Offences , making mistakes and 4 defects of the conditioned soul

[Paramananda das]

dear devotees

Please accept my humble obaisences

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

 While reading Stavamrta Lahari by Srila Visvanath Chakravati Thakura and chanting my daily 64 rounds, some inspirations from the lotusfeet of Krsna came to me.

   A  former student asked me how Brahma could make so much offences to Krsna and Indra to Krsna.  However later  he turned   angry with me for disciplining him.

 Srila Prabhupada once said just as I forgive you , you must forgive your god brothers of their offences.

 As a young man I read a buddhist book that stated that no one would make a mistake if he was aware it was a mistake .However we are all conditioned souls with 4 imperfections.

 BG 16.24, Purport: 

One who is directly engaged in all these devotional activities is to be understood as having studied all Vedic literature. He has come to the conclusion perfectly. Of course, for the ordinary persons who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or who are not engaged in devotional service, what is to be done and what is not to be done must be decided by the injunctions of the Vedas. One should act accordingly, without argument. That is called following the principles of śāstra, or scripture. Śāstra is without the four principal defects that are visible in the conditioned soul: imperfect senses, the propensity for cheating, certainty of committing mistakes, and certainty of being illusioned. These four principal defects in conditioned life disqualify one from putting forth rules and regulations. Therefore, the rules and regulations as described in the śāstra—being above these defects—are accepted without alteration by all great saints, ācāryas and great souls.

Conversation with the GBC -- May 25, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Authorized. That people will refer to our books. So we have to very cautiously print our literatures. It is not ordinary literature, fiction, or something, story. Just like Bhagavad-gītā and Bhāgavata. They are not ordinary. literature. Without any four defects of human frailties. Bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsa, also... We are following those literatures. So our writing should be so authorized that in future one may not find any fault, contradiction. We shall have to, cautiously. The ideas are given there now... In future of course, it requires that we shall increase (indistinct). But for the present, we have to push on this movement with positive, I mean to say, conviction, that here is God. God is neither dead, nor every one of you is God, nor is He imperson. God is a person and we give you His name, address, father's name, activities. Here is God. So, we have to (indistinct). So if you have got any doubt about it, then you cannot do it. If you have got any doubt that whether Kṛṣṇa is positive God or (indistinct) then you cannot do it. That is the first qualification. If you are yourself not convinced, how you can convince others?

In the  

CC Adi 7.107 we read:

 

 

bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā, karaṇāpāṭava
īśvarera vākye nāhi doṣa ei saba

SYNONYMS

bhrama—mistake; pramāda—illusion; vipralipsā—cheating purposes; karaṇa-apāṭava—inefficiency of the material senses; īśvarera—of the Lord; vākye—in the speech; nāhi—there is not; doṣa—fault; ei saba—all this.

TRANSLATION

“The material defects of mistakes, illusions, cheating and sensory inefficiency do not exist in the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

A mistake is the acceptance of an object to be different from what it is or the acceptance of false knowledge. For example, one may see a rope in the dark and think it to be a serpent, or one may see a glittering oyster shell and think it to be gold. These are mistakes. Similarly, an illusion is a misunderstanding that arises from inattention while hearing, and cheating is the transmission of such defective knowledge to others. Materialistic scientists and philosophers generally use such words as “maybe” and “perhaps” because they do not have actual knowledge of complete facts. Therefore their instructing others is an example of cheating. The final defect of the materialistic person is his inefficient senses. Although our eyes, for example, have the power to see, they cannot see that which is situated at a distance, nor can they see the eyelid, which is the object nearest to the eye. To our untrained eyes the sun appears to be just like a plate, and to the eyes of one who is suffering from jaundice everything appears to be yellow. Therefore we cannot rely on the knowledge acquired through such imperfect eyes. The ears are equally imperfect. We cannot hear a sound vibrated a long distance away unless we put a telephone to our ear. Similarly, if we analyze all our senses in this way, we will find them all to be imperfect. Therefore it is useless to acquire knowledge through the senses. The Vedic process is to hear from authority. In the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 4.2) the Lord says, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ: “The supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way.” We have to hear not from a telephone but from an authorized person, for it is he who has real knowledge.

In Bhagavad Gita Krsna has Stated: 

Chapter 15, Verse 16. 
There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every entity is called infallible.

Chapter 15, Verse 17. 
Besides these two, there is the greatest living personality, the Lord Himself, who has entered into these worlds and is maintaining them.

Chapter 15, Verse 18. 
Because I am transcendental, beyond both the fallible and the infallible, and because I am the greatest, I am celebrated both in the world and in the Vedas as that Supreme Person.

Chapter 15, Verse 19. 
Whoever knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, is to be understood as the knower of everything, and He therefore engages himself in full devotional service, O son of Bharata.

 

 

So should we try to forgive those who have very much wronged us.Sure, but have they learned from their mistakes? Krsna says Api ced sudaracaro .....

 

The power to forgive, to punish to remember Krsna ,to become sinless and remain sinless ,all stages of being comes from Krsna.

 

 

Chapter 15, Verse 15. 
I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas I am to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.

 

 

much more can be said about this ...but some  defects are not good such as when someone does not chant even minimum 16 rounds and follow 4 regs, get divorced and remarried again and again.Stealing is a bad thing. I have seen so many so called devotees having stolen vaisnava litterature from me and never returned them even when I requested them.In ISKCON LA someone stole my Gaura Nitai Deities...many years ago.

 What to speak of that I have seen my former so called ISKCON Guru steal money and marry a female disciple.So many defects....Api ced sudaracaro?

 Krsna talks in the 11 Canto of Bhagavatam about seeing the good over focusing on the negative.So how do we remember someone that had other devotees murdered we should just see his good qualities certainly not. Krsna does not want His devotees to be blind. Yes if someone is on a lower level of Bhakti and manufacture devotional service without following the rules and regulations of bhakti then what to do? Leave it to Krsna or let someone else deal with it? It is based on our relationship with this person.There are some so called devotees that are nasty ,lazy and neophyte ,and offensive and materialistic,  should they be avoided  yes ,for sure.The rest we should associate with with eagerness

  vaisnava das anu das

Paramananda das