i was listening to a devotional song and as the chorus sang i had a bad thouught about them i commited apradh through mind then i commited apradh against lord Hanuman since then i am accidently committing apradh against great devotees. my mind is getting attracted to material world and maya will krishna leave me i dont want to leave him please help i dont want to commit vaishnava apradh how can i atone for what i have done please help
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He doesnt leave you if you dont leave Him.
So what does it mean to not to leave him?
What do you do, after chanting 16 rounds. You set the beads down and leave Him until next day,
So, if you dont want to leave him, keep chanting all the time. Never stop.
As long as you are Chanting Names of Hari, neither Kali nor Maaya will touch you.
In Kali yuga, our sin is excused if we commit sin by a random thought.
But if you entertain that thought by intentionally engaging in it, you commit sin, especilly because
it later turns into action, in our life.
If you are walking and a bird flys over your head, you cannot help it. You dont worry about it. Just chant Hare Krishna!
However, if you let the bird sit on your head, and then make a nest, and then for it to lay eggs and raise a family of birds... then you have a problem.
If its a random thought, just ignore it and dont pay attention. Keep Chanting the Names of Hari.
PAMHO
I need help please,
I read an article about a girl she had gone thru soemthing horrible as a kid, at an ISKCON centre and critisized ISKCON and said something horrible about Krishna and i love Him so i became angry and even tho the website said she had apologised for her words against Krishna, i said bad things for her, i dont know her and i sincerely regret it and cried in front of the Lord and asked her and Him and forgiveness, have i committed vaishnava aparadha?
Hare Krishna , Pamho
What you have commited is the first Offence amont the ten offences .whenever we do japa we recite the pancha tattva mantra to counter the ten offences and nullify them .take shelter of the pancha tattva mantra
Recite this mantra like 5- 7 times how many ever times you can
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare KRsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
What I know is taht in Kaliyuga, there is a concession. There is no aparadh for bad thoughts in the mind. As long as those thoughts didnt get converted into action or words, there is no aparadh. Therefore, there is no need for atonement.
Your worry about not being away from Krsna is genuine and very good. You should always have the mentality to serve the lord and His servants. Our mind will keep on playing tricks on us, we have to be careful to understand that its the mind playing tricks and learn to ignore the vegas of kama and krodha.
The trick is to wake up early morning, do mangalarati, and chant 16 rounds of mahamantra everyday. You should have only Krsna prasadam. Associate with devotees. Read Gita and Srimad Bhagawatam daily. Thats it - ABCD are taken care of - rest will follow.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Rashmi
Hare Krishna!
Please Accept My Humble Obeisances.
Vaishnava aparadha includes the actions of the body, mind, words and heart.
The Skanda Purana describes six different types of Vaishnava aparadhas:
hanti nindati vai dveshthi vaishnavan-nabhi-nandati;
krudhyate yati no harsham darshane patanani shat.
1) One who kills a devotee.
2) One who blasphemes devotees.
3) One who is envious of devotees.
4) One who fails to offer obeisances to Vaishnavas upon seeing them.
5) One who becomes angry with a Vaishnava.
6) One who does not become joyful upon seeing a Vaishnava.
These six classes of foolish men who blaspheme Vaishnavas go to, the worst kind of hell along with generations of their ancestors.
Results of Committing Vaishnava Aparadha:
The fate of Ramacandra Puri, described in the Caitanya-caritamrta, provides a stern warning of the unfortunate consequences of vaishnava-aparadha. He disrespected his guru and as a result was rejected, further causing him to criticize many exalted Vaishnavas and even blaspheme Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In this regard, Lord Narayana states:One’s so-called prowess, when employed against the devotee, certainly harms he who employs it. Thus it is the subject not the object who is harmed. (Bhag. 9.4.69)
The incident of Daksa’s offense to Maharaja Ambarisa also illustrates the severity of vaishnava-aparadha. Although Daksa apologized to Lord Siva for his offense, apparently it was not offered with proper remorse, for the effect of this aparadha resurfaced eons later in another manvantara, causing Daksa to commit additional vaishnava-aparadha to Narada Muni.
A despicable drunk has still a chance someday to be excused for his unrighteousness, but a Vaishnava offender is bound for abysmal damnation. (Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya-lila 13.39¬43)
In The Heart of Krishna, Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaja writes:
In spite of seeing and hearing about the fatal consequences of offending the Supreme Lord or the devotees, people refuse to become enlightened about it—such is the fearsome cloud of illusion that maya creates to delude everyone.
Sometimes we may commit a sin with no intention of doing so and without even knowing it. For example, we might offer polluted food to a saint, not knowing that the food had been polluted. Or while serving as a policeman we might accidentally shoot the wrong man. This is what we might call “purely accidental.”
Then again, there are sins we commit in the course of our profession. Srila Prabhupada gives the examples of the brahmana who performs animal sacrifices, the merchant who lies, and the sudra who serves the orders of a bad master.
Sometimes we do what we think is right–we are acting intentionally–but it later turns out wrong. In many districts of West Bengal, international welfare workers dug wells that have now turned out to be the cause of a huge epidemic of arsenic-induced disease. The work was intended, the harm was not. And yet the work has caused terrible suffering for thousands of people.
Then there are sins we commit not because we don’t know what we’re doing but because, even though we know, we lose control of ourselves. We know that drinking liquor is sinful, but someone invites us to have a drink, and because of a past habit we go for it. Or we know that illicit sex is sinful, but still, dragged by lust, we indulge in such activities.
As mentioned by Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita (3.36), anicchann api varsneya balad iva niyojitah: Even without wishing to do so, one may commit a sin, as if forced. And Krsna tells Arjuna that this is due to the power of lust.
Would you call this kind of sin “accidental” or “intentional”? From one point of view, it’s accidental. One doesn’t *want* to sin, but somehow one feels overwhelmed. On the other hand, the sin is performed knowingly, and with some features of intentionality also. One picks up the glass with the intention of drinking it.
sulapani sama yadi vaishnavere ninde
tathapiha nasa paya -- kahe shastra vrinde ohmy.gif
"Even if some one of the level of the supremely powerful devotee and gunavatara Lord Shiva blasphemes a devotee, he will soon be destroyed. This is the verdict of all the scriptures." (CB Madhya 22.56)
iha na maniya ye sujana-ninda kare mad.gif
janme janme se papistha daive dose mare
"Sinful people who ignore the above fact and critcize devotees suffer the heaviest of all punishment of providence birth and birth."(CB Madhya 22.57)
anyera ki daya gaura-simhera janani
tanhare o vaishnavaparadha kari gani
"What to speak of others, even the supreme mother of the Supreme Lord Himself Gaura Simha was not exempt from being considered an offender of a Vaishnava." (CB Madhya 22.58)
prabhu bale -- upadesa kahite se pari
vaishnavaparadha ami khandaite nari
Lord Gauranga Himself replied -- " I can give instructions how to eliminate the aparadha (like in the case of Durvasa and Ambarish), but I Myself even though being the Supreme Lord am unable to destroy an offense against a Vaishnava." (CB Madhya 22.32)
Atonement:
Nonetheless, whatever sins one may have committed–accidentally or intentionally–can be nullified by pure devotional service, and especially by the chanting of the holy name. Our scriptures declare this again and again.
namno hi yavati saktih
papa-nirharane hareh
tavat kartum na saknoti
patakam pataki narah
“Simply by chanting one holy name of Hari, a sinful man can counteract the reactions to more sins than he is able to commit.” (Brhad-visnu Purana)
As stated here, there is no limit to the sins that can be eradicated by the power of the holy name of the Lord.
Similarly, Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita (4.36):
api ced asi papebhyah
sarvebhyah papa-krt-tamah
sarvam jnana-plavenaiva
vrjinam santarisyasi
“Even if you are considered the most sinful of all sinners, when you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge you will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries.”
Who can be delivered? Not just the somewhat sinful, or the occasionally sinful, or even the very sinful, but “the most sinful of all sinners.”
• Valmiki, a murderer, became a pure devotee of the Lord.
• Mrgari, who had enjoyed half-killing animals and watching them writhe in pain, became a pure devotee of the Lord.
• The Caitanya-bhagavata says of Jagai and Madhai, “There is not a sin that they had not committed. Although born in brahmana families, they consumed liquor and beef, robbed, stole and burnt other person´s houses.” Yet they became pure devotees of the Lord.
• King Rahugana offended Jada Bharata, but later became a pure devotee of the Lord.
• Dhruva Maharaja, although already a pure devotee, needlessly slaughtered thousands of innocent Yaksas. Yet when he stopped he was forgiven, and he was still accepted as a pure devotee of the Lord.
• Although Akrura and Krtavarma were pure devotees, they became implicated in the plot to kill Satrajit. And still they are accepted as pure devotees of the Lord.
As Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita (9.30):
api cet su-duracaro
bhajate mam ananya-bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah
samyag vyavasito hi sah
“Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination.”
ksipram bhavati dharmatma
sasvac-chantim nigacchati
kaunteya pratijanihi
na me bhaktah pranasyati
“He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.”
Srila Prabhupada stresses: To commit sins with the notion that one can nullify their reactions by chanting the holy name is the worst of offenses. The sinful person who thinks he can get away with sinful life by chanting the holy name is entirely different from the person who commits sins, regrets them, and finally becomes saintly in his behavior.
The Lord is overly protective of his devotees (bhakta-vatsala ). He cannot tolerate any offenses against them. They have bhakti (devotion), and they can awaken it within us. Bhakti is the sole means to attract Krishna, who is a slave of devotion. The same is true of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Caitanya-Bhagavata states: A person can attain the shelter of Mahaprabhu only by the grace of a higher Vaishnava. Religious practices and even chanting the Holy Name without devotion is useless.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati writes in his commentary: Without developing a spirit of service, chanting the Holy Name is vain. Real devotion can only be cultivated when one receives the blessings of an unalloyed devotee.
Bhakti means devotion. Vrndavana dasa Thakur says: If a person commits an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava, even though he may have received Krishna's mercy, he will never attain divine love, prema. (Chaitanya-bhagavata Madhya-lila 22.8)
The three primary methods of seeking atonement mentioned in the Vedas are:
(1) To genuinely beg forgiveness from the Vaishnava offended:
ye vaishnava-sthane aparadha haya yara
puna se ksamile a paradha ghuce tara
If one offends a Vaishnava, the only way to get free from the offense is to go back that Vaishnava and beg his forgiveness. (CB. Madhya 22.32)
kanta phute yei mukhe, sei mukhe yaya
paye kanta phutile ki kandhe bahiraya
Just as it takes a thorn to remove a thorn, the offense committed by the mouth [against a Vaishnava] must be cured with the mouth [by begging forgiveness]. (CB Antya 4.380)
(2) By chanting the holy name of Lord Nityananda constantly:
nityananda-prasade se ninda yaya ksaya
nityananda-prasade se visnu-bhakti haya
Only by the causeless mercy of of the name, form and pastimes of Lord Nityananda, one's offenses against Vaishnavas are destroyed and one attains devotional service of Lord Krishna.(CB Madhya 22.136)
(3) By reading the original verses of CHAITANYA-BHAGAVATA, MADHYA-KHANDA Chapter 22 Daily or Regularly:
e bada adbhuta katha suna savadhane
vaishnava aparadha ghuce ihara sravane
Listen carefully to this wonderful pastime of how Shri Shachimata got delivered from her offense against Shrila Advaita Acharya in this Chapter 22. By hearing or reading this narration one will become free from the Vaishnava aparadha committed. (CB Madhya 22.12)
Such a benediction is not given in any other scripture. Even Lord Gauranga or the most powerful guru cannot save the disciples and devotees who criticize other Vaishnavas like we see in the case of some of the misled sons of Shrila Advaita Acharya. Shrila Advaita Acharya is supremely powerful so the Aparadha of some of his sons could not effect him but that they may not be the case in the situation of less powerful Gurus. But reading Chp 22 of Madhya-khanda Chaitanya-Bhagavata can even save us from the Aparadhas committed. So it is to be accepted that Shrila Chaitanya-Bhagavata is the most magnamious and merciful scripture in the whole creation which saves us from the most horrible and unforgivable of all sins in creation. Another reason is that since Shri Chaitanya-Bhagavata is full of the glories of Lord Nityananda on every page, it speedens up this process of destruction of our offenses as per the second point above. This is the scripture to read if one wants to develop love for Lord Nityananda, the only Lord capable of delivering fallen and degraded souls like us. And the final reason why all the acharyas have stressed Chaitanya-Bhagavata as the most beneficial for all conditioned souls is because this great scripture repeatedly warns and cautions us against the great dangers of Vaishnava-aparadha in each and every chapter of the book.
Therefore, we must always remember:
ninda nahi nityananda sevakera mukhe
aharnisha caitanyera yasa gaya sukhe
The devotees who have received the great fortune to serve Lord Nityananda Balarama never engage in criticism or blasphemy of other Vaishnavas. Day and night their only activity is to blissfuly sing the name of Lord Gauranga.(CB 22.137)
nityananda-bhakta saba dike savadhana
nityananda-bhrtyera chaitanya dhana-prana
Thus, the devotees of Lord Nityananda are always extremely cautious from all directions to totally avoid criticism of other Vaishnavas. Actually they have no time to criticize others because they are busy in chanting the glories of the names and pastimes of Lord Gauranga, who is their life and wealth.
In addition to the above methods of 'prayaschitta' mentioned in the Shastras, the ultimate atonement of Vaishnava Aparadha for you would be to:
Sincerely chant the holy name of the Supreme Lord.
Consistently engage yourself in more and more devotional service to the Lord at a temple or preaching centre accessible to you.
Lord Shri Krishna tells Uddhava that “Worship of my devotee is more dear to me than worship of me, because I do not require anything but the love of my devotee and those who respect and please those who love me are infinitely and eternally dear most within my heart”. This is the divine word of God. “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”.
Hence, by meditating on the above points and practically implementing them, your mind and senses would be constantly absorbed in serving the Lord leaving you with no time or energy for engaging in mundane material thoughts or actions which may lead to accumulating papam or committing further aparadhas. Owing to the compassionate and forgiving nature of Vaishnavas, by your sincere devotion, you will certainly attract the mercy of the Supreme Lord and eventually progress in spiritual life.
Your Servant,
Mathura Vasi Devi Dasi.
Hare Krishna,
What happens if we had commited vaishnav apradha against devotee but we are not in contact of them or they are not present in the world?
How do we nullify the offence
Hare krishna prabhuji if i have done any aparadh at your lotus feet while reading your post then please forgive me.
Hare krishna
Hare krishna mataji
Thank you over and over again for this wonderful reply, and abhay prabhu for posting this discussion:)
Jay prabhupada!
Amazing words Mataji,
It will take me a while to understand all words you have written.
I am happy to be part of such a forum.
Hari Bol
Hare krishna, PAMHO
Since you realize you have commited an aparadh and are ready for atonement dont worry all is fine , go to the devotee and ask for forgiveness in a humble manner vaishnavas are large hearted and will forgive everyone.
You will progress Spiritually .