Nāma-aparādha

ābrahma-stambādi saba kṛṣṇera vaibhava

ābrahma-stambādi saba kṛṣṇera vaibhava |
‘nindā-mātra kṛṣṇa ruṣṭa’ kahe śāstra saba ||
anindaka ha-i ye sakṛt kṛṣṇa bale |
satya satya kṛṣṇa tāre uddhāriba hele ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 2.20.147–148)

“From Brahmā to a clump of grass and so forth—everything is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa. [Therefore,] All the śāstras say, ‘Kṛṣṇa becomes angry at any defamation at all.’ Truly, truly, Kṛṣṇa will easily deliver anyone who, being non-defaming, once chants, ‘Kṛṣṇa.’”

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nāmāparādha-yuktānāṁ nāmāny eva haranty agham

nāmāparādha-yuktānāṁ nāmāny eva haranty agham |
aviśrānti-prayuktāni tāny evārthakarāṇi ca ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 3.48.23 or 4.25.23; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.526; Bhakti Sandarbha: 265)

“The names [of Hari] certainly destroy the sins of those who have committed offense to the name; uttered incessantly, they are certainly effective.”

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nāmaikaṁ yasya vāci smaraṇa-patha-gataṁ śrotra-mūlaṁ gataṁ vā

nāmaikaṁ yasya vāci smaraṇa-patha-gataṁ śrotra-mūlaṁ gataṁ vā
śuddhaṁ vāśuddha-varṇaṁ vyavahita-rahitaṁ tārayaty eva satyam |
tac ced deha-draviṇa-janatā-lobha-pāṣaṇḍa-madhye
nikṣiptaṁ syān na phala-janakaṁ śīghram evātra vipra ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 3.48.24 or 4.25.24; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.527; Bhakti Sandarbha: 153, 265; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.3.60)

“Be it with proper or improper [pronunciation of] syllables, one name [of Bhagavān] without separation [alt., or even with separation of its syllables] which has entered one’s speech, path of remembrance, or the base of the ears certainly delivers [a living being]. This is certainly true. If that [i.e., the name of Bhagavān] should be cast down among those who are heretical out of greed related to the body, wealth, or people, [however,] O brāhmaṇa, it certainly does not become fruitful quickly here.”

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deva-drohād guru-drohaḥ koṭi-koṭi-guṇādhikaḥ

deva-drohād guru-drohaḥ koṭi-koṭi-guṇādhikaḥ |
jñānāpavādo nāstikyaṁ tasmād koṭi-guṇādhikam ||
(Kūrma Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.751; Bhakti Sandarbha: 265)

“Offence to guru is tens of millions of times worse than offence to the Deity. But denial of knowledge and disbelief are ten millions times worse than that [i.e., than offence to guru].”

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atha nāmāparādhā daśa

atha nāmāparādhā daśa, yathā—vaiṣṇava-nindādi-vaiṣnavāparādhaḥ; viṣṇu-śivayoḥ pṛthag-īśvara-buddhiḥ; śrī-gurudeve manuṣya-buddhiḥ; veda-purāṇādi-śāstra-nindā; nāmni arthavādaḥ; nāmni kuvyākhyā vā kaṣṭa-kalpanā; nāma-balena pāpe pravṛttiḥ; anya-śubha-karmabhir nāma-sāmya-mananam; aśraddha-jane nāmopadeśaḥ, nāma-māhātmye śrute’py aprītiḥ—iti daśadhā |
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu-bindu: 7)

The ten offenses to the name are as follows:
(1) Offending a Vaiṣṇava, that is, defaming a Vaiṣṇava and so forth;
(2) Considering Viṣṇu and Śiva to be separate Īśvaras [i.e., considering Śiva or any other devatā to be an Īśvara independent of Bhagavān Viṣṇu;
(3) Considering śrī gurudev a human being [i.e., not a manifestation of Bhagavān];
(4) Defaming the Vedas, Purāṇas, and other śāstras;
(5) Adulation in regard to the name;
(6) Misinterpretation or far-fetched imagination in regard to the name;

(7) Engaging in sin on the strength of the name [i.e., attempting to make use of the name as a means to purify oneself of intentionally committed sins];
(8) Considering [chanting] the name equal to other pious karmas;
(9) Instructing faithless persons about the name; and
(10) Lacking affinity for the name even after hearing of the name’s greatness.

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astu tāvat śuddha-bhakty-ābhāsasya vārttā

astu tāvat śuddha-bhakty-ābhāsasya vārttā | aparādhatvena dṛśyamāno’py asau mahā-prabhāvo dṛśyate | … atha śrī-bhagavad-vaśīkāritāyām api sakṛd alpa-prayāsātmikāyā api bhakteḥ kāraṇatā dṛśyate | tad evaṁ yathārtha eva tan-māhātmye saty api yatra samprati tat-tad-bhajana-phalodayo na dṛśyate, kutracic chāstre ca purātanānām apy anyathā śrūyate tatra nāmārthavāda-kalpanā vaiṣṇavānādarādayo durantā aparādhā eva pratibandha-kāraṇaṁ vaktavyam | … yathā prāyeṇādhunikānām … tādṛśāparādhe bhakti-stambhaś … | ataḥ … āvṛttir asakṛd-upadeśāt ity-ādau ca puruṣāṇāṁ prāyaḥ sāparādhatvābhiprāyeṇaivāvṛtti-vidhānam | … atrāparādhālambanatvenaiva vartamānānāṁ pāpa-vāsanānāṁ sahaivāparādhena nāśa iti tātparyam | etādṛśa-pratibandhāpekṣayaivoktaṁ viṣṇu-dharme—rāgādi-dūṣitaṁ cittaṁ nāspadaṁ madhusūdane | badhnāti na ratiṁ haṁsaḥ kadācit kardamāmbuni || na yogyā keśavaṁ stotuṁ vāg duṣṭā cānṛtādinā | tamaso nāśanāyālaṁ nendor lekhā ghanāvṛtā || iti | siddhānām āvṛttis tu pratipadam eva sukha-viśeṣodayārthā | asiddhānām āvṛtti-niyamaḥ phala-paryāpti-paryantas tad-antarāye’parādhāvasthiti-vitarkāt |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 153)

“Let alone mention of a semblance of pure bhakti [itself], this [i.e., a semblance of pure bhakti] appearing even with the characteristic of being an aparādha is seen to possess great power [e.g., a mouse which performed the act of waving a ghee wick before a deity in the course of trying to remove the wick from its mouth became reborn as a queen with niṣṭhā for the bhakti-sādhana of offering ghee lamps to Bhagavān and then attained Bhagavān’s abode]. … Furthermore, even a single act of bhakti constituted of slight effort being a cause even of bringing Śrī Bhagavān under control is seen [in accounts related in śāstra]. … Therefore, even though its [i.e., bhakti’s] greatness is indeed real, where the manifestation of the result of various types of bhajana is not seen, and in some śāstras where otherwise [i.e., non-attainment of such results] is heard of even in the case of ancient persons, there [i.e., in those cases] it is to be said that the difficult to overcome aparādhas of arthavāda and kalpanā regarding the name, disregard for Vaiṣṇavas, and so forth, are alone the cause of obstruction [of the results of bhakti becoming manifest]. … As for the most part in the case of people of the present-day … because such aparādha is present, there is obstruction of bhakti [i.e., non-manifestation of bhakti’s effects]. … Thus, injunctions [in śāstra] for repetition [of bhakti-sādhana practices], such as (VS 4.1.1), ’Repetition [of sādhana practices] should be done repeatedly because of instructions [to do so in the śāstra]’ (āvṛttir asakṛd upadeśāt), carry the import that people in general are implicated in aparādha. … Here [i.e., in regard to bhakti-sādhana’s purification of aparādha], the intention is that there occurs destruction of [one’s] present inclinations (vāsanās) for sin (pāpa), which are entirely based on [previously committed] aparādhas, along with the aparādhas themselves. Specifically in regard to such obstruction [i.e., the obstruction of bhakti’s effects by aparādha], there is a statement in the Viṣṇu-dharma: ‘A heart polluted by attachment (rāga) and so forth is not a place for Madhusūdana, as a swan is never bound by affection to muddy water. Speech contaminated by untruth and so forth is unfit to praise Keśava, as the rays of the moon blocked by clouds are not able to dispel darkness.’ The repetition [of bhakti-sādhana practices, such as hearing of and praising Bhagavān] of siddhas [i.e., siddha-bhaktas in contrast to non-siddhas, that is, people in general and sādhakas, as discussed above], on the contrary, is a result of the manifestation of special joy at every moment [which they experience as a result of engaging in bhakti]. The regulation [given in śāstra] of repetition for non-siddhas is [applicable] up to attainment of the result [i.e., up to the attainment of siddhi in bhakti] because the existence of aparādha is conjectured when obstruction to it [i.e., to the manifestation of the effect of bhakti] is present.”

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