Thoughts or Actions

[Guest guest]

I am wondering what is considered significant in judging

a person (good v/s bad, sinner v/s a great soul etc)- actions or

thoughts.

 

A person may have lot of bad thoughts-thoughts of anger, lust, hate,

etc. However, if the person suppresses these thoughts and lives by a

code of conduct, is that person said be doing good karma? Or having

bad thoughts itself a sin? A man may lust after women, but may not

act upon his desires. Is having lustful thoughts enough to deem him a

sinner?

 

What does the Gita have to say about this?

[Guest guest]

>Is having lustful thoughts enough to deem him a

>sinner?

 

>What does the Gita have to say about this?

 

 

It would seem that Thought IS a type of Action. I shall firstly discuss how

I see the Bg's perspective on your interesting question, and conclude with a

lesson from the Srimad Bhagavatam which seems to come to the heart of one of

the specific issues being raised.

 

I am using Srila Prabhupada's translation and commentary for both Bg and Sb.

 

Srila Prabhupada says in his purport to Bg 10.4-5:

 

"Control of the senses means that the senses should not be used for

unnecessary personal enjoyment. There is no prohibition against meeting the

proper needs of the senses, but unnecessary sense enjoyment is detrimental

for spiritual advancement. Therefore the senses should be restrained from

unnecessary use. SIMILARLY, ONE SHOULD RESTRAIN THE MIND FROM UNNECESSARY

THOUGHTS; that is called sama. One should not spend one’s time pondering

over earning money. That is a misuse of the thinking power. The mind should

be used to understand the prime necessity of human beings, and that should

be presented authoritatively. The power of thought should be developed in

association with persons who are authorities in the scriptures, saintly

persons and spiritual masters and those whose thinking is highly developed.

Sukham, pleasure or happiness, should always be in that which is favorable

for the cultivation of the spiritual knowledge of Kåñëa consciousness. And

similarly, that which is painful or which causes distress is that which is

unfavorable for the cultivation of Krsna consciousness. Anything favorable

for the development of Krsna consciousness should be accepted, and anything

unfavorable should be rejected." (Emphasis added.)

 

Bg 10.9 seems to validate this:

 

"The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted

to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always

enlightening one another and conversing about Me."

 

Bg 3.37:

 

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is

born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into

wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world."

 

And from Bg 17.14 et seq.:

 

"Austerity of the body consists in worship of the Supreme Lord, the

brähmaëas, the spiritual master, and superiors like the father and mother,

and in cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy and nonviolence. || Austerity of

speech consists in speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial,

and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic

literature. || And satisfaction, simplicity, gravity, self-control and

purification of one’s existence are the austerities of the mind. ||"

 

The implication would seem to be that merely HAVING the lusting thoughts is

prima facie evidence of sin.

 

Even the smallest stray thought counts at death: Bg 8.6 says "Whatever

state of being one remembers when he quits his present body, in his next

life he will attain to that state without fail." So it would seem if one's

thoughts centered on lustfulness, at least at death, then that would

certainly have an impact on what form he gets next. For example, Maharaja

Bharata, although a great man, thought of a deer when he died, so in his

next life he was given the body of a deer.

 

Perhaps closest to the point of the discussion, though, is Sb 6.1, 62-65,

which describes the sad story of Ajamila, who inherited his father's

fortune, and instead of engaging the service of Krsna, he engaged the

services of a prostitute. He was condemned and punished by Yamaraja.

 

"As far as possible he patiently tried to remember the instructions of the

sastras not even to see a woman. With the help of this knowledge and his

intellect, he tried to control his lusty desires, but because of the force

of Cupid within his heart, he failed to control his mind.

 

"In the same way that the sun and moon are eclipsed by a low planet, the

brahmana lost all his good sense. Taking advantage of this situation, he

always thought of the prostitute, and within a short time he took her as a

servant in his house and abandoned all the regulative principles of a

brahmana.

 

"Thus Ajamila began spending whatever money he had inherited from his father

to satisfy the prostitute with various material presentations so that she

would remain pleased with him. He gave up all his brahminical activities to

satisfy the prostitute.

 

"Because his intelligence was pierced by the lustful glance of the

prostitute, the victimized brahmana Ajamila engaged in sinful acts in her

association. He even gave up the company of his very beautiful young wife,

who came from a very respectable brahmana family."

 

Srila Prabhupada, who directs himself to the point in question rather

clearly, in his purport:

 

"There are many instances throughout the world in which even a purified

person, being attracted by a prostitute, spends all the money he has

inherited. Prostitute hunting is so abominable that the desire for sex with

a prostitute can ruin one’s character, destroy one’s exalted position and

plunder all one’s money. Therefore illicit sex is strictly prohibited. One

should be satisfied with his married wife, for even a slight deviation will

create havoc. A Krsna conscious grhastha [householder--jpd] should always

remember this. He should always be satisfied with one wife and be peaceful

simply by chanting the Hare Krsna mantra. Otherwise at any moment he may

fall down from his good position, as exemplified in the case of Ajamila."

 

I pray I have not quoted out of context and beg forgiveness if I have

offended anyone. I'm certainly in no position to lecture anyone about

specks in their eye as I have a beam in my own. The scriptures I have

quoted have helped me sort some things out, and I hope they'll help anyone

else struggling with similar issues.

 

--jpd, another skinbag of ... well, you know the rest.