Guidance, Volume 3

The Unrenounceable

Even if you renounce everything, there is still something that cannot be renounced—that is either 'paramartha' (greatest wealth; spiritual asset) or 'parama anartha' (greatest evil; unwanted elements). The object of spiritual thirst is spiritual asset: you give up everything to attain service to Krishna, and what you give up does not include spiritual matters and service to Krishna. In other words, you cannot give up Him for whom you give up everything. If those who give up everything give up service to the Lord or spiritual assets, then they are called 'mayavadi', 'sunyavadi', etc. That which is not to be given up when you give up everything is the true sense of the word 'spiritual asset' (paramartha).

Anartha (unwanted elements, evils) is to be renounced. The meaning of the word 'artha' is 'necessity'. There are unnecessary (anartha) things that can be used to keep the body healthy and nourished, but there are such things as food waste, excrements, things that are unnecessary for the bodily upkeep, and they are to be rejected—if one does not give up such things, their health goes down. It is necessary to see what things are necessary and what things are unnecessary for one's own body, i.e. the transcendental body.

The things that are of paramount necessity for the transcendental body, or the well-being of the soul, are called spiritual (paramartha), and the things that are not necessary for the transcendental body are called unwanted, valueless (anartha). Such unwanted things are to be rejected like stool, urine, etc. If one gives up all anarthas and there remains one anartha, it is called parama anartha, or the greatest evil. What is it? The scriptures say:

sarva-tyage 'hy pyaheya yah sarvanartha-bhuvas cha te
sursyuh pratistha-visthaya yatnama-sparsane varam

(Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa, 20.18)

It means: that which remains unrenounced when you renounce everything is the cause of all anarthas; it is called pratistha (name and fame) and it is compared to stool. One must try to steer clear of it.

Great souls compare pratistha to pig's stool. Stool is an unnecessary and renounceable matter, yet even though it is to be rejected, there are souls who hold it as necessary and acceptable. There are species like dogs, pigs, etc. that actually take refuse considering it necessary and essential. Such is the nature of the desire for name and fame. One may give up all anarthas, but the desire for pratistha will be still there. When you advance and try to become religious-minded, you say "artham-anartham bhavaya nityam" and renounce money; you say "ka tava kanta kaste putrah" and give up you wife and sons—you can give up your beloved and all your wealth and become a renounced person, but then you cannot give up the pride that you have become a renunciate!

You can see in this world: what people do not do out of greed for honour, out of desire for name and fame! If you look at the mentality of everyone, from a young boy to an old man, even of some of the more intelligent animals, then you will see that for the sake of fame everyone can put their dear and near ones down. You may speak to some small child affectionately, you may pet some low species (e.g. a dog that ran away from home), but after that you will use them when you need it. At the same time, when you ill-treat another living being, they get so angry that many unthinkable, gruesome things are done by them. University students put their life at stake trying to study. The competition among the worldwide nations causes irreparable loss. Becoming crazed by the desire for fame, people put their heads into the jaws of ferocious animals (mad lions, tiger, etc.) without hesitation. Driven by the desire for pratistha, people sacrifice their lives on battlefields. To win public opinion people venture to fight against the government and become imprisoned. To this day terrorism still poses a great problem, but even its root cause also lies within that strong drive for name and fame. Even if people cannot enjoy fame during their life, they want to secure fame after their life! Such is the play of pratistha! This race, driven by the desire for women and wealth, continues eternally for as long as one is alive, but the desire for name and fame stays there even after death. That is why moralists say, "Kirtir yasya sa jivati: those who leave a good name behind them live forever." Lured by this proposal, people do not hesitate to give their life—even if they know very well that they cannot attain fame during their lifetime, obsessed with the desire to enjoy their mind, people stake their death in an attempt to gain fame for future, when they are no more. Obsessed by this drive, some write books; some become historians; some, poets; some, artists; some, marine researchers; some, conch and horn poachers; some, North Pole and South Pole explorers; and some stake their lives by living among ferocious animals in a forest.

Some may say that all these explorers were driven in their various exploits by the desire to help mankind, or altruism, rather than the desire for pratistha, recognition. Today, but for their exploration spirit, Portugese sailor Vasco da Gama would not have discovered the Cape of Good Hope on his way to Africa, Italian sailor Christopher Columbus would not have discovered America on his way to India—even today, if Nansen, Peary, Scott, Ross, Shakleton, Amundsen and others had not risked their lives trying to research the North and South Poles—if the Victoria Falls, African desserts as well as various forests, mountains, rivers, lakes, islands, etc. had not been discovered—our fund of knowledge, our civilisation would have been very poor. Therefore, we must not say that explorers and researchers are driven in their various endeavours by the desire for fame. The founder of homoeopathy Dr. Samuel Hahnemann had applied so much poison to his own body to eventually achieve worldwide recognition for helping future mankind. Was he driven only by the desire for pratistha? When Prof. Charles and his assistant Robert launched a hydrogen-filled balloon into the air, they risked their lives, but who could have known that in the future, at the end of the century, there would be invented an aeroship and an aeroplane? Scientists like martyrs sacrifice their lives in order to invent every single thing for the benefit of the world! How can it be said that their endeavours are driven by the desire for fame?

Our brain is filled with the thoughts of how to take advantage of the world (so-called opportunism), and there is no space in it for any other, however tiny, higher thought! It is considered that this great materialist mankind is driven by altruism, but unless their vision is directed exclusively towards the Supreme Lord, then no matter how ostensibly beautiful and exalted their altruism may seem, it is nothing more than just another form of the quest for name and fame in disguise of individual or collective opportunism. People either enjoy honour and fame in a narrow, localised way by applying it to their mundane self only or they expand it and extend this desire for name and fame from the self to a particular nation or country. This individual desire to enjoy name and fame and the feeling of pride for oneself unites the entire world whereas extended selfishness is actually much greater, much more widespread.

If there is no pursuit of universal or national altruism, why must people give a particular person monopoly and pay the tax of pratistha? The question that arises is whether this altruism is selfless or not. If you look into altruism and its nature, you can see that it is tinted by the rays of a very subtle ego of a great scientist; therefore, it can be said that if the goal of altruism is to make other souls or a particular nation happy instead of making the Supreme Being happy, then such altruism can never be selfless. As the saying goes, it is like "killing a cow to donate shoes" [the Indian version of the proverb "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"].

In India, a rsi invents a medicine made of fat of a castrated goat, and in Germany, Dr. Hahnemann invents new medicine for the mankind risking his own life—this is accomplished through the cruelty towards other species, not through altruism towards them. Homoeopathic medicine is based on alcohol, cantharis (insects), etc.—it cannot be obtained unless some low life-form is destroyed in one way or another. At the same time, neither Indian ayurvedic propounder Charak, not Dr. Hehnemann, nor anybody else is capable of giving life to a man, what to speak of creating even one ant. In many fields it can be observed that scientists can only give relief to the intensity of a particular disease, because when they, driven by altruism, try to help one species, they inevitably cause disservice to some other species (moreover, in medicine sometimes to help one person, the doctor has to take blood from another person, and sometimes they are even compelled to let one person lose their life in order to save another person's life).

In this way, such faulty communal thinking, driven by the desire to help others and couched externally as altruism, is actually internally infested with the intoxicating hidden desire for recognition and prestige.

When we become possessed by a ghost, we do not realise it—that is called maya (illusion). Not to mention the economic field, when we call ourselves spiritual seekers, we become overwhelmed by the anarthas of material gain, worship, and prestige, and we are not aware that we are being attacked by them. Women, money, and renunciation go side by side with false renunciation, and the person does not realise that he may give up everything but may not be able to give up the desire for pratistha. One may wear the clothes of a renunciate, one may renounce all clothes and stay only in a loincloth, one may stay in a forest of Vraja(?) and live on madhukari, not touch anything material, not take disciples, not lock the house, not stay in one place for more than a day—one may seem to be absolutely alone(!!) externally—but even having given everything up (not even touching anything material, not living in any house, etc.), one may still be unable to give up pratistha. That is why Srila Sanatan Goswami Prabhu said that pratistha is what you cannot give up even when you give up everything; pratistha is the mother of all anarthas (unwanted elements, evils).

A peculiar power of this desire for pratistha is that when you have it, you do not realise it, just as when you are possessed by a ghost, you do not realise it. Economists describe it as "last remains of noble mind."

Materially speaking, this can be described as "last remains of noble mind": even if you give up everything out of good intention, you still cannot give up this desire for self-establishment. As altruistic movements are deemed great and noble, there is no objection against this matter, but even if you have good intentions, you will not be able to avoid entering into slavery to the desire for name and fame.

If it is impossible to give something up, why should one fight against it? If it is impossible to give something up, then it would be wise to try to find a way how to make the best of a bad bargain. However, we must not jump out of the frying pan into the fire by trying to find this way ourselves, relying on our imagination and ideas, for that would bring about an even greater danger. There are perfect experts in this matter who have explained the method, and it would be best for us to take their guidance. As we have told before, if you renounce everything and there is still something that cannot be renounced, that is either 'paramartha' (spiritual asset) or 'parama anartha' (greatest evil). What we must ask is whether it is possible to turn pratistha into a spiritual asset without it being the greatest of evils. We can find the solution in a song written by a great soul:

jadera pratistha, sukarera vistha
jana na ki taha mayara vaibhava
vaisnavi pratistha ta'te kara nistha
taha na bhajile labhibe vairava

"Material name and fame are pig's stool. Do you not know that it is a part of maya, illusory environment? You must firmly establish yourself as a servant of the Lord; otherwise, if you disregard it, you will go to hell."

Mundane prestige (pratistha) is like the stool of a stool-eating pig—it is abominable and must be rejected, but for the people of this material world who are averse to the Lord and compared in Srimad Bhagavatam to wild, or village, stool-eating hogs, it is the most covetable food. That is why it is called a play of maya. There is no greater play in the kingdom of maya than this.

When one uses all things as ingredients and articles for the service of the Lord and turns everything into a spiritual matter, then for them even pratistha is utilised as an article or ingredient for the service of the Lord and becomes spiritual. That is called Vaishnavi pratistha, and we must firmly fix ourselves in this realisation. If we do not become fixed in this self-realisation, then the football can bounce off to either enjoyment or atheistic renunciation. "I am the carrier of the shoes of the Lord's servants"—if we do not have this deep feeling of self-identity within our hearts, if while giving up various anarthas we are also ready to give up that which is favourable to the service of the Lord because due to our ego we consider it to be one of the anarthas, then it will never be possible for us to accept the only one thing that is necessary for the service to the Lord with the strongest faith. That is why Lord Sri Gaurasundar, as a gardener who strings garlands with flowers from the wish-fulfilling tree of divine love (prema-kalpa-vrksa), said:

ataeva saba phala deha' yabe tare
khaiya hauka loka ajara amare
jagat vyapiya mora ha'be punya khyati
sukhi haiya loke mora gahibeka kirti

"Distribute this Krishna consciousness movement all over the world. Let people eat these fruits and ultimately become free from old age and death. If the fruits are distributed all over the world, My reputation as a pious man will be known everywhere, and thus all people will glorify My name with great pleasure."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.9.39–40)

From the conversation that took place between Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Ray we also hear:

kirtigana madhye jivera kona bada kirti?
'krsna-bhakta' baliya yanhara haya khyati

"Out of all glorious activities, which is the most glorious? That person who is reputed to be a devotee of Lord Krishna enjoys the utmost fame and glory."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.245)

The stance of Krishna's servitor is the best pride and fame. It is not necessary to think that the name and fame that always follow a Vaishnav is temporary or a play of maya:

vaisnavera pachhe, pratisthasa achhe,
ta'ta kabhu nahe anitya vaibhava
se hari-sambandha, sunya maya-gandha,
taha kabhu naya jadera vaibhava

"Desire for name and fame follow Vaishnavs, but this is never a temporary effect. This kind of pratistha is related to the Lord and is devoid of any scent of maya (illusion), therefore it is never a mundane manifestation."

Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami Prabhu wrote about Srila Madhavendra Puri:

pratisthara svabhava ei jagate vidita
ye na vanchhe, ta'ra haya vidhata-nirmita
pratisthara bhaye puri rahe palana
krsna-preme pratistha chale sange gadana

"Name and fame come of their own accord; one may not wish for them, but they come as ordained by the providence. Madhavendra Puri ran away for the fear of pratistha, but the fame that Krishna-prema brings along follows the devotee everywhere."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.4.146–147)

Srila Madhavendra Puri did not make any deceitful hidden attempt to earn pratistha either on the pretext of service to Lord Krishna or on the pretext of giving up pratistha; therefore, those who imitate him are merely putting on a show while actually trying to gain pratistha on the pretext of giving up pratistha. That is why it is said by a great soul:

kirtana chhadiba, pratistha magiba,
ki kaj dhundiya tadrsa gaurava
madhavendra-puri, bhava-ghare churi
na karila kabhu sadai janava
tomara pratistha, sukarera vistha
ta'ta saha sama kabhu na manava
matsarata-vase, tumi jada-vase,
majechha chhadiya kirtana-sausthava

"You give up kirtan and seek prestige and position, but what is the use seeking such glory? Always remember that Madhavendra Puri never put on a show. Your fame is pig's stool. Never think it is one and the same as the fame of a great Vaishnav. You sink to endless jealousy and enjoyment of the material world, giving up the greatness of kirtan."

Mundane name and fame are the birthplace of envy. Envy means inability to tolerate others' progress. When one progresses or gets fame, we cannot hear them well anymore because we expect mundane fame for ourselves and become distraught when someone else gets it. What to speak of material prosperity, we pretend to have entered into the spiritual kingdom, but when we hear that another person progresses spiritually, we feel as if an arrow has pierced our heart. When such a mood and feeling come to someone, then we must know that they have not got even a tiniest trace of Vaishnavi pratistha (the realisation that "I am a servant of the Lord's servants") and their hearts are overcast by mundane pratistha. Therefore, bhagavat-dharma, or Vaishnav-dharma, is the religion of great sadhus who are devoid of envy. When a godbrother hears that another godbrother has more qualification in the service to the Lord, or has made more spiritual progress, and instead of becoming joyful, he feels pain and distraught, it means that his heart is possessed by the desire for name and fame, which is compared to a witch, a shameless dog-eating woman. Srila Raghunath Das Goswami is teaching us in his Manah-siksa:

pratisthasa dhrsta svapacha-ramani me hrdi natet
katham sadhu prema sprsati suchir-etan-nanu manah
sada tat sevasva prabhu-dayita-samantam-tulam
yatha tat niskasya tvari tamiha tat vesayati sah

"O mind! When this desire for pratistha, a lowly dog-eating woman, is dancing in my heart, why will pure love ever touch my heart? Mind, you are always serving petty kings and worldly leaders instead of devotees of the Lord. Sadhus expel this lowly dog-eating woman from the heart and establish there the divine love for the Lord and His devotees."

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CONTENTS:

• Foreword
• (Preface) Meaning of Festival
• What Is Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math and Its Distinctions
• "Without Lord Krishna Life Is Meaningless"
• The Unrenounceable
• Sri Radhastami
• Proper Renunciation
• Astakala-Lila
• Is Religion the Cause of National Downfall?
• Householders and Renunciates
• Provincialism and Service to the Lord
• Offenders
• Hell
• Devotional Mood (Bhakta-Bhav)
• Home-interest vs Math-interest
• Samsara and Bhakti
• Questions and Answers