The Danger

muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ
sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

O great sage, out of many millions of materially liberated people who are free from ignorance, and out of many millions of siddhas who have nearly attained perfection, there is hardly one pure devotee of Nārāyaṇa. Only such a devotee is actually completely satisfied and peaceful. (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 19.150)

Purport by Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda

This verse is quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.14.5). The nārāyaṇa–parāyaṇa, the devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, is the only blissful person. One who becomes a nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa is already liberated from material bondage. He already possesses all the perfections of yoga. Unless one comes to the platform of nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa and passes over the platform of bhukti-mukti-siddhi, he cannot be fully satisfied. That is the pure devotional stage.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)

One who desires nothing but Kṛṣṇa and who is not influenced by the process of jñāna-mārga (cultivation of knowledge) actually becomes free from ignorance. A first-class person is one who is not influenced by karma (fruitive activity) or yoga (mystic power). He simply depends on Kṛṣṇa and is satisfied in his devotional service. According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.17.28): nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati. Such a person is never afraid of anything. For him, heaven and hell are the same. Not knowing the situation of a nārāyaṇa–parāyaṇa, rascals become envious. By the grace of Nārāyaṇa, a devotee is situated in the most opulent position in the material world. Rascals are envious of Nārāyaṇa and His devotee, but the devotee endeavors to please another devotee of Nārāyaṇa because he knows that by pleasing Nārāyaṇa’s representative one directly pleases Lord Nārāyaṇa. Therefore a devotee offers the best comforts and facilities to his spiritual master. Outsiders who have no knowledge of Nārāyaṇa are envious of both Nārāyaṇa and His devotee. Consequently when they see that Nārāyaṇa’s devotee is opulently situated, they become even more envious. But when the devotee of Nārāyaṇa asks such foolish people to come live with him in the same comfortable situation, they do not agree because they cannot give up illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. Therefore the materialist refuses the company of a nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa, although he is envious of the devotee’s material situation. In Western countries when ordinary men – storekeepers and workers – see our devotees living and eating sumptuously and yet not working, they become very eager to know where they get the money. Such people become envious and ask, “How is it possible to live so comfortably without working? How is it you have so many cars, bright faces and nice clothes?” Not knowing that Kṛṣṇa looks after His devotees, such people become surprised, and some become envious.

Comment By Śrīpāda B.K. Araṇya Mahārāja

Here, the devotees may read this purport and think, “Oh yes! We can live in a nice place, drive nice cars, and wear nice clothes,” – because here in this purport, it is justified that Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, supplies all of these things to the devotees. But Mahāprabhu says:

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi

O Jagadīśa (Lord of the universe)! I do not desire wealth, followers or beautiful praise. In my heart, I only desire causeless bhakti unto You birth after birth. (Śīkṣāṣṭakam 4)

Therefore, one should not misuse this purport to justify living an opulent life, and thereby unnecessarily create envy in the minds of the common people. One should be very careful of that. Otherwise, one’s preaching will become ineffective, or one will only attract a certain class of people to Kṛṣṇa consciousness who are simply looking to exploit the environment. Rather than utilise all the facilities that come to them for preaching, they will use them for sense gratification.

For example, we see in Vṛndāvana that they have torn down Śrīla Prabhupāda’s gurukula, and they’re going to replace it with a shopping mall! From that, we can understand that there has been a psychological change in the minds of some devotees in relation to what was initially established by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda wanted twelve sannyāsīs managing and running the temple here in Vṛndāvana. In other words, he had a very high ideal. But now we have so many persons who are joining, and they’re being paid to engage in so-called ‘devotional service.’ Paying the pūjārīs is not devotional service – Śrīla Prabhupāda was 100% averse to that – what to speak of doing so here in Vṛndāvana, which is supposed to serve as an example to the rest of the world.

Certain aspects of the philosophy are being mispresented and misused. Here in India, we see that the second and third generation devotees are spending money on peripheral things such as buying very expensive cars – it’s absolutely unnecessary and a waste of money. When money is squandered and not utilised properly, the common people clearly see that and begin to criticise. And that criticism is not unwarranted because the devotees, especially those who are sannyāsīs, should not be flaunting that wealth in the face of the public. One should be very, very careful about this.

The danger is explicitly explained in Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Upadeśāmṛta, verse 2:

atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ
jana-saṅgas ca laulyaṁ ca ṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati

Eating too much or collecting more than necessary, performing extraneous endeavours that are against devotional service, speaking about mundane subject matters, neglecting the injunctions of the scriptures or blindly following scriptural injunctions, associating with mundane people and mental restlessness – these six things destroy devotional service.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja elaborates on this:

Atyāhāra means whatever we collect, and also to feed oneself more than necessary. Whatever I collect, I want a portion of that thing. We are all busily engaged in collecting things for our sense satisfaction. Whatever we shall require, we can interchange that into sense pleasure.

Herein lies the danger; that energy carries the karma of those from whom it originally came. Anyone who comes into contact with it, yet lacks the capacity to engage it fully in the service of the Lord, becomes inflected by it. That infection manifests as the acquisition of unnecessary opulence, which ultimately has a detrimental effect – not only on the individuals but also on those who observe them. It will bring a bad name to the wider mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

I wanted to make a comment on this particular verse in relation to the direction that the present Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava society is going in. In most cases, it is not very healthy, and it’s not what Śrīla Prabhupāda envisioned – especially for Vṛndāvana and also Māyāpura. A land mafia has practically taken over every square inch of Māyāpura, to sell, profit and build huge buildings. Firstly, this creates a very, very bad impression. It’s not what Prabhupāda envisioned for Māyāpura. Secondly, it’s creates a lot of envy – what to speak of the ecological disaster these buildings have created for the environment?

The same goes for Vṛndāvana – there’s garbage everywhere! They don’t know what to do with it. It’s just mounting and mounting. That is a reflection of the consciousness of the persons who are living in the area. They are mad after money, and at what cost? The spiritual sanctity of the dhāma is the price that’s paid. It is an offence to come to the dhāma with the expectation of exploiting it, in order to make money. That’s not the purpose of the dhāma. You want to make money? That’s fine – do it outside!

It is better to utilise wealth to beautify the dhāma in a way that would be pleasing to Nityānanda Prabhu, the master of Śrī Māyāpura-dhāma, and to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the Queen of Vṛndāvana. That was Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vision, and we should align ourself with that. In that way, we will reap the greatest benefit of devotional life. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

All glories to Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda! All glories to Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī! All glories to those who are following strictly in the line of the guru-paramparā!

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