No Enmity, Only Solution – Part 15

All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru-Gauranga

No Enmity, Only Solution – Part 15

By sampradāya-saṁrakṣaka Śrī Śyām Dās Babajī Mahārāj

Date: 26.07.2025

A supremely useful advice given by Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura about how to do impartial bhajana, without commiting any aparādha

“This is really a dangerous issue. We do many kinds of devotional activities. We take mantra from a Brahmin Guru of our own sampradāya. Daily accept twelve tilaks to worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa. We follow Ekadasi vrata also according to our ability trying to do nama smaraṇa (nama bhajana). Taking darśana of Śrī Dham Vṛndāvana etc. But this is a matter of great unfortune that we never take care to avoid committing aparādha unto the Lotus feet of Bhakti Devi. Śrīmān Mahāprabhu wanted to teach us the symptoms of aparādha unto the Lotus feet of Bhakti devi by keeping Mukunda as a target. The following suitable quotation given from Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata:

kṣaṇe dante tṛṇa laya, kṣaṇe jāṭhi māreo ‘khaḍa’-’jāṭhiyā beṭā nā dekhibe more

Translation: “Sometimes he takes a straw in his teeth to show humbleness and sometimes beating Me with a stick. This brat who holds both a straw and a stick (I mean who is having both the contradictory moods like serving mood & beating mood together) cannot see Me.”  

(Caitanya-Bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.185)

Actually, Śrī Mukunda is one Bhagavat pārṣada. Such topics spoken about him by Śrīmān Mahāprabhu is nothing but a mystery. But the heart of Śrīmān Mahāprabhu is extremely deep rooted. What-whenever spoken by Him must have had some inner meaning (orupadesh). What that advice is – here in this case, that we should realise. Only by taking dīkṣā an usual effort to follow those the limbs of bhakti doesn’t mean that Kṛṣṇa can become satisfied, not that. He who is having extreme faith in anannya bhakti, he can achieve the kṛpā of Prabhu. He who is growing that type of faith (śraddhā) inside heart, can develop strong faith in favour of śuddha bhakti. Where there is no question of śuddha bhakti, he doesn’t go there or don’t sit there. Where the topics of śuddha bhakti are discussed, there he stays with great interest. Simplicity, rigidity and natural mood can express the nature of a śuddha bhakta. In favour of public opinion, he never gives any approval for what is against śuddha bhakti. Those śuddha bhaktas are always standing on neutral platform. At present, some people, are seen to be careless about such aparādhas. They in front of bhaktas instant expressing tears of ecstasy, again, sometimes in the middle of a hari-kathā expressing bhava dasha. Again, when going to reach any spiritual assembly, they can speculate to support their vichar. Also again sometime become crazy to deal with visaya to get absorbed in visaya. Oh! Readers! What kind of niṣṭhā of such people can be there? We think that to achieve pratistha they exhibit such symptoms of bhakti bhava in front of devotees. Sometime with a greed to get pratiṣṭhā and sometime to achieve some material benefits, they exhibit a multi faced behaviour. This is a matter of great regret, that by giving such teachings in front of this material world, not only they are committing aparādhas, but they are also destroying the whole world. Oh! Readers! Come on—let us become very careful. Let us do things in such way that no question of aparādha can arise unto the Lotus feet of Bhakti Devi. First of all, we must take resolution (oath) to do all devotional activities with impartial mood. By partiality mood we must not speak or do anything. In each and every activity we must be straightforward. We must not behave someway externally keeping something else inside heart. We always must be in favour of śuddha bhakti, but it is strictly prohibited to collect pratiṣṭhā by showing artificial symptoms of bhava in front of those anti devotional groups. We must be always in favour of śuddha bhakti. Never we can support any other kind of strange siddhānta group.  Let our heart and external behaviour become one and the same.” (Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur—Nirapeksa bhave niraparadhe bhakti jajan)

To be continued…