Bhagavad-gītā for Everyone

На русском, английском, китайском, испанском, немецком и арабском языках

Сообщение Jayanti » 23 апр 2021, 20:03

TEXT 22

The man who has escaped these three gates of hell, O son of Kuntī, performs acts conducive to self-realization and thus gradually attains the supreme destination.

PURPORT

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in his commentary that by trying to lead a pure life, one can realize his spiritual nature and with some luck he can come into contact with devotional service and realize God:

"One should be very careful of these three enemies to human life: lust, anger, and greed. The more a person is freed from lust, anger and greed, the more his existence becomes pure. Then he can follow the rules and regulations enjoined in the Vedic literature. By following the regulative principles of human life, one gradually raises himself to the platform of spiritual realization. If one is so fortunate, by such practice, to rise to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then success is guaranteed for him."

Following the rules and regulations should elevate a person and lead him to self-realization. If a person follows the rules and regulations, but does not realize himself as a soul, does not develop spiritual interests, then he follows the rules incorrectly. Rules are not needed by themselves, but for the development of spiritual understanding. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the rules and regulations, as well as the varṇāśrama system, are designed to gradually elevate a person. But, besides the path of gradual purification, there is a direct path when a person has a direct interest in God and spiritual science, in which case he can develop much faster and more effectively.

There is a gradual path and there is a direct path. The Bhagavad-gītā is mainly devoted to the straight path – God tells Arjuna in it that he should immediately aim to devote everything to Him, without being distracted by secondary things. For those who are too attached to everyday life and cannot or do not want to dedicate everything to God, there is a mixed, more gradual path of religious rules and temple worship. The direct path is the bhāgavata method: studying the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda, chanting the holy name, and preaching from the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda; everything else refers to the gradual path.

TEXT 23

But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.

PURPORT

This chapter has described mainly demoniac natures and now, as a result of the chapter, it is argued that all those who are materialistic should accept religious rules and regulations and begin to organize their lives. Both divine and demoniac natures must follow the rules and regulations and so gradually ascend spiritually. However, if a person does not have a goal to reach God, such rules and regulations themselves have no special value. This is how Śrīla Prabhupāda describes it in his commentary:

"But even if he follows the rules and regulations and moral principles and ultimately does not come to the stage of understanding the Supreme Lord, then all his knowledge becomes spoiled. Therefore one should gradually raise himself to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service; it is then and there that he can attain the highest perfectional stage, not otherwise."

Rules and regulations are needed as a help to realize God, not by themselves. If a devotee fails to follow all the rules and regulations, then he should repent and always try to follow them. The secret of the rules is that a person develops by follow them, but a person will also develop repenting that he is unable to follow some rules. However, all this is possible when a devotee has an interest in God and an perseverance in following the spiritual life. Starting with a general adherence to religion, a sincere person eventually devotes his life in one way or another to preaching and enlightening people. Without constant perseverance in this direction, spiritual development will be blurred and difficult. If a person generally follows religion, but has not yet acquired a taste for preaching and spiritual science, his development will be difficult and delayed.

TEXT 24

One should understand what is duty and what is not duty by the regulations of the scriptures. Knowing such rules and regulations, one should act so that he may gradually be elevated.

PURPORT

There are many different rules and regulations and we need to understand which of them are basic and which are secondary. In addition, all the regulations should be used to gradually realize God and not just to lead a pure life.

In the modern world, any perfect external cleanliness becomes, in fact, impossible, because everything is desecrated everywhere. We try to live more cleanly, but we should not put cleanliness itself at the forefront, because the soul is transcendent and because some ideal life in this sense is impossible now. Spiritual practice begins with the fulfillment of general rules, with the pursuit of goodness, but as a result, the devotee must become transcendental to the gunas and external conditions. After all, transcendence is a property of our eternal spiritual nature, and this is only the first step on the path.

The problem is mainly that, referring to the necessity of goodness and cleanliness, people live for themselves, and in the same way, referring to the necessity of transcendence, people can justify their materialism or sinful life. Therefore, the general rule is that everyone should try to follow the regulations, because otherwise, under the pretext of transcendence, people will start violating the prohibitions. The bottom line is that any statement of scripture can be interpreted in selfish interests, but in this case a person will not develop spiritually. You can change the rules, "purity and goodness", in the manner of materialism, you can change the "need to be transcendent" in the same way, but in both cases the person will not develop spiritually.

Therefore, it is in our interest to understand everything as it is and follow the scriptures faithfully, otherwise we will be stuck in matter for a long time. Some delusions and deceptions are inevitable at the beginning of the path, but as the spiritual development progresses, the devotee should better understand the nuances of spiritual science and follow it more correctly. Moreover, we do not mean the nuances of performing some pūjā, but the nuances of our inner life when we understand, for example, where we are prone to deception and gradually correct it. Ideally, the further a person goes on the spiritual path, the more he is detached from matter, both touch with it and withdraw from it. Transcendence means that as a result, we become indifferent to external conditions, both good and bad, both goodness and ignorance, because we focus on the essence of spiritual life, always studying the scriptures, chanting the holy name, and preaching.

By trying to follow the rules, by developing an understanding of spiritual science, then by rising to the transcendental level of self-realization, then by regularly preaching, a devotee can begin to realize God and thus enter the path of the highest perfection of connection with God, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the final result of all spiritual life. Understanding the scriptures and connection with God will make the life of a devotee clear and completely sunny, there will be no more spots of misunderstanding. As for the more detailed description of the spiritual life itself, this is explained in the following scriptures: in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and further in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Аватара пользователя
Jayanti
Академик
 
Сообщения: 136
Зарегистрирован: 08 мар 2007, 21:46

Сообщение Jayanti » 25 апр 2021, 08:40

Chapter 17. The Divisions of Faith

TEXT 1

Arjuna said, O Kṛṣṇa, what is the situation of one who does not follow the principles of scripture but worships according to his own imagination? Is he in goodness, in passion or in ignorance?

PURPORT

In the English version of the title of this chapter, the word "faith" is used which, according to the Collins dictionary, has meanings: "strong unshakeable faith in something, especially without proof or evidence", "unquestioning belief in God, religious tenets, etc.", "a specific system of religious beliefs" and also "a particular religion, for example Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam". However, religion in the literal sense is not just some fait in something, but the words of the holy scripture, or knowledge. Arjuna begins his question with the words "what is the situation of one who does not follow the principles of scripture," that is, first of all, it is a question of religion. It is obvious that in general this chapter is about religion and not just about the varieties of beliefs or superstitions.

Religion in the literal sense is the words of scripture or knowledge. Even if a person have faith in something, it is still based on knowledge and not on faith as such. Any form, any thought are knowledge, and if we take faith in its pure form, then this is impersonalism. Pure faith or pure love without knowledge is absorption in impersonal Brahman, in eternal impersonal happiness.

Thus, there are:
- scripture;
- faith in some ideas or in some form of God;
- knowledge or cognition of the material and spiritual world on a scientific basis;
- practical experience and convictions.

The basis of religion is scripture, but when a person is undeveloped, then on the basis of the scripture he forms some kind of faith or blind acceptance of God and blind worship of God. Faith can also be formed outside of scripture, based on one's own thoughts and preferences. The chapter describes religion as a basic category, which manifests itself in a wide range of variants - from blind faith to knowledge, through various convictions, including the wrong ones, and so on.

Classical religion is the holy scripture (given by God or His representative) with the help of which a person develops knowledge about spiritual science, practices, gains experience and then forms well-founded beliefs. Immature religion is some general blind faith in God, some local or incorrect beliefs based on contextual quotations of scriptures or based on their own subjective preferences.

Thus, Arjuna asks here what is the fate of people who follow some of their ideas in religion or use religion according to their personal preferences. If a person quotes scripture, it does not mean that he understands it correctly or applies it correctly. Therefore, misinterpretation or misuse of scripture also belongs to the category of worshippers indicated by Arjuna "according to his own imagination".

Ideally, faith should not be understood as blind acceptance of religion, but as religious convictions of a person. Any faith does not arise by itself, but on the basis of a worldview. In fact, there is no pure, causeless faith in something; any faith is based on some facts or philosophy. For example, if a person have faith in Christ, his faith arose from what he heard or read some facts about the existence of Christ, or it arose from an understanding of the philosophy read in the Bible.

Faith without scientific (reasoned, objective) knowledge is based mainly on personal priorities, preferences of a person, so a person with some preferences is attracted by Christianity and another person with other preferences is attracted by some other doctrine. Therefore, when someone says that he have faith in something, it indicates his specific beliefs and priorities, since any faith is formed on the basis of facts and a person's worldview, and not by itself.

For example, one person thinks about God and agrees that God exists by virtue of his inferences or a general religious feeling; another person, having heard the same arguments, will not accept them, because he has other preferences. Both faith in God and faithlessness have very specific reasons which come from a person's education, his awareness, analytical abilities, personal priorities and desires. In an undeveloped, initial version, the spiritual life is often based on faith and, therefore, is quite random in nature, while the mature spiritual life is always takes the form of knowledge, conscious reasoned convictions, spiritual experience, and direct perception of spiritual categories.

If one does not develop knowledge, the adoption of a particular religion will be random, although there are very specific factors behind such acceptance. Having accepted one or another authoritative religion and further developing knowledge, a person can develop within its framework; in this sense, the choice of a particular religion is not so fundamental, the desires of a person and his spiritual orientation are important. If a person has accepted Christianity, he will be able to fully develop in Christianity, the one who has accepted Islam can fully develop in Islam. Christianity or Islam itself does not determine the spiritual position of a person; everything determines the spiritual development of a person. As long as a person only blindly believes, then in any religion he will be a materialist and a beginner, but by developing knowledge, in any religion one can improve and go higher and higher.

Since most people are materialistic and do not attach importance to religion and God, they accept religion on some random principle, for example, by virtue of tradition, and then often do nothing significant for spiritual development. Therefore, materialists most often define religion as "faith". They do not study religion and, in fact, do not seriously follow it. They simply have faith in something great or they have faith, filled with the idea of their own greatness. In such a situation, a person can deify everything in religion without understanding whether it is spiritual or not. Some deify the rites, others believe that God is impersonal and there is no need for any worship of Him. There are standard religions, but people also invent many of their own principles of worship, types of beliefs, or types of ideas about God.

Someone deifies the cosmos, or sometimes scientists deify science and believe that they will "find God" in their formulas - they will find the divine universal formula. Others deify nature or pagan gods, demigods. Still others worship the Universal Mind or consider nirvāṇa or śūnya to be the cause of everything. Thus, there are a large number of different faiths in the world both with their own invented philosophy and without any philosophy based on personal preferences and prejudices.

There are four classical religions: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Within these four major world religions, there are dozens and hundreds of denominations that emphasize various philosophical positions or some rituals and so on. In addition to the four classical religions and their hundreds of offshoots, there are also mixture of religions with secular morals, such as Confucianism. There are also religions or faiths that are created by people themselves based on their understanding of the world, their education and three their desires. All together this forms a huge variety of different religions, faiths and practices, and Arjuna wants to figure out this issue, to clarify it. When a person is faced with such a diversity of faiths and teachings, he needs some specific guidelines to understand what the truth really is. Therefore, Arjuna put his question to God Himself who can truly define religion and faith.

TEXT 2

The Supreme Lord said, according to the modes of nature acquired by the embodied soul, one's faith can be of three kinds-goodness, passion or ignorance. Now hear about these.

PURPORT

A person develops a certain type of faith or beliefs depending on the qualities under the influence of which he is. For example, people inclined to positive emotions will make their choice of religion based on the possibility to feel positive emotions in it, and people who prefer clarity and an orderly logical system in everything will choose the religion that has these qualities. Someone wants to see religion as large and magnificent temples, so they choose a religion with such temples, but someone denies temples and, accordingly, makes a different choice. The acceptance of religion depends on the desires and preferences of a person, everyone is inclined to accept one or the other because of their personal position, and not random.

Based on their personal priorities, atheists do not want to recognize any religion, and believers make their choice of one or another religion based on other but also personal priorities. Some objectivity in the acceptance and understanding of religion is possible only with the development of knowledge and with the purification of a person, in another case, the choice of religion or the understanding of religion will completely depend on the conditionality of the person, on the gunas that influence him, or on his personal qualities.

TEXT 3

According to one's existence under the various modes of nature, one evolves a particular kind of faith. The living being is said to be of a particular faith according to the modes he has acquired.

PURPORT

There are many different versions of what people believe, almost everyone have faith in something, often without having sufficient knowledge about the object of their faith. People have faith in God without knowing anything about Him or people have faith in science also understanding little about it.

How which guna (which mode) manifests itself can be understood in different ways. For example, from one point of view, faith in God is goodness and faith in science is ignorance. From another point of view, faith in God in the absence of knowledge is also ignorance. Strong faith in any principle raises the individual into goodness, or is the result of the work of goodness, as Śrīla Prabhupāda writes:

"The word sattva, or faith, is very significant in this verse. Sattva or faith always comes out of the works of goodness. One's faith may be in a demigod or some created God or some mental concoction. It is supposed to be one's strong faith in something that is productive of the works of material goodness. But in material conditional life, no works of material nature are completely purified. They are mixed."

When a person strong faith in science, in demigods, in demons, in God and so on, his consciousness is concentrated and he feels an uplift or some goodness. Therefore, no matter what people believe, each of them feels a certain inner uplift and accepts it as a sign of the truth of their actions and beliefs. For example, Communists have faith in a communist future, while scientists have faith in the conquest of the universe. A person can have faith in anything and when he does so, he experiences an inner uplift.

Although any type of faith gives such an uplift, but in general the principle of faith itself is the principle of ignorance, because it is amorphous. Experiencing an inner uplift from being, for example, in Christianity or in Vaishnavism, an ignorant believer thinks that this is a sign of the truth of this particular religion. However, the followers of Islam, communists, scientists, and everyone else are experiencing exactly the same uplift. Therefore, faith can be the initial stage of spiritual development, as one of the forms of perception, but faith can never be the basis of true religion.

Materialistic priests and gurus encourage their followers only to have faith in their particular denomination or in themselves, because when person have faith, he feels a general uplift and, guided by this feeling, can accept anything. We see nowadays, for example, how already having before them the facts of the fraud of specific gurus, people still continue to have faith in these gurus, because such a faith in ignorance gives them an inner uplift and a general sense of happiness. The basis of all matter is impersonal Brahman and everyone is also a soul (a part of Brahman), so one can have faith in anything and, as a result, feel uplifted and happy - this is the basis of all and any sects and initial, ignorant religiosity.

Even if a person comes to the true religion, but does not develop knowledge, understanding, spiritual practice and preaching, he will remain at the level of this general impersonal uplift mixed with egoism. The initial faith (śrāddha), or the initial religious uplift, may be the beginning of a spiritual life, but faith alone will never give a mature spiritual life and will inevitably go towards fanaticism or happiness from oneself. Therefore, the main determining factor in religion is knowledge, and it is better when a person starts with knowledge and not with faith; it is better when at the center is knowledge, intelligence and faith, or the initial uplift, accompanies the development of knowledge.

If a person is constantly only on the level of faith, this indicates his persistent conditioning. In fact, the general principle of faith is a kind of impersonalism in ignorance when people deify everything. Therefore, at the forefront of the Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement are the preaching and books of Śrīla Prabhupāda, that is, knowledge and not appeals to believe in something. Spiritual development is always associated with knowledge, and a devotee of the highest spiritual level (uttama-adhikārī) is characterized by knowledge of all parts of spiritual science.

TEXT 4

Men in the mode of goodness worship the demigods; those in the mode of passion worship the demons; and those in the mode of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits.

PURPORT

When a person is not too conditioned, he has a clear mind and sublime thoughts. Such people begin to worship the demigods, the Supreme Mind or the Personality of Godhead. Those who are in a passion, even worshipping God, are full of desires, and accordingly, they will necessarily come to compete with others and, formally being religious people, will show demonic tendencies or even worship some demons to achieve their goals. The worship of demons or cooperation with demons are the recognition of the powerful of the world, some influential politicians, businessmen, the desire to dominate, to harm others, the practice of black magic, and so on. Those who are in ignorance worship ghosts, considering it a form of religiosity.

Those who are in goodness seek the truth, those who are in passion want to fulfill their great desires, and those who are bound by ignorance are absorbed in their private lives and are not capable of any broad thinking. Ignorance is living for a family, an apartment, a car, and so on. People who are in ignorance are jealous of each other, or it seems to them that if they earn a lot of money, they will become happy; they do not understand that even if they manage to earn a lot of money, it will still not make them happier. In fact, such people want not so much to provide for their needs, which are not so difficult to fulfill, as to feel their imaginary superiority over others, buying prestigious things and the like. These are all examples of living in ignorance.

Modern science is the main source of ignorance, or darkness, which destroys all living things now. Science is also a kind of faith, where there are many dogmas, hypotheses, and the like. Scientists say that they are objective and all their theories are confirmed practically, experimentally, but each phenomenon can be explained by dozens of theories, so by and large none of these theories is true. And since the knowledge of scientists is half, incomplete, when they create various sciences and industries, wanting to bring benefits, along with a small benefit, colossal harm is brought.

People will have to part with such demoniac science, because if not a nuclear war, then global warming will make life on the planet very difficult, due to the loss of crops and endless natural disasters. Modern scientists do not even know how this planet works, let alone the universe.

Later, people will live on a subsistence economy, since neither the burning of oil and gas, nor nuclear energy and the like are allowed. Although all their microelectronics do not cause tangible external harm to the user, but the constant zombification of people with movies, games, and other things has a significant impact on people's consciousness. Also, the development of a system of world control over people will lead to the creation of a new type of slavery – technocratic slavery. Thus, no part of modern science ultimately benefits anyone.

People are born, live their short lives, and since they do not develop knowledge about God, further they fall into the lower forms of existence, and it does not matter if they had one or two cars here. Humanity will have to give up the fruits of modern science on pain of death and live a simpler life, developing spiritual understanding.

Modern people think that happiness is about mechanical convenience, fictional movies, entertainment, and the pursuit of personal dominance in various forms. The desire to dominate and to constantly change external impressions is also a form of ignorance and does not bring happiness to anyone. The development of science, technology, all kinds of entertainment of people is a waste of time, but since people are absorbed in it, we can preach spiritual knowledge in all these areas, based on logic and understanding.
Аватара пользователя
Jayanti
Академик
 
Сообщения: 136
Зарегистрирован: 08 мар 2007, 21:46

Сообщение Jayanti » 25 апр 2021, 13:11

TEXT 5-6

Those who undergo severe austerities and penances not recommended in the scriptures, performing them out of pride, egotism, lust and attachment, who are impelled by passion and who torture their bodily organs as well as the Supersoul dwelling within are to be known as demons.

PURPORT

People who do severe austerities that are not recommended by the scriptures, or even recommended by the scriptures, but for selfish reasons, out of a desire to dominate, are demons. If a person is driven by lust such as being above others, gaining honor, power, big money, and other things – all these are demoniac tendencies that can be manifested both outside of religion and within religion.

Religious rules can also be used both for spiritual development and for selfish or demonic purposes. When people follow the rules and regulations for religious positions, money and honor, this is all a materialistic contamination and in some cases even demonism. If a person is motivated by pride, selfishness, lust and attachments, this will always constrain him and limit his spiritual development. Often such false motives lead to bad consequences for those who are trying to develop spiritually.

The point is that the spiritual life should be practiced consciously, purposefully. Spiritual life implies that a person really wants to realize God and correct himself, otherwise all the rules, regulations and holy scriptures can be used in a materialistic way, without achieving any result or with a negative result. Therefore, various asceticism which does not imply spiritual development, will be materialistic or demonic and there will be no spiritual benefit from it. The point here is that materialists are accustomed to perform austerities or work for personal goals and when they come to religion, they can make many efforts also for personal goals.

Karmīs, jñānīs, and yogīs are tied to personal dominance and to achieving their goals through their own efforts. Devotion and devotees against the background of karmīs, jñānīs, and yogīs may look quite modest and not very attractive to materialists. Karmīs who perform gorgeous ceremonies, ascetic jñānīs, or yogīs who possess mystical powers - all look more attractive than humble devotees who depend on God. Karmīs, jñānīs, and yogīs can amaze with some of their qualities, abilities, and external surroundings, because their position is quite materialistic. Devotees may not have any special abilities, but because they are associated with God, their power is infinitely greater, it just usually does not manifest externally in any way.

Also, devotees have no goals in matter other than preaching, and preaching as such may not involve external power and the like. Sometimes materialistic people think that they can easily achieve the highest position among the devotees due to their wealth, connections, asceticism and mystical powers, but everything is controlled by God, and until a person realizes God, his real position will always be insignificant and the external position does not play a special role here.

Sometimes God makes His devotees influential and famous; all this is happens as a form of preaching, not as a reward. Those who realize God have no interest in worldly fame and worldly wealth, rather they perceive such things as an extra burden, but agree to dominate in something according to God's plan. Most people are stupid and look only at the external entourage of the guru, but without conscientiously following spiritual practice, they will not be able to determine who is the guru or uttama-adhikārī.

TEXT 7

Even food of which all partake is of three kinds, according to the three modes of material nature. The same is true of sacrifices, austerities and charity. Listen, and I shall tell you of the distinctions of these.

PURPORT

Any action of a person is determined by his consciousness. Depending on the consciousness, different people have different priorities and preferences. For example, those who are ignorant want to drink wine and have some primitive entertainment, and more exalted people act and think more exalted. In religion, this rule also exists: although rituals, charity, and asceticism may outwardly be about the same, but if performed with different consciousness, or with different motives, they will relate to different levels. The discussion of the basic elements of religion in this verse once again indicates that the chapter is devoted to describing the basic principles of religion, and not just the principles of faith as such.

All spiritual practice is aimed at making the person realize God, or purify himself, and external actions as such are only a means of perfection. On the other hand, it cannot be said that by doing anything he wants, a person will develop. All means and methods are provided by the scripture and one should act according to the scripture and not invent one's own methods, or say that one should only love God in one's heart and so on. These are two extremes: to absolutize external actions or to neglect the rules, referring to their ideas and sentiments. Those who have elevated to the level of love for God are constantly preach and know all the branches of spiritual science. Those who are spiritually developed are not ordinary people who are busy with themselves, but active selfless preachers whose enthusiasm does not subside for decades and does not depend on external circumstances.

TEXT 8-10

Foods in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one's existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such nourishing foods are sweet, juicy, fattening and palatable. Foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty, pungent, dry and hot, are liked by people in the modes of passion. Such foods cause pain, distress, and disease. Food cooked more than three hours before being eaten, which is tasteless, stale, putrid, decomposed and unclean, is food liked by people in the mode of ignorance.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

The purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind and aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. In the past, great authorities selected those foods that best aid health and increase life's duration, such as milk products, sugar, rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables. These foods are very dear to those in the mode of goodness. Some other foods, such as baked corn and molasses, while not very palatable in themselves, can be made pleasant when mixed with milk or other foods. They are then in the mode of goodness. All these foods are pure by nature. They are quite distinct from untouchable things like meat and liquor. Fatty foods, as mentioned in the eighth verse, have no connection with animal fat obtained by slaughter. Animal fat is available in the form of milk, which is the most wonderful of all foods. Milk, butter, cheese and similar products give animal fat in a form which rules out any need for the killing of innocent creatures. It is only through brute mentality that this killing goes on. The civilized method of obtaining needed fat is by milk. Slaughter is the way of subhumans. Protein is amply available through split peas, dhall, whole wheat, etc.

Foods in the mode of passion, which are bitter, too salty, or too hot or overly mixed with red pepper, cause misery by producing mucous in the stomach, leading to disease. Foods in the mode of ignorance or darkness are essentially those that are not fresh. Any food cooked more than three hours before it is eaten (except prasādam, food offered to the Lord) is considered to be in the mode of darkness. Because they are decomposing, such foods give a bad odor, which often attracts people in this mode but repulses those in the mode of goodness.

Remnants of food may be eaten only when they are part of a meal that was first offered to the Supreme Lord or first eaten by saintly persons, especially the spiritual master. Otherwise the remnants of food are considered to be in the mode of darkness, and they increase infection or disease. Such foodstuffs, although very palatable to persons in the mode of darkness, are neither liked nor even touched by those in the mode of goodness. The best food is the remnant of what is offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gītā the Supreme Lord says that He accepts preparations of vegetables, flour and milk when offered with devotion. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. Of course, devotion and love are the chief things which the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts. But it is also mentioned that the prasādam should be prepared in a particular way. Any food prepared by the injunction of the scripture offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be taken even if prepared long, long ago, because such food is transcendental. Therefore to make food antiseptic, eatable and palatable for all persons, one should offer food to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT
Nowadays almost all food has become of poor quality because of people's desire for profit, the desire for a good life for themselves and because of the use of scientific developments. Modern food is of poor quality, because it is first grown on chemical fertilizers, then diluted or counterfeited. So at present, practically no products are either completely pure or completely related to the mode of goodness. Butter, sour cream, cheese, cottage cheese - everything is diluted or counterfeited to some extent (including in the form of adding preservatives and various flavor enhancers). Even products such as wheat and other grains grown on chemical fertilizers, with using herbicides and pesticides are also toxic to some extent.

Scientists and businessmen, in fact, are rascals who produce poisoned food for people. Now a person can be a vegetarian, but still get cancer, because all foods contain chemicals. Even the foods grown in the farm still contain some percent of chemistry, because deadly chemistry is everywhere now – in the air, in the water and in the ground, because of the activities of scientists.

But this problem should be solved by preaching and not by acquiring a private farm or moving to remote Siberia. Taking good care of one's health is the mode of ignorance and preaching, independence of circumstances is goodness or transcendental state. Materialists and novice devotees make a cult out of external rules and food, but food alone will not save a person from death and new births, one must remember this. Also, eating even the purest food, a person can get sick, but preachers can eat something that is not too high quality and not get sick, because the Supersoul can cancel any diseases when a person is valuable to God.

Whenever possible, one should take care of the quality of food, but one should not make a cult of food under the guise of serving God. Also devotees can live in the suburbs or in the countryside, however, when the main motive of a person is only to ensure his own well-being, if he does not get sick, then he will be born again within matter. Nowadays basically only selfless preaching can protect; all other methods, including proper nutrition, Ayurveda and astrology, are mostly ineffective, since the demonism of modern civilization has long been a much more powerful factor.

Nowadays people are mostly in ignorance because they eat and act only for the sake of personal happiness. Passion is always some kind of extreme state. Passion is characterized either by strong happiness or strong grief, or it is when a person likes risk, excitement. The qualities of passion are also manifested in food, when people like some extreme tastes, which greatly excites their senses. When a person thinks that he is in goodness, it is most likely a state of tamo-guṇa; and it is always very favorable to add spiritual passion to such ignorance by going out into the street with books.

A devotee should elevate in preaching to the level of rāga, spiritual impulse, spiritual feelings, then diseases and difficulties will not have much influence on him. While people calculate cleanliness and search for goodness, they are in ignorance; true goodness is independence from external conditions, but everyone has to elevate higher, to the transcendental level of the soul, and then even higher, to the level of ever-burning devotion to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

TEXT 11

Of sacrifices, that sacrifice performed according to duty and to scriptural rules, and with no expectation of reward, is of the nature of goodness.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

The general tendency is to offer sacrifice with some purpose in mind, but here it is stated that sacrifice should be performed without any such desire. It should be done as a matter of duty. Take, for example, the performance of rituals in temples or in churches. Generally they are performed with the purpose of material benefit, but that is not in the mode of goodness. One should go to a temple or church as a matter of duty, offer respect to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and offer flowers and eatables. Everyone thinks that there is no use in going to the temple just to worship God. But worship for economic benefit is not recommended in the scriptural injunction. One should go simply to offer respect to the Deity. That will place one in the mode of goodness. It is the duty of every civilized man to obey the injunctions of the scriptures and offer respect to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT
In modern Russian language and in modern Russian culture in general, the word "sacrifice" has a rather negative character and often means the sacrifice of animals or even people. During the time of Soviet atheism, this word was used mainly in this sense. But the Sanskrit word "yajña" mainly means a fire sacrifice, when ghee is poured onto the fire while chanting various mantras. Sacrifice in these verses means the whole complex of temple rituals and does not mean animal sacrifices - in the age of Kali it is prohibited. Sacrifice means to offer, to dedicate something to God. There are offered mainly ghee, flowers, food, as well as food distribution and various solemn rituals.

The best sacrifice is a selfless sacrifice to God of our time, mental abilities, the development of knowledge, intelligence, creativity, preaching, but when people are not inclined to such things, in this case they are attracted by temple rites and rituals or, in other words, dedication of gross matter to God.
Аватара пользователя
Jayanti
Академик
 
Сообщения: 136
Зарегистрирован: 08 мар 2007, 21:46

Сообщение Jayanti » 27 апр 2021, 21:31

TEXT 12

But that sacrifice performed for some material end or benefit or performed ostentatiously, out of pride, is of the nature of passion, O chief of the Bhāratas.

PURPORT

The meaning of worshipping God (including the sacrifice of time, feelings or some objects) is to realize Him Himself, not in anything else. The Vedas speak of some other goals – general religion (dharma), work, sensual life and liberation – only in order to gradually bring one to God Himself.

God surpasses everything and any goals, He is better than all things put together. He is the best of everything we see, and He is the best of everyone and any relationships. The happiness of God-realisation is so strong and sublime that it surpasses even suffering and death many times over. This whole world is nothing compared to God; this is the true result of any spiritual practice and any religion. A person must elevate to the level of God consciousness, and by living in this way, he will always and forever be satisfied and filled with knowledge and happiness.

All we want to get as a result of our preaching is for people to truly realize God. This is the real level of chanting and this is the only real happiness. It is necessary to understand that only such knowledge has value and only such knowledge will solve all problems. We should be grateful to material nature for helping us to realize God by sending sufferings of all kinds. A man who has cognized God will never regret anything and will know the highest happiness. The realization of the greatness of God makes a person completely satisfied, but the realization of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu makes this realization of greatness filled with the feeling of infinite love - such is the higher perfection.

TEXT 13

And that sacrifice performed in defiance of scriptural injunctions, in which no spiritual food is distributed, no hymns are chanted and no remunerations are made to the priests, and which is faithless-that sacrifice is of the nature of ignorance.

PURPORT

Any sacrifice is designed to make people pay attention to God. God does not need any sacrifices, but sacrifices or ritual ceremonies should look like a holiday and point to God, to His greatness and beauty. People worship God for some material goals, but because they turn to God even if they want material success, such worship can eventually lead them to Him.

Worship of God for material goals can be progressive (when it develops and moves to a higher level) and regressive (when it weakens, degrades). When a person tends to focus on the material benefits themselves, the worship of God will ultimately be regressive as, for example, modern civilization, worshipping God in this way, developed sciene, and then, receiving the benefits of science, abandoned religion. If benefits can be obtained in another way, then why do they need God? When people, worshiping God for the sake of blessings, protection, health and prosperity, gradually pay attention to God Himself, they can eventually become cleansed, receive liberation, or develop love for God. That is, in this case the worship of God with an admixture of material goals becomes progressive.

Sacrifices or religious rituals should be performed according to the rules; these rules have no mystical or sacred background, their purpose is to draw people's attention to God. There are descriptions of various rituals, but the point is not in the rituals themselves, but in directing attention to God. Some people tend to look for some innermost meaning in mechanical actions, in which case, looking for them in rituals, they attach their desire to search for mysticism in the performance of rituals dedicated to God. The sacrifice or ritual should focus people's attention on God. One can just sing and think about God, but the ritual adds some external actions to attract and occupy people's senses.

In order to avoid chaos and figments, the scriptures regulate how the ritual or sacrifice should be performed. In the process of performing a ritual, temple service or worship, sanctified food should be distributed. It can be a big feast or some little treats, it all depends on the available funds and the situation. Food occupies people's senses and it is also a form of perception of God. The idea is that when performing certain actions in relation to the Deity or just in the temple, a person begins to think about God or dedicate his senses to Him. God-realisation means that one thinks of God, gradually understands how the material world works, realises oneself and the greatness of God, increases one's devotion to God and attains Him, even while remaining in the material body. This is the path of ideal spiritual development.

In fact, religion does not imply anything else. Having realizing God, a person elevates to the level of perfection, everything else is just a means to this. The problem is people imitate the God realization for the sake of material goals - honor and others. A God-conscious devotee has no material interests, that is the external criterion. A God-conscious devotee knows all spiritual science in practice, which means that he can practically raise other people to the same level. The goal of religion is the realization of God and further - preaching, which would practically elevate those who are preached to the level of knowledge and perception of God. This is the complete formula of all spiritual life. First, a person follows the teachings and eventually elevates to the level of God consciousness. Second, he preaches and helps others to elevate. That is all. This is a complete description of religion, or spiritual life.

As for the rituals, there mantras should be chanted or scripture texts should be read, there should be some distribution of food, then some small payment should be given to the servants so that they have money for the next ritual; a person during the ritual or holiday should experience spiritual uplift, he should have thoughts about God and feelings for Him. Without compliances with such rules, worship is considered to be in ignorance.

In our case, it looks like this: in the first place is the study of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, understanding philosophy and preaching, in the second place is the chanting and singing of the holy name, then the distribution of prasādam. When the preaching goes "from person to person", the formula looks like a continuous preaching without chanting and singing and without distributing prasādam, but since in this case we directly talk about God, such a preaching is better than any ritual or sacrifice.

During a ritual in the temple, a person in fact may think or may not think about God, but when we directly talk to someone about God, the person thinks about Him one hundred percent, so preaching is the most effective method. Preaching is also better than chanting and singing as such, because it gives the person the basis of spiritual life and convictions, while chanting and singing affects only emotionally. For example, a person hears the singing of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and feels happy, tears flow from his eyes, or he sings overwhelmed with great happiness, then under the influence of spiritual feelings he decides to devote his whole life to God. But if he does not have a spiritual education, this impulse of feelings towards God can later take any form or the person may even deviate.

Without training, almost everyone will deviate from the path of pure devotion with a 99% probability, because it is a complex subject. Therefore, Lord Caitanya first raised people to the level of spiritual emotions and then taught them, because without training, people will inevitably deviate. The spiritual world is unlimited, so we can love God by experiencing an unlimited number of feelings for Him in an unlimited number of situations; and we need to elevate to the level of the higher rasas of Gaura-lila - this is our goal.

Preaching and knowledge will always come first, considering that our singing of the holy name does not have a significant impact on people. For these and many other reasons, books and the preaching have a primary and main priority. Not the distribution of prasādam, not the temple worship, not the religious society, not the cult of some gurus, but the books, the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda are the center of everything. This is the only universal formula for preaching in the age of Kali and in all other ages too. And the main acting unit of preaching is the selfless preacher who talks to everyone about spiritual science; the example exactly of such a preacher Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself shows to everyone. He Himself, by His example shows us what is the most important: a wandering preacher who goes everywhere and talks to everyone about God or about spiritual science.

Why is this the main example? Because this is the most effective position and because one such preacher can spiritualize the whole world. And the best example of such a preacher is Śrīla Prabhupāda. In the same way, we write this commentary with the expectation of creating at least one person who would take this path. In fact, we do not take into account anyone else in the commentary – we do not take into account religious materialists, we do not describe or give any gradual paths, we basically describe only the direct path of preaching and look only for those who are aimed at the main thing.

This is the eternal goal of the entire sampradāya: to find one pure devotee or to create many preachers going from person to person. When the main goal is fulfilled, then later society and temples may appear, but all this is secondary; it is important a constant, eternal preaching and then the creation of eternal preachers. This is the main goal. Not the creation of a society, not the creation of temples and not something like that, because without regular preaching no one will be able to understand the highest goal of spiritual life, and in this case all temples and everything else become meaningless.

If a person does not elevate to the highest level of Kṛṣṇa consciousness - to the level of understanding of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu - then the highest spiritual goal is not achieved and all his efforts, although they may be spiritual and useful for society, have not led him to complete success. If a person does not know God, the attainment of all kinds of spiritual rasas is not complete knowledge. Preaching implies the realization of Lord Caitanya who stand above the whole world, above all kinds of spiritual moods. Spiritual knowledge in the highest development is the knowledge about one Him, all-attractive, and devotion to one Him. The attainment or knowledge of all the other rasas, as well as the various expansions of God are just stages of spiritual development. Without following the path pointed by Lord Caitanya Himself and Śrīla Prabhupāda, such a position cannot be achieved.

Therefore, all our efforts are directed only to this one goal. But the point is not that Lord Caitanya lacks worshippers, but that the realization of Him is the highest value and the highest rasa of the spiritual world. We need this to ourselves first - to understand the meaning of the spiritual path. People do not know God, but even those who know something about Him do not know the ultimate goal of spiritual life. Lord Caitanya is God, therefore He rewards the best and the most exalted. He gives the best, but we do not yet understand such values, therefore He establishes His sampradāya, the preachers of which explain to us what the highest value is. That is exactly the kind of people we are looking for or creating; all other, secondary religiosity does not interest us.

As a result should be created a mature, intelligent, unselfish preacher who mainly thinks about preaching and seeks ways to enlighten people. This is a person who may be clean or not quite clean, cleanliness is less important here, but it is important his significant interest in spiritual science. This is a person who reads with adour the scriptures, who can correctly understand the nuances of spiritual science, who is not too attached to matter, including not attached to various formalities within religion. This is the person who by studying the scriptures, practicing, will go everywhere to preach in various forms, and eventually, in the process of such enlightenment of people, he will be able to come under the control of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This is the highest spiritual perfection, there is nothing higher than this. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

TEXT 14

The austerity of the body consists in this: worship of the Supreme Lord, the brāhmaṇas, the spiritual master, and superiors like the father and mother. Cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy and nonviolence are also austerities of the body.

PURPORT

A spiritual master is a mahā-bhāgavata in the highest stage of spiritual life, or a spiritual master is one who is a follower of the perfect mahā-bhāgavata, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We do not follow any other spiritual masters. There are gurus on the Vaikuṇṭha level, there are gurus on the Kṛṣṇa-līlā level, or some other gurus and we pay our respects to them, but we follow only mahā-bhāgavata guru, a pure devotee of Lord Caitanya. Such a guru knows both Vaikuṇṭha and Goloka Vṛndāvana, but his devotion is directed to Kṛṣṇa, to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

We also respect real brāhmaṇas (thinking people), father and mother, and preach to all of them. We preach to all types of gurus, to all types of brāhmaṇas, and to all fathers and mothers all over the world - this is what we do. We respect everyone, and therefore we go from person to person preaching the message of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books. But in addition to preaching, we also need to continuously learn ourselves in order to realize God for ourselves.

Since the pure devotee and those who follow the path pointed by him are always busy preaching the science of God, in general we are not very interested in the various Vedic regulations, rituals and the like. If one is absorbed in the science of God and the preaching of the science of God, this is higher than the secondary precepts. But such a sermon must be selfless, both in terms of money and in terms of recognition. There may be some elements of self-interest in the preaching, however, if the preaching is conducted mainly for the sake of money or recognition, in this case it can lead to all kinds of anarthas or even to degradation.

Nowadays there are many gurus who preach for the sake of money and eventually become ordinary karmīs. There is no value in self-serving preaching for the sake of money, honor and similar goals. A lot of people preach just to get the title of guru or to have everyone "look in their mouth"; this may be in the beginning, but we must move away from such tendencies, because such a preaching has no value. This kind of problem is solved by paying attention to the scriptures and establishing a network of preachers. All who for some reason decide to start worshipping us or respecting us should learn to preach and practice it regularly.

Our task is not to accept the worship of people, and not to lecture for the sake of lectures, praise each other, or be surrounded by fools grateful to us, but to teach people; thus you can elevate to the level of uttama yourself and elevate others.

TEXT 15

Austerity of speech consists in speaking truthfully and beneficially and in avoiding speech that offends. One should also recite the Vedas regularly.

PURPORT

Since we preach all the time, everything we say is directly or indirectly related to God. Sometimes people like it, sometimes they do not, but we keep on preaching. Preaching is not a sectarian imposition of our point of view on others, preaching is always well-reasoned and can be very multifaceted. Preaching on the street is some kind of short communication with people, which sometimes turns into more detailed dialogues. Preaching on the Internet also has its own specifics.

In this verse, God speaks of reading as reciting, speaking out loud what is memorized. However, reading as such (not aloud) is completely analogous to speech, since when a person reads, he pronounces the text he reads inside himself. Therefore, the process of reading itself also refers to the austerity of speech. And reading the books of the guru, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is the speech or perception of the speech of Śrīla Prabhupāda.

We preach to scientists, artists, politicians and all other categories of people, big and small. When we talk to scientists, we switch to their language whenever possible, and when we talk to politicians, we take into account their view of the world and their problems. When we preach to big businessmen, we never ask them for money; and we are suspicious of all great preaching projects that are tied to money. In general, we have no ideas to embody the preaching in gross matter, such as, for example, to build temples or communities, although such proposals come from time to time.

Sometimes devotees can organize a center to gather together, but in general this is not too important and it is always better to go along the path of least investment of money and less dependence on money. We also avoid religious positions in the spiritual society, because they are meaningless. We can take some position, but in this case, everyone should clearly understand that they will have to distribute of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books. We are generally not interested in building temples and organizing temple life, holding festivals, pilgrimages, charity, and distributing prasādam, unless it is directly related to the preaching and distribution of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books.

Some might say that the book distribution implies expanding the functions of society and, therefore, the addition of such activities as the building of temples, the creation of communities, the holding of holidays and the like. There may be some truth in this, but let others do it, and we would better avoid such things and continue to preach. Basically, all formalized societies, communities, charities and other similar ones are either materialistic or corrupt, so there is not much point in dealing with them. Lord Caitanya did not create anything external, and we should mainly aim at this approach.

Śrīla Prabhupāda created temples, communities, schools and much more, but He has set an example for millennia, an example of the embodiment of almost all kinds of spiritual principles and structures. An example is given, experience is gained, including negative ones, something will be created again, sometimes we can participate in this, but in general it is better to stay away from any big money and any projects related to money, except publication of books.

When we are offered money or when we are offered to build a temple, village or city of devotees, we refuse. Someone may build it, we can later preach there; that is all. We basically do not need to participate in such activities. Many gurus and sannyāsīs already have fallen down and are mired in money because of the idea of "expanding" their preaching in that way. They wanted to show the greatness of their religion or their own greatness by increasing the number of disciples and temples; we do not follow such ideas and expand our influence by completely different methods. Moreover, with the help of our methods, all such communities and temples, and even all the temples of the world, can be spiritualized.

Generally in the age of Kali, temples lose their significance and become filled with ignorant cultists disguised as priests, brāhmaṇas, sannyāsīs and congregation. We preach in such temples, but we also preach in factories, offices and everywhere else. There is not much difference for us between a temple or a factory, they are both well suited for preaching.

The followers of modern religions, in fact, are not much different from materialists. The vast majority of priests, brāhmaṇas, sannyāsīs, and congregation are formally declare their devotion to God and seek only their own well-being. Theoretically, such people should be closer to God than ordinary materialists, but in practice it can be the other way around. Also, the followers of various Vaiṣṇava denominations and their gurus are often materialists who profess anything. They quote the scriptures without understanding their meaning and without proper implementation. Such religiosity, perhaps, gives some benefit, but generally, in comparison with the activity of Kali, such religions are helpless and do not change anything anywhere.

Judging by the way Lord Caitanya's goals are realized, He is not very fond of even religious countries, let alone individual religions. Lord Caitanya preaches mainly in the centers of atheism, rather than within any religion. First it was the USA, centered in New York, then the USSR, centered in Moscow, and next will be China, centered in Beijing. Both the USA and the USSR were strongholds of materialism and atheism, not religiosity (despite the formal religiosity of the USA), and exactly there it was a surge of interest in spiritual science. Similarly it will be in China.

One way or another, a devotee preaches everywhere, and everywhere there may be success or a devotee preaches externally without success, in many cases it does not matter. Also, we should mainly preach in our own country, because we know better the mentality of its inhabitants. It is not necessary to imitate the ācārya and strive to go "to the ends of the earth" for the sake of preaching – where we are, there is good.
Аватара пользователя
Jayanti
Академик
 
Сообщения: 136
Зарегистрирован: 08 мар 2007, 21:46

Сообщение Jayanti » 01 май 2021, 15:23

TEXT 16

And serenity, simplicity, gravity, self-control and purity of thought are the austerities of the mind.

PURPORT

Serenity means that the devotee is satisfied with what he has and that he has no developed plans for material life. Education, family, work and household are all temporary things; it is necessary to understand this. Someone might say that it is necessary to show an example of a good family life and so people will be attracted by spiritual science. Any examples of this kind will generally not attract anyone to God and will not make them spiritual. Only knowledge, our awareness of spiritual science and preaching can attract us to God.

We try to do our business, do our work, and take care of the family as well as we can, but all these are always in the second place after the preaching. In the past of the spiritual movement, there were already many fanatical preachers, as well as critics of fanatical preaching, so it would be good for a beginner to be trained by an active preacher to avoid extremes. But on the whole, let it be better preaching fanatics than materialistic Vaiṣṇava congregation.

Simplicity means that we do not complicate our lives with some big goals. We do not have the goals to have a lot of money, influence, or become a sannyāsī or guru; there is no need for that. Also, among all the variety of methods of spiritual life, we distinguish three main ones: the study of the scriptures, the chanting of the holy name (16 rounds) and the preaching of spiritual life. Sometimes a devotee can have some kind of Deity according to his desire, it does not matter. Also, the devotees are not concerned about making pilgrimages to India, particularly to Vṛndāvana, and even more so they have no idea of living there. In India, in Vṛndāvana and other dhāmas, there are many devotees and gurus who only sleep, eat and participate in temple programs. Without a person-to-person preaching, such a pastime is as ineffective there as it is here.

In the dhāmas, including in Vṛndāvana, the local people and the vast majority of gurus do not know the ultimate goal of spiritual life and generally they are ordinary religious materialists. Śrīla Prabhupāda's eleven years of preaching in Vṛndāvana (where he lived in renunciation) did not bear any fruit due to the materialistic and undeveloped nature of the brijabasi. But by preaching in the West, Śrīla Prabhupāda made a revolution and established a new world religion, and He also revived interest in the main holy places through preaching in the West and not through preaching within the dhāmas themselves. Nevertheless, life inside the dhāmas continues to become more and more materialistic, and the locals are degraded under the influence of Western money and Western example. Lord Caitanya was in Vṛndāvana only once, and that is in view of His superior position and His superior capabilities. Thus, if a devotee does not visit Vṛndāvana even once, there is no omission.

A person can go once to Vṛndāvana after 5-15 years of spiritual practice and continue to preach in the material world. There is no any need to travel to India for entertainment, and one can reach Kṛṣṇa by preaching in the West rather than by riding or living in the dhāmas. Lord Caitanya has only been to Vṛndāvana once. All of whom we know that they have reached Kṛṣṇa-līlā have never been there, and vice versa, we do not know anyone from Vṛndāvana who has even reached Kṛṣṇa-līlā - if you know such people, please send us their works for review. The various gurus of Vṛndāvana, sannyāsīs of ISKCON and other organizations who go back and forth do not actually achieve anything significant. It is possible to visit the dhāma once, or one can come there more often due to some technical duties, but it is also good when a person does not go there at all and the dhāma remains his dream.

Living in Vrindavana can only mean preaching from person to person, otherwise there is no special need to live there. Also, living in the dhāma or dying in the dhāma will not protect one from serious offenses – for example, the offense of Śrīla Prabhupāda is not redeemed by anything. People do not preach in the West, then go to Vṛndāvana, but even there their senses are not spiritually occupied, so they fool away their time in dhāma without getting spiritual benefits from staying in it, and if they are also materialistic, then such a life can generally have negative consequences. Dhāma is not meant for materialistic living and dhāma can be revealed to pure devotees, but it can happen anywhere in the world.

Gravity means understanding our personal imperfections. When a person realizes that he is imperfect, he is always discreet, never considers himself great, and does not think that he will ever become great. True greatness and happiness are the result of being recognized by God, but one can only rise to such a level gradually, in most cases with a lot of effort. After that, the devotee becomes a guru, but he still does not consider himself great, because he understands that it is a difficult task to elevate others. Therefore, at no level does a devotee consider himself great, even if he already directly perceives God.

Self-control means that a devotee is used to being dependent on God and is not attached to external things. Cleanliness of thought means thinking about spiritual science, about God and about preaching. This is the basic and main type of cleanliness. When a devotee thinks in this way most of the time, it means that he is clean or moving towards cleanliness. It is important when a person's mind and senses are busy and the preaching, as a rule, guarantees this in all possible ways, from happiness to suffering. The preacher is always full within himself, so he is always satisfied, does not depend on anything and does not seek anything. A devotee may have some desires, all of them can be used in the manner of preaching, avoiding the dominance of the desires themselves.

TEXT 17

This threefold austerity, practiced by men whose aim is not to benefit themselves materially but to please the Supreme, is of the nature of goodness.

PURPORT

As long as a person strives for fruits, for material results, he will suffer. The problem is not in the result itself or even in the suffering, but in the fact that directing his efforts towards the result, the person is absorbed in this process. A believer engaged in material activities cannot realize God and rise to the transcendental platform. It is possible to act in matter but without being attached to material benefits and results (or by dedicating them to God), then the person's consciousness becomes clean; this is the ideal situation.

The results still do not depend on a person, and have internally renounced the fruits of activity, a person becomes stronger, more exalted and more insightful. Developing spiritually, devotee understands that the whole world is under the control of God and the solution of any situation depends on the supreme principle and intelligence, but then the devotee begins to attract God Himself. Thus, from the level of goodness, or non-attachment to any results and to all the vicissitudes of life, the devotee rises even higher – to the platform of God consciousness. Therefore, austerities, sacrifices, and any other activities performed in such consciousness are transcendental and lead to eternal happiness.

TEXT 18

Those ostentatious penances and austerities which are performed in order to gain respect, honor and reverence are said to be in the mode of passion. They are neither stable nor permanent.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

Sometimes penance and austerity are executed to attract people and receive honor, respect and worship from others. Persons in the mode of passion arrange to be worshiped by subordinates and let them wash their feet and offer riches. Such arrangements artificially made by the performance of penances are considered to be in the mode of passion. The results are temporary; they can be continued for some time, but they are not permanent.

PURPORT
Austerities of this type are also, for example, following principles for the sake of people's attention or to become a guru. In such a consciousness, one can perform all devotional service - worshipping the Deity, chanting the mantra, observing the temple routine, giving lectures, and so on - but such a position, when one is striving for one's own greatness, is doomed to failure. Even if someone shows exemplary adherence to all the principles and takes the position of a leader, but at the same time internally wants mainly honor or money, he will be born in matter again. Such kind of "feats" can not last long, because a person seeking honor is very vulnerable and unstable. Even if such people perform gigantic austerities, all their power accumulated through austerities is quickly dispersed and finished, because they constantly think of themselves, dream of themselves at the head of everything, want recognition. So the person quickly loses the fruits of any asceticism.

A person may even be aware of himself as a spiritual soul to some extent, but as long as he spends his energy on material goals, all this is materialism. Materialism means that the spiritual soul invests its energy in gross or subtle matter. As long as a person wants to see himself as the cause of something, his suffering will be endless. There is an important point here: we must act, we must strive for spiritual goals, but we must try to do this by trusting in God and not out of selfishness. God controls everything, but we must understand that God is complicated Person, He is not primitive, it is impossible to understand Him with the help of some scheme or flat thinking.

Similarly, spiritual activity under the guidance of God or the attempt to reach such a level – is a complex process consisting of a combination of many spiritual factors. This is interaction, relationships, real life that cannot be put into any scheme. The scriptures give a general direction, a method by which a devotee can elevate to that platform. Dependence on God, actions under His guidance - this is the highest position in the spiritual life and the highest manifestation of spiritual feelings, but as long as a person is concerned only with his position, his image, he accordingly is separated from God. Everyone here is infected with the disease of honor and there is only one way to get rid of it: by realizing God. Realizing God, the person will come to serenity, and only after the person has realized God and gained enough experience of preaching, He can give him some real power (mainly in the form of real knowledge), because otherwise all kinds of honor, power and money will simply hinder or even destroy the person.

Stubbornly seeking honor, power and money in isolation from God (including passing off their desires as God's desires), materialistic believers simply accelerate their downfall. Also, power and honor obtained by one's own efforts are not real power and honor, that is, no human and no living entity in this world can provide spiritual influence by their own efforts. All power and all honor obtained by their own efforts are fake, they are cardboard symbols of power that will destroyed any significant impulse of the material element. Also in religion, a person can declare himself a guru and sit on an elevated seat, but if he does not have a real spiritual education, the blessing of God and guidance from above, it is a fake guru who has no real strength, no real power, no real knowledge.

Of course, there may be kaniṣṭha-gurus, madhyama-gurus and begginer uttama-gurus, but a bona fide guru is only one who has reached maturity and whom God has seriously tested and personally gave him the scepter of power. The words of such a guru will have real power and everyone else will eventually repeat his words and follow his instructions. Such devotees are empowered by God who provides them with their influence; the soul cannot fulfill these things independently, by his own actions. But such a devotee will never fall under the influence of honor and power, because when he sees God before him, he is absorbed in Him (in vipralambha, the desire for honor and power is completely excluded).

All the thoughts and desires of such a devotee are only to enlighten people and make them all realize God who is not surpassed by anyone. When a person strives to honor and power as such, he is simply stupid, but those who receive real honor and power do not see them in the key of personal egoism, because they are seized by the perception of the supreme power and splendor of God.

A person can be endowed with the protection of God to varying degrees, it depends on his knowledge and devotion to God. The recognition of God can also be of different levels. In fact, the soul has everything at his disposal to develop in this direction, but we must follow the scriptures to deepening understanding, developing intelligence and improving spiritual activity, otherwise how can we understand God who is an absolutely perfect personality?

TEXT 19

And those penances and austerities which are performed foolishly by means of obstinant self-torture, or to destroy or injure others, are said to be in the mode of ignorance.

PURPORT

In order to change the world, it is necessary to change the consciousness of people. By and large, no external actions can change the situation on the planet, which is almost all immersed in ignorance now. For example, modern Islam, understanding the demonic nature of Western civilization, tries to change something by observing religious laws in the state, but without knowledge of God and spiritual nature, Islam within itself is already corroded by the same materialism and the desire to increase comfort. Until people understand the true value of life and begin to cognize God, any external reforms and religious projects are doomed to failure. In order for people to begin to change, it is necessary to establish a worldwide preaching from person to person. True religion does not create parishioners who participate in temple programs, it creates competent preachers who carry the knowledge of spiritual science everywhere.
Аватара пользователя
Jayanti
Академик
 
Сообщения: 136
Зарегистрирован: 08 мар 2007, 21:46

Сообщение Jayanti » 01 май 2021, 15:56

TEXT 20

That gift which is given out of duty, at the proper time and place, to a worthy person, and without expectation of return, is considered to be charity in the mode of goodness.

PURPORT

Donations should be given mainly to increase the distribution of Srila Prabhupada's books. The building of temples and the maintenance of communities are not very relevant for the present time. Also often, when donations are collected for temples or even for books, some or all of the money is stolen by so-called clergymen for personal purposes.

For example, about 500 million rubles were collected for a temple in Moscow at the beginning of the 2000s, and later all this money was appropriated by the criminal leadership of the Russian ISKCON. Therefore, you can donate only to those who actually use the money to publish Śrīla Prabhupāda's books or you do not need to donate money to anyone at all, there is no special need for this. Moreover, when donations are made to so-called spiritual masters, the money is often spent on their comfortable lives, apartments, cottages, expensive operations, and so on.

Materialists think that by donating money to a guru, they will gain some unearthly benefit, but donating money and property is the lowest and most insignificant type of spiritual activity. A bona fide guru teaches everyone for free, he does not give any paid lectures, does not ask for donations, and ideally does not take donations. The guru may not take large donations, refuse them, because money in spiritual development in general is meaningless. Basically, it is not worth to take donations, especially large donations, as it is not safe from many points of view. The devotee may be degraded by other people's money, and the givers may later demand to return their money, and finally such money may lead to dependence, but the devotee or guru should not become dependent.

The ideal situation is that a devotee, and even more so a guru, has no money except for running costs. There should be no significant savings, bills and other things. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" - having a lot of money, people become attached to it and risk being born as a mouse in some bank. All the money that comes in should be turned into Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, and the money from the sale of these books should be turned into books again. A devotee basically should not have any big money – thieves and robbers will not find any significant money and no luxury from him. This is the best position.

Materialists are hungry for money; they say that everything is the energy of God, but by taking donations, earning money from religion, and using this money for their comfort, they will learn that hell is also the energy of God. Materialists might say that money is needed for treatment of serious diseases, but a devotee, having no money, relies on God. Materialists are treated, spending religious money and still die, eventually being born a church or hospital mouse; a devotee lives and dies relying on God, always remaining calm, and eventually returns to God. To be born a church mouse in its own way is also not bad, but the problem is that those who steal God's money often do not even reach the body of the mouse.

A bona fide guru personally communicates with his disciples on preaching issues, and his main occupation is to establish a preaching. Most modern gurus who only give general lectures are like Christian priests on a salary, only instead of baptizing, they give out fictitious initiations right and left. They should not be called "gurus", but "Vedic priests". Donating to such materialistic gurus will not bring any spiritual benefit, nor will worshipping them.

We do not need to donate money, but to distribute Śrīla Prabhupāda's books or preach based on these books. The guru mainly preaches in public places and distributes Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, he does not sit in the temple counting money. We do not need such temple-sitting gurus, and we do not need any nominal gurus at all, but a union of devotees. We need a society of preachers, not a society of parishioners, pseudo-Vaiṣṇavas. In the union of devotees, it is not necessary to have any formal head at all. As soon as the karmīs gather together, they immediately want to determine which of them is lower and who is higher, who obeys whom and who worships whom. Devotees who preach from person to person may not engage in such things at all and may not create any administrative structure among themselves, just as they may not try to become a guru or impose themselves on others as a guru.

The bona fide guru, the ācārya, is appointed by God. When God appoints someone as a guru, that person will dominate everywhere without any positions. A guru is not a position or a form of dress, a guru is self-realization, experience, and the blessing of God.

TEXT 21

But charity performed with the expectation of some return, or with a desire for fruitive results, or in a grudging mood, is said to be charity in the mode of passion.

PURPORT

Until a person engeges in preaching and realizes God, he will suffer within matter, even if he follows one religion or another. Maintaining material desires, one can chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra for hundreds and thousands births. Someone may say that we are all different and all move at different speeds to the spiritual world. This is true, but we are looking mainly for those who are more active. Therefore, we avoid those who are stuck in external Vedism, who are concerned about their situation and are filled with thoughts about their well-being. All such people follow religion out of a desire to get something in return, but the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam rejects such religiosity.

TEXT 22

And charity performed at an improper place and time and given to unworthy persons without respect and with contempt is charity in the mode of ignorance.

PURPORT

Basically a preaching is needed, all these donations do not really matter. Some materialists establish a system of temples to collect donations and live on them, while other materialists donate money to them. The former do not know anything about God, and the latter also do not want to know anything about God. The former want to receive money by performing some rituals, the latter want to consider themselves religious people by donating some money. Thus, it is the union of those who are materialists and cheaters.

Similarly, false gurus do the same, accepting false disciples for the sake of donations and honor. These gurus do not teach their disciples and do not interfere with their materialistic life, and such disciples out of gratitude give money to such false gurus; so they are quite happy with each other. The fate of this kind of priests, gurus, parishioners and disciples is hundreds and thousands of births, if they are sincere at some extent. Those who worship God nominally will remain here much longer. To ignore the attraction of God, to consider your own deeds more important than spiritual science are absolute offense. And to think that by donating a large or small amount of money to some dull-witted priest or false guru, a materialist will gain spiritual benefit is nonsense.

Without developing spiritually and without preaching, all these materialistic disciples and all this materialistic Vaiṣṇava flock (as well as the flock of any other religion) will be born for a long time, until they receive enough punishment and understand the meaninglessness of material life and materialistic religiosity. Having every opportunity to realize God, they waste time on their worthless needs – they all risk being punished by māyā. We need to express our gratitude to Māyā Devī who carries materialists to hell and performs an act of justice. God is the best Personality, and in a close relationships there is no one closer than Him. People who exchange the opportunity to communicate with God for some material things or for a personal image are inveterate rascals and they punish themselves birth after birth. Everyone can develop spiritually and preach as much as they can, but when they refuse to do even this, Māyā Devī, full of supreme prowess, punishes them life after life.

Is it difficult for a person to study the holy scripture every day? Is it difficult for him to talk about God to other people? Without doing the elementary things, how can they expect to get liberation? If a person chants the holy name, why does he not preach? Therefore, the fate of such people is to be born again and again. Everything should be filled with preaching. It may be an immature preaching, an average one, and the highest quality preaching, but everyone should talk about God, all the streets should be filled with conversations about spiritual science. Even one person can lead a constant prea and remind an entire city of God. We have to go preaching in crowded places - and so we will end with materialism. However, even this is not so important; much more important, in this process of enlightening people, to realize God ourselves.

Whether people accept the spiritual message or not is their choice, but the beats to the big mṛdaṅga of preaching should never stop. Even if, when they see the figure of the preacher boring them, people will run away in different directions, this is not a bad result. Whether they accept or not accept, they remember God. Whether they feel happiness from preaching or feel some kind of dislike, all this is a spiritual result. Demons can get disgusted and start fighting us; this is inspiring too. And we should never take any honor or money from preaching, then no one and nothing can stop us.

TEXT 23

From the beginning of creation, the three syllables-om tat sat-have been used to indicate the Supreme Absolute Truth [Brahman]. They were uttered by brāhmaṇas while chanting Vedic hymns and during sacrifices, for the satisfaction of the Supreme.

PURPORT

Basically, we need to strive for a transcendental position, which is possible only in the process of learning and preaching. To achieve the transcendental through Vedic rituals or through purification and trying to lead an outwardly pure life is difficult, and in many cases impossible. The age of Kali is gaining strength, but in some ways this is not bad, because all kinds of standard religiosity are collapsing and only the essence can survive – the three main processes: preaching, studying the scriptures, and chanting the name of God. Therefore, the transcendental - om tat sat - should be placed at the center of everything. We should think about the transcendental, worship the transcendental, and preach the transcendental, leaving aside all the gradual and roundabout Vedic paths.

A person may slowly begin the path of his spiritual life; it is not always worth to make drastic movements. Developing slowly but surely, one must begin to preach, then gain spiritual experience, then strengthen the preaching, and eventually fill one's entire life with enlightening people – the best chanting of the holy name. One can start with faith in the preaching, in its necessity and effectiveness (but it is better to start with knowledge, with understanding), then one need to communicate with uttama (studying the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda) and with active preachers. Then there is bhajana-kriyā - this is the beginning of our own preaching and the acquisition of the initial experience. The next stage is anartha-nivṛtti - this is a better and broader understanding of the process of preaching spiritual philosophy and the main points related to the methods of enlightenment of people and their conditioning.

Niṣṭhā means that the devotee has become steadfast in preaching; ruciḥ means that he get a taste of the preaching, the holy name. Āsakti is a clear vision of the path of spiritual development and also the appearance of a connection with God. Bhava is the beginning of a relationship with Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu; prema is the beginning of a mature love for Him, which is infinite. Thus, by constantly preaching from person to person, anyone can achieve the highest goal of spiritual life.
Аватара пользователя
Jayanti
Академик
 
Сообщения: 136
Зарегистрирован: 08 мар 2007, 21:46

Сообщение Jayanti » 02 май 2021, 04:55

TEXT 24

Thus the transcendentalists undertake sacrifices, charities, and penances, beginning always with om, to attain the Supreme.

PURPORT

When a person dedicates his activities to God, he gradually begins to realize Him. When this realization increases, the individual understands the need to preach the spiritual life. A person can start to preach out of a sense of duty or as part of spiritual practice, and whether he starts to preach trying to reach God or having already reached God, in any case, the result is the same. There is no situation where a devotee has feelings for God and does not preach, it is impossible. A person who says that he knows God or that he has feelings for God, but is not engaged in active, competent preaching, is certainly still in illusion. Of course, while preaching, one can remain in illusion too, so it is important to learn and take a sober look at oneself. Nevertheless, in any case, preaching is always set a precedent for spiritual development, unlike temple worship, donations, austerities and other less significant principles.

All these verses are the answer to Arjuna's question: "O Kṛṣṇa, what is the situation of one who does not follow the principles of scripture but worships according to his own imagination?" Temple worship, charity, and asceticism are all indirect methods of devotional service aimed at God realization. Without understanding the essence of spiritual science, materialists perform devotional service on the level of gross matter - on the level of temples, charity or their own bodies. We are the soul, we are the consciousness, so all spiritual achievements are manifested in consciousness – in intelligence, spiritual inspiration, knowledge and God realization. Therefore, explaining the various external religious methods to Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa emphasizes that the result must be the attainment of the Supreme.

Reading these verses, people often think about the need for austerity, charity, and temple worship, but the verses emphasize God realization, not these processes themselves. If one is unwilling or unable to follow the direct path of bhāgavata, then one should understand the purpose of the various indirect religious processes.

TEXT 25

One should perform sacrifice, penance and charity with the word tat. The purpose of such transcendental activities is to get free from the material entanglement.

PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:

To be elevated to the spiritual position, one should not act for any material gain. Acts should be performed for the ultimate gain of being transferred to the spiritual kingdom, back to home, back to Godhead.

PURPORT
Śrīla Prabhupāda gives a concise, comprehensive commentary summarizing all kinds of religious activities. At the very least, everyone should strive to attain the kingdom of God and after reaching it, or returning to the spiritual platform, he should continue to study the science of devotional service. As a rule, it is quite difficult to get rid of materialistic tendencies and people perform various rituals for hundreds of births, so it is better to immediately turn to the bhāgavata method or study the scriptures, chant the name of God, and preaching as feasible. So, going from person to person, the personality will develop spiritually the fastest.

TEXT 26-27

The Absolute Truth is the objective of devotional sacrifice, and it is indicated by the word sat. These works of sacrifice, of penance and of charity, true to the absolute nature, are performed to please the Supreme Person, O son of Pṛthā.

PURPORT

To be in the association of devotees means to associate with those who are more advanced in spiritual life and preaching. A devotee is basically a madhyama, a preacher. It can be sometimes useful to be in the society of Vaiṣṇava parishioners, but it is less effective. Śrīla Prabhupāda created the society and temples for the training of preachers, not as another karmic religion.

There are many cleansing rituals, but without God realization, all of them will remain at the level of rituals. People worship a Deity or icons in temples, feel some kind of awe, but do not understand the purpose of religion. The Absolute Truth, or God, is the goal of all rituals and purifications; we ourselves, our position are always secondary in this matter. Cleanliness is the understanding of spiritual science and the realization of God in His various aspects, in fact there is no other cleanliness. It is also worth remembering that all kinds of sacrifice, penance and charity are ineffective without chanting the mantra, studying the scriptures, and preaching. By and large, only the holy name in these three main forms is important, and various rituals, penance and charity can only complement it, or one can do without them at all.

Ordinary people are most often attracted by some external manifestations of religion, but the essence of religion is the realization of God, and rites, rituals and some penance should help us in this realization. When entering a temple, chanting the holy name or performing austerities, one should feel and realize the greatness of God, not one's own greatness. We should glorify the greatness of God, not the greatness of ourselves, our nation, our church, or humanity.

Sat means the infinity and greatness of God, and sattva is everything that brings us closer to such understanding. Sattva is basically the development of intelligence, the recognition of the dominance of the eternal over the temporal, the natural detachment from the temporal and the striving for the eternal. Everything that increases the awareness of the eternal, everything that increases the awareness of the all-powerful and all-attractive God, is related to sattva or is associated with sat-śakti - eternal happiness.

TEXT 28

But sacrifices, austerities and charities performed without faith in the Supreme are nonpermanent, O son of Pṛthā, regardless of whatever rites are performed. They are called asat and are useless both in this life and the next.

PURPORT

Everyone should understand a simple, clear and precise idea: any activity should lead to the realization of God. External religiosity, which does not lead to the realization of God, is meaningless. As Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in his puport on this verse, "Anything done without the transcendental objective-whether it be sacrifice, charity or penance-is useless. Therefore, in this verse, it is declared that such activities are abominable. Everything should be done for the Supreme in Kṛṣṇa consciousness."

If someone has begun to realize the greatness of God, he must continue to strengthen this realization; nothing prevents us from doing this. Even if a person is distracted or he is somehow sinful, he still need to continue to think about God and spiritual life. One can think of any aspect of God, in any combination, all this is spiritual and absolute. A devotee can realize Brahman, then the greatness of God, then think of Brahman again; there is no flaw in all this. God realization and study of the holy scripture are much better than some local temple attendance and external religiosity.

People go to temple for a while and then they are busy with themselves all days long, but it is necessary to think about God everywhere and remember Him. When such consciousness increases, it will make the person knowledgeable and happy. Everyone should understand that this is precisely the fruit of religion.

What is the fruit of religion? The fruit of religion is the realization of God, the understanding of spiritual science, and the perception of God in various aspects. At first, this is theoretical knowledge, but with practice it becomes more and more direct. Any activity and any form of thinking can be associated with God, a person can chant the holy name or think about God without chanting the holy name. The cunning of the holy name disciplines and makes the process intense, but the thoughts of God have the same spiritual power. By trying to think about God or by preaching, the devotee becomes more and more focused on the goal of his life, and his whole life begins to be purified. When the devotee's senses are heightened, he can attain God even in his present material body.

While experiencing an initial spiritual uplift, do not waste it on your own affairs. Usually people are inspired, but instead of continuing the process of thinking about God (true devotional service), they begin to actively solve some of their problems or try to dominate someone, including within the religion. However, even when we have already seen the spiritual world, we should not think that we have become saints or gurus; there are not so few people who see God, but you can become a guru only when you reach maturity. It is also necessary to hide such a vision and not tell anyone about it. The countries of the West are the countries of darkness, where it is believed that God is immeasurably far away and that those who see Him are only some saints who perform miracles. But the vision of God and miracles may not be related in any way, and there is no need for miracles, the enlightenment of people is needed.

Seeing this or that aspect of the spiritual world, we should not completely absolutize this achievement and should not think that we have become exalted - it is still so far to exaltation. Also, without seeing the spiritual world, a person can reach maturity; vision as such is not so fundamental, since God is absolute. Let us repeat once again: the essence of any religion is the realization of God, various aspects of spiritual life and spiritual practice. If, while practicing, a person does not at least realize himself as an eternal soul, then his consciousness is still dispersed in matter. Kṛṣṇa says here that one should at least have faith in God, but faith is only the beginning; one should go further and gradually comprehend the whole spiritual science in full. Any and all plans for material life will be destroyed, then why waste a lot of time on them?

Basically, we need to realize the greatness of God. Having reached maturity, such realization can manifest a spontaneous relationship with God, but both the realization of greatness and the spontaneous, close relationship are all preliminary stages in the cognition of Kṛṣṇa, or Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Аватара пользователя
Jayanti
Академик
 
Сообщения: 136
Зарегистрирован: 08 мар 2007, 21:46

Пред.

Вернуться в «Бхагавад-гита для всех»



Кто сейчас на конференции

Сейчас этот форум просматривают: нет зарегистрированных пользователей и гости: 16