NoD 8                   Offenses to Be Avoided           174577/530501

   In the Padma Purana it is stated that even a person whose life is completely sinful will be completely protected by the Lord if he simply surrenders unto Him. So it is accepted that one who surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes free from all sinful reactions. And even when a person becomes an offender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, he can still be delivered simply by

taking shelter of the holy names of the Lord: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. In other words, the chanting of Hare Krsna is beneficial for eradicating all sins, but if one becomes an offender to the holy names of the Lord, then he has no chance of being delivered.

Adi 17.72-74    The Pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu

 

   Once the Lord explained the glories of the holy name to the devotees, but some ordinary students who heard Him fashioned their own interpretation.   When a student interpreted the glories of the holy name as a prayer of exaggeration, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, greatly unhappy, immediately warned everyone not to see the student's face henceforward.   Without even changing His garments, Lord Caitanya took a bath in the Ganges with His companions. There He explained the glories of devotional service.

PURPORT

  When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained the glories of the transcendental potency of the Lord's holy name, the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, one unfortunate student said that such glorification of the holy name was an exaggeration in the sastras to induce people to take to it. In this way the student interpreted the glories of the holy name. This is called artha-vada, and it is one of the ten offenses at the lotus feet of the holy name of the Lord. There are many kinds of offenses, but the offense known as nama-aparadha, an offense at the lotus feet of the holy name, is extremely dangerous.  The Lord therefore warned everyone not to see the face of the offender. He immediately took a bath in the Ganges with all His clothes to teach everyone to avoid such a nama-aparadha. is identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no difference between the person God and His holy name. This is the

absolute position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore one who distinguishes between the Lord and His name is called a pasandi, or nonbeliever, an atheistic demon. Glorification of the holy name is glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should never attempt to distinguish between the Lord and His name or interpret the glories of the holy name as mere exaggerations.

NoI 5

... One should know for certain that without chanting the holy name of the Lord offenselessly, one cannot be a proper candidate for advancement in Krsna consciousness.

Antya 20.16             The Siksastaka Prayers           172240/530501

   "My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as Krsna and Govinda, by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear Lord, although You bestow such mercy upon the fallen, conditioned souls by liberally teaching Your holy names, I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the holy name, and therefore I do not achieve attachment for chanting.

Adi 8.29-30   The Author Receives the Orders of Krsna and 94356/530501

   If one chants the exalted holy name of the Lord again and again and yet his love for the Supreme Lord does not develop and tears do not appear in his eyes, it is evident that because of his offenses in chanting, the seed of the holy name of Krsna does not sprout.

 

PURPORT

 

   If one chants the Hare Krsna mantra offensively, one does not achieve the desired result. Therefore one should carefully avoid the offenses which have already been described in connection with verse 24.

Adi 8.16     The Author Receives the Orders of Krsna

   If one is infested with the ten offenses in the chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, despite his endeavor to chant the holy name for many births, he will not get the love of Godhead that is the ultimate goal of this chanting.

 

PURPORT

 

   Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says in this connection that unless one accepts Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, although one goes on chanting the Hare Krsna mantra for many, many years, there is no possibility of his attaining the platform of devotional service. One must follow strictly the instruction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu given in the Siksastaka (3):

 

trnad api sunicena

taror iva sahisnuna

amanina manadena

kirtaniyah sada harih

 

   "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 a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly." One who follows this direction, being freed from the ten kinds of offenses, becomes successful in Krsna consciousness and ultimately reaches the platform of loving service to the Personality of Godhead.

Madhya 19.152  Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs S  137139/530501

   "When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of sravana and kirtana [hearing and chanting], the seed will begin to sprout.

 

PURPORT

 

   To live with devotees or to live in a temple means to associate with the sravana-kirtana process. Sometimes neophyte devotees think that they can continue the sravana-kirtana process without worshiping the Deity, but the execution of sravana-kirtana is meant for highly developed devotees like Haridasa Thakura, who engaged in the sravana-kirtana process without worshiping the Deity. However, one should not falsely imitate Haridasa Thakura and abandon Deity worship just to try to engage in sravana-kirtana. This is not possible for neophyte devotees.

   The word guru-prasada indicates that the spiritual master is very merciful in bestowing the boon of devotional service upon the disciple. That is the best possible gift the spiritual master has to offer. Those with a background of pious life are eligible to receive life's supreme benefit, and to bestow this benefit, the Supreme

Personality of Godhead sends His representative to impart His mercy.  Endowed with the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the spiritual master distributes the mercy to those who are elevated and pious. Thus the spiritual master trains his disciples to render devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is called guru-krpa. It is krsna-prasada, Krsna's mercy, that He sends a bona fide spiritual master to the deserving disciple. By the mercy of Krsna, one meets the bona fide spiritual master, and by the mercy of the spiritual master, the disciple is fully trained in the devotional service of the Lord.

   Bhakti-lata-bija means "the seed of devotional service." Everything has an original cause, or seed. For any idea, program, plan or device, there is first of all the contemplation of the plan, and that is called bija, or the seed. The methods, rules and regulations by which one is perfectly trained in devotional service constitute the

bhakti-lata-bija, or seed of devotional service. This bhakti-lata-bija is received from the spiritual master by the grace of Krsna. Other seeds are called anyabhilasa-bija, karma-bija and jnana-bija. If one is not fortunate enough to receive the bhakti-lata-bija from the spiritual master, he instead cultivates the seeds of karma-bija, jnana-bija, or political and social or philanthropic bija. However,

bhakti-lata-bija is different from these other bijas. Bhakti-lata-bija can be received only through the mercy of the spiritual master.  Therefore one has to satisfy the spiritual master to get bhakti-lata-bija (yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah). Bhakti-lata-bija is the origin of devotional service. Unless one satisfies the

spiritual master, he gets the bija, or root cause, of karma, jnana and yoga without the benefit of devotional service. However, one who is faithful to his spiritual master gets the bhakti-lata-bija. This bhakti-lata-bija is received when one is initiated by the bona fide spiritual master. After receiving the spiritual master's mercy, one

must repeat his instructions, and this is called sravana-kirtana-hearing and chanting. One who has not properly heard from the spiritual master or who does not follow the regulative principles is not fit for chanting (kirtana). This is explained in

Bhagavad-gita (2.41): vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana. One who has not listened carefully to the instructions of the spiritual master is unfit to chant or preach the cult of devotional service. One has to water the bhakti-lata-bija after receiving instructions from the spiritual master.

Madhya 19.153  Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs S  137150/530501

   "As one waters the bhakti-lata-bija, the seed sprouts, and the creeper gradually increases to the point where it penetrates the walls of this universe and goes beyond the Viraja River between the spiritual world and the material world. It attains brahma-loka, the Brahman effulgence, and, penetrating through that stratum, it reaches the spiritual sky and the spiritual planet Goloka Vrndavana.

 

PURPORT

 

   A creeper generally takes shelter of a big tree, but the bhakti-lata, being the creeper of spiritual energy, cannot take shelter of any material planet, for there is no tree on any material planet that the bhakti-lata creeper can utilize for shelter. In other words, devotional service cannot be utilized for any material purpose.

Devotional service is meant only for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sometimes men with a poor fund of knowledge maintain that bhakti can be applied to material things also. In other words, they say that devotional service can be rendered to one's country or to the demigods, but this is not a fact. Devotional service is especially meant for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and it is beyond this material range. There is a river, or causal ocean, between the spiritual and material natures, and this river is free from the influence of the three modes of material nature; therefore it is called Viraja. The word vi means vigata (completely eradicated), and rajah means "the influence of the material world." On this platform, a living entity is completely free from material entanglement. For the jnanis who want to merge into the Brahman effulgence, there is brahma-loka. Bhakti-lata, however, has no shelter in the material world, nor has it shelter in brahma-loka, although brahma-loka is beyond the material world. The bhakti-lata increases until it reaches the spiritual sky, where Goloka Vrndavana is situated.

 

Madhya 19.155  Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs S  137175/530501

The bhakti-lata continues to grow until it reaches the topmost planetary system, Goloka Vrndavana, where Krsna lives. There the creeper takes shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord, and that is its final destination. At that time the creeper begins to

grow the fruits of ecstatic love of God. It is the duty of the devotee who nourishes the creeper to be very careful. It is said that the watering of the creeper must continue: ihan mali sece nitya sravanadi jala. It is not that at a certain stage one can stop chanting and hearing and become a mature devotee. If one stops, one certainly falls down from devotional service. Although one may be very exalted in devotional service, he should not give up the watering process of sravana-kirtana. If one gives up that process, it is due to an offense. This is described in the following verse.

 

Madhya 19.156  Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs S  137182/530501

   "If the devotee commits an offense at the feet of a Vaisnava while cultivating the creeper of devotional service in the material world, his offense is compared to a mad elephant that uproots the creeper and breaks it. In this way the leaves of the creeper are dried up.

 

PURPORT

 

   One's devotional attitude increases in the association of a Vaisnava.

 

tandera carana sevi bhakta-sane vasa
janame janame haya, ei abhilasa

 

   By his personal example, Narottama dasa Thakura stresses that a devotee must always remember to please his predecessor acarya. The Gosvamis are represented by one's spiritual master. One cannot be an acarya (spiritual master) without following strictly in the disciplic succession of the acaryas. One who is actually serious in advancing in devotional service should desire only to satisfy the previous acaryas.

Ei chaya gosani yara, mui tara dasa. One should always think of oneself as a servant of the servant of the acaryas, and thinking this one should live in the society of Vaisnavas. However, if one thinks that he has become very mature and can live separate from the association of Vaisnavas and thus gives up all the regulative

principles due to offending a Vaisnava, one's position becomes very dangerous. Offenses against the holy name are explained in Adi-lila (Chapter Eight, verse 24). Giving up the regulative principles and living according to one's whims are compared to a mad elephant, which by force uproots the bhakti-lata and breaks it to pieces. In this way the bhakti-lata shrivels up. Such an offense is especially created when one disobeys the instructions of the spiritual master. This is called guru-avajna. The devotee must therefore be very careful not to commit offenses against the spiritual master. As soon as one is deviated from the spiritual master, the uprooting of the bhakti-lata begins, and gradually all the leaves dry up.

 

Madhya 19.157  Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs S  137193/530501

   "The gardener must defend the creeper by fencing it all around so that the powerful elephant of offenses may not enter.

 

PURPORT

 

   While the bhakti-lata creeper is growing, the devotee must protect it by fencing it all around. The neophyte devotee must be protected by being surrounded by pure devotees. In this way he will not give the maddened elephant a chance to uproot his bhakti-lata creeper. When one associates with nondevotees, the maddened elephant is set loose. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said: asat-sanga-tyaga,--ei vaisnava-acara.  The first business of a Vaisnava is to give up the company of

nondevotees. A so-called mature devotee, however, commits a great offense by giving up the company of pure devotees. The living entity is a social animal, and if one gives up the society of pure devotees, he must associate with nondevotees (asat-sanga). By contacting nondevotees and engaging in nondevotional activities, a so-called mature devotee will fall victim to the mad elephant offense. Whatever

growth has taken place is quickly uprooted by such an offense. One should therefore be very careful to defend the creeper by fencing it in-that is, by following the regulative principles and associating with pure devotees.

   If one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Krsna Consciousness Society, one can keep direct company with the spiritual master, and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master. However, unless one follows the spiritual master's instructions and the regulative principles governing chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord, one cannot become a pure devotee.

By one's mental concoctions, one falls down. By associating with nondevotees, one breaks the regulative principles and is thereby lost. In the Upadesamrta of Srila Rupa Gosvami, it is said:

 

atyaharah prayasas ca

prajalpo niyamagrahah

jana-sangas ca laulyam ca

sadbhir bhaktir vinasyati

 

   "One's devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required, (2) overendeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to attain, (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters, (4) practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically, (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Krsna consciousness, and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements."

 

Madhya 19.158  Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs S  137205/530501

   "Sometimes unwanted creepers, such as the creepers of desires for material enjoyment and liberation from the material world, grow along with the creeper of devotional service. The varieties of such unwanted creepers are unlimited.

 

Madhya 19.159  Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs S  137212/530501

   "Some unnecessary creepers growing with the bhakti creeper are the

creepers of behavior unacceptable for those trying to attain

perfection, diplomatic behavior, animal killing, mundane profiteering,

mundane adoration and mundane importance. All these are unwanted

creepers.

 

PURPORT

 

   There is a certain pattern of behavior prescribed for those actually trying to become perfect. In our Krsna consciousness movement we advise our students not to eat meat, not to gamble, not to engage in illicit sex and not to indulge in intoxication. People who indulge in these activities can never become perfect; therefore these regulative principles are for those interested in becoming perfect and going back to Godhead. Kutinati, or diplomatic behavior, cannot satisfy the atma, the soul. It cannot even satisfy the body or the mind. The culprit mind is always suspicious; therefore our dealings should always be straightforward and approved by Vedic authorities. If we treat people diplomatically or duplicitously, our spiritual advancement is obstructed. Jiva-himsana refers to the killing of animals or to envy of other living entities. The killing of poor animals is undoubtedly due to envy of those animals. The human form is meant for the understanding of Krsna consciousness (athato brahma-jijnasa), for inquiring about the Supreme Brahman. In the human form, everyone has a chance to understand the Supreme Brahman. The so-called leaders of human society do not know the real aim of human

life and are therefore busy with economic development. This is misleading. Every state and every society is busy trying to improve the quality of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. This human form of life is meant for more than these four animal principles. Eating, sleeping, mating and defending are problems found in the animal kingdom, and the animals have solved their problems without difficulty. Why should human society be so busy trying to solve these problems? The difficulty is that people are not educated to understand this simple philosophy. They think that advancement of civilization means increasing sense gratification.

   There are many religious propagandists who do not know how the ultimate problems of life can be solved, and they also try to educate people in a form of sense gratification. This is also jiva-himsana. Real knowledge is not given, and religionists mislead the general populace. As far as material profits are concerned, one should know that whatever material profit one has must be abandoned at the time of death. Unfortunately people do not know that there is life after death; therefore mundane people waste their time amassing material profit which has to be left behind at the time of death. Such profit has no eternal benefit. Similarly, adoration by mundane people is valueless because after death one has to accept another body. Material

adoration and title are decorations that cannot be carried over to the next body. In the next life, everything is forgotten.

   All these obstructions have been described in this verse as unwanted creepers. They simply present obstacles for the real creeper, bhakti-lata-bija. One should be very careful to avoid all these unwanted things. Sometimes these unwanted creepers look exactly like the bhakti-lata creeper. They appear to be of the same size and the same species when they are packed together with the bhakti-lata

creeper, but in spite of this, the creepers are called upasakha. A pure devotee can distinguish between the bhakti-lata creeper and a mundane creeper, and he is very alert to distinguish them and keep them separate.

 

Adi 7.95-96         Lord Caitanya in Five Features        93241/530501

   "I firmly believe in these words of My spiritual master, and therefore I always chant the holy name of the Lord, alone and in the association of devotees. That holy name of Lord Krsna sometimes causes Me to chant and dance, and therefore I chant and dance. Please do not think that I intentionally do it. I do it automatically.

 

PURPORT

 

   A person who cannot keep his faith in the words of his spiritual master but acts independently never receives the authority to chant the holy name of the Lord. It is said in the Vedas (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23):

 

yasya deve para bhaktir

yatha deve tatha gurau

tasyaite kathita hy arthah

prakasante mahatmanah

 

   "Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed." This Vedic injunction is very important, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu supported it by His personal behavior.  Believing in the words of His spiritual master, He introduced the

sankirtana movement, just as the present Krsna consciousness movement was started with belief in the words of our spiritual master. He wanted to preach, we believed in his words and tried somehow or other to fulfill them, and now this movement has become successful all over the world. Therefore faith in the words of the spiritual master and in the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the secret of success. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu never disobeyed the orders of His spiritual master

and stopped propagating the sankirtana movement. Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, at the time of his passing away, ordered all his disciples to work conjointly to preach the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. Later, however, some self-interested, foolish disciples disobeyed his orders. Each one of them wanted to become head of the mission, and they fought in the courts, neglecting

the order of the spiritual master, and the entire mission was defeated. We are not proud of this; however, the truth must be explained. We believed in the words of our spiritual master and started in a humble way--in a helpless way--but due to the spiritual force of the order of the supreme authority, this movement has become

 

Adi 7.95-96         Lord Caitanya in Five Features        93246/530501

   It is to be understood that when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu chanted and danced, He did so by the influence of the pleasure potency of the spiritual world. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu never considered the holy name of the Lord to be a material vibration, nor does any pure devotee mistake the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra to be a material musical manifestation. Lord Caitanya never tried to be the master of the holy name; rather He taught us how to be servants of the holy name. If one chants the holy name of the Lord just to make a show, not knowing the secret of success, he may increase his bile secretion, but he will never attain perfection in chanting the holy name.

 

Madhya 22.131      The Process of Devotional Service     143379/530501

   

" 'One should taste the meaning of Srimad-Bhagavatam in the association of pure devotees, and one should associate with the devotees who are more advanced than oneself and endowed with a similar type of affection for the Lord.

 

PURPORT

 

   The words sajatiyasaye snigdhe sadhau sangah svato vare are very important items. One should not associate with professional Bhagavatam reciters. A professional Bhagavatam reciter is one who is not in the disciplic succession or one who has no taste for bhakti-yoga. Simply on the strength of grammatical knowledge and word jugglery, professional reciters maintain their bodies and their desires for

sense gratification by reading Srimad-Bhagavatam. One should also avoid those who are averse to Lord Visnu and His devotees, those who are Mayavadis, those who offend the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra, those who simply dress as Vaisnavas or so-called gosvamis, and those who make a business by selling Vedic mantras and reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam to maintain their families. One should not try to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam from such materialistic people. According

to the Vedic injunctions: yasya deve para bhaktih. Srimad-Bhagavatam can only be recited by one who has unflinching faith in the lotus feet of Krsna and His devotee, the spiritual master. One should try to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam from the spiritual master. The Vedic injunction states: bhaktya bhagavatam grahyam na buddhya na ca tikaya.  One has to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam through the process of devotional service and by hearing the recitation of a pure devotee.

These are the injunctions of Vedic literature-sruti and smrti. Those who are not in the disciplic succession and who are not pure devotees cannot understand the real mysterious objective of Srimad-Bhagavatam and Srimad Bhagavad-gita.

Madhya 15.277  The Lord Accepts Prasada at the House of  130076/53050

 Whoever understands Brahman is called a brahmana, and when a brahmana engages in the Lord's devotional service, he is called a Vaisnava. Unless one comes to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his realization of impersonal Brahman is imperfect. A brahmana can chant the Hare Krsna mantra on the platform of namabhasa, but not on the platform of pure vibration. When a brahmana engages in the Lord's service, fully understanding his eternal relationship, his devotional service is called abhidheya. When one attains that stage, he is called a

bhagavata or a Vaisnava. This indicates that he is free from contamination and material attachment.