Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.6.2

Pradyumna: [Chants verse]

ṛṣir uvāca, satyam uktaṁ kintv iha vā eke na manaso 'ddhā viśrambham anavasthānasya śaṭha-kirāta iva saṅgacchante. [SB 5.6.2]

[02:57]

Translation: "Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied: My dear King, you have spoken correctly. However, after capturing animals, a cunning hunter does not put faith in them, for they might run away. Similarly, those who are advanced in spiritual life do not put faith in the mind. Indeed, they always remain vigilant and watch the mind's action."

Prabhupāda:

ṛṣir uvāca: satyam uktaṁ kintv iha vā eke na manaso 'ddhā viśrambham anavasthānasya śaṭha-kirāta iva saṅgacchante. [SB 5.6.2]

First of all, one must prove that he's trustworthy; then we can accept him as trustworthy. Our mind is not fixed up; very restless. Cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṅa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham [Bg 6.34]. This is right example. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He was competent enough, mukta-puruṣa, but still, he was chanting regularly 300,000 times Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra. Even Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "Now you have become old man. You can reduce the number."

Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-kṛtau nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau cātyanta-dīnau ca yau vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. [Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka]

[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who were engaged in chanting the holy names of the Lord and bowing down in a scheduled measurement. In this way they utilized their valuable lives and in executing these devotional activities they conquered over eating and sleeping and were always meek and humble enchanted by remembering the transcendental qualities of the Lord.]

Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī especially, he was very strict in the matter of following the regulative principles, Raghunātha dāsa Goswami. He was living in Rādhā-kuṅḍa. He was very rich man's son and practiced very rigidly vairāgya.

Bhakti-yoga means vairāgya. As far as possible to deny material necessities, that is vairāgya. It is called vairāgya-vidyā. Śrīla Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya has said, vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam [Cc Madhya 6.254]. Vairāgya-vidyā. Bhakti-yoga means vairāgya. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42].

[Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things—these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the same way that pleasure, nourishment and relief from hunger come simultaneously and increasingly, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating.]

This is bhakti-yoga: no more any necessity for material things. Niṣkiñcinasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya. There are so many. Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, they were liberated persons. Even Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He's God Himself, but still, to teach us, He was observing the regulative principles of a sannyāsī very, very strictly. These things, to teach us... Similarly, Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he's called Brahma-Haridāsa. Sometimes he is called Yavana-Haridāsa. Yavana means Muslim or those who are not in the Vedic principles, yavana, mleccha. Just like we have seen some temples, our foreign devotees are not allowed, because they have got the rules that mlecchas and yavanas, because they are very unclean, they should not be allowed. But that should not be applicable to the devotees of this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, because they have learned how to remain clean, how to follow the... At least, they are expected. They promised at the time of initiation, "Yes, I shall not do this. I shall not do this." So if he's actually following the rules and regulations, he is no more unclean—simply by chanting.

apavitraḥ pavitro vā sarvāvasthāṁ gato 'pi vā yaḥ smaret puṅḍarīkākṣaṁ sa bāhyābhyantaraḥ śuciḥ [Garuḍa Purāṅa]

He become... If we follow our promise... That is gentlemanly. If you have promised something, you must follow it. That is gentlemanly.

So because we may fail... There is chance; we are prone to fail. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṅa dāsa [Cc Madhya 20.108-109]. But sometimes we forget. Not sometimes—practically always we forget. That is material. When we forget that we are eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa, that is material life. Otherwise, if we remain servant of Kṛṣṅa, even in this material body, still, we are liberated.

īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṅā manasā vācā nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.187]

So we must follow the rules and regulation very... Therefore it is said that viśrambham anavasthānasya śaṭha-kirāta iva saṅgacchante. We should not believe our mind, that we have become perfect. By mental dictation we should not be guided. That is a very bad practice, to think of, that "I have now become liberated, I don't require to follow the regulative principles." So we must be very careful.

Here we have quoted that, yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyaṁ kāryam eva tat [Bg 18.3], yajño dānaṁ tapaś caiva pāvanāni manīṣiṅām [Bg 18.5]. Yajña, dāna. Brahmacārī should offer yajña; gṛhastha should give in charity; and sannyāsī, vānaprastha, should undergo tapasya. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma. We should not give up this, these things. "Because I have become sannyāsī—I have given up my family—therefore I give up also all other regulative principles." No. That you cannot. The sannyāsī means... Sannyāsī, they have got also rules and regulation. Caitanya Mahāprabhu very rigidly followed. He did not lie down even on a quilt, only one naked cloth. He did not use... And no woman should come to offer Him obeisances very near. They must do it from a distant place. He was so strict. One of His personal associates, Haridāsa, Junior Haridāsa, he simply glanced over a young woman with lusty desire. He immediately rejected him: "Ask Haridāsa not to come anymore." So He never excused him very strictly. And Haridāsa, being disappointed, he... On his behalf, very close devotees like Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Rāmānanda Rāya, big, big devotees, Svarūpa Dāmodara and others, requested Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu that "He has committed mistake, but he is Your personal servant. Kindly excuse him." Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "All right, then you can call him. You live with him. I shall go from here. You live with him; let Me go away." He was so strict. Then, when Haridāsa Ṭhākura Junior—the senior is another—then he committed suicide: "Now it is hopeless. I cannot come to Caitanya Mahāprabhu." He committed suicide. And when this information was given to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He did not regret. "Oh, this man has committed suicide? Yes, it is right." He said, "Yes, it is right." So He was so strict.

Therefore in the śāstra it is forbidden that Kali-yuga is very difficult to follow the rules and regulation of a sannyāsī; therefore better not to accept sannyāsa. Kalau pañca vivarjayet. Sannyāsaṁ pala-paitṛkam devareṅa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet [Cc Ādi 17.164].

[In this Age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: the offering of a horse in sacrifice, the offering of a cow in sacrifice, the acceptance of the order of sannyāsa, the offering of oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and a man’s begetting children in his brother’s wife.]

Instead of becoming a false sannyāsī, do not accept sannyāsa. This is the injunction of the śāstra. But for preaching work we have to get the help of some sannyāsī, but we should remember that we are in Kali-yuga. We should not be sentimentally very much anxious—"Please give me sannyāsa, give me sannyāsa"—and then fall down and go to hell. That is not good. That is not good. If one is able to strictly follow the sannyāsa rules and regulation, he should take. Otherwise, Kṛṣṅa has said that sannyāsa, real sannyāsa, means one who does not take any remuneration for his service to Kṛṣṅa. That is sannyāsa. Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ sa sannyāsī [Bg 6.1].

[The Blessed Lord said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic: not he who lights no fire and performs no work.]

"It is my duty. I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa. To serve Kṛṣṅa is my duty." Kāryam: "I must do it." Actually that mentality is sannyāsa. It doesn't matter whether we have changed the dress or not, but if we decide it that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa; my only duty is to serve Kṛṣṅa," that is sannyāsa.

So better we should try to stay in this determination than to accept the sannyāsa order by changing the dress and then again we fall down. That is not very good. There are instances like that, but it is not at all good. We should not trust the mind. And even we take, we should be very, very vigilant on the mind. Viśvāso naiva kartavyam. Cāṅakya Paṅḍita says, [chuckles] viśvāso naiva kartavyaḥ strīṣu rāja-kuleṣu ca: "Never trust woman and politician." He was a politician, and his wife was kidnapped. He had very bad experience of these two things, Cāṅakya Paṅḍita. Therefore he gave this injunction, viśvāso naiva kartavyaḥ strīṣu rāja-kuleṣu ca: "Never trust woman and politician." So Cāṅakya Paṅḍita was not inexperienced; he was very experienced. All the ślokas of Cāṅakya Paṅḍita—very useful for daily affairs. So similarly, we should not trust the mind, that "Now I have become liberated." Never think so. We should always remember that liberation is not so easy thing, but if we follow the rules and regulation, then there is every possibility of becoming liberated.

But this is the business in the human... Tapaḥ. That is the instruction. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed sattva [SB 5.5.1].

[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]

You must purify your existence. This is the only business of human life: tapasya. So tapasya means brahmacārī. Tapasā brahmacaryeṅa [SB 6.1.13].

[To concentrate the mind, one must observe a life of celibacy and not fall down. One must undergo the austerity of voluntarily giving up sense enjoyment. One must then control the mind and senses, give charity, be truthful, clean and nonviolent, follow the regulative principles and regularly chant the holy name of the Lord. Thus a sober and faithful person who knows the religious principles is temporarily purified of all sins performed with his body, words and mind. These sins are like the dried leaves of creepers beneath a bamboo tree, which may be burned by fire although their roots remain to grow again at the first opportunity.]

Tapasya means brahmacaryeṅa, no sex life. That is tapasya, real tapasya. Tapasā brahmacaryeṅa śamena damena ca. Even if you practice yoga system, this regulation must be followed, celibacy, not that fashion yoga system. Now in your country there are so many transcendental yogīs, and they say, "Yes, whatever you like, you can do. God has given you senses. You must enjoy." These are manufactured cheating processes. But actually yoga means indriya-samyamaḥ. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Not gymnastic. That is not yoga. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Mind control. The same thing, mind control. So mind you cannot control unless your mind is fully engaged in the service of Kṛṣṅa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṅṭha-guṅānuvarṅane [SB 9.4.18].

[Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord's temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṅa or about Kṛṣṅa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's temples and Kṛṣṅa's places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord's devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord's prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.]

These are the examples.

So Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī followed very strictly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu also followed very strictly, and the Rūpa-Sanātana Gosvāmī followed very strictly. Not that because one is living in Vṛndāvana with a short cut cloth and therefore he has become like Rūpa Gosvāmī... Rūpa Gosvāmī was fully engaged. Nānā-śāstra-vicāraṅaika-nipuṅau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau lokānāṁ hita-kāriṅau. They were in Vṛndāvana, but they were always thinking how to do good to the people, to this material world. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja: śoce tato vimukha-cetasa [SB 7.9.43]. Sādhu's concern is to think of the misled materialistic persons. They are always thinking, making plan how to elevate them, they are suffering. This is sādhu. Lokānāṁ hita-kāriṅau, sādhu, not that "I have changed my dress in such a way, and people out of sentiment will give me roṭī, and I shall eat and sleep." That is not sādhu. Sādhu... Bhagavān, Kṛṣṅa, says who is sādhu. Api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ [Bg 9.30].

[Even if one commits the most abominable actions, if he is engaged in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated.]

That is sādhu. Who has fully dedicated his life for Kṛṣṅa, he is sādhu. Even he has got some bad habits... Bad habits? A sādhu cannot have bad habits, because if one is sādhu, if in the beginning he has got some bad habit, that will be rectified. Śaṣvad bhavati dharmātmā. Kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati [Bg 9.31].

[He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.]

If he's actually sādhu, his bad habits will be rectified very soon, very soon. Not that he's continuing his bad habits and also a sādhu. That cannot be. That is not sādhu. Maybe due to his past habits, he might have committed some mistake. That can be excused. But if he, in the name of sādhu and become a liberated person, he continues to do all nonsense, he's a cheater. He's not sādhu. Api cet su-durācāro. Cet, yadi, if by chance it is possible. But if he sticks to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, then kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati. In the beginning there may be some mistake, but we must see that "Whether my mistakes are now correct?" That should be vigilance. Never trust the mind. That is the instruction here. Mind should not be trusted. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "After getting up from your sleep, you take your shoes and beat your mind hundred times. This is your first business. And while going to bed, you take a broomstick and beat your mind hundred times. Then you can control your mind. Otherwise it is very difficult."

So this is... This beating with shoes and broomstick is also another tapasya. For men like us, who have no control over the mind, we should practice this tapasya, beating the mind with shoes and broomstick. Then it can be controlled. And svāmī means who has control over the mind. Vāco-vegam, krodha-vegam, udara-vegam, upastha-vegam, manasa-vegam, krodha-vegam, etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt [Upadeśāmṛta 1]. This is Rūpa Gosvāmī's instruction. When we can control vāco-vegam... [child crying, Prabhupāda pauses] This is krandana-vegam. [laughs] They cannot control. They cannot control. Therefore they are child. The child can be excused, but if a person who is in the spiritual life, he cannot control, then hopeless. Then he's hopeless. This should be controlled. Vaco-vegam, krodha-vegam, udara-vegam, upastha vegam. But the most important thing is udara-vegam and jihvā-vegam. Jihvā-vegam, it is very controlled. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said that "All the senses are there, but out of them, this jihvā is very dangerous." Tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati tā'ke jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre. It is very, very difficult to control the tongue.

Just we can see. Practically I have seen that we... Our prohibited injunctions are that we should not eat meat. So I have seen when on the plane... Of course, we never go to the hotel or restaurant, but on the plane we see so many European, American friends traveling. They are eating the meat—not very large quantity, very little quantity. Some of them are eating voraciously, no, but generally I see... But if they give up that little one piece of meat, say one ounce or two ounce, immediately we can save ourself from so much sinful activities, so many slaughterhouses running on all over the world. If we simply control the tongue, what is that? You are eating a piece of meat. But they cannot. They cannot. Jihvā-vegam. The tongue is dictating, "No, meat is very nice. Take it." A little. It is not much. He's not living on meat. There are loafs, there are vegetables. Actually he's living on that. Nobody takes two or three loaf, of the same weight meat. Meat, little quantity. But they take loaf, butter, rice, other things. Without vegetables, without food grains, you cannot live. It is simply for the tongue. Tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. Simply for this tongue, little only. He cannot live simply on meat unless he's an animal exactly. He has to take vegetable, food grains, butter. These are milk products. Otherwise he has no chance to live. But for the tongue's sake he's taking little piece of meat, and for that reason, we have to maintain thousands and thousands of slaughterhouse. This is our position.

Therefore tā'ra madhye jihvā ati. Simply for the tongue we are committing so much sinful activities and becoming implicated, because implication means there is no God consciousness, no Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Two things are there: one is God, and one is the repetition of birth and death. There is no third way. Either you take God... This chance... This is a chance. This human form of life is a chance. Either you go back to home, back to Godhead, or go to hell. I think Christians also, they say. Two things are there. And in our śāstra, Kṛṣṅa says, Bhagavad-gītā, mām aprāpya nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani [Bg 9.3].

[Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this material world.]

Two things are there. Either go this way or that way. Either go to hell or go to heaven. This is the general, yes. Asat-saṅga-tyaga,-ei vaiṣṅava-ācāra [Cc Madhya 22.87].

So if you are serious about going back to home, back to Godhead, we must be educated how to control the senses, how to control the senses. Therefore while eating, we are reminded that this eating is... If you do not take it as prasādam, then eating is sense enjoyment.

śarīra avidyā-jāl joḍendriya tāhe kāl jīve phele viṣaya-sāgore tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati tā'ke jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre kṛṣṅa baro doyāmoy koribāre jihvā jay swa-prasād-anna dilo bhāi sei prasādānna pāo rādhā-kṛṣṅa-guṅa gāo preme ḍāko caitanya-nitāi

[ “O Lord, this material body is a lump of ignorance, and the senses are a network of paths leading to death. Somehow or other we have fallen into the ocean of material sense enjoyment, and of all the senses the tongue is the most voracious and uncontrollable. It is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world. But You, dear Lord Kṛṣṅa, are very kind to us. You have given us this nice prasādam just to control the tongue. So now let us take this prasādam to our full satisfaction and glorify Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Radha and Kṛṣṅa, and in love call for the help of Lord Caitanya and Prabhu Nityānanda.” ]

We should be very cautious, always remembering Caitanya-Nitāi and practicing the regulative principles, chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. Then it will be all right.

Thank you very much. [end]