Morning Walk, Mayapur, February 6, 1976
Tamala Krsna : What is the way to draw the line between the following three things: blasphemy, fault-finding, and calling a spade a spade?
Prabhupada: A spade a spade… Just like I am saying that “What you are? You are small fig only.” That is reality. And what is the other?
Tamala Krsna : The other is fault-finding and…
Prabhupada: Fault-finding, that is another fault, that… vranam icchanti, maksika vranam icchanti, madhum icchanti(?) Just like the flies, they are finding out where is sore, and the bees, they are finding out where there is honey. So two animals, they have got two business: fault-finding and collecting the good things. These are two… Just like creature. They are two classes. Similarly, there are many rascals who are simply fault-finding.
Tamala Krsna : And blasphemy?
Prabhupada: Blasphemy means you have good qualities, but still, I am defaming you.
Tamala Krsna : So the saintly person tends to overlook the bad qualities and see the good ones.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Tamala Krsna : Like Krsna ‘s dealing with Putana.
Prabhupada: Yes. Hundreds and thousands of miles, this fog, simply by two minutes’ light of the sun—finished. [break] …working. If there was no sun, then so many ships are standing on the ocean. The cars, they are “bong, bong, bong, bong,” so many disturbances. You see? You cannot do anything. Daivi hy esa gunamayi [Bhagavad-Gita. 7.14]. What you can do? Immediately He can kill you all. Thousands of planets immediately finished. Bring your science to protect them. No, not possible. Mare Krsna rakhe ke. When Krsna desires to vanquish, nobody can save you. Finished. Still, these rascals say, “There is no God.” Simply rascals. At least expose these rascals. We have no power to kill them, but at least we can expose them. That is also great service.
“One whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others”
Reading Assignment
a) Vaisnava Ke? by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Verse Two
Due to envy the living entity falls down from the spiritual world into this material world. Five of the six vices, namely lust, greed, anger, madness, and illusion can be dovetailed in devotional service, but the sixth vice, namely envy, cannot. Envy has nothing to do with bhakti and cannot be utilized in devotional service. Rather, devotional service is the process of eradicating all envy and material desire from the heart and fixing the pure consciousness in a spiritual “service attitude” to the Supreme Lord. Thus one’s desires and mentality becomes one with the Lord’s as there is complete harmony with His desires. Entering into devotional service in the association of devotees marks the beginning of one’s devotional life. Even after one has renounced the desire for accumulation of wealth and enjoying sense gratification and beautiful women, the subtle desires for fame, adoration, distinction and followers proves to be a formidable hurdle that one must cross over to reach perfection. Even in the association of devotees, the uncontrolled mind may mislead one into feeling envy for fellow devotees who are possessing positions of greater responsibility. One driven by envy and greed may endeavor to enhance his external position in devotional service, and fall into unnecessarily criticising fellow devotees. Even though there are unlimited opportunities for devotional service, the materially infected mind may become restless and fall down into an envious attitude, failing to see good qualities in devotees holding a superior position of responsibility. All these pitfalls have been warned against, and all devotees aspiring perfection should be careful to avoid these dangers on the path back to Godhead.
b) Vasihnava Ke? by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Verse Five
harijana-dvesa, pratisthasa-klesa, koro keno tabe tahar gaurava vaisnaver pache, pratisthasa ache, ta’te kabhu nahe ‘anitya-vaibhava’
SYNONYMS hari-jana-dvesa “hatred for the devotees of the Lord; pratistha-asa “desire for fame”; klesa “suffering”; koro “you endeavor”; keno “why?”; tabe “then”; tahar”its”; gaurava “glory”; vaisnaver pache “following behind the devotees”; pratistha-asa “desire for spiritual position”; ache “there is”; tate “in that”; kabhu nahe “never”; anitya “impermanent”; vaibhava “wealth”.
TRANSLATION My dear mind, what kind of Vaisnava are you? In the name of solitary worship you are simply engaged in criticising and committing offenses against the Vaisnavas. You have become envious towards the pure devotees of Lord Krsna. Instead of tasting the nectar of being a real Vaisnava you are simply suffering due to your desire to gain flickering material prestige and position. Then, in spite of your fallen condition, why do you remain so proud of your solitary worship? Now you should try to be a real Vaisnava. To be a pure devotee of Krsna is actually the most glorious position anyone can achieve! If you really desire to achieve perfection, then give up this practice of solitary worship and in the association of devotees practise pure unmotivated devotional service. In the sincere practice of pure devotional service there is no influence of maya.
PURPORT The mind must be controlled and made to act as a friend, helping one to advance on the path of Krsna realization. When the uncontrolled mind becomes infatuated with the desire for attaining egotistic prominence, even within the society of devotees, it immediately becomes dissatisfied:
Krsna -bhakta niskama, ataeva ‘santa’ bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami—sakali ‘asanta’
Because a devotee of Lord Krsna is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jnanis desire liberation, and yogis desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful. (Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 19.149) If a devotee, even after renouncing desire for gross sense gratification and fruitive activity, becomes careless and is swayed by desire for superficial importance and material position, he immediately feels dissatisfaction. Although this dissatisfaction alone is certainly the cause of untold suffering, should he, under pressure from his materialistic desires, grow envious of exalted souls, his situation becomes especially dangerous. In this way the uncontrolled mind leads him from material suffering to actively offending the Vaisnavas, and he proceeds along the royal road to destruction.
tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nasanam atmanah kamah krodhas tatha lobhas tasmad etat trayam tyajet
There are three gates leading to this hell “lust, anger and greed”. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul. (Bhagavad-Gita. 16.21)
abhisandhaya yo himsam dambham matsaryam eva va samrambhi bhinna-drg bhavam mayi kuryat sa tamasah
Devotional service executed by a person who is envious, proud, violent and angry, and who is a separatist, is considered to be in the mode of darkness.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.29.8). Caitanya Mahaprabhu has therefore warned that offending a Vaisnava is the gravest error one can commit. If the devotee commits an offense at the feet of a Vaisnava while cultivating the creeper of devotional service in the material world, his offense is compared to a mad elephant that uproots the creeper and breaks it. In this way the leaves of the creeper are dried up. (Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 19.156) When a devotee living in a Vaisnava society becomes infatuated with material desires, Krsna mercifully subjects him to circumstances and lessons in order to instruct and protect him. To properly receive such instructions from senior Vaisnavas and to understand such situations are due to the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A devotee should always chant Hare Krsna in a humble state of mind, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu has enjoined:
trnad api sunicena taror api sahisnuna amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih
One should chant the Holy Name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than a straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly. (Siksastakam Vs.3) But rather than showing humility and accepting the truth of the situation, the mind, infatuated with the desire to achieve importance, imagines no wrong in its envious attitude towards the real devotees of the Lord and reacts with false pride when shown that its path is mistaken. This pride is the symptom of falldown from spiritual life. Therefore, a devotee should be very careful to train his mind in avoiding this dangerous path and learn instead to be humble and sincere. This does not mean, however, that one must be desireless. Desires are not absent in devotional service, but they are purified in the fire of transcendental knowledge. In other words, one should desire to be a servant of the servant of the servant of Krsna. The pure desire to attain this most exalted position contains within it multifarious activities for one’s upliftment. To achieve the mercy of Lord Krsna one must be fixed in a constant endeavour to execute the various activities of devotional service. That desire and the subsequent activities involved in achieving the goal of pure devotional service do not have even the slightest tinge of material contamination. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is eternal; He is possessed of unlimited transcendental qualities and is surrounded by transcendental associates and paraphernalia. The devotional service of the Lord, or even the desire to achieve the position of devotional service following in the footsteps of authorised devotees, is purely situated on the transcendental platform. The expert transcendentalist, by fixing his mind on that transcendental platform through proper engagement of the mind in the devotional service of the Lord, is surely successful in this life in his practice of Krsna Consciousness. Since devotional service is the highest perfection the intelligence can pacify the mind from its natural proclivity of desiring insignificant material objects, including material fame and position. The Caitanya Caritamrta instructs a devotees how to fix his mind in the absolute truth.
eita parama-phala ‘parama-purusartha’ yanra age trna-tulya cari purusartha
To taste the fruit of devotional service at Goloka Vrndavana is the highest perfection of life, and in the presence of such perfection, the four material perfections ‘religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation’ are very insignificant achievements. (Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 19.164)
c) Morning Walk, Mayapur, February 6, 1976
Tamala Krsna : What is the way to draw the line between the following three things: blasphemy, fault-finding, and calling a spade a spade?
Prabhupada: A spade a spade… Just like I am saying that “What you are? You are small fig only.” That is reality. And what is the other?
Tamala Krsna : The other is fault-finding and…
Prabhupada: Fault-finding, that is another fault, that… vranam icchanti, maksika vranam icchanti, madhum icchanti(?) Just like the flies, they are finding out where is sore, and the bees, they are finding out where there is honey. So two animals, they have got two business: fault-finding and collecting the good things. These are two… Just like creature. They are two classes. Similarly, there are many rascals who are simply fault-finding.
Tamala Krsna : And blasphemy?
Prabhupada: Blasphemy means you have good qualities, but still, I am defaming you.
Tamala Krsna : So the saintly person tends to overlook the bad qualities and see the good ones.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Tamala Krsna : Like Krsna ‘s dealing with Putana.
Prabhupada: Yes. Hundreds and thousands of miles, this fog, simply by two minutes’ light of the sun—finished. [break] …working. If there was no sun, then so many ships are standing on the ocean. The cars, they are “bong, bong, bong, bong,” so many disturbances. You see? You cannot do anything. Daivi hy esa gunamayi [Bhagavad-Gita. 7.14]. What you can do? Immediately He can kill you all. Thousands of planets immediately finished. Bring your science to protect them. No, not possible. Mare Krsna rakhe ke. When Krsna desires to vanquish, nobody can save you. Finished. Still, these rascals say, “There is no God.” Simply rascals. At least expose these rascals. We have no power to kill them, but at least we can expose them. That is also great service.
d) Nectar of Instruction, Verse 5
One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Krsna, one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation [diksa] and is engaged in worshiping the Deity, and one should associate with and faithfully serve that pure devotee who is advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.
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