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In the Srimad Bhagavatam 7 canto it is said: The Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotee know how to use properly lust, anger, greed, illusion, pride and envy.

In the Bhagavad Gita 3.37, Srila Prabhupada says: “…Therefore the origin of lust is also in the Supreme. If, therefore, lust is transformed into love for the Supreme, or transformed into Krishna consciousness – or, in other words, desiring everything for Krishna – then both lust and wrath can be spiritualized.
Hanuman, the great servitor of Lord Rama, exhibited his wrath by burning the golden city of Ravana, but by doing so he became the greatest devotee of the Lord. Here also, in Bhagavad-gita, the Lord induces Arjuna to engage his wrath upon his enemies for the satisfaction of the Lord. Therefore, lust and wrath, when they are employed in Krishna consciousness, become our friends instead of our enemies.”

Greed is the cousin of lust, but there is a difference: the lusty person likes to enjoy living things, persons and animals; the greedy one, inert things like money, properties. In ISKCON now we will require spiritual greed to please the guru parampara to make in Mayapur Dhama the biggest temple in the world. How does the devotee use illusion? The devotees who distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books are quite expert in using illusion in Krishna’s service, saying to the people, ‘Oh you look a nice person!’

Once I gave a Science of Self-realization book telling him: ‘Oh you look a nice person,you look like the pope Paul the Second. He took out immediately his wallet and gave 100$. Srila Prabhupada said: “You just have to glorify them”. Another time I gave a book to a girl saying: “You have a saintly look”.She at once cooperated.

Pride. Pride comes before a fall. We should be afraid of this kind of pride. But there is a healthy pride, to belong to a family of vaishnavas with so many wonderful acaryas, with all the 26 qualities of a Vaishnava visible in them in a excepcional way.

The Nectar of Devotion, cap. 29 says: “Pride. Expressions of ecstatic love in pride may be the result of excessive wealth, exquisite beauty, a first-class residence or the attainment of one’s ideal goal. One is also considered proud when he does not care about the neglect of others. Bilvamangala Thakura said, ‘My dear Krishna, You are leaving me, forcibly getting out of my clutches. But I shall be impressed by Your strength only when You can go forcibly from the core of my heart.’ This is an instance of feeling pride in ecstatic love for Krishna”.

Once during the rasa dance, when Radharani left the arena and Krishna went to seek Her out, one of the dear friends of Radharani addressed Krishna thus: “My dear Krishna, You have been very much obliging in serving the form of our Sri Radharani, and now You have left all the other gopis to search for Her. Please allow me to inquire how You want Her to treat You.” This is an instance of feeling pride on account of exquisite beauty.

Sometimes Radharani felt pride within Herself and said, “Although the cowherd boys prepare nice flower garlands for Krishna, when I present My garland to Him, He becomes struck with wonder and immediately accepts it and puts it on His heart.”

Similarly, in the Tenth Canto, Second Chapter, verse 33, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Lord Brahma says, “My dear Madhusudana, persons who are pure devotees of Your Lordship actually feel Your ecstatic friendship, and as such they are never vanquished by enemies. They know they are always protected by You, and so they can matter-of-factly pass over the heads of their enemies without any care.” In other words, one who has taken complete shelter under the lotus feet of the Lord is always proud of being able to conquer all enemies.

One weaver at Mathura addressed Krishna in this way: “My dear King of Vrindavana, I have become so proud of Your causeless mercy upon me that I do not even count upon the mercy of the Lord of Vaikuntha, which is sought after by many great sages in deep meditation.” In other words, although the yogis and great sages sit in meditation upon Lord Vishnu, who is residing in Vaikuntha, a devotee of Krishna is so proud that he does not consider such meditation to be very valuable. This feeling of pride is due to one’s having achieved the highest goal of life – Krishna.

And how to use envy? Once I went to Srila Prabhupada’s rooms in Mayapur Dhama,and HG Harikesa prabhu offered to Srila Prabhupada for his pleasure all the Caitanya Caritamrita in an eastern european language. When I saw those wonderfully binded books,I become transcendentally envious.I thougth: “Just see!, here all the Caitanya-caritamrita in a language that a few million people would speak,and it is not printed still for spanish speakers, who are 500 million”.

In the Padyavali, one of the friends of Radharani once addressed Her thus: “My dear friend, please do not be too puffed up because Krishna has decorated Your forehead with His own hand. It may be that Krishna is yet attracted by some other beautiful girl. I see that the decoration on Your forehead is very nicely made, and so it appears that Krishna was not too disturbed in painting it. Otherwise, He could not have painted such exact lines!” This is an instance of envy caused by Radha’s good fortune.

In the Tenth Canto, Thirtieth Chapter, verse 30, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, there is the following statement: “When the gopis were searching for Krishna and Radha after the rasa dance, they thus began to speak among themselves: ‘We have seen the footprints of Krishna and Radha on the ground of Vrindavana, and they are giving us great pain, because although Krishna is everything to us, that girl is so cunning that She has taken Him away alone and is enjoying His kissing without sharing Him with us!’ ” This is another instance of envy of the good fortune of Srimati Radharani.

Sometimes when the cowherd boys used to play in the forests of Vrindavana, Krishna would play on one side, and Balarama would play on another. There would be competition and mock fighting between the two parties, and when Krishna’s party was defeated by Balarama, the boys would say, “If Balarama’s party remains victorious, then who in the world can be weaker than ourselves?” This is another instance of envy in ecstatic love.

The conclusion is : yukta vairagya, everything can be used in Krishna’s service, except sinful activities.

Om Tat Sat.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=4244