Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.29.21. Deadly Disease of Envy and it's Cure. Lecture 1
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · London · 2015
Chapters
Introductory prayers and verse recitation
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam, devīṁ sarasvatyai vāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī.
Yam pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kṛtyaṁ dvaipāyano viraha-kātara ājuhāva, putreti tan-mayatayā taravo 'bhinedus taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim nato 'smi.
So today we're reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 3, chapter 29, beginning with the text twenty-one. Ahaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu bhūtātmāvasthitaḥ sadā, tam avajñāya māṁ martyaḥ kuruțe 'rcā-vidambanam.
Ahaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu bhūtātmāvasthitaḥ sadā, tam avajñāya māṁ martyaḥ kurute 'rcā-vidambanam. Ahaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu bhūtātmāvasthitaḥ sadā, tam avajñāya māṁ martyaḥ kurute 'rcā-vidambanam.
Aham, sarveṣu in all bhūteṣu living entities, ātmā the Supersoul in all beings, avasthitaḥ situated, sadā always. Tam that Supersoul, avajñāya disregarding, mām Me, martyaḥ a mortal man, kurute performs,
arcā of worship of the Deity, vidambanam imitation. Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
I am present in every living entity as the Supersoul. If someone neglects or disregards that Supersoul everywhere and engages himself in the worship of the Deity in the temple, that is simply an imitation.
In purified consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one sees the presence of Kṛṣṇa everywhere. If therefore one only engages in the deity worship in the temple
and does not consider other living entities, then he is in the lowest grade of devotional service. platform in the lowest stage of devotional service.
A devotee should try to understand everything in relationship with Krishna and try to serve everything in that spirit. To serve everything means to engage everything in the service of Krishna.
If a person is innocent and does not know his relationship with Krishna, an advanced devotee should try to engage him in the service of Krishna.
One who is advanced in Krishna consciousness can engage not only the living entities, but everything in the service of Krishna.
Sri Prabhupada Gam Sarvasu Bhutasu Bhutatma Vastita Sadam Tamavagya Yamammartyahkurate Chavidambanam. I am present in every living entity as the super soul.
As someone neglects, if someone neglects or disregards that super soul everywhere and engages himself in the worship of the deity in the temple and that is simply an imitation.
Jyanam Jana Salakaya, Shaksurun Melitamy, Tasma Sri Gura Venama, Sri Chaitanyama
no visamta, stapi tam je nabutale, swamrupa, la da tisva dantikam, Vandiham Sri Guru, Sriutapadakamalam, Sri Gurund Vaisnavam cham, Sriruam sagatam Sahanaragunatamitam sibam sadvaitam, Sadudam, paridana Sahitam,
Krishna Chaitanya Deam, Sri Krishna Padaham, Saganaladita, Shri Shakavitamsha Krishna Karunasindhu Dinabandu Jagatpate Gopesha Gopikankanta Radakantanamus
today taptakanchanagurangi, Rade Vraneshwari, Vishabanu Sudevi Pranamari, Vancha Kalpatarubyaschava, Kripasindhubyavacha Patitanampana Vaishnavy
Namonam, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Prabhunitanda, Sri Advaitam, Srivassadigta Vindam Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Ajanu Lambhitu jokanakavadu samkirtana e kapitaru kamalaya taksa.
Vishwambarod Vijaaru Yu Gadarmapalu, Vandeja Jagat Priya Karu Karunamadaru, Yandah Pravishi Mamavachimam Prasubtam, Sanji Vaya Dakila Shakti Darah Swadamna, Anjam Chahastacharana Shravana Dvagadim, Pranannamo Bhagavade Gurušaya Dubam.
Hare Krishna. So with your permission and blessings I will try to say something about this verse
Purpose of Lord Kapiladeva's teachings
and few other verses from this chapter.
This chapter entitled Explanation of Devotional Service is very important for us as practicing devotees because in this chapter, Lord Kapiladev practically explains everything we need to know about the devotional service and how to achieve the ultimate success in this process.
We all know that the ultimate success in this process is the complete satisfaction of the heart.
From the very beginning, this was declared by Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī when he says yātmāsu prasīdati ahaituky apratihatayā yasātmā suprasīdati sa vai puṁsaḥ paro dharmo. So he said this is the yato bhaktir adhokṣaje.
This is the highest dharma of the living entity. Why? Because it brings the complete, total, absolute satisfaction to the heart. And this is the goal of all human endeavors.
Whether we know it or don't know it, whether we understand it or not understand it, whether we uh admit it or not, we all looking for happiness. And that's the only goal. There's no other goals.
We need to be happy, and moreover, we need to be happy completely, absolutely, without any tinge of unhappiness. This is the goal of all our endeavors. And devotional services for this goal.
You know, sometimes we say, yeah, we don't need this happiness. I'm sorry to say this, we do.
And that's the reason why we are engaged in devotional service, and there is nothing wrong in this reason because this is the goal of life and goal of life.
Then that this is the beginning of the analysis in Bhakti-sandarbha where, no, not sorry, not Bhakti-sandarbha, Prīti-sandarbha, but Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that the only thing which can be called as a goal of life is something which brings you happiness. If something doesn't bring you happiness, it's not a goal of life.
So the goal of all our endeavors is to become happy and, uh, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Bhagavatam reveals this secret that the only way to become completely happy, not just second class happiness, third class happiness, fourth class happiness, or whatever. If we want to achieve the first class happiness, the way to achieve it is the only one.
In some readings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they said, sampra siddhi. Samprasidhati means complete, total satisfaction without even tinge of unhappiness.
So that's the goal, and we know the means of this is the pure devotional service, but at the same time, we also know that somehow or other in our case it doesn't work.
We may not be sure whether it works with others, we can only say that somehow or other this promised complete happiness doesn't come.
I try and try and try and try and try and try, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, and Hare Hare, and there is no result.
And I even try not to come to the deity and not to ask anything. Please don't give me anything. Just give me complete happiness. I I don't mind. But still it doesn't work.
Still, somehow or other there is something which doesn't really work. And in this connection or to explain this, Lord Kapiladev gives his explanation
in this particular chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 29th chapter, which is extremely again important for all of us to understand thoroughly, not just superficially, but thoroughly.
Because this is the answer of Lord Kapiladev on the question of Mother Devahuti, where she says, you know, please do explain to me how I can go beyond the modes of material nature and how I can ultimately achieve this natural transcendental position which is beyond the influence of binding enslaving influence of the modes of material nature.
Devotional service in the modes
And Lord Kapiladeva, he starts. I will give a short overview of this chapter without going into details, even though all the details in this chapter are extremely important.
But initially, Lord Kapiladeva in just three verses explains that when we start our devotional service, inevitably we start our devotional service in the modes of material nature. And because there is nothing else we can do.
You know, we cannot all of a sudden jump on a transcendental platform.
So when we perform our devotional service this devotional service is faulty it's not without uh it's it's not perfect because we perform it whether we understand it or not with ulterior motivations.
If we predominantly in a mode of tamoguṇa, then we perform the devotional service very enthusiastically when we hear that by devotional service you can achieve everything, you know, but our motivation is just, you know, just to get back to somebody.
And I I I've seen it, you know, especially with the Brahmanas, they sometimes take their Brahmin thread and you know, now I will cut my Brahmin thread and curse you. You know, we all know by chanting mantras one becomes very powerful and the curses also become very powerful. So that may be motivation.
This is what Lord Kapiladev says that you know you want to inflict pain to some other living entities. Of course we all pure devotees it doesn't refer to us, but sometimes it happens. Sometimes it does happen.
Sometimes we look at somebody and we just want to use our devotional tejas and śakti that something should go wrong with his life.
And then, you know, he says, if you are in rajas, then your motivation may be to show how great you are and to show that you are better than anyone else and to get some fame. You know, sometimes it may happen, you know.
One devotee told me that, you know, before I became a devotee, I I wanted to be a great sportsman. It didn't work. Then I wanted to become a great military man. Didn't work either.
And then finally I wanted to become a great devotee. And that worked. So that's how it goes. This is how our our you know mind works.
We even unconsciously or subconsciously uh carry our motivation into the sphere of devotional service without even noticing that this is something wrong with it. Why?
Because our mind is under the influence of the material nature.
So Lord Kapiladev says that you can perform your devotional service judging through the motivation in the mode of passion, in the mode of ignorance, you can perform your devotional service in the mode of sattva.
You know, when we just want liberation, you know. What's you know, and there's nothing wrong with it. I want to go back home, back to Godhead. Yeah, this is my main motivation.
And ultimately, I don't want to go back home, back to Godhead, I just want to get rid of my sufferings.
Because the weather in the in the spiritual world is much better than in England. Sign is always sun is always shining and you know there is no this miserable thing.
I'm not speaking about Russia even, you know, so sometimes people wonder why there's so many Russian devotees because the life is so miserable there, and the weather is so bad.
So uh you know we may have this motivation uh without even noticing it that we ultimately we because it's it's so subtle the distinct the distinction between the you know sattvic motivation and spiritual motivation is very subtle and sometimes we very easily can mix this motivations.
Characteristics of pure devotional service
So Lord Kapiladev explains this and then he explains the pure devotional service. He explains the the characteristic or laksana of pure devotional service. And he says that the pure devo.
When one on the stage of pure devotional service immediately when one hears about the Lord, he his art is there with the Lord.
And he says nothing can stop the stream of our consciousness towards the Lord if we are on the stage of pure devotional service, there is no stoppage as much as Ganga cannot be stopped in its uh uh or in her uh passage towards the sea, nothing can stop Ganga.
In the same way, the consciousness of a pure devotee becomes so strong and so how to say there's no impediments on this path, it just carries your consciousness towards the Lord immediately.
You just hear Krishna and that's it. You are transported out of this world. You are not in this world anymore. You are with Krishna.
Śrī-śrī-rādhā-gokulānanda-kīrtana-śrī-sītā-rāma-lakṣmaṇa-mandira-jaya śrī-gaura-nitāi-kīrtana.
And And he says this is the pure devotional service, the stage of pure devotional service, when even the slightest indication or slightest, yeah, slightest mention of Krishna completely makes you transcendental to this world.
You forget about this world altogether.
In Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is this beautiful story about Murari Gupta who was the practitioner in Saddam Hussein sorry Saddam Hussein Almost like this and uh and the Nawab of Bengal Hussein Shah and then you know once he came to the to the court of Hussein sorry uh of uh Shah of Bengal and he saw that somebody is fanning him with the peacock feather with the peacock uh fan uh and uh immediately he just po he lost his consciousness he just completely f forgot himself and forgot this world you know why because he just saw this peacock feather.
You know, somehow other we don't faint when we see that you know somebody is fanning Krishna with peacock feather. What to speak about fainting when we see Krishna himself, he just remembered you know that the slightest indication about Krishna completely brought him into another plane of consciousness, another realm of consciousness.
And to prove that this is the highest state of consciousness, this consciousness which is the characteristic which he gives, the pure devotional service, the state of consciousness is the highest.
Lord Kapiladev gives an example. He says, the proof of this, that this is the highest, is that such a devotee, even when he is offered liberations, four kinds of liberations, five kinds of liberations, he just rejects it.
He says, I don't need it. You know, somebody comes to you and says, you know, would you like to go to the spiritual world? And you say, no, no, I don't need it. I'm happy here.
It doesn't matter for me whether I'm there or here, I'm already happy. There is nothing, nothing I can achieve more than I already have. So when somebody offers to you this liberation, you reject it.
And this is to show, to indicate how elevated state of consciousness it is. You don't need anything else.
Or to speak about, you know, trivial material happiness. Even the spiritual happiness you don't need because you already have everything which you need.
And then, of course, Lord Kapiladev explaining that this is the highest state, highest state of consciousness, he gives in a, just a few verses. I I believe it's four verses. In the four verses he gives a complete sadhana.
We may come to these verses tomorrow when we will speak about the cure of the disease. In just a few verses, he gives a very beautiful delineation of sadhana.
It's very interesting how he describes what one is supposed to do or should do to achieve this state of consciousness.
And again, it's a very important topic, but we will not touch this topic uh in detail, at least today. Maybe tomorrow. Let's see how it works.
Effortless attraction in pure devotion
Uh uh because we have to come to our main topic today. He says in the previous verse, we're coming close to the topic of this verse or to the subject matter of this verse and three next verses.
Or more, more than three, but anyway. In the previous verse, drawing the line, making the conclusion of this description or delineation of sadhana, which is supposed to bring us to the state of pure devotional service.
He again more or less repeats the same thing. But it's very interesting how he does it. Let's read this previous verse. Yathawataratho Granam Avringte Ganda Asha Yat Evam Yogaratam Cheta Atmanam Avikari Yad.
So in this 20th verse, the previous verse, Lord Kapiladev says that if you achieve this state of pure devotional service through the practice or through the sadhana which was described by him before.
Then, what happens with you? He says that as the chariot of air carries an aroma from its source and immediately catches the sense of smell.
Similarly, one who constantly engages in devotional service in Krishna consciousness can catch the supreme soul who is equally present everywhere. So it's very interesting.
Again, he explains this characteristic of the consciousness which achieved this elevated state of pure devotional service, he says that he gives the example, the simile.
He says, when you go, when you pass by a blooming tree with very fragrant flowers. You just pass by and the aroma immediately reaches your nose without any endeavor. Without any you know additional endeavor to smell,
the smell comes into your nose automatically and he says in the same way without any endeavor it's very interesting he says in the same way without any endeavor the pure devotional service, which is oh sorry, not the pure devotional service, the any activity in devotional service, like chanting or hearing or worshipping the deity or whatever activity of
devotional service which are described by Prahlāda, like an air carries the aroma towards the nose in the same way effortlessly?
The activity of devotional service, such as hearing about the Lord or chanting of his holy name brings your soul and totally, completely, in a very natural way, brings your soul towards God.
So he says, this is what happens when you reach this state of consciousness, then your soul is like this, very effortlessly is reaching God, beyond the modes of material nature.
When your consciousness, listen because it's very important, what is important in this simile, when your consciousness reaches a certain stage, then the activities in devotional service obtain this power of carrying your consciousness or your soul, your ātmā towards the Lord without any endeavor. You don't endeavor yourself to be near the Lord.
The devotional service becomes powerful in itself. In our condition, in our conditioned state of mind or state of heart, for us to remember about the Lord, it's I mean it's it's impossible uh task you
know we can't his holy name Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare, Hare. No hope. We try to concentrate on this holy name, but our mind is just all over the universe. Everywhere, not with the Lord.
You know we don't remember about the Lord when we don't chant his holy name. This is not so amazing, but the most amazing thing is that we specially don't remember about him when we chant his holy name.
We completely totally forget about him. So listen, this is very important because what is being described here is that the different quality of the activity in devotional service. It becomes totally the power becomes more.
Now we perform devotional services has no power. It just doesn't change anything. So by stating this, this is the previous verse, stating this that you know, basically what is important,
and it looks like initially, from the initial uh look, it looks like a catch catch 22. It's a vicious circle. You know, uh we need to achieve a certain stage of uh of consciousness.
Only on this stage of consciousness we are brought immediately, automatically, effortlessly to the Lord. But at the same time we are not on the stage and because we are not on the stage, we will never achieve this stage.
Something like this. It's a typical catch. Superficially it looks like catch 22.
Overview of envy blocking bhakti
But there is there is a beautiful solution which Lord Kapiladev will give, but now we will come to the problem. He says that if your consciousness is not on this stage, if you are not yet on the stage,
and then your devotional service, the activities of your devotional service are blocked. And he gives the reason why the blockage comes.
He says in this verse which we read, Ahaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu bhūtātmāvasthitaḥ sadā, tam avajñāya mām martyakaḥ He says that you know, but if you don't understand that the I am present in everyone's heart.
And because of this, uh you manifest what is called avajñā, and we will explain. Uh see uh uh this is the whole seminar came from uh basically little explanation which uh Vishwanachakravati Thakur gives uh commenting while commenting in this verse.
And you know Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in Bhakti-sandarbha actually confirms this as well. When we read this verse and three next verses, how Śrīla Prabhupāda explains them, it doesn't come out so clearly.
But what seems like that Lord Kapiladev without any reason repeats the same thing four times. And of course, one can always say that there is a serious reason he wants to stress.
It's a rule in poetics, in you know in Sahitya Shastra, it says if you want to stress something, you repeat it at least three times. So it's not it's not something redundant. You want to carry the point.
So the point here and we can also say like this the point here here he repeats four times the same thing he says you will never achieve anything in your devotional service you will never achieve anything in your devotional service, you will never achieve anything in your devotional service, you will never achieve anything in your devotional service unless you understand that the Lord is present in everyone's heart, in the heart of every living entity, and you respect every living entity.
So basically, this is what is being repeated.
But Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura and Jīva Gosvāmī, Bhakti-sandarbha as well, while commenting on these verses, says that ultimately, actually, Lord Kapiladev here explains four stages of manifestation of our original disease, disease of envy.
The problem we are dealing with is this disease of envy. Because of this envious nature, which we all have,
our devotional service, even when we start this devotional service with good intentions, does not have the powerful effects which are described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And Lord Kapiladev now is trying to explain how this disease manifests in our heart. And that's very important for us to know because it starts very innocently.
This particular verse, you know, as much as cancer, the deadly disease of cancer has four stages. And in initial stages of cancer you can easily kind of control it or bring it down if you're lucky.
If you initially catch in the in the beginning stages of cancer, if you catch this disease, you can really cure the disease.
In the same way, Lord Kapiladev explains that there is a very slight manifestation of envy in the beginning. And here he says that this slight manifestation of envy towards other living entities he calls avajñā.
Avajñayā here, it's in the case of how you say this, an instrumental case. Tam avajñayā.
He says that the first thing, and in this four verses, series of four verses, he gives the four stages of manifestation of this original disease.
First stage of envy: Condescension
He gives the four corresponding results which we get if we manifest this disease progressively more and more severe. So he says here avajñā. Avajñā, the second stage is utprekṣā, the third stage is dveṣa,
and the fourth stage is avamāna or nindā. So this is the fourth four manifestations or four stages of manifestation. And he says that initially Avagya means basically, Ava the prefix Ava means down. Like in the word avatāra.
Avatāra means somebody who comes from the higher plane to the lower plane to save us. He is coming. The Lord is coming, avatāra. So in the same way, or avadhūta.
Avadhūta means, avadhūta means you give up your, you know taking shower in the morning. Literally the one who is avadhūta. Dutta means to to shower, to to to clean yourself, and avadhūta is somebody who is really unclean.
I mean avadhūta, the one who is beyond all these rules and regulations. So, in the same way, avajñā, avajñā, we know, we all know what jñā means. Jñā means to know.
Avajñā means to know from, you know, or to look at somebody or to know somebody or to see somebody from from little above. You know, you just look at somebody and you see, you know, it's just I am superior than him.
This is this kind of haughtiness or how you say this, this little pride when
we look little down, you know, very innocently, you know, we look somebody and say, Yeah. Of course I'm better than you. You know. And very quickly our mind will give us one hundred and eight reasons why I'm better than you. You know, of course I'm better.
I'm I'm younger or I'm older. It doesn't matter, you know. You know, it it depends.
You know, I'm more beautiful, I'm more knowledgeable, I am this, I am that, and you know, and I'm chanting, I'm engaging in devotional service in much better way, or whatever it is.
So this avagya, this attitude, very important attitude, which is very innocent in one sense, you know, we're not doing anything, we just we're not saying anything, we just look little down. Not even so much down, you know, yeah.
Poor fellow. With compassion. You know who he thinks he is, you know.
So Lord Kapiladeva says, very interestingly, he says that somebody who is worshipping me, kurute 'rcām, you know, he's he's worshipping me, but he at the same time does not appreciate that I am in the heart of this living entity and does not show the respect for him, I will say about the result of this attitude a little later.
But first I wanted also to say To tell a little story in this regard.
This is a very famous story in Vraj which is beautifully depicting this sort of problem which we all have. How innocent that may appear to us in the beginning, and how detrimental it is for our devotional service.
The story, perhaps some of you heard this story.
The story is that there was a man from Bengal who once came to Vraj. He was a very you know gentleman, he was from a very aristocratic family, he was very knowledgeable. His whole life he was practicing devotional service, he was studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhagavatam. And when he retired, he became a little older and when he retired from his activities, he was also quite rich. He decided to devote his whole life, the rest of his life to devotional service.
He came to Vraj with all his credentials. And he decided to find some Siddha Mahatma in Vraj and get initiation for him from him and perform devotional service under the able guidance of the Siddha Mahatma.
And finally he found a very elevated devotee in Rādhā-kuṇḍa who was performing his bhajan. And he was coming to him again and again and again, begging to give him initiation. And this devotee immediately caught this little disease.
He's proud. He gave up everything. And you know, you may say that he had so many reasons to be a little proud. He was not so much proud. He was a little proud.
He was from Brāhmaṇical background, he was very knowledgeable, he knew Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam practically by heart, he knew everything, his whole life, he led a very clean life. He renounced everything.
He came, he wants to do something, you know, but the Siddha Mahātmā rejects him again and again and again and again and again. He comes again and begs, please give me initiation. He said no. He comes again no.
He comes again, he says, bring recommendation from the mentorship system so uh mm you know, ultimately he comes again to this guru, to this vaiṣṇava, and this guru says, okay, I'll give you initiation in one week.
But you have to fulfill one condition of mine. You have to bring with me within one week somebody or something which is in all respects lower than you.
And if you don't bring somebody who is in all respects, totally, completely in all respects lower than you, then I will not give you initiation. This person, he thought, oh, that's an easy task.
Why should I wait for one week? I can just take anyone from the street and bring to him. What's the big deal? But anyway, he took it seriously, that was an order of his proposed guru.
He took it very seriously, conscientiously, and you know, initially he thought let me go to this bungi community, to this low-class community of people sweepers and people like this, you know, living in Vṛndāvana.
And I find somebody, I'll bring him, you know, I'll give him some prasāda and he'll come to me. So he comes there, he goes there, he thinks a little bit, and then he
thought, you know, you know, if he finds some sweeper, and then he thought, you know, I can bring this guy to him, but is he really in all respects lower than me?
Yeah, I'm more aristocratic, I'm perhaps more renounced, this and that, but this guy, his whole life he was living in Vraj. And his whole life is he's taking the smell of Vraj Raj, of the dust of Vrindavan and his nostrils.
And he said, no, no, this will not work. I need to find somebody else. So he's looking for somebody else, and you know, he chooses this. Then he says maybe I can bring some animal to him.
Animals are definitely much lower than myself. And then he says, oh I'll bring some cow to him.
But then, no, it doesn't work, you know, cow is better than me because cow is just, you know, giving milk without even expecting cow is better than me. It says, dog. But then he says, no, dog is.
Let's be sure, let's find somebody who's really lower in all respects. For one week he is engaged in this intense meditation.
He practically looks at everyone whom he sees and tries to compare and somehow or other by the mercy of his guru he sees that he is better than me in this respect, or in this respect, or in this respect.
You know, ultimately the whole week passed. He couldn't find anyone. He goes in the morning and you know calls, answers the calls of call of nature and he sees his own stool,
and he gets a brilliant idea, why don't I bring my stool to him? Obviously it's lower than me in all respects.
But then you know then this thinks you know it won't be so nice if I bring my stool to him because basically it's my own creation. I ate some nice prasāda and this is what I made out of this prasāda.
And then he sees a little worm crawling out from the stool, and he feels that's it. I found. I will bring this little worm because this worm cannot be better than myself.
And then he again starts singing, and then he says, you know, you You know, I ate nice prasadam, I turned it into stool.
This worm will eat this abominable stool and will turn it into something nice. He is definitely better than myself. So he comes in complete desperation to his guru.
He offers Dandavat, he says, My dear Guru Maharaj, I couldn't find anyone who is lower than me in all respects. Guru Maharaj says, okay, now you're ready for initiation.
Only nowcause real devotional service starts when you have this attitude. Before that, as Lord Kapiladev speaks in this verse, our Our devotional service is vidambanam.
And vidambhanam, archa vidambhanam, or whatever we do, it may be japa vidambanam or it may be Kirtan Vidambana or Sravanam Vidambana.
Vidambam here Śrīla Prabhupāda translates it as imitation but vidambanam also means pretense. So what Lord Kapiladev here wants to say to us,
and this is very important because this is the result of this haughtiness or this arrogance which we may have. I mean very innocent arrogance. Again, I want to stress it.
Because for ourselves it may seem very innocent, you know, well I don't do anything bad to this person. The Lord who is in our heart sees our devotional service
if we manifest this attitude as Vidambana and as I said, Vidambhanam means pretense. And the result of such attitude is that our pretense grows more and more and more. And we may notice it within our heart.
Because we commit offense.
Uh, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, explaining this verse, he says that because of this offense, because of this uh slightly offensive attitude towards other living entities, because we are not totally completely respectful respectful towards other living entities.
Because of this, our devotional service becomes sankochita. Sankochita means it becomes sankochita means it becomes withdrawn in itself. The devotional service loses its potency.
We heard so many times, holy name is so potent. Yeah, but it just doesn't somehow or other doesn't manifest its potency for us. Why? Because of the offense and samkocita.
It just withdraws its power and then Viśvanātha it blocks something, this attitude in which we perform devotional service blocks the power of devotional service. It deprives the devotional service, the activities of devotional service of its natural power.
So uh and um uh archavidhambanam basically means that when we service with such an attitude. Very soon we will notice the hypocrisy within our heart.
We will see because we we don't get the reciprocation from the Lord because of our devotional service.
We need some other sort of satisfaction, and we try to derive the satisfaction from devotional service by being proud that I am performing this devotional service, and in this way we perform devotional service, not for the sake of devotional service, we perform devotional service because others will say, Oh, he's such a nice devotee. Oh, he's worshiping the deity so nicely and he's dressing the deity so nicely. And he's chanting so nicely, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.
We perform devotional service, but we're hypocritical. Why we perform devotional service? Because we want appreciation of others.
And if nobody sees us, you know, just look at yourself and compare the quality of your glorious japa when you're chanting with other devotees and when you chant alone.
You know, we will not disclose this I mean we we're not here to bring out the dirty laundry of every one of us but uh you know sometimes when we're alone you know when we're with others we are really Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hari Hari Hari Ram Hari Ram Ram Ram Hari
Hari Do they see how nicely I chant? Do they appreciate it? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.
And of course, you know, chanting is not such a spectacular activity but when it comes to kirtan we you know sometimes we jump and we're jumping very high and you know do they see how you know how ecstatic I am Hare Krishna, Hare Kr Krishishnana, Krishna.
And so many other things can be there.
You know, we we're doing this and we are all alone, you know, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, okay, you know, what is there on the Google? Hare Krishna Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare.
It's different. You know, if there is even slight difference of what we're doing alone and what we are doing while we are in public, it means vidambana. Vidambanam means we are hypocrites.
And this hypocritical attitude will grow because there is this original root cause of our hypocrisy, that is avagya.
The uh hypo uh not hypocritical but the uh disrespectful attitude towards others. And as I said, this is the first stage of disease. At this stage of disease it's easy to catch.
If you understand that this is a problem and you try to rectify it by really, as Prabhupada says, Prabhupada gives a very important advice here. He says a devotee should try to understand everything in relationship with Krishna.
Basically, what Prabhupada says that endeavor at this stage when we feel that there is this problem, we should immediately, when we see somebody who is lower than us, when we see that somebody is lower than us, immediately we should catch ourselves and we should immediately see the connection of this particular person with Krishna. And if he is connected with Krishna, how is he lower? He's a part of God. How is he lower than us? He's the manifestation of God. And if we see this material nature and we see this material nature is connected with God,
how we can exploit this material nature? It's worshipable.
This attitude, which Lord Kapiladev will repeat many times, even after these verses, he will explain to us that everything is the object of worship for us, not the object of exploitation, even subtle exploitation when we look down at these things.
So Prabhupāda gives a very nice advice. If we caught ourselves in this attitude, we should again try to bring to our consciousness that this is connected with God.
Second stage of envy: Avoidance
Anyway, let's go further. Our time is running. I'm a few. I only described the first stage. Anyway, the second stage, in the second verse, in
the 22nd verse, it is explained by Lord Kapiladeva. It is specifically—it doesn't say this: One who one who worships the deity of Godhead in the temple but does not know that the Supreme Lord as Paramatma is situated in every living entity's heart, must be in ignorance and is compared to one who offers ablations
into ashes so uh this um here the word which is used by Lord Kapiladeva hitvā and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura as well as Jīva Gosvāmī says that this is the attitude which is called upekṣā in Sanskrit.
And upekṣā, what is the second stage of this disease of pride or you know or envy. Because ultimately pride and envy is the same thing. It's the same. So he says upekṣā means hitvā means you want to avoid somebody.
When the envy becomes stronger in your heart, you know, when it's just, uh, uh, just little uh haughtiness in your heart.
You can associate with this person and you can even be pleasant to him and you say, you know, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa.
At heart you harbor this attitude, I'm—I'm better than him, but at the same time you're you know, you're associating with him, this and that.
But then when the heart, when the envy in the heart becomes stronger, you just want to avoid this person. You don't want to see his face.
You just want—you see him from far away and you just turn yourself and go in a different direction. You just don't want to go close to him. And you explain to yourself that, you know, you know, I'm okay.
I don't do anything to him, I just don't want to see his face. That's the only problem. And it's better if he is somewhere else, better in South Africa or somewhere else.
Or if he doesn't leave this place, I will go to South Africa. You know, upexia basically means you want to avoid this person, you don't want to see him, you just you just mm you know because just by seeing
him you feel that something is some very unpleasant feeling manifest in your heart and you feel you know this how it can be such a such a you know and he calls himself a devotee, this is too much. You know, such a pretender.
It's not him as a pretender, you are pretender. Because you allowed this disease to to come the set second stage. You're consciously justifying yourself that you know he's bad.
And at the same time, you're justifying, you're justifying this attitude, you says, Yeah, he did something wrong, you know, he did something wrong to me. That may be. The Lord is still in his heart.
And Lord Kapiladeva says: as as I promised to you, there will be four stages of disease and four subsequent results. Lord Kapiladev, in this particular verse, says that the result of such an attitude,
even if there is one person to whom you harbor such an attitude, that you don't like him, you don't want to see him, you just want to avoid him as much as possible, and he's a devotee at the same time.
Or even if he's not a devotee, if you harbor this sort of attitude, then the result of it, as Lord Kapiladeva says, Bhasmani iva juhoti sah, you know, you muhyati, he says, such a stupid fellow.
He calls such a person stupid, muhyati. And he says, the result which he gets is the same result as a stupid person who pours ghee into the ashes.
You know, we know that this is a powerful, it's maybe not the example appropriate to us because we pour ghee into the fire and still don't get any results. Doesn't have so much result nowadays.
But he gives this example to somebody who is used to efficiency of fire sacrifice. But he says: if you are so stupid and you pour ghee into the ashes, you will not get any results.
So basically, what he says that if you have such an attitude, your devotional service will have zero result. Sunya. What happens in this case, and we we sometimes feel it, don't we? Sometimes we feel it.
I chant and I chant and I chant and I chant, and what is the result? Zero. Zero. No result. I am just more or less running in the same place, you know, like in the gym
and this machine, you know, you're running and running and running and where you are, you didn't move, you are in the same place.
We're doing and doing and doing devotional service, Lord Kapiladev says, that's the result of this and at this attitude.
If you don't consciously try to understand, as Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, that everyone is connected with the Supreme Lord, and therefore he's worthy of my respect. The respect may manifest differently.
I don't have in one of the previous verses uh Śrīla Prabhupāda says you have to respect every living entity and you have to worship every living entity it says it doesn't mean that you have to embrace the tiger you know if somebody has this tiger nature, you know, you may respect him from a safe distance.
But you still respect him. The distance may be there. There's nothing wrong with the distance. What is wrong is the attitude of hatred which is on the second stage.
And I saw so many people who have this uh this sort of uh attitude and uh you know they more or less live uh
the devotional service because they don't feel that it they don't feel that this is efficient nothing happens, no progress.
So let's go quickly because we are really late, but just in a few words I will explain the problem with this two other verses or described in two other verses. So first is avagya, second is Utaksha. The third one is Ninda.
Ninda I just a little story, just very short story. There was one devotee I know in connection, illustrated this second attitude. He had this nature.
And he was worshiping the Lord, he had his own personal deity, Shalagram Srila, and he was worshiping very conscientiously, trying to do everything, but at the same time, he didn't change this attitude towards
others and ultimately he he came to me he committed a very severe crime and he came to me and he said, This devotional service doesn't work. I was worshiping him very nicely.
I was doing everything, ṣoḍaśa-upacāra, this and that. I was doing everything, I was praying to Please, please, please, please. But there was no reply. There was no answer. So that's exactly what Lord Kapiladev says.
If somebody has this attitude towards other living entities, there will be no answer from myself. You will perform your devotional service, nothing will happen.
Third stage of envy: Active hatred
Anyway, very quickly, the two more stages of this disease of envy. The third stage, which is practically practically impossible to cure as much as it is practically impossible
to cure the third stage of cancer, the third stage is called dveṣa. And Lord Kapiladev he uh he literally says dviṣataḥ parakāmam.
If somebody is dviṣataḥ, if somebody is really envious or you know, really hateful towards others. He is, and he gives the result of this.
He says, such a person, if he actively hates, again, first is just little haughtiness. Then second stage is just you just don't want to see this person, you avoid him. The third stage, you actively hate this person.
And hate this person basically means you want that something bad will happen with them. You really want. And sometimes you even pray, my dear Lord, let him understand I'm not saying it for myself, but let him understand
that you know he's not a devotee, he's doing something. Show to him that he cannot do this to me, you know, and I I had one example, there was one very famous preacher in Russia, devotee, still is, was
in ISKCON, not in ISKCON anymore and went away, but you know manifesting his prowess when there was this court case against Bhagavad-gītā, against ISKCON in Tomsk, you all probably know about this.
You know, this person publicly in the internet says, this is this is Krishna is punishing them because they offended me. And they will suffer because of this.
You know, see, this is the active active dveṣa within the heart, active hate. Let them be bad, but you know, they will understand that they did something wrong to me.
You know, and Krishna says, Kapiladev says very importantly that, as a result of such an attitude, what one can get such a separatists.
Separatists means he doesn't understand that if somebody suffers, if somebody you know gets something wrong or some suffering, you know he doesn't feel for himself.
Separatist means you know somebody is suffering and I don't feel that he's suffering. I'm happy that he is suffering. This is the hatred. And he says, such a separatist will never find peace, will never attain peace.
That's the result of such an attitude. You will always, if you have, and I'm sure we all have this experience. If somebody inflicted some pain to us and we developed this sort of hatred towards him, you
know we can only think uh about this person. We chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, we think about whom? About him. Or about her, you know. And he did this and he said this why did he say this and we cannot just stop it.
The mind is totally agitated it's uh it's it's always goes in the mind and You know, no peace, you know, very loudly chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, but the mind is more loud. You know, no peace.
Because the hatred is there, and that's why I said it's practically impossible to control. With the first and second stage, you can control it by conscious endeavor. You understand, no, no, something is wrong.
I'm doing something wrong. I have to respect this person. He's a devotee, this and that. But with this, it's too late. This is what is happening. And the Lord Kapiladev says, no peace.
And can you perform devotional service if there is no peace? Can you think about Krishna if there is no peace? No, you cannot. No peace. It's just, you know, you're totally this true.
Fourth stage of envy: Open blasphemy
And then there is the fourth stage. What is the fourth stage? What is worse than hatred? Can you say to me? Yeah. Yeah.
When you manifest your hatred in a visible way, and the most dangerous visible way how you manifest your hatred is you blaspheme the devotee, if you insult the devotee.
The hatred means you keep it for yourself, you may not manifest it. The hatred is there within the heart, it's burning within but
uh you may not manifest it actively but when it comes to Ninda finally you know the hatred comes out from your heart and uh you say uh everything which you think about this devotee and you breathe and at the same time you feel I am bright I have all reasons to say this.
There's nothing wrong with it, I'm just saying the truth. You know.
Lord Kapiladev says the result of this this ninder this offense this blasphemy the result is this that you know he says I'm never pleased with this devotional service
and basically the result which we may feel if we do this to others, and which we sometimes feel, is that Krishna doesn't exist. He just disappears.
Sometimes when we are in the right consciousness, we we perform devotion source, we feel he's somewhere. He's somewhat pleased. I'm chanting Hare Krishna, and there is some connection.
Here he says in the 21st fourth verse, he says if somebody does this, I'm never pleased, I completely turn away my face from such a person.
And Vishwanachikravati Thakur, while explaining this, he says if somebody blasphemes others, if somebody blasphemes the devotees, it's the worst kind of violence. Sometimes we may feel what is wrong? I just said something.
What is wrong?
Vishwana Chakravati Thakur quotes, and Jiva Gaswami as well, quotes the verse from 11th scandal, where it is said that if you uh shoot the arrow in somebody, the pain which you inflict will last two, three days, in the worst case maybe a week. If you shoot the arrows of your insulting words, the pain which you cause to such a living entity, will be with this living entity for years and years and years.
And after so many years, he will be dying and he will remember the pain which you inflicted to him. He says that the arrows of insulting words is much worse than the real arrows.
And the example of this we all know, Dropadi, you know, she just laughed a little bit and she said, you know, like father, like son.
Duryodhan, he just He just fell in some pool of water, being little envious, and Robert started laughing and laughing. Ah, like father, like son. Because of this the whole war broke. Because of this little laughter.
Duryodhana was remembering this all the time. You know, we may forget the pain when we sleep. The pain which is inflicted by the insults you will remember in the sleep. All the time, it's there. You know, it's so painful.
Duryodhana was so insulted.
Of course, we know in the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that Maharaj was trying to stop Draupadi but Krishna encouraged him. He said yes please do it. It's okay. It was according to the plan of Krishna.
But the point is that, you know, it's we have to really understand how how much pain we can inflict to other living entities by insulting them.
And therefore, Krishna says, Kapiladev here says, I don't want to have anything to do with such a person. If his ignorance is of this stage that he justifies his blasphemy of other people by some reason or another.
You know, I don't want to have anything to do with this, and he's condemned because I'm turned away from that.
So that's the four stages of disease, the problem which we all have, one way or another, we all have this uh envy, enmity in our heart towards others. But um at least in the beginning we can check it to a certain extent.
We should never allow ourselves to or justify ourselves because there are so many justifications we may have to bring it to the third or fourth stage. At least first two stages are okay.
But then Lord Kapiladeva will give a Vedic solution to this. Which may seem again superficially may seem contradictory to what he says.
But it's beautiful and I wanted to share it with you uh how it works so this is um that's it thank you very much I guess there is no time, right? Tomorrow we can take it. Tomorrow yeah.
Tomorrow I'll try to bring it with it.