Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Antya 4.71. Offences against the Holy Name
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Бомбей · 2015
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Invocation and opening prayers
Jaja is Caitana Janitananda, Jaya, Sri Chaitanya Jatan, Ja dwaita Chandra Jaya Guru Bhakta Brinda, Ja Dvaita Chandra Jai.
Jaya srichaitanya ja nitananda, ja dwai ta chandra jaya guruba Jay Dvaita Chandra Jaya Gorabhakta Brinda, Jaidvaita Chandra Jaya, Gorabhta Brinda.
So we are celebrating the completion of the Holy Name Week and Gauranga Prabhu asked me to Speak on this topic of the Holy Name and specifically on the topic of the offenses against the Holy Name.
And I will try to say something on this very important subject matter. I need your blessings for this and at least good wishes.
So we'll we'll read first a very elaborate and enlightening purport by Srila Prabhupada on Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta. That's Antya-līlā chapter four, text number seventy-one.
Tathāpi sarva-śreṣṭha-nāma-saṅkīrtana niraparādhe nāma laile pāya prema-dhāna. Translation. Of the nine processes of devotional service, the most important is to always chant the holy name of the Lord.
If one does so, avoiding the ten kinds of offenses, one very easily obtains the most valuable love of God. Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhu gives the following direction in his Bhakti-sandarbha.
I'll skip Sanskrit because not many will understand it. Chanting the holy name is the chief means of attaining love of God.
This chanting or devotional service does not depend on any paraphernalia, nor on one's having taken birth in a good family.
By humility and meekness one attracts the attention of Krishna. That is the verdict of all the Vedas.
Therefore, if one becomes very humble and meek, therefore if one becomes very humble and meek, he can easily attain the lotus feet of Krishna in this age of Kali.
That is the fulfillment of all great sacrifices, penances and austerities. Because when one achieves ecstatic love of Godhead, he attains the complete perfection of life.
Therefore, whatever one does in executing devotional service must be accompanied by the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.
The chanting of the holy name of Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare has been praised by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Nāmāṣṭaka.
Nikila Shruti Moli Ratnamala Duty ni Rajatapada Pankajanta, Ay Mukta Kula Ru Pasyamanam Paritaswam Harinama Sam Shrayami. Oharinam, the tips of the toes of your lotus feet are constantly being worshipped by the glowing radiance emanating from the string of the gems known as the Upanishads, the crown jewels of all the Vedas.
You are eternally adorned by the liberated souls such as Narada and Shukadev. O Harinam, I take complete shelter of you.
Similarly, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī has praised the chanting of the holy name as follows in his Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta.
Viramitanijadharmadhyana Pujadiatnam, Kathamati Sakritatam muktidam prani nam yat, paramamamamritam ekam jivanam bushanam meh.
O glories, all glories to the all blissful holy name of Shri Krishna, which causes the devotee to give up all conventional religious duties, meditation and worship.
When somehow or other uttered, even once by a living entity, the Holy Name awards him liberation. The Holy Name of Krishna is the highest nectar, it is my very life and my only treasure.
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, Etam Nirvidya Mananam, Ichatama Kutho Bhayam Yoginamripanernitam Harernama Nukirtanam.
O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all the material desires, those who are desirous of full material enjoyment, and those who are self-satisfied by the dint of transcendental knowledge.
In Srimad Bhagavatam Yamaraja says, etavane valokas min, pum sam dharma paraksmritha, bhakti yoga bhagavati, tanna magrahanadi Bih.
Devotional service beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society.
Similarly, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said in His Śikṣāṣṭaka, Trinada Pi Sunichina, Tarori Vasa Hishana, Amanina, Manadana, Kirtani Yah Sadhari.
One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street.
One should be more tolerant than the tree, devoid of false sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of Lord of the Lord constantly.
Regarding the ten offenses and chanting of the holy name one may refer to Ādi-līlā chapter eight verse twenty-four.
Shila pra opadaki taramadi sarva sreshtana sankirtana miraparadina Of the nine processes of devotional service, the most important is to always chant the holy name of the Lord.
If one does so avoiding the ten kinds of offenses, one very easily obtains the most valuable love of Godhead.
Oh Magyanasya, Janam Jana Salakayah, cakṣun-unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ || śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale | svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam ||
vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca | śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sajīvam || sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ |
śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādaṁ saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca || he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindhu dīna-bandhu jagat-pate | gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te || tapta-kāñcana-gau-ṅgi rādhā-vṛndāvaneśvari |
vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye || vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca | patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ || nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale |
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine || नमस्तेऽसरस्वते देवे गौर-वाणी-प्रचारिणे | निर्विशेष-शून्यवादी-पाश्चात्य-देश-तारिणे || namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya kṛṣṇāya | kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ ||
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda | śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda | hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare | hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare |
a-jānu-lambita-bujau kanaka-avadātau saṅkīrtanaika-pitarau kamalāyatākṣau | viśvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-pālau vande jagat-priya-karau karunāvatārau ||
yadbāṁ praviśya mamā vācam praśuṣīṁ sañjīvayati akhila-śakti-dharām anyāṁś ca hasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvāg-ādīn prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam || man-manaḥ-premā-pūrnā-mahān śrī-caitanya-mahāprabhu māmidam |
tatra dāruna-parāhān || Āh, mein Manamalamprema Pumarta Mahan, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Mamidam, Tatra Daru Naparahan.
Unique access to the holy name
Ah May Hindi people Sakta Holikin Agarne Hindi me pravatin karangatu mera pravachin pahutkam hoda For all Gauriya Vaishnavas, this subject matter of the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is the most important.
And we have to understand that there is a great science behind it. Sometimes we take it cheaply. Sometimes we take it very easy. Holy name is available, you know it's... we take it for granted practically.
But if we compare our tradition with other religions, we can understand how great advantage do we have.
Because, for example, in Judea Christian religion, there is no name of God disclosed on a purpose. Specifically, because it is said there that you should not commit offenses against the Holy Name.
Because if you do commit the offenses against the Holy Name while chanting the Holy Name, it will aggravate your situation. It may increase your material attachments and material desires.
And therefore, the holy name purposefully is not disclosed in other traditions. In Judea, in Judaic tradition in Judaism
it is said that the highest priest of the whole religion was allowed to chant the holy name of the Lord once. So that nobody else would hear it.
During the biggest festival, during the you know tumultuous commotion of everyone, he would chant very softly the holy name of the Lord, and only He could hear it, and only He knew the Holy Name of the Lord.
So that is to say how important it is to avoid the offenses. And we have to really understand that this is a crucial subject matter. Not just to chant, but to chant without offenses.
Because if we chant without offenses everything is easy. But to chant without offenses is not easy. So that's the problem. That's the only that's the crux of the issue.
You know, if you chant without offences, your way to God it becomes very simple. In fact, you will see the Lord very quickly.
It is said that if you chant the holy name of the Lord without offences, you will see the Lord face to face.
The only reason why we are not able to see the Lord face to face is this, because we are offensive by our very nature. And this offensiveness infiltrates into our spiritual practices.
And basically, the subject matter of my little presentation and little lecture will be how we should understand how it does manifest within our heart.
What happens within our heart if we chant the holy name of the Lord offensively, and what we should do basically to avoid it. Of course, what we should do to avoid it is said by Srila Prabhupada in this purport.
He's quoting Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself, saying that the only way to avoid offences is to become meek and humble. But the very purpose of my lecture is to make you meek and humble.
To sort of and of course to humble myself as well.
Because if we hear this presentation we will understand that there is some sort of severe offenses which we commit and that manifests in certain psychological reactions which are taking place within our heart. And you know it's always good to understand that I'm not really okay. Because the only price which we have to pay to see Lord Krishna and to associate with him.
Of course it's nice to see how Mansi is dancing and you know how she's teaching us how to take care of baby Krishna. But I think it will take some time before we'll be able to do this.
And the only condition which has to be fulfilled is to avoid offenses. Unless and until our offensive nature is completely eradicated from our heart, it will not be possible for us to see and to associate with Lord Krishna, it will be just a fancy idea.
Nice idea. Beautiful idea. Yeah, yeah, I can joke with the Lord. Yeah, right. But who we think we are to joke with the Lord? It's quite an elevated position.
Distinguishing between sins and offenses
And the only condition, again, the only condition, which is not at all simple, unfortunately, is to somehow rather subdue our offensive nature, which has a long history, which is not created even in this lifetime, which is deeply rooted within our heart and. Actually formed our very basis of our conditioned existence.
So first of all I wanted to start this description. I will mostly base my description on a few chapters of Bh bhakti-sandarbha, the same treatise which Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes here by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī.
Well, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī systematically describes the practice of spiritual practices, sādhana. And if we really understand this, we have a chance uh to do it perfectly as uh it is set uh in this particular uh quote
that uh that this is the complete perfection, that you can achieve the complete perfection of life.
That is the fulfillment of all great sacrifices, penances, and austerities, because when one achieves ecstatic love of God, yet he can attain the complete perfection of life.
So, first of all, I want to start with describing the difference between the pop, the sin, and the offense.
Because sometimes especially for people who are from other religious traditions because in other religious traditions there is no distinction made.
And in one sense there is no distinction, but from another point of view there is distinction.
And first of all, I wanted to elaborate on this fine difference between aparādha and pāpa while giving the definition of both what is apparat and what is sin, what is PUB, or so many other names are there in Sanskrit.
So the sin according to Sanskrit scriptures has a very interesting definition.
One of the names, one of the synonyms for sin is agha. The Sanskrit word agha comes from Sanskrit root gna. And gna pra gna means to kill. Gna means to eradicate to vanish.
So, uh, agha, sin means something which is very difficult to get rid of. The implication, very important implication for us to understand is, that what is sin?
Sin is something which leaves a very strong and deep impression, some saṁskāra within our psyche, within our heart.
In our citta, and there is a collection of different saṁskāras, and they all have different degree of strength. And our present condition state our body and everything
else is the formation of the saṁskāras. But not every saṁskāra. The weak saṁskāras are not count, only very strong saṁskāras which constitute vasanas.
According to yoga psychology, we are a collection of vāsanās, and vāsanās is a result of sin.
Because again, by this definition, from this definition, we can understand that sin is anything which creates a very strong impression within our heart and in this way makes us attach to repeat the same thing again and again and again.
We are coming with some fixed nature, and this fixed nature is more or less pushes us in a certain direction. This is called karma. This is nothing but certain energy.
If uh the saṁskāras which are within our heart are very deep, they accumulate certain energy. And this energy manifests within our life by pushing us. Do it, do it, do it, do it again.
You know, all those people, I hope it doesn't refer to you, uh, but if I would speak uh in a Western audience, uh I I mean I I I would be completely sure that it does refer to the Western audience.
You know, if you take drug, if you take alcohol or if you even smoke, or even if you take of course it definitely refers to you if you take chai, then you get attached to it.
At one point, after, you know, of course chai is a little weak, but you know, even this weak drug can become very strong, you know. Chai, chai, chai if you go to by train, you know. You always hear this. Chai, chai, chai.
This is the most popular thing. So you get very strongly attached to it. It's very difficult to break this habit. Everyone who was trying to break any of such habits knows how difficult it is.
Mark Twain, an American author, he once said uh very hilarious thing he said uh to give up smoking is very easy I have done it many times it basically means I cannot do this. You know, I I'm trying to give it up. I cannot.
Why? Because of this very definition of sin.
What is sin, what is labeled in the śāstras as sin, it's very simple, what the śāstras they definitely uh caution us uh to be very careful with the things which make us attach. Attached to this body, attached to this material world, to the conception of pleasure which we have here.
And that is sin. This is the definition of sin. But luckily, sin is a very easy thing to deal with. Because bhakti has such a tremendous power that it can eradicate sins in no time.
It is said specifically in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, you chant the holy name of the Lord once, all your sins are destroyed.
Sometimes it is said in the scriptures that not only all your committed sins are destroyed, all your future sins are also destroyed. How it is, don't ask me, but you know well
I guess I can explain this but let's go further. So the point here is very interesting. And we should not, we should never, never, never think that this is exaggeration.
Because as soon as we think that this sort of description which is there in the scriptures is a sort of art of art exaggeration to push you to chant the holy name of the Lord where guilty of severe offense against the holy name of the Lord. It basically means that we don't believe in the absolute power of the holy name of the Lord.
And I will explain why and how, and I will also say something what our ācāryas have to say. You know, we may ask ourselves: so if it is so,
why do we have uh to chant so many times and why do we have to uh why uh you know I'm chanting the holy name of the Lord and uh uh it doesn't work on me. Well, it did work on Anjamil.
And you know, somebody can ask that he was chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa so many times while he was still committing sins. And it's a very important information which I wanted to share with you now.
Acharya said, and it definitely refers to our own life that if you once chant the holy name of the Lord let's do it just in case it works.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Sins are indeed eradicated from our psyche. And if you still feel like committing sins,
it only means that you're doing it by some mechanical habit. It's a very interesting notion.
Acharya say that Ajamila was continuing making his sins, but even after chanting the holy name of Nārāyaṇa before he was in the verge of death, so before he experienced, had the near death experience, so to speak.
But they say that as soon as you chanted once the sins lose a lot of its power.
You may still be kind of habituated to them but only because you don't don't know what to do else in the life. You're just doing it mechanically without having too much pleasure.
And you know, all of us who have this experience know
that while coming to Krishna consciousness, you experience this very sort of sad situation that material enjoyment doesn't bring any enjoyment anymore or bring the enjoyment in a much lesser degree than before and you're trying and
you're saying something is wrong with you what's wrong with you no, uh, everything is okay with you, you're fine. Holy name worked.
So Acharya says that as soon as you chanted the holy name, the sinful habits lost a lot of its power and they are not really propelling you anymore, they are not really controlling you anymore.
But if they are, this is not the sin. If they still have uh have the power over you and they're still very strong within your heart, it means or it indicates the presence of severe offense within your heart.
And to make this information a little easier to digest, I have to say that every one of us to one degree or another is guilty of being offensive.
In fact, you know, the very proof of it is that we have material body and mind. Material body is an indication of our sin and sin and offenses. And that's a problem.
And it will remain a problem until we have the material body. You know, once there was a very nice story once, one bhakta was going to Śrīla Prabhupāda and he came and said, Prabhupāda, I have a problem.
Prabhupāda looked at him and said, you don't have a problem. You are a problem. So next time you look in the mirror, you please say the same thing to you. I don't have a problem. I have a problem. You know.
The very fact that I have this material body and material mind and all my material baggage with me is a problem.
Meaning and root cause of aparadha
It's problematic. But let's try to understand what is the difference between aparādha and again, the very Sanskrit word gives us a very clear understanding of what is the difference.
Apa is a prefix which indicates the that something is far away. Like English word apart. Apart means it's something apart of you. It's far away. It's in a distance. In a certain distance. It's coming from Sanskrit.
So Sanskrit prefix apam means it takes you far away from what? From Rādhā. In this particular uh case, Rādhā means your ability to worship. The very name Rādhā means the best worshiper.
She is the one who only can worship the Lord in a perfect way. She is the one who can give him pleasure. She is the one who perfectly understands his mind and makes all the arrangements for him to be pleased.
It's all coming from the root, the Sanskrit root rad, which means to worship, to be reverential, to serve to do something nice so aparādha means something which takes us away from this ability to worship.
Aparādha is something which perverts our consciousness in such a way that we basically betray our nature as worshippers. By our very nature, by spiritual nature, being parts and parcels of the Lord, we are worshipers.
And we do have, we can notice this tendency within our heart, we do want to worship somebody. You know, in this material world, people always worship somebody. I'm coming from Russia.
Now in Russia, everyone is worshiping Putin. Whatever they will gain out of it remains to be seen. But still they do. They're completely enamored by his personality.
You know, here I guess uh Aishwarya Rai is more popular than Putin or something like this. I I don't know who is popular here.
But people do have, you know, they become fans of this cinema star or this political leader or this that leader. You know, the need is there. The need in the heart.
When we see something godly, when we see somebody in whom God's powers, Vibhuti, God's Shakti, manifest to a certain extent.
We become enamored and we want to do something, we want to worship, we want to do something to this person, something nice, we want to please him.
You know, all the fans they do something, you know, they uh they offer presents. Uh and they're very happy when they manage to please their object of worship.
So, what I mean to say is that this nature is there, and ultimately, this nature is for the Lord, not for anyone else. When it is for somebody else, it's misdirected. And it will be frustrated sooner or later.
It will not give us ultimate benefit, it will not give us any benefit ultimately, you know. It will just fix our position in this material world and we will be you know we will go nowhere from here.
So ultimately it is for the Lord, it is for his pleasure. But aparadha is something which destroys this nature. Which is coming we something which distorts or perverts this nature of ours.
And why it is much more difficult to deal with because aparadha is much deeper than the sin. Sin only touches the body and the mind. Whereas aparadha goes right within the soul.
Aparadha more or less reinforces our offensive nature in the sense that we know that the original sin of every living entity who is here, conditioned in this material world, is that we are turned away from the Lord.
We are bahirmukha. Bahirmukha basically means we don't want to see towards the Lord. We are looking in an opposite direction. Srila Jiva Goswami analyzes this problem as the root cause of all our problems.
Any problem which we take, any disease which we have, even material disease, disease of the body, it's all coming from this root. Vai mukya. We don't want to see the Lord. We are at best indifferent to the Lord.
We don't want to, you know, to have anything to do with him, we don't have any nice feelings to him, we're not grateful to him.
We are more or less if if if we worship him, we are doing it by force more or less. Unless we are a very exceptional case. Or we do, you know, just we worship him for ourselves.
And that's also a disease, disease of the soul. That's the disease of the soul. I don't want to see the Lord. I want to see māyā. You know, so many times we can uh you know observe this tendency within ourselves.
When we listen to the lecture, I know I give lectures all the time and I always have to, you know, cut some jokes, otherwise I will lose my audience very soon.
You know, it's not possible just to speak about God uh all the time without cutting jokes. You have to somehow rather put something there which brings the attention back.
But you don't experience this when you read some news in newspaper. Your attention is right there. You don't need any jokes. You can just hear this crazy news about this world, you know.
You go to internet and ah it's so far out, you know. You know, you're attracted to this. What I want to say is that there is a natural attraction within every conditioned living entity towards this material world.
You don't have to develop this attraction, you don't have to chant uh Hare Māyā Hare Māyā Māyā Hare Hare Whatever. You know you you you you don't have to you know chant the name of Maya to be attractive to it.
By your nature, svābhāvika-sāra you are attracted to it. So that's that's the proof. This is the problem. This is the problem which everyone has to deal with. And this is the offense. Because what else is it?
If we don't want to see the Lord, if we want, don't want to have anything to do with the Lord, if we're totally indifferent, at best indifferent to Him. Some people become very hateful towards the Lord.
That's a Asuric nature. When this conditioned nature becomes aggravated. When disease becomes really serious, the Asuric nature becomes aggravated, they hate the Lord.
Hiranyakashipu is the example, Ravaṇa is the example, they hate the Lord. The Lord is right there in front of them. What do they want? They want to kill him. As foolish as they are.
You know, Hiranyakashipu was a very knowledgeable person, he had spiritual knowledge, he preached about the spiritual nature of the soul in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to pacify his relatives.
But still when it comes to the Lord, he just wants to kill Him. He knows that it's not possible to kill the soul, but somehow or other He thinks that it's possible to kill the source of the soul. Isn't it strange?
This is how the perverted nature can manifest within ourselves. And this vaimukhy">•ya or bahirmukhatā, desire not to see the Lord, the attraction to the material world is extremely strong.
So, the offense — this is the definition of offense or aparādha: offense is any action which is done with the intention which is more or less reinforcing our, uh, vaimukhy">•ya. Offense is the action which is done with certain intention to uh, you know, to destroy this, uh, worshipful uh, the the nature of the worshipper which we have within our soul when we act with a certain intention against others to inflict pain, not understanding the spiritual connection between the living entities and God.
When we have some you know uh some ill feelings more or less. It's one thing if we just commit sin to enjoy ourselves. It's one thing.
If we manipulate others, if we exploit others, if we inflict pain to others, and especially if we feel some pleasure by doing this is an offense, this is aparādha. Because this will definitely reinforce our already offensive nature.
Or if we behave in such a way as to separate somebody from the Lord. This is also an aparādha.
If you remember, the second offense of the holy name is to consider the holy name of Shiva as separate from the holy name of the Lord. Why it is offensive?
Because we want to separate Shiva from the Lord, but He is connected. We sever the connection. And if we behave in an offensive way with other living entities, it also means that we sever the connection within our mind, within our heart of this living entity with the Lord.
We don't understand that this particular living entity is also a part and parcel of the Lord. I can do whatever I like. And then I'll go to the temple and then I worship to the Lord to be forgiven. No, no.
See, this is an offense. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that ultimately if you're inflicting pain to anyone, not to speak about devotees, this is an offence. This is aparadha.
This is what destroys the most valuable traces within our heart which we do have.
The desire to worship and ultimately the desire and understanding that the Lord is the worshipful object, worshipable object of every living entity. So that's the distinction between apparat and the sin.
And that's why sin is so easily eradicated. It's only in the mind. Apparat is within the heart, within the soul. And the effect of apparat is much much deeper. And it can actually haunt us life after life after life.
And sometimes we may be very neglectful and
to to make the situation worse we as devotees have much more facilities to commit aparadhas than the normal people out there on the street you know, other people they may not be, you know, so they may be very innocent in one sense.
But when we commit even sinful activities, knowing that this is bad, this is an aparadha, this is namaparadha, this is aparadha against the holy name, this is something which will have lasting effects.
Categorization and degrees of offenses
And therefore, basically, as far as the practicalities are concerned, the only thing which we have to know is what is aparadha and how we have to avoid it. Chanting is very easy. Technically it's very easy.
Śrīla Prabhupāda said you know chant and be happy and we chant and we are happy for some time but not for a long.
The chanting, all these effects which are described in the Vedic literature again and again and again, and described by the Acharyas again and again and again are not very foreign for us.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, he says in his famous verse in glorification of the holy name, not N jajanean,ejanito, what is this? Krishna Varnadvayam Amritam Kya Krishna Varna Dvayam. He says, I don't know how much how much nectar is there in these two syllables Krishna?
And when we read this we can confirm this, I don't know how much nectar in these two syllables, too? Just he doesn't know and I don't know. But the meaning is different. We don't know and he he just cannot estimate it.
He just gets it and he's amazed how much nectar is there. And we are amazed that there's no nectar is there. Not Janet Janito. So uh that's our situation, that's the disease. We are diseased.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says we have this jaundice and therefore or uh sometimes the ācāryas they gave the comparison. If somebody has a fever and it's a high fever, and then while eating, he doesn't have taste, right?
You know you eat and it tastes like grass, you know, something yeah. You just chew it and no taste. Why? Uh is it the fault of the rasagullā which is there? No, rasagullā is fine. Rasagullā is very juicy.
But we can not we don't have the buds the tasting buds to feel this nectar. And this atrophy, this senselessness of our organ which is the heart, is because of the offenses, of the offenses which we have committed.
And again Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains the very subtle signs of this commitment, of us committing the offenses. The gross signs we know in general.
We don't know that it manifests in a lack of taste, in a lack of general enthusiasm, lack of taste in chanting. That's definitely there. And we have to be very clear about this.
And of course ultimately we have to be clear that the very fact that we don't see the Lord is the proof that we are offensive. Because as soon as the offenses are cleared, then we will see the Lord.
But let's consider the degrees of offenses first. The offenses can be of different degrees. And these different degrees of offenses or offensive nature may manifest in a different way in us.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that the offenses classified according to the degree into two categories. The first category is Brihat. Brihat means very big, very severe, very heavy offenses.
And the other one is samanya. Samanya means every one of us doing it. That's what samanya means. Samanya means a little lighter. But then he says again, he classifies the samanya offenses into again two categories.
So altogether it's three categories of offenses according to the degree: Brihad, very severe.
And Samanya he says Samanya can be because of our uh because we're chanting nāma-bhāsa. Samanya basically means that we are on the level of a bhāsa, nāma-bhāsa and samanya means we are chanting chāyā-nāma-bhāsa or pratibimba-nāma-bhāsa.
And I will explain a little later what does it mean. Pratibimba means distorted reflection of the holy name. Pratibimba means we are changing the holy name with the ulterior purpose in mind.
We want to achieve something else and we use the Holy Name as the means to achieve this. We don't consider the Holy Name as the end itself.
We are using it as a tool, instrument for to achieve our goals and uh chāyā nāma-bhāsa basically means the shadow of the holy name uh it means that uh it's a reflected name uh it is it's a shadow of the holy name which we received from a pure devotee.
Somebody gave us the holy name and it's ringing within our heart.
That's why Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj when he says please chant and you chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna and then he says please ten million times louder to make this impression
to to to give us the impression of the of this, you know, of the shadow of the real holy name so basically uh let's uh let us understand these three degrees of the chanting.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur he also compares aparādhas, anarthas with the cloud. And he says the cloud of anarthas they cover the sun of the Holy Name. They cover our consciousness as much as the cloud cannot cover the sun.
Can the cloud cover the sun? No, it can only cover our vision. The sun is too big. The cloud is really insignificant in front of the sun. But still, the cloud can cover our vision.
So as soon as anarthas or aparādhas come, they cloud, they cover the sun of the Lord, and we don't see Him. But at the same time, according to the degree of the density of the cloud, the effect can be different.
We don't see the sun when it's clouded, when the sun when the sky is clouded. We don't see the sun. But still, especially now, you know, sometimes the the uh sky is clouded, but we feel what? We feel the effects of the sun.
What are the effects of the sun? Huh? Light and heat. Right? Light and heat. In the same way, when the aparādhas are not very severe, we still can feel the presence of the Lord and His mercy to a certain extent.
In the same way as you know, light and heat is the symptoms of the sun, in the same way a kind of feeling, soft feeling which sometimes comes come within our heart. God is there. He hears my prayers. He is there for me.
You know, this very you know that He is there, He wants me to serve Him. This is even though I don't see him, still this feeling is there, it means that aparādhas are not so severe.
As much as the when clouds are not so dense, you know, we feel both heat and light.
But when the clouds become really dense, you know I'm coming from Moscow and Moscow uh Indians who live in Moscow they say there's only two seasons in Moscow. It's uh white winter and green winter.
So it's usually cold even during the summer. So for Indians there is no summer there, it's just green winter. Yeah, it's green, but winter. And there's of course very outrageous white winter.
So in uh in Russia, when the clouds here it's probably you probably will not experience it too often when the clouds are very dense and still you see the light but you don't feel what? The heat.
You know when the clouds are dense still the light is there but the heat is not there. It may be the daytime, but you're really freezing, you know.
Sometimes during the winter time and bring down you're really freezing if the if the sky is clouded, it's really cold. Why? Because the clouds are very dense. So this is the next stage.
First was the Chaya Namabhas another one was pratibimba namabas. Prathimba namabas means that you still have the faith in the Lord but you don't really feel his personal presence or his personal mercy within your heart.
You kind of feel that you are abandoned. And you're doing this why people are using The holy name as the means because they are not happy. They want to get something from the Lord. And in other religions, it's very common.
That's why it is not even recommended for people with different philosophical understanding to chant the holy name because they only use the Lord as the means for their ends.
You give me this or you give me that and you made my child happy and healthy and let me pass the exam. That's a very ardent prayer within our heart. Dear Sri Sri Radha-Gopinatha.
Even if you so this if you so desire and if even if you don't desire this, please make me pass my exam. Please.
So if your attitude is this, uh uh the effect which you will feel is that you know you still know that God is there.
But you don't really feel his personal presence within your life, within your you know, he's not directing you. He kind of abandoned you and he did abandon you. As much as, you know, we don't feel the warmth of the sun.
Sun is still warm, but we don't feel it. Why? Because of the cloud of offenses. And last is when the clouds become so dense that you don't see the light of the sun at all.
It is said in the description of Govardhana līlā, that you know all of sudden when this sambartaka clouds came, all of sudden it became pitch dark. It became night during the day. Really, you don't see anything.
And that basically means when the offenses become so severe, you say, God is not there. I don't believe it. And so many people are live in this complete darkness of offensiveness. There's no God. There is no God.
They may be big scientists, big whatever they are, you know, like this Hawking. He he wrote recently a very famous bestseller. There's no God or something like this. I don't I don't know what's the name of this bestseller.
I'm not going to read it. Not to reinforce my offensive nature even more. So, you know, so many people say no God, no God, no, only matter.
Where does matter, dear sir, where does matter is coming from, it's always there. You know how come it's always there? It means that there is some original cause of everything. Why not God? Why matter?
You know, it's so ridiculous, you know, we are are we from this matter? The matter was, you know, there for some time and then it created us. You know, sometimes, you know, the scientists say that there was a big bang. You know, as a result of this big bang, many people become little crazy in the, you know, because when, when there is a big bang, some some, how you say this, something has become wrong with the with the brain, you know, so big bang, all of a sudden, bang. And yeah, here I am.
Result of Big Bang. You know, if you say, I remember myself, I I have a scientific background myself, and I was into it completely. Because it's a very good excuse not to be grateful.
And once I was studying the genetics and I was studying the DNA and genome and how it works, and I became very convinced that I'm just, you know, a combination of genes.
And once my mother told me something, you should do something. I don't remember what was it, and I said, well, why should I do this? You know, because you're my son and I'm telling you.
And I said to her, I am not your son, I am a uh I am a combination of genes. She couldn't forgive me for many years. She would always call me a combination of genes, come here.
So uh and if we say the same to the Supreme Father, he basically say if you want to become a combination of genes, uh it's up to you.
I I don't mind. But what I mean to say, it's offensive. You basically don't want to admit that you are here not without a reason, that there is some cause you're not just here because you are so great or because you just you know happen to appear here. There is some cause and you have to you have to have some relationship with the cause.
So, uh, uh, when, uh, the scientists, they, when they develop this, uh, sort of attitude it means severe offenses. That's their experience.
There is no doubt about it. And this world is designed in such a way that our experience is being confirmed. Whatever I believe in will be confirmed.
If I believe that there is no God, it will be confirmed again and again and again. If I believe that God doesn't have form, it will be confirmed to me again and again and again, I will get so many confirmations.
If I believe that God has form, I will also get the confirmation that He does have form. So it's very important to have the proper sambandha-jnana, proper understanding of the reality.
It's very important to understand that God does have form and He's the person, it means that I can be offensive. I can commit offenses because it's there are much more chances for us to commit offenses against the person.
You know it's very difficult to offend my computer. Of course sometimes it gets offended.
I do something stupid and it strikes. It says no, I don't want to have anything to do with this, you know, stupid user, but usually it doesn't take offenses, it just works, but
we all know how easy it is to offend a person. You basically don't have to do anything to offend somebody. Usually you don't have to do anything. You just...
You may look at somebody and, you know, somebody got hurt or whatever it is, especially if we have close relationship.
Especially if we try to develop close relationships as in our case and we we do want to develop close relationship so therefore we have to really understand the nature of the offenses very and carefully avoid them.
Oh I didn't even start my lecture but that was introduction to the lecture.
Perverted perception of spiritual reality
But I already, you know, I can... I'll do... I quickly finish the the rest of what I wanted to say. So Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in this section, which I wanted to describe by giving such a long preface to it.
says that the immediate effect which you can see within yourself of the offenses is that you don't see the spiritual nature of the of those things in this world which do have spiritual nature. What happens with us?
Our vision becomes dull, becomes perverted and we only see the material side of basically bhakta, Bhagavān and bhakti. There are three very obvious manifestations of the spiritual nature available to us within this world.
That is Bhagavān in the form of His deity and the form of His holy name. And what we... our perception, because it's perverted by our offenses is that it's just material sound.
Siladivagaswami goes to the very great extent explaining how the name is Namachintamani Krishna Chaitanya Rasa Vigraha, that it's actually self-manifest.
It's not that we are chanting the name. The name manifests itself within our tongue. It's a very difficult concept for us to understand.
For us it's just the same thing, the same process which is there when we chant any other material sound. But the process is different. And the proof of it is very severe.
I don't want you to have the proof of it, but I have seen the proof of it, and I will quote an example from Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita.
And Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Benaris, then one of his brahmana followers, very nice devotee, came to him and said, please do something about these Mayavadis and sannyasis. They are so offensive.
They say God is nirakara, God doesn't have senses, He is deaf, He is dumb, he's blind, you know, he doesn't have legs, he doesn't have hands. He's basically, they're just, you know, they're putting God in this category of complete invalid.
Complete, uh, you know, and they say, amazingly enough, I came to them, and they're speaking this lofty philosophy, but they cannot pronounce the name of Krishna.
They say Chaitanya, but they cannot say Hare, they cannot say Krishna. And believe it or not, I've seen people who were former devotees who committed severe offenses, they just cannot chant.
The name just does not come on their tongue because of the severity of the offenses which they committed. Because the offenses are so bad.
And what I want to say is that Jiva Goswami, again depending on the degree of our offensiveness, he says that we see the manifestations of bhakta, Bhagavan and bhakti within this world as something material. You know, sometimes we do feel that holy name is not just material sound that there is something more to it.
Sometimes we do, right? Sometimes in the kirtan we're completely carried away by the beautiful sound of the holy name, or sometimes while chanting, we chant and we cannot stop. Rarely, but we do have this experience.
But usually we perceive it as something material, as a material sound. But we perceive the deity as material.
You know, Prabhupada, when he was seeing the deities, looking at the deities, he said, I put these two beautiful boys and they're playing on the altar in Krishna-Balarama Mandir in Vrindavan.
You know, and sometimes people see, they come and they see the lilas which the deity perform and we see a doll. You know, because we are DAO.
And uh because we are Tao, we see this as a Dow matter. We don't see the spiritual nature of it. And in the same way, in a more uh in a more exemplary way, in a sense,
we uh we we cannot recognize the spiritual nature of devotees. We just see, oh yeah, yeah, so many people are there, yeah, yeah, some people are here, and
some people are there, some people are sitting, yeah some people are chanting, they're pretenders. Sometimes people say this, you know, so what? You know, I I know this, you know, they're pretenders.
Oh we don't see the spiritual nature of a spiritual master we see, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice man, nice man. Very nice man. Speaks nicely. Has a special gift of speaking nicely. This is ridiculous.
You know, this is again our offensive nature. We we can't recognize the spiritual nature, the signs of spiritual nature. We only see matter. And especially if the devotees manifest some faults, we only see the faults.
We don't see their aspirations, their sincere desire to come close to the Lord. We don't see this, we don't count this, we don't count their bhakti. And so sometimes we see the bhakti.
Uh somebody is chanting a lot, or some simple lady she's crying and we say, Oh yeah, yes, sentimental, stupid lady.
We may not say this but we think you know yeah yeah yeah yeah sahajia sahajiya how do we know how do we know she's sahajiya maybe she's you know she's she's just really feeling for the law.
So we don't see the nature of bhakti, Bhagavan and bhakta, the spiritual nature. We don't see the spiritual nature of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
When uh you know when uh Pundarik Vidaniti heard just one verse from Srimad Bhagavatam, Mahobaki uh uh ki Samstanak uh st Stanakalakutam Jigamsayapaya Tapya Sadhi Levegatiam Tatunyat Kamvada Yalam Saradam Rajema.
He just heard this verse, one verse. And he just faded, he started crying. Aho Baki Yamstana Kalakuta. And we heard this verse and nothing happened to us. So what? What's what's so special about it?
We read the Bhagavatam, we don't feel the spiritual nature, the spiritual message doesn't penetrate our ashmasharam, our steel covered heart. Again, because of these offenses.
So that's that's the first point which I want to make. And I really have to be more expedient. So our vision changes, and because our vision changes, we become even more prone to commit offenses.
So very quickly, because we don't see the spiritual nature and our attitude towards bhakta, bhagavan and uh towards the deity, towards uh Krishna, towards the holy name, towards Bhagavatam, uh towards the process of bhakti becomes offensive.
Sometimes people say yeah yeah yeah yeah bhakti is nice, this is for labor class or for women. You know the the the real you know the real man they they should perform yoga or whatever it is. You know, so ridiculous.
So so many ridiculous misunderstandings are there.
Psychological effects of committing offenses
So basically uh Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī elaborately, and I will not be able to elaborately describe this uh even if I wanted, uh but he elaborately describes what happens within our heart when we commit offenses and he gives examples from the scriptures of different people who offended the Lord, and because of the offense, certain things took place within their heart.
He basically said there are five effects, five psychological effects of aparādha. The first psychological effect is kautilium, which means crookedness,
the second psychological effect means is aśraddhā, which means faithlessness. The third psychological effect is bhāgavata tad-bhāva-niṣṭhā tad-antarāṅga-virodha.
The attachment, the internal attachments to the things which destroy our fixity in devotional service, our Nishta in Bhagavan, our faith in God. Then the next is bhakti-śaithilya, which is looseness,
our indifference or laziness towards bhakti, and the last one is sva-bhakty-adhikṛta-mānitvam, the pride of our achievements in bhakti. And I will briefly describe these things.
And in my humble opinion, even though some devotees they interpreted differently and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī does not clearly state this, but they are listed according to the extent or to the level of the severity of the offense.
The first sign or the first manifestation of offense either committed in this life or committed in the previous life is kauṭilya, which means the crooked nature, crookedness of our heart, not straightforwardness. Some cleverness. We become a little clever. And we all know we're very clever.
You know, if even if you take a little child, sometimes the child becomes so clever, you know. The adults usually can see through his cleverness, but he still in a very clever way trying to cheat.
Basically, cheating nature, cheating propensities. If you have a cheating propensity please very loudly chant haribol. Haribol! Nice, it helps to get rid of them. So basically it means crookedness, not
straightforwardness, that we want to manipulate other people, that we want some uh and basically, uh Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, he gives a very interesting definition of crookedness.
He says this specific kind of crookedness uh or crooked nature, which is the result of offenses. You know, the crooked nature, if we were straightforward, it would mean that we were not offensive.
And there are some simple people, and this simplicity, saralatā, is a very valuable quality for every devotee.
In fact, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda used to say that saralata matlab vaiṣṇavata. matlab vaiṣṇavata. You know. Vaiṣṇavata. You know Vaishnava means simple.
You know, in the first chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, Arjuna manifests his simple nature. In fact, the very name Arjuna means simple. From the root ṛju, ṛju means simple, straightforward. Ārjava, simple.
Duryodhana is very crooked. He goes to his master, his spiritual master, he tries to manipulate him, he is very
political, he is, you know, he always calculates, and Arjuna says, "No, no, no, Krishna, I don't want to fight, you know, I'm, you know," he openly admits this. I, you know, what can I say? He's fearful, and Duryodhana is fearful. Arjuna manifests his fear, Duryodhana is trying to cover his fear. This is the crooked nature.
But in this particular case, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives a very beautiful definition of crookedness.
He says that if you commit an offense, it will manifest as that you externally will have respect towards Krishna, towards your spiritual master, towards other devotees, but internally you will not have. That's the crookedness.
Anadarat, you will be disrespectful within. You will not show it. You will still continue doing the same thing. You will say banchakal patarubyascha and you know pay obeisances and you know
you may even externally glorify the devotees, but within uh you will burn from this disrespectfulness. The real respectfulness will not be there. It may manifest towards the deity, it may manifest more commonly towards the
devotees, it may manifest in severe cases, towards a spiritual master. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives a very beautiful example of Duryodhana. Duryodhana made an amazing, gorgeous reception for Lord Krishna when
Lord Krishna came as the messenger from the Pandavas to Hastinapura. Oh my goodness. It was a Mahamaha Utsav. Maha Mahotsav, you know. They were planning for weeks how to receive Lord Krishna, how to please him.
They would find out what he likes the most and they knew that he likes the chanting, so everywhere the Harinams. They they made holy name week in the streets of Hastinapura.
You know, people were chanting the Holy Name, Hare Krishna, Jai Hari Bol. You know, and they were cooking the best food, the most choices, you know, and you know, so much so that even the best palace in Hastinapur
was by uh was owned by Duḥśāsana. So Duryodhana said, Duḥśāsana, you move out from this palace, we will give this palace to Krishna.
And Krishna, he came to Hastinapura, he looked, he glanced over this, you know, huge arrangement. There were you know banana tree arches and rose water sprinkled all
over and beautiful women because Krishna likes women and they were dancing Bharat Natyam, you know, uh Acyuta Govinda Damodara Riv. It's so nice, you know, it's beautiful, you know. Krishna glanced at this.
Actually it is said in Mahabharata, he didn't even glance at this. He just closed his eyes and he closed his ears. And then he went straight to the humble hut of Vidura.
Even though huge feast was waiting for him, and Duryodhana was cooking this feast and so many of the best cooks were cooking this feast for him and Lord Krishna came to Vidura and there Vidura was feeding
him with banana peel and he was eating this banana peel and saying such a such a tasty banana peel. And the next day he came to Duryodhana and Duryodhana he started rebuking him. He said, How is that proper?
You are our relative. You're not only relative of the Pandavas. You're coming to us. Why you're not even coming to uh we want to receive you nicely. Why you're not coming? It's not proper. You're supposed to be impartial.
We love you, Krishna. That's what Duryodhana told. We love you, Krishna. We made such a nice arrangement. And Krishna says, no, you don't like me. You don't love me. Because you don't love Pandavas.
And because you because you hate Pandavas, you hate me. And I'm not going to take your food because I'm not hungry. Viduras, Vidur's banana pill was good enough for me to be completely satisfied.
And he said also a very beautiful thing because before that, you know, Dhritarashtra, he would while speaking with Sanjay or with Vidura, Dhritarashtra was speaking with Vidura.
Several chapters in Mahābhārata, he's speaking to Vidura and says, when Janārdana comes here, I will give him this, I will give him that many elephants, and I will give him cavalry, and I will give him the best the best cloth and the best food and the best you know whatever the best I have.
And Vidura was listening and said, You don't want to please Janārdana. And therefore Janārdana doesn't need it.
So it is specifically said by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, if you are crooked, and then Krishna will not accept your offerings. He will not accept your chanting, your sravanam, your kirtanam.
It will be, you know still you have to do it, but uh you you have to try to be as straightforward as possible, especially in regard to the devotees. You have to be genuinely respectful to them.
Because they are very dear to Krishna and they're very close to his heart and if we disrespect them and if we offend them we offend him directly. It's a severe offense. This is the first offense against the holy name.
And it we we we cannot afford to commit this offense. It it's very bad. It's very bad. So the next uh I'm sorry, I'm really going quickly from now on.
The next result psychological result which we can very acutely feel within our heart is Ashradha. Ashradha means facelessness.
We lose face gradually and again Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives a very beautiful definition of what does it mean.
I I cannot go into details and given examples, but basically what he says that gradually a Sradha, which also means respect, because Shraddha doesn't only mean faith or trust viswas, sraddha means respect.
That gradually our faith becomes less so much so that even if we see the direct and glorious display of the power of bhakti, we don't believe in it.
Basically what he wants to say, Asrada means that we see the power of bhakti directly with our eyes and we don't believe it. That's what Asradha means.
Sometimes devotees they manifest, and he gives I I I do give uh I will give a little example. He gives an example of uh Hiranyakashipu.
Hiranyakashipu was very again intelligent man and he ordered his powerful demons to attack his little son Prahlāda.
And while praying to the Lord, Prahlāda specifically asked, My Lord, please protect me so that all these demons would see the huge power of Bhakti.
You know, Hiranyakashipu sent this huge elephants to trample over Prahlāda. Or the demons were running to him with iron weapons and they were trying to hit him with iron weapons.
Nothing happened with a small boy. As if he was shielded. And specifically that was the purpose in mind in Prahlāda. Prahlāda wanted to show the power of bhakti. Did they understand the power of bhakti? No.
Somehow or other it didn't dawn to them. The direct manifestation is there. No, I don't believe it. It's somehow or other it's just you know it's just By chance we couldn't kill him. By chance.
When Duryodhana, he again gives the example of Duryodhana, when Duryodhana saw the universal form of the Lord directly in front of his eyes, and everyone was amazed, and everyone paid obeisances and started offering prayers, and everyone was completely overwhelmed and everyone was totally terrified by this huge universal form which Krishna showed directly.
Duryodhana looked and said, oh yeah, he's a mystic yogi. I don't believe it. You know, even when we hear about the power of bhakti, we don't believe it.
And sometimes we do hear about the power of bhakti and we don't believe it.
And sometimes we do hear that you should chant the holy name of the Lord just once and everything will be alright with you and we don't believe it. Why it is? Because of the committed offenses. Ashradha.
Ashradha means we see or don't see, we hear uh uh uh and still we don't believe it. We still don't believe it. So many things we don't believe because of the uh offensiveness. That's Ashradha.
And then the next point, okay, the next point is uh, bhagavan-nistha-chyalaka, uh, we may have achieved some Nishta, some steady faith in Krishna, in Bhagavan, but all of a sudden due to offenses, and again
I think it's it's the most severe manifestation.
We find ourselves, if we committed some severe offense, we find ourselves that all the problems which we had, all the attachments which we had before become even stronger in our mind and in our heart.
And we become internally absorbed in them. We still continue with our practice of bhakti externally, but internally we become very much attached to the things which destroy our fixity.
And we know that it destroys, we know it's not good. Still we become and I've seen how it happens. Devotee may commit some offense. Before he was very nice, following very easily, was very happy.
You know, he commits offense. He cannot do anything. He just, you know, he still continues, but internally he's so weak.
He just completely, totally attached to uh all the detrimental things, things which destroy bhakti basically. And that's the next stage, the third stage.
The fourth stage is bhakti-śaithilyam, and bhakti-śaithilyam means laziness to bhakti, To the extent that we cannot really perform bhakti anymore, we become so slack
in our practice the the the indifference or the uh you know we become so weak spiritually that we cannot really even e even simple things we cannot do, even chant sixteen rounds.
It's so simple to chant 16 rounds. But it becomes such a huge task for all of a sudden sometimes.
And again, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gives a very beautiful definition. He says bhakti-śaithilyam means a certain condition.
When you become bhakta, when you come to Krishna consciousness, you become less absorbed in your body.
You become kind of indifferent to the diseases, you're not taking it so seriously, even to the deaths. You're not so afraid of death. So if you commit offense again in a very strong way
the absorption within the body comes back to you even in a stronger way and you become very much absorbed in the needs of the body, in the bodily sukkha and dukkha, happiness and distress.
You know, little distress, you become so, you know, you cannot chant, you're distracted. Little happiness, you're distracted.
Basically again this the material nature takes toll and and becomes strongly prominent within our consciousness and that's a result of offense.
Whereas, you know, when we are in normal condition, we are not so, you know, we are more concentrated on the spiritual things. And even pain is there. I know that there is one devotee now I'm dealing with.
He has severe pain. I mean really severe pain. Some operation was done to him and he was it was not successful operation. He has frozen shoulder, he cannot sleep for weeks and months.
And he chants the holy name with such relish, it's just unbelievable. And he doesn't he doesn't care about the pain. Why? Because he's not offensive. He's he's really very straightforward person.
And uh the holy name gives him such an experience that he just doesn't care about the pain.
And we know about ourselves little kind of little things is there and yeah all our attention goes to this little drop of blood you know uh we become uh it's too much absorption in the body and bodily needs.
And the last thing, and uh you know I'm finishing my lecture in time. Uh so' three oclock I was just to finish. Uh so the last thing is Sabhakti Adi Krita Manitvam. We become very proud. I'm such a great devotee.
It's amazing uh but I have seen this personally.
Someone may be in a very fallen condition, completely slack in his practice, completely indifferent, completely in a very severe stage of offensive sort of disease, disease of offenses, and he comes about and says,
I'm such a great devotee, look at me. I have done so much. You know, I've seen one such devotee. He was he was in a very high position in our movement at one point.
And uh he became very slapping his uh his devotional service and he started saying, Everyone says Prabhupada, Prabhupada, Prabhupada, but we also have done something.
So again, Sri Jivagaswami gives a very amazing and beautiful definition. He says if somebody starts saying this again and again and again, advertising himself and his achievements in bhakti.
And as much as you know this is a demonic mentality, this is the Asurik Pravriti.
Demonic mentality beautifully described in Bhagavad-gītā itself. Krishna says that as soon as they say, I am so great, I I uh I perform this sacrifice and tomorrow I will perform even bigger sacrifice.
And this and that and you know this is the last degree of the disease, offensive disease, uh which will take place when uh you instead of becoming humble, becoming more and more proud by the fact by the dint of performing bhakti. And unfortunately, every senior devotee who has uh a lot of experience can prove that I was much more humble in the beginning. I am so proud now.
Even though by that time I have heard the tṛṇād api su-nīcena verse at least one lakh times.
Cultivating humility as the remedy
Still I'm more proud. Why offences took place?
And therefore there is the only one remedy to this which Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in this purpose is to try to be very conscious and conscientious about the practice of the holy name. See how glorious it is.
Understand how glorious it is, and how you know amazing facility we have. How rare chances we have, how amazing things we can achieve by the chanting of the holy name.
So we should be very very uh diligent and conscientious towards this practice and avoid offenses by all means especially offenses against the devotees and be very very meek and humble and respectful as much as it is possible in our proud condition of our heart, of our offensive heart.
But still, you know, by the conscious endeavors we can overcome this nature and develop the real bhāva towards the Lord, which will be the greatest perfection in our
life and which will reward us tremendous. Thank you very much. You make me very proud. Anyway, I was doing it only because Gaurāṅga Prabhu asked me to do this. Here I am. Thank you very much again. Thank you.
I guess we don't have time. Uh no questions? Yeah. I'm yes. Thank you very much for taking us to the super excellent day for the subject matter. My question is a little longer but kindly bear with me.
In Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Lord Chaitanya explains about the two categories of the living entities, Nitya Mukta and Nitya baddha, eternally liberated and eternally conditioned. Eternally conditioned souls experience varieties of miseries and amongst them going to hell is the worst.
And in the spiritual life, spiritual sky, the eternally liberated souls are experiencing ever increasing release in the service of the Lord.
Now in Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says in three different slokas that anyone who comes to my abode never returns to the material world.
In the Jaya Vijaya episode, Srila Prabhupāda concludes that no one ever falls from the material world.
So now when we say that we are here with the misuse of the spirit, misuse of the free will, is it not an offense to those personalities in the spiritual world who are serving them in the sense that we are adarming that if you misuse your sense, you will also be with amongst us.
It's um it's a big offense, no doubt about it. But it's a big subject matter which I cannot touch in my brief answer.
If we fall from spiritual position here in this material consciousness, state of consciousness, we should understand that uh we're falling from sort of taṭastha situation, taṭastha situation, in-between situation.
It means that we are not really in full service of the Lord because what Prabhupāda was meant was meaning to say when he said that we left the spiritual world, he wanted to stress one point: the freedom of will.
Our free will. When Ācāryas wants to uh emphasize the overwhelming experience of pure devotional service in the spiritual world they say nobody goes away from Krishna because it's just not possible.
The explanation of this is that those spirit souls who come here in this material world they don't experience the direct service of the Lord.
They are more or less in the periphery of the spiritual world, whatever it is, and don't have the direct access to the service of the Lord and don't have the direct experience of relationship with the Lord. That's only.
So we are not offending those souls definitely who are directly serving the Lord because everything is fine with them and they don't come back as Krishna himself says.
Uh so something like this, but it's a big subject matter. Last question. Ah, okay, last question. Last question. And
Now we will, uh, bhakti-yoga. So uh by doing all this uh process uh and uh in in the lap of karma, uh, can you escape the material world? We definitely can. It's very easy.
To escape the material world, to give to to to get the liberation from the material world is easy by the process of bhakti. It's not so difficult. To enter into personal relationship with Krishna is much more difficult.
So we are not just trying to get the liberation. Liberation is not difficult. Just perform your bhakti nicely, you will be liberated from this material world, no problem.
But, uh, the task, uh, in Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement is much more difficult to enter into personal relationship with the Lord and I wish you all success in this difficult undertaking. Thank you very much.