Fourth Stage of Bhakti | Anarth Nivritti (Part 2) | Sri Vinod Babaji Maharaj

Hari Bhakti is the sole purpose of our life, knowing this the sadhak engages in sadhana physically, mentally and verbally. This is when a sadhak truly enters a spiritual journey. The jivatma has always been engulfed in Maya (who is a part of Krishna's transcendental powers). From eternity, he had known nothing but Maya, the material world and its pleasures. Maya wants the jivatma to play in Her lap. So, when the sadhak wants to free himself from Maya, She creates obstacles in the path of spiritual awakening. Krishna has given Her independence to attract and delude the jivatma. Shri Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavat Geeta,

 “Daivī hyeṣhā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā”
(Bhagavat Geeta 7.14)

Meaning: My divine Maya, made of the three modes of nature, is very difficult to overcome (by a jivatma).

One can ask then, who will protect us from Maya? Even Brahma and Shiv are unable to conquer Krishna's Maya. Then, will we be unable to truly worship Krishna and attain his Prem Bhakti? So Krishna gives the solution:

“Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te”
(Bhagavat Geeta 7.14)

Meaning: The one who surrenders to me, is able to cross through this Maya. 

Krishna will protect the one who surrenders to Him. It is not that Maya will not create any obstacles for the surrendered sadhak, nor is it that the sadhak doesn't have to fight with the various attractions and desires. But Krishna will give him the strength and intelligence to remain unaffected by them.

This mood of complete surrender will not come initially. The sadhak engages in sadhana with his ego initially and tries to understand the scriptures and embark on the path of Bhakti using his own intelligence. At that time, his ego is directed towards Bhakti (as in trying to ward off obstacles and concentrating his mind in contemplation) with the association of Sadhus. This is good but as he progresses in his spiritual path, he has to realize that egoistic efforts to overcome Maya and do bhajan are just futile. Only Krishna, the Lord of Maya, can protect the sadhak from Maya with His mercy. Then he develops the divine humility to surrender completely to Krishna. Seeing this mood of surrender, Krishna protects him.

“Mat chittaḥ sarva-durgāṇi mat-prasādāt tariṣhyasi,
Atha chet tvam ahankārān na śhroṣhyasi vinaṅkṣhyasi.”
(Bhagavat Geeta 18.58)

Meaning: If you keep your mind fixed in me, you will overcome all obstacles and miseries with my mercy. But if you don't listen to me due to your ego, you will be devastated.

Krishna said this to Arjuna at the end of Bhagvat Gita, but not before. Why? Because though Arjuna took shelter in Krishna when faced with a difficult situation, he subconsciously nurtured an ego that I am the great warrior Arjuna who holds the Gandiva bow, which can destroy one lakh enemies at once, and the Pashupat weapon, which can destroy the whole Creation and neutralize every other divine weapon. If Krishna said that he could do nothing and was as much in control of Krishna's will as any other jivatma, he would not, and could not, believe it. When Krishna manifested His Vishwarupa form in front of Arjuna, then he realized that certainly everything is Krishna and everything is happening according to Krishna's will.

On seeing the Vishwarupa, his faith in Krishna strengthened. But after the Mahabharat battle, when peace was restored, Arjuna was once again engulfed in Maya and his ego was reawakened. This often happens in a sadhak's life. While striving for bhajan for a long time, a sadhak understands that Krishna is controlling everything in this Universe and outside it. He starts surrendering to the will of Krishna. But again something happens in his life to shake his mood of surrender. The sadhak gets frustrated or irritated by an event. If everything is happening by Krishna's will, then why should you get frustrated? In this way, Krishna points out where you lack surrender and have vestiges of ego lurking beneath.

It happened that Arjuna was staying at Dwarika with his friend Krishna for some time after the battle of Mahabharat. One day, a Brahmin visited the Sudharma court assembly of Krishna with his stillborn child and started abusing Krishna verbally. The Brahmin was convinced that his child was born still every year due to the sins of the kings, Krishna and Balaram. Arjuna was irritated beyond control to witness this. He immediately interrupted the Brahmin and said, "O brahmin, I am the possessor of the Gandiva bow and Pashupat weapon, I am Arjuna. Please don't abuse Krishna in front of me. Tell me your problem. I will protect you from all possible misery."

The Brahmin laughed out loud. "Yes, you are Arjuna! Here, Krishna, the king of Dwarika and possessor of all transcendental qualities, and Balaram, the most powerful of all, sit quietly, unable to help me. And you think you can do this? Who are you?! What can you even do, Arjuna?" he said. Arjuna was now infuriated. "See, Brahmin, I am neither Krishna nor Balaram. I am Arjuna, the sole possessor of Gandiva bow and Pashupat weapon. No one in the three worlds can harm you, I promise you. Tell me what do you want?" See. Such is the ego of a man. Even after seeing the Vishwarupa and how the whole Creation is contained in a single hair follicle of Krishna, Arjuna believes in the power of the Gandiva bow more than Krishna.

The Brahmin asked how he could believe him. Arjuna promised that he would sacrifice his life in a burning wood pyre if he was unable to do so. The Brahmin agreed and asked him to protect his next child during birth. So when the Brahmin's wife was ready to give birth, Arjuna was informed. Arjuna went to the Brahmin's house and encircled the house with an arrow while chanting various mantras. He stood at the entrance with his Gandiva bow ready. Under this special protection, the Brahmin's wife gave birth. But, alas, this time even the dead body of the child was not found. There was just nothing. The child seemed to have disappeared from the womb.

Now the Brahmin was extremely infuriated. While he abused and made fun of Arjuna and his Gandiva bow, Arjuna was ashamed beyond limits and prepared a wood pyre to sacrifice his life, as promised. But Krishna interrupted and said, "Why, Arjuna, are you sacrificing your precious life for a single failure?" Arjuna said that he was doing as was promised. Then Krishna told Arjuna to look at the Brahmin's house. Arjuna saw that there was neither any Brahmin nor any house. It was all just Krishna's Maya to make Arjuna realize his mistake.

In the above verse, Krishna tells Arjuna to contemplate Him while fighting the war of Kurukshetra, since the outcome of the war was already decided by Krishna's will and no power could change it. If the jivatma wastes his time worrying about what he should do and what will be the outcome of his past actions, he will never be able to contemplate Krishna and his pastimes. He will get entangled in worries he couldn't do anything about and will waste this precious opportunity to get out of the cycle of birth and death in the form of human birth.

One can truly be undisturbed by external events only when he firmly believes that everything is already planned as per Krishna's will. He believes that whatever happens, happens for everyone's welfare. Krishna cannot harm anyone. The troubles and disasters we see in the world are the results of people's own deeds. And they teach them a life lesson. This system of Karma is for the welfare of jivatmas. One should not get disturbed by this. 

We have been talking about the types of Anarthas. We were discussing Aparadha Jata anartha.

"hanti nindanti vaidveṣṭi vaiṣṇavā anābhinandati,
krudhyate yāti na harṣaṁ darśane patanāni ṣaṭ"

There are six main types of Vaishnav Aparadhas:

1. "Hanti" (beat or kill),
2. "Nindanti" (to discuss a Vaishnava’s flaws),
3. "Vaideshti" (to see a Vaishnav as an enemy),
4. "Vaishnav anabhinandati" (not serving a Vaishnav guest),
5. "Krudhyate" (being angry on a Vaishnav) and
6. "Na harsham darshane" (not to express happiness on seeing a Vaishnav).

The last three are not very serious as they can be corrected by good behavior later on. But the first three Aparadhas are really serious. Not only blasphemy, even saying anything to the effect, “The Vaishnav should not have done this. It was wrong,” is an Aparadha. When one sees two Vaishnavas quarrelling or causing misery to one another, one must not get involved in the issue. 

One must only look for one's own faults and try to improve himself. Otherwise, he will certainly commit Vaishnav Aparadhas. (Read more about Ninda here). Another great Aparadha is to consider a Vaishnav his enemy. Even if the person doesn’t say anything but gets happy when that Vaishnav experiences misery, it is an Aparadha.

These Aparadhas are even more serious when committed towards one's own Guru. If one commits Guru Aparadha, he will lose interest in bhajan, get attracted towards material pleasures and will degrade spiritually. Guru Kripa is the foundation of bhajan. Therefore, a sadhak must be very careful about Aparadhas.