Special Poetry: Viddhi | Sri Gaudiya Gitanjali

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SRI GAUDIYA GITANJALI : SPECIAL POETRY

Viddhi

Ten Offences to the Holy Name (Nama Aparadhas)

1) To criticise sadhus
2) To consider gods to be independent of or equal to Lord Krishna
3) To disrespect (disobey) the guru
4) To criticise revealed scriptures
5) To discuss the meaning of the Name
6) To consider the Name to be imaginary
7) To sin relying on the purifying strength of the Name
8) To equal chanting of the Holy Name to other pious activities
9) To give the Name to the faithless or out of material attachment
10) To be infatuated with the material life of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, to have no love and attachment for the Name

Four Offences to Sadhus (Vaishnav Aparadhas)

Offenders of Vaishnavs are those who find faults in Vaishnavs due to their
1) caste (origin)
2) occasional slips (due to being overpowered by material influence)
3) almost eradicated mistakes
4) mistakes committed prior to their surrender

Ten Offences to Holy Place (Dham Aparadhas)

1) To disrespect (disobey) the guru and sadhus, revealers of the dham
2) To consider the dham temporary, non-eternal
3) To envy or behave prejudiced towards dham's residents or pilgrims
4) To engage in material activities at the dham
5) Instead of serving the dham, to use Deities at the dham to earn money
6) To analyse or compare material places or demigod places to the dham
7) To sin relying on the purifying potency of the dham
8) To discriminate between Sri Nabadwip Dham and Sri Vrindavan Dham
9) To criticise scriptures describing the glories of the dham
10) To have no faith in the dham's glories, to consider them imaginary

Thirty-Two Offences to Service (Seva Aparadhas)

1) To enter the temple on a vehicle or wearing shoes;
2) Not to make festivals on the auspicious days of the Lord and devotees;
3) Not to pay obeisances in front of the Deity;
4) To glorify the Lord in an impure state of mind and body;
5) To offer obeisances with one hand;
6) To stroll in front of the Deity;
7) To stretch your legs out in front of the Deity;
8) To embrace your knees when sitting in front of the Deity;
9–17) To lie down, eat, tell lies, speak loudly, speak privately to another person, cry, quarrel, harass and treat another person partially in front of the Deity;
18) To behave or speak with common people in a rough, cruel way;
19) To cover yourself with a blanket when doing various services;
20) To criticise others in front of the Deity;
21) To praise others in front of the Deity;
22) To use harsh/foul language or ill-treat others in front of the Deity;
23) To pass wind in front the Deity;
24) To be stingy (having the means but not wanting to spend when arranging festivals and doing worship or other services);
25) To accept and eat unoffered food;
26) Not to offer seasonal fruit, crops and other products;
27) To feed first others and use the remainder to cook for the Lord;
28) To sit with your back to the Deity;
29) To greet others in front of the Deity;
30) To keep silence in front of the guru (not offering him praise, etc.);
31) To praise yourself in front of the guru;
32) To criticise gods

Sixty-Four Limbs of Devotion (Bhaktyanga)

1) To take shelter at the lotus feel of Sri Guru;
2) To receive initiation into the mantra;
3) To serve Sri Guru;
4) To learn about pure religion and make honest enquiry;
5) To follow the path of the sadhus;
6) To give up personal enjoyment out of love for Krishna;
7) To reside in a holy place of Lord Krishna;
8) To accept only what allows you to maintain life, only as much as required;
9) To fast on ekadasi;
10) To honour the dhatri and asvattha trees, cows, brahmans and Vaishnavs;
11) To give up all offences to service and the Holy Name;
12) To reject the association of non-devotees;
13) Not to make many disciples;
14) Not to try to become skilled in many scriptures (or read and listen to parts of scriptures to philosophise about their meaning);
15) To see loss and gain equally;
16) Not to be overcome by grief and other undesirable feelings;
17) Not to disrespect to other gods or scriptures;
18) Not to listen to criticism of Lord Vishnu and Vaishnavs;
19) Not to listen to ‘village talks’ (family news, talks about sense-pleasure);
20) Not to trouble the minds of other living entities (or: not to behave miserly or feel overly enthusiastic when starting some material work);
21) To listen about the Lord;
22) To chant the Lord’s Names and glories;
23) To remember the Lord;
24) To worship the Lord;
25) To offer obeisances to the Lord;
26) To serve the Lord;
27) To serve the Lord in the mood of a servant;
28) To serve the Lord in the mood of a friend;
29) To submit yourself to the Lord;
30) To dance in front of Deities;
31) To sing in praise of the Lord;
32) To speak humbly;
33) To offer prostrate obeisances;
34) To stand up when seeing the Lord or His devotee enter;
35) To walk behind to see off a devotee or the Lord when they travel or go away;
36) To come to the holy place and homes of devotees and the Lord;
37) To circumambulate holy places;
38) To recite verses in glorification of the Lord;
39) To chant the Holy Name on the beads;
40) To chant congregationally;
41) To honour the smell of the incense and flowers offered to the Lord;
42) To honour mahaprasad;
43) To take darsan of aratis and great festivals;
44) To take darsan of the Lord’s holy Deities;
45) To offer the Lord that which is dear to you;
46) To meditate on the Lord and His service;
47) To serve Tulasi;
48) To serve Vaishnavs;
49) To serve Mathura and other holy places;
50) To relish Bhagavatam;
51) To dedicate all efforts to the Lord;
52) To hanker for the Lord’s mercy;
53) To observe spiritual festivals together with devotees;
54) To surrender in all ways;
55) To observe Kartik and other vratas (devotional vows);
56) To applying Vaishnav symbols on your body (tilak marks on twelve parts of the upper body and tulasi beads on the neck);
57) To apply the Names of the Lord and His devotees, such as the ‘Hare Krishna’ maha-mantra or the Pancha-Tattva Names, on your upper body (when applying sandalwood);
58) To maintain purity (‘tvayopabhuktah srag-gandha…’);
59) To drink charanamrita;
60) To associate with saints (sadhu-sanga);
61) To chant the Holy Name (Nama-kirtan);
62) To listen to Bhagavatam (bhagavat-sravan);
63) To reside in Mathura (mathura-vasa);
64) To serve Deities with faith (sraddha-purvaka sri-murti-seva).

Five Places of Kali

1) Gambling (dyuta): cards, chess, dice, horse races, water games, gambling, lottery, shatranj, board games, etc. Lying resides in these activities. Engaging in these activities destroys truthfulness.

2) Intoxication (pan): betel nut, snuff, marijuana, opium, alcoholic drinks, hashish, poisonous plants (hemlock), thorn apple (datura), arrack, etc. and twelve kinds of alcohol drinks: fermented honey, sugar-cane, grapes, tal, dates, jackfruit, maireya (ram horn with jaggery), makshika (copper pyrite), tanka (a drink from day-old cooked rice), liquorice, coconut and rice. Pride resides in these. Consuming these things destroys compassion and mercy.

3) Illicit association (stri): association with women out of wedlock and fostering attachment to one’s lawful wife (as well as association with persons involved in such behaviour). Lust resides in this. Doing this destroys purity.

4) Slaughter (suna): to kill others to nurture your own body. Jealousy resides in killing other living entities, and it destroys truthfulness, mercy, purity and austerity. Those who perform or allow animal slaughter and those who cut, buy, sell, cook, serve or eat meat fall within the category of killers.

5) Gold (jata): gold, silver and money. Lying, pride, lust for illicit mixing, jealousy and animosity are present in this fifth unwanted element.

Five Diseases (Pancha-Roga)

1) Ignorance: forgetfulness of one’s own transcendental form.
2) False identification: considering oneself to be the gross, material body; love and attachment for other perishable bodies (men, women, etc.).
3) Misdirected love: deep attachment to the material things that are favourable to the body.
4) Aversion: aversion to the material things that are unfavourable to material enjoyment.
5) Misdirected attention: being attached to, or engrossed in, that which is favourable and when it is to be given up, being unable to tolerate it.

Unfavourable to Devotion

1) Urge of speech (vakya-vega): using words that disturb any living entities
2) Urge of mind (mana-vega): various desires and hankering
3) Urge of anger (krodha-vega): using harsh or rude language
4) Urge of tongue (jihva-vega): craving for any of the six tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, astringent, pungent)
5) Urge of stomach (udara-vega): overeating
6) Urge of genitals (upastha-vega): sexual cravings

Favourable to Devotion

1) Enthusiasm: eagerness to attend devotional events and practising with loving affection
2) Determination: firm faith
3) Patience: not slacking in your spiritual life even when seeing delay in attaining the desired end
4) Engaging in activities that nurture devotion: practising sravan, kirtan, etc. and abandoning for Lord Krishna personal pleasures and enjoyment
5) Giving up association: leaving the association of unscrupulous (unreligious) people, women in general and henpecking women, those who mix with women, and non-devotees (materialists, mayavadis, atheists and hypocritical believers)
6) Purity: following spiritual practices and mood of saints