Śrī Śrī Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 22 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

কৃষ্ণসেবা কামার্পণে,        ক্রোধ ভক্তদ্বেষী-জনে,

লোভ সাধুসঙ্গে হরিকথা ।

মোহ ইষ্টলাভ বিনে,        মদ কৃষ্ণগুণ-গানে,

নিযুক্ত করিব যথা তথা ॥ ২২ ॥

kṛṣṇa-sebā kāmārpaṇe,        krodha bhakta-dveṣī-jane,

lobha sādhu-saṅge hari-kathā |

moha iṣṭa-lābha bine,        mada kṛṣṇa-guṇa-gāne,

niyukta kariba yathā tathā || 22 ||

     Wherever appropriate, I shall engage my passion in Kṛṣṇa’s service, my anger toward people who are inimical to devotees, my greed in listening to hari-kathā in the association of sādhus, my illusion in feeling bewildered in Kṛṣṇa’s absence and my pride in singing joyfully about Kṛṣṇa’s qualities.

Serving Kṛṣṇa with Kāma and the Other Enemies

     Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In this verse, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is establishing the appropriate situations wherein kāma and so on can be engaged in Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s service. First he says, kṛṣṇa-sebā kāmārpaṇe. “I shall engage my kāma or passion in śrī-kṛṣṇa-sevā. ātmendriya-prīti icchā--tāre bali kāma, kāmera tātparya--nija sambhoga kebala (CC. Ādi 4.165, 166). By such statements it is understood that the movement of desire or passion is in the direction of one’s own happiness. If this kāma is instead utilized for Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s happiness, then it can be transformed into prema and counted as the ultimate goal of human life. kṛṣṇendriya-prīti-icchā--dhare prema nāma, kṛṣṇa-sukha-tātparya--haya prema ta prabala (CC. Ādi 4.165, 166). By this it is understood that the desire to make Kṛṣṇa happy is known as prema. When the verbal root kam is combined with the ghaṅ pratyaya, the word kāma is formed. By the application of the ka pratyaya, the verbal root prī becomes priya, and by the application of the iman pratyaya, the word prema is derived. The meaning of both the kam and prī verbal roots is ‘desire.’ Therefore, even though there is no difference in the characteristics of the words kāma and prema, there is a vast difference in their intention. Kāma is capricious and moving toward the sense objects. Prema is single-minded, like the Gaṅgā flowing toward the sea, moving without interruption toward Śrī Kṛṣṇa. After giving up the contemptible part of kāma, namely the pursuit of one’s own happiness, if one can utilize that kāma to pursue Bhagavān’s happiness, then kāma can be transformed into the ultimate goal of life or prema and be worthy of the highest praise. One can climb up and down a ladder, but one’s attention must be aimed above when climbing up and below when going down. In the same way, those whose kāma is aimed at their own happiness are bound by desires for sense enjoyment and must wander through various wombs and suffer the miseries of hell and so on. Those who take shelter of the path of bhajana employ the kāma or passion in their hearts toward Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s happiness. By the power of Bhakti Devī, that kāma gradually becomes spiritual and then finally unites with the essential nature of the hlādinī-śakti and receives the name prema. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.11.24, Śrī Bhagavān personally said to Śrī Uddhava, mad-arthe dharma-kāmārthān ācaran mad-apāśrayaḥ, labhate niścalāṁ bhaktiṁ mayy uddhava sanātane. “O Uddhava! A person who has taken shelter of me and performs acts of  righteousness, financial gain and enjoyment for my happiness is blessed with prema for me, the Eternal Supreme Being.” By performing actions related to the desire for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, all desires for mundane sense enjoyment come to an end. Śrī Bhagavān said to Śrī Nārada, mat-kāmaḥ śanakaiḥ sādhuḥ sarvān muñcati hṛcchayān (Bhāg. 1.6.23). “Those sādhus who carry a desire for me in their hearts gradually give up all other desires.” When the heart is devoid of other desires and full of desire for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, that is called prema.

     Then he says, krodha bhakta-dveṣī-jane. Anger, the great enemy and cause of harm to mankind, cannot actually be directly employed in any act of service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Still, if one’s anger is directed toward those who are inimical to the bhaktas, one’s bhakti becomes nourished. When a bhakta is subjected to vilification or malicious action by a person inimical to devotees, if a sādhaka does not show anger or intolerance, this demonstrates his lack of affection for Śrī Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.4.17, after witnessing the defamation of Śrīman Mahādeva at Dakṣa Prajāpati’s yajña, Śrī Satī Devī angrily said,

karṇau pidhāya nirayād yad akalpa īśe

dharmāvitary asṛṇibhir nṛbhir asyamāne |

chindyāt prasahya ruśatīm asatīṁ prabhuś cej

jihvām asūn api tato visṛjet sa dharmaḥ ||

     “If one hears someone making slanderous comments about his master, who is a protector of dharma, and is unable to kill that person or to die himself, then he should cover his ears and leave that place filled with anger. If able, he should by force cut out the abusive tongue of the fault-finder and then give up his own life. This is dharma.” Because a Vaiṣṇava’s body is suitable for bhajana, it is improper for him to abandon it. Rather, he should cover his ears, remember Śrī Viṣṇu and angrily leave that place. Therefore, the general rule is understood to be that the Vaiṣṇavas nourish their bhajana by using their destructive anger or intolerance against those who are inimical to the bhaktas.

     Moreover, lobha sādhu-saṅge hari-kathā. Lobha means greed. Even though in mundane matters greed causes the jīva great harm or is the root cause of the worldly disease, by employing it in hearing hari-kathā in the association of sādhus, it spontaneously blesses the sādhaka with the gift of prema and incidentally destroys hunger, thirst, fear, illusion and so on. An example of its munificence is tam eva nityaṁ śṛṇuyād abhīkṣṇaṁ kṛṣṇe’malāṁ bhaktim abhīpsamānaḥ (Bhāg. 12.3.15). “Simply by always hearing songs that praise Śrī Kṛṣṇa from the mouths of great souls, prema-bhakti for Śrī Kṛṣṇa is attained.” Regarding the destruction of hunger, thirst and other worldly qualities, Devarṣi Nārada said to Prācīnabarhi in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.29.40,

tasmin mahan-mukharitā madhubhic-caritra-

pīyūṣa-śeṣa-saritaḥ paritaḥ sravanti |

tā ye pibanty avitṛṣo nṛpa gāḍha-karṇais

tān na spṛśanty aśana-tṛḍ-bhaya-śoka-mohāḥ ||

     “O King! Someone may think that loving devotion for the Lord will appear by him contemplating the stories of Śrī Hari without the association of sādhus, but that is extremely unlikely. Unlike other topics of discussion, this hari-kathā constantly flows like a stream of nectar in all directions from a gathering of sādhus. After settling in a place where sādhus reside, those who are sufficiently devoid of worldly engagement and who drink the nectar of hari-kathā with attentive ears cannot be touched by hunger, thirst, fear, lamentation or illusion.” Furthermore, that greed for hearing hari-kathā in the association of sādhus is the supreme goal of life. When Śrī Bhagavān wanted to give a boon to Pṛthu Mahārāja in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.20.24, Pṛthu replied,

na kāmaye nātha tad apy ahaṁ kvacin

na yatra yuṣmac-caraṇāmbujāsavaḥ |

mahattamāntar-hṛdayān mukha-cyuto

vidhatsva karṇāyutam eṣa me varaḥ ||

     “O Lord! I have no need for any kind of liberation wherein there is no nectar of your lotus feet flowing from the hearts of the great souls through their lips in the form of songs about your wonderful qualities. Please give me thousands of ears through which I can nourish my life by always hearing the stories of your virtues. This is the greatest boon for me.” By this it is understood that lobha or greed for hearing hari-kathā in the association of sādhus is the ultimate goal of life. 

     Then he says, moha iṣṭa-lābha bine. When a person’s desire for sense enjoyment or his attachment to the body and things related to it covers his self-knowledge, making him unable to understand matters of truth, that is called moha or illusion. The wise bhakti-sādhaka, in the absence of attaining Śrī Bhagavān or his direct sevā, accepts the resultant illusion or delusion as being caused by his separation from Bhagavān and engages it in bhajana. The purport is that by hearing about, glorifying and remembering Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the sādhaka receives transcendental joy. Within this joy, it is necessary that the sādhaka always feels anxiety or sorrow about his separation from Bhagavān or lack of the direct attainment of his goal. Otherwise, a state akin to self-satisfaction appears and delays his attainment of direct sevā. Just as by the union of a man and woman a child is produced, in the same way, if utkaṇṭhā or anxiety is joined with prema, darśana of Śrī Bhagavān is possible. Even though Śrī Rūpa, Sanātana, Raghunātha and the rest of the Six Gosvāmīs were direct associates of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, in the absence of attaining their object of desire, they have expressed such transcendental feelings of separation and anxiety. This is known by studying their biographies. Their powerful feelings of separation, anxiety, illusion and delusion regarding their object of desire have stood like the summit of Mt. Sumeru as an everlasting example for the bhakti-sādhakas of the world. If the diligent sādhaka accepts this enemy moha as an infirmity related to his feelings of separation from his beloved deity, then in a short time he can be blessed with the Lord’s darśana and sevā. 

     Finally he says, mada kṛṣṇa-guṇa-gāne. The meaning of the word mada is pride or vanity. This is extremely destructive to one’s bhakti. A proud or vain person is very far from Śrī Bhagavān. ahaṅkāra-nivṛttānāṁ keśava nahi dūragaḥ, ahaṅkāra-yutānāṁ hi madhye parvata-rāśayaḥ. “Keśava is very near to one who has given up self-conceit and mountain ranges away from an arrogant person.” But the intelligent bhakti-sādhaka who hasn’t yet destroyed his pride or vanity engages it by singing songs of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s qualities in great elation. (One meaning of the word mada is mattatā: intoxication, madness, great elation, state of being beside oneself.) The purport is that when the bhakta becomes intoxicated by singing songs about Kṛṣṇa’s qualities, he is very quickly blessed with the attainment of prema. Intoxication from singing about Kṛṣṇa is also described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.3.20 as being an ultimate goal of life,

ekāntino yasya na kañcanārthaṁ

vāñchanti ye vai bhagavat-prapannāḥ |

atyadbhutaṁ tac-caritaṁ sumaṅgalaṁ

gāyanta ānanda-samudra-magnāḥ ||

     In the context of his prayers to Śrī Bhagavān, Śrī Gajendra said, “O Lord! Those single-minded devotees who have taken shelter of your lotus feet desire nothing. By singing of the wonderful and auspicious pastimes of Śrī Hari, they become intoxicated and drown in the ocean of joy.”

     Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is saying, “By employing kāma and the other enemies here and there in my bhagavad-bhajana, I shall accept them as aids to my sādhana rather than great impediments.” In the previous verse, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya resolved to engage the six enemies in various situations while performing his bhajana. He has ingeniously shown in a truly novel way the situations in which desire, anger, greed, illusion and pride can be employed in bhajana. But he can find no place for one of the six enemies: mātsarya or envy. When a person sees someone else’s excellent qualities but does not appreciate them or is unable to tolerate them, or he becomes morose when thinking about them, that is mātsarya. Even though Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has resolved to ascertain places for the six enemies, he has remained silent about the occurrence of envy. By this it must be understood that if one does not destroy this enemy mātsarya, he cannot attain any kind of eligibility for doing bhajana. Only sādhus who are free from envy are qualified for bhāgavata-dharma. In the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we see, nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām (1.1.2). If even a faint presence of envy finds a place in one’s heart, one is deprived of the eligibility for bhakti. Therefore, there is no other way for the sādhaka than to expel this mātsarya from his heart. There is only one way to drive this greed from one’s heart and that is by showing kindness and sincere affection toward all. Understanding that Kṛṣṇa is in their hearts, one should give appropriate respect to all living entities. jībe sammāna dibe jāni kṛṣṇa-adhiṣṭhāna (CC. Antya 20.25).