What if a devotee finds avoiding offences difficult in kaliyuga?
A girl devotee (Name hidden) asked like this: asked like this:
Hare Krishna Prabhu , Dandvat Pranam ..i ‘d a question to ask…in this age of kali ??????AVOIDING OFFENSES is very difficult…. not to think anything if you have seen or heard or felt something worng from a Vaishnava. How to avoid this aparadha? Plz guide
REPLY:
If a person loves a person of opposite sex, how he/ she behaves?
He/ she sacrifices so many things for his/ her lover.
If the lover does not like mango, he/she too stops eating mangoes.
(How to deal if we find any devotee committing offenses? READ HERE!)
If the lover does not like a hero, he/ she too avoids seeing the movies of that hero.
If the lover is suffering from fever, he/ she too stops taking food.
Isn’t it?
What this means?
If we love a person, we have to sacrifice something and we have to alter our preferences in life.
Why we need to alter our preferences?
Because we like to become equal in the good qualities like our lover.
This is true love.
Similarly, if you truly love Krishna, you need to develop the qualities that Krishna has atleast to a small level.
(How should a brahmachari behave to avoid offenses? READ HERE!)
One of the major quality Krishna has is PURITY, ie, RENUNCIATION.
Krishna is fully renounced in all His activities. He owns everything, but, He does not have attachments with them. He satisfies the wishes of all His devotees, but, still, He gives everything in a renounced platform.
Similarly, if we like to love Krishna, we too need to develop purity.
When purity comes?
Only when we renounce material attachments. Material things are in fact contamination in our devotion.
Unless we detach from material things and act as just instruments in the hands of Krishna, we can’t become pure from attachments and we will feel avoiding offences difficult.
Ok, how to develop material detachment?
To develop material detachment, we have to lead a regulated life. Hence, it is advised to follow four major regulative principles.
(I stopped chanting and involved in offenses because I got no benefits. What to do? READ HERE!)
What are they?
No meat eating;
No Gambling;
No intoxication, and
No illicit sex.
These are the four kinds of major offences that pull us from our devotion to Krishna and involve us in materialistic life.
If we eat meat, we develop Rajo and Tamo gunas and hence our body induces us to commit offences.
If we gamble, we develop abnormal desire in money and wealth making. So, we can’t desert attachments with wealth.
If we use intoxicants such as cigarette, liquor, Ganja, etc, they make our mind addicted to them and makes us always think and use them. So, we will always be in an artificial and imaginary world.
If we have illicit sex, it will increase day by day and we will continue to involve in illicit sex and invite issues within two families, diseases and problems through opposite sex like blackmailing, accusing, reporting, etc.
(Will my chanting with offenses offer benefits? What is the benefit if pure chanting? READ HERE!)
So, if we make the above four offences, we will always involve in them and we will not be able to think of Krishna.
That is why, it is said that if we do not love Krishna truly, we will not sacrifice our material attachments.
So, develop sincere love on Krishna. Believe Him and believe that He is always with you. By developing this faith in Krishna, you can develop love on Krishna.
If you find avoiding offences difficult, you start to love Krishna sincerely, you will automatically start to desert material attachments one by one for going closer to Krishna.
We can’t go closer to Krishna unless we become pure.
A dry wood can associate with the fore and burn in it. How can a water soaked wood associate with the fire? The water is blocking the wood from getting burnt. So, we should make our mind dry without attachments that will take us closer to Krishna..
Start taking efforts from now.
All the best.
(Is thinking of sinful acts equal to the sins in actions? READ HERE!)