Guest guest Posted October 17, 2001 Report Share Posted October 17, 2001 Hare Krishna I am not very clear in understanding this point in the first chapter of NOI: "As for the agitations of the flickering mind, they are divided into two divisions. The first is called avirodha-priti, or unrestricted attachment, and the other is called virodha-yukta-krodha, anger arising from frustration. Adherence to the philosophy of the Mäyävädis, belief in the fruitive results of the karma-vädis, and belief in plans based on materialistic desires are called avirodha-priti. Jnanis. karmis, and materialistic planmakers generally attract the attention of conditioned souls, but when the materialists cannot fulfill their plans and when their devices are frustrated, they become angry. Frustration of material desires produces anger." QUESTIONS: 1. Can someone please expand on the phrase "unrestricted attachment?" 2. For those who adhere to Mayavadi philosophy and fruitive results etc. they feel very satisfied and are therefore not agitated. It is us who know that their pursuits are wrong but they feel very satisfied with their endeavours so how does this lead to their flickering mind? your servant shashika Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 17, 2001 Report Share Posted October 17, 2001 At 07:06 PM 10/16/01 -1000, you wrote: > >Hare Krishna >I am not very clear in understanding this point in the first chapter of NOI: > >"As for the agitations of the flickering mind, they are divided into two >divisions. The first is called avirodha-priti, or unrestricted attachment, >and the other is called virodha-yukta-krodha, anger arising from >frustration. Adherence to the philosophy of the Mäyävädis, belief in the >fruitive results of the karma-vädis, and belief in plans based on >materialistic desires are called avirodha-priti. Jnanis. karmis, and >materialistic planmakers generally attract the attention of conditioned >souls, but when the materialists cannot fulfill their plans and when their >devices are frustrated, they become angry. Frustration of material desires >produces anger." > >QUESTIONS: >1. Can someone please expand on the phrase "unrestricted attachment?" Actually, the paragraph you quote explains that phrase. It means just what it sounds like it means: failure to restrict the sense objects or ideas to which we become attached. If we examine this paragraph in the context of the verse it discusses, it should be fairly easy to understand. Sri Rupa is exhorting us to control those agents of attachment--speech, mind, anger, tongue, belly, and genitals. We all have experience every day of controlling these agents to some degree or another. Although someone may be habituated to eating a certain kind of food, such as pastries, she (or he) decides either to yield or not when walking past a cinnamon-roll shop. We either yield (I like cinnamon rolls, and these smell really good, so . . ..), or we remind ourselves that there's no long-range gain in eating them (except around the waist)--either we're on a healthy diet, or we eschew all foods not offered to the Deity, or whatever our reason. Similarly, when we walk down the street we may see so many sexually attractive men or women (I teach on a college campus); we may torture ourselves by trying to enjoy them all, or by letting our minds dwell on our frustration at not being to enjoy them all (so many men, so little time), or or by fantasizing about enjoying them; on the other hand, we may realize that they do not exist to serve our desires and so remain detached. This would be restricting our attachments. Those who don't do so even to these elementary degrees make trouble for themselves and others by failing to restrict their attachments. This is a practical perspective. >2. For those who adhere to Mayavadi philosophy and fruitive results etc. >they feel very satisfied and are therefore not agitated. It is us who >know that their pursuits are wrong but they feel very satisfied with their >endeavours so how does this lead to their flickering mind? It's not only those who "know" it's "wrong" to pursue sense objects who suffer. The fact is that attachment to monistic ideas, sense objects and mystic perfection are all foreign to the soul, whose essential nature is service to Krishna. Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Prabhupada follow Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who taught, "bhukti mukti siddhi kami, sakali ashanta / krishna bhakta niskama ataeva shanta: those who desire sense gratification, liberation, and mystic attainments can never be peaceful because they will always be forced to seek satisfaction of one desire or another; the Lord's servants, however, are always peaceful because they have no desire other than His service." Even the sense of liberation attained by the monists is temporary, because it's contrary to the soul's intrinsic nature, which is spiritual activity. So they must fall in to the real of activity again and act out their desires there until they attain the only real dsideratum: Krishna preama. I hope this clarifies things more than it confuses them. Babhru das Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2001 Report Share Posted October 18, 2001 On Wed, 17 Oct 2001, Shashika Chowdhary wrote: > 1. Can someone please expand on the phrase "unrestricted attachment?" Judging from Srila Prabhupada's comments here, the two terms "avirodha-priti" and "virodha-yukta-krodha" respectively sound to me like the progression discussed in Gita 2.62-3. We get frustrated, then angry, if our attachments are opposed or stifled. > 2. For those who adhere to Mayavadi philosophy and fruitive results etc. they feel very satisfied and are therefore not agitated. It is us who know that their pursuits are wrong but they feel very satisfied with their endeavours so how does this lead to their flickering mind?>> Their minds become agitated once their artifical conditions aren't met, or when these are exposed as unreal, or are somehow threatened. Also implicit in Srila Prabhupada's purport is that our inclination for "preyas" (e.g., things which may be appealing or dear, rather than beneficial or superlative) shouldn't be indulged in without restraint--because as Babhru Prabhu noted about such things, they're extrinsic. Thwy thus cause misery to those who ignore that (cf. Gita 5.22). Remaining absorbed in selfish jnana or karma is ignorance. The first NoI verse advises us to restrict our senses (go) from wandering about like untethered cows. The real go-svami is Gopala, the protector and controller of all cows; Krsna is also called Hrsikesha, the master of all our senses. One devotee therefore prays: svagocare cAraya kiM madIyaM upekSase gAm apathe vrajantIm | yad gopa-nAtha kriyate kadAcid na cetasApi tvayi vRtti-bhaGgaH || "Will You not herd mine, too, into Your own cow-pasture? Certainly You see this cow wandering off the path; I mean, how could the Lord of the cowherds ever even imagine losing a cow?" I hope this helps. Hare Krsna! MDd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2001 Report Share Posted October 18, 2001 At 11:48 AM 10/18/01 -1000, you wrote: The first NoI verse advises us to restrict our senses (go) from wandering about like untethered cows. The real go-svami is Gopala, the protector and controller of all cows; Krsna is also called Hrsikesha, the master of all our senses. One devotee therefore prays: svagocare cAraya kiM madIyaM upekSase gAm apathe vrajantIm | yad gopa-nAtha kriyate kadAcid na cetasApi tvayi vRtti-bhaGgaH || "Will You not herd mine, too, into Your own cow-pasture? Certainly You see this cow wandering off the path; I mean, how could the Lord of the cowherds ever even imagine losing a cow?" Your discussion of this point was very clear. Thanks. And thanks as well for this verse; it's lovely. Do you have a source for it? Your servant Babhru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2001 Report Share Posted October 21, 2001 Dandavats. Jaya Prabhupada! On Thu, 18 Oct 2001, Bill Reed wrote: > > "Will You not herd mine, too, into Your own cow-pasture? Certainly > >You see this cow wandering off the path; I mean, how could the Lord of > >the cowherds ever even imagine losing a cow?" > Your discussion of this point was very clear. And thanks as well > for this verse; it's lovely. Do you have a source for it? Yes, this is from the Bilvamangala-stava, by the great devotee of the same name; it's text 1.102. A critical edition was prepared by Frances Wilson (1973. Leiden: E.J. Brill), but it's probably out of print now. It's available in academic libraries. Thank you for your compliment. Hare Krsna. Your servant, Mukunda Datta dasa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.