The book by Shri Dzhishnu Prabhu helps take our behavior, thoughts, and spiritual practice

seriously. Thus, we can reform our practice by communicating with the devotees on a high level
avoiding aparadhas and mistakes. This book contains many caution stories from the holy
scriptures that help deepen knowledge and implement the knowledge into practice. I believe this
work will help many Мaishnavas in their spiritual life.

H.W.Chaitanya Chandra Charan das.

-:-:-:-:-:-

It is not a secret for Vaishnavas that the progress in bhakti yoga, the most concealed and
powerful way of self-realization, directly depends on attentiveness and advertency of sadhaka.
Qualification for ashtanga yoga is exact fulfilment of practice, for jnana yoga is the intellect of
the practitioner. However, the success in bhakti yoga is defined by the wish of the heart to serve
in the sphere of relationship with the Absolute Truth and as a result not to bring harm to this
sensitive sphere of relationships. The aparadha (offence) comes from the mentioned above.
The merit of the book by Sri Dzhishnu prabhu is that he collected together the knowledge of
Gaudy Vaishnava tradition about the different kinds of offences existing in the whole Universe of
Bhakti among the stories illustrating them. There is no aim to scare us to make an offence when
entering the world of contradictory spiritual relationships, but to help us in this path. As it is
known: the man who never made a mistake, never made anything. Nonetheless, the mistakes
are differ. The mistake which is stubbornly never corrected is an offence. I wish the respected
reader would deepen into understanding of bhakti ethic and as a result improved the quality of
the devotional service.
H.H. Bhaktivedanta Sadhu Swami

-:-:-:-:-:-

For many years H.W. Shri Dzhishnu das taught the seminars related to the danger of vaishnava
aparadha and now these seminars and the information he collected are more actual than ever.
In our time, in the era of the Internet, people make offences toward each other easily. To my
regret, the Vaishnavas are not exclusive from this rule. As a result the spiritual growth of our
society is slowing down. Our ISKCON Society is suffering being torn apart by contradictions
and quarrels. It is the way Kali enters the Vaishnava’ society and destroys it from inside. Any
Vaishnav, who will not just read this book through, but will take all these warnings and practical
advises very seriously will quickly obtain the taste to chant the Holy Name and the loving
devotional service to Shri Shri Radha Shyamasundara.
Hare Krishna!
H.H. Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Maharaj.
AUTHOR

This book is dedicated to my spiritual master, Srila Radhanath Swami Maharaja, who teaches
that the highest perfection of life is to become the servant of the servant of the devotees. I
express enormous thanks to all the Vaishnavas, thanks to whose efforts this book was
published.

Special thanks to His Holiness Bhakti Vijnana Goswami Maharaja, who gave important advice
for improving it. Vladimir Ryzhkin inspired me to publish it. Elena Sapega, Elena Mayer and
Tatiana Yufereva transcribed the text, Alexey Babushkin was the coordinator of the publication,
Lina Tokmurzina, Alexey Batanov and Nikita Khrestyan corrected and edited the text.

Polina Khokhlova developed the interior design and together with Oksana Demena drew
illustrations. Ekata prabhu designed the book.

Special thanks to my wife Nandarani Priya who helps and supports me in my preaching work.

Also many thanks to all the devotees who helped cover the costs of printing this book. Thanks
to all of you, we were able to publish this circulation!

Of course, in my humble attempt to serve the Vaishnavas, one can find many imperfections,
therefore, in the hope of someday becoming a real servant of the servant of the servant of the
servant, I pray to my Guru Maharaja, Sri Krishna and all the devotees about the blessings to
continuing this serving.

Your servant, Shri Jishnu das

Introduction

If you look at your favorite pictures of Sri Krishna, you will see that He is never alone. His
devotees are always with Him: garland, flute, dress and etc… All of them are His pure devotees
who serve Him with love and devotion. Gopies, Gopas, cows Surabhi, kalpavriksham, humble-
bees who surround Him, all of them are His great devotees. In the spiritual world everything has
his own personality and there is nothing dead. Every fleck of dust is a person who is eager to
serve Sri Krishna. For example, the grass really likes to fall under the feet of the Lord so that He
steps on it. Krishna touches her with His lotus feet, and she runs over and again lies down in
front of Him so that He would step on her again and again. Each Goloka inhabitant is
incessantly dear to the Lord. When we come back to the Spiritual World we shall have to
cooperate with all of them.
Dreaming about the Spiritual World we often think in terms of geography: “At the moment I am
suffering in the material reality, but when I get into the spiritual world, my happiness begins”.
However, our acaryas make a very important point: “The spiritual world is not somewhere
beyond the material universe. It begins from that place where we are in the right
consciousness.” A person can stay in the material world but be in Goloka Vrindavana in his
consciousness by remembering Krishna and serving Him. Nobody will let us come to the
Spiritual World until we develop such a type of consciousness.

The way we treat the spiritual people shows our attitude to the Lord. Sri Krishna is always in the
company with His dear servants. If we fail to build the right relationships with Vaishnavas here, if
we are used to looking for their faults or insulting them, what are we going to do in the
transcendental reality? It is impossible to come to the Lord "over the heads" of others.The
Kingdom of God will be closed for people with such consciousness. For any inhabitant of the
Goloka Vrindavana, Sri Krsna is millions of times more precious than their own lives, and each
of these devotees is infinitely dear to the Lord. If we hurt somebody there, we shall break
Govinda’s heart. The Lord says that the Vaishnavas are always in His heart. (Srimad
Bhagavatam 9.4.68 https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/9/4/68/)

sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ

sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham
mad-anyat te na jānanti
nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api

“The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of
the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me, and I do not know
anyone else but them.”

Our relationships with the devotees around us are a test, which shows whether we are ready to
enter the spiritual reality or not. If we learn how to respect and love all the devotees around us,
the spiritual world will be opened for us. But if we hurt them, it will be hidden beyond our reach.

The Society for Krishna Consciousness was created to teach us how to properly associate with
the dear servants of the Lord and thus prepare ourselves for our return to Goloka.

Narada Muni says in Srimad Bhagavatam that communication with Vaishnavas plays the
essential role in our spiritual development both on the beginning stage of the spiritual life, and
on the sublime one. (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.5.23-31, purport.)

The entire spiritual world is dynamic by its nature. It constantly grows, deepens and widens.
Krishna’s beauty increases endlessly. His amazing lilas and qualities are everlasting, sweet and
splendid. However, this sweetness is constantly being deepened and sweeten with the new
taste. This is Govinda’s nature. We shall never be able to cognize Him totally. Krishna is always
new. This realization is a reservoir of incomprehensible bliss for His devotees since they
understand that they will be cognizing Him forever. The more they are bound up with Sri Krishna
the happier they are.
All the devotees such as Srila Prabhupada, six Goswamis of Vrindavan and the other
Vaishnavas of the spiritual world continue to develop their love for Govinda. Since love is
dynamic in its nature, the progress of love directly depends on communication with the other
devotees. It is highly important to understand it!

Acaryas compare the association with Vaishnavas with the fire. If we treat the fire correctly, we
can make use of it - warm up and enlighten all around or to cook food. But in case of careless
use of the fire one can either get seriously burned or even die. This is why we have to know
how to treat the devotees correctly and where the wrong treatment leads us to.

One of the fundamental anarthas in the human heart is virodhi-visaya-bhrama. Brahma means
“ignorans''. Virodhi-visaya - obstacles in the spiritual life. (Bhajana Rahasya 2.8) It means lack
of knowledge about the “obstacles on the spiritual way”. If a Vaishnava is not aware of it, he
may get hurt when facing it. The goal of this book is to prepare us and to cultivate the correct
mentality that will protect us in our spiritual life and help us progress without sufferings.

Question:

1. Where does the spiritual world begin?

2. Who resides in Govinda’s heart? How is the understanding of all these points connected
to our spiritual progress?
3. What the Society of Krishna Consciousness is created for?
4. Explain the comparison between association with the Vaishnavas and the fire.
5. Rate your current service mood on a 10-point scale based on your inner feelings.
Remember the score in your memory. You will need it by the end of your reading.

Chapter 1

Vaishnava-aparatha - means an offence to Vaishnavas.

It is impossible to obtain mercy from the Lord without mercy of Vaishnavas.

The result of an offense at the lotus feet of the Vaishnavas is the cessation of worshiping the
Supreme Lord.

Sri Krisna being the best friend and defender for His devotees cannot stand the offences
against His servants. Sri Vrindavan das Thakur says in “Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-
khaṇḍa, 22.8.”:
вайшн̣авера тха̄н̇и йа̄ра хайа апара̄дхакр̣шн̣а-кр̣па̄ хаиле о та̄ра према-ва̄дха

“If one commits an offence against a Vaishnava, even after attaining the mercy of
Krishna, his attachment of love of God is checked.”

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur writes in purport to Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-

khaṇḍa, 22.8:
“By the influence of nama-aparadha, the offender of a Vayshnava is unable to worship
Krishna. Even though others perceive that such people are receiving the Lord’s mercy by
making show of chanting the holy names. The Supreme Lord is never pleased with those who
are averse to the devotees. That is why of the ten offences to be avoided in chanting the holy
names, blasphemy of devotees is the first to be given up. ”

The meaning of the word aparadha is rа̄dhа̄d arthа̄d а̄rа̄dhanа̄d - apagatah, which means "to be
distanced from worship to Krishna." (The Book Krishna’ heart, Introduction).

Aparaha is the behavior that leads us away from worshiping the Lord.

Criterias of the Vaishnava-aparadha

We should be very attentive to what happens in our heart, in order to protect ourselves from
falling down. The way the other devotees treat us shows us whether we correctly progress in
our spiritual life. If the Vaishnavas give us a miss and do not socialize with us, then we have
some problems, which are hard to admit. It is a sign from the Lord that we should alter
ourselves urgently. We have a tendency to be blind to our faults projecting our emotions onto
other devotees, leaders, organization, and common people. We think: “All other people are to
blame but not me.”

There is an interesting definition of illusion:

An illusion is a situation when it has long been obvious to everyone that you are doing
something wrong, but you are the last one to know about it.

We have to alert when seeing the following tendency of our heart:

 The Vaishnavas irritate us

 The devotees keep us on a distance
 We want to distance ourselves and limit communication with them.
 Some uncontrolled material wishes and apathy are strengthened and we feel losing
enthusiasm in our spiritual life.
 Our trust in Guru, Sri Krishna and devotees disappear and we lose taste to chant the
Holy Names
 Our sadhana suffers
 We lose a wish to serve and undertake responsibility for the Srila Prabhupada’s
mission.
 While reading Vaishnava literature, our heart does not sink into it.
The presence of any of these criterias means that we have made a vaishnava-aparadha and we
should change something in our behavior urgently. If you understand towards whom you have
committed an offence, you need to make every effort to neutralize it.

Questions:
1. What is the main criteria of spiritual progress?

2. Which points from listed above resonate in your heart?

3. Think if it is a sequence of the offence of the Vaishnavas in the past. If yes, who can it
be?
4. What do you plan to do to neutralize the offence?

The main types of aparadhas.

There are four main types of aparadhas «Sri Bhajana-rahasya”, 2.10:

1. Ceva-aparadha. Aparadha in worship to the Deities.

2. Nama-aparadha. Offence of the Holy Name.
3. Dhama-aparadha. It is an offence of all connected to Sri Krishna - offence of the
devotees, Holy Dhama, Giriradzh Govardhan, Jamuna and etc…
4. Jiva-aparadha - offence of the living-entities.
Out of these 10 offences of the Holy Name the offence of the devotees is considered the most
dangerous one.
Holly places’ offence also includes incorrect attitude toward the Vaishnavas.

There are about 25 different kinds of aparadhas totally. We shall come across this aparadhas in
the process of the devotional service. A person is protected if assimilates this knowledge;
otherwise he may not even know that he commits the Vaishnava-aparadha or hears it, and his
spiritual life will suffer greatly.

Questions:

1. List the four types of aparadhas.

2. What do they have in common?
3. Why do you think so?

Chapter 2

The Danger of Vaishnava-aparadha.

Two reasons for falling into Maya

There are two main reasons why the devotees fall into Maya:
1. Devotees’ offence
2. Strong material desires as consequences of the former sinful actions

If you know someone who left the spiritual practice, you may notice that it happened due to one
of these two reasons.

How can we protect ourselves?

Srila Prabhupada says that one can transform himself only by mercy of Guru and Krishna if he
is sincere. ( Bhagavad-Gita as it is, 3.31, 6.45, 10.11, purport) We all have material desires but
if we shall sincerely ask the Lord to help us to purify our heart, try to chant the Holy Name
staying within the society of devotees, then Krishna and our Spiritual Master will give us power
to purify our heart.
Finally the ignorance will be cleared away and we shall return to the spiritual world. Our sublime
Spiritual Masters are the alive example of success and actionable process. Even the people
who stumbled and left the spiritual practice due to their material desires, they always quickly
recover and continue their path.

But, can Krishna help us if we insulted a devotee? Does the Lord forbid the offense at the
Vaishnava? In the Srimad Bhagavatam the Lord says that He does not forgive offenses against
His devotee, and only the devotee should be asked for forgiveness. «Srimad Bhagavatam»,
9.4.69, 71.

Maybe a guru can help us? The Guru is very dear to the Lord indeed! However, even he is not
in a position to get us out of the consequences of vaishnava-aparadhas. Moreover, the Guru
has to undertake a part of the consequences of Vaishnava-aparadhas putting himself in a
serious spiritual danger. “The falls of a counselor fall on his king, and the sins of a wife fall
on her husband. In the same way a spiritual master attains the sins of his disciples. That
is certain. (Hari Bhakti Vilasa 1.76-77.) (9)

It turns out that not only the offender himself will receive harsh reactions, but he also lets his
guru down, since he is responsible for the actions of the deciple. Therefore, if a disciple has any
love for the spiritual master, he should be very attentive.

From all stated above, it becomes clear that when performing Vaishnava-aparadha, neither Sri
Krishna nor Sri Guru can help us. Based on this, we can conclude that it is the Vaishnava-
aparadha that is the main reason for the fall into Maya.
The most tremendous and lamentable is that the person who makes an offence stops accepting
the other devotees’ help and it becomes very difficult to save him.

Questions:

1. List the main grounds of falling from the spiritual path.

2. Will God help us if we have made an offence at Vaishnava? Argument your answer.

3. Is the Spiritual Master in a position to defend his disciple from the consequence of
Vaishnava-aparadha?

Stages of growth of faith

Srila Rupa Goswami describes the stages of one's faith growth. (Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu
1.4.15-16) (10)
 Shraddha - flake of a faith;
 Sadhu-sanga - association with devotees;
 Bhajana-kriya - accepting a Guru and following his instructions;
 Anartha-nivritti - purification of heart;
 Nistha - strong faith;
 Ruchi - taste
 Asacti - attachment
 Bhava - beginning of prema (love for the Lord)
 Prema - pure love for Krishna

Let's take a quick look at them.

Everyone has a flake of love - shraddha. Atheists are also believers, only with a minus sign.
Unless they believed, what would be the point of fighting with the Lord?

Faith grows only in communication with the other spiritual people - sadhu sanga. When a
person associates with bearers of devotion to the Lord his faith in this process and in the
spiritual life grows. Gradually he understands that spiritual practice requires an experienced
tutor, this is bhajana-kriya. The person starts purifying his heart from undesirable qualities
under the guidance of his spiritual master. It is already anartha-nivritti. He works already on
purifying his consciousness from dirtiness, bad habits and material desires. Afterall he reaches
the stage of nistha. It is a very important stage. It is considered as a gate to the Kingdom of the
Lord. On this stage one starts “running back to the Lord”. The devotee comes out of the
influence of the Gunas of ignorance and passion and becomes stable in his spiritual life.
(Madhurya Kadambini Forth shower of Nektar, Flow of Ambrosia) p. 320, (11):

“...when naiṣṭhikī-bhakti manifests within the heart, it can no longer be affected by the
modes of passion and ignorance, nor by their effects, such as lust and greed. Thus,
becoming situated in śuddha-sattva, one’s heart attains true happiness.”

He does not grieve anymore, does not have any desires, treats all living entities equally and is
unshakable in his devotion to the Lord.” (Third Shower of Nektar (12):

“Absorption in the five types of sufferings coming from ignorance is an anartha arising
from sinful activities, while absorption in material enjoyment is an anartha arising from
pious activities. When one develops attachment (āsakti) to Śrī Hari, there is no further
chance of becoming absorbed in either material happiness or distress.

Thus it is understood that anarthas arising from sinful acts and those arising from pious
acts are eradicated in the same sequence. After this, the author delineates the sequence
of nullification for anarthas arising from the practice of bhakti (bhakty-uttha-anarthas),
such as
desires for material gain (lābha), worship (pūjā) and recognition (pratiṣṭhā).
Upon engaging in the practice of bhakti at the stage of bhajana-kriyā, there is a partial
cessation (eka-deśa-vartinī-nivṛtti) of the anarthas that arise from the practice of bhakti.
This is because this type of anartha manifests from bhajana-kriyā. At the stage of niṣṭhā,
the cessation is complete (pūrṇā), and at the stage of ruci the cessation is absolute
(ātyantikī).”

Same as the rocket at the gate orbits powers through the Earth's gravitation and burns up to
80% of its fuel, we have to apply 80% of all our efforts on our spiritual path to reach this stage of
spiritual life. Afterwards, it will be much easier to move further.

When the devotee reaches the ruci stage, he obtains the greatest taste to the Krishna
Consciousness. It is the stage of the spontaniouse devotional service. Due to the taste one
aspires to fulfil the devotional service at his best. This person already can not miss mangalarati,
leave the kitchen dirty, chant mantra inattentively. Srila Rupa Goswami says:

“I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Kṛṣ-ṇa’ have produced. When the holy name
of Kṛṣṇa is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths.
When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the
holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and
therefore all the senses become inert.”
(13) (Caitanya caritamrta Antia Lila 1.99).

It is an example of a person who obtained a taste. On our level most of us have to fight with
our mind desperately to concentrate on our rounds. However, if we strive to follow the way after
Srila Prabhupada we shall reach this stage gradually.

Step by step one reaches asakti.

Akadasha-bhava (11 signs of his spiritual form) is opened on this stage -. On this stage (not
earlier) he begins to realise who he is in the spiritual world, what kind of svarupa (spiritual form,
service, environment, clothes etc.) he has there. All these opens to him naturally due to his pure
heart.

If we try to speed up the process of apple's maturation picking it up and warming, it will perish.
However, if we leave it on the branch to get ready it will fill up with sap. In the same way one
should not fabricate who he is in the spiritual world. It will be opened naturally. On the asakti
stage one never thinks of sense enjoyment and does not forget Krishna even for a moment.

After a while one reaches the bhava stage, when Krishna suddenly shows Himself up to the
lucky soul attracted by his love. The devotee sees the transcendental appearance of his
beloved Lord just in front of him and can not get satisfied with this nectar. The devotee can’t
stand watching Krishna’s boundless nectar beauty and sweetness of His form and fall
unconscious.

Then Krishna turns to the devotee. The transcendental voice of Krishna being similar to the
tender booming rolling thunder enters the devotee’s heart. Krishna’s voice is the embodiment of
sweetness. The devotee is again overtaken by ineffable happiness and his material feelings fail
to stand it.

Afterwards Krishna lets His transcendental fragrance of His body enter the devotee’s heart. All
the Vaishnava’s feelings turn to smelling and he again fails to stand it and loses his
consciousness. Then Krishna takes the devotee in his arms. When the transcendental body and
hands of Krishna touch the bhakta, all his senses are transformed into touch. The bliss that a
devotee experiences is beyond description. Krishna, with His lotus hands, wipes away the tears
of the devotee and presses him to Himself. The devotee again falls unconscious, being unable
to bear this happiness. And if the soul is with the Lord in madhurya-rasa, then Sri Krishna allows
him to drink the nectar of His mouth.

Finally, Krishna shows him special grace - karunya. This is when all the feelings experienced by
a devotee multiply millions of times. It looks like a whirlpool. The bliss that a devotee
experiences is so great that he again cannot bear it and falls unconscious. Then Sri Krishna
disappears.
The pain of separation this great soul is experiencing is beyond description. A devotee feels
himself to be a beggar who has suddenly gained infinite wealth, but lost it again. Sri Krishna is
the supreme treasure of sweetness, love, beauty and all that is wonderful. When the Lord
disappears, the suffering and pain of separation make the devotee to become even more
absorbed in the Lord and desire to receive His darshan. Gradually, in the fire of this separation,
the most subtle traces of material contamination are burned up, and a person enters into a
personal relationship with the Lord - prema.

Steps of the heart purification. (from here I did not revise for the second
time!!!!!)

Different types of the heart impurity (anartha) are burned on the different stages of spiritual life.
Hṛdaya-daurbalya - heart poorness, which consists of four kinds of anarthas, almost completely
disappears on the stage Nishtha. “Bhajana-Rahasya” 2.11(14).

1. tucchāsaktiḥ - attachment
to worthless objects, that is, objects unrelated to Kṛṣṇa,
2. kuṭināṭī - hypocrisy and deceit ,
3. matsarya - envy upon seeing the prosperity
of others
4. pratiṣṭhā - desire for prestige and position

Asat-trisna - attachment to insignificant, temporal things consists of four kinds of anarthas,

which almost completely purified on the stage Ruci “Bhajana-Rahasya” 2.9 (15):
1. desire for objects of this material world

2. desire for heavenly pleasures, like those of Svarga

3. desire for mystic powers

4. desire for liberation

Different kinds of anarthas disappear at the different stages of spiritual growth. Finally the heart
is purified only when one reaches the God’s lotus feet and enters the personal association with
Him.

Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakur commented on “Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu 1.3.54”: “By an
offense against the dearest devotee of the Lord, if the offense is grave, even real bhāva
will be destroyed. If the offense is medium, the bhāva will turn into bhāvābhāsa. If the
offense is slight, the bhāva will become an inferior type.”

Three reasons for fall from the tree stages of spiritual

lives.

God Shiva describes the reasons of fall on the stage of sadhana-bhakti, bhava and prema “Sri
Satvata Tantra, Paṭala Four: Bhakti-bheda”, 54. (17):

nirguṇāyāṁ parāṇi-hiṁsā
bhāgavatyām ahaṇkṛtiḥ
premamayyāṃ satāṃ dveṣo
bhakti-nāśa-karā ime

“In nirguna bhakti (devotional service beyond the modes of material nature) it is doing
harm to other living entities. In bhagavati bhakti (devotional service to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead) it is false ego. In premamayai bhakti (devotional service
performed out of love) it is hostility to the great devotees. These are the things that
destroy devotional service.”

The reason for fall at the stage of sadhana (practice) is Nirgunaim prani-himsa - bringing harm
to the other living entities. Srila Prabhupada defines violence in the commentary to the
Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12[18] - it is not to preach, not to give spiritual knowledge to others::
“....So unless one elevates people to spiritual knowledge, one is practicing violence. One should
try his best to distribute real knowledge to the people, so that they may become enlightened and
leave this material entanglement. That is nonviolence.”

Imagine that you visited a house that was full of killers. They murder everyone who enters but
you succeed to rescue. If you see that innocent and unsuspecting people keep on entering this
place you commit a violence unless you warn them of the danger. Of course if a person does
not listen to you and goes there you can do nothing but you gave him information. This is
important.

Ahankriti - heel of false ego is a reason for fall from the Bhava level. Little identification with this
body still exists. If one is careless, he may fall. For example Maharaja Bharata reached Bhava
stage but he got a deer body due to his attachments. English people say : “The race is not over
until it is over”.
Maya may draw us down unless we are careful. This is why it is necessary to stay within the
society of devotees which may tell us about our problems and defend us.

God Shiva recommends keep on chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra to stay on bhava level
and to remember the society of devotees. 19

According to Lord Shiva’s opinion, aparadha that is an offense or disaffection to the Vaishnava
is a reason for fall from the stage of Prema.

Questions:

1. Which are the most serious reasons for falling into maya?
2. Which one is the most dangerous? Explain why?
3. Describe three reasons of falling according to “Sri Satva-Tantra”:
 from the level of sadhana
 from the level of bhava
 from the level of prema.

A story of Srila Rupa Goswami.

One day staying in his bhajan kutir, Rupa Goswami was in a deep meditation watching the lilas
of Sri Radha and Sri Krishna in his heart. He saw Srimati Radhika walking in the forest
surrounded by her friends: they walked by a big tree embroidered with mellow mangos dripping
with juice. Radha wanted to try the mellow fruit but it hung high to reach. Her beloved Shyam
watched Her from that tree hiding behind the heavy foliage. He decided to help the Queen of
His heart and simultaneously to increase Her love with His transcendental tricks. Krishna
stepped on a branch with His transcendental foot and bounded it letting Radha reach the fruit.
Her friends were glad to see it saying that this tree is very merciful to Her. Vrindavanesvari was
overjoyed, jumped up and grabbed the fruit to pluck it. In this moment Krishna let it go and
Radha soared into the air and hanged as a real mango. Krishna burst out laughing.
Seeing this with his spiritual vision, Rupa Goswami also laughed loudly.

At this very time, a venerable sadhu named Krishnadas passed by, he was severely limping and
his body was sick and mutilated from birth.
Krishnadas thought that Rupa was making fun of his appearance, and he left this place in
anger. But Rupa Goswami did not notice how he came and how he left.

Suddenly, the flow of the Lord's divine pastimes in Rupa Gosvami's mind stopped.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not catch even their reflection. He worried: without the
games of his beloved Lord, his life was darkened. He went to his older brother to find out the
reason for this. Sanatana Goswami said:

 You’ve made an offence to a Vaishnava either consciously or unconsciously. Certainly

that is the reason for losing the lila-sphuti (spiritual sight). Lila-sphurty will be restored
after you bring an excuse to the person you offended.
 I have not offended anyone meaningfully. How do I find the person I offended if the
offence was made unconsciously?
 Arrange a feast and invite all the local Vaishnavas. The one who will not accept your
invitation will be the Vaishnava you have offended.

Rupa Goswami followed the instructions. When his delegate came to invite Krishnadas baba, he
refused in a trenchant style describing the way he had been abused.

Rupa Goswami came to Krishnadas personally and submitted his apologies explaining the real
reason for his laugh. Krishnadas remained satisfied with his explanations and the Lila-sphurty
continued. This case is highly educative for each sadhaka. Mahaprabhu may have arranged it in
purpose to defend the Vaishnavas from the vaishnava-aparadha.

Even if Srila Rupa Gosvami, the acarya of our sampradaya and the prema associate of the Lord
from the spiritual world, gets reactions for a vaisnava-aparadha, how careful we must be!

A story of Mather Shachi.

Once Lord Chaitanya sat on the throne of Vishnu and showed His maha-prakasha-lila of His
eternal spiritual forms for 21 hours. He said with the thunderous voice: “ Dear devotees, I came
as Krishna 5 thousands years ago, as Rama I came 1,5 million years ago. I came as Nrisimha.
Now I have come to distribute the pure love to Me to all the people. You all my eternal
companions, please ask whatever you want.”

The devotees came up to Him one by one and He revealed to them those forms in which they
worshiped Him deeply in their hearts. The Lord started telling them how He guided them along
their lives.
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu called for Gangadas Pandit, who was His teacher earlier and said:
“Gangadas, do you remember how many years ago, even before I came to this world, the king
of the Yavanas attacked with his soldiers, and you tried to escape with your family, knowing that
if they caught you, they would rob your wife and daughters of their chastity. You ran to the
Gangesv to protect them. It was already night and there was no boat there. The Javan soldiers
approached quickly. You couldn't cross the Ganges in any way. You began to cry with all your
heart full of grief. At that moment a boatman sailed and you shouted: "Please, I will give you
everything, I will give you my life, just take my family across the Ganges." Know! I myself came
as that boatman to carry you across the Ganges. "
When Gangadas Pandita heard about this mercy of the Lord, he burst into tears and fell to the
ground, losing consciousness.

Afterwards Lord Chaitanya called up Haridas Thakur: “ Do you remember how you were beaten
on the 22 market squares only because you chanted My name? They told you they would stop
biting you if you stopped chanting the names of Hari. But you answered them: “Even if you cut
my body to one thousands pieces each piece will chant the Holy Name.” So, they beat you.
Noone would stand more than two-three squares. It is a horrible torture. Seeing it I sent my
Sudarshana Chakra to murder these rascals but you started praying for them and my arm of
Narayana failed to defend you. It could not do anything. Then I Myself covered your body. Lord
Chaitanya turned and put his chadar off and Haridas Thakur saw that the entire back of the Lord
was covered with scars and bruises. Seeing this, he lost consciousness. The Lord exposed His
own back to the blows to protect His devotee. This is His love.

Lord Chaitanya called up Murari Gupta and revealed the form of Ramachandra to him. Murari
Gupta is an embodiment of Hanuman. Afterwards, showing all his transcendental forms He
said: “Ask Me whatever you want!” The devotees began to ask Him for mercy but for the others,
not for themselves. Somebody said:” Lord, make my son a devotee. He is a gambler.” The Lord
said with a smile: Ok, and endowed this person with prema immediately. Somebody asked for
the treasure for a wife or for a teacher etc… The Lord gave blessings of prema.
Seeing that Mahaprabhu floated each and everybody with the great water of prema, the head of
all the Vaishnavas Shrivasa Pandit turned to Him with his prayer for His own mother.
Mahaprabhu responded:

Prabhu bale, - iha na baliba srinivasa

Tanre nahe dimu prema-bhaktira vilasa
Vaisnavera thani tana ache aparadha
Ataeva tana haila prema-bhakti-vadha”

The Lord replied, “Do not say that, Srivasa. I will not give her the enjoyment of ecstatic
love of God. She has committed an offense against a Vaishnava, so there is an
impediment to her attainment of ecstatic love”.

Hearing this Shrivasa said: O, God, Your words are killing us. How was she, who gave birth to
such a son as You can not be worthy to attain ecstatic love of God? Mata Shaci is our life, she
is a mother of all the Universe! O, God, call Your illusion back and grant her the nektar of
devotional service. You are her son and it means that she is a mother to all of the living entities.
Can the son count the offences that his mother caused? Even if she made an offence of the
Vaishnava, please, be merciful and destroy this aparadha.”

Mahaprabhu said (2):

Prabhu bale, - “upadesha kahite se pari
Vaisnavaparadha ami khandaite nari

Ye-vaisnava sthane aparadha haya yara

Punah se-i ksamile se ghuce, nahe ara

Durvasara aparadha ambarisa-sthane

Tumi jana, tara ksaya haila kemane
Nadara sthanete ache tana aparadha
Nada ksamilei haya premera prasada

Advaita-carana-dhuli laile mathaya

Haibeka prema-bhakti amara ajnaya”

The Lord replied, “I can give instructions, but I am unable to destroy an offense against a
Vaisnava. If one offends a Vaishnava, the offense can be excused only by that Vaisnava, no
one else. Only the Vaisnava who has been offended can excuse the offender, as was the case
when Durvasa offended King Ambarisha. If mother Shaci takes the dust from Advaita’s feet on
her head, then Advaita prabhu will forgive her offense and I will be able to instruct My mother
about devotional service to the Lord.”

Even God Himself can not forbid the offence of the lotus feet of His devotees. He says: “I
surrender to my bhaktas (bhakti-paradhina). Although I am totally independent, I am dependent
on My bhartas.

The Vaishnavas are in His heart and He is in the heart of the Vaishnavas. Sri Krishna is all and
everything for them and they are all and everything for Him. God is a friend and defender of His
devotees, they are the breath of His life and He is their life itself. How Krishna pulverized with
the pure love of His bhaktas can excuse the offence of the saint feet of these Vaishnavas? The
only rescue is to open-heartedly surrender onto the feet of the offended Vaishnava. Then
Supreme God finding His happiness in the noble qualities of His bhaktas and seeing His
devotee forgiving the offender mercevely, Himself mercevely has got compassion to him. So,
since Mata Shaci made an offence of the lotus feet of Advaita she will be remitted by
Mahaprabhu only in case she accepts the dust from the Advaita’s feet on her head. Hearing the
instructions of Gauranga, all the devotees hurried up to see Shachimata and afterwards they all
together went to Sri Advaita Acharia and told him about everything. Advaita Acharia exclaimed
out: “Do you want to take my life? How can you say this to me? Ai is the one to whose womb
my God came down. Shaci is my mother and I am her son. I am the insignificant fleck of dust of
her feet. Ai is the Vishnu-bhakti itself and the Mother of all the worlds. What for the unworthy
words you take the liberty to say without knowing of her sublimity?! The one who says the name
of Ai, even without knowing the meaning of it, he will live a shelter life. There is no difference
between Ganga and Ai. She is Devaki and Yashoda Maiya!”

Glorifying Ai Advaita Acharia lost the conscience of the external world and falled on the earth.
Snatching a moment, Shachi Devi quickly walked up to Sri Advaita and took the dust from his
feet. As soon as this dust touched her head her external consciousness left her. (1)

Parama-vaisnavi ai - murtimati bhakti

Visvambhara garbhe dharilena yanra sakti

Acharya-carana-dhuli laila yakhane

Vihvale padila ai, bahya nahi jane

“Jaya jaya hari” bale vaisnava-sakala

 Anyonye haraye sri-caitanya-kolahala

As the personification of devotional service, mother Shachi was an exalted Vaishnavi.

She had the power to bear Vishvambhara within her womb.
As soon as mother Sachi took the dust from Advaita’s feet on her head, she became
overwhelmed and fell unconscious.
All the Vaisnavas chanted, “All glories to Lord Hari!” the tumultuous glorification of Lord
Caitanya arose among them.

Advaitera bahya nahi - aira prabhave

Aira nahika bahya - advaitanubhave

Donhara prabhave donhe haila vihvala

“Hari hari” dhvani hare vaisnava-mandala.

Hase prabhu visvambhara khattara upare prasanna haiya prabhu bale jananire

Ekhane se visnu-bhakti haila tomara

Advaitera sthane aparadha nahi ara

Advaita lost external consciousness by the influence of mother Sachi, and mother Saci
lost external consciousness by the influence of Advaita. They both became overwhelmed
by the influence of each other and the assembled Vaishnavas all chanted the name of
Lord Hari.
Lord Visvambhara smiled as He sat there on the throne. Being pleased, the Lord spoke to
His mother: “Now you have attained devotional service to Vishnu. Now you are free from
the offence against Advaita.”

Then the outpouring of the highest prema ran over in the heart of Sacimata. Her eyes gushed
out rivers of water. She started rolling on the ground shouting: “ Krishna! Krishna! The
happiness that she experienced increased with every moment.
Hearing such wonderful news from the mouth of Mahaprabhu, the devotees started shouting:
“Jaya! Jaya!”

This way the Supreme Lord, instructing the spiritual master of all the world, cautioned everyone
about vaisnava-aparadha by using His mother as an example.

The great Vaishnava Vrindavan das Thakur says: (2)

Sulapani-sama yadi vaisnavere ninde

Tathapiha nasa paya,- kahe sastra-vrinde.

Iha na maniya ye sujana - ninda kare

Janme janme se papistha daiva-dose mare

Anyera ki daya, gaura-simhera janani

Tanhare o ‘vaisnavaparadha‘ kari’ gani

“Even if someone on the level of Lord Siva blasphemes a devotee, he will soon be
destroyed. This is the verdict of all scriptures. Sinful people who ignore this fact and
blaspheme devotees suffer the punishment of providence birth after birth.
What to speak of others, even the mother of Gaurasinha was not exempt from being
considered an offender of a Vaisnava.”

The offense she committed is described in “Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata” in Adi-khanda. God
Chaitanya had a brother by the name of Vishvarupa. He was a very learned young man. Thanks
to Advaita Acharya he realised the fatuity of the material activity. He accepted sanyasa and left
his home crossing his parents who wanted to marry him. The devotees could not socialize with
Vishvarupa. It broke their hearts. God Gauranga’s father left his body and this also made them
sad. Sachi’s mother became a widow with the small Nimai in her hands. But when Sri Chaitanya
grew older, he started visiting the house of Advaita Acharia without paying attention to his
young wife Vishnupria. Mother Shachi said to Him: “Nobody feels compassion for me as a
widow. This Advaita took away one son which was moon like and does not leave another one in
peace. He is Advaita for the others, but for me he is Dvaita (dual or double-faced)” Although
Sachimata said these words pervaded with love to God, anyway it is considered as an offence.

We only harm ourselves if we offend the devotees with the rigorous words. Which reactions wait
for us?
Questions:

1. What lesson have you drawn from the story about Rupa Goswami and cripple-babaji?
2. What have you learned from the story of mother Shachi?

The story about Rupa Kaviraj

It happened three hundred years ago. Rupa Kaviraj is a disciple of Sri Krishna Charan
Chakravarti, who in his turn was a param-guru of the spiritual master of Srila Vishvanatha
Chakravarti Tkakur.

Rupa Kaviraj received some special blessings from his spiritual master
to become a distinguished Vaishnava sunk into bhajan and an expert of “rasa-shastras”. It
means he received kripa-siddhi. Afterwards, Guru seent him tohe Radha-kund to Mukund das,
the nearest disciple of Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami in order to study Scriptures further. Rupa
Kaviraj received a lot of mercy and knowledge from Mukunda das, who was the self-realised
soul.

Rupa Kaviraj began to reveal wonderful emotions of devotion and deep scholarship. His
Shrimad Bhagavatam lectures that he conducted at Radha-kunda attracted many sublime
Vaishnavas from the entire Vrindavan.

One day Krishnapria Devi, the granddaughter of Ganga Narayan Chakravarti came to listen to
Srimad Bhagavatam. She was very dear to all the Vaishnavas since she kept chanting
Mahamantra in the humble state of mind.

Taking a sit, she listened to the lecture attentively, while she was chanting the Holy Names.
Rupa Kaviraj stopped the lecture and said to her:
 What are you doing? You should either chant the Mantra or listen to the
“Bhagavatam”! One should not do two things simultaneously!
Krishnapria brought humble obeisances to him.
 Please, forgive me but I can not control my mouth. It continues chanting Hare Krishna
even when I eat and sleep.

Rupa Kaviraj got into a rage and began to reprimand and abuse Krishnapria.

All the Vaishnavas got disappointed and y bg l o went home.

Rupa Kaviraj completely lost his ability to understand Shastras and bhakti as soon as he
offended Krishnapria. He got very proud, rejected his Guru and started preaching sahadjia
with an admixture of mayavada. He created his own apa-sampradaya leading people down to
hell.

In sometime Rupa Kaviraj developed leprosy and ran away from Vrindavan trying to find
shelter in the other Vaishnava’s community. However the rumors about his offence of the pure
devotee spreaded everywhere and he was nowhere to be accepted. He died in the agonizing
torture from leprosy somwhere in the region of Orisa and ended up in hell. Even when he
went through the hellfire his sufferings did not end. He could not receive a body of a human
being. He became a brahma-rakshas (ghost). This ghost came up to those who abused the
Vaishnavas and torture them.

This story caused a stir in the Vaishnava society. When Rupa Kaviraj came to somebody at
night, people understood that an offence took place and hurried up to ask for an excuse.

Rupa Kaviraj achieved a very high spiritual level: someone said that he was on the stage of
bhava, the others said that he was on the stage of prema. However he lost it all, ended up in
hell and became a ghost. The offences of the Vaishnavas will ruin all the achievements of the
spiritual life.

Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata says (3):

“Just as a foolish person who worships the feet of a brahmana and then beats him in the head
goes to hell, one who worships the Deity form of Lord Visnu and then disrespects that same
Lord who is situated in the hearts of all the living entities also goes to hell.”

“What to speak of being envious of the Vaishnavas, if one causes pain to ordinary living
entities he is considered a fallen low-class person. Even after worshiping Lord Visnu, if a
person gives trouble to other living entities, his worship becomes fruitles. Such a person
suffers unlimited miseries.

The worship of persons who do not know that Lord Visnu is present within the heart of every
living entity certainly materialistic.

Their worship is like someone who washes the feet of a brahmana with one hand and beats
him on the head with his other hand.

Consider carefully, have such persons ever been benefited, or will they ever be benefited?

It is a hundred times more sinful to blaspheme a Vaishnava than to be envious of ordinary

living entities.

Those who faithfully worship the Deity form of the Lord but do not respect His devotees; those
 who do not show compassion to those who are foolish, wretched, and fallen; those who
worship one incarnation of the Lord and do not worship others incarnations; those who
discriminate between Krshna and Ramachandra; and those who have no love for Balarama
and Shiva are, according to the scriptures, the lowest of all devotees.

“A devotee who faithfully engages in the worship of the Deity in the temple but does not
behave properly toward other devotees or people in general is called a prakrta-bhakta, a
materialistic devotee, and is considered to be in the lowest position”.

In the course of these topics, I have described the symptoms of the lowest devotees. Thus
Nityananda became filled with bliss on seeing the six-armed form of the Lord.

Questions:

1. Which lessons have you learned from the story about Rupa Kaviraj?
2. What is the main idea of the citations from the Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata stated above?

The story about Pundarika Vidyanidhi.

This story can also be found in the Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata (4).

Once after a big festival of Odana Sasthi (when Lord Jagannath is offered with the new clothes)
in Jagannatha Puri, when all the devotees had already left, Pundarika Vidyanidhi and Svarupa
Damodara were still there. Pundarika Vidyanidhi had some anxiety and he decided to ask
Svarupa Damodara:

 Why do the servants of Lord Damodara offer Him starched clothes? Why do the local
priesthood neglect the shastras and offer greasy clothes to the Lord?
 It is very simple. There is nor defect neither mistake in the local tradition. It is not enough
to be the connoisseur of shastras in order to understand the essence of this festival. If
The Lord did not want this festival, He would let the King know.

 Of course, answered Pundarika, Lord Jagannath can do whatever He wants but no one
should imitate Him and do whatever he wants!

 Dear brother, Svarupa Damodara continued, the local pandits did not make a mistake.
When the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes as Lord Jagannath, He does not
think about the rules and taboos.
 But, my brother, of course, Lord Jagannath is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and
He can reject all the traditions, but…
They carried on this conversation walking along the road and smiles enlightened their faces.
They came to a conclusion that it was funny to think that the servants of Lord Jagannath can
make a mistake. Krishna loves His devotees very much.

Both of them returned to Lord Chaitanya after prasadam and went to bed. Lord Chaitanya knew
of everything that both Pundarika Vidyanithi and Svarupa Damodara discussed. He came in a
dream to Pundarika in the form of The Lord of the Universe. Looking at him seriously, He and
His brother Balarama started punching His devotee in his face.

It hurt Pundarika and he cried: “Krishna, help me! Save me! Excuse my offences! He payed:
Dear Lord, what have I done? How have I offended You that I have deserved a punishment?

You are too busy making offences! You know nothing neither about me nor about the glory of
my servants! You consider yourself such a sublime person! Do you worship me as a Supreme
God but criticizing my servants? You have considered the offering of my devotees a mistake!

Pundarika got paralYsed with fear. Put the feet of Lord onto his head and cried:
 O, Lord, please forgive me, unworthy rascal, who blasphemes Your devotees! You
punished me and by doing this You have expressed Your causeless mercy. You have
personally come to bring me what I have deserved! It is the most halcyon day of mine!
 You are my servant, this is why I am kind to you, said the Lord of the Universe gently.
This is why I have punished you.
Afterwards, Jagannatha and Baladeva looked at Pundarika with love and returned to Their
Temple.

Pundarika looked at his cheeks with the merciful impact marks and smiled:
 It is very favorable! I have committed a heavy sin and the Lord has punished me softly.

God is very merciful to His servants. He never punished Pradumna, Sita, Rukmini, Satyabhama
and the other close companions or DemiGods. It happened very rare that Krishna appeared in
a dream and gave His mercy in such a surprising form. One who is punished by the Lord in a
dream, will wake up purified from his offences. Moreover he obtained the highest good. It is a
great luck.

The story about Rama Krishna Pandit, a sadhu from Vrindavan

One day a Spiritual Master of Rama Krishna advised him to accomplish a purashcharia of
Krishna-mantra during 17 days. He chanted Holy names with a deep devotion. For the first 3
days he took only milk and afterwards for the next 12 days he took only water. For the last 2
days he fastened. Radha and Krishna appeared on the 17th day and said:

 We are pleased with you dear Rama Krishna. Tell Us what do you want?
 I do not need anything except Your happiness!

The Divine Couple rewarded him with Their smiles and disappeared. Since that time Rama
Krishna has lived in a cave in Govardhan. The lucky pandit received a mercy in the form of the
spiritual vision and the eternal Krishna Lilas opened for him. He was sitting in a cave from 2
a.m. till 2 p.m. in a full meditation on the Lilas of his beloved Lord. After that he came to light to
speak to many sadhus, who looked forward to receiving his instructions besides the cave. Rama
Krishna helped them and solved their problems without difficulty. After that they arranged a
lecture and a kirtan which continued till evening. After the kirtan was finished, Rama Krishna
Baba went to collect charity. During the time he sank into the eternal Lilas so deeply that he
stopped noting the time-flow of the material world. It was not clear when he meditated and when
he left the cave. Sometimes he sank into samadhi and did not get out of the cave for two-three
days. Sadhus were unable to communicate to him.

Once upon a time the mother of Rama Krishna came from Jaipur to meet her dear son. She
was waiting for him for two days near the cave. On the third day he came out and was heading
to collect the charity without paying attention to his mother. It broke her heart. When his mother
left he lost his ability to see the transcendental Lilas of the Lord. He came to another developed
Babaji called Krishnadas and asked him what could happen. Baba answer to him:

-Everything is very simple. You offended your mother who is a Vaishnavi.

Right away Rama Krishna wrote her a letter in which he asked her to forgive him for his
heartlessness and invited her to Vrindavan. He found her an individual house where she stayed
till the end of her life. The son took care about her mother and did everything possible to make
her happy. As soon as he began to do it he got his vision of the spiritual world back.

Krishna can forgive any offence to Himself but He never forgives the offence of His devotees.(5)
Bhagavat-Gita 1.32-35

Hari-bhakti-vilasa says:

The Lord will not accept worship of a man who, when meeting a Vaishnava, is not excited and
does not greet him.
When a Vaishnava comes to your door, you need to greet him with respect, talk to him with
pleasure and behave friendly. Otherwise, it will be considered as a sin.

Hari Bhakti Vilasa 10/328 skanda Purana, conversation between Markandeya and Bhagiratha:

“Oh, best of the kings, the best of the kings, the house of one who does not listen to a
vaishnava coming to his lodging, is like a cemetery. The ancestors do not live in this house. If
someone sees an unknown Vaisnava come towards him from a distance, if he does not,
according to his capacity worship or respect him, then there is no worse sinner than him
in this world.”

Questions:
1. Describe what you have learned from the story about Pundarika Vidyanidhi?
2. How does the Lord react when we fail to meet the Vaishnava in the proper way?

Chapter 3

How the process of vaishnava-aparadha works and what does the offence start from?

The root cause of aparadha is pride.

The steps, which one makes while making an offence:

1. Pride
2. Unperceived disparagement (arrogance)
3. Abuse in mind
4. Abuse in words
5. Lost of faith in guru and Krishna
6. Vsana (uncontrolled material desire)
7. Change of society
8. Attraction to the opposite gender
Let us analyze this scheme in details:

1. Pride is a feeling of exclusiveness and specialness.

It leads to blindness of own utter rightness. Such a person considers his own opinion to be the
absolute truth and a priori diminish thoughts and words of others.

Srila Bhaktivinoda says that the cause of all the sins in the heart is sva pratishtha , that is the
pride and a will of glory (9). The Vedas says that one second of pride ruins the results of
millennial austerities. Pride is quality that is anterior to fall.

Unconsciously one begins to put himself first. He becomes a scene stiller considering himself to
be the center around which everything revolves and serves him. It comes out in minor things: in
the wish to be the first one to receive flowers, oil lamp, prasadam, to be in focus etc. in his
behaviour, such a devotee unconsciously begins to trampling over each other in fulfilling his
own desires and plans. He thinks he is so exclusive that he has the right to do it.

3. Afterwards it leads to the offence in thoughts.

Searching for faults in others is a mentality that helps us to support self-respect by down-
grading the others. This is a basic psychological mechanism of intention to seek other people's
faults. Actually, revealing the real faults is not the goal of this type of mentality since this person
is not interested in the realness of the faults. In this case this person has a tendency to see the
faults everywhere because he is attracted to them. One can have thousands millions of merits,
but in the sight of such a person, even one fault will seem brighter than all the merits.

Due to the solicitude of his own interiority, one is striving to seek for other people’s faults.
However, he does not want to admit it openly and therefore, in order to feel better, shifts his
attention to the imperfection of others.

There is a chance to stop the process on the first three levels. It takes a lot of efforts to self-
change. It is necessary to keep on analysing the thoughts and behavior. However, if a person
makes an offence, it will be much more complicated to neutralize the consequences.
4. As the metaphor goes - what the heart thinks the tongue speaks. If a person does not work
on himself, his negative thoughts fall from his lips. The offence with words is considered to be
the Vaishnava-aparadha since it is an action.

5. Afterwards, one loses the faith in Guru and Krishna. What will happen to a ripe pear if it is cut
with a sharp edge? Its juice will outflow and it will decay. We injure our faith by offending the
devotees and the correct understanding of the absolute truth flow out of our heart. We lose our
protection. Then our consciousness is being covered with avidia - ignorance and it comes fully
under the influence of the material energy. Finally the person does not understand what has he
done in the society of the devotees for the previous years.

In 1998 there were some events in connection with the falldown of a guru-sanyasi. At that time
many devotees made offences while criticising the Vaishnavas by ignorance. Among the
offenders there was a devotee who distributed books for the last 10 years. During the
December marafon he managed to distribute 3.500 sets of books that is 35.000 books for 1
month! He gave lectures on the radio “Krishnaloka” and expressed qualities of the Vaishnava in
a Temple. After he made a vaishnava-aparadha he lost his bhakti, knowledge and purity. He
seemed to put on a cap. Once he said to a parishioner: I do not know what I have done here for
the last 10 years.” He also lost his understanding of the Spiritual Scriptures. It was a reaction to
the vaishnava-aparadha. He lost his intelligence, comprehension of the things and lost the faith
in his guru and Krishna. It was awful to see.

6. The next stage is the uprisal of the material wishes. Krishna stops defending such a person
with His mercy and the material desires become uncontrolled. This person makes up his mind to
transgress in this world.

7. The next stage - change the society to the one with a lower value system. The Vaishnava
Society is a society with high moral standards. Any person of this movement at least strives to
stick with the four regulative principles and moral norms. But the offender does not want to
change. He tries to avoid compaction and looks for the society with the lower standards where
he feels comfortable to transgress and consider himself “normal”. Usually these people declare:
“ It makes no difference which spiritual practice to choose! The most important thing is to be
good-natured people!” It is the best justification for the mind to violence to their consciousness
in order to go to vole.

8. Finally this is the last stage. The biggest enjoyment in the material world is sex. Usually the
offender ends up with making the illigal sex.

Questions:
 1. What is the root of all the evils? What is the danger of this feature.
2. What is behind the desire to seek for the other people’s faults?
3. List 8 stages of fall after making an offence.

Chapter 3

How the process of vaishnava-aparadha works and what does the offence start from?

The root cause of aparadha is pride.

The steps, which one makes while making an offence:

1. Pride
2. Unperceived disparagement (arrogance)
3. Abuse in mind
4. Abuse in words
5. Lost of faith in guru and Krishna
6. Vsana (uncontrolled material desire)
7. Change of society
8. Attraction to the opposite gender

Let us analyze this scheme in details:

1. Pride is a feeling of exclusiveness and specialness.

It leads to blindness of own utter rightness. Such a person considers his own opinion to be the
absolute truth and a priori diminish thoughts and words of others.

Srila Bhaktivinoda says that the cause of all the sins in the heart is sva pratishtha , that is the
pride and a will of glory (9). The Vedas says that one second of pride ruins the results of
millennial austerities. Pride is quality that is anterior to fall.

Unconsciously one begins to put himself first. He becomes a scene stiller considering himself to
be the center around which everything revolves and serves him. It comes out in minor things: in
the wish to be the first one to receive flowers, oil lamp, prasadam, to be in focus etc. in his
behaviour, such a devotee unconsciously begins to trampling over each other in fulfilling his
own desires and plans. He thinks he is so exclusive that he has the right to do it.
3. Afterwards it leads to the offence in thoughts.

Searching for faults in others is a mentality that helps us to support self-respect by down-
grading the others. This is a basic psychological mechanism of intention to seek other people's
faults. Actually, revealing the real faults is not the goal of this type of mentality since this person
is not interested in the realness of the faults. In this case this person has a tendency to see the
faults everywhere because he is attracted to them. One can have thousands millions of merits,
but in the sight of such a person, even one fault will seem brighter than all the merits.

Due to the solicitude of his own interiority, one is striving to seek for other people’s faults.
However, he does not want to admit it openly and therefore, in order to feel better, shifts his
attention to the imperfection of others.

There is a chance to stop the process on the first three levels. It takes a lot of efforts to self-
change. It is necessary to keep on analysing the thoughts and behavior. However, if a person
makes an offence, it will be much more complicated to neutralize the consequences.

4. As the metaphor goes - what the heart thinks the tongue speaks. If a person does not work
on himself, his negative thoughts fall from his lips. The offence with words is considered to be
the Vaishnava-aparadha since it is an action.

5. Afterwards, one loses the faith in Guru and Krishna. What will happen to a ripe pear if it is cut
with a sharp edge? Its juice will outflow and it will decay. We injure our faith by offending the
devotees and the correct understanding of the absolute truth flow out of our heart. We lose our
protection. Then our consciousness is being covered with avidia - ignorance and it comes fully
under the influence of the material energy. Finally the person does not understand what has he
done in the society of the devotees for the previous years.

In 1998 there were some events in connection with the falldown of a guru-sanyasi. At that time
many devotees made offences while criticising the Vaishnavas by ignorance. Among the
offenders there was a devotee who distributed books for the last 10 years. During the
December marafon he managed to distribute 3.500 sets of books that is 35.000 books for 1
month! He gave lectures on the radio “Krishnaloka” and expressed qualities of the Vaishnava in
a Temple. After he made a vaishnava-aparadha he lost his bhakti, knowledge and purity. He
seemed to put on a cap. Once he said to a parishioner: I do not know what I have done here for
the last 10 years.” He also lost his understanding of the Spiritual Scriptures. It was a reaction to
the vaishnava-aparadha. He lost his intelligence, comprehension of the things and lost the faith
in his guru and Krishna. It was awful to see.
6. The next stage is the uprisal of the material wishes. Krishna stops defending such a person
with His mercy and the material desires become uncontrolled. This person makes up his mind to
transgress in this world.

7. The next stage - change the society to the one with a lower value system. The Vaishnava
Society is a society with high moral standards. Any person of this movement at least strives to
stick with the four regulative principles and moral norms. But the offender does not want to
change. He tries to avoid compaction and looks for the society with the lower standards where
he feels comfortable to transgress and consider himself “normal”. Usually these people declare:
“ It makes no difference which spiritual practice to choose! The most important thing is to be
good-natured people!” It is the best justification for the mind to violence to their consciousness
in order to go to vole.

8. Finally this is the last stage. The biggest enjoyment in the material world is sex. Usually the
offender ends up with making the illigal sex.

Questions:

1. What is the root of all the evils? What is the danger of this feature.
2. What is behind the desire to seek for the other people’s faults?
3. List 8 stages of fall after making an offence.

Chapter 4

What happened to a person who offended a

Vaishnava.

The power of consequences of the vaishnava-aparadha.

There are two criterias to estimate the power of consequences:

1. Who was offended (the spiritual level of the devotee)

2. Depth of the offence
The consequences will surely come. In some cases they will be extremely dire, in the other
ones just dire.

Srila Prabhupada says in the Nectar of Devotion (10):

As attachment can be invoked by the association of pure devotees, so attachment can also be
extinguished by offenses committed at the lotus feet of pure devotees.To be more clear, by the
association of pure devotees attachment for Kṛṣṇa can be aroused, but if one commits offenses
at the lotus feet of a devotee, one’s shadow attachment or parā attachment can be
extinguished. This extinguishing is like the waning of the full moon, which gradually decreases
and at last becomes dark. One should therefore be very careful while associating with pure
devotees to guard against committing an offense at their lotus feet.

Transcendental attachment, either shadow or parā, can be nullified by different degrees of

offenses at the lotus feet of pure devotees. If the offense is very serious, then one’s attachment
becomes almost nil, and if the offense is not very serious, one’s attachment can become
second class or third class.”

It is said in the Chaytanya Bhagovata:

Mora ei satya sabe suna mana diya

Ye amare puje mora sevaka langhiya

Se adhama jane more khanda khanda kare

Tara puja mora gaye agni-hena pode

“Everyone listen to My words. Any fallen soul who disrespects My servant and worships
Me cuts Me into pieces. His worship feels like fire to My body.”

It is said in the Dvaraka Mahatmya

(12):

Pujito bhagavan visnur

Janmantara-satair api
Prasidati na visvatma
Vaisnave capamanite
The most sinful people who criticize the great Vaisnavas are subject by Jamaraja to the
severer punishment of being sliced in pieces by very sharp saws. Lord Hari, the
Supersoul of the entire universe, is never pleased with the miscreant who insults a
Vaisnava, even if he has worshiped Visnu for hundreds of births”.

We see Krishna turns off him.

It is said in the Caitanya Bhagavata (13)

śūlapāṇi-sama yadi bhakta-nindā kare

bhāgavata pramāṇa — tathāpi śīghra mare
hena vaiṣṇavere ninde sarvajña ha-i
se janera adhaḥ-pāta sarva-śāstre ka-i

“Even if one is as strong as Lord Śiva, who carries a trident in his hand, one will
nonetheless fall down from his spiritual position if he tries to insult a Vaiṣṇava. That is
the verdict of all Vedic scriptures.”

Sooner or later our mind says to us: “You already know so much, therefore you have the right
to criticize and condemn others”. If we agree to him, we will come to pieces.

H.H. Radhanatha Swami said in one of his lectures: The biggest danger on the spiritual path is
that sooner or later a person starts thinking that his spiritual experience and qualification give
him the right to criticize others.”

It is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam (14):

“......Even if a person is as strong as Lord Śiva, if he blasphemes a Vaiṣṇava he is sure to be

destroyed.”

Sukadeva Goswami said to Maharaja Parikshit (15) :

āyuḥ śriyaṁ yaśo dharmaṁ

lokān āśiṣa eva ca
hanti śreyāṁsi sarvāṇi
puṁso mahad-atikramaḥ
“My dear King, when a man persecutes great souls, all his benedictions of longevity,
beauty, fame, religion, blessings and promotion to higher planets will be destroyed.”

The same is stated in the Hari-Bhakti-Vilasa: (16)

Oh, King, offending the Vaishnava, one loses religion, wealth, fame, children and lofty station.
Stupid people, who offend the sublime Vaishnavas will suffer in the hell Raurava together with
their forefathers.

Questions:

1. How does Lord Chaitanya react to the offence of the devotees?

2. What kind of big danger one can meet on the spiritual path? How are you taking care of
it?
3. Which seven things will the offender lose in accordance with Srimad Bhagavatam?

The stories about Sri Rasikananda, the great disciple of Shyamananda Pandit.

Once the Vaishnavas came to Rasicananda. She greeted them with hospitality and offered all
the necessary products to cook the meal. However he has no ghi. Rasika went to the town to
buy the ghi. It was night and he lost his way entering a house of yavana by mistake. Although it
was late, the owner of the hose did not sleep. He enjoyed a bevy of his wife.

Yavana got angry when he saw an unbidden guest. He lashed out at Rasika and hitted him.

However Rasica serenely put his thenar on his hand and said: “ why are you buttering? My
body is too coarse and your hand may take a lot of bruises and grazes”. The astound yavana
bound fell to the feet of the stranger.
Rasika continued his way. He managed to buy ghi and returned home. In some days the
irascible yavana lost his wealth. His house was ruined and his wives dead. He came soon to
Rasika in fright in order to surrender to him. He said:

 I am a total idiot therefore I failed to recognise your greatness.Please, forgive me and be

merciful to me!

Rasika said:

 Do not be anxious, just worship to Krishna. You will return all your wealth.

On the mercy of Rasicananda this yavan became a devotee and acquired everything he had
lost.

Another time Rasika organised a great festival. He treated his guests in a suave manner,
testimonies each of them, satisfied the sadhus and impressed the kings with the magnificence
of the festival. After he had seen them off he approached a kirtani to extend the courtesy and
testimonase them.

He came up to Sri Kishira and Chintamani das to give them beautiful dresses but they threw
them down. The dresses fell on the head of Rasica prostrating in a dandavat before the feet of
the ignorant brothers. Rasika continued to smile at them despite the stream of abuse of Sri
Kishora and Chintamani das. He said:

Earlier my gura Shyamananda tied a piece of fabric round my head. Now you have done the
great honor to me.

While the kept on abusing and ballyrading, he again prostrated himself before their feet and
continued:

I am really guilty. You both the ocean of mercy. Please forgive me and let me serve you.

In the evening Sri Kishora and Chintamani das went home. Rasika, being in the deepest
meditation on his beloved guru Shyamananda, streaming with tears, followed them. He alone
went through the forest and came out to the hamel where the brothers lived. By this time Sri
Kishora and Chintamani got very much ill. Rasika got to know about it and took care of them.
He brought a lot of doctors, but no one could help the brothers.
Soon they realized that they heavily abused the great devotee Rasikananda, who eternally had
Sri Chaitanya and Nityananda in his heart. They understood that their original illes had come
from the sin of offence of the Vaishnava, that was claiming their lives similarly to the poison of a
snake. They started glorifying rasikananda telling the other devotees about his
greatness.Although Rasikananda applied all the efforts to save the brothers, they left their
bodies in a few days. Rasika bewailed them for a long time.

After Rasika fulfilled all the necessary ceremonies, he held a festival in honour of Damodara
Goswami and afterwards he continued wandering filled with ecstatic love for Krishna.

Sometime later Rasikananda and Vamshidas went to Hijili. There they met the local pandits
headed by Sadashiva and Udhava, followers of the mimamsa-mandana philosophy. They
engaged in a talk.Rasika told about Krishna and commented on the Scriptures. The pandits
failed to contradict his arguments and began to abuse Shyamananda in anger. Rasika left this
place and wrote a letter to the pandits: “Shall not even touch the water in the Hijli hamel. You all
will have to die due to the offence you have made. I shall give you Harinama in your next life.”

The servant of Rasika gave the letter to a man who had been present at the dispute with the
pandits but he lost his intelligence due to his ignorance and splitted out:

Take this letter back and tether it to the tail of a dog!

All the people who were present there closed their ears refusing to hear the offence of the holy
man. As soon as mimamsaka left he was attacked by a pack of the mad dogs and and teared
his body to tatters. During the next six month Sadashiva and Uddhava and all the other ignorant
pandits died. No one from the offenders survived.However, in the next life they got Harinama as
he had promised.
The story about Bhaktivinoda Thakur
While living in Jagannatha Puri, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur instituted a society of devotees
“Bhagavata-samsat”. The meetings of the society constantly took place in the gardens of
Jagannatha-Vallabha. Many Vaishnavas and pandits visited them, but Raghunatha das babaji
constantly avoided these meetings. He could not stand Bhaktivinoda because he did not wear a
tilak and a knthimals. Babaji considered Bhaktivinoda to be a non-devotee and persuaded
everybody from visiting these meetings.

Soon after these offenses babaji got sick. Lord Jagannatha Himself came to his dream. Krishna
menacingly said that if the babaji wanted to keep his life, he had to implore forgiveness before
the feet of Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Upon waking up, the babaji hurried up to Thakur, fell before his
feet and said:
 I have offended you, please forgive me. I did not pay respect to you since you did not
wear a tilak and a mala.I considered you a non-Vaishnava.

Bhaktivinoda responded him in a deep humble:

-Babaji mahasaya, only Diksha Guru can give tilak and kanthimals to a Vaishnava. I did not
obtain such a mercy from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This is why I use the Tulasi beads for
chanting the holy names only.

May I wear a mala and adorn my elbow with them upon my wish?

Babaji fully realized his mistake and glorified Bhaktivinoda Thakur.

Bhaktivinoda forgived Raghunatha das and helped him to throw off an illness. Since that time
babaji was too busy to sing the virtue of Bhaktivinoda Thakur.

***

One day a son of Bhaktivinoda Thakur lapsed into illness. He lied down with fever and
unconsciousness. All throughout the day Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati chanted the Holy
Name sitting beside his bed. In some days the boy opened his eyes and said: “In my last life I
was a Vaishnava in Sri Sampradaya and reached the heights in the spiritual life but I had the
imprudence to make an offence to the gaudiya-vaishnava. Due to this offence I failed to return
to God and had to be reborn. Thanks toyourchanting I have purified from aparadha and now I
am coming back to the spiritual world. After saying that the boy left his body. After his death a
wide tilak of Sri Vaishnavas appeared on his forehead.

Hari-bhakti-vilasa says the following about the offenders of the Vaishnavas:

The one who inflicts harm to them will lose all the righteousness accumulating from their
birthday. (10.313)
Also, the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (10.314) gives the following quotation from the Dvārakā-māhātmya:
kara-patraiś ca phālyante su-tīvrair yama-śāsanaiḥ
nindāṁ kurvanti ye pāpā vaiṣṇavānāṁ mahātmanām

In a conversation between Prahlāda Mahārāja and Bali Mahārāja, it is said, “Those sinful people
who blaspheme Vaiṣṇavas, who are all great souls, are subjected very severely to the
punishment offered by Yamarāja.”

Questions:
1. What kind of lesson did you learn from the story about Rasikananda?
2. What can you learn through the stories with Bhaktivinoda Thakur?

Chapter 5.
Types of Vaishnava aparadhas.

Six types of aparadhas are described in “Skanda-

Purana”
hanti nindati vai dveṣṭi vaiṣṇavān nābhinandati
krudhyate yāti no harṣaṁ darśane patanāni ṣaṭ

“Whoever kills or blasphemes a Vaiṣṇava and whoever is envious of a Vaiṣṇava or angry

with him, or whoever does not offer him obeisances or feel joy upon seeing him,
certainly falls into a hellish condition.”
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya Lila 15.261, Purport.)

Thus, there are 6 types of offences described here:

1. Killing or inflicting a physical harm to a Vaishnava;
2. Verbal abuse;
3. Hostility feelings;
4. Disrespect;
5. Anger towards a Vaishnava
6. Lack of joy when seeing a Vaishnava

The aparadha are listed in decreasing order of their power.

1. The first type of aparadha - murder. It is the most awful sin.

2. Accusing with words is the second one because sometimes we can cause even more
pain to a person than injure him physically.
 3. If we consider someone among the devotees to be our enemy and feel rancour towards
him, we should urgently change something. It is very dangerous because we are
cultivating the offensive mentality towards this devotee.
4. We should treat every living entity with respect and more over the devotees as they are
not only Lord’s children but his beloved servants. “Yes, to call one another prabhu is all
right, but not to become prabhu. To accept others as prabhu, and remain as servant is
the idea. But because somebody is calling you prabhu, one should not become a
prabhu, and treat others as servants. In other words, everyone should feel himself as
servant, and not to think himself prabhu because he is being called prabhu. This will
make the relationship congenial.”

https://vanisource.org/wiki/680614_-_Letter_to_Himavati_written_from_Montreal

5. The reason for wrath is lust (BG 3.37). It can be either a coarse or a fine one: a wish to
be eligible, to have glory, to control everything. It means it is not the problem of the
person we are angry with but our own one. Moreover if the anger is focused at a humble
Vaishnava. In this case it will return to us and ruin our spiritual life.
6. Each devotee is The Lord’s representative for us. The feelings we have towards the
devotees repel our feelings to Krishna. What kind of prema we are talking about if we
are not glad to the children of the Lord, who we call beloved One?

His mercy Kirtiraj prabhu, one of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples preached in Russia from 1991-
1992 years and was a JBC in Moscow. Once he gave a lecture for 300 devotees in the altar
room and said:
 No one will progress in Krishna Consciousness here in Russia.
 Why? - Everybody was astonished.
 Because you can not bow to the Vaishnavas! You are afraid to make your obeisances to
the devotees once more! When I lived in a temple we made obeisances to each
Vaishnava 50 times a day! Srila Prabhupada introduced such standards. But you are
afraid to bow once more!

It is very important to feel joy in the heart when we see Vaishnavas. It is one more golden
opportunity to remind about Krishna when associating with those who are engaged in serving
Him. Therefore, keep on analysing the feelings you have when you see the devotees.

The Lord says in Narada-Purana 1.5.47:

aham eva dvija-srestho

nityam pracchanna-vigrahah
bhagavad-bhakta-rupena
lokam raksami sarvada
“Oh, excellent Brahmana, It is I alone who, assuming the forms of devotees, protect the
world in that guise concealing my direct personality.”

This verse the Supreme Lord says to Markandeya in Brhan-Naradiya-Purana:

aham eva dvija-srestha

nityam pracchana-vigrahah

bhagavad-bhakta-rupena

lokan raksami sarvada

"O best of the brahmanas, In this way, with My own form hidden from ordinary sight I
take the form of a devotee and appear among the people in order to and protect the
Universe." (Hari-bhakti-vilasa 10.141)

Lord Kirishna addresses to Udhava with the following words (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.26.34):

santo diśanti cakṣūṁṣi

bahir arkaḥ samutthitaḥ

devatā bāndhavāḥ santaḥ

santa ātmāham eva ca

My devotees bestow divine eyes, whereas the sun allows only external sight, and that
only when it is risen in the sky. My devotees are one’s real worshipable deities and real
family; they are one’s own self, and ultimately they are nondifferent from Me.

It is such a rare opportunity to meet a devotee in the age of Kali. We should appreciate any
opportunity to see the devotees and be in their society. It is necessary to fold your hands in
obeisances and bow your head in greeting. Ideally would be to offer the full obeisances.

Hari-bhakti vilasa 10.14:

The one who feels joy when meeting a devotee of the Lord Vishnu and acts on the basis of the
instructions of shruti and smriti is considered to be a Vaishnava.

Questions:

1. Do you consider any one in the society of the devotee to be your enemy?
2. What is the reason for your anger?
3. Why one should be glad to see a Vaishnava. Please, list at least four arguments.
Four types of aparadhas described in the Sri-
Harinama-Chintamani

1. Criticism of a Vaishnava for his low birth;

2. Criticism for his former mistakes;
3. Criticism for his unintended sinful actions
4. Criticism for the sinful habits left from the past.

Hari-bhakti-vilasa 10.14

Noone of us was born in the families of the pure devotees or at least hereditary
noblemen or lords. Noone of us received a vedic parenting and education. In
accordance with the prarabdha-karma we received the basic qualities: good or bad
memory, strong or a weak intellect, liveliness or slowness, golden or hook hands,
different kinds of health etc. all these qualities ether unchangeable in this embodiment or
it takes a lot of time and much efforts. However they can be engaged in the service to
Krishna and this service will be individual that Krishna Krishna likes so much.

When we start measuring people by our own standards and criticize those qualities that
we do not like. It is aparadha.

We will often hear about the mistakes of others. But who from us has never made a
mistake? It is natural. People have the right to make a mistake. All of us are children in
the spiritual life. For how long are we in the Krishna Consciousness? Someone is half of
the year,another one one, two, five, eight, ten years. What can we expect from the one-,
two-, five, ten years old children? What they can understand in life. All of us are children
in our spiritual life. It takes 30-40 years on the bhakti path in order to become an adult
vaishnava. Therefore, we should not criticize a person for his faults a year ago due to his
ignorance.

It is nastily to recall the mistakes we have made in the past and ist is right. We have changed
and do not commit such acts. What is the use for criticizing us for our last deed? Do we want
this criticism?

It is said in Mahabharata: deal with others how you would like them to deal with you.

If we are not pleased when somebody recalls our past, we should not speak about others. The
criticism of the past sinns is aharadha.
However you will come to festivals where there are a lot of devotees and somebody will say to
you: “Do you know what this devotee did a year or two ago?” If you listen to it ,you will do a
Vaishnava aparadha. Do not be surprised if you lose the test to japa, enthusiasm and
determination and arise difficulties in the spiritual life afterwards.Be careful!

Even the elevated devotees may slip up. But it is not a disaster. Arjuna seemed to make a
mistake by becoming attached to his relatives but he did not make the main mistake. He did not
forget Krishna. Due to this fact the Bhagavad-Gita was told and Arjuna glorified for ages. If a
person holds the Lord firm, even this mistake will become the next step for further spiritual
growth. One should keep firmly in mind that the main mistake is to forget Krishna!

Once H.H. Shivarama Swami noticed a good point saying that it is better to make mistakes on
the way back to God than to make no mistakes on the way to hell.

Therefore, when you are told about other people's former mistakes, answer them: “All of us
made mistakes, therefore let us speak about some other things!”

Srila Prabhupada says that even elevated devotees can suddenly slip up and it will not make
him outcast. He writes in the comments to Bhagavad-Gita (9.30 Purport):

The material contamination is so strong that even a yogī fully engaged in the service of
the Lord sometimes becomes ensnared; but Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so strong that such
an occasional falldown is at once rectified. Therefore the process of devotional service is
always a success. No one should deride a devotee for some accidental fall down from
the ideal path, for, as explained in the next verse, such occasional falldowns will be
stopped in due course, as soon as a devotee is completely situated in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness.”

Purnachandra Goswami in his book “Gitamrita”.

Actually, there are so many living entities and I maintain everyone. Therefore I am equal like
rain but some trees watered by the trees give sweet fruits and others give bitter fruits. That is
not a defect of the rain Arjune. It is their nature. It is not my attachment and aversion. I am
awarding equally but my devotee gets special treatment. So much thought that even if one
commits the most abominable action, if he is still determined to serve me I do not reject him
rather he is still to be considered saintly.

-Yes, Krishna, I expect that he is suddhu when he is worshiping you but if he is doing nonsense
then he is not a sadhu.

- No, Arjune, in every regard he is a sadhu because he has properly resolved to serve me. He
is thinking that: “ I am unable to give up the sinful activity and I will probably go to hell but I’ll
never give up the devotional service to Krishna.” Therefore, I consider him a sadhu, Arjune.

- But how do you accept the service of such an irreligious man whose heart is polluted by lust,
anger and greed? Aren’t his offerings contaminated by all these things?

- He very quickly becomes righteous and I accept him because he laments remembering Me
again and again and because of lamentations his heart burns and he thinks. Alas, alas, there
are no devotees lower than me. I am a black spot to devotees. Again and again he curses
himself and becomes purified due to this repentance. Or you can take it in this way, Arjune:
such a person, even when committing sins, his righteousness exists in him in the subtle form.
He is taking a medicine of devotion although the fever remains. He is not afraid because he
knows that the fever of improper activities will go away by the power of devotion. The sinful acts
are like snakes with the fangs removed. Thus he obtains eternal peace for his lust will go away
and never return.

 I understand what You are saying that he will become righteous, Krishna. There is no
dispute. But if he remains sinful and does abominable activities, do we still consider him
a sadhu during his life?

 My devotee never perishes Arjune. Even if he dies he does not become degraded.
 Many people will not agree, Krishna. How can I help them to understand?
 Take mridangas Argune, take karatals and drams and bang everything loudly, go, go
everywhere where they are speaking like this and raise both hands in the air and make a
wau! Take an oath in my name and say this: the devotee, the Lord’s devotee even if
improperly behaving shall never perish!
 And what will happen Krishna?
 When you speak like this, Arginine, all the people will fall at your feet out of love and say:
Oh, Arjune, you are my guru!
 But why are You asking me to take this oath, Krishna? Why are You yourself not taking
it?
 I like my devotees very much, Arginine. I can not tolerate any problems to put on them. I
always protect my devotees. On this battlefield I will have to break my own vow when
you are fighting with Bhishma. People will only know this Bhagavad-Gita after the battle.
They will say: Oh, He said so many words but he broke them all. However they know
that your words are like lines on the stone, therefore you should make this vow, Arjune.
So, go where people are doubting the importance of devotion and make this declaration
broadly, that even those are sinful birth who are naturally empires if they get the
association of My devotees and surrender then I will give them shelter. They can attain
the supreme destination. What to speak of brahmins, devotees and saintly kings.
Therefore Arjune, even though you have taken a temporary body in this world you are
raja rishi so, grant a service to me.

Some stories
*
In one of the yatras, the senior devotee fell into a crisis. He left the spiritual practice, stopped
visiting the temple and associated with the devotees. One of the devotees knew where he
worked. The devotees made a beautiful cake for his birthday, offered it to Duties, prepared
some other presents , birthday cards with wishes and came to his work. It was the end of the
day and some screams were coming out of the internal rooms. His colleagues celebrated his
birthday. The devotees called the birthday boy through a security guy. Coming out of the office
he was surprised to see five devotees who came to congratulate him. He was presented with a
big bunch of flowers offered to Deities, wonderful cake, presents and cards. Everyone
embraced him and congratulated him and thanked him for being there for them and for what he
had done for them and for the entire society of devotees.

It stunned him so deeply that tears flowed from his eyes. In a few days he returned to the
temple and renewed his spiritual practice.

*
One of the disciples of Shrila Prabhupada distributed books in New York. People took many
books from him but it happened that he was contaminated. He got a lot of dirty thoughts and his
legs carried him somewhere. Suddenly he appeared in the quartal of the red lights, where
prostitutes lived. He used to be a regular customer of this region and had a sinful lifestyle, but
afterwards he became a devotee. This time he was astonished with himself but realised that he
could not help it. He had about 200 dollars in his pocket. Being unable to cope with the dirt in
his heart, he went right there. Suddenly, as he was crossing the street he was nearly hitted by a
big lorry. He jumped aside, the lorry braked hard, the door opened and he heard a thunderous
voice of Jayananda prabhu, the Head of the Temple:
 Well, let's go to the temple to make a wain for the Lord Jagannath?
 The devotee sighed with relief:
 You have just saved me! Thank you!
 - Jayananda put him together in the car and took him to the Temple.
There are many years passed but this devotee is still in the movement and he is alright.

We do not know who and when will have complexities…

***

His Holiness Purnachandra Goswami told such a story about himself. There was a time when
he had hard times due to a conflict with the Headquarters he stopped visiting the local temple.
His close friend, the Shrila Prabhupada disciple came to him and preached for two years
avoiding any sore subjects. They cooked prasadam together, spoke about Krishna and Srila
Prabhupada. Afterwards, it gave power to Purnachandra to return. He holded a training course
on Vaishnava philosophy in America and afterwards took a sanyasa, became a Guru and a
marvellous preacher of the Krishna Consciousness.

So, even the great personalities experience hard times.

****
In the 80th, Srila Indradyumna Swami took sannyasa. He preached and distributed books being
dressed in the vaishnava clothes on the streets of France in winter. One he managed to
distribute a lot of books but he took a cold. The last was a woman, who bought all the books
from him and he asked her something to drink. She brought a bottle with an apple on the label
and an inscription in French. He could not read in French and just swingged off the whole bottle.
The woman looked at him surprisingly because there was an apple sidr in it. However, he was
so badly cold that his nose was completely stuffy and he didn't distinguish neither smell nor
taste but felt only pain in his parched throat. Moreover, he was hungry because he did not drink
and did not eat during the whole day while distributing books. Coming back he already was a
little tipsy laughing shouting loudly: “Haribol!” He came to the bus in such a form. The devotees
asked him: “How was your sankirtana?”
Hariboll! I have distributed so many books! Haribol!”

The devotees suspected that something was up:

 Come on, breath! A! He is a demon!

Afterwards Maharadj explained at the JBC meeting what had happened. Everyone knows him
as the greatest preacher and one of the Generals of our movement. He has been conducting
programs for more than thirty years which are attended by four to eight thousands people daily.
Those who criticized him without understanding, subsequently fell down.

Srila Narahari Sarakara Thakur says about it in the “Sri-Krishna-Bhajanamrita. Verse 40”:

“Because the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord are always meditating on Lord Sri Krsna the
contamination of sinful activities cannot come upon them. Because a Vaisnava's body has the
fire of Krsna Consciousness within it, even if they are fallen, this fire of Krsna Consciousness
will burn up to ashes any material contamination.”

If a devotee went far afield the devotional service and was off the society of the Vaishnavas,
one should not blame him for staying in maya or reprimand in the form that will push him away
from the lotus feet of the Spiritual Master. It is necessary to offer him love, friendship and
support and let him feel in the society of devotees home.

Working on themself, the devotees keep on changing. Yesterday the devotee could do
something wrong but today he changed. But we do not know that this person has already made
his conclusions and changed but we continue seeing him in the past. This is aparadha.

Questions:

1. Why should we count the inborn individuality of other people?

2. How to treat the mistakes of others correctly?
3. What is the main mistake the devotee can make?
4. How does the Lord treat the devotees which have faltered on their spiritual path?
5. How to help the devotees who have difficulties on their spiritual path?
One more type of aparadha.

One more particular aparadha is described in the “Sri Chaitanya bhagavata”. If ,seeing the
discord between the devotees, we take one part and condemn the other one.

Vaisnave vaisnave ye dekhala galagali

Paramarthe nahe, ithe krshna kutuhali

Satyabhama and Rukminiye galagali yena

Paramarthe eka tana, dekhi bhinna hena

ei matavaisnave bhina nai

bhinna karayena ranga caitanya-gosani

“The quarrels between Vaisnavas that one sees are not to be taken seriously, for they are
pastimes in relationship to Krsna.

“Although Satyabhama and Rukmini abuse each other and appear as opponents, they
have a common spiritual goal.”

“Similarly, there are no differences between one Vaishnava and another. Differences are
created by Lord Caitaya for His pastimes.”

Ithe yai eka vaisnavera paksa haya

Anya vaisnavere ninde, se-i yaya ksaya

“Therefore if one takes the side of one Vaisnava and blasphemes another, he is
doomed.”

Eka haste isvarera sevaye kevala

Ara haste duhkha dile tara ki kusala?

“If one serves the Supreme Lord with one hand and gives Him distress with the other
hand, then how can he be benefited?”

Ei mata sarva bhakta-krisnera sarira

Iha bujhe, ye haya parama mahadhira

“One who understands that all devotees are limbs of Krisna’s body is a most sober
person.”
Abheda-drstite krisna-vaisnava bhajiya

Ye krsna-caranaseve, se yaya tariya

“One who regards Krsna and the Vaisnavas as nondifferent while serving the lotus feet
of Krsna is delivered from material existence.”

Ye gaya, ye sune,e sakala punya-katha

Vaisnavaparadha tara na janme sarvatha

“One who chants or hears these auspicious topics never mommits offences to the
Vaisnavas”

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s comments (Sri caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya khanda

5.137): “The pure Vaisnavas are full of eternaly pure knowledge. The differences of opinion
seen among such exalted Vaisnavas is simply for increasing the wonders. There are actually no
differences of opinions among Vaisnavas. Differences of oppinions found are only present
among mental speculators. The differences of opinions found among Vaisnavas expands the
variety of their constitutional activities. In those, there is no question of material enjoyment,
renunciation, or pseudo devotional service.”

All the Vaishnavas are convinced that Krishna is God and one should serve Him. They are
united in this opinion. But how to serve?Each one will serve in accordance with his relationships
with the Lord and with those duties which He impose on him.

It is unity in variety.
 Questions:
1. Describe what the Vaishnavas are united in particular.
2. What are they different in?
3. How to perceive the discord correctly?
4. Who is delivered from the material existence according to Caitanya Bhagavata?

Other types of vaishnava-aparadhas.

There are 12 types of vaishnava-aparadhas are described in the Scriptures of sri-vaishnavas:

1. Janma nirupana - assessment of bhakti by ancestry;

2. Sharira nirupana - assessment of bhakti by body type.

3. Bhava-nirupana - assessment of bhakti by body conditions.

4. Ashrama nirupana - assessment of bhakti by the ashram the devotee belongs to.

5. Avaivava nirupana - assessment of bhakti by physical defects. (illnes, glasses)

6. Vasa nirupana - assessment of bhakti by place of living (temple, city, village);

7. Banhu nirupana - assessment of bhakti by family ties (son, father, wife, husband)

8. Prokasha nirupana - assessment of bhakti by status;

9. Prokara nirupana - assessment of bhakti by service ;

10. Dosha nirupana - assessment of bhakti by faults of the devotee;

 11. Virtana nirupana - assessment of bhakti by dirty work the devotee fulfills to support his
body;

12. Alasia nirupana - assessment of bhakti by impure habits.

These are 12 forms of the cast consciousness when bhakti is placed below the external factors.
Bhakti is svatantra - independent of anything. If one makes these aparadhas, he offends not
only the devotees but Bhakti-davi as well.

1. Assessment of bhakti by ancestry.

Nirupana - means reason, reason for criticism.

In India there is a prejudice that in order to become a devotee one should be born in India and
in the family of a brahman. Or the real guru can be only Indian and the “western” gurus, those
who were born in the West are not the real gurus.

However, it is said in the Sri Caitanya Bhagavata, Adi-khanda 16.237:

Jati, kula, saba-nirarthaka’ bujhaite

Janmilena nica-kule prabhura ajnate

“On the order of the Lord, Haridasa was born in a low-class family to show that birth in a
high caste or good family are useless.”

Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Antya-Lila 5.86:

haridāsa-dvārā nāma-māhātmya-prakāśa
sanātana-dvārā bhakti-siddhānta-vilāsa

“Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu exhibited the glories of the holy name of the Lord through
Haridāsa Ṭhākura, who was born in a Muslim family. Similarly, He exhibited the essence
of devotional service through Sanātana Gosvāmī, who had almost been converted into a
Muslim.”

Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Antya-Lila 5.85:

‘bhakti’, ‘prema’, ‘tattva’ kahe rāye kari’ ‘vaktā’

āpani pradyumna-miśra-saha haya ‘śrotā’
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu preached about devotional service, ecstatic love and the
Absolute Truth by making Rāmānanda Rāya, a gṛhastha born in a low family, the
speaker. Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself, the exalted brāhmaṇa-sannyāsī, and
Pradyumna Miśra, the purified brāhmaṇa, both became the hearers of Rāmānanda Rāya.

When Srila Prabhupada traveled around India with a group of his western disciples, a pujari
from a family of cast brahmans decided to bless the shaved Americans dressed in the vaishnav
clothes, decorated with tilak with shikhas, singing the holy names. He said: ‘I bless you in your
next life to be born in India in the family of the real brahmans and could spiritually progress.”
The devotees were surprised and ran to Prabhupada: “We were blessed in this way, what
should we do now?” Srila Prabhupada laughed and advised them to go to that pujari and say to
him, that if he performed the rituals carefully he would be lucky in his next life to be born in the
west in ISKCON.

Svapakam iva nekseta loke vipram avaisnavam

vaisnavo varna bahyo pi punati bhuvana-trayam

If a person born in a brahmana family is an avaisnava, a nonedevotee, one should not

see his face, exactly as one should not look upon the face of a candala,or dog-eater.
However, a Vaisnava found in varnas other than brahmana can purity the three worlds.”

Srila Prabhupada said that Lord Caitanya sent some of His companions to be born in the
western countries, to help Him in spreading Krishna Consciousness.

Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata said:

Socya-dese, socya-kule apana-samana

Janmaiya vaisnave, sabare kare trana

“The Lord had His devotees, who are equal to Him, appear at impious placas and in
impious families in order to deliver everyone.”
Lord Nrisimha says to Sri Prahlada in Srimad Bhagavatam 7.10.18-19 :

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
triḥ-saptabhiḥ pitā pūtaḥ
pitṛbhiḥ saha te ’nagha
yat sādho ’sya kule jāto
bhavān vai kula-pāvanaḥ

yatra yatra ca mad-bhaktāḥ

praśāntāḥ sama-darśinaḥ
sādhavaḥ samudācārās
te pūyante ’pi kīkaṭāḥ

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Prahlāda, O most pure, O great
saintly person, your father has been purified, along with twenty-one forefathers in your
family. Because you were born in this family, the entire dynasty has been purified.”

“Whenever and wherever there are peaceful, equipoised devotees who are well-behaved
and decorated with all good qualities, that place and the dynasties there, even if
condemned, are purified.”

These devotees could eat meat, be involved in illicit sex, teke intoxications, etc.... due to the
influence of the unfavorable environment they were born in. However, the Krishna
Consciousness had only to enter their lives, they left it all and the merits of the former
devotional service brightly came through their hearts. Then they gave their lives to Srila
Prabhupade and Lord Krishna.

Once Srila Prabhupada said at a lecture in Mayapur:

 All my disciples are the pure devotees!

Everybody was happy to hear it, but some people had doubts

Bhavananda Maharaj asked him after the lecturer:

  Don't you know what we were doing?
 I know! You do all these things but it was superficially. As soon as you heard the Holy
Name, you threw it all away and ran to Him. Therefore, you are the pure devotees!

Hari-bhakti-vilasa 10.119 says:

Questions:
1. Why did Lord Caitanya order His companions to take birth in impious lands and
countries?
2. What happens to the family where a Vaishnava is born?
3. How did Srila Prabhupada feel about his Western disciples and their past?

2. Assessment of bhakti by body type.

Sharira nirupana is an assessment by the body we use. The liana of bhakti can grow in the
body of a snake, monkey or a dog. There are no barriers for love to the Lord like the shape of
the outer shell.

Some people think that the devotee should be beautiful in appearance. However bhakti does
not depend on the body. There are devotees in the awful bodies. For example, the body of
Ashtavakra Muni was bent in 8 places, Vrirasura was just awful! But they were the pure
devotees. The devotees can have the bodies of animals: the eagle Garuda, bear Jambavan,
mankey Hanuman, a boy with a head of elephant Ganesha, snake Ananta Shesha.

The younger brother of Ravana Vibhishana, who hailed from the ranshas family, was a great
saint devotee of the Lord. Many warlords of the army of Rama opposed the rakshas when he
came to surrender to Lord Ramachandra, suspecting that he may be Ravana's spy. In reply to
their doubts, Lord Ramachandra made a famous statement:

“He who seeks refuge in me just once, telling me that ‘I am yours’, I shall give him
assurance of safety against all types of beings. This is my solemn pledge”
“O, Sugreeva, the chief of monkeys! Let him either be Vibhishana or even Ravana
himself; I have given an assurance of safety to him. Bring him here.”

There was a sadhu in Varshana in Vrindavan who was very old, he was more than 100 years.
Once he sat and chanted the Holy Name and a lion came to his ashram. Any of a meeting with
such a predator is finished with a tasty lunch for the lion. There are no tame lions. But as he
heard how the sadhu chanted the Holy Names the lion purified so much that fell at his feet with
the only desire to give him his life. The Sadhu understood everything and gave him an initiation.
He read the Holy Name in the ear of the lion, "Well, now you are a brahmacari and you will have
service." Afterwards he put a knapsack around the lion's neck with a piece of paper pinned on
which was written: "I am collecting donations for my guru," the sadhu sent him to the nearest
village. In the morning people came out of their houses to breathe in some fresh air, relieve their
natural needs and saw a huge lion in front of them. Not having time to recover, everyone hid
and locked the doors. Watching him through the crack, they noticed that the lion was sitting
suspiciously humble, and on its neck was a bag with a note. Carefully getting out of their
house , they read: "I am collecting donations." The Brajabasis put some chapatis in his bag and
ran back to their house. The lion bowed unto them and went to the other gate. The same thing
was repeated there. So he collected donations for his guru. Over time, people got used to such
an unusual brahmacari. The lion brought his "prey" and did not eat anything until his teacher
took prasadam.

Question:

What kind of pledge gave Lord Ramachandra?

3. Assessment of bhakti by the body conditions.

All the people experience their youth, old age, many of them suffer from diseases - all these are
conditions of the body. At the same time, the old people may think: “What can you expect from
young people, they have only wind in their heads! How can they surrender to Krsna? I am - a
wise and experienced person, I have lived a long life "
But that is aparadha, because we put bhakti in the thrall of the age. Experiences are differ. The
experience in the sinful activities only adds conditioning. The real experience is an experience
of spiritual life.

One day the great son of Lord Brahma, sage Markandeya Rsi, one of the oldest sages in the
universe, came to Badarikashrama. Everyone stood up to pay their respects to him, and
Markandeya Rishi approached the sage with a small child in his arms and bowed to this boy.
Everybody was astonished, but remained silent. Then the sage stood up and noticed that
nobody understood why he had done this, and explained: “Seniority is not determined by age,
but by the level of Krishna consciousness! During his seven years, this boy remembered the
Lord more than all of us here put together during our entire life. "
This little boy was Parasara Muni himself, the greatest Vaisnava, the father of Lord Vyasadeva
and the author of the Vishnu Purana. How much bhakti should you have in your heart for the
Lord Himself in His literary incarnation to want to become your son?

We may be in the Krishna consciousness movement for 10-15 years and think that we are very
advanced, but a small child, who has been engaged in pure devotional service for 15 lifetimes,
can just play next to us.

Young devotees may think of the elder people that they have so many material attachments,
and that "you cannot teach an old dog new tricks." How can they become pure devotees? But
this is also aparadha. It is just its mirror side.

Srila Prabhupada's disciple, Atma Tattva dasa, told the following story: “I was washing the
temple room when an elderly man came there, bowed to the Deities and said who he was. As
we talked, he found out that I was initiated by Prabhupada and said:

- I want to become a disciple of Swami Prabhupada. I asked a year ago and was told that I have
to serve in the temple for six months. ”He raised his dhoti and showed his swollen legs. - I am
60 years old, I have big problems with my legs. I am doomed because I cannot do what they tell
me to do. However, the devotees told me that if I cannot do all this service, then I cannot
become a disciple. Could you tell thomthing to Swami Prabhupada, so that he would accept me
as his disciple?

 “I myself have recently become his disciple,” I replied, “and there is a rule that the
President of the Temple should give you a recommendation. If the president of the
Temple told you this, then I do not know how to help you. But, you know, you can go
right up to Prabhupada and ask him about it. He gave these rules, and he can change
them if he feels compelled. He gives darshan every night.

- Can anyone come? - he asked.

- Well, yes, free darshan,” I replied.

- You can come. You had better come early to be the first one. Bring him something, some
dakshina. This is our tradition.

 Yes, yes, I know, I will do so,” he replied.

The next day he came with a large tray covered with a fabric. It was four o'clock in the evening.
Prabhupada started giving darshan at about five o’clock.
- Wait here, the servant will call you.

Fifteen minutes later Hari Shauri prabhu called out:

 If anyone is there, he can come for a darshan.

This man appeared to be the only one.

- Look, - I told him, - how lucky you are, there is no one else. Go!

But he was trembling with excitement.

- let someone else go!

- No, if you want to get something, and it is something special, you must be there as soon as
possible. Just do what you must do..

He got up and I went together with him. He entered, bowed and put the tray on Prabhupada's
table. Prabhupada looked at him and said:

- Yes?

A japa-mala lied on the top of the tray. The elderly man said in excitement:

“Prabhupada, I want to chant Hare Krishna!

- Who is stopping you? Prabhupada replied, smiling.

“Prabhupada, I want to chant Hare Krishna!

- Is that your japa-mala? Prabhupada asked.

- Yes.

“Do you know how to chant Hare Krishna?

- Yes, I know the mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama
Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

 Yes, that's that the mantra, Prabhupada said, took the jupa-mala and, starting with the
first bead, said the mantra. - Start from this place and repeat the mantra on each bead. -
Prabhupada took the next bead, then another, and so he read the whole circle.
- And now you read.

This is usually the procedure of initiation. I was very glad that this man received initiation into
the Holy Name. And at the same time, he did not need to sweep the floor for six months,
because of his illness he would not be able to do it, but would rather die if he did it. After a
while, I met this man, he was chanting the Holy Name in front of a large photograph of Srila
Prabhupada in his room.

Next time when I came over to see him, he had already left this world. And the devotees told me
that for the last two weeks he had been chanting the Holy Name without leaving his seat,
without letting go of his beads and without taking his eyes off the picture of Prabhupada.
Nothing more was heard from him until the very last moment. "

So, many elderly devotees in our movement sincerely accepted the process of Krishna
consciousness, purified their hearts and went to the spiritual world.

They have already returned to Krishna in spiritual reality! And where we go is still a big question.
We must not look at the devotees superficially …

It is often believed that if a guru is a pure devotee, then he should not be sick, since he has no
karma and his body is spiritual.

A question about karma was once asked to Srila Prabhupada, and he replied that although he
does not have his own karma, he suffers from the sins of disciples who are not completely
serious in their vows.

This is also stated in the Hari-bhakti-vilasa 1.77 :

rajni camatyaja dosah

patni-papam sva-bhartari
tatha sisyarjitam papam
Guruh prapnoti niscitam

“Just as a king has to take responsibility for the faults of his ministers, and the husband
has to take responsibility for the sins of his wife - a spiritual master has to accept the
accumulated sins of his disciples.”

Regarding the spiritual body of the guru, one can say that his body is material, but at the same
time it is spiritualized with Krishna consciousness and devotional service. By its material nature,
it gets tired, wears out, gets old and needs care. Therefore, one should take care of the guru
and protect his health.

Questions:

1. What lesson have you learned from the story of Parasara Muni?
 2. What lesson did you learn from the story of the old man seeking initiation?

3. Assessment of bhakti by the ashram.

At the beginning of the development of the Krishna consciousness movement in Russia, many
devotees lived in ashrams. Some of them believed that those who practice Krishna
consciousness at home with their families are in maya, that they should give up everything and
move to a temple.
Gradually, most of the devotees entered family life, and then the opposite preaching began:
"Those who live in ashrams cannot fully progress in Krishna consciousness, because they are
pretenders, irresponsible, etc., etc."

However, there is no contraposition of two ashrams in the Scriptures. On the contrary, the great
acarya Narottama das Thakura says in his bhajan (Śrīla Narottam Dās Ṭhākur Sāvaraṇa-Śrī-
Gaura-mahimā):

gṛhe vā vanete thāke, ‘hā gaurāṅga’ bo’le ḍāke,

narottama māge tāra saṅga

Whether one lives in a house or in the forest, if they chant ‘Oh Lord Gaurāṅga!’ Narottam
Dās begs to attain their association.

Lord Caitanya's associates included both family people and renunciates. The Lord treated
everyone equally with love. He met sannyasis and embraced them. He also treated His
grihastha devotees in the same way. Seeing their wives bowing at a respectful distance, Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, "Look at these great Vaishnavis, all the wisdom, knowledge and
devotion that their husbands have is also present in them!"

There is an opinion that only sannyasis can be pure devotees and gurus. It also refers to this
type of Vaishnava-aparadha. Taking sannyas by itself does not make one a pure devotee.
Sannyas only gives a person the opportunities to surrender even more. How much he
implements them depends only on him. Pure devotees can be found in all ways of life. In our
movement there is a guru in the status of brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasi.
Lord Caitanya never judged the spiritual level of a Vaisnava by the way of life of the devotee.
He said in Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 8.128
:

kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya

yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya

“Whether one is a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī or a śūdra — regardless of what he is — he can

become a spiritual master if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa.”

This means that we must respect all Vaishnavas, regardless of the ashram in which they live.

Question:
Give arguments that bhakti is independent on the ashram.

Assessment of bhakti by body’s physical defects.

Sometimes devotees have very serious chronic illnesses, and the question may arise: "Can
such a person become a pure devotee?"

This question is answered by Srila Rupa Gosvami [Nectar of Instructions 6, purport 64:

dṛṣṭaiḥ svabhāva-janitair vapuṣaś ca doṣair

na prākṛtatvam iha bhakta-janasya paśyet
gaṅgāmbhasāṁ na khalu budbuda-phena-paṅkair
brahma-dravatvam apagacchati nīra-dharmaiḥ

Being situated in his original Kṛṣṇa conscious position, a pure devotee does not identify
with the body. Such a devotee should not be seen from a materialistic point of view.
Indeed, one should overlook a devotee’s having a body born in a low family, a body with
a bad complexion, a deformed body, or a diseased or infirm body. According to ordinary
vision, such imperfections may seem prominent in the body of a pure devotee, but
despite such seeming defects, the body of a pure devotee cannot be polluted. It is
exactly like the waters of the Ganges, which sometimes during the rainy season are full
of bubbles, foam and mud. The Ganges waters do not become polluted. Those who are
advanced in spiritual understanding will bathe in the Ganges without considering the
condition of the water.”

“If we consider the bodily defects of a Vaiṣṇava, we should understand that we are committing
an offense at the lotus feet of the Vaiṣṇava. An offense at the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava is very
serious. Indeed, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has described this offense as hātī-mātā, the mad
elephant offense. A mad elephant can create a disaster, especially when it enters into a nicely
trimmed garden. One should therefore be very careful not to commit any offense against a
Vaiṣṇava. Every devotee should be ready to take instructions from a superior Vaiṣṇava, and a
superior Vaiṣṇava must be ready to help an inferior Vaiṣṇava in all respects. One is superior or
inferior according to his spiritual development in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One is forbidden to
observe the activities of a pure Vaiṣṇava from a material point of view. For the neophyte
especially, considering a pure devotee from a material point of view is very injurious. One
should therefore avoid observing a pure devotee externally, but should try to see the internal
features and understand how he is engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. In
this way one can avoid seeing the pure devotee from a material point of view, and thus one can
gradually become a purified devotee himself.”

The story about Lord Shri Chaitanya and Sanatan Goswami

One day Sanatana Goswami became very ill due to drinking some dirty water. His body was
covered with purulent ulcers, but Lord Caitanya still embraced him every day. Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu did not pay any attention to the pus that stained His body, but Sanatana was very
worried. To pacify His beloved devotee, the Lord said:

“My dear Sanatana, you are like my own son to Me, and a father never takes seriously the
mistakes of his children. Mothers are indifferent to the impurities of their beloved children. On
the contrary: when she bathes him, she herself plunges into the river of pleasure. So do I, when
touching your ulcers, do not feel disgust. Since a true devotee with all his heart wants to please
Krishna and totally gives himself out in his service, forgetting about his body, his body stops
being material and becomes completely spiritualized. Krishna has given you this illness to test
Me. If I pushed you away with disgust, I would inflict a terrible offense on you and Krishna would
punish Me. When I first hugged you, I smelled the delicate scent of chatuhsama (a mixture of
sandalwood paste, camphor, aguru and musk).

The materialists turned away when smelling the festering body of Sanatana. However, as soon
as Lord Caitanya embraced him, Sanatana began to smell with sandalwood. Sanatana always
remained the greatest Vaishnava and devoted himself completely to the service of Krishna, no
matter what difficulties arose.

Following the footsteps of Lord Caitanya, we must learn to see the essence - devotion of a
person to Krishna. And ignore the rest.

In the early 1990s, in the temple in Nizhny Novgorod, we watched a film about Srila
Prabhupada. I confess, I noticed one unusual person from that movie, with an elongated face
with round glasses, and thought: “Wow, what kind of people can come to the Society for Krishna
Consciousness. Some kind of hippie, I guess. How can such people be devotees? " Catching
myself on this negative thought, I stopped myself. But what was my surprise when, having
arrived in Mayapur, I met that person from the film and he was in the status of a sannyasi. It
turned out to be a great Vaishnava - His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami, one of the best speakers
of our movement. He is the author of a wonderful seminar: "Think clearly, speak convincingly." It
turned out that even during the time of Srila Prabhupada, he knew more slokas by heart than
anyone in ISKCON, and now he is an outstanding scientist-theologian.

So, appearances can be deceiving and we can be very wrong, so we need to be very careful.

Question:
What lesson have you learned from the story of Lord Sri Chaitanya and Sanatana Goswami?

6. Assessment of bhakti by the place of living.

Sometimes people are convinced that in order to progress successfully, one must live near a
large temple or even in the temple itself. If, by the will of circumstances, someone lives
somewhere far away, he is not perceived as a serious devotee.

But it is an aparadha.

Of course, association with devotees is very important, but bhakti does not depend on the place
of residence. The wonderful verses of Narottama dasa Thakura have already been stated
above. He says that wherever a person lives: in the forest or at home, if he appeals to the Lord,
Narottama dasa dreams of getting into his society.

If one sincerely follows the process given by the previous acaryas, his heart will change and he
will attain the perfection of life!

7. Assessment of Bhakti by family ties

Sometimes people see the bhakti of others through the prism of the stereotypes they have
developed.

"My wife cannot become a pure devotee, because I know how many faults she has!" "My
husband cannot become a pure devotee - I know him!" Parents can think about their children: “I
gave birth to him, I know all his problems and imperfections. How can he become a pure
devotee? "

But this flow of thought is also aparadha.

Bhakti is such a powerful process that it can change anyone. The associates of Lord Caitanya
were free from such prejudices.

The following story shows this.

Raghunandana and Gopinath

Once the brahman Mukunda, leaving for business for several days, asked his little son
Raghunandana to offer food to their family Deity - Gopinatha in his absence.

Little Raghunandana did not know that Krishna could accept food simply with a glance, and
tearfully began to beg Gopinatha to eat the offerings completely. Touched by the boy's
devotional love, Gopinath ate whatever he brought and He kept on eating all the offerings for
three days, until the father returned. When the father asked about the maha prasadam, his wife
said that it seems that everything had been eaten by their Thakuraji (Deity).

Mukunda did not believe that the Deity totally ate the offerings and gave his son a laddu and
asked him to offer it to Gopinatha, while he himself hid to watch Raghunandana.

The little boy started crying again and begged the Deity to accept bhoga, and Gopinatha
accepted ladda by looking at him. But Raghunandana did not calm down, because laddu
remained untouched on the plate. Then Gopinatha took the laddu and snapped a bite of it. At
that moment, Mukunda came out of the hiding place and the Deity froze with a snapped off half
of the laddu in his hand. Mukunda rejoiced, "I have a great son, he will give me bhakti!"

When Lord Sri Chaitanya was in Puri, He noticed three people, Mukunda, Raghunandana and
Narahari, who came from Sri Khand. Lord Sacinandana asked:

 “Mukunda, you are the father, and Raghunandana is your son, isn't it? Or Srila
Raghunandana is your father and you are his son?

 Raghunandana is my father and I am his son,” Mukunda replied. - This is my conviction.

We all attained devotion to Krishna through Raghunandana. So I think he is my father.
  Yes, that's right,” Mahaprabhu said happily when he heard the correct answer. One who
awakens devotion to Krishna is undoubtedly the guru (senior).

We see that Lord Caitanya was happy when the devotees put bhakti first, but not the
relationship strains.

Question:

What kind of lesson have you learned from the story of Mukunda and Raghunandana?

8. Assessment of bhakti by the position one occupies

Neither the number of followers, nor the hierarchical position in the spiritual organization prove
that a person has love for God.

Sai Baba had millions of followers in India and around the world, and he declared himself to be
God.

We can be even three times GBC or regional secretary or temple leader, but these positions do
not automatically make anyone a pure devotee. These are just different opportunities for
humble service

Some humble devotee who will never take any post will return to Krishna, while another one,
with great regalias and epaulettes, may stay here.

Therefore, we need to appreciate all Vaishnavas regardless of their positions, status, fame,
number of followers, etc.

9. Assessment of bhakti by the service

Some people say that the main service to Krishna is distribution of books. Others say that
nama-hatts are the ones, the third ones are convinced that the most important thing is to build
temples. The fourth urge to give all the strength to the gurukuls. Most often, people promote to
the first place what they themselves manage to do. However, behind this obsessive mentality
lies the assertion that my service is the most important, because it is me who is the most, the
most... In this case, everyone will have their own feasible arguments.

If a devotee places his service above the service of others, that is an offense.

Our reasons are more valuable for Krishna rather than what we do. We can distribute
thousands of books with the desire for fame or travel all over the world for recognition, and
someone can wash the floor in the toilet of the temple with a sincere desire to please Krishna.
So, who will delight the Lord more with his service?
Srila Prabhupada gave his disciples the example of a widow who lived in the temple of Radha-
Damodara: “Look at the humble service that this woman does. Every day she brings a bucket of
water to worship the Deities of Radha-Damodara. "

It is a great austerity because winter is very cold in Vrindavan. That time there were no electric
heaters, people did not have hot water in the tap. In December, they wake up early in the
morning simply out of the cold. Sun rises only at six or even at seven o'clock. This old woman in
the total darkness walked to the Yamuna and bathed in the icy water. Then she collected a
bucket of water and carried it to the Deities of Radha-Damodara. This was her humble service.
Every day, no matter how difficult it was for her, she performed this humble service to the Lord.
And then one day she did not bring water. Prabhupada understood - she left, returned to
Krishna. This Vaishnavi took devotional service so seriously that nothing could stop her except
death. And we will also go to the spiritual world if we take our service seriously and sincerely.

Another story was told by Srila Prabhupada's disciple Mataji Rambhoru. One devotee was
distributing books. Externally, he was an ordinary congregant, and no one knew how many
books he had distributed, except for the accountant in the temple. His name was never
announced, he was not presented with diplomas and prizes. Meanwhile, this man devoted his
whole life to the humble service of Srila Prabhupada. Everything was revealed only when he left
the body. It turned out that he distributed many thousands of books, doing this every day simply
out of compassion and out of a desire to please Srila Prabhupada. When Rambhoru showed a
photograph of this devotee after death, everyone was amazed with his face that shone with joy.
Undoubtedly, the Lord took him to Himself.

Many devotees are doing very inconspicuous service. They will never be interviewed, never put
up as an example to others, their names will not be written on the board of honor among the
first in something, they will not be given gifts for their service, they will not have admirers, they
will not be publicly glorified but they will go back to home, back to Godhead! Because Krishna
looks not at the volume and material consequences of the service, but at the motives and
sincerity.

Therefore, we should respect all devotees for whatever service they perform. Then we
ourselves can win the mercy and favor of the Supreme Lord.

Questions:

1. What can we learn from the story of the old widow?

2. Why do people only promote their own service?

10. Assessment of bhakti by the faults of devotees.

Shrimad-Bhagavatam says (1.2.19):

tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ
kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye
ceta etair anāviddhaṁ
sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati

As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature’s
modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the
heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy.

Commentary by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, The Fourth Shower of Nektar 2C,
Unaffected by emotions arising from passion and ignorance:

“The letter “ca” in the above verse is understood to mean “aggregate”,

which indicates that the lust, greed and emotions in the modes of passion
and ignorance are all still present. However, at that point, they are not
impediments to bhajana but remain within the heart of the sādhaka
innocuously.””

(Madhurya Kadambini, The First Shower of Nektar, text 5g. The eradication of lust, the disease
of the heart, through bhakti):

“….By this, the following point is understood: Parā-bhakti, or

bhakti characterized by prema, is obtained even while lust remains. Thereafter,
by the influence of that parā-bhakti, which is supremely independent and
extremely powerful, the disease of the heart, meaning lust, or material desires,
is destroyed.”
Srila Narahari Sarakara Thakur confirms it in “Sri Krishna Bhajanamrit, 39”:

“No one should find fault with a Vaisnava for his activities or behavior. What person is free from
the influence of Kali Yuga or has perfect pure behavior and action?”

Those who had faults but continued to practice sincerely changed. Those who criticized these
devotees for their faults went to maya. Therefore, there is no need to criticize anyone.

Questions:
1. When does material contamination disappear from the heart?

2. What is the right way to deal with the deficiencies of a devotee?

11. Assessment of bhakti by dirty work to maintain the body
There were some situations when even twice initiated devotees had to unload cases with beer
in order to support their families.

Of course, this is a description of an extreme situation, but it also happens in life.

In Ukraine, in one city, a person became a devotee. At the same time, he continued to sell
meat, although he himself did not eat it. The devotees did not reject him, but they gently said
that this was not the best activity, it would be better to change it. This man replied: "I understand
everything, but I have been doing this for many years and I do not know how I can support my
wife and children in another way." However, some time passed, and this devotee opened a
prasadam workshop, changing his activities. Since then, he has been distributing huge
quantities of prasadam in his city every day.

Also in one of the cities, a senior devotee was leading a community for a long time. He got
married and now has three children. To support his family, he was forced to take a job as a
street cleaner, as this was the only way to make money in this place. At the same time, he
continues to teach Bhakti Shastra courses in the temple and to conduct fire yajnas for devotees.

Being in the material world, devotees, especially grihasthi, have to make a lot of effort to
maintain themselves and their family members. Sometimes devotees can get into extreme
situations, and we need to deal with this correctly. This does not make a person outcast or
deprives him of the qualifications for developing bhakti.

Question:

What is the right way to deal with a devotee's dirty work to support the body?

12. Assessment of Bhakti by Impure Habits

Originally, people may not have a correct understanding of norms of behavior and standards of
cleanliness. They can pick up spiritual items with dirty hands, pick their noses, and wash
themselves once a week. However, this is not a reason to criticize or condemn them. In the
process of spiritual practice, their habits will change, as they have changed with us.

Srila Indradyumna Swami told the story of Srila Prabhupada's extraordinary mercy and the
rescue of a homeless man who was called Pigpen or "Swintus" by devotees in those years. It
was in France in the 70s. Once at the temple, before Prabhupada's arrival, a young tramp
knocked the door and asked for food in a slurred speech. The devotees fed him prasadam, but
they did not let him enter the temple. He was very dirty. He came several times.

Some time later, Srila Prabhupada came to visit the temple. According to his custom, he went
out for a morning walk along with his students. Suddenly Pigpen jumped out of the bushes and
tried to grab Prabhupada by the feet. The devotees grabbed him in terror and dragged him
away from their Spiritual Master.

When everyone returned back, they saw that the door of the temple had been opened. The
devotees immediately realised that it is Piggy. Indeed, as soon as everyone entered the temple,
the young vagrant rushed to Prabhupada's feet and grabbed them. They wanted to drag him
away, but Prabhupada stopped the devotees with a gesture and began stroking Pigpen on the
head, saying: "Everything is fine, my boy, Hare Krishna, everything is fine." Everyone was
shocked.

As a result, Pigpen was washed, fed, and he stayed at the temple, performing a humble
cleaning service. Due to the long-term use of drugs, his speech was incoherent and the only
thing he said was, "Prabhupada saved me!" Soon he began to chant the Holy Names on his
beads.

After a few weeks, the former vagrant latched onto the distributors of books and went to
sankirtana together with them under the pretext that he would wash the car. However, as soon
as they arrived at the place, he grabbed a bag of books and jumped out of the car. An hour later
he returned with an empty bag. At first, everyone thought he had just thrown away the books,
but the devotees who saw him confirmed that he had in fact distributed all the books. When
Pigpen was asked what he was telling people, he replied, "Prabhupada saved me!"

As time passed, Pigpen began to distribute a lot of books, his speech improved and he even
began to give lectures in the temple. Some time later, the former Pigpen received another
mercy from Prabhupada in the form of initiation into chanting the Holy Name, and the spiritual
name Rasada dasa.
Rasada Prabhu devoted his entire life to sankirtana and left this world in Vrindavan in March
2015.

Question:

What is the right way to deal with the impure habits of novice Vaishnavas?

Chapter 6
The fruits of listening Vaishnava-
aparadas
The consequences are received not only by those who criticize, but also by those who listen to
criticism.

Both sides commit an offence: the one who criticizes a Vaishnava and those who listen to this
criticism. This is stated in the scriptures, for example in the Srimad-Bhagavatam [1]:
"Anyone who fails to immediately leave the place where he hears criticism of the
Supreme Lord or His faithful devotee will certainly fall down, bereft of his pious credit.."

Hearing offences towards devotees, a person becomes infected with negativity against his will.

A Russian proverb says: "Silence means consent."

Sri Caitanya Bhagavata said [2]:

Bhalare aise loka tapasvi dekhite

Sadhu-ninda suni mari yaya bhala-mate

Sadhu-ninda sunile sukrity haya ksaya

Janma janma adhahpata - vede ei kaya

“People go to see ascetics in good faith, but when they hear them blaspheme saintly
persons, they are ruined.

By hearing blasphemy of the saintly persons, one’s piety is hausted. The Vedas declare
that such people live in hellish conditions birth after birth. "

Vaishnava-aparadha covers our spiritual merits with maya.

What if we hear an insult to a devotee?

The answer to the question of what to do if we hear an insult to a devotee is given in the fourth
canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.4.10, Purport:
“When Satī saw that her father was performing great sacrifices but had no respect for the
greatest devotee, Lord Śiva, she was very angry. This is fitting; when Viṣṇu or a Vaiṣṇava is
insulted, one should be angry. Lord Caitanya, who always preached nonviolence, meekness
and humility, also became angry when Nityānanda was offended by Jagāi and Mādhāi, and He
wanted to kill them. When Viṣṇu or a Vaiṣṇava is blasphemed or dishonored, one should be
very angry. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura said, krodha bhakta-dveṣi jane. We have anger, and that
anger can be a great quality when directed against a person who is envious of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead or His devotee. One should not be tolerant when a person is offensive
towards Viṣṇu or a Vaiṣṇava. The anger of Satī towards her father was not objectionable, for
although he was her father, he was trying to insult the greatest Vaiṣṇava. Thus Satī’s anger
against her father was quite applaudable.”

There is an answer to this question in another verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam [4]:

karṇau pidhāya nirayād yad akalpa īśe

dharmāvitary asṛṇibhir nṛbhir asyamāne
chindyāt prasahya ruśatīm asatīṁ prabhuś cej
jihvām asūn api tato visṛjet sa dharmaḥ

“Satī continued: If one hears an irresponsible person blaspheme the master and
controller of religion, one should block his ears and go away if unable to punish him. But
if one is able to kill, then one should by force cut out the blasphemer’s tongue and kill
the offender, and after that one should give up his own life."

Srila Prabhupada, commenting on this verse, says, “If one is a brāhmaṇa he should not give up
his body because by doing so he would be responsible for killing a brāhmaṇa; therefore a
brāhmaṇa should leave the place or block his ears so that he will not hear the blasphemy. If one
happens to be a kṣatriya he has the power to punish any man; therefore a kṣatriya should at
once cut out the tongue of the vilifier and kill him. But as far as the vaiśyas and śūdras are
concerned, they should immediately give up their bodies. "
Visvanatha Cakravarti says that a Vaisnava is acting like a brahmana. Vaishnavas stop the
offender with arguments or leave. In addition, we need to approach the devotee against whom
we have heard the insults and ask his forgiveness, then Krishna will forgive us.

It is very serious. Otherwise, all the aparadhas that we have heard will surely recurred in our
hearts when we see this person again. We will not be able to communicate properly with him
and will be deprived of the mercy of Sri Krishna and this Vaisnava.

Questions:

1. How does listening to criticism affect our relationship with criticized devotees?

2. What does one lose if he hears the insults of the Vaishnavas?

3. What is the right way to behave if the Lord or His devotees are criticized in front of us?

4. If we inadvertently made such a mistake, how to get rid of the consequences?

How to behave if Vaisnavas are physically attacked in

our presence?

Srila Prabhupada explains this in his commentary on the first verse of the Nectar of Instruction
[5]:

“Similarly, anger can be controlled. We cannot stop anger altogether, but if we simply become
angry with those who blaspheme the Lord or the Lord’s devotees, we control our anger in Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu became angry with the miscreant brothers Jagāi
and Mādhāi, who blasphemed and struck Nityānanda Prabhu.

In His Śikṣāṣṭaka Lord Caitanya sayas: tṛṇād api sunīchena taror iva sahiṣṇunā amāninā
mānadena kīrttanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. “One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing
than a tree who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself is qualified to always
chant the Holy Name of Krishna.” One may then ask why the Lord exhibited His anger. The
point is that one should be ready to tolerate all insults to himself, but when Kṛṣṇa or His pure
devotee is blasphemed, a true devotee becomes angry and acts like fire against the offenders."

Once in India, in the city of Allahabad, Srila Prabhupada conducted a program and chanted
"Jaya Radha Madhava." All of Srila Prabhupada's disciples were on the stage with him, and one
mataji was sitting next to him, in front of the stage. And a drunk man approached her and began
to pull her sari. This is an unprecedented thing in India. The girl tried to convince him to leave
her alone and not interfere with listening to the kirtan of the spiritual master, but the drunkard
continued to bother her. When Srila Prabhupada noticed what was happening, he jumped off
the vyasasana like a lion and, revolving the karatalas over his head, rushed to the man. He got
scared and ran to his heels with all his might. Prabhupada flew into rage, which amazed his
disciples - no one could imagine that this is possible. But he did it to protect his disciple! Then
Prabhupada calmly came back, sat on the vyasasana and continued chanting.

After the program, of course, some of the participants began asking the devotees: "How is it, we
thought that your spiritual master is actually a saint, but it turns out that he may be so angry."
But Srila Prabhupada's act should only be seen as a manifestation of spiritual anger in the
Name of the Lord - he tried to protect the devotee of Sri Krishna when she was insulted.

Srila Prabhupada instructed his disciples that when we are insulted, we must bear it very
patiently, saying, "Yes, of course you are right, this is all true, thank you for opening my eyes."
But when other Vaisnavas, the spiritual master, the Lord Himself, are insulted in our presence,
the devotee should become like fire. If this does not happen, it is wrong.

Questions:

1. What is the correct way to use anger?

2. What lesson have you learned from the story of Srila Prabhupada. What does he teach us by
his example?

Who bears the sins of Jagai and Madhai?

In Sri Caitanya-bhagavata it is said Madhya khanda 13.43:

madyapera nishkrti achaye kona-kale

paracarccakera gati nahe kabhu bhale
"A drunkard will be delivered in due course of time, but one who engages in blasphemy
will never attain the goal of life."

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura's commentary:

“People who drink wine become crazy and engage in sinful activities. Until they give up such
bad habits, they continue to engage in sinful activities. If by chance their thirst for drinking wine
is checked, they will not further engage in sinful activities. But persons who blaspheme others
can never achieve auspiciousness. In the Scriptures (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.28.1) it is stated”:

para-svabhāva-karmāṇi
na praśaṁsen na garhayet
viśvam ekātmakaṁ paśyan
prakṛtyā puruṣeṇa ca

One should neither praise nor criticize the conditioned nature and activities of other
persons. Rather, one should see this world as simply the combination of material nature
and the enjoying souls, all based on the one Absolute Truth.

We need to be very careful in distinguishing what is favorable and unfavorable for ourselves.
But those who indulge their vices and continue to commit such sins as offending other living
beings, awaits nothing good. The tendency to hate others is called envy. Material misery cannot
be avoided if we continue to be envious. Those who spend their time discussing others will
never benefit from it. Those who are mired in censure of people around them have no time to
find real good, they are unable to progress spiritually. "

The secretaries of Yamaraja, headed by Chitragupta, got exhausted trying to keep up with Jagai
and Madhai in recording the sins of these rascals. There is even a separate underworld that
contains an archive with records of their countless sins.
The only thing that saved these two fallen brahmanas was the mercy of Lord Nityananda: as
soon as Jagai saw Madhai throw a fragment of a crock at Nityananda and blood poured onto
the Lord's moon-like face, his heart trembled and he rushed to protect Nitai. Jagai fell at the feet
of the All-Merciful Avadhuta and, escaping Vaishnava-aparadha, received the greatest mercy of
Sri Caitanya - love of God. The mercy of the Supreme Lord also melted the heart of Madhai,
who prostrated himself in dandavat at the feet of Nityananda, begging for forgiveness.
Caitanya embraced the former criminals and took away all their innumerable sins.
Mahaprabhu's body turned black. He asked Sri Advaita:
 Dear Advaita, why are you looking at Me like that?
 My Lord, you look exactly like Shyamasundara! - answered the great acarya drunk with
ecstasy.
 Kirtan! Sri Chaitanya commanded. - Only the Holy Names will clean My body. And let
the entire black veil of the sins of Jagai and Madhai fall on those who condemn the
devotees.

By committing a Vaishnava-aparadha, a person will not only receive reactions for the offense
committed by him, but all the sinful karma of Jagai and Madhai will fall on him ...
Often devotees ask the question, "Why do I have lack of determination in my spiritual life?"

In the Bhagavad-gita it is said [7.28] that determination in spiritual life depends on:

 freedom from sins;

 Piety.

The whole process of Krsna consciousness is structured so that if one follows it, it will purify him
of his sins. Chanting the Maha Mantra, worshiping Krishna-prasadam, hearing Srimad-
Bhagavatam and other activities in devotional service get rid of a lot of past karma. And each
step along the path of bhakti gives a person a huge store of piety. If we do everything right, our
commitment should grow.

But why it isn't growing?

The fact is that by hearing offenses from Vaisnavas, one loses the sukrti accumulated by him
during his entire spiritual life. It was mentioned earlier: where did the sins of Jagai and Madhai
go? They fall on the offender's head, and no trace of his resolve remains. And then the material
energy simply crushes the person.

“O Emperor, by blasphening a Vaisnava, one loses religiosity, wealth, glory, children and
exalted position. Foolish people who blaspheme exalted Vaishnavas will have to suffer in
the hell known as Raurava hell along with their forefathers”
[ Sri Hari Bhakti Vilasa 310-311].

Hell of Raurava is one of the most terrifying places on the hellish planets. This is the planet
where the ruu monsters live. When a living entity sees them, the blood in his veins runs cold
with horror. These monsters surpass even snakes in their cunning. First, they look at the victim
with a hateful glance, and then, pounce at it and tear it to pieces. But since the living entity lives
there in the subtle body, which feels pain, but can not be destroyed, this horror continues over
and over again.

We can insult someone on the street, but this person can become a saint later on. We don't
know the future. For example, Dhruva Maharaja was not originally a sadhu. He was insulted by
his stepmother, and he, wishing to take revenge, went to worship Vishnu. But after some time
he became a pure devotee, and the stepmother received reactions for the Vaishnava-aparadha.
As a result of aparadha, her own son was eaten by Rakshas, and she went mad and was
burned in the forest.

Questions:

1. Where did the sins of Jagai and Madhai go?

2. What does determination in the spiritual life depend on?
3. Why doesn't commitment grow?
4. What conclusions did you draw from the story of Dhruva Maharaja and his stepmother?

The story about Shyamananda

After visiting Vrindavan, Shyamananda and his disciples reached Agra and stayed there for a
while. When the Muslim Commander was informed that Vaishnavas had settled in the city, he
got furious. He did not know about the purpose of their visit and wondered whether they were
saints or thieves. Nevertheless, he ordered the soldiers to arrest them and put them in prison.
On the night of the same day, when the Commander went to bed, someone entered his
bedroom, lifted the bed on which he slept and threw it on the ground. Then the Monster sat
down on his chest and growled: “Scoundrel! You have imprisoned My beloved devotees. If you
do not release them now, I will deal with you and all your family! "

The commander screamed in horror, choking on his throat. His relatives came running in
response to the cry and saw that the blood was coming from his throat, and he was suffocating.
The military leader barely said, “I have arrested five Vrajabasis. They are not ordinary people,
they are beloved devotees of Krsna. Set them free and bring them here! "
Several guards went to the dungeon and released the devotees. As soon as Syamananda was
brought to the commander, he fell at the feet of the Vaishnava and said, “Forgive me. I did not
know that you all are beloved devotees of Krsna. This is how I brought suffering upon myself. "
After that, the Muslim commander tried in every possible way to appease Shyamananda.
Satisfied Shyamananda told him, "Always serve the Vaishnavas."

The commander felt relieved. From that day on, he began to serve the saints. Shyamananda
and his companions stayed in the city for several months, and all this time the Ruler served
them with all sincerity.

Is violence at the level of the mind violence?

The Mahabharatadescribes the essence of the correct behavior: not to inflict suffering on others
with your body, speech or mind.

ahimsa paramo dharmah

"Non-violence is the highest form of religious conduct. "

It is believed that in Kali-yuga, a person does not receive reactions for his thoughts. But there is
a big difference between random thought and meditation. Meditation is already an action. Any
thought is material in nature. For example, meditating on someone with an aggressive mentality
is a part of black magic, it is a violence on the subtle plane. This thought goes to a person and
hits him in the subtle body, as a result, he begins to hurt. Many who come to the temple do not
understand that everyone who is here are the servants of the Lord, and not just boys and
girls.When a person consciously thinks negatively about the devotees, then he sets in motion a
serious mechanism. The Lord does not forgive aparadh towards His servants.

In the early 1990s, there was a case in Moscow when two initiated women preached to girls the
idea that a spiritual teacher is their husband in the spiritual world. When the guru found out
about this, he was shocked and ordered them to stop this nonsense immediately. But women
did not listen to anyone and continued to meditate intently on the guru with lust. The teacher
began to get very sick, according to him, because of the mood of his students, and after a
couple of months of this practice, both of the women went crazy and ended up in a psychiatric
clinic.

It's one thing when we have random thoughts, but when we cultivate them on purpose, it
considers as violence.
Chapter 7

The mood of the spirit world

The first root cause of misconduct towards devotees is that we look at the spiritual life through
the lens of our mundane experience.

Our material experience says that if you are not the first, then you are the last. Therefore, when
we see that someone is advancing to the Lord rapidly than we are, worry arises in our hearts:
what if they will take my place, there will be a short of Lord for me, in relations with Him I will
only be the second or third and therefore will suffer. Because of this misconception, we, seeing
that a person is progressing faster than us, want to pull him down. As soon as someone leaves
for Maya, we rejoice in our hearts: “I have stayed, now no one will take my place! I’ll be the first
to go there! ”

But this only shows once again that we do not understand anything at all in the spiritual
relationships.

In the kingdom of God, there are laws that are opposite to the material ones. Don't try to
understand spiritual things with the material mentality. Until we understand the inner nature of
the transcendental reality, access to it will be closed to us.

Srimati Radharani is the dearest to Krishna. In the spiritual world everyone tries to arrange a
meeting between Srimati Radharani and Krsna. She is the personification of hladini-shakti - the
energy of devotion and true love, the personification of the pleasure potency of the Lord. The
happiness She feels from love to Krishna cannot be described.

Little girls called manjaris are directly serving Srimati Radharani. She wants to meet Krsna, but
for the manjaris He is not so attractive. We worship Krishna only because He is dear to You! "
Although they hardly ever meet with Krsna directly, their bliss is beyond description. They are
happy with the happiness of Radharani, the Lady of their hearts. This amazing devoted service
is a source of incomprehensible bliss for them. The reason for the happiness of these little
manjaris is serving the servants of the servants of Krsna.

When we serve the servants of Krsna, our happiness is increased millions of times. It is
impossible to understand this with the material mind. In the spiritual world everything is
arranged in such a way that the more devotees in front of you, the more devotees you serve,
the more dear you are to Krishna, the greater your inner bliss. It will be difficult to understand as
long as there is selfishness in the heart - you just need to accept it. Until we understand this and
act correctly, we will not enter spiritual reality. Until we learn to put devotees ahead of ourselves,
we cannot enter the spiritual world.

In Goloka Vrindavan, every speck of dust wants to become incredibly soft, sweet and aromatic
for the satisfaction of Sri Krishna and the devotees. This is the mentality of the servant of the
servant of the servant of all devotees. Even Lord Caitanya prayed that Krishna would make Him
a speck of dust at His lotus feet so that He could be completely absorbed in the mood of
transcendental service. Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches us in [Cc. Antya 20.32, Śikṣāṣṭaka 5],

ayi nanda-tanuja patitaṁ kiṅkaraṁ

māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau
kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja
sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya:

"My dear Lord, Nanda-tanuja, son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa, I am Your eternal servant.
Somehow or other, I am now fallen in this material ocean. Now take me again. Pick me,
and make me the one particle of dust of Your lotus feet."

Letter to Brahmananda as of the 15th of November 1969:

“This is called Vaikuntha attitude. In the Vaikuntha factually there is no fault in anyone, but there
is another type of competition. The competition is that one devotee thinks of other devotees how
nicely they are serving the Lord. In the material world, the attitude is that everyone likes to think
that I am doing better than others. This is material conception. In the Spiritual Sky, it is just the
opposite: Everyone thinks that my contemporary devotees are doing better than me.”

Until we develop such an attitude here, no one will let us there.

Questions:

1. What is the peculiarity of the mood of the manjaris?

2. Describe the mood of Vaikuntha (spiritual world)?

3. How important is it to practice this attitude at our level?

Three perfect devotees from Ramayana

There are three perfect devotees in Ramayana.

The first is Lakshman. Lakshman always accompanied Lord Ramacandra during his exile in the
forest. He has never closed his eyes for 14 years of exile guarding His sleep at night! Lakshman
hasn't slept for 14 years! He caught every desire of the Lord and immediately ran to fulfill it. He,
with his own hands, collected flowers, fruits and roots to offer them to Lord Ramacandra. When
Sitadevi disappeared and the army of monkeys was gathering to search for her, Hanuman
asked him what Sitadevi looked like? But Lakshman could not describe her appearance, since
he never raised his eyes above her feet. He was such a humble servant of Sri Ramacandra. For
the Lord's sake, he would stop at nothing.

However, Maharaja Bharata performed even more exalted service than Lakshman servicing the
Lord in separation. Lord Rama had been supposed to rule Ayodhya, but because of the promise
made by his father, He left for exile for 14 years. Bharata agreed to temporarily rule the kingdom
in order to keep it for Sri Ramacandra. All this time,
Bharata lived in the forest and underwent severe austerity: eating only roots and wild fruits, he
wore the skin of a deer and slept on bare ground. He did not dare to sit on the throne, which
rightfully belonged to Lord Rama. In the forest, ministers came to him for advice on the
government of the state. Bharata crowned Lord Rama's golden sandals as the Lord of Ayodhya
and placed them on the throne. When the need arose to resolve difficult issues, he came to the
palace and prayed to His sandals in order to understand what to do. He said: "How can I live in
a palace when my beloved Lord lives in the forest?" Sri Bharata made a vow that if the Lord
does not return after 14 years, he will commit suicide by entering the fire. In this mood, he ruled
the kingdom all this time. After the expiration of the period of exile, having defeated Ravana, the
Lord sent Hanuman to Maharaja Bharata with the news of His return and asked him to look into
his eyes. If even a shadow of attachment to the kingdom flickers in the eyes, then Bharata will
be crowned and become the king of Ayodhya. However, the heart of Bharata was different. As
soon as he heard of the return of his beloved Lord Rama, he began to dance in ecstasy. There
was only one thing in his soul: the desire to serve dear Lord Sri Ramacandra.

But there is another person whose service Sri Rama considered even more confidential than
the one of Maharaja Bharata. This is Shatrughna. He humbly served his brother, Bharata, and
also lived with him in the forest, taking care of him. Satrughna was attached to serving the
Vaishnavs and cursed the moments when he could not do this. His service was the most
intimate.

Questions:
1. What makes service unique:
_______________________________
Bharata _________________________________
Shatrughny ______________________________

2. Why is the service of Shatrughna considered the highest?

Dust from the feet of the guru
Surrendering to the lotus feet of the spiritual master means surrendering also to the feet of all
his followers. Until we have found shelter in the dust of the lotus feet of the spiritual master, until
we have taken a humble position towards all Vaisnavas, the spiritual world and the ruler of the
spiritual world - Sri Krishna - will be beyond our reach. Krishna simply will not accept us.

This is confirmed by Srila Prabhupada himself in a letter to Sivananda dated January 23, 1969
[3]: “Regarding serving your godbrothers, this is a very good practice. The Spiritual Master is
never without His followers, so to serve the Spiritual Master also means to be the servant of His
disciples. When you want to serve the king, you must also serve his minister, secretary, and
everyone who serves him. And to serve his servants may please him more than to serve the
king personally. So the Spiritual Master is not alone. He is always with His entourage. We are
not impersonalists. We take care of every part of the whole, as much as one should take care of
his hat as well as his shoes. Both are equally important for the upkeep of the body. I hope that
you will understand this rightly. "

Our entire spiritual life depends on the understanding of this principle. Only through Vaisnavas
can one approach the Lord. There is simply no other way.
Once Srila Prabhupada said that the only reason the Deities accept the offerings of his disciples
is because of his prayers, since their worship is one continuous aparadha.
When Srila Prabhupada installed the Sri Sri Radha and Krishna Deities in Australia, he gave
brahminical initiation to devotees who had been in the Krishna consciousness movement for
only two months and engaged them in worship. Then he addressed the Deities: “Dear Lord, I
leave You in the hands of these mlecchas. I understand that whatever they will do, from
beginning to end, will be an insult, but please change their hearts, help them progress in
Krishna consciousness. " And thanks to Srila Prabhupada's prayers, the hearts of the devotees
changed and they gradually became qualified.

If we serve the servants of the servants of the servants, we can satisfy Krsna very quickly. This
is because the Lord feels obligated if someone starts serving devotees. The completely
independent Supreme becomes dependent if we begin to serve His servants.
Questions:

1. Expand the meaning of the term: "Serving the dust of the guru’s feet."
2. What rule does Sri Krishna never change?
3. How will you build your life further, taking this principle into account?

Chapter 8

The Deep Cause of Vaishnava Aparadhas

The living entity is originally associated with Krsna by the bond of eternal love.
However, misusing the freedom of choice, a living being wants to try himself in His role - the role
of God. Therefore, it has to enter the material world.

Out of jealousy to the Lord in the material world, everyone in one way or another wants to take
the position of Krishna - the Controller and the Enjoyer.

Having turned away from Krsna, the living entity falls into the material world and immediately
gets under the influence of the duality of desire and hatred [BG 7.27]. Desire is the aspiration to
be the only enjoyer, and hatred is extended towards everyone and everything that opposes this
desire.

However, the question arises: do we manage to realize our desire to control everything and
enjoy everything in the material world? Of course not. Therefore, disappointment comes.

It reveals itself in anger at close people, at the whole world, at life, at fate and finally, at the Lord
Himself: “Why is He and not me ?! Why is everything not going according to my will ?! "

You cannot easily get to Sri Krishna to get revenge. But there are servants of the Lord nearby,
on whom a person can take out anger and anger caused by envy and disappointment.

Coming to the society of devotees, we try to "recover" from the desire to be God: we bow to
Him, serve, pray, glorify, recognizing that not we, but He is the Supreme.

But our deep-seated jealousy of Krishna sometimes comes out itself in the form of jealousy of
His devotees and the desire to cause them suffering and anxiety. Behind any negative attitude
towards devotees and the desire to cause suffering on them is our deep envy of God.
The question arises, what should we do?

The Vedas give the only way to get rid of envy - service!

So the only way to get rid of the envy of Krsna is to serve His devotees.

The spiritual path is called abhidheya, and the goal is prayojana.

What is the main path for us to attain Krishna?

In Sri Caitanya-bhagavata Lord Gauranga says Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Antya-khaṇḍa, 3.487:

Eteke vaisnava-seva parama upaya

Bhakta-seva haite se sabai krsna paya

“Therefore service to the Vaisnavas is the best means of deliverance. Everyone can
attain Krsna by serving the devotees.”

In bhakti yoga, you can put an equal sign between abhidya and prayojana.

For us, the main way to serve Krsna is by serving His servants. This is the fastest way to purify
your heart. When we attain the perfection of spiritual life and return to the spiritual world, we will
also serve the Vaishnavs there, because this is our constitutional position.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu says about Himself [3]:

gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ

I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord
Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the maintainer of the gopīs.

The first thing we must understand in order to return to the spiritual world is that we are
servants. Everything else is nuanced.

Until we have the mentality of a servant, access to the spiritual reality will be closed for us. Our
disease is that we do not want to serve. That is why we are in the material world.
In the Padma Purana, the greatest of the mahajanas (experts in the science of bhakti) Lord
Shiva says to Parvati [4]:

ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ
viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param
tasmād parataraṁ devi
tadīyānāṁ samarcanam

“O Devī, the most exalted system of worship is the worship of Lord Viṣṇu. Greater than
that is the worship of tadīya, or anything belonging to Viṣṇu.”

Srila Prabhupada continues in the purport: The sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, guru, Vaiṣṇavas and
things used by them must be considered tadīya, and without a doubt worshipable by all living
beings.”

This is confirmed by other sources (Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Ādi-khaṇḍa, 1.8, comm):

Arcayitva tu govindam

tadiyan narcaeyt tu yah

Na sa bhagavato jneyah

Kevalam dambhikah smrtah

“One who performs worship of LordGovinda but fails to worship His devotees should be
understood to be a devotee of the Lord but simply a victim of false pride.”

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa, 2.41, comm.:

Tasmad sarva-prayatnena

Vaisnavan pujayet sada

“Therefore one should always worship the Vaishnavas by all means”.

Lord Krishna says:

Mad-bhakta-pujabhyadhika
 Sarva-bhutesu man-matih

“Worshiping My devotees is better than directly worshiping Me”.

In the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, the words of the Supreme Lord to Aditi are given [8]:

Baladeva Vidyabhusana, quoting Sandilya-smriti, says [Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Ādi-khaṇḍa,

1.9.

]:

“One may doubt whether the servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead will attain
perfection, but there is absolutely no doubt that those who are attached to serving His
devotees will attain perfection. One’s mind is not fully purified by serving the lotus feet of
the Supreme Lord as it is by serving the feet of His devotees.”

If we worship Krishna directly, it is still not clear whether we can achieve perfection, whether we
can be purified before our death comes. But if we serve the devotees of the Lord, we will return
to Him. This is guaranteed by the scriptures, the spiritual master and the saints of the past. This
is our chance. Whether we use it or not is up to us to decide.

We need to constantly realize that it is not our mercy to serve the Vaishnavs. The Vaisnavas are
so merciful that they allow us to serve them.

Unless we do not have the opportunity to serve the devotees, can we get rid of our envy of
Krishna? No. We either will continue our material existence, or our service will purify us very
slowly. There is no other quicker mechanism to get rid of deep envy of God.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said in his famous lecture on February the 6, 1936, on the
day of his last Vyasa-puja in his lifetime:

“The depth of humility and submission of the Vaishnavas teaches us that it is simply impossible
to approach God or His devotees without such humble surrender. If we are arrogant, then we
will surely be deprived of the service of God and His devotees. “There are people who worship
God but do not worship His devotees. Indeed, they are arrogant, and their worship of God is
worthless. " Basically speaking, worship of God and His devotees both are on the same level. If
the devotion, with which we worship God, does not awaken in our hearts towards the feet of His
devotees, then we have no value and we live in vain.

All devotees are instructing us in the highest service of Krsna. The vicious desire to become a
devotee of God just to be honored more than others must be sweeped out of our hearts with a
hard whisk. Krishna will be merciful to us and one day we will be blessed with the auspicious gift
of devotion to His Divine Lotus Feet and freedom from such evil desires and seeking the benefit
or respect of others. A person who is free from all such sins will be endowed with the ability to
serve God.

Wicked men and women, sudras and everyone else can be condemned and despised in the
eyes of the world for their evil-doings. But even such people will be able to achieve eternal
benefit if they turn their attention to the way of life of God's devotees, who respect everyone and
do not want respect for themselves, and will change their hearts by example and teaching of
devotees. Let us conclude this speech with the words already quoted: “There are people who
worship God, but do not worship His devotees. Indeed, they are arrogant sinners. Their worship
of God is worthless. "

Each of us probably had such situations when we served the Vaishnavs, but our service was
not properly assessed or instead of gratitude we only heard criticism in our address.

When this happens, we may have a doubt: "What is the point of serving?"

The Lord created this situation so that we can answer ourselves to the following question: What
do we really want: to receive recognition and gratitude, or to please Krishna? Do we really
appreciate the very ability to humbly serve God's servants?

The Lord will set up many situations to test our motives: do we really want to enter into a
relationship with Him in the spirit world, or do we just want to be appreciated? Such
examinations occur in our lives to deepen our understanding of the importance of being in the
servant mood. Krishna will do this on purpose to test and case-harden this type of mood in us.

Questions:

1. What is the root cause of Vaisnava-aparadhas?

2. What is the main method of recovering? Explain why?

3. Give at least four reasons for the importance of Vaishnava seva.

4. How to react if the devotees do not appreciate our service? Why did the Lord create these
circumstances?

Chapter 9
Why Our Spiritual Progress Is Slowed

The five best types of devotional service are described in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. Even a short-
term contact with them can awaken in a person love for God [Madhya 22.128]:

1. sādhu-saṅga — association with devotees;

2. 2. nāma-kīrtana — chanting the holy name;
3. bhāgavata-śravaṇa — hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam;
4. mathurā-vāsa — living at Mathurā;
5. śrī-mūrtira śraddhāya sevana — worshiping the Deity with faith and veneration.

Each of these methods or all together can very quickly give love to God.

Someone might object, "We have been practicing all these five principles of devotional service
for many years, but where is the prema?" Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in the article “Vaishnava
Ninda” in the magazine “Sajana-tosani” (issue of August 1893) reveals the truth:
https://www.purebhakti.com/teachers/bhakti-discourses/57-discourses-2010/1110-vaisnava-
ninda-criticizing-a-vaisnava

“… However, to disrespect or dishonour a vaisnava-jiva is actually an aparadha. There is no

form of sin that cannot be destroyed by performing ordinary penances, but an aparadha
committed against a Vaisnava is not easily eradicated. Sins affect the gross and subtle material
bodies, whereas an aparadha specifically affects the jiva’s quest to establish himself in his
constitutional position as a pure spirit soul, causing him to fall from his path. Therefore, those
who wish to perform loving worship of the Supreme Lord (bhagavad-bhajana) must diligently
protect themselves from committing aparadha. "

Thus, the direct cause of lack of love for Krsna is offense to the devotees.

A person can practice for thousands of lifetimes, but keeping negative in relation to the
Vaishnavs in his consciousness, he will lose what he has gained and fall down. His heart will not
change because all these methods of bhakti will rob him of mercy. All of this is due to aparads.
We can forget this, but Krsna does not forget anything.
The story of Devananda Pandita

One day Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, walking from village to village, came to the dam of
Maheswara Visarada, belonging to the father of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. At that time
Devananda Pandita lived there. He was famous fer being a great scholar, a great celibate
ascetic, and as a teacher of Srimad-Bhagavatam. However, while teaching Srimad-
Bhagavatam, the ocean of bhakti-rasa, he did not know its real meaning. Because he was not a
devotee, he only desired liberation and was bereaved of bhakti. One day Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu together with his associates passed by the place where Devananda Pandita taught
Srimad-Bhagavatam, and heard his explanation. Not seeing the glories of bhakti in his
interpretation, the Lord exclaimed in anger (Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa, 21.13-
18.):

kope bale prabhu, - “beta ki artha vakhane?

Bhagavata-artha kona janme o na jane

In anger, the Lord said, “What kind of explanation can this fellow give? He has never
understood the meaning of Srimad Bhagavatam in any of his lifetimes.

e betara bhagavate kon adhikara?

Grandha-rupe bhagavata krsna-avatara

“What qualification does this fellow have to speak on Srimad Bhagavatam? Srimad
Bhagavatam is the incarnation of Lord Krshna in the form of a book.

Sabe purusartha “bhakti” bhagavate haya

“Prema-rupa bhagavata” cari-vede kaya

In the Srimad Bhagavatam devotional service is described as the ultimate goal of life.
The four Vedas declare that Srimad Bhagavatam is the manifestation of ecstatic love.

Cari-veda - “dadhi”, bhagavata - “navanita”

Mathilena suke, khailena pariksita

The four vedas are like yogurt, and Srimad Bhagavatam is like butter. Sukadeva
Gosvami churned, and Pariksit Maharaja relished the result.

mora priya suka se janena bhagavata

bhagavate kahe mora tattva-abhimata

My dear Shukadev knows the purport of Srimad Bhagavatam, which describes the
science of my glories and position.

muni, mora dasa, ara grantha-bhagavate

yara bheda ache, tara nasa bhala-mate”

“Anyone who discriminates between Me, My servant and the book Bhagavatam is
certainly destroyed.”
When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu angrily instilled the truth about Srimad-Bhagavatam into
teacher Devananda Pandita, the Vaisnavas felt supreme bliss. The Lord continued [Śrī
Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa, 21.20-21.]:

Bhakti vinu bhagavata ye ara vakhane

Prabhu bale, - “se adhama kichui na jane

niravadhi bhakti-hina e beta vakhane

aji puntha ciriba, dekhaha vidyamane”

Regarding one who explains Srimad Bhagavatam without referring to devotional service,
the Lord says, “That rascal does not know a thing.
“This fellow never mentions devotional service in his explanations. Watch how I tear up
his book today.”
With these words, the Lord rushed to tear Devananda's book, but the devotees restrained Him.

Further Srila Vrindavana dasa Thakura writes [ Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa,

21.23-25.]:

mahacintya bhagavata sarva-sastre gaya

iha na bujhiye vidya, tapa, pratisthaya

All the scriptures glorify Srimad Bhagavatam as the most sublime literature, yet this
cannot be understood through education,austerity, or fame.

“Bhagavata bujhi” hena yare ache jnana

Se na jane kabhu bhagavatera pramana

One who thinks, “I understand Srimad Bhagavatam,” does not actually know the conclusion of
Srimad Bhagavatam.

bhagavate acintya-isvara-buddhi yara

se janaye bhagavata-artha bhakti sara

One who accepts Srimad Bhagavatam as the inconceivable Supreme Lord knows that
pure devotional service is the purport of Srimad Bhagavatam.

Afterwards,in the evening, while walking in the villages, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu saw
Devananda Pandita not far away and, being in great anger, began to accuse him. The reason
for His anger was that the Lord remembered the crime that Devananda Pandita had committed
against Srivasa Pandit, the avatar of Narada Muni, the embodiment of bhakti of Bhagavan
Himself. This happened when the Lilas of the Lord had not yet been manifested, and the
devotees were grieving because the world was deprived of the wealth of prema. Although some
Navadvipa teachers taught disciples of the Bhagavad-gita and some of them taught them of the
Srimad Bhagavatam, they did not touch upon bhakti - the nectar essence of the Bhagavad-gita,
Srimad Bhagavatam and other scriptures. Since the spirit of service to the Lord was absent in
these teachers, they did not aspire to bhakti and did not even think of it. At that time,
Devananda Pandita, who was gifted with many talents, peaceful, followed vows comparable to
those of sannyasis and brahmacharis since his childhood, taught Srimad Bhagavatam in
Navadwip. He was highly respected among the people, but with all his merit, he was guilty of
lack of devotion and thus inflicted an offense at the holy feet of a Vaishnava.

One day the great bhakta Srivasa, feeling thirsty to hear Srimad Bhagavatam, came to the
place where Devananda Pandita was teaching. From the sound of Srimad Bhagavatam,which
every syllable is filled with prema, the heart of the maha-bhagavata Srivasa melted, and
exultation transformed his body: his hair rose, his skin tightened, he began to sigh convulsively
and sob, trembling all over. Devananda Pandita's listeners, unabling to see beyond what their
material eyes see, were limited in understanding the words of Srimad Bhagavatam. So they
grabbed the unconscious Srivasa, Mahaprabhu's beloved associate, dragged him out of the
room and threw him in the street. Devananda Pandita did not interfere with this behavior of his
disciples. Later on after recovering, Srivas Pandit went home with a heavy heart.

The omniscient Lord, who is present in everyone's heart, knew everything about the Vaishnava-
aparadha of Devananda Pandit. If the guru does not have bhakti, then his disciples do not have
it either. And now, as soon as He saw Devananda Pandita, He immediately remembered that
incident and turned to him in anger [Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa, 21.68-74.]:

“aye aye devānanda! bali ye tomāre

tumi ebe bhāgavata padāo sabāre

ye śrivāse dekhite gańgāra manoratha

hena-jana gelā śunibāre bhāgavata

kon aparādhe tāne śișya hāthāiyā

bādira bāhire laňā edilā tāniyā?

bhāgavata śunite ye kānde kṛṣṇa-rase

tāniyāphelite ki tāhāra yogya āise?
“O, Devananda, let Me tell you something. Now you are teaching Srimad Bhargavatam to
everyone. Srivasa, whom even the Ganges desires to see, once went to hear Srimad
Bhagavatam from you. For what offense did you have your students throw him out of
your house? Is it proper to throw out someone who after hearing Srimad Bhagavatam is
crying in love for Krishna?”

bujhilāma, tumi se padāo bhāgavata

kona janme nā jānaha grantha-abhimata
“I can understand that even though you teach Srimad Bhagavatam, you have not realised
its purport in any of your lifetimes.

paripūrṇa kariyā ye-saba jane khāya

tabe bahir-deṡe giyā se santoṣa pāya

prema-maya bhāgavata padāiyā tumi

tata sukha nā pāilā, kahilāma āmi”

“One who eats to his full satisfaction feels happy when he goes out in the world. But I tell
you that even though you teach Srimad Bhagavatam, which is full of ecstatic love, you
have not achieved happiness”.
Listening to the Mahaprabhu's judgment, Devananda Pandita stood with his head down. Out of
shame, he could not even answer. After punishing Devananda Pandita with angry words, the
Lord left. Devananda also went home in distress. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's verbal punishment
awakened Devananda’s future fortune.

Vrindavana dasa Thakura further writes [Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa, 21.77-80.]:

tathāpiha devānanda baḍa puṇyavanta

vacane o prabhu yāre karilena daṇḍa

caitanyera daṇḍa maha-sukṛiti se pāya

yāṅra daṇḍe marile vaikuṇṭhe loka yāya

caitanyera daṇḍa ye mastake kari’ laya

sei daṇḍa tāre prema-bhakti-yoga haya

caitanyera daṇḍe yāra citte nāhi bhaya

janme janme se pāpiṣṭha yama-daṇḍya haya

Yet Devananda was most fortunate, for the Lord personally chastised him. Only a most
fortunate person receives punishment from Lord Chaitanya. If one dies as a result of the
Lord’s punishment, he attains Vaikuntha.

One who faithfully accepts Lord Caitanya’s punishment attains ecstatic love as a result.

A sinful person who does not fear Lord Caitanya’s punishment is fit for Yamaraja’s
punishment life after life.

By punishing Devananda with His words, Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu showed everyone that if
one inflicts an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaisnava and thereby deprives oneself of his mercy,
then no attempt to worship Krishna will give Krishna-prema.

After some time, Lord Caitanya sent his dear companion Vakresvara to Navadvipa.
Overwhelmed with love for God, he could dance without interruption for 72 hours in a row. The
laws of the material world did not affect him in any way. Anyone who saw Vakreshvara attained
prema. He chanted the Names of Krishna in such a way that even the stones melted. Lord
Caitanya once said, "If I had wings like Vakreshvara, I would fly to the spiritual world."
Vakreshvara is the eternal associate of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

When Vakresvara came to Navadvipa, thousands of people came to see him at least once. He
chanted with the greatest love and devotion the Names of Lord Hari. Any person who somehow
came into contact with this singing simply forgot where he was going and what he wanted to do.
People immediately joined the kirtan and tears began to flow from their eyes. They wanted to
get a glimpse of his transcendental face from the corner of their eyes. Devananda was very
attracted by the qualities of Vakresvara. He was shocked. Grabbing a stick, Devananda began
to move the crowd apart so that it would not interfere with Vakreshvara's dancing. When
Vakreshvara fell unconscious, Devananda picked up his body, massaged his feet so that he
could take a break from dancing. In this way he served this great Vaisnava. Somehow one of
the kirtans ended late at night. Vakreshvara stopped the chanting so that the Vaishnavas could
rest until tomorrow. Then Devananda fell at his feet and began to offer prayers: “My dear lord, I
am a fallen rascal. You are the embodiment of the grace of the Lord, please stay at my house.
Please let me serve you in some way, do not refuse me. You are the embodiment of mercy and
the savior of the fallen. "

Vakreshvara, being very merciful, accepted his invitation and stayed for several days in the
house of Devananda Pandita, who served him with all humility and attention. Through the
service of this great Vaishnava, deep affection for the lotus feet of Lord Sri Caitanya arose in
Devananda's heart. He gained deep faith in the devotees and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

The next time the Lord came to Kuliya, Vakreshvara also came there. This time, due to
association with Vakresvara, who is extremely dear to the Lord, Devananda Pandita hurried to
see Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. By the mercy of the devotee Devananda Pandita acquired
humility and all Vaishnava qualities. He prostrated himself in front of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu
and then quietly stood aside.

Seeing Devananda Pandita, on whom Vakresvara had shed the mercy, the pleased Lord
Gauranga forgave him all his previous aparadhas and, sitting beside him, began to talk to him
one on one: “You have got a rare chance to serve My dear Vakresvara, so I turned my gaze on
you ... Vakreshvara is the complete shakti of Krishna. One who has love for Vakresvara attains
the Lord. The heart of Vakreshvara is Krishna's favorite abode, His home. When Vakreshvara
dances, Krishna Himself dances with him. Where he is, all the holy places are. " Hearing the
divine words, Devananda began to offer prayers with folded hands: “O merciful Lord, You
appeared in Navadwip for the salvation of the world! I am a sinner. My past sins prevented me
from understanding You. Service to Your supreme bliss passed me by. Your nature is to give
mercy to every living being. Therefore, I pray to You:
Please give me love for you. Lord, please let me ask You while sitting at Your lotus feet. Tell me
what to do? I am asarva-jya, I do not know anything. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the book of the
omniscient, sarva jyi. Kindly explain how I, an ignorant one, should read Srimad-Bhagavatam,
how to interpret it and how to teach it? Satisfied with the humble words of Devananda Pandita,
the Supreme Lord Gaurasundara replied, “O brahmana, do not utter a word of Srimad-
Bhagavatam without explanation in the perspective of bhakti. The only thing that Srimad-
Bhagavatam says at the beginning, in the middle and at the end is bhakti, which is eternally
perfect, and never is the subject of decline and decrease. In all the innumerable material
universes, bhakti is the only truth. And even during maha-pralaya, the complete destruction of
the worlds, it does not in the least lose its divine omnipotence. Sri Narayana deceives the jivas
by rewarding them with liberation and hiding bhakti from them. If Krsna wants to get rid of some
selfish devotee, He grants him pleasure or liberation, but hides confidential bhakti from him. It
can only be obtained by the grace of Krsna. Only the Srimad-Bhagavatam affirms the exclusivity
of bhakti. Therefore, no scripture can compare with Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam
is not created by anyone, it is apaurusheya, it appears and goes away like Matsya, Kurma and
other incarnations of Lord Krishna.

One who says he has understood the message of the Bhagavatam will never be able to
understand it. But even if a complete ignorant surrenders to Srimad-Bhagavatam, the innermost
meaning of this book is revealed to him by itself. Srimad-Bhagavatam is full of prema, the form
of the Lord is vigraha. He lifts the veil over the most confidential pastimes of Krishna. But there
are failures who, reading such an incomparable, precious book, cannot drink bhakti-rasa and
understand its essence, falling under the influence of ignorance. O brahmana, explain to others
that at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the Srimad-Bhagavatam it talks about
bhakti-yoga. Then you will be free from offenses and have real fullness of heart. Of course, the
essence of every scripture is Krsna-bhakti, but Srimad-Bhagavatam is especially permeated
with the rasa of devotional service to Krsna. O brahmana, from now on, teach Srimad-
Bhagavatam, striving to convey to everyone the ambrosia of the nectar of Krishna-bhakti-rasa. "

Joyfully drinking with his ears the nectar of the divine mouth of Lord Caitanya, Devananda
Pandita glorified his good fortune. Fixing his body and mind at the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya,
he offered Him innumerable obeisances and went to his room.

By the grace of Mahaprabhu and His dear companion Vakresvara Devananda Pandita realized
the greatness of the incarnation of Narada-Srivasa and other devotees. Again and again, in
complete repentance and humility, he prayed for their forgiveness and thus attained the sincere
mercy of Srivas and all the other devotees of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. One who does not
become the servant and follower of the Vaisnava-bhagavata cannot receive the mercy of the
Srimad-Bhagavatam scripture and will be forever deprived of the opportunity to taste the rasa of
devotion to Krsna. If even the most insignificant aparadha of the lotus feet of the devotees has
occurred, then neither sabda, nor Brahman, nor the scripture Srimad-Bhagavatam, nor the
param-brahmana Sri Krishna will give their mercy.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that every jiva is a Vaisnava. Therefore, being a jiva, an
eternal part of Krsna, Devananda is able to understand the meaning of the Bhagavatam. But
this ability sleeps in him, and such ignorance is a consequence of aparadha. Having committed
aparadha, he lost the ability to understand the Bhagavatam.
Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 19.156 says:

yadi vaiṣṇava-aparādha uṭhe hātī mātā

upāḍe vā chiṇḍe, tāra śukhi’ yāya pātā

“If the devotee commits an offense at the feet of a Vaiṣṇava 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.”

Insulting a devotee is like inviting a mad elephant to the garden of your heart. What happens if a
five-ton rabid animal steps on a small sprout of bhakti? There will be nothing left of the sprout. If
we think that someone in the society of devotees is our enemy, then that is sadhu ninda,
rejection towards a Vaishnava. If we have anger or enmity towards a devotee, we urgently need
to change something. The most merciful incarnation of God, Lord Sri Caitanya, saved everyone
except the offenders of the Vaisnavas.

Questions:

1. Why don't the five most powerful methods of devotional service give us Krishna-prema?
2. What lessons have you learned from the story of Devananda Pandit?
3. What did Mahaprabhu say about sadhu ninda? What does this mean for us?

The Story of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura is a great Vaisnava, eternal companion of Sri Radha and
Krishna. He has written numerous books on the philosophy of bhakti. Srila Prabhupada used his
comments to compose his devotional comments. Visvanatha Cakravarti lived in Vrindavan for a
long time, and his wonderful qualities and preaching won the hearts of so many people. But
there were people for whom his message was "burr in the saddle." They were caste brahmanas.
They hated him and envied him so much that they decided to kill him and then they began to
make plans for how to carry out their nefarious plan.
Every day Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura went to the Yamuna to take ablution. They decided
that as soon as he entered the thicket of bushes by the river, they would run there and kill him.
No one will see anything, and he will be finished.

In the morning Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti went to the Yamuna. When he entered the thicket
and the brahmanas rushed there to finish him off, they, to their surprise, did not find anyone.
They searched all the bushes around and found only a little girl. The brahmanas asked her if
she had seen anyone here. The girl replied that she had not seen anyone. The brahmanas have
never seen such a beautiful child in their lives. A soft radiance emanated from her, and she was
extraordinarily beautiful. They asked:
- Who are you and where are you from? Who are your parents? Why haven't we seen you here
before?

The girl smiled shyly and replied:

“I am the maidservant of Srimati Radharani and I collect flowers for Her,” and after that, right in
front of the brahmanas, she became Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.

The brahmanas were astonished. They fell at his feet and began to pray for forgiveness.
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura knew that even due to their desire to disturb him they would go
to hell. Therefore, in order to save them, he showed them his eternal spiritual form. These
people repented, asked for forgiveness and became his disciples.

Chapter 10
How to neutralize the effects of Vaishnava
aparadha

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, in his Madhurya Kadambini, explains in detail what to do if
we commit Vaisnava-aparadha [«Madhurya Kadambini», third shower of nectar «Elimination of
All Impediments to Bhakti»: «Blasphemy of devotees and guru».]: “Blasphemy (nindā) of saintly
persons, or bhaktas, is the first of the ten kinds of offences to the holy name. Here the word
nindā also indicates envy, malevolence and other similar dispositions. "
If a devotee accidentally commits this offense, he should feel remorse and blame himself:
“Alas, alas! A low-class person such as I has offended a sādhu.”

When we ask forgiveness from a Vaishnava, we should deeply regret in our hearts, worrying
about our tendency to hurt others. But if we consider ourselves to be right and only formally ask
for forgiveness, this will not work, and the pain we have caused will remain in the devotee's
heart.

At the beginning of my spiritual life, I lived in a brahmachari ashram, and one devotee in front of
everyone offended me. I felt a strong inner pain. Five minutes after this incident, when I was
talking to others, this young man came into this room. Having run in, he stretched out in bow in
an emphatic manner and said sarcastically: "Well, forgive me!" I remember the thought occured
in my mind at that moment: “ I shall rather curse you than forgive you " Of course, I didn’t do it,
but such a thought occurred to me.

We should really repent. Only then we shall become worthy candidates to receive forgiveness
and purify our hearts.

One burned by fire finds relief by fire alone.

Ayurveda, it is recommended to smear burns with an ointment that causes heat in the body. It
heals quickly. This means that we should sincerely approach the devotee who has been
offended.

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura continues: “In this way, to mitigate his offence, he should
sorrowfully offer that sādhu obeisances,
prayers and all respect. If that sādhu is still not pleased, then that person
who committed the offence must continuously serve him for many days,
in accordance with the sādhu’s particular preference.”

Without repentance, a person's heart will not change.

Repentance exists on three levels:

1. at the level of the body - service and obeisances;

2. at the level of speech - apologizing, glorifying, praying;
3. at the level of the mind - deep remorse.

Which one of these three types is the main one? Of course, repentance is at the level of the
mind. If repentance at the level of the mind has not happened, then the person's heart will not
change. Time will pass, the incident will be forgotten, and the person will again do the same, but
under different circumstances.

An example of this is Daksha, who publicly insulted Lord Shiva. As a result of this aparadha, he
died, deprived of fame, fortune, good name, etc. All the people who attended the sacrifice were
injured because of it.

The entire universe knew about this act of Daksha. When the head of a goat was placed on the
place of his head, he revived due to the power of Lord Shiva, opened his eyes and saw Lord
Shiva. Then tears flowed from his eyes, and he bowed again and again at the feet of Lord
Shiva. He brought him gifts and offered prayers. A whole chapter in Srimad-Bhagavatam is
totally composed of Daksha's prayers to Lord Siva [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) »
Canto 4. The Sacrifice Performed by Dakṣa.

We learn from Srimad Bhagavatam that when Daksa, the offender of the greatest Vaishnava
Siva, performed his sacrifice, Vishnu did not appear at his yajna. The Lord does not accept any
worship if His devotees are offended. Sati Devi, despite the prohibition of her husband Shiva,
came to her father's yajna. In her presence, Daksha began to revile Shiva, which caused
unbearable pain in her heart. She decided: “Due to my feminine unreasonableness, I did not
obey the prohibition of my omniscient husband, the best of Vaishnavas, Lord Shiva, and came
to the house of my father who hated Vaisnavas. And now I had to receive the greatest curse: to
hear the reproach of a Vaisnava. Woe to me and a thousand times shame. I do not see
anything that could wash away my shame and atone for my crime! And I will immediately part
with the body given to me by the offender - my father in order to wash my soul in the dust of the
feet of my divine husband, I will again and again pray to him for forgiveness! “ With this thought,
Sati said to her father: “Father, who, besides you, would ever go against the all-good Shiva,
who is immensely loved by all living beings? He is the second to none. He shows no particular
favor to anyone and does not regard anyone as his enemy. Who, besides you, is capable of
hating Shiva? It is the nature of the saints to always find merits, even in the midst of
imperfections. The nature of evil and hating creatures like you is to see the bad even where
there are only noble qualities. Those holy souls who judge flaws and merits in a balanced way
are in the middle. And above all is he, who glorifies the most insignificant backgrounds for the
noble qualities of others as great ones. You, father, ascribe flaws to the greatest! "

Indeed, the nature of the flaw-seeker is such that «Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta » Antya-līlā 8.81.

yāhāṅ guṇa śata āche, tāhā nā kare grahaṇa

guṇa-madhye chale kare doṣa-āropaṇa

“Even where there are hundreds of good qualities, a critic does not consider them. Rather, he
attempts by some trick to point out a fault in those attributes.

Just as an ant, crawling through a palace of precious stones, cannot find a single hole in the
floor or walls, so a true sadhu - adosha-darsi - does not see anything bad in anything else [Śrī
Caitanya-caritāmṛta » Antya-līlā 20.25»]:

uttama hañā vaiṣṇava habe nirabhimāna

jīve sammāna dibe jāni’ ‘kṛṣṇa’-adhiṣṭhāna

“Although a Vaiṣṇava is the most exalted person, he is prideless and gives all respect to
everyone, knowing everyone to be the resting place of Kṛṣṇa.
This story was told in order to show the horror of the Vaishnava-aparadha. In Svayambhu-
manvantara, Daksha, having received a goat's head as a punishment for committing an offense,
prayed at the holy feet of Shiva for forgiveness, but his prayers lacked inner repentance and
sincerity. Srila Prabhupada in his commentary says that in the very depths of his heart, Daksha
retained some traces of anger and envy. Therefore, in the Caksusa-manvantara it happened
that he again performed the Vaishnava-aparadha, this time at the holy feet of Devarisa Narada,
the bhaktavatara of the Supreme Lord. This could be a very important lesson for him.
Nonetheless Daksha received serious consequences due to his sinful actions, suffered greatly,
lost everything, made others suffer, and was even killed; however, maya overshadows the
memory of a person who does not repent, and he repeats the same thing again.

When we commit some kind of sin, then, besides the profound consequences, and karma, we
receive samskara - a subtle contamination in the heart. In other words, it is a general propensity
for the same kind of behavior in the future. Gradually this samskara begins to "germinate". Over
time, it forms into bijam - the seed of si - a random thought. After that, a kutam appears - a
sprout - further reflection on this. Then phalon mukha is formed - a green fruit, a strong desire to
commit a similar act again and phala - a ripe fruit, i.e. the act itself.

Imagine a person who stole something. He was caught and sent to prison. The fact that he did a
spell in prison does not mean that his heart has changed. Samskara has remained, it is not
easy to destroy it. When he gets out of prison, the filth in his heart leads to the fact that he
unconsciously goes to those places where he will do the same things as before. Feet
themselves carry him to where he can steal again. The sense tells him: “Don't do this! Do you
remember how you suffered for this? " But the defiled mind wins: “No, you were just
inexperienced that time. This time everything will be different ... ". The sense can resist: "You
served two years in prison." But a thought has already begun to germinate, and the person
cannot cope with the mind. This is formed first into a strong desire, and then into action: a
person goes and steals, and everything starts again. The same applies to violation of any
regulatory principle.

The only mechanism that destroys samskara is deepest repentance.

When a person is very worried that he has a tendency to commit sins, and prays to Krishna to
help him get rid of it, only then the seeds of sins are "roasted" and will not germinate any more.

Is repentance at the level of the mind is enough?

Our mind can say: “You have already experienced and repented at the level of the mind, why to
ask for forgiveness? That's enough! What if they misunderstand you? " But if we have not gone
through repentance at the level of body and speech, this means that we have not repented in
fact. If we really repented, then it will not matter to us what others think there, but it will be
important what Sri Krishna thinks of us, and whether the person offended by us has learned that
we have corrected.

Questions:

1. What should be the inner mood of the one who asks for forgiveness?

2. Describe the three levels of repentance

at body level: ___________________________
at the speech level: __________________________
at the level of the mind: ____________________________

3. What is the role of a deep remorse for neutralizing the consequences of the insult?

4. What do the shastras say about the nature of the critic?

5. How does a Vaishnava sadhu behave?

6. What conclusions did you draw for yourself from the story of Daksha?

7. Is remorse enough at the level of the mind?

How to get forgiveness from a devotee?

We have already quoted above the words of Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura, where he says
that if we have offended a Vaishnava, but want to heal the wound in the heart of this person, we
need to serve him.

By committing an offense, we inflict a certain wound on a person - we create a samskara.

Conventional wisdom says that it takes a minimum of eleven good impressions to correct the
bad one.

For example, we did something very painful for a devotee, offended him, and in order to correct
the situation, the only thing we said was: "Well, I'm sorry ...". There is a clear discrepancy
between the pain caused to him (samskara) and the act to neutralize the consequences. And
even if he is a very good devotee who wants to treat everyone correctly, when he sees us, he
will still keep some distance, fearing that we will cause him new pain. The reason for this fear is
the samskaras which we have created but failed to neutralize. As a result, we will be deprived of
both the mercy of this Vaisnava and the mercy of Krsna.
The question that often arises is, “What if the devotees I have offended are now very far away?
I can't even physically see them, to say nothing of serving them. What should I do?".

If Krishna sees that a devotee is doing everything to neutralize his offense, then He will give him
the green light in spiritual life.

Write them letters, call them, send gifts with someone, look for meetings with them at the
festival, etc. Go above and beyond. Then the Lord will pour His mercy on you.

If you have any suspicions that you may have offended a devotee, do not be afraid to ask him
for forgiveness again.

Questions:

1. How can we heal a wound in the heart of an offended devotee? Why is it so important?

2. What if our offended devotees are very far away?

The story of Gopal Chapal

When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was walking with His devotees to Mathura, He stopped for a
few days at Rama Keli and then, interrupting His pilgrimage, turned to the south. On the way to
Nilachala, He blessed with His presence the house of Advaita Acharya in Shantipura. When He
was living in Shantipura, a leper came to Him and fell down before Him with pitiful groans.
Stretching out his hands to the Lord and shedding tears, he began to beg Him:

- Lord, You are the most merciful. You came to Earth to save the jivas who are drowning in the
worldly grief. When you see the suffering of others, your heart is filled with sorrow. That is why I
have come to You! I am sick with leprosy. My whole body squiems and dies in agony. Tell me
how can I be saved?

Hearing the piteous groans of the leper, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu fell upon him in great anger:
“Listen, you damned sinner. Get out of my sight. Your mere sight breeds sin in people. As soon
as the most righteous person sees your face, and from that day on he is doomed to the
mountain. You are a vicious sinner, an offender of a Vaisnava, and there will be no limit to your
torment. You cannot endure your present agony, so what will you do in the hell of Kumbipaka,
where the torture is a thousand times worse? A Vaishnava, whose name sanctifies the life of
the soul in this world, whose irreproachable fame and deeds are sung even by the demigods
headed by Brahma. A Vaishnava whose service leads to the inconceivable and unattainable
lotus feet of Krsna. Vaishnava, whose worship is the highest form of worship, you rascal wanted
to offend!

There is no one who is dearer to Krishna than His own devotees [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
11.14.15]:

na tathā me priyatama
ātma-yonir na śaṅkaraḥ
na ca saṅkarṣaṇo na śrīr
naivātmā ca yathā bhavān

My dear Uddhava, neither Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa, the goddess of
fortune nor indeed My own self are as dear to Me as you are.

Sri Caitanya-bhagavata describes how Mahaprabhu severely chastises a leper [Śrī Caitanya-
bhāgavata. Antya-khaṇḍa, 4.360-367.

ṣṇ ā ṇ ṛṣ ī

“hena vaiṣṇavera nindā kare yei jana

se-i pāya duḥkha - janma-jīvana-maraṇa

vidya-kula-tapa saba viphala tāhāra

vaiṣṇava nindaye ye ye pāpī durācāra

pūjā o tāhāra kṛṣna nā kare grahaṇā

vaiṣṇavera nindā kare ye pāpiṣṭha jana

ye vaiṣṇava nācite pṛthivī dhanya haya

yāṅra dṛṣṭi-mātra daśa-dike pāpa kṣaya

ye vaiṣṇava-jana bāhu tuliyā nācite

svargero sakala vighna ghuce bhāla-mate

hena mahābhāgavata śrivāsa-paṇḍita

tui pāpī nindā kaili tāhāra catita

eteke tohāra kuṣṭha-jvālā kon kāja

mūla śāstā paścāte āchena dharmarāja

eteke āmāra dṛśya-yogya naha tumi
tomāra niṣkṛti karibāre nāri āmi”

Therefore anyone who blasphemes such a Vaishnava suffers miseries in birth, life, and
death.

“The education, high birth, and austerities of a sinful, wretched person who blasphemes
Vaishnavas are all useless.

Krishna does not accept the worship of a sinful person who blasphemes Vaishnavas.

When a Vaishnava raises his arms and dances, the inauspiciousness in the heavenly planets is
totally vanquished.
“Srivasa Pandita is such an exalted devotee, yet you are so sinful that you blasphemed him.

Therefore this burning pain of leprosy is nothing compared to the punishment that you will
receive later from Yamaraja.
You are not fit to be seen Me, and I am unable to deliver you.

When Lord Sri Gaurasundara did not want to save the offender of the holy feet of His beloved
companion Srivasa maha-bhagavata, this leper held a straw in his teeth and began to speak,
burning with remorse:
- I am burned with a fair punishment because, without understanding anything, like a madman, I
outraged a Vaishnava. But You, Lord of the worlds, think what was good for me. After all, it is
the nature of the saints to save those who are in trouble. Saints give mercy even to offenders.
Therefore, I have committed myself to You. If you leave me, who else can save me? You know
all repentance for any sins. You are the Father of all, tell me, what kind of repentance must I go
through in order to redeem my crime? I am fairly punished for insulting a Vaishnava.

Then the Lord answered:

 Leprosy is an insignificant punishment for the one who offended a Vaishnava. This is
only a tiny part of the punishment. And there are no limits to those terrible torments that
will haunt him from life to life. The torments that Yamaraj continuously sends to the
offenders of the Vaishnavas are divided into 84,000 types [Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata.
Antya-khaṇḍa, 4.377].
Again and again an offender of a Vaisnava goes through these circles of hell. Listen, leper, you
have committed a crime against Srivas, so go and fall at his lotus feet. Only by his grace will you
get rid of your aparadha. The splinter is pulled out from where it stuck. If a splinter is stuck in
your leg, how can you pull it out of your shoulder? Forgiveness for aparadha can only be
obtained from the one against whom it was committed. I told you what to do. The mind of
Srivasa Pandita is perfectly pure. So, go and surrender to his lotus feet. He sees no one guilty and
will forgive all your crimes to you. This is how you get rid of your grief.

Hearing these truths from Mahaprabhu's mouth, all the devotees glorified the Lord. The leper fell
on his face at the divine feet of the merciful Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and went to the place
where the head of the Vaisnavas, Srivas, lived. There, surrendering to his lotus feet, the leper
begged for mercy. And Shrivas, the ocean of compassion, who was unhappy because of the grief
of his neighbor, forgave his aparadha.
Through His mouth, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told everyone about the internal evil that is born
from Vaisnava-aparadha, and He Himself showed the way to salvation.

Srivas Thakura, in turn, advised Gopala Chapala to take shelter of Purusottama dasa.
Purushottama dasa gave him initiation and called him Devakinandana dasa. Then he ordered
Devakinandana to worship and offer prayers to the Vaishnavs, which would free him from
offenses. With this instruction in his mind, Devakinandana dasa traveled from country to country
and collected the names of all the Vaishnavas who were devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,
whom he later included in his Vaishnava-vandana poem, glorifying the Vaishnavas. Many
Gaudiya Vaishnavas include in their daily sadhana chanting the Vaishnava Vandana of
Devakinandana Thakura, or rather, its last part, known as Sri Vaishnava Sharana. It is believed
that this prayer can cleanse a person from offending Vaishnavas, as well as keep him from
committing Vaishnava-aparadha.

Sri Vaishnava-sharana
 Prejudice Vaishnavam
Devakinanda dasa Thakura

vṛndāvana-bāsī jata vaiṣnavera gaṇa

prathame vandanā kori sabāra caraṇa

First of all, I offer my worship to the lotus feet of the residents of Vrindavan, all of whom are
vaiṣnavas.

nīlācala-bāsī jata mahāprabhura gaṇa

bhūmite paḍiyā vandoṅ sabāra caraṇa

Next, I fall down on the ground and worship the lotus feet of all of Mahaprabhu’s associates who live
in Nilacala, Jagannath Puri Dham.

navadvīpa-bāsī jata mahāprabhura bhakta

sabāra caraṇa vandoṅ hañā anurakta

I then worship the devotees of Mahaprabhu in Nabadwip and pray for loving attachment to their lotus
feet.

mahāprabhura bhakta jata gauḍa-deśe sthiti

sabāra caraṇa vandoṅ koriyā praṇati

I then worship the lotus feet of all of Mahaprabhu’s devotees residing in Gaudadesh, Bengal.

ye deśe ye deśe baise gaurāṅgera gaṇa

ūrdhva-bāhu kori’ vandoṅ sabāra caraṇa

With upraised arms I worship the lotus feet of Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s dear devotees, wherever
they may reside.
 hañāchena haibena prabhura jata dāsa

sabāra caraṇa vandoṅ dante kori ghāsa

With straw in my teeth I worship the lotus feet of all the servants of Mahaprabhu that ever were in
the past or that ever will be in the future.

brahmāṇḍa tārite śakti dhare jane jane

e veda-purāṇe guṇa gāya jebā śuṇe

In the Vedas and Purāṇas it is said that each of the dear devotees of Sriman Mahaprabhu has the
potency to deliver the entire universe.

mahāprabhura gaṇa-saba patita-pāvana

tāi lobhe mui pāpī la-inu śaraṇa

The devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are deliverers of the most degraded persons. Being
greedy for that deliverance, this sinner surrenders unto them.

vandanā korite mui kata śakti dhari

tamo buddhi doṣe mui dambha mātra kori

What power or ability do I have to glorify the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? Being
engrossed in ignorance, it is only out of pride that I attempt to do so.

tathāpi mūkera bhāgya manera ullāsa

doṣa kṣami’ mo adhame koro nija dāsa

Even though I have no speaking power to glorify them, still I am feeling great pleasure in my mind.
Please overlook my faults, O vaiṣṇavas, and make me your servant.

sarva vāñchā ssiddhi haya yama-bandha chuṭe

 jagate durlabha hañā prema-dhana luṭe

The great wealth of prema is very rare in this world, but by somehow obtaining it all desires are
fulfilled and one achieves freedom from the clutches of Yamaraj.

manera vāsanā pūrṇa acirāte haya

devakīnandana dāsa ei lobhe koya

Being greedy that the desire of his heart be fulfilled very soon, Devakinandan Das writes this song.

Questions:

1. What lessons have you learned from the story of Gopal Chapal?

2. How does Sri Krishna treat His devotees?

3. What became the method of saving Devakinandana dasa?

4. What mood is the main core of his song? How did you feel while reading it?

What shall we do if the Vaisnavas do not forgive us?

Sometimes, when we badly hurt one's heart, he wants but can not forgive us. What shall we do?

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura writes [Mādhurya-kādambinī Third Shower of Nectar – Text 2b]:
“If the offence to that great soul is so grievous that it is not alleviated by any means, then one
should abandon all activities and the endeavour for anything temporary and take full shelter
of the holy name, uttering it continuously and repenting in the following way: “Fie on me! My
offence to a devotee has not been mitigated. I will have to fall into countless hells!” By the
power of this superlatively potent śrī nāma-saṅkīrtana, that offensive person will surely be
delivered in due course of time."

However the Holy Name will purify one only in two cases:
1. if he tried for a long time (at least for six months), has been doing everything possible, but nothing
worked;

2. if the one whom he offended has left this world.

The Holy Name itself does not forgive a Vaishnava-aparadha: one needs repentance and surrender
to the Holy Name, only then, very slowly, the offense can be neutralized.

One of the Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s disciples dared to instruct his guru, saying:

- And what is the point of preaching to people in the West? These Westerners are mlecchas, they
are not capable of anything. They won't succeed. This is a waste of time.

In response, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura indignanted:

- What do you think of yourself to say such things? Lord Caitanya Himself said that His Names
would be chanted in every city and village. Who are you to tell me what to do and what not to do?

After that, he began to keep this disciple at a distance, and he started falling because of the
Vaishnava-aparadha. With great horror he accepted the news that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
Thakura had left the planet. He clutched his head, because, without illusion, he knew what awaited
him. If one fails to ask for forgiveness from a Vaishnava, then access to prema will be closed for him
forever. So, he was in terrible grief. He ran to his brothers, fell at their feet and began to ask: "What
should I do?" The devotees quoted Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur: one should pray to the Holy
Name for forgiveness and perform penance. Without hesitation, he left everything and settled on one
of the islands of the Ganges. He ate a handful of rice soaked in the water of the Ganges and drank
the water of this holy river. Day and night, he prayed to the Holy Name, in the greatest repentance
asking for His forgiveness. Only after a year he felt that his spiritual life began to develop again.

A person should do everything to neutralize the consequences of his sins.

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura writes that one should not think that the severity of an offense to a
sadhu ninda depends on the spiritual level of a Vaisnava and is taken into account only in relation to
a sadhu who is endowed with all the qualities of a devotee mentioned in the scriptures.

The great acarya knows very well our state of mind and desire to justify ourselves. We know that
sadhu ninda is an insult to a saint, this can destroy one’s spiritual life and get reactions. But our mind
wants to justify everything and tells us: “But let's think about whether this person is a saint, because
he has so many faults! And since he is not a saint, nothing terrible will happen to me! "

Our material mind has several functions, and among them:

1. to throw up sinful ideas;

2. justify them.
Our mind is a real expert in it. While doing so, the mind can even refer to the scriptures to prove that
it is "right."

For example, Sri Krishna says to Uddhava [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.11.29-32]:

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O Uddhava, a saintly person is merciful and
never injures others. Even if others are aggressive he is tolerant and forgiving toward all
living entities. His strength and meaning in life come from the truth itself, he is free from all
envy and jealousy, and his mind is equal in material happiness and distress. Thus, he
dedicates his time to work for the welfare of all others. His intelligence is never bewildered by
material desires, and he has controlled his senses. His behavior is always pleasing, never
harsh and always exemplary, and he is free from possessiveness. He never endeavors in
ordinary, worldly activities, and he strictly controls his eating. He therefore always remains
peaceful and steady. A saintly person is thoughtful and accepts Me as his only shelter. Such
a person is very cautious in the execution of his duties and is never subject to superficial
transformations, because he is steady and noble, even in a distressing situation. He has
conquered over the six material qualities — namely hunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, old
age and death. He is free from all desire for prestige and offers honor to others. He is expert
in reviving the Kṛṣṇa consciousness of others and therefore never cheats anyone. Rather, he
is a well-wishing friend to all, being most merciful. Such a saintly person must be considered
the most learned of men. He perfectly understands that the ordinary religious duties
prescribed by Me in various Vedic scriptures possess favorable qualities that purify the
performer, and he knows that neglect of such duties constitutes a discrepancy in one’s life.
Having taken complete shelter at My lotus feet, however, a saintly person ultimately
renounces such ordinary religious duties and worships Me alone. He is thus considered to be
the best among all living entities.”

Is this the one we have offended?

Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakur continues (Madhuria Kadambini, Third Shower of Nectar):
“A person cannot minimize his offense by pointing out some defect in the devotee.”

Sometimes we think that if we go to another person and tell him about the faults of the offended
Vaishnava, we will either not get any reaction at all for the offense committed, or we will get some
insignificant one. But this is not the right way to diminish the sinful reactions, on the contrary, they
will increase millions of times.

This will happen because four things will happen to a devotee to whom we have told about the faults
of the person we offended.

People go to see ascetics in good faith, but when they hear them blaspheme saintly persons, they
are ruined.
By hearing blasphemy of saintly persons, one’s piety is exhausted. The Vedas declare that such
people live in hellish conditions life after life.

If a person, "inspired" by us, retells this criticism to others, the same will happen to them, and we will
no longer be able to stop this avalanche. According to the law, the organizer of the crime is punished
more than the implementor. Even having received forgiveness from the offended Vaishnava and
those whom we uploaded with criticism, we do not know how many people because of us heard this
dirt. All these reactions will fall on our head. Therefore, if we have offended a devotee, we should go
only to him and to no one else. Lord Sri Gaurasundara Himself says this.

Mādhurya-kādambinī Third Shower of Nectar, text 2d:

sarvācāra-vivarjitāḥ śaṭha-dhiyo vrātyā jagad-vañcakā

dambha-ahaṅkṛti-pāna-paiśuna-parāh pāpās tyajā niṣṭhurāḥ

ye cānye dhana-dāra-putra-niratāḥ sarva-adhamās te ’pi hi

śrī-govinda-padāravinda-śaraṇā muktā bhavanti dvija

“O brāhmaṇa, wretched persons are devoid of all virtuous practices. They are duplicitous,
fallen, deceitful, conceited and egotistical, addicted to intoxication, violent, irreligious, base,
cruel-hearted and grossly infatuated with their wealth, sons and wife. Surrendering unto
ŚrīGovinda’s lotus feet liberates even such extremely fallen persons from material
existence.”

If a person simply aspires to surrender to the Lord, he is already a sadhu, a saint. Maybe he still has
many imperfections, but if he makes any efforts on the path to the Lord, this speaks of his holiness.

From Srila Prabhupada's letter to Atreya Rishi on February 4, 1972: “Because devotees are
persons, therefore there will always be some lacking—but the difference is that their lacking,
because they have given up everything to serve Krishna—money, jobs, reputation, wealth, big
educations, everything—their lackings have become transcendental because, despite everything
they may do, their topmost intention is to serve Krishna. "One who is engaged in devotional service,
despite the most abominable action, is to be considered saintly because he is rightly situated." The
devotees of Krishna are the most exalted persons on this planet, better than kings, all of them, so we
should always remember that and, like the bumblebee, always look for the nectar or the best
qualities of a person.“

How to understand this?

The Lord is timeless and able to see through it. If a person has taken the path of purification, then for
the Lord it already means that he is a sadhu [Bhagavad-Gita 9.30 ]. Krsna turns a blind eye to
everything else. By inflicting suffering on such a person or by insulting him, we are insulting the
saint.

A person without good qualities, engaging in spiritual practice, will eventually become purified, and
will have all the merits of demigods, it is only a matter of time.
A former thief came to one of the temples in the West and wanted to become a brahmacari. He was
accepted and began to live with the devotees. But over time, his longing for the past began to
prevail. The devotees began to notice the loss of their belongings: money, music players, etc. And
then one evening someone knocked on the room of the president of the temple. A very embarrassed
novice brahmacari came in and asked, “Forgive me, please! I just used to be a thief, and now my
hands themselves reach out to other people's things, and I want to steal. I have brought you
everything that I stole. " Saying this, he handed over to the Head all the missing things. They agreed
that if the young man again does not control himself, he will bring everything to the president of the
temple, and he will return things to their places. The devotees entered the position of this person
because he was sincerely seeking to purify himself. Over time, it was over - things stopped
disappearing.

Jiva Goswami says that there are two categories of pure devotees:

1. those whose hearts are completely pure (jita-ruci);

2. those whose hearts have not yet been completely purified, but who have a pure goal (ajita-ruci).

When Srila Prabhupada was asked, "How many pure devotees are there in your movement?" He
replied, "All my disciples are pure devotees." One example of this is the story of Dhruva Maharaja.
When he was not yet a devotee, he was insulted by his stepmother. As time passed, the boy
became a pure devotee, and his stepmother received a reaction for insulting a Vaishnava. Her son
was killed by a mighty Yaksha, and she herself, mad with grief, burned down in a forest fire.

Srila Prabhupada said that we may not know who is in front of us. We can practice Krishna
consciousness for several years and at the same time condescendingly look at a new person who
has come into movement, who has hundreds of Vaishnava lives, and the Lord remembers all his
merits.

Once in New York, Srila Prabhupada was in the altar room. A woman in shoes entered there,
without knowing the details of our culture. One Vaishnava made a remark to her in a very rude
manner, asking her to leave. The shocked woman apologized and left forever. Srila Prabhupada,
seeing this behavior of his disciple, became angry. He called him over and said: "Even if you bring a
hundred people here in your life, Krishna will not forgive you that, through your fault, at least one
person has gone to Maya."

The Lord can lead a soul to Himself for many of its lives, but because of our rudeness, it can
become distant from Krishna consciousness for a long time. Therefore, you need to be very careful.

Questions:

1. What if the Vaishnava's anger persists?

2. When will the Holy Name purify us?

3. Describe the two functions of our material mind.

4. Why should one go specifically to the offended Vaishnava, and not to others?

5. What is the main quality of a sadhu? Do you see them in the devotees around you?

6. Describe the two categories of pure devotees.

7. How did Srila Prabhupada assess the number of pure devotees in his movement?

8. What conclusion did you draw for yourself from the example with Dhruva Maharaja?

How the Holy Name Reacts to Vaishnava Aparadha

Many people ask themselves: “Why, despite the fact that I chant the Holy Name, there is no feeling
and no change in my heart? Why does bhakti not enter my heart? "

The answer to this question is given by Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
» Ādi-līlā 8.24-25]:

‘kṛṣṇa-nāma’ kare aparādhera vicāra

kṛṣṇa balile aparādhīra nā haya vikāra

“There are offenses to be considered while chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Therefore simply
by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa one does not become ecstatic.”

tad aśma-sāraṁ hṛdayaṁ batedaṁ

yad gṛhyamāṇair hari-nāma-dheyaiḥ

na vikriyetātha yadā vikāro

netre jalaṁ gātra-ruheṣu harṣaḥ

“If one’s heart does not change, tears do not flow from his eyes, his body does not
shiver, and his bodily hairs do not stand on end as he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-
mantra, it should be understood that his heart is as hard as iron. This is due to his
offenses at the lotus feet of the Lord’s holy name.”
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.24:

“Certainly that heart is steel-framed which, in spite of one’s chanting the holy name of
the Lord with concentration, does not change when ecstasy takes place, tears fill the
eyes and the hairs stand on end.

The first of the ten offenses to the Holy Name is Vaisnava-aparadha, an offense to the
devotees. And if we do not feel anything, carefully chanting the Names of Krishna, then, first of
all, we should pay attention to whether we have offended any of the devotees.

[Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta » Ādi-līlā 8.26-25

‘eka’ kṛṣṇa-nāme kare sarva-pāpa nāśa

premera kāraṇa bhakti karena prakāśa

“Simply chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra without offenses vanquishes all sinful
activities. Thus pure devotional service, which is the cause of love of Godhead, becomes
manifest.”

premera udaye haya premera vikāra

sveda-kampa-pulakādi gadgadāśrudhāra

When one’s transcendental loving service to the Lord is actually awakened, it generates
transformations in the body such as perspiration, trembling, throbbing of the heart,
faltering of the voice and tears in the eyes.

anāyāse bhava-kṣaya, kṛṣṇera sevana

eka kṛṣṇa-nāmera phale pāi eta dhana

As a result of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one makes such great advancement
in spiritual life that simultaneously his material existence terminates and he receives love
of Godhead. The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that by chanting even one name, one
very easily achieves these transcendental riches.

hena kṛṣṇa-nāma yadi laya bahu-bāra

tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe aśrudhāra

tabe jāni, aparādha tāhāte pracura

kṛṣṇa-nāma-bīja tāhe nā kare aṅkura

“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 Kṛṣṇa does not
sprout.”

Sri Caitanya Bhagavata confirms the influence of insulting devotees on chanting the Holy
Names [Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa, 13.391-393.]:

Sarva-mahā-prāyaścita ye kṛṣṇera nāma

vaiṣṇavāparādhe seha nā milaye trāṇa

“Krisna’s name, which is the ultimate atonement, does not deliver one who offends a
Vaisnava.”

padma-purāṇera ei parama vacana

prema-bhakti haya ihā karile pālana

One who honors the following confidential words of the Padma Purana will attain ecstatic love of
God.

satām nindā nāmnaḥ paramam aparādhaṁ vitanute yataḥ khyātiṁ katham u sahate tad-
vigarhām

“To blaspheme the great saintly persons who are preaching the glories of the Hare Krishna
maha-mantra is the worst offense at the lotus feet of the holy name. The Nama-prabhu, who is
identical with Krishna, will never tolerate such blasphemous activities, even from one who
passes as a great devotee.”

Purport of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami to the verse 391:

The holy names of the Lord have more power for destroying sinful reactions than all other kinds
of atonement mentioned in the smṛitis. But if a person commits an offense against a devotee of
Hari who is engaged in chanting those holy names, then he can never be delivered. Among the
offences against the chanting of the holy names, blasphemy of sadhus is the first. If one
commits offenses against the holy names, he cannot possibly attain nāmābhāsa (a glimpse of
offenseless chanting) or the fruits of chanting the holy names.

Pay attention to the fact that at the very beginning of our spiritual life there were such special
days when the Holy Name could spin in our heads for many hours. We also got a special
experience by chanting the Mahamantra. But after some time, for some reason, this taste, as
well as the positive experience, began to disappear, and everything became much more
difficult. What happened?

All of this is closely related to our attitude towards Vaishnavas. Usually, when we embark on the
spiritual path, we regard all devotees as elevated people and ourselves as fallen. Unknowingly,
we take a respectful position towards the Vaishnavas, and this grants the mercy and blessings
of the Holy Name.

This is stated by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his bhajan “Gurudev”:

sakale sammān,korite śakat

deho nātha! jathā jatha

tobe to’ gāibo, harināma-sukhe,

aparādha hobe hoto

“Give me energy so that I can properly give respect and honour to all. Then I shall
be able to happily chant the Holy Name, and my offences will go away.”

But since such respect for the Lord's devotees was unconscious and superficial, after a while
we began to get used to their society, and the habitual inclination to criticism returned again. In
our head, we began to search for faults in the Vaishnavas around us. At the same time, our
material mind tried to justify this, calling it "maturity, spiritual wisdom, deep vision of the
essence," etc. After that, the taste for chanting quickly disappeared, the material desires in the
mind increased, and the chanting became very difficult.

The fact is that the Holy Name is very sensitive to our attitude towards devotees.
At the beginning of spiritual practice, we had an unconscious respect for the Vaishnavas for a
while, and as a result, the original taste was obtained. Then, unfortunately, our conditioned
nature took over it again.

arcāyām eva haraye

pūjāṁ yaḥ śraddhayehate

na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu

sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ

A devotee who faithfully engages in the worship of the Deity in the temple but does not
behave properly toward other devotees or people in general is called a prākṛta-bhakta, a
materialistic devotee, and is considered to be in the lowest position.[ Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam 11.2.47]

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati says in his commentary on Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Ādi-khaṇḍa

1.8.:

“The devotees who worship the opulent feature of the Lord first develop in their hearts
the conception that only the worship of the Supreme Lord is important. This conception,
however, diminishes the glories of worshiping the devotees and exhibits their lack of
love and devotion for the Supreme Lord. “

After some time, the sincere person begins to cultivate in his heart a mood of service and
dependence on the society of devotees.

The main indicator of spiritual maturity is not knowledge of quotations, not the number of
initiations, not positions or the amount of time spent in a spiritual organization, but the conscious
development of a humble and respectful attitude towards all Vaishnavas, awareness of oneself
as their servant. This is one of the main criteria for Madhyama-bhakta and one of the main
conditions for returning to the spiritual world.

What is salvation? Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami says that although the name of Sri
Krishna judges for aparadhi, the names of the merciful Sri Sri Gaura and Nityananda do not
accept offenses [Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 8.31-32]:

caitanya-nityānande nāhi e-saba vicāra

nāma laite prema dena, vahe aśrudhāra

“But if one only chants, with some slight faith, the holy names of Lord Caitanya and
Nityānanda, very quickly he is cleansed of all offenses. Thus as soon as he chants the
Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he feels the ecstasy of love for God.”
 svatantra īśvara prabhu atyanta udāra

tāṅre nā bhajile kabhu nā haya nistāra

“Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the independent Supreme Personality of Godhead, is greatly

magnanimous. Unless one worships Him, one can never be liberated.”

It should not be understood that Sri Sri Chaitanya and Nityananda give love to the Godhead
despite the presence of aparadhas. Rather, if one surrenders one's entire being to Their
merciful and beautiful lotus feet, then by Their kindness and concern for surrendered souls, all
aparadhas very quickly disappear, and the surrendered devotee attains the opulence of prema.
Srila Prabhupada writes about this in the purport on the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 8.31:

“There are offenses to be considered in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, but there
are no such considerations in chanting the names of Gaura-Nityānanda. Therefore, if one
chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra but his life is still full of sinful activities, it will be
very difficult for him to achieve the platform of loving service to the Lord. But if in spite
of being an offender one chants the holy names of Gaura-Nityānanda, he is very quickly
freed from the reactions to his offenses. Therefore, one should first approach Lord
Caitanya and Nityānanda, or worship Guru-Gaurāṅga.”

Degrading the personality of a guru and blaspheming Vaisnavas make the heart stone. Srila
Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in the Gitavali [part12, song 6]:

aparadha-phale mama, citta bhelo vajra-sama,

tuwa name na labhe vikar
hatas hoiye, hari, tava nam ucca kori’,
boro duhkhe daki bar bar

“O Lord Hari, as a result of my offenses incurred in previous lifetimes, my heart has become
hard as a thunderbolt, and feels no change upon chanting Your holy name. Now in utter
hopelessness, O Lord Hari, I loudly sing Your name, and in great distress I call out to You
again and again.”

We can receive the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai only by cultivating in our hearts the right
attitude towards Vaishnavas.

To better understand the position of the Vaishnavas, let us refer to the words of Srila
Vrindavan dasa Thakura from Sri Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa, 21.81-82.
 bhāgavata, tulasi, gaṅgāya, bhakta-jane

caturdhā vigraha kṛṣṇa ei cāri sane

jivanyāsa karile śri-mūrti pūjya haya

‘janma-mātra e cāri iśvara’ vede kaya

“Krishna appears in the world in four forms - Srimad Bhagavatam, tulasi Ganga and the
devotees.

By invoking life in the Deity form of the Lord, that form becomes worshipable. But it is
stated in the Vedas that these four representations are the Supreme Lord from the time
of their appearance.”

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura in the Gaudiya Bhashya writes these comments to these
verses:

Sri Krishna manifests His own form in four representations in this world. Although if one
abruptly sees these four representations one does not recognize them as the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, these four representations related to the Supreme Lord are worshiped as
manifestations of the Lord. The Vaishnavas, tulasi, Ganga and Srimad Bhagavatam are four
manifestations of Krishna.

So, if we neglect the lotus feet of Vaishnavas, who are inseparable from Sri Bhagavan, being a
manifestation of the Lord, then we will be deprived of the mercy of the Supreme, and all our
spiritual practice will be similar to pouring sacrificial oil into an extinguished ashes. This is stated
by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself (Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-khaṇḍa, 19.207-210,
212.]:

“mora ei satya sabe śuna mana diyā

 ye āmāre pūje mora sevaka langhiya

se adhama jane more khaṇḍa khaṇḍa kare

tāra pūjā mora gāye agni-hena poḍe”

ye āmāra dāsera sakṛt nindā kare

mora nāma kalpa-taru saṁhāre tāhāre

ananta brahmānde yata, saba mora dāsa

eteke ye para hiṁse sei yāya nāśa

“Everyone listen to My words. Any fallen soul who disrespects My servant and worships
Me cuts Me into pieces. His worship feels like fire to My body.

“My wish-fulfilling holy names destroy one who blasphemes My servant.

All living entities in the innumerable universes are My servants, so anyone who
blasphemes any living entity is ruined”.

Sannyāsi o yadi anindaka nindā kare

Adhaḥ-pāte yāya, sarva dharma ghuse tāre

“If even a sannyasi blasphemes an innocent person, he goes to hell and all his religious
principles are destroyed.”

But Sri Gauranga also tells us a way out of this situation [Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Madhya-
khaṇḍa, 19.213-214.:

bāhu tuli’ jagatere bale gaura-dhama

“anindaka hai’ sabe bala kṛṣṇa-nāma

anindaka hai’ ye sakṛt kṛṣṇa bale

satya satya muṅi tāre addhāriba hele”

Raising His arms,Lord Gauranga declared to the world, “Avoid offenses and chant the names of
Krishna!

“If one who is free from blasphemy chants the name of Krishna even once, I will certainly deliver
him”.

The Lord says that He will save us on one condition - if we stop criticizing and looking for faults
in others.

We are chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra every day. There are 1,728 Holy Names in one
circle. If we chant 16 rounds, then we are chanting a minimum of 27,648 Krishna's Holy Names
per day. This means that everyone has the opportunity to see Krishna face to face at least
27,648 times during the day, but only on one condition - if we get rid of the desire to criticize
others.

Questions:

1. Why doesn't the Holy Name change the heart?

2. How does Sri Krishna's Name respond to insults to His devotees?

3. What is Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura praying his spiritual master about?

4. Give the definition of a neophyte devotee from the sastra.

5. How can we receive the mercy of Sri Caitanya and Nityananda?

6. What promise does Lord Sri Caitanya give us?

Chapter 11

What is criticism and what to do with it?

What to do if we are unjustly insulted

There are two ways to respond to criticism in your address correctly:

1. In the mode of goodness;

2. on a spiritual level.

First of all, we describe the response to condemnation in the mode of goodness.

«Mahabharata». Udyoga Parva, 34.71.

The Nārada-purāna. Purva Ardha, 1.37.33:

virodhiṣvapi mūrkheṣu

nirīkṣyāvasthitān guṇān /

virodhaṃ nahi kurvanti sajjanāḥ śāntacetasaḥ

Good men of calm minds perceive the good qualities present in the offending fools. And
they do not offend them in return.

The Nārada-purāna. Purva Ardha, 1.37.35:

sujano na yāti vairaṃ parahitabuddhirvanāśakāle 'pi /

chede 'pi candanataruḥ surabhayati

mukhaṃ kuṭhārasya

Even in the time of death, the good man thinks of the welfare of others, but he does not
become inimical (to his offender). Even when cut, the sandal tree renders the face (i.e.
edge) of the hatched fragrant.

Now we will give examples of the spiritual perception of criticism in our address.

The story of a king and a brahmana

A king from South India once offered 108 golden lotuses to the Deity of Ranganatha, whose
petals were decorated with numerous diamonds.

The King laid his offering at the feet of the Deity and with a smug smile began to look around in
search of amazement and recognition from the pilgrims. At that time, one of the pujaris of this
temple approached the Deity to offer a handful of tulasi leaves. Several leaves fell on the king's
offering and it infuriated him greatly. The king began to angrily scold the brahmana, since he
was not aware that this pujari was a pure devotee of Sri Ranganatha.

The brahmana humbly bowed his head and tried to explain to the king that even all the gold and
all the diamonds of the universe are no more precious to the Lord than a tulasi leaf. The
ignorant king felt a terrible rage and, very angry, vowed that he would force Sri Ranganatha to
give him His darshan personally, and when this happened, he would ask the Lord to take all the
mercy from the brahmana and deprive him of the opportunity to ever receive darshan at all.

Returning to the palace, the king arranged a lush yajna, wanting to please Vishnu externaly, but
in reality to take revenge on the brahmana. However, during the yajna, he was told that the
brahmana had already taken darshan of Sri Ranganatha. The pain of disappointment and envy
gripped the king's heart, and he decided to commit suicide by throwing himself into the
sacrificial fire.

The king walked around the large sacrificial altar in a circle, and when he was about to jump,
Lord Yagya Purusha appeared to him and said: “O king! It is pointless. Even if you jump into the
fire a hundred and a thousand times, you will not come close to Me. However, when I came to
my pure devotee, the brahmana, whom you have offended, he prayed that I would shower My
mercy on you and give you My darshan. You need to understand that I cannot be reached by
drowning in passion and ignorance. Give up all this and worship Me in the mood of pure
devotional service! Only in this way you can get a prema. "

A Vaishnava will pray for those who offend him and wish them spiritual welfare.

The Nārada-purāna. Purva Ardha, 1.37.34.

bahudhā bodhyamāno 'pi yo naraḥ kṣamayānvitaḥ /

tamuttamaṃ naraṃ prāhurviṣṇoḥ

priyataraṃ sadā

They call him the excellent man, the person who continues to be forbearing even when
he is being harassed. He is a favorite of Vishnu for ever.

Questions:
1. How does a wise person (in goodness) respond to criticism?
2. How to treat ignorant people correctly?
3. What lesson did you learn from the story of the brahmana and the king?
4. Describe how a Vaishnava treats his offenders?

Example of Srivasa Thakur

Above we have already told about Gopal Chapala, who fell ill with leprosy. Here is the
background to those events.

One night a kirtan was being held at Srivasa Thakur's house. At this time, a brahmana named
Gopala, the gossip leader of the unbelievers, decided to play a cruel joke on Srivas. He brought
paraphernalia for the worship of Durga and left them at the door of the great saint's house.

In the morning, opening the door, Srivas Thakura saw all these things. He called his neighbors
and said with a smile: “O venerable ones, take a look. I worship Bhavani every night. Now you
all know my true position. "

Neighbors and other people began to resent: “What is this ?! Who dared to act so low? They
called a janitor and he threw out the paraphernalia and cleaned the place with water and cow
dung.

Three days later, Gopala Chapala was struck by leprosy, and his body was covered with
festering sores. Some time later, he repented and by the grace of Srivasa Thakura was saved.

Example of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur

One person followed Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura traveled all over India. After each
lecture, this man got up and began to criticize Maharaja. The disciples did not find a place for
themselves and wanted to beat this offender, but each time Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
stopped them. This went on for several months, and after a while, this man left the body.
Devotees from the matha performed a huge kirtan in honor of this event. Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura came out to the noise of joy and asked what was the reason for such fun? To
which the devotees replied, “The snake is dead! The ruscle got what he deserved and will no
longer offend you! " Imagine the surprise of the Vaishnavas when they saw tears flowing from
the eyes of the Maharaja. In deep sadness, he replied, “I have lost my best friend! He carefully
cultivated in me humility and patience for so long ... He tried to make me a Vaishnava. My best
well-wisher has gone ... ”.He turned around and went to his room in sadness.

«Ману-самхита», 2.162-163.
“Let a Brahmana shun worldly honours, like a poison, throughout his life Desiring
immortality, let him court humiliation all through his days.”
“He,who habituates himself to bear humiliation,happily sleeps,happily wakes (from
sleep) travels in the path of duty.The humiliator suffers a double death.”
(Manu Samhita 2.162-163)

A humble person will always see new horizons for his growth in criticism. When one receives
unconstructive criticism, he will think: “If my heart were completely pure, then people would
have no reason to judge me. This means I can become even purere! "

Krishna especially puts us in a certain situation to teach us something. If we learn to accept

these situations with proper understanding and take steps towards humility, then after a while
we will remember these situations as a blessing of Krishna.

Example of Srila Bhakti Tirtha Swami

When Bhakti Tirtha Swami was just at the beginning of his spiritual journey, he received an
invaluable lesson from Srila Prabhupada.

John Favors, this was his name, joining the Krishna Consciousness Movement, noticed that the
devotees, although they talk about equality, that we are all souls and children of Krishna,
nevertheless, treated him with the prejudice of racial discrimination. This worried him greatly,
because he did not expect this from a spiritual society.

When the opportunity arose, John informed Srila Prabhupada that some of his disciples were
racists.Srila Prabhupada strictly replied, "What makes you better than them if you react to these
words?"

Bhakti Tirtha Swami always recalled the words of his spiritual master with great gratitude and
said that this lesson helped him to rise to a new level of Krishna consciousness.

Those who criticize us are our universal teachers. In these difficult life situations, our critics
unconsciously cultivate in us very important qualities, without which we would have left the
Krishna consciousness movement long ago. Without going through such difficulties, it is
impossible to gain patience and humility, and to understand what it felt like for others when they
were in a similar situation through our fault. But when we ourselves experience all this on our
own, we have a chance to change our attitude towards others.

Saint Nicholas of Serbia, Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church of the early 20th century and a
well-known Christian saint, has a wonderful prayer dedicated to the attitude towards those
whom we consider our enemies. It will be useful to familiarize yourself with it to those who wants
to overcome the desire to criticize others in his heart and to develop spiritually.

Prayer for enemies

Bless my enemies, Lord.

And I bless them and do not curse.

Enemies more resolute than the friends are and they push me into Your arms.

Friends pulled me to the ground, enemies destroyed all my hopes for comfortable living on the
Earth

They made me a stranger to the kingdoms of the earth and an unnecessary inhabitant of the
earth.
As a pursued beast finds refuge faster than not pursued one, so didI, being pursued by
enemies, hid under Your cover, where neither friends nor enemies can destroy my soul.

Bless my enemies, Lord.

And I bless them and do not curse.

Instead of me, they confessed my sins before the world.

They scourged me when I did not dare to scourge myself.

They tortured me when I ran out of torment.

They blasphemed me when I flattered myself.

They spat at me when I was proud of myself.

Bless my enemies, Lord.

And I bless them and do not curse.

When I thought I was wise, they called me crazy.

When I thought I was strong, they laughed at me like a dwarf.

When I strove to be the first, they pushed me to the last.

When I strove for wealth, they beat me on the hands with a backhand.

When I was going to sleep peacefully, they woke me up from sleep.

When I was building a house for a long and quiet life, they destroyed it and banished me.

Indeed, the enemies have excommunicated me from the world and helped my hands to reach
the hem of Your clothing.

Bless my enemies, Lord.

And I bless them and do not curse.

Bless them and multiply, multiply and harden them more strongly against me.

Let my flight to You be irrevocable.

Let my hopes for earthly things fade like a spider's web.

Let humility reign in my soul.

Let my heart become a grave for the evil twins: anger and pride.

Let me gather all my treasures in heaven.

Let me free myself forever from the self-delusion that entangled me in the terrible web of a
ghostly life.

Enemies have revealed some secrets to me: a person has no enemies, except himself.
One hates enemies who does not know that enemies are not enemies, but exacting friends.

Truly, it is difficult to figure out who did me more good and who did more harm: enemies or
friends.

Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and my enemies.

The slave curses his enemies because he is not aware.

The son blesses them, for he knows.

For the son knows that the enemies have no power over his life.

Therefore, he walks among them freely and prays for them to the Lord.

Bless my enemies, Lord.

And I bless them and do not curse.

Sometimes we are criticized without reason. It is unpleasant. However, such criticism is

potentially easier to deal with than justified criticism. One option is to remain indifferent and
ignore it completely. Don't let the thoughts and feelings of other people, especially if they are
unfounded, influence your behavior. False criticism is as trivial as an ant trying to harm an
elephant.

Srila Prabhupada says in a conversation on January the 16th, 1977 (Calcutta)

https://vanisource.org/wiki/770116_-_Conversation_B_-_Calcutta:
So it is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. "You can do all kinds of opposition, but we shall go forward. The caravan will
pass. You may bark." So take all these things as Kṛṣṇa's mercies and engage more enthusiastically.
Why should we be defeated? “

Feeling the need to defend ourselves, we give more attention to criticism than it deserves. By
remaining silent and aloof, we do not energize criticism and maintain our dignity.

Questions:

1. What can we learn from the example of Srivasa Thakura?

2. What lesson can you learn from the story of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati?

3. How did Srila Prabhupada teach to take criticism (example with Bhakti Tirtha Swami)?

4. What to do if we are criticized without reason?

What is the difference between criticism and correction?

Criticism and correction is an indication of the faults of others. What is the difference between them?

Criticism is an indication of a problem with the desire to humiliate others.

Correction - indicating a problem with the desire to elevate others.

The difference is in motive and mood, as well as the methods that flow out of them.

H.H. Radhanatha Swami once said in one of his lectures that if we point out the fault of another
devotee with a desire to elevate him, in a respectful mood of service, then Sri Krishna will take it as
serving the Vaisnavas, however, if we point out a fault with a desire to humiliate or prove that we are
better, then we will commit an offense and be rejected by the Lord.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in the Vaishnava-ninda article that there are three types of good
intentions that allow us to criticize. They are:

· The intention to sort out someone's sins, if we wish the highest good to this person;

• if our motive is to bring good to the whole world;

· For the sake of our own spiritual well-being (thinking about how not to act, using the example of
other people's bad actions, while not condemning these people).
Criticism is adequate only if it derives out of a pure motive to do good. If there is even a drop of envy
in our hearts, then, undoubtedly, such criticism will be counted as aparadha.

As a rule, those who act as our well-wishers in the worldly life are our loving parents, older brothers,
sisters, or our wise grandparents.

In the spiritual life such persons will be our spiritual teachers, whom we must allow to reveal our
faults; our senior Vaishnavas, whose duties include teaching us, and our few friends who wish us
well.

Before correcting, we should look into our hearts and see how much we love this person and how
much we care about his well-being.

Correction without love turns into a violence.

Srila Prabhupada writes in the letter to Tamal Krishna Goswami

https://vanisource.org/wiki/730823_-
_Letter_to_Tamala_Krishna_written_from_Bhaktivedanta_Manor,_UK:

“I have received one complaint from Indian devotee at Mayapur Prabharupa Das Brahmacari that he
is mal treated by our American devotees. Kindly inquire into this matter and do the needful. Either
Indian or foreign whoever joins us they are not under any obligation, our only tie is Love of Godhead.
It should be our definite policy that nobody is ill treated that he may go away. We recruit a person to
join us after spending gallons of blood. Everyone comes for reformation, you cannot expect
everyone to be perfect, rather it is our duty to make everyone perfect as far as possible. So we shall
be very much cautious and careful in this connection. “

Questions:

1. What is the difference between criticism and correction?

2. Under what conditions can a person correct others?

3. What will correction without love turn to?

4. How did Srila Prabhupada correct the disciples?

Correction etiquette of others

To correct a devotee:

1. We need to be in an appropriate position that allows us to do this (teacher, friend, manager, etc.),
because it is very important that a person has deep trust in us - this will allow him to accept help.

2. Our heart should be free of envy for this person. How do we know if we are jealous or not? It is
very simple: if, seeing a fault in a person, we feel at least a shadow of joy, this means that envy still
lives in our heart. In the absence of envy in our minds, instead of judging, we will feel deep
compassion for the one who does wrong.

3. We ourselves must follow what we want to teach others. Srila Prabhupada said
https://vanisource.org/wiki/721118_-_Letter_to_Madhumangala_written_from_Hyderabad: “...So
my best advice to you is to strictly observe these things yourself and be the example so that all
others may follow. Best thing is to be above suspicion ourselves, then if we see discrepancies and
make suggestion the others will automatically respect and take action to rectify the matters.“

4.One must always remain kind and not put pressure on the person [11]:

prāṇi-mātre mano-vākye udvega nā diba

“Neither by mind nor words should the devotee cause anxiety to any living entity,
regardless how insignificant he may be.”

5.We should make a remark in private. If you point out the faults in public, it will be difficult for a
person to accept this, since the ego will be greatly hurt, and the heart may be closed to the
message due to unnecessary pain. Therefore, there is a rule to glorify in front of everyone, and
correct in private.
6. Separate sin and sinner in your head. The sin must be hated, and the sinner must be loved.
When correcting it, it will be correct to say: “You yourself are good, and this fault is bad! How
could a good person like you do such a bad thing? This ignorance is unworthy of you. " We
must want to destroy sin, not the person himself. Unfortunately, we very often despise people.
Faults have nothing to do with the eternal spirit soul, they are only temporary, artificial covering.
We need to help the soul overcome all these obstacles on the path to Sri Krishna. There is no
need to identify the illness and the sick person.

7. Choose methods of correction that will be no worse than the sin itself. When correcting a
devotee, there should be no room for harsh words and actions. We want to destroy the
ignorance in the devotee's heart but not the devotee himself.

From Srila Prabhupada's letter to Hamsaduta (09/29/1974)

[https://vanisource.org/wiki/740929_-_Letter_to_Hansadutta_written_from_Mayapur:

“One man is trained up with great difficulty especially in spiritual life. Everyone has got some
weakness and deficiency. It is better to correct or mend it than to break it. “

Here is the part of the letter to Upendra as for 11.03.1969 https://vanisource.org/wiki/690311_-

_Letter_to_Upendra_written_from_Hawai
Yes, a new man may commit blunders in the beginning, but that does not mean we may be too
impatient with him. After all, training means the man does not know, so you should train him
nicely. A Vaisnava is expected to be humbler than the blade of grass, so when you train some
new man you should not get agitated with him. After all, we are preachers, and we do not
expect our audience or candidates completely respondent to our call. If everyone is trained
then what is the use of our preaching.”

Questions:

1. What position must be taken to correct others? Why?

2. How to understand that there is no envy in our heart?

3. Think about how you could correct people you know by your own example.

4. Why do you need to correct in private?

5. What methods are inappropriate for correction? Explain why.

Can a junior correct a senior?
It is possible, but only under certain conditions.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Sri Chaitanya Siksamrta Chapter 2: Pious Activities. says: that
those who are older or smarter than us are in a higher position in relation to us. Both should be
honored and served. Instructions from our elders can be ignored if they are wrong, but never,
under any circumstances, should we treat our elders rudely and disrespectfully. Instead, we
should try to correct them, for which we need to choose the right time and be in a humble mood
and state our arguments in courteous words. (Translation from the Siksamrita, Russian edition)

If we have not been heard, then, according to etiquette, it is recommended to turn to older
Vaishnavs who can correct this person.

Questions:

1. Under what circumstances and in what kind of mood can a junior correct a senior?

2. What if it didn't work?

Why did Srila Prabhupada sometimes say harsh words to people?

Srila Prabhupada did not scold people, but their atheistic philosophy. Although he could
sometimes refer to scientists as donkeys and camels, they did not get offended because
everyone who interacted with Srila Prabhupada felt deep, unconditional love and compassion
emanating from him, and this helped them to accept his message.

One day, an intelligent student of various philosophies came to Srila Prabhupada's room and
argued that his own way was the best one. But Srila Prabhupada smashed all his arguments to
smithereens, leaving nothing behind this man's false concepts. The young man struggled to
argue, coming up with new arguments and clinging to Prabhupada's words. The devotees
watching the dispute began to laugh. When the student ran out of arguments, he was about to
leave, slamming the door, and suddenly he heard Srila Prabhupada's voice: "Wait, don't go!"
Turning around, the young man met Srila Prabhupada's deepest compassion and was amazed
at this. Srila Prabhupada said, “Actually, I don’t care what philosophy you follow or what religion
you practice. I need you yourself! " The shocked youth stayed to listen to Srila Prabhupada.
Now he is one of ISKCON's initiating gurus.
Every morning Srila Prabhupada went for a walk with his disciples. Meeting people on the way,
he greeted them with the words: "Good morning!" People, seeing Srila Prabhupada's smile and
hearing his kind words, smiled back and also wished him a good day. At the end of the walk,
one student broke down and said: “Amazing! It seems that everyone loves you! " Srila
Prabhupada smiled and replied, "Yes, they love me because I love them!"

Srila Prabhupada said that in order to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, one
must learn to be friendly to all beings.

Questions:

1. What lesson have you learned from these stories about Srila Prabhupada?

2. Using this knowledge, how will you transfer knowledge to others?

How to respond to criticism addressed to you?

If we are offered any sincere and honest criticism, we should be grateful, not disappointed. To
act negatively towards benevolent correction is to give free rein to your false ego.

From a letter from Srila Prabhupada to Vrindavanesvari

(07/28/1969)https://vanisource.org/wiki/690728_-
_Letter_to_Vrndavanesvari_written_from_Los_Angeles

“You have mentioned about some criticism made by Jayagovinda which upset you. I do not
know exactly what is the point, but if there is some honest criticism, there should be no cause of
becoming upset. “

A mature Vaisnava sees in every comment addressed to him as the mercy of Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu.

From a letter from Srila Prabhupada to Gaurasundara: https://vanisource.org/wiki/720826_-

_Letter_to_Gaurasundara_written_from_Los_Angeles
“If there is some incident and I claim that no one is cooperating with me or no one will work with
me, that is my defect, not theirs. The Vaisnava devotee must think like this. We should not find
fault with others and criticize and go away, that is not the Vaisnava way. Better we should
always be willing to offer all respects to others and consider them as our superiors always.”

Prevention is better than cure. If the devotee takes responsibility for developing a mood of
humility and cooperation, then the need for correction will be minimized.

From Srila Prabhupada's letter to Patita-Uddharana (12/12/1974)

[https://vanisource.org/wiki/741212_-_Letter_to_Patita_Uddharana_written_from_Bombay
]:
“So in your letter you are not finding fault with anyone. So you are good Vaishnava. You do not
find fault with anyone. This is the qualification. We should always think ourselves very humble
and meek. This you must know. So we have to all cooperate amongst ourselves, otherwise
what will people think if we ourselves fight with one another? A devotee is always ideal in
behavior.”

Questions:
1. According to Srila Prabhupada, how should you respond to criticism?

2. What is the proactive position?

What to do if we hear someone criticizing a devotee?

Quite often, people do not stop others' criticism because they are afraid of ruining the
relationship. However, if a person calmly listens to criticism addressed to someone and does
not protest, agreeing with the offender, then he loses confidence in the eyes of the offender
himself.

The offender inside himself thinks: “If around the corner someone“ washes my bones ”, this
person will also assent and be silent. I will never have serious business with him! "
But, if a person says that he does not want to hear criticism, and leaves this place, if the
criticism continues, then, although outwardly it seems that he is going into a conflict, in fact he
protects both himself and the insulting person from further criticism. Subsequently, he will be
highly respected in the eyes of the critic. He will think: “If someone insults me, this person will
also shut his mouth. I can trust him! "

What if we hear criticism from a senior devotee? In accordance with etiquette, we must not
correct it - it will be wrong. This should be done either by an elder or an equal. But we can fold
our hands and ask:
“Please save me! When I hear condemnation from other devotees, it destroys my spiritual life!
Please protect me from this! " This is the correct behavior. If the person continues, then leave
this place.

Questions:
1. Should the critic be stopped? How to behave if he doesn't stop?
2. What to do if this is done by a person who is senior in his spiritual status?
Chapter 12

How to protect yourself from Vaishnava aparadhas

To clarify the relationship

Our mind has a tendency to wind things up. As a rule, when people talk about other people's
faults, the truth in their words is from 0 to 25 percent. Everything else is just speculation,
embellishment and exaggeration. Sometimes the biggest wars and conflicts arise from the
inventions of someone's agitated mind.

In the mid-1990s, a serious crisis arose in one Vaishnava community. The entire community
was divided into two camps, between which a conflict erupted, and criticism poured out against
each other. The leadership of our organization even had to send a special person there to solve
the problem. After long inquiries and investigations, it turned out that the cause of this "war" was
two local girls. It all started out simple. The girl in a painfully agitated emotional state came to
cook in the kitchen in the temple. At that time, another Vaishnavi was imprudent not to notice
her and did not greet her. Our heroine had the idea that she was being neglected, and her mind
began to recall past interactions with this devotee, viewing everything in negative terms. Her
mind enthusiastically thought out, exaggerated, twisted and twisted, and, in the end, the girl
made the final conclusion that this Vaishnavi envies her, hates, wishes evil, does not respect,
etc., etc. The last straw was that her kitchen neighbor committed the biggest "deadly sin": she
took her favorite pan. So, she broke through, and began to criticize. The second girl was very
indignant at the unfair attacks and responded the same. In anger, each of them began to tell
everyone about her own innocence, to look for companions. As a result of this senseless
conflict, they pitted the Vaishnavas against each other, dividing the community into warring
groups.

Before you get offended and start expressing your outrage, it makes sense to first clarify the
situation. By doing this, we get:
· Additional details and facts that you might not know. Our perception of the situation after that
will be more complete and objective. Another person will find out that he bothered us. He will
have a conscious opportunity for growth and correction.

· Seeing that instead of criticizing, we give him constructive feedback and want to clarify the
relationship, the person will respect us.

To do this, you need to tell the person:

· When it comes to behavior: “I respect you as a devotee and want to be nice to you, but my
mind is worried. Could you explain why you did this and what does it mean? "

· As far as speech is concerned: “When did you say that, what did you really mean? Did I
understand you correctly? "

Follow the steps below:

1. Describe your feelings in this situation, without assessing his behavior and personality.
Describe your pain and how your mind became restless. For example: "When you said this, I
felt pain, and I had the following fears ...". Ask him what he thinks about this.

2. Listen carefully to the person, trying to look at what is happening with his eyes at least for a
few seconds (additional efforts will be required). This will help you see your hidden
understanding of this situation.

3. Solve the problem according to etiquette. If necessary, seek help from qualified senior
devotees.

4. If the situation is not resolved, despite all your efforts, hand it over to Sri Krishna with the
words: "Dear Lord, these are Your devotees, deal with them yourself!"

Remember, truth is self-evident. Time itself will show what is true and what is not.

The Lord is the best teacher for everyone. He knows how to teach his children, and we need to
learn to trust Him. Truth is not one-sided and not as narrow as we see it. It is multifaceted. In
the same situation, the Lord teaches each participant his lessons. The main thing is that we
pass our exam and take responsibility for our behavior.
Questions:

1. How much truth is there in gossip?

2. Why is it important to clarify relationships?

3. Describe the first step in clearing the relationship.

4. What if the situation is not resolved?

Take responsibility

You need to focus on changing your heart and accept responsibility for your behavior and
thoughts.

Once the great scientist Albert Einstein said: “It is impossible to solve a problem at the same
level at which it arose. We need to rise above this problem by rising to the next level. "

Pray to the Lord: “Please change me and let me learn the positive lessons that You are giving
me in this difficult situation! Make me what you want me to become a conduit for positive
changes in others! "

When we change inside, moving to a higher level, the world and circumstances around us also
change.

Question:

Explain Einstein's phrase through the lens of Krishna consciousness.

Glorify Vaishnavas

One disciple approached Srila Prabhupada with a question:

“It is said in the shastras that one should neither criticize nor glorify anyone. You say that
devotees should be glorified. How to understand this correctly?

“We follow the first point strictly,” Prabhupada replied, “and as far as glorification is concerned,
we follow Lord Sri Caitanya, who ordered us to do it.

The following story is told in Sri [1] Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. Antya-khaṇḍa, 3.349-459.

When Lord Caitanya came to Kuliya and stayed at the house of Chakadi Chattopadhyaya, a
brahmana came there and, falling at His feet, spoke:

- My Lord! I want to pray to Your blessed lotus feet, please give me just one moment of your
time! I am a complete sinner. Not knowing the greatness of bhakti, I constantly criticized the
Vaisnavas and kirtan, saying: "What kind of Vaisnavas are they, and what kind of kirtana is
this ?!" Now, thinking about these sins, everything burns inside me. You are like a powerful lion
saving souls from the cycle of birth and death. Have mercy and tell me, how can I atone for
such sins?

Hearing the sincere words of the brahmana, Sri Sacinandana Gaurahari replied with a smile:
“suna dvija, viṣa kari ye mukhe bhakṣaṇa
sei mukhe kari yabe amṛta-grahana

viṣa haya jirna, deha hayata amara

Amṛta-prabhāve, ebe ṣuna se ettara

“Listen, O brahmana,one who has taken poison must drink nectar with the same mouth.
Then the effect of the poison will be neutralized, and by the influence of the nectar his
body will become immortal. Now I will explain the meaning of this.

nājāniyā tumi yata karilā nindana

se kevala viṣa tumi karilā bhojana
 parama amṛta ebe kṛṣṇa-guṇa-nāma
niravadhi sei mukhe kara’ tumi pāna

All the blasphemous statements that you spoke in ignorance are just like taking poison.
Now you must certainly drink the supreme nectar of chanting the names and qualities of
Krishna with the same mouth.

ye mukhe karilā tumi vaiṣṇava-nindana

sei mukhe kara’ tumi vaiṣṇava-vandana

By the same mouth with which you blasphemed the Vaishnavas you should glorify the
Vaishnavas

kṛṣṇa-yaṥa-parānanda-amṛte tomarā
nindā-viṣa yata saba kariba saṁhāra

The glories of Krishna are full of transcendental nectar, and they neutralize the
poisonous effects of blasphemy.

ei satya kahi, tomā’-sabāre kevala nā jāniyā nindā yebā karila sakala

āra yadi nindya-karma kabhu nā ācare nirantara viṣṇu-vaiṣṇavera stuti kare
e sakala pāpa guche ei se upāya
koṭi prāyaścite o anyathā nāhi yāya
 I am telling you the truth. Those who unknowingly blaspheme Visnu or the Vaishnavas
can be delivered from all sinful reactions if they always glorify Visnu and the Vaishnavas
and never again engage in blasphemy. Even millions of atonements cannot deliver them.

cala dvija, kara’giyā bhaktera varṇana

tabe se tomāra saba-pāpa-vimocana

“O brahmana, go describe the glories of the devotees and all your sinful reactions will be
destroyed.”

Hearing from the holy lips of Mahaprabhu about the main repentance for the offender, all the
Vaisnavas joyfully shouted: “Glory to Hari! All glories to Hari! "
Srila Vrindavana dasa Thakura, the great Vaishnava illuminating our path, warns everyone [Śrī
Caitanya-bhāgavata. Antya-khaṇḍa, 3.462-463.]:

ei ājnā ye nā māne, ninde sādhu-jana

duḥkha-sindhu mājhe bhāse sei pāpi-gaṇa

caitanyera ājňā ye mānaye veda-sāra

sukhe sei jana haya bhava-singhu-pāra

Those sinful people who don't accept this instruction and blepheme saintly persons float
in an ocean of mesery
Those persons who accept the instructions of Lord Caitanya as the essence of the Vedas
happily cross the ocean of material existence.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, in his commentary on the last verse, writes:

Those sinful persons who accept Sri Caitanya as the Absolute Truth and follow His
instructions ve begging forgiveness from the Vaishnavas for their offences are able to
cross the ocean of material existence, keep faith in the words of Sri Caitanya, and attain
their own welfare.

Question:
What lesson have you learned from this story?

To avoid unfavorable communication

Any association with an offender of a Vaishnava must be dismissed as destructive

«Hari-bhakti-vilasa», 10.318.

ataevoktam sri-bhagavate
Aulapakhyante
Tato duhsangam utsrjya
Satsu sajjeta buddhiman
Santa evasya chindanti
Mano-vyasangam uktibhih

(In the Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.26.26, at the end of the story about Aula this verse is
found): “The intelligent person should therefore give up all bad association and ___
out the association of saintly devotees, whose words cut the ---- attachments within
one’s mind.”
Srila Prabhupada writes in a letter to Jayapataka Swami (dated
04/30/1970) :https://vanisource.org/wiki/700430_-
_Letter_to_Jayapataka_written_from_Los_Angeles
“Even if one is Vaisnava, but not of good character, we can give him the Vaisnava respect, but
we cannot associate with him.”

Respect does not mean close communication. If a Vaishnava loads us with criticism, then we
must respect him, keeping a respectful distance.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 19.157:

tāte mālī yatna kari’ kare āvaraṇa
aparādha-hastīra yaiche nā haya udgama

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

Shrila Prabhupada’s comments:

“While the bhakti 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 creeper.
When one associates with nondevotees, the maddened elephant is set loose. Śrī
Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, asat-saṅga-tyāga, — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra. The first
business of a Vaiṣṇava 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 human being is a social animal, and if one gives up the society of pure devotees,
he must associate with nondevotees (asat-saṅga). 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.

Even if one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Kṛṣṇa
Consciousness Society, still one should stick to the Society; if one thinks the Society’s
members are not pure devotees, one can keep direct company with the spiritual master,
and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master.”

Questions:

1. How should one interact with critics?

2. What does it mean to "build a fence" around the bhakti plant?

To be afraid of offending devotees and falling into
maya

Fear fetters. But the fear of these two things - of offending the devotees and falling into maya -
is not an obstacle, but our salvation from degradation.

Srila Prabhupada in a letter to Gopal Krishna Goswami (dated 04.21.1970) writes [[1]
https://vanisource.org/wiki/700421_-_Letter_to_Gopala_Krishna_written_from_Los_Angeles]: “I
am very glad to learn that you are doing spiritual activities very nicely and you are always alert
to see whether you are committing some offense. This is a very nice attitude. In rendering
service to Lord Krsna and His representative the Spiritual Master, we should always maintain
this fearful attitude which means careful attention. This attitude will advance you progressively in
Krishna Consciousness.”

Srila Prabhupada once told his disciples:

- I will never fall into maya, but you can all fall!
Concerned students asked him:
- Why?
“Because I am afraid of maya,” Prabhupada replied, “and you are not afraid of her!

Subsequently, when asked what he prays about every day in front of the Deities, Srila
Prabhupada replied:
“I pray that I will not offend Vaishnavas and fall into maya!
This should be our prayer every day. In this way we will be protected from the two main causes
of falling on the spiritual path and will progress rapidly in Krishna consciousness.

Questions:

1. What are two things should a devotee fear of?

2. About what do you need to pray to the Deities in order to progress quickly?
Be careful on the Internet http://www.forum.krishna.ru/showthread.php?t=11889.

In our time, the most part of the information that we have, we get from the Internet. However, at
the beginning of our spiritual journey, one must be extremely careful not to jump to conclusions
based on such an unreliable source. Almost everything we come across on the Internet is filled
with claims, criticism, insults, rumors, gossip and other unscrupulous methods of influencing the
mind. For the most part, almost all of these pretentious and "authoritative" opinions have no
basis at all. Naturally, such attacks can confuse an inexperienced person. Alas, the amount of
the Internet offenders do not decrease over time, and false claims fill the near-spiritual space,
creating a negative background. Aggression against spiritual organizations has always been, is
and will always be, therefore it is important to learn the correct attitude towards this
phenomenon so that contact with it does not become a dangerous obstacle on our spiritual
path. Until our faith grows stronger, unresolved doubts will undermine it from within, and contact
with the poison of insults will become destructive for it.

There was an interesting episode in Srila Prabhupada's life. His disciples visited one of his
godbrothers during a parikrama in Mayapur. This man, associating with the disciples of Srila
Prabhupada, at first spoke well of his activities, but then began to belittle his merits, saying
something like this: “Do not be deceived into thinking that your spiritual master has fulfilled the
prophecy of Lord Caitanya. Before him there were others who started preaching Krishna
consciousness in the West. They were the pioneers, and Prabhupada just followed in their
footsteps. " Contrary to the obvious, these words tried to put Prabhupada in the same row with
those who tried to start preaching in the West, but did not succeed. Simply put, they discounted
Srila Prabhupada's exceptional merit and deeds. When the disciples told Prabhupada about this
conversation, he reacted very seriously. Prabhupada called all the disciples who were in contact
with his godbrother and chastised them strictly: “Without realizing it, you have committed an
offense by listening to false criticism of your spiritual master. It will leave a scar on the body of
your faith forever."

And this is just one case of countless episodes, which once again illustrate how dangerous the
poison of insults is for our faith, and how much Prabhupada invested in protecting the faith of
his disciples. Unscrupulous criticism is extremely dangerous: it penetrates deeply and
permanently into our hearts, destroying our determination defiling our faith. But criticism cannot
be completely avoided, especially since even it can become a useful and effective instrument
for spiritual progress. Conscientious criticism helps us to see some important omissions in our
path, even if it is not always pleasant to deal with it. It is wrong to completely protect yourself
from criticism, because it can help us. Therefore, first of all, you need to learn to distinguish
between conscientious and unfair criticism. Fortunately, this is not that difficult.
Signs of unfair criticism

Wolf in sheep's clothing

The first sign is hypocrisy, an attempt to hide one's true motives behind a screen of ostentatious
good, pure and lofty intentions.
Such a critic, as a rule, tries very pretentiously to convey to us that he is guided only by the best
intentions for the good of all. It's as old as the world. Even Daksha, scolding Lord Shiva,
declared: “All sages, brāhmaṇas and fire-gods present, please hear me with attention,
for I speak about the manners of gentle persons. I do not speak out of ignorance or
envy. ”Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.2.9.

However, the one, whose motives are really pure, will not try to instill this in others: he does not
need to prove something to someone. If actions and words are imbued with true compassion,
then they will say more than endless tirades about their "heroic truthfulness."
Srila Prabhupada told a funny story about this. One householder woke up at night due to a
strange noise, went into the living room and asked: "Who is here?" The simple-minded thief got
scared and blurted out: “Well, it's me! But I am not stealing! "

We need to learn how to filter all the information that we come into contact with on the network.

"True" virtue
The next sign is attempts to elevate oneself at the expense of humiliating others. If criticism
goes side by side with boasting and glorifying yourself, your guru, your organization, or
whatever, then you can safely throw this information out of your head: poison only brings death.
Thus, bragging, enumeration of merits (invented, truthful and near-truthful), ostentatious
scholarship, cumbersome and confused philosophical style of speech, self-selection and
exclusivity of the knowledge given are all faithful companions of unscrupulous criticism, which
easily reveal the true motives of the critic. All of this is simple human pride under the wraps of a
spiritual savior.

Naturally, this manifestation of hypocrisy has also been known for a long time. Duryodhana,
being at death's door on Kurukshetra, cursed the Pandavas and Krishna, but he diluted his
curses with a large portion of listing his merits and his greatness: “I am an expert in the Vedas
and sacrifices! I pleased the brahmanas and ruled a great kingdom! My death is the most
worthy death for a great emperor! Even the demigods can envy a fate like mine, who else is as
lucky as me ?! ”
The grand inquisition
False criticism always strives for only one thing - destruction. Behind the envy in the human
heart, there is always anger towards the one we envy. This is especially acute when we see
someone's real success. The criterion for conscientious criticism is creativity: it strives to
improve, eliminate shortcomings, and not leave ashes behind.

Unscrupulous criticism always only devalues and devastates, it is destructive, it does not give
an opportunity to establish itself in any positive principles. The purpose of such criticism is the
direct destruction of faith in a person. The one who tramples on holy things cannot be good.

Crows’ pilgrimage
Criticism hurts the heart not only of the criticized, but also of the critic. The one who speaks
unscrupulous words - brings the infection of sinful desires into his heart, and it begins to "fester".
In other words, the desire to criticize becomes obsessive, and its satisfaction becomes drug-like
"pleasant". The only thing that such a person does is looking for an opportunity to publicly point
out someone's faults, thereby only emphasizing once again that he is simply masking his own
failures and spiritual dissatisfaction with the help of his "denunciations." If a person has
achieved happiness through spiritual practice, would he waste time chasing after other people's
faults? Will he enjoy it? All sorts of accusers always wear the mask of an exalted personality
with unique direct access to spiritual truth, but their obsessive desire to criticize is the best proof
of the opposite.

Srila Rupa Gosvami in The Nectar of Instruction, Upadesamrta, names the main external sign of
a devotee with whom one must constantly associate [The Nectar of Instruction 5]: anyanindadi-s
шӯnya-hrādam - his heart should be completely free from the desire to criticize and condemn
others. In fact, even a simply educated person, if he is honest with himself, will feel remorse if
he criticizes someone or speaks badly about others.

Naturally, negative criticism also has a lot of distinctive features: “convenient”, selective citation
(incomplete truth); oversaturated emotional filling criticism, agitation and labels ("totalitarian
sect", etc.); inflating an elephant out of a fly and deliberately aggressive provocation of the
opponent (known "trolling"), etc. You should be very careful when going online, you need to be
able to track these destructive trends and avoid them.
 Question:

Describe the signs of unfair criticism:

1. _____________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________

4. _____________________________________________

Signs of bona fide criticism

It is very important to be able to define the purpose of criticism in order to avoid becoming a
victim of unfair treatment, as well as to gratefully accept criticism based on a sincere desire to
help. Correct criticism is essential in any society for its healthy and full-fledged development.
What are the signs of conscientious criticism?

Objectivity
For criticism to be adequate, it should exclude the mood of the sentencing judge, as well as add
the desire to receive feedback and enter into a full-fledged dialogue. With good intentions,
criticism always implies feedback, since its task is to understand the person and try to help him,
and not prove own case. A sane critic never makes final judgments until he clarifies all the
nuances of the situation with the person to whom the criticism is directed. In Kali-yuga, the last
pillar of religion is truthfulness, honesty and decency, therefore, if criticism is devoid of these
qualities, is not aimed at helping, is not ready to give up its beliefs when clarifying new facts,
then this is clearly the influence of Kaliraj.

Neutral position

Another important element of honest criticism is the separation of "sin from sinner." The job of
anger is to fight vice, not personality. Criticism should point out negative trends and inspire
others to correct them. If we criticize, then we must definitely learn to love and accept a person,
and at the same time sincerely and intelligently help him fight vices, this will greatly help us on
the path to Krishna. If we are driven by love for a person, then before criticizing, we must first
make sure that the person can accept our words, that his mind is not disturbed. The surgeon is
always interested in the patient's survival after the operation, the murderer doesn't care.

One way or another, it is better to avoid criticism, if there is such an opportunity, otherwise,
having stumbled, we will very quickly develop an acute desire to correct everyone in the world.
Non-polemic is one of the characteristic features of our philosophy. The Goswamis of Vrindavan
do not refute other people's philosophical teachings, but show that all this is already in the
sastras, in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Of course, there are also arguments against the philosophy
of Mayawada, etc., but this polemic occupies, to put it mildly, an insignificant place in his works:
his goal is to confirm, not refute. Constant arguments deprive us of the opportunity to cultivate in
our hearts the qualities favorable to bhakti: patience, humility, compassion, desire to serve. It
excites our mind and increases our pride. The Narada-bhakti-sutra states [10]:

vādo nāvalambyaḥ

“One should not indulge in argumentative debate.”

Krishna also warns Uddhava in Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.18.30.

: “He (the devotee) should never speak like a mere logician or skeptic or take any side
whatsoever in useless arguments.” Bhaktivinoda Thakura states in “Bhaktya Loka” First
Chapter “ Six Faults that Destroy Bhakti: Prajalpa” that controversy and debate are also
prajalpa, which make the heart cruel and the mind dirty. If we want to progress on the
spiritual path, it is best to avoid pointless arguments. However, the problem is that even
the criticism we accidentally hear settles in our minds, because we are psychologically
inclined to accept any absurd information on faith without checking it. Because we are
conditioned, there is envy in our hearts that makes us "blind." It's always harder to
believe in good things. Alas, even if we do not like to slander someone, listening to
gossip, anyway it remains our secret addiction for a long time, because when we hear
something bad about a person, out of envy, we subconsciously feel better and higher
than this person. In the era of the Internet, "bone washing" has taken on a completely
unprecedented scale, since opportunities for criticism and insults have grown hundreds
of thousands of times - this is a powerful weapon in the hands of the Age of Kali, the
age of lies, strife, quarrels and hypocrisy. Therefore, when trying to find the truth on the
Internet, one must remember that we are in the territory of Kaliraj, where the
environment is ideal for spreading lies and insults.

On the Internet, almost any information to one degree or another is anonymous:

sometimes we do not know what kind of person is behind the next pseudonym on the
Internet. Anonymity gives a feeling of impunity for their actions, which removes internal
ethical barriers. Online people allow themselves to say what they would never allow
themselves to say in real life, especially in a personal conversation. On Internet sites,
you can easily delete "inconvenient" messages, block "unwanted" people. In the
Internet quarrels answers are always given only to advantageous arguments, which
destroy the integrity of the message and allow you to flexibly speculate on the words of
the opponent. The high culture of dispute becomes a typical "market" distortion,
vilification and suppression. At any time, a topic that has been closed for a long time
can again be submitted to inexperienced people in order to raise doubts in their hearts.
Various psychological and technical techniques have been developed long ago. They
are aimed at consistent destruction of reputation. We should not be overly trusting,
although sometimes it never occurs to us that someone will deliberately and
systematically try to destroy our faith, not disdaining even the most vile methods.

Question:

1. Describe the signs of good faith criticism:

______________________________________

______________________________________

2. How should Internet disputes be handled?

Three categories of critics

"External" critics

These are the people who are new to our spiritual tradition, their criticism is superficial,
but still poisonous. Basically, these are different "sectologists", "anti-cultists" and
"deprogrammers". Such criticism is almost always harsh and aggressive. The typical
recipe used by such people is: collecting "facts" (it does not matter if they are true or
not), speculation in favor of the assigned task (insult, demotion, devaluation, etc.) and
an effective harsh presentation. Although such criticism is usually utterly absurd, it
works well with innocent people who are unfamiliar with ISKCON and do not really know
anything. In this case, the antidote is intimate, sincere association with Vaishnavas.

Critics "next door"

“Neighborhood” criticism is criticism from other schools of Hinduism or parallel

organizations. Usually, either our teaching is criticized, or, most typically, the authority of
our chain of succession. The task of such criticism is simple: to sow doubts among
followers and win them over to their side. Such attacks are much more dangerous than
external ones, because the arguments become more sophisticated and more difficult to
expose. However, as far as criticizing philosophy, our acaryas - Rupa Goswami, Jiva
Goswami, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura, as well as Srila Prabhupada - have answered almost all of our
philosophical arguments that are put forward by our opponents. Usually, the
"neighborhood" criticism relies on the banal philosophical illiteracy of the new devotees,
so the best antidote here is a systematic and careful study of Srila Prabhupada's books
under the guidance of senior experienced Vaisnavas. But if we still do not find
counterarguments and feel that criticism makes us doubt the practice of bhakti, then we
need to remember our own spiritual experience: the experience of glimpses of spiritual
bliss, sweetness that fills the heart during kirtan, awe before the Deities, peaceful
immersion in the depths of japa meditation, the experience of causeless and growing
happiness from being in the Holy Dham.

"Internal" critics

This type of critic includes people who were or remain followers of Srila Prabhupada,
but for various reasons became disillusioned with the movement, left it and nurse a
grievance. This is the most dangerous and subtle type of criticism in which it is not so
easy to identify a lie.
The lies in the words of such people are not at all similar to what we can hear from the
first two categories of critics - it is very similar to the truth. The favorite method of such
people is to hide behind Srila Prabhupada's teachings, subtly interweaving their motives
and judgments. Such people, as a rule, do not encroach on our shrines, or even
become their ardent defenders, wanting to "return everything to its origins" and "cleanse
from deviations." Another big danger is the fact that the "internal" critics are very familiar
with our own argumentation, so one can hear from them very unexpected and disarming
arguments at first. And finally: criticism from such people often hits the internal problems
of our organization, which we already all know about, so it seems very convincing.

The best antidote to such criticism can only be the development of a taste for
association with sincere devotees and service in their society. In most cases, it is the
taste for devotional service and understanding of philosophy that are our lifeline, when,
despite any problems and arguments, we still feel deep in our hearts that we are on the
right path.

So, contact with criticism, even with the best motives and the desire to deal with justice,
still poisons our heart. Faith in the path, sraddha, is our greatest treasure by Srila
Prabhupada and the acaryas. At the beginning of our practice, faith is very fragile,
"komala sraddha" - "tender, fragile, subject to external influence." Criticism, like a
poisoned arrow, even if it touches our ears lightly, poisons our minds and destroys an
immature faith. That is why it is so important to systematically study Prabhupada's
books on a daily basis - nothing can replace this powerful antidote. Each new portion of
"revelations" and "refutations" should collide with our memories of those great
Vaishnavs who stood at the origins of the sampradaya. Even by simple worldly
standards, they were great philosophers, impeccable gentlemen, scientists, logicians,
genius poets, Vedic and Sanskrit scholars.
In addition, do not forget that "a tree is judged by its fruit." The most powerful and
unshakable argument is the very example of Srila Prabhupada's perfect life. With the
help of an ornate and dexterous language, any speculation can be weaved, but, like any
dry mental construct, it easily breaks down in practice: let each such "weaver" of lies
live a pure life and prove that those people who follow him become better and cleaner.
The level of a Vaishnava is determined by his ability to change other people's hearts for
the better.

Correct behavior in relation to Internet criticism

The easiest and smartest way is to simply not enter into discussions on the Internet. To
ignore in this case is the most reasonable and painful method for critics, since their false
egos are always trying to drag us into a conflict. But why should we meet the
expectations of such people? However, if we still have not been able to avoid contact
with lies and feel contaminated, we should make a list of questions that cause anxiety in
our hearts, try to do it in a positive and constructive way, and then ask them to those
who are versed in our philosophy and history and also sincere in service. Only such a
person is able to give a qualified answer and allay our worries. Independent attempts to
understand these issues have not led anyone to any good.

Do not engage in dangerous discussions on the Internet. Ignoring is the most sensible
behavior with offenders and, at the same time, the most painful for their false ego.
Anyone who puts his fabrications on the Internet hopes that someone will fall for this
trap and enter into a discussion with him. Why should we justify his expectations? If, for
one reason or another, you could not protect yourself in time from contact with lies and
feel that your faith has shaken and you need to find answers to the questions that have
arisen, try to formulate them in the most positive way and ask them to those who know
our philosophy and history well and is able to give a qualified answer. Attempts to figure
it out on your own can end up sad for your faith.

Conclusion
Remember, at the very beginning of the book, we asked you to rate your current mood
of service on a 10-point scale? Ask yourself, has anything changed in your heart during
the time you read this book? Analyze what has changed? What have you noticed in
yourself? What's better, and what else can you work on?

Let us finalise this book with the words of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura [«Шри Чайтанья
Шикшамрита», Глава 6: «Discussions on Devotional Service in Pure Love of God».
]:
“ The devotees, performing sadhana bhakti should always be attentive to the condition
of their devotion, perceiving the state yesterday and the improvement made today. If he
perceives after some days no progress has been made according to the stages given
above, he must understand that some offense must have been committed. Having
diagnosed this offense, he should give up this offense and correct the harm done by
association of devotees. Continuously cultivating bhakti and praying to Krishna, he
should be careful that the offense does not occur again. Those who do not care to
examine their progress will advance very slowly due to the unseen obstacles they have
created. Devotees, take special precaution in this matter!"

How to track down dangerous tendencies in our heart, how not to make technical
mistakes along the way due to a simple ignorance of etiquette, how not to fall into the
poisonous trap of criticism - we tried to analyze all these and many other questions for
you in the most accessible and understandable form, diluting narration of stories from
the shastras.

Thank you precious Vaishnavas for allowing me to serve you!

I humbly bow to your feet!

Please forgive me for all my voluntary and involuntary insults!
Your servant,
Shri Jishnu Das