Hare Krsna-Below are some quotes about the dangers of seeing the face of an offender or letting a dog see food that is to be offered to the Deity. Or letting karmis touch ones feet . If we do not place great importance on not letting these things happen it means we don’t really understand the subtleties of this Vaisnava philosophy.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
SB 7.5.23-24 purport...In the Varāha Purāṇa the following offenses are mentioned: (a) to eat in the house of a rich man, (b) to enter the Deity’s room in the dark, (c) to worship the Deity without following the regulative principles, (d) to enter the temple without vibrating any sound, (e) to collect food that has been seen by a dog,
Adi 17.73–When a student interpreted the glories of the holy name as a prayer of exaggeration, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, greatly unhappy, immediately warned everyone not to see the student’s face henceforward.
PURPORT
When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained the glories of the transcendental potency of the Lord’s holy name, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one unfortunate student said that such glorification of the holy name was an exaggeration in the śāstras to induce people to take to it. In this way the student interpreted the glories of the holy name. This is called artha-vāda, and it is one of the ten offenses at the lotus feet of the holy name of the Lord. There are many kinds of offenses, but the offense known as nāma-aparādha, an offense at the lotus feet of the holy name, is extremely dangerous. The Lord therefore warned everyone not to see the face of the offender. He immediately took a bath in the Ganges with all His clothes to teach everyone to avoid such a nāma-aparādha. The holy name is identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no difference between the person God and His holy name. This is the absolute position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore one who distinguishes between the Lord and His name is called a pāṣaṇḍī, or nonbeliever, an atheistic demon. Glorification of the holy name is glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should never attempt to distinguish between the Lord and His name or interpret the glories of the holy name as mere exaggerations.
April 11 1970 Acyutananda
The procedure is quite admitted that you do not accept invitation in the fashionable meetings and you lecture exclusively. That is very nice. You do not allow anyone to touch your feet—this is very good attitude—but if they want to insist on touching your feet and there is no other way to avoid it, you can simply remember your predecessor Acaryas and Spiritual Masters and accept them and return namaskara with folded hands. That is the Vaisnava etiquette.
SB 2.3.19-–Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from evils.
PURPORT-The general mass of people, unless they are trained systematically for a higher standard of life in spiritual values, are no better than animals, and in this verse they have particularly been put on the level of dogs, hogs, camels and asses. Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality with which to accept the service of a greater master. After finishing a so-called education, the so-called educated persons move like dogs from door to door with applications for some service, and mostly they are driven away, informed of no vacancy. As dogs are negligible animals and serve the master faithfully for bits of bread, a man serves a master faithfully without sufficient rewards.
Persons who have no discrimination in the matter of foodstuff and who eat all sorts of rubbish are compared to hogs. Hogs are very much attached to eating stools. So stool is a kind of foodstuff for a particular type of animal. And even stones are eatables for a particular type of animal or bird. But the human being is not meant for eating everything and anything; he is meant to eat grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, etc. Animal food is not meant for the human being….Therefore, a person who has no discrimination in regard to eating is compared to a hog.
The camel is a kind of animal that takes pleasure in eating thorns. A person who wants to enjoy family life or the worldly life of so-called enjoyment is compared to the camel. Materialistic life is full of thorns, and so one should live only by the prescribed method of Vedic regulations just to make the best use of a bad bargain. Life in the material world is maintained by sucking one’s own blood. The central point of attraction for material enjoyment is sex life. To enjoy sex life is to suck one’s own blood, and there is not much more to be explained in this connection. The camel also sucks its own blood while chewing thorny twigs. The thorns the camel eats cut the tongue of the camel, and so blood begins to flow within the camel’s mouth. The thorns, mixed with fresh blood, create a taste for the foolish camel, and so he enjoys the thorn-eating business with false pleasure. Similarly, the great business magnates, industrialists who work very hard to earn money by different ways and questionable means, eat the thorny results of their actions mixed with their own blood. Therefore the Bhāgavatam has situated these diseased fellows along with the camels.
The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself. …The general mass of people work very hard, especially in the age of Kali. In this age the human being is actually engaged in the work of an ass, carrying heavy burdens and driving ṭhelā and rickshaws. The so-called advancement of human civilization has engaged a human being in the work of an ass. The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs.
So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam’s categorization of the common man without any spiritual enlightenment into the society of dogs, hogs, camels and asses is not at all an exaggeration. The leaders of such ignorant masses of people may feel very proud of being adored by such a number of dogs and hogs, but that is not very flattering. The Bhāgavatam openly declares that although a person may be a great leader of such dogs and hogs disguised as men, if he has no taste for being enlightened in the science of Kṛṣṇa, such a leader is also an animal and nothing more.
Some Conclusions—The above quotes were given to show the importance of being vigilent in our daily affairs in going about this world. A devotee must protect himself physically, mentally and spiritually from all sorts of onslaughts from Maya devi.
One personal example I had in Vrndavana was with a friend of mine who was riding a rikshaw and his feet were hanging out on the side of it. All of a sudden some man on the street reached out and touched this devotees foot when he passed by. My friend told me that within an hour his big toe, where the street man touched him had become all swollen and red.
Because it was in Vrndavana reactions and results are magnified., and so an immediate effect took place on his foot. This episode convinced me right then and there to never let karmis or anybody touch my feet. Sometimes at a Doctors office they have to touch your feet, so I explain to them before they do this what happens and how I reverse the negative effects to me by touching their heads. All have agreed without a problem.
What is worse than this is associating with offenders to a pure devotee such as Srila Prabhupada either thru some social affair or some other gathering. Even if nothing critical is said, these offenders are offense personified and to see their faces, or even let them touch your body, is an offense on our part which requires immediate action. So to be safe I never let these situations come about. If this action is not important then why did Lord Caitanya immediately jump in the Ganges river-with all His clothes on?
Another personal example-Once some 20 years ago, I wanted to confirm that some large sacred beads as a gift to me had actually come from Seva kunja in Vrndavana by the so called “iskcon swami guru”. So they were having a Hari nama in Seattle and I attended for about an hour. I asked this swami right off, with these beads in hand, if he indeed had made these beads from a cut branch from a tree at Seva kunja and he looked at them and said yes. That was all I wanted. So then I also attended their Hari nama party.
Later driving back home I noticed a definite spaced out mind set that I had never experienced before. This effect was totally the opposite of doing Hari nama with fixed and loyal Prabhupada disciples. The only way I can describe this feeling was that my mind could not focus on anything for about an hour of that drive back home. My mind was rambling all over the place and it wasnt thinking of Krsna either.
My conclusion was that this “state of mind” could only have been due to associating with these people from iskcon who were spaced out blind followers of this so called guru. Later after getting home and back to my temple room, everything returned to normal, or being able to nicely think of Krsna.
So the bottom line-good association is the most important factor in spiritual life.
Hare Krsna
Damaghosa das
Back when Srila Prabhupada was physically here with us, NOBODY had a cat or dog. It was unthinkable !! Now today I am told, many “devotees” have these animals in their homes as “family members”. Prabhupada once told a story of a person on a picnic who had food laid out on the cloth and a dog would come up sniff around and want to eat your food. So you shooshed him away and a few minutes later the same dog would come back to get your food. So Prabhupada said as people lose their memories of God they become more doglike……and we see it happening now and worse still-with those who are supposed to be developing proper memory of God-Krsna.
