Confession in Gaudiya Vaishnavism

[Guest guest]

What importance does confession have in Gaudiya Vaishnavism? Is it mandatory or voluntary? Are there any papers written by religious authorities(in GV) about confession? I found a website that mentioned 2 scriptural references about confession of sin in Hinduism.

 

{http} ://{www} .hinduism.co.za/sin.htm#Confession%20of%20sin

 

Confession of sin

 

The Mahabharata

Anusasana Parva, Section CLXII

Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli

 

Addressing King Yudhishthira, Bhishma said:

The heart of the sinful man always proclaims the sins he has committed. Those men who have deliberately committed sins meet with destruction by seeking to conceal them from the good. Indeed, they that are confirmed sinners seek to conceal their sinful acts from others. Such persons think that their sins are witnessed by neither men nor the deities. The sinful man, overwhelmed by his sins, takes birth in a miserable order of being. The sins of such a man continually grow, even as the interests the usurer charges (on the loan he grants) increase from day to day.

 

If, having committed a sin, one seeks to have it covered by righteousness, that sin becomes destroyed and leads to righteousness instead of other sins. If a quantity of water be poured upon salt, the salt immediately dissolves away. Even so, when expiation is performed, sin dissolves away. For these reasons, one should never conceal a sin. Concealed, it is certain to increase. Having committed a sin, one should confess it in the presence of those that are good. They would destroy it immediately.

_

 

From The Mahabharata

Anusasana Parva, Section CXI

Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli

 

Vrihaspati said:

That man who, having perpetrated sinful acts through stupefaction of mind, feels the pangs of repentance and sets his heart on contemplation (of the deity), has not to endure the consequences of his sins. One becomes freed from one’s sins in proportion as one repents for them.If one having committed a sin, O king, proclaims it in the presence of Brahmanas (priests) conversant with duties, one becomes quickly cleansed from the obloquy arising from one’s sin. Accordingly as one becomes cleansed therefrom fully or otherwise, like a snake freed from his diseased slough.

[theist]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=400 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=left>Main Entry: <SUP>1</SUP>re·pent

Pronunciation: <TT>ri-'pent</TT>

Function: verb

Etymology: Middle English, from Old French repentir, from re- + pentir to be sorry, from Latin paenitEre -- more at PENITENT

intransitive senses

1 : to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life

2 a : to feel regret or contrition b : to change one's mind

transitive senses

1 : to cause to feel regret or contrition

2 : to feel sorrow, regret, or contrition for

- re·pent·er noun </TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Repentance is the whole process of sadhana bhakti. We should become conscious of our bad habits of thoughts, words and deeds and then cultivate righteous thoughts, words and deeds in their place.

 

This is much more than just trying to become moral in the mundane sense. We must have a change of heart from the very core and transform our motives from trying to be the enjoyer and desire instead to become the servant of the Enjoyer.

 

There is a Biblical statement that before God the righteousness of man is but filthy rages. We can't do this alone and require the Lord to purify us. So we have to approach the Lord with a contrite heart and ask for His mercy.

[theist]

 

What importance does confession have in Gaudiya Vaishnavism? Is it mandatory or voluntary?

 

Tina,

 

I would have to say it is both mandatory and voluntary between each soul and the Lord. The true confessional being in the heart. I have never heard of any formal arrangement like Catholics have but perhaps there is.

 

I believe this confessioning with contrition and subsequent turning to rightousness is always coming up as one chants his beads mindfully. At least in the preliminary stages of chanting where most of us are.

 

I believe it to be mandatory because it is necessary to achieve a change of heart. I believe it is voluntary because every soul has free will in these matters.

[Kripamoya]

But we confess to the Lord, not to the whole world who would ridicule and despise us.

 

Canakya Pandit said that we should not admit our faults in public.

 

We confess to God and admit that we know we have done wrong.

 

We don't get on the internet and tell everybody about all our dirty little secrets.

 

That doesn't accomplish anything.

 

There are plenty of others around to tell all our sins.

We don't need to be a party to our own disgrace.

[Guest guest]

thanks for your replies, I find the idea of confession, an important part of my faith. and it seems to be compatable w/ gauidya vaishnavism.

[theist]

Fits right in.

[Guest guest]

 

But we confess to the Lord, not to the whole world who would ridicule and despise us.

 

Canakya Pandit said that we should not admit our faults in public.

 

We confess to God and admit that we know we have done wrong.

 

We don't get on the internet and tell everybody about all our dirty little secrets.

 

That doesn't accomplish anything.

 

There are plenty of others around to tell all our sins.

We don't need to be a party to our own disgrace.

 

I agree with that view. We don't need to confess our sins to Brahmins since some brahmins are sinfull themselves, especially in this day and age. We shouldn't have any intermediaries between us and God, we should confess directly and work on accululating good karma.

[Guest guest]

What about the verse in Mahabharata that tells on to confess to brahmins(priests)? Is that a qualified translation of the verse?

[Kripamoya]

 

What about the verse in Mahabharata that tells on to confess to brahmins(priests)? Is that a qualified translation of the verse?

 

It depends on who said that.

Was he a pure Vaishnava or was he speaking about karma-kanda ?

 

You need a more definitive explanation of who said it to whom and why?

 

The reference is too vague at this point to really understand it.

[stonehearted]

It was spoken by Brihaspati:

 

Vrihaspati said:

That man who, having perpetrated sinful acts through stupefaction of mind, feels the pangs of repentance and sets his heart on contemplation (of the deity), has not to endure the consequences of his sins. One becomes freed from one’s sins in proportion as one repents for them.If one having committed a sin, O king, proclaims it in the presence of Brahmanas (priests) conversant with duties, one becomes quickly cleansed from the obloquy arising from one’s sin. Accordingly as one becomes cleansed therefrom fully or otherwise, like a snake freed from his diseased slough.

This is likely an instruction applicable to those following karma kanda, which is one reason Vyasadeva was disheartened even after all the work he had done in organizing the different kinds of vedic texts.

 

I think confession is good for the soul, as they say, but we must be careful about whom we choose to confess to. We should find someone whose own life won't be disturbed by hearing your sins, and whom we can trust to keep them confidential. If the sins are direct offenses against others, the best confessor would be the victim. Ask humbly and guilelessly for forgiveness. That's especially important in the case of offenses against saintly persons because even the Lord says that He is incompetent to absolve us of such offenses; only those whom we have offended can offer absolution.

[Guest guest]

good post!