement of human life. And therefore, what should I do? Nivedana karon anukshana. All the time, every moment, I pray to the Lord to remove these obstacles. I pray not to remove, I pray to give me the strength to overcome these obstacles. Hence, I pray to you constantly. Anukshan. every second so it basically means that we should not be negligent or we should not be overly confident Srila Prabhupada said in Krishna Balarama Mandir somebody asked Srila Prabhupada was praying to the deities and somebody asked him what are you praying for? he said I am praying for not to fall in Maya and he said this is the difference between me and you you are not afraid of falling in my eye so this is to make us careful because again the tendency unfortunately is there to become little negligent and from the very beginning it's very interesting Vishwanath Chakravartyita Kuru classifies anarthas from according to their origin Duskritotha anarthas which are coming from Duskriti Duskriti Udha Sukritotha Aparadhotha and Bhakti Udha so anarthas which are coming from Duskrita, from sinful activities, Anarthas which are coming from Sukriti, pious activities, very nice Anarthas. And Anarthas which are coming from Apparada. And Anarthas which are coming from practicing Bhakti. So the question is, very important question, why does he classify Anarthas this way? like Bhaktivinoda Thakur he gives completely different classification of anarchas he lists 16 anarchas according to the nature of anarchas the anarchas of Brahma of the mistakes and anarchas of the weaknesses of the heart and the petty desires which are there so it would be much more natural So isn't it to classify an artist according to the nature of desires which we have? So why does he give this, Vishwanath Chakravarty Thakur gives this classification of an artist? Very important answer. What do you think? First material, first material, then second material. Is that a time of realization of the activities? Yes. Okay. Okay. Does some can be removed more quickly and easily? Yeah. Basically, the answer to this very important question we should ask ourselves is that it doesn't matter what kind of anarthas we have specifically because anyway, the method of removing anarthas is only one. Anarthas are many, but the method is only one. It doesn't matter whether you have lust or anger or greed or illusion or pride or even envy. You know, and basically you all have this, no problem. So, in other methods, why I'm saying this? Because if you take psychology and you go to a psychologist and you tell a psychologist, dear psychologist my dear guruji please tell me how to get rid of anger and psychologist will tell you how to get rid of anger and even if he will not be able to free you from anger he will free you from the guilt of being angry so that's what psychologists are for so no problem you are angry it happens, no problem Just be yourself. But they will give you specific recipe against specific anarta. But because we're dealing with bhakti and bhakti is a universal recipe, which is against all kinds of anartas, that the only factor which is important in this regard is how quickly anarchas will go by the process of bhakti. Ultimately, all the anarchas will be removed just by the process of bhakti itself like Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport which we just quoted. But the speed with which and the depth of the anarcha is different. And therefore, even though we apply the same universal method to remove this anarthas, they go away with a different speed. And that's what's important. He's talking about the past, and on the past it is important when we will be free from all the anarthas, and therefore we have to see the origin of this anarthas. And this is the proof of this. this is the verse from the 7th canto of Srimad Bhagavata the 15th chapter one must conquer the modes of passion and ignorance by developing the mode of goodness and before that there was different partial remedies for different problems which we have and then one must become detached from the mode of goodness by promoting oneself to the platform of Siddha Sattva all this can be automatically done if one engages in the service of the spiritual master with faith and devotion. In this way, one can conquer the influence of the modes of nature. So, again, the faith and devotion is the remedy of all the problems. And therefore, he, Vishwana Chakravarthakur, gives this classification. and the most important part which we will talk today is this apparatus which are which are created by offenses so he very quickly deals with the first type of anarthas he says basically we already explained what is what is activity or impious activities, this is activities which are performed under the influence of bodily concept of life. I am this body. And when you act under this influence from this Dhatma Bodhi, from this understanding I am this body, then you will be able to will strengthen your avidya, smita, ragha, dvesha, and abhinivesha. You basically will strengthen your ignorance, your false ego, your attachment, your hatred, and your fear of death. That's what duskriti means. And that's why sinful activities are so bad. Why all the religions, they condemn sinful activities, because they strengthen our avidya, ignorance. They deprive us the proper knowledge and understanding of reality. And ultimately, the problem with avidya is that it's self, how you call it? Yeah, it's a cycle. It's self-reinforcing. It's reinforcing itself. Avidya pushes you to act, and the action which you do impelled by avidya will only engross your avidya, will only strengthen your avidya. So if you act being impelled by your attachments, the attachments will become what? Stronger. And you will again act. This is the vicious cycle, like the cycle of addiction. You try to some drug once, and you get some experience, and then you try twice, and then you try thrice, and then you cannot stop trying it. And then you are enslaved. So that's the problem with sins. since duskriti impious activity enslave us we become the slaves of this activity we are forced to repeat them again and again and again and again and we cannot really it's very difficult to break this vicious cycle so and that's why all the scriptures they condemn sinful activities, they differently classify them, they say, those shall not kill, and so on and so forth, but basically the idea is that it is the path of bondage. The path of sinful activity is the path of bondage, and we want freedom. and we should clearly understand what is the past how we can really achieve freedom so avidya is gross ignorance the bodily concept of life and asmit is false ego, material conception of iron mind raga is attachment to those things which bring us pleasure, dvesha is aversion to those things which brings us miseries or sufferings and Abhinivyesha is absorption into matter which causes fear of death so that's welcome to the material world so that's a beautiful place where electricity always breaks and other supplies of... So if we differently formulate the same problems which we have, then avidya will become the sum total of all samskaras, all accumulated karma. Prarabda karma, prarabda karma, Sanchari karma, all kinds of karmas which are there. That's avidya. It's the cloud which covers our real knowledge, distorts our knowledge. Avidya is the distorted knowledge, distorted understanding. And then as smita, it's specifically prarabdha karma. It's vasanas, very deep samskaras, which we brought from previous life. And they constitute our personality. Everyone has unique personality. Somebody has Mars in the first house, and he is very angry and irritated. Somebody has Mars in the second house, somebody in the third house, and so on and so forth. So it's Vasana, Asmita, my false identity, which is created by repeated actions in the previous life. Not just incidental actions, but repeated consistent actions which we do while working on our personality. According to the false ego, this screen just wants to manifest his freedom and independence. So, he doesn't want to surrender. That betrays the lack of Shastriya Shraddhanya. But anyway, no problem. What can we do? So, yeah, and raga, it's a little more superficial. Avidya is the deepest one. Avidya constitutes all our consciousness, subconscious mind. a smita of all's ego it's our conscious mind I am this and I enjoy what I have and Raga is basically Raga and Vesha is two programs which are there in the manas I like this, I don't like this so and then Abhinivesha is basically this intelligence the intelligence which is fearing that we will lose control at the moment of death and this and that so that's how you can classify this according to manas and intelligence and false ego and then avidya is the sum total of citta so if we take these four familiar to us elements of internal sense organ then avidya corresponds to citta smitta to of course raga and vesha it's a description of functions of our mind which is rejecting and accepting and abhinivesha is the function of intelligence which always makes plans and ultimately is fearful of death. So what happens when we have these strong elements within our subtle body avidya, smith, ragadvesha and abhinivesha when we have this five in our subtle body then they create the desires for sense enjoyment in our heart and they also create sinful tendencies which we have tendencies for illicit sex tendencies for violence tendencies for lying speaking untruths tendencies to eat forbidden food so and when we try to do bhakti then all these desires created by this duskriti disturb our mind Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare we try to concentrate but this instability which is created by our previous karma, by the impious element of previous karma. What shall we do? Escape. Press escape. Come out of the difficulty. And then... Yes, I pressed escape. It came out. It's showing your laptop, but not showing your people. They already rebooted it. They rebooted it. Okay. Anyway, so let's go further. So that's why this is an artasa. An artasa there. An artasa is disturbance in the mind. And because of this disturbance in the mind, we cannot really perform bhakti. And we all know this, how it works. The moment we start, sometimes devotees say this, I like chanting because the best ideas I get when I chant. It basically means that I'm doing all my plans during the chanting period instead of really saying something important or trying to please Krishna by my chanting. as I said when we have strong sraddha then whatever we do we do for the pleasure of Krishna not for our own pleasure so that's why this kind of anarthas ok ok and anarthas which are arising from pious activities Sukritotha Anarthas sometimes people say that they are the same Raga Dvesha is definitely there but more specifically the pious activities create three kinds of Anarthas desire for heavenly pleasures, I will be rewarded, I am so good for sure I will be one of the chosen ones in heaven or desire for liberation desire for liberation is also a result of pious activities I perform pious activities and ultimately I hope that I will be liberated from all this material existence and desire for mystic powers sometimes people perform pious activities and this desire for mystic powers become very strong. So this is also destruction. Destruction from the goal because the definition of pure bhakti is that uttama bhakti is that you perform it only for the pleasure of Krishna. And because you're performing it with the wrong idea, with the wrong desire, then then you don't feel the pleasure of bhakti it is very beautifully described in the verse which was the controversial verse according to some accounts of Siva Jiva Goswami's life when he was trying to defeat the pandit who came to argue with Shilajiva Goswami. So, Shilajiva Goswami says that in our heart there are two pisachis, two witches. It's a very strong word. There are two blood-sucking pisachis living within the heart of a living entity. and this is Bukti and Mukti Spriha according to this story the Pandit was arguing with Srila Rupa Goswami he said how you can call Bukti and Mukti, especially Mukti as Pishachi how you can call Mukti who is the Mukti Devi who is being worshipped by the millions of pious people in Bharata Pishachi It's a Maha-apparat. Mukti Devi you call Pisaci. You know, what is going on? But then Sīla Jīva Gassimā says, no, no, it's not Mukti Devi is Pisaci. Mukti Sprigha is Pisaci. The desire for Mukti, the desire for Mukti is Pisaci. Why it is blood sucking? Because it, How then you will experience the happiness of bhakti if your practice of bhakti is deprived of proper intensity. You don't have the proper goal of your practice. of your practice, you're not applying your mind there to the practice, you don't want to please by this practice the Supreme Lord, but ultimately you want bhukti and mukti. Recently, somebody told me a story that, it's a far out story, one of many which I heard being in this con, that somebody is a part of the experienced some difficulties. One lady, her husband gave her up, drove her away, and she was deprived of anything, and then she was kicked out of job, and she was suffering, and then she met with one devotee, preacher, and the devotee told her, just repeat all the time, oh my lord whatever you want let it be oh my lord whatever you want let it be let it be let it be so because she was so desperate she started repeating this mantra oh my lord whatever you want let it be let it be let it be and then this preacher himself tells you know miraculously her husband wanted her back and you know she was she found a new job where she gets a lot of salary but she doesn't have to do anything and everything removed and now she with full conviction says oh my dear Lord, whatever you want, let it be let it be let it be so this is a little tricky mentality you do not want the Lord, you do not want his will You don't, but you want what you want. You basically want what you want. You want bhukti and mukti. And it's maybe okay for the beginning, but ultimately you have to understand that the real happiness, because when we desire the happiness of the Lord, when our all consciousness is there in the Lord through the media of our connection with Him, through the media of bhakti, our consciousness becomes in Him. And can you imagine what happens when our consciousness in the Lord, who is the bliss personified? Our consciousness becomes blissful automatically. We become completely, totally blissful because we are connected with Him and we're thinking about him, not about our petty little desires. How you can be happy if you only think about your petty desires? Can you be happy? No, you cannot. You will be miserable. So, and that's exactly what Srila Rupa Goswami explains in Bhakti Rasa Amrita Sindhu on this. And therefore, these three kind of disturbances in mind created by pious activities are also not good. And that's a very important distinction between Gaudiya Sampradaya and practically every other religion. because in other religions what you hear don't perform sin perform pious activities and in Gaudiya Simpradava say don't perform sin don't perform pious activities it's equally disturbing if not more disturbing it's equally distracting from the Paso Bhakti it's not beneficial for Paso Bhakti if you are just pious person and you are giving alms on a kadashi, this is ultimately not good. But of course, the temptation is very great. Like you want to be pious and on Amavasya you should go to Gaushala and you should donate some money to Gaushala. And you should do something for your diseased relatives that's all fine but it has very little to do with bhakti if you want to worship gosh, chaos why should you do it only on Amavasya? you worship chaos because they are connected with Krishna because Krishna likes them not that Krishna likes them only on Amavasya days he likes them everyday and you should do something for them. So that's a very important distinction between our tradition of pure bhakti and other traditions of mixed bhakti. So now next, the most important section of this third chapter of Madhuri Kadambini is aparadhotta, anarthas. Anarthas which are created by apparadas. And we will devote a lot of time in deliberating what apparada means. And why and how we should avoid them. So Vishwanachikravartyaku writes, apparodota anarthas which arise from offenses refer to those arising from nama apparatus, not seva apparatus, such as entering the temple in the palanquin or with shoes. The Acharyas have discerned that seva apparadas do not usually have effect being nullified by chanting the name by recitation of stotras which have the power to cancel the effect of any seva apparada and by constant service. So basically in the very beginning he says, when we're talking about aparada, we're talking about nama aparada. There are so many other aparadas, but other aparadas are not so dangerous. They don't leave lasting impression. Several aparadas are basically nullified in the process of devotional service. which implies chanting like after every puja you have to chant these mantras all these mantras which you're supposed to chant please forgive me from these apparatus and Krishna says no problem so and of course there are different other means to be free from several apparatus. One of them is changing stotras as Vishwanathya Kravartakou mentions this. And this is like Vishnu Sahasranam. It is said that recently I heard somebody was explaining Vishnu Sahasranam and they say that Vishnu Sahasranam is influencing all areas of the mind. They did this as a far out far out feature of modern world you know now they're trying to see the effect of Vishnu Sahasranam on the brain through MRI so they take the MRI and somebody is chanting Vishnu Sahasranam and they say everywhere in the brain some very nice activities is going on and it purifies the brain. It's actually, it's very scientific. All the Vedas are very scientific. And even chanting just Om, what to speak about, Stotras, they purify, even if you do it automatically, mechanically, even if you do it without really conscious understanding of what you're chanting, Still it has an effect. But Nama-paradas are much more difficult. And actually, Shila Rupa Goswami in Sri Krishna Namastakam, he says this. Vachya Vachakam. Let's chant together. Satsang with Mooji So very beautifully this is the sixth verse of Namashtakam where Srila Rupa Goswami is glorifying the name and he says He says that Nam Krishna Nam has two forms one form is Krishna himself and another one is his name he says that the name has two forms one form is Krishna this is the form of the name You understand the paradoxical way? It says, vachya vachya commit you, that you are what a namasvarupa dvayam. There are two forms of nama. One is vachya, which is described or named or Krishna or in this case, Krishna's form, his murti. This is vachya. This is something which is described. And Vachakam is the name which is describing this form of Krishna's name. And he says, He says, Hunter, he just goes like this. Hunter, oh my God. We know that the second one, Vachakam, We know that the second one, Vachakam, is more merciful than the first one, Vachakam. Because Even if you worship the Lord, and if you do some apparatus, It's not good. But even if you worship the Lord and do some apparatus and you chant the holy name, then the holy name becomes the saving grace, becomes upaya. If you worship the Lord, then the holy name will take you and put you into this Anandam Buddhi. and you will always be in this you will be immersed in the ocean of bliss if you chant the holy name even if you perform or commit some offenses against the first one against the form of the Lord so if we constantly worship the holy name the holy name becomes our upasya the object of worship then everything else is solved Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram go to a solitary place here in Brindavan. He would clean some little place in the earth and he would do the aksaras of the name Hare Krishna. He would write it's on the earth and would sit the whole day and worship this form of the Lord. And at the end of the day he would again clean and go back. So that's the real path of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Worship of the deities is important, but only as much as it helps us to change the holy name. It should not overshadow or take over the importance of the changing of the holy name. and we we're kind of more used to this ritualistic activity and therefore it's easy chant the holy name is a little more difficult but it's much more important and that's why Srila Rupa Goswami he glorifies this I will not go further because okay let's this is another verse from Namastakam let's do it together Jaya Namadheya Muni Vrindagehe Janaranjanaya Paramahsara Krite Tvamana Dharada Bhimana Gudiritam Nikilo Grata Papatani Milum Tvasi So Shiva Rupa Goswami says that that Muni is those people who are keeping maunavrat. So this muni, when they hear the holy name of the Lord, they start singing it very loudly. Even though they are munis, they are not supposed to. They are supposed to, but they cannot contain themselves. Jaya namadheya munivrindegehe Jana ranjanaya paramaksara kriteye You came in the form of aksaras. You made yourself accessible to us. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare Krishna. So easily accessible, you know, even to make the form of the Lord, it's difficult. But you came in this most munificent form just to give the pleasure, Janara and Janaya, for ordinary people. the moon is they become joyful and they start dancing and singing but even ordinary people when they chant the holy name they feel bliss and they feel some satisfaction and he says even without even without attention if we chant the holy name once Nikkila Ugratapa Patalim Vilumpasi you holy name he says Namadeya you purify from all kinds of Ugratapa all kinds of heavy heavy sufferings so holy name is like this but there is one important condition you should not commit offenses but how is it here Rupa Goswami says Anadaratapi? Even if you pronounce the holy name without adar, without respect, what is this? Anyway, about this we will talk a little later. For now we will finish the class and we'll ask for a couple of questions. We can answer a couple of questions. Thank you. Hare Krishna, Maharaj. Today you covered the topic of Shraddha. So I presume that Vishnath Chakrabhu is speaking about Shastri Shraddha. Yes. So Bhakti Nathapur speaks in the article on Vaishnananda, where he classifies Vaishnananda based on the perspective of Kanishdha Mujam and Hattam. Then he says that those who are Kanishdhukhikalis, they have a locking shardha. Baladudhu Adhutbhati. Baladudhu Adhutbhati. And they are not qualified for practicing shardhukhati. Only one comes to the platform of Madhyamdhukhari. Yes. And he is qualified to practice shardhukhati. So I wanted to clarify this. I wanted to clarify this. I wanted to clarify this. Yeah. So, in the beginning, when we just start practicing bhakti, we don't have firm shastri shraddha. And our shraddha, mostly, see, shraddha means a consistent consistent understanding of reality. Shastriya Shrada gives consistent understanding of reality. In the beginning, we don't have consistent understanding of reality according to Shastra. We have fragmental understanding. Little bit we understand here, little bit we understand there. And the rest is filled up with either our speculations or most probably speculations of other people whom we hear and think that they know what they're talking about. We hear some lectures and this and that and we create semi-Sastric picture of reality which is not really according to Shastra but some elements may be there. So therefore it's logika. Why it is logika? It is because it's based on the opinion of other people, not on the opinion of acharyas, not on the opinion of guru. It's the picture which is created in the mind from our association. So only after we consistently hear and clarify all our doubts, we can form the very strong Shastriyashranta. And that's called Madhivadhi Kari. So in the beginning, we do believe in something, but we also have a lot of strange things, strange superficial things. Sometimes you hear something, you know, what? Recently I heard something which I never heard. Before, I don't remember, it was so weird. I don't remember what was it. Somebody told me with a lot of conviction, I said, where did you hear this? Where did you read this? Where did you hear this? And usually the answer to this, I heard it in the kitchen. In the kitchen or somewhere, you know, and other respectable places where is going. Dormitory. Is it necessary to analyze Anapta? Here I am criticizing the Vaishnavas, and I am analyzing why. Maybe it's pride or envy. with such an analyzed help, or should I just pray? No, analysis is only necessary to see something which we would not see without this analysis. Analysis means the detailed vision of something, and when we don't hear this analysis, the vision usually is blurry. Analysis is needed to pay attention to some details which would be skipped of our attention, which we would miss without such analysis. so analysis of apparatus are important because we will understand exactly what apparatus means and it will help us to avoid apparatus but ultimately of course if we only analyze our apparatus and don't try to avoid them then it's a kind of very strange devotional service. So, we should not just analyze. Yes, analysis can make us very proud. No doubt about it. And then we should pray. And therefore, in the beginning, I gave this prayer of Narotam Dastakur. I always pray to be able to overcome all these impediments which are there. And the main impediment is our not even offenses, but offensive nature. which we have, which is being nourished by the culture we live in, unfortunately. One more question. I appreciate the behavior of Vaishnavas. For example, someone gives the Ram philosophy, I appreciate it, he speaks incorrectly. But then I plug you into criticism. Do not evaluate incorrectly. But how can you not criticize? How can one understand the Vaishnavas? Therefore it is said that Śrīla Rūpa Goswami very carefully says that you should respect Vaisnava. If it's a neophyte Vaisnava, you should respect him from a distance in your mind. And if it is Madhya Madhikari Vaisnava who is engaged in active service, you should pay basis to him but ultimately you should only seek association of those people you should only always be eager to get association of those people who are completely free from the tendency to criticize others to be free from this tendency ourselves so So, and you know, there is a difference between knowing that somebody is saying something incorrectly and criticizing. To say that he's saying something incorrectly doesn't mean that we are criticizing him. Or to notice, to distinguish, it's just our intelligence. But still maintain respectable attitude even though he speaks something which is not exactly correct, we can be respectful, we should be respectful. It doesn't matter whether he's always correct or not. But this sort of analysis is necessary for us to understand whose association we should be seeking for all the time. Yes. I just wanted to understand about anarthana vrti. Is it the stage which anarthana vrti starts after we do bhajana kriya or is it like a parallel process? No, no, it's a parallel process. The moment we start bhajana kriya, the anarthana vrti starts. There is no doubt about it. It's not that we do bhajana kriya, then we stop bhajana kriya. and then our narcos disappear. We continue bhajana kriya. And bhajana kriya means bhajana. Bhajana kriya means imitation of bhajana. Therefore, it's called bhajana kriya. It's like kriya literally means purificatory ceremony. Like in yoga, it's very clear. Like kapalbhati kriya, some purification things. So we're doing it not as a bhajan, because we are not really connected so intimately with Krishna, but it's bhajana kriya, it's just some formal similarity of bhajana, bhajana kriya, which purifies our heart, and an art starts going away during this process. So they are very closely intertwined. But if we want to distinguish between the two, we still can do it. And in my humble opinion, the difference between the first stage of Bajana Kriya, which is Anisthita Bajana Kriya, And the stage of purification, of intense purification of anarthas is when we consciously understand what anarthas are. When we become more conscious or more reflective. In the beginning, our bhajan or bhajana kriya, our practice of bhakti is not so reflective. but at one point because of hearing this and because of deepening our understanding and faith we start noticing certain processes which are taking place within our heart and that's where real anarthenevriti will take place well if it's broken by wrong examples we should come into society the social pressure is very important If we live in a society where respect is valued very much and everyone is respectful, either externally or internally or both, then naturally we try to adopt to this sort of environment and relearn this respectful behavior and respectful attitude towards others. So that's why the society of devotees is very important and not only society of devotees is important, the society of devotees which is built on the proper foundation because there are different society of devotees. Unfortunately, there are groups of devotees where aparada becomes a fashion. I don't want to name somebody specifically, but you know, there is a whole publication, I think it's monthly publication, which is somehow or other by some mistake is called back to Prabhupada, but in reality is Vaishnava Ninda monthly. So there are all kinds of juicy details that are being described, you know, with all the gusto and taste. taste. So it becomes some sort of custom in certain sections of Vaishnava society and we should be very careful about this. We should be in a society of devotees who are very respectful and very fearful of ninda. Thank you so much. So, sometimes we see that it's not intentional or personal, like sometimes some needs are not met and that's why some devotees are angry or they don't, they pick up offences. Because some need is not met, like if somebody is not fed well or somebody is not in the right health of mind. So, how do we... As far as... We should be very compassionate. As far as the other people are concerned, we should not judge them too severely. We can understand the psychological nature. It happens. So, and it's anyway not our position. to judge somebody you know if he behaves we just say no problem so but as far as our cells are concerned we should be still very careful when we automatically or impulsively commit some apparatus because of our psychological state of mind or something. It basically means that we're still slaves of our impulses of the mind. The beauty of Vaisnava practice is that it makes one, it gives one from the very beginning the intelligence by which we can discriminate this, I should do this, I should not do. and also gives at least some little freedom to avoid something which is wrong. So we should not justify our actions. Even if we did something driven by some impetus, we should not justify ourselves so easily by explaining it out. we should still be remorseful but as far as others are concerned we should not be judgmental yes they may have their reasons to behave the way they behave and who am I to judge them ok ok you continue it will come Maharaji my question is that We see in temples also sometimes Brahmchalis face so much of challenges. So like even associated with the movement for more than almost it's going to be two decades now. So I find that even the Brahmchalis have so much challenge in their temples. And sometimes it's again minor issues could be something related to personal issues like personal leads are not being properly met or one person is being favored more than the other by the temple president or so many things. So what I feel is for them it becomes even more difficult also. they cannot even express themselves very explicitly with the fear of a brother and as they keep suffering from within they also lose a lot of the stimulus to chant very enthusiastically i've seen a lot so just out of inquisitiveness wanting to know how can this issue be solved because some people are very junior and they do ask to consult us so how do we answer them If we want to progress in our path of bhakti, one extremely important condition is that we have to have somebody with whom we can confide and we can meet our weaknesses and we can get advice. and this person obviously he should not be judging us he should be kind, compassionate and very confidential so if this condition is fulfilled then because everyone, not only brahmacharis everyone has some problems everyone has some internal problems which sometimes manifest externally also. Sometimes it's only internal problems. Everyone has problems. And if the society of devotees is very, like Srila Prabhupada said, very important thing, he said that the whole Varnashama society was destroyed because of its rigidity. Because the rules of Varnashama were applied where in a very rigid way the whole society was destroyed somebody committed little deviation from the past and he's already outcast he's not a Brahmin anymore he has to commit suicide or become a Muslim or be converted like this ridiculous story somebody sprinkled you Muslim sprinkled you with some water from the pot already you are Muslim it's ridiculous you know the whole thing was destroyed because of this strictness and sometimes the same kind of external strictness comes to our Vaishnava society because in continuation of the same question you said that we can't be happy if we think of our petty desires but unfortunately every human being's life revolves around those 1500 people we meet and those petty desires keep troubling us that is the biggest challenge we face while chatting So the only way I think we can get over it is when we have a higher cause, when we are thinking, no, it is the Krishna conscious movement I am committed to and I shouldn't think of petty things. But to identify myself with that cause internally is not a very easy thing. It can't happen in a day. No, but if you come with your petty desires to somebody whom you trust and whom you have confidence of and say, you know, I have these petty desires. I want to be very honest to you the desires become weaker desires are only as bad as they are strong and they push us in the wrong direction or disturb us but how to make the desires weaker it's very simple just admit these desires just speak loudly just confess these desires yes I have these desires and immediately the desires lose the power over you so there's nothing wrong with desires as Siva Prabhupada says there is nothing astonishing in having this because we have been in contact with all these energies for too long so naturally we have these disturbances in the mind how to make them weaker to make them weaker we can just admit very honestly I have these disturbances and somebody who is more senior to you he will say, okay, fine. You are not this disturbance. You are spirit soul. So don't take it too seriously. You're right. Identification with the highest goal is a very difficult thing to achieve. But in the beginning, we should know how to deal properly with these petty desires. and they are not so only when we pay too much attention to these petty desires they become a problem if we just say okay petty desires bye bye petty desires no problem so it's not so difficult okay thank you very very much Hare Krishna so I'll see you tonight