The Futility Of Repeated Atonement

The futility of ritualistic atonement

0:24The intelligent king is criticizing the process of atonement. This is intelligent. What do you do the atonement for if one does not stop doing sinfulness?

0:48I become sinful and I atone, it is now adjusted; again I commit sin and again I adjust. What is it?

1:02I commit sinful activity, full of the holy... and I make atonement with God, accepting that my all sinful reaction is adjusted. Then why should I do it again?

1:18Whereas there is no such sense, even to the priest or even to the followers. The common sense is not there that we have to ask the priest and the physician.

1:36The physician may think that it is a good care that he is daily coming to me for taking treatment from me. But why the person who is coming to the physician or to the priest for atonement should be so foolish?

1:58So they are very intelligent. So dṛṣṭa-śruta-bhyāṁ yat pāpaṁ jānann apy ātmano 'hitam knows. He knows that it is not good for him.

2:12Any man who is intelligent—because there are so many species of life—if I commit wrong, then I may be degraded to lower species of life. And if I actually become degraded from human life to animal life or plant life, how much suffering is there?

2:33Jānann api, you know, he is daily, daily. Still, jānann api. Knowing he is doing this, and jānann apy ātmano 'hitam, that "it is not good for me." It is bad, but still he is weak. In that case, karoti vāva vivaśaḥ.

2:57Vivaśaḥ means imperfectly, automatically. He is so much habituated.

3:06Just like a man who is habituated to smoke: without attempt his hand is going to the pocket, he is taking his cigarette and he is— he is thinking something, yet he is doing automatically, he is smoking.

3:23This is called vivaśaḥ. Although he knows that this is not good, but he has been so much accustomed to be having that without intent, and the hands and mouth and tongue is working. Each word is so important.

3:48So see, if people remain in that habit, then what is the use of prayāścitta? That is good. Kvacit nivartate 'bhadrāt kvacic carati tat punaḥ. Sometimes committing sin and his concept, he is, uh, making atonement.

4:24And again committing sin, he can again make an atonement. So for such persons, there is no use of prāyaścitta. There is no use of prāyaścitta. Prāyaścitta means our life.

4:40Just like our practice is no consideration about the past misdeeds. You take Krishna prasāda with the meaning. Then they try to do it again. So therefore prāyaścitta has no meaning. Prāyaścitta, in my opinion, it is useless.

5:01Parīkṣit Mahārāja says it is useless. Manye. It is just like kuñjara-śauca. Kuñjara means elephant. Elephant taking bath, bathing very nicely in the lake. And after, just after coming, he admits us in the dust.

5:20On the back immediately he gathers some dust and so all of this. This is animal life, is it? Again, veda-jña. Again, veda-jña.

5:36Bhadreṇu... kvacin nivartate 'bhadrāt pāpāt carati tat punaḥ, prāyaścittam atho 'pārthaṃ manye kuñjara-śaucavat.

5:58Śrī Śukadeva Muni karoty atha pāpasya punar vidhitsayā, naiva pāpasya avaśaṃ bhavitavyam prāyaścittaṃ manye. If

6:18the man remains in that habit, committing sin and prāyaścitta, then by this prāyaścitta method he cannot stop himself going to the hell. See? Suppose this week I have committed sinful activity.

6:40Now I go to the church and everything that just said. Now next Monday I again begin to commit sinful, and Tuesday or Thursday or Wednesday I die, then I am going with my sinful reaction, then I must go to the hell.

7:00Then what is the use of this atonement? This atonement, this prāyaścitta cannot check the person from going to hell.

7:11The Parīkṣit Mahārāja's question was that these people were suffering in the hell, how to deliver this hellish condition.

7:24The answer was that they must, before death, they must execute this prāyaścitta, and Parīkṣit Mahārāja said that these recommendations are practically useless because it is not saving from going to the hell.

7:42Is it not a good argument? This kind of prescription, atonement, will not save him. Some might personally ask how to save him, someone going to hell, or how to deliver him. But you satisfy prāyaścitta, atonement.

8:02But I see the prāyaścitta is useless because it cannot save the man from going to hell. He'll go. Then they see how intelligent students can have intelligent physical man, Parīkṣit Mahārāja.

8:24So therefore, comparison pāpasya abhyāsa-vidhayā, then he is surely going to hell. Then why this prāyaścitta, atonement, in hell? Then we reply: pariharati karmaṇā. Kvacit prāyaścittaṁ karmaṇā pāpam upahanti.

9:01Śraddhayā abhihitam... hṛd-adhikāre... prāyaścittaṁ vimarśanam. Yathā abhihitam... vikāreṇa sa-svabhāvasya... sa-saṅgasya... abhihitam... abhāvaḥ na asti. Tasmin pāpe sa-saṅge, pāpāntaraṁ sa punaḥ punaḥ.

9:33Rājan, bhavad-vidhaḥ śivaḥ, kiṁ tarhi mukham? Prāyaścittaṁ padārthaḥ, prāyaścittaṁ tu vimarśanam. Now

Cultivating knowledge through regulative principles

9:50Śukadeva Gosvāmī is giving the right direction. So this kind of prāyaścitta as it is going on. Its question is like Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Now Śukadeva Gosvāmī is giving the right this and that.

10:11Actually this kind of practice or atonement cannot help a person. He is sure to go to hell. The next process is practice to save this man from going to hell is real practice is jñāna, knowledge.

10:32Not that simply religious life. We are calling, everyone is following some religious ritual. That cannot save the person from going to hell. The real thing is jñānam. Prāyaścittaṁ vimarśanam. Vimarśanam means consideration.

10:58To become thoughtful. If a person becomes thoughtful that "I am rigidly committing sinful activities, then I am doing atonement." What is this? Vimarśanam.

11:11That is really when he becomes thoughtful, when he thinks over, that is better. Na tathā hy aghavān rājan pūyeta tapa-ādibhiḥ. Yathā kṛṣṇārpita-prāṇas tat-puruṣa-niṣevayā. Prāyaścittaṁ tu vimarśanam, jñānam.

11:50Tattu nittam apramatta sanay lavate nana isi sadhistantamaha niti putha satya jñānayamuti nice. He says that bhīma-jñānam, bhīma-jñānam means jñāna, uh, knowledge. So when a man begins to think that why this is happening,

12:39so that is beginning of process. And again, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī suggests that jñāna, knowledge, can be attained only if one, uh, follows the regulative principles. Otherwise jñāna will not stay. And he is giving the example.

13:08Just like a diseased person, if he follows the regulative principles of eating, lying, sleeping—the doctor says that he shall eat this thing, he shall not do this—so many do's and do-not's that one has to follow.

13:29Then that thinking will stay; otherwise it will not stay. Therefore our principle is: no gambling, no meat-eating. If these things are not followed, regulative principles, but simply chanting Hare Krishna, it is very slow.

13:52Hare Krishna has got its effect. Just like in India, they are chanting Hare Krishna. There are so many kīrtana parties, but they do not follow the vidhi-kīrtana. That's why I have hidden this kīrtana party.

14:12They collect some men weekly and they, they are not trained up in this regulative principle. Uh, they smoke, they sing, you will find this so-called... They do not follow regulatively.

14:31Therefore they cannot make any progress, although they are doing the same thing. They, they are also pāpana and śīta, and they are superficially. But because they do not follow the regulative principles, therefore

14:48they do not agree. Otherwise, it becomes mechanical, without any effect, if I do not follow the regulation. That is it. Natha patwame bhadhya badhaya ogi bhavanti eva niyamakrit rajan sanay sima kalpa.

Controlling senses and avoiding offenses

15:20Niyama. The yoga-śiṣya. The first is niyama. They do not follow any regulative principle, and yoga student... Yama-niyama, the first beginning is yama-niyama. Yama means, uh, restricting the senses.

15:40And niyama means following the regulative principle. Yama-niyama. Then āsana. Then you can sit down. Vyasana. Āsana, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, prāṇāyāma. This is recommended in yoga-śāstra.

15:56Similarly, if anyone wants to make progress in spiritual life, then he must follow the regulative principles. Then it will help you to make progress. Otherwise, uh, śāstra says, nāmāparādha.

16:16Nama, that chanting Hare Krishna Mahā-mantra, it is simply, uh, manifesting the alphabet. Please note, that's all. It is not Nama. Bhakti-nāma mentality. Please answer it. Please know. It is coming out.

16:44But it has no spiritual effect. Nāmābhāsa. Nāmāparādha. But if anyone follows the regulative principles, then very soon he'll come to the standard of Krishna consciousness. And he is free from the sinfulness.

17:19The same example: if one follows the doctor's, uh, uh, prescription. Just like I mentioned in my introduction. The direction is there on the bottle by the physician.

17:34If anyone follows, then it has... Krishna says, evam paramparā-prāptam, by paramparā system, Bhagavad-gītā has to be learned. Then if

17:52one follows that paramparā, Krishna receives the knowledge and the representatives of Krishna, besides the śiṣya, then it will be very soon acting as such. This example is very nice. Direction must be followed.

18:12That is clearly stated here. Evam niyama-sthaḥ. Niyama-sthaḥ means progress for good. And what are the niyama?

Austerity and the practice of brahmacarya

18:26What are the, uh, regulative principles that he describes In the next part, uh, he has to undergo austerities, brahmacarya, controlling the sex life. Brahmacarya, śamena, controlling the senses,

18:50damena, controlling the mind. Hm, tyāgena, śamena, śaucena, su-snātena, yamena, yamena, uh, by regulative principle, niyamena, following regularly. Vidhi, uh, I must do them, do not. Do them, do not.

19:26So that has to be followed. Śaucena, niyamena, tapasā, śamena, damena, satyena, nīti-putra-iva, nara-iva, nāmāśa, puruṣāṇāṁ jātā-bādhā na bādhante niyamādi, tataḥ, śamena, tad-ajñānāt, amṛtatvāya kalpate.

19:55So following the both, anyone who is following, he becomes able to progress in spiritual mode. Either the abhyāsa-tapasā, tapasā means ekāgratā. Tapasā.

20:16Tapasā means that one should be determined in this life: "I must complete with the panthā." That is the... and for this purpose, whatever I have to do, I must do. Mana-sthairyam, aikāgryam, paramaṁ tapaḥ, is the mantra.

20:53Aikāgryam means the first-class tapasya, tapasya, to fix up the senses and the mind in devotional service. That is tapasya. My mind is, uh, trying to enjoy something. But I do not allow the mind to enjoy that thing.

21:25I must engage my mind in Krishna. Manas-sthairyam. And when, if you can fix up your mind in Krishna's service, then all the senses are at hand: legs, eyes, ears, everything.

21:43But if you cannot control your mind, then other senses will not be controlled. Paramam. So therefore, to, uh, try to control the mind.

21:59That is aikāgryam, aikāgryaṁ paramaṁ tapaḥ. Iti brahmacaryam is controlling the sex life. That is called brahmacarya. One brahmacarya is completely celibate life. That is brahma-tattva.

22:35Another brahmacarya, secondary brahmacarya, is to remain satisfied with one opposition. Not variety. "Today I have sex life with this boy or this guy; again, let's make again another, again another." That is that woman.

23:00But if one, anyone, speaks to one, therefore marriage is the common. That is dharma. That is also dharma. Smaranaṁ kīrtanaṁ keli-prekṣaṇaṁ guhyabhāṣaṇaṁ saṅkalpo 'dhyavasāyaś ca kriyā-niṣpattir eva ca.

23:41Etan maithunam aṣṭāṅgaṁ pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ, viparītaṁ brahmacaryam etad evāṣṭa-lakṣaṇam. Śamo manaso 'nyama-nyamanaṁ damo bāhyendriyāṇām, tyāgo dhyānaṁ dharma ahiṁsādi, niyama japādi. Na brahmacaryād dharmo 'sti.

24:16There are different kinds of sex life, gross and subtle. What is that? He says, smaraṇam: when we read some novels, some fiction, the behavior between the man and woman, kissing or having sex life or like that.

24:47So many novels nowadays, this picture, they clearly describe everything. That is smaraṇam, remembering. I have not actually had sex life, but by reading this, that is also sex life.

25:15And talking... oh, I read so many abominable things are going on. In India, one bookseller told me that somebody here of America wrote one book that the father fell in love with his daughter. Is that a fact?

25:47And that book was selling in India there. This kind of maithuna: keli-prekṣaṇam, to see when a girl at... very minus, please, prekṣaṇam, guhyabhāṣaṇam, and talk very secretly, man or woman. Guhyabhāṣaṇam.

26:23Saṅkalpa, then determination: "I can meet this night at that time, at that place." Saṅkalpa, adhyavasāya, and trying for that, ashu, complete the scheme of televac, so kriya-danaxan.

26:50I am, uh, feeling, uh, happiness in that way. These are eight kinds of sexual intercourse. Not that actually meeting is sexual intercourse, but these are such a sexual intercourse. Therefore, a brahmacārī has to avoid.

27:21So that is tapas. That is suburb. Etad maithunam aṣṭāṅgaṁ pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ. Those who are manīṣiṇa means thoughtful persons.

27:37They say, as it is depicted, those are manīṣiṇa, thoughtful writers or thoughtful sages, they recognize that these kinds of subtle and gross sexual life is against brahmacarya.

27:58Viparītaṁ brahmacaryam etad evāṣṭa-lakṣaṇam, and similarly, there are eight kinds of opposite to opposite, uh, absence which can keep one in Brahman.

Renunciation and service to the master

28:13What is that? Śama, manaso 'bhinigamanam, controlling mind. Equipollence. Dama, bāhyendriya-nigrahaḥ, dama means to controlling the external senses.

28:37Renouncement means... there so many people come and inquire, "We have to give up our family life, is that necessary?" But they do not know what is the meaning of it. Renouncement means that is the one is in Bhagavad-gītā.

28:57That, uh, whatever you possess, you give in, uh, charity for Krishna. Don't possess. That is that. Not that I give up my profession as a lawyer, I will be... No.

29:18You earn as much as you can, but you give it for Krishna and service. And that, that is tyāga. Enough. Phala-tyāga. That is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, 18. Renouncing means to renounce the phala.

29:39Not tyāga, he renounced your occupation. Are you following? Not to renounce your occupation. But renounce the, uh, earning of the occupation. Very nice. "I renounce my occupation and I become a burden to the society."

30:10That is not the noun. I could not make any profit, just like this man is thinking that, "My legal profession, now let me give it up," and I give up honesty and money by chanting, by curing disease. He's thinking like that.

30:43He's thinking like this: "I shall chant and cure the weak; the argument will be where my family will be happy." Now, the argument is not mine. This is an announcement.

30:54The real announcement is that you remain in your profession, just like Arjuna remained in his profession; he was a fighter. But Krishna wanted him to fight. He fought for Krishna, not for himself.

31:18For himself, he decided not to fight. But he fought for Krishna. Krishna wanted it. Even if he's a fighter, even if he's a warrior, he's a renounced soul of life. Kāryam karma karoti yaḥ. "It is my duty.

31:38Krishna's satisfaction is my duty." When one does in that way, it doesn't matter what he does, but if he does everything for Krishna's satisfaction, then he is renounced; otherwise not.

31:56This is trying to understand what is sannyāsī. Renunciation is not that, "I give up my family life, I become a mendicant, I have greed." No. That kind of renunciation is not safe.

32:14There are many sannyāsīs who act like that, but again become after this material, at this. Renouncement means renouncing the result of your occupational duty. That is for the Lord. You do everything with that one focus.

32:50I can't remember what was the scripture, but the quotation was that unless the spiritual master is bona fide, the mantra that one may have received will not have any effect.

33:01And it's relevant to the two common parties, that they have to receive the mantra from a topic that would have no effect. Yeah, I don't know.

33:17Unless one is directed by the bona fide spiritual master, anything of spiritual activity is not bona fide.

33:30Just like the same example: unless one is treated under a bona fide physician, following his rules and regulations, and then the disease becomes cured. And that example is given here. Practice. Otherwise...