Aparadha to Avoid

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Aparadhas to Avoid

 

Essence of the Ambrosial Ocean of Devotion – Part 8

 

By Victor D DiCara (Vraja Kishor das)

 

 

Since the whole aim of sadhana is to internally realize pure love for Krishna,

it makes sense that a sadhaka must avoid behavior symptomatic of indifference

and antagonism towards Krishna. In fact, the 19th practice of vaidhi-sadhana

is to carefully avoid aparadha in one’s service to Krishna, and in one’s

glorification

of Krishna’s name.

 

 

What is “aparadha?”

 

 

An aparadha is something that is contrary (“apa-”)to devotion, love, and

worship

(“-radha”).Aparadha is behavior that both indicates and reinforces unloving

feelings

for Krishna.

 

 

Commenting on this, Jiva Goswami gives an extensive but not exhaustive list of

seva-aparadha (aparadha in the course of serving Krishna) and nama-aparadha

(aparadha

in the course of chanting God’s name). The exact items on the list are not as

important as their essence – which is simply that one must avoid behavior

symptomatic

of non-devotion. Exactly what such behaviors may be is somewhat different from

person to person, era to era, place to place.

 

 

Essentially, all aparadha is a lack of devotion. Padma Purana states that lack

of devotion falls into four categories:

 

 

 

Lack of purity

 

Lack of respect

 

Lack of endeavor

 

Lack of faith

 

 

Seva-Aparadha

 

The examples of seva-aparadha extracted by Jiva Goswami from Agama Shastra,

Varaha

Purana, and other scriptures, can be organized into these four categories as

follows:

 

 

Lack of Purity

 

One should not enter Krishna’s temple without first washing one’s feet (if one

was walking barefoot to the temple, as was formerly common in India).

 

 

One should not worship Krishna without first bathing. When does one need to

bathe?

After eating (one should first brush one’s teeth and wash one’s hands and feet

before worshipping), after being massaged with oil, after sexual intercourse,

after touching a woman in her menstrual period, when one becomes covered in

perspiration,

after touching or seeing a dead body, or after visiting a crematorium.

 

 

Nor should one worship while angry, while being disturbed due to a death in the

 

family, nor while suffering indigestion and belching.

 

 

One should not interrupt ones worship to evacuate or urinate, nor should one

use unclean items like water touched by one’s nails, or flowers kept in unclean

 

containers. One should not offer or accept food or other things from an impure

source or which have been made unclean by contact with animals like dogs.

 

 

One should also not neglect to purify oneself by first worshiping Ganesh or

Narasimha

after seeing frightening, inauspicious people.

 

 

Lack of Respect

 

In Krishna’s presence one should be humble. One should therefore not enter the

temple in an elevated fashion – being carried in a vehicle or wearing shoes.

One should not avoid bowing down before the Deity. Nor should one bow down only

 

partially or on one hand. Nor should one

improperly circumambulate Krishna, allowing one’s back to face him during the

circumambulation.

 

 

In Krishna’s presence one should be respectfully attentive, therefore one

should

not break silence while worshiping. Nor should one distract others by talking

very loudly, or crying. Nor should one sit in a lazy fashion with one’s legs

spread out, or grasping one’s raised knees with one’s arms, or with one’s back

to Krishna. Nor should one lie down, eat, chew betel nuts, or pass air in the

presence of Krishna.

 

 

In the presence of Krishna one should praise him. One shouldn’t praise others

in front of Krishna, nor should one praise oneself, nor should one chitchat

with

others, tell lies, insult people, speak harshly, quarrel, punish anyone, nor

speak profanity.

 

 

Krishna is the source of all charity and welfare. Therefore, in his presence

one should allow Krishna to bless and be charitable towards the needy, one

should

not be charitable to the needy on ones own behalf.

 

 

One should dress nicely when one goes to see Krishna. Therefore one should not

wear rough, old, or dirty clothes, or garments that are red or blue. (In Jiva

Goswami’s time, red and blue dyes were extremely expensive and worn only by

wealthy

royalty. In that sense they were considered overly flamboyant to wear before

the Deity. Red is symbolic of the mode of passion, blue of ignorance. In this

sense they are considered unclean. Red and blue are the favorite colors worn

by Srimati Radharani. Thus to dress in red and blue might be construed as

having

a competitive attitude towards her.)

 

 

One should not disrespect Krishna by using him as a witness to seal a mundane

promise or vow. One should not disrespect Krishna’s privacy by allowing the

intimate

details of his worship, such as bathing and dressing, to be seen by those who

are not devotees of Vishnu.

 

 

One should not wear forehead markings (“tilok”) that are indicative of sects

that are not devoted to Vishnu, nor should one sloppily apply Vishnu tilok. One

 

should not step over things that are to be, or that have already been, offered

to Krishna.

 

 

Lack of Endeavor

 

One should not offer less than the best services and items one can. Nor should

one entirely fail to make an offering and thus enjoy things or eat food without

 

first offering them to Krishna. One should not cook for Krishna half-heartedly,

 

using old ingredients – one should feed Krishna the freshest foods nicely

cooked.

Nor should one give Krishna inferior flowers without fragrance or in poor

condition,

or those that are not pleasing to Krishna. Likewise, one should not

half-perform

a ceremony for worshiping Krishna – offering some items, like incense, and

skipping

others, like flowers, nor should one perform the ceremonies of worship at

improper

times.

 

 

One should not hastily approach the Deity and thus neglect to follow the

scriptural

regulations, neglect to announce one’s entrance by ringing a bell or making a

sound, neglect to first turn on a lamp, or neglect to prepare a proper place

to sit or stand during the worship.

 

 

One should endeavor to learn about Krishna, one should therefore not keep

silent

in front of guru, with no questions or Hari-katha, nor should one neglect to

respond to the guru’s inquiries, nor fail to offer appreciations and praise.

 

 

One should not fail to observe Krishna’s festivals and holidays.

 

 

Lack of Faith

 

One should not neglect to understand the scriptures that extol and explain

Krishna-bhakti.

Nor should one develop faith in scriptures that do not do so.

 

 

One should not slander the gods, thinking them mythological or impotent. Nor

should one smoke marijuana, or take opium or similar drugs.

 

 

Nama-Aparadha

 

Like seva-aparadha, the nama-aparadha (aparadha in the course of chanting God’s

 

name) are symptoms of an unloving state of mind. The Padma Purana lists ten

such

aparadha. Again, the exact items on the list are not as important as their

essence.

The essence is that one must avoid behavior symptomatic of non-devotion.

Exactly

what such behavior might be is somewhat different from person to person, era

to era, place to place.

 

 

Nama-aparadha has more serious repercussions than seva-aparadha. Vishnu

forgives

mistakes one makes in serving him, but if one offends Vishnu himself, who is

non-different from his name, to whom can one go for forgiveness? The answer is

only Vishnu himself. But the difficulty is that Vishnu will forgive only one

who sincerely desires it and demonstrates that sincere desire by finally

approaching

him and his name without aparadha. Thus one must eventually rid oneself of

aparadha

towards Vishnu and his name before one can be deeply forgiven for one’s past

aparadha. This is the gravity of nama-aparadha.

 

 

We can organize Padma Purana’s list of ten nama-aparadha as follows:

 

 

Lack of Respect

 

Lack of respect for a Vaishnava. This is symptomatic of a lack of love for

Hari’s

Name because a Vaishnava instructs and helps one meditate on Hari’s name.

 

 

Lack of respect for Vishnu or his name. This causes one to consider Vishnu’s

name to be different from Vishnu himself, or to consider Vishnu equivalent to

the lesser gods like Shiva and Brahma.

 

 

Lack of respect for Guru. This is related to lack of love for Hari’s name,

because

the Guru is the person who gives one Hari’s name in the dikSha-mantra.

 

 

Lack of respect for scripture. This is also related to a lack of love for

Hari’s

name because scripture is the source from which Guru and the VaiSNavas learn

and teach one about Hari’s name.

 

 

Lack of Endeavor

 

It is an aparadha to Hari’s name if one does not endeavor sincerely to free

himself

from sin, but instead uses Hari’s name like a mop to clean up the sins and

offenses

one knowingly, willingly commits.

 

 

Lack of Purity

 

One’s attitude towards Hari’s name suffers from an impurity if one approaches

him for the fruit of karma or jnana. Therefore, it is an aparadha to interpret

or utilize Hari’s name as a means to a goal other than bhakti. Likewise, it is

an aparadha to consider meditation on Hari’s name to be a mundane pursuit that

bestows mundane fruit.

 

 

Lack of Faith

 

Lack of love for Hari’s name will result when one thinks that what the

scripture,

the Guru, and the VaiSNavas say about Hari’s name is just an exaggeration or

a fairy-tale.

 

 

Also, one lacks faith in the delicate, sublime, and personal nature of Hari’s

name if one carelessly tosses it to those who have no inclination to develop

love for Hari.

 

 

Lack faith ultimately manifests in a lack of love for and attachment to Hari’s

name.

 

 

Conclusion

 

One who is trying to manifest love for Hari in one’s heart must naturally

desist

from activities that indicate and nourish an unloving attitude towards him.

Jiva

Goswami has prepared an extensive list of such things. By constantly

endeavoring

to express and internalize a loving attitude to Hari and Hari’s name, one will

automatically be free from all these aparadha and will manifest Bhava Bhakti.