“An aparadha is something that is contrary to devotion, love and worship. Aparadha is behavior that both indicates and reinforces unloving feelings for Krishna.”

Essence of the Ambrosial Ocean of Devotion - Part 8

Since the whole aim of sadhana is to internally realize pure love for Krishna, it makes sense that a sadhaka must avoid behavior symptomatic of indifference and antagonism towards Krishna. In fact, the 19th practice of vaidhi-sadhana is to carefully avoid aparadha in one's service to Krishna, and in one's glorification of Krishna's name.

What is "aparadha?"

An aparadha is something that is contrary ("apa-")to devotion, love, and worship ("-radha").Aparadha is behavior that both indicates and reinforces unloving feelings for Krishna.

Commenting on this, Jiva Goswami gives an extensive but not exhaustive list of seva-aparadha (aparadha in the course of serving Krishna) and nama-aparadha (aparadha in the course of chanting God's name). The exact items on the list are not as important as their essence - which is simply that one must avoid behavior symptomatic of non-devotion. Exactly what such behaviors may be is somewhat different from person to person, era to era, place to place.

Essentially, all aparadha is a lack of devotion. Padma Purana states that lack of devotion falls into four categories:

• Lack of purity

• Lack of respect

• Lack of endeavor

• Lack of faith

• Seva-Aparadha

The examples of seva-aparadha extracted by Jiva Goswami from Agama Shastra, Varaha Purana, and other scriptures, can be organized into these four categories as follows:

Lack of Purity

One should not enter Krishna's temple without first washing one's feet (if one was walking barefoot to the temple, as was formerly common in India).

One should not worship Krishna without first bathing. When does one need to bathe? After eating (one should first brush one's teeth and wash one's hands and feet before worshipping), after being massaged with oil, after sexual intercourse, after touching a woman in her menstrual period, when one becomes covered in perspiration, after touching or seeing a dead body, or after visiting a crematorium.

Nor should one worship while angry, while being disturbed due to a death in the family, nor while suffering indigestion and belching.

One should not interrupt ones worship to evacuate or urinate, nor should one use unclean items like water touched by one's nails, or flowers kept in unclean containers. One should not offer or accept food or other things from an impure source or which have been made unclean by contact with animals like dogs.

One should also not neglect to purify oneself by first worshiping Ganesh or Narasimha after seeing frightening, inauspicious people.

Lack of Respect

In Krishna's presence one should be humble. One should therefore not enter the temple in an elevated fashion - being carried in a vehicle or wearing shoes. One should not avoid bowing down before the Deity. Nor should one bow down only partially or on one hand. Nor should one improperly circumambulate Krishna, allowing one's back to face him during the circumambulation.

In Krishna's presence one should be respectfully attentive, therefore one should not break silence while worshiping. Nor should one distract others by talking very loudly, or crying. Nor should one sit in a lazy fashion with one's legs spread out, or grasping one's raised knees with one's arms, or with one's back to Krishna. Nor should one lie down, eat, chew betel nuts, or pass air in the presence of Krishna.

In the presence of Krishna one should praise him. One shouldn't praise others in front of Krishna, nor should one praise oneself, nor should one chitchat with others, tell lies, insult people, speak harshly, quarrel, punish anyone, nor speak profanity.

Krishna is the source of all charity and welfare. Therefore, in his presence one should allow Krishna to bless and be charitable towards the needy, one should not be charitable to the needy on ones own behalf.

One should dress nicely when one goes to see Krishna. Therefore one should not wear rough, old, or dirty clothes, or garments that are red or blue. (In Jiva Goswami's time, red and blue dyes were extremely expensive and worn only by wealthy royalty. In that sense they were considered overly flamboyant to wear before the Deity. Red is symbolic of the mode of passion, blue of ignorance. In this sense they are considered unclean. Red and blue are the favorite colors worn by Srimati Radharani. Thus to dress in red and blue might be construed as having a competitive attitude towards her.)

One should not disrespect Krishna by using him as a witness to seal a mundane promise or vow. One should not disrespect Krishna's privacy by allowing the intimate details of his worship, such as bathing and dressing, to be seen by those who are not devotees of Vishnu.

One should not wear forehead markings ("tilok") that are indicative of sects that are not devoted to Vishnu, nor should one sloppily apply Vishnu tilok. One should not step over things that are to be, or that have already been, offered to Krishna.

Lack of Endeavor

One should not offer less than the best services and items one can. Nor should one entirely fail to make an offering and thus enjoy things or eat food without first offering them to Krishna. One should not cook for Krishna half-heartedly, using old ingredients - one should feed Krishna the freshest foods nicely cooked. Nor should one give Krishna inferior flowers without fragrance or in poor condition, or those that are not pleasing to Krishna. Likewise, one should not half-perform a ceremony for worshiping Krishna - offering some items, like incense, and skipping others, like flowers, nor should one perform the ceremonies of worship at improper times.

One should not hastily approach the Deity and thus neglect to follow the scriptural regulations, neglect to announce one's entrance by ringing a bell or making a sound, neglect to first turn on a lamp, or neglect to prepare a proper place to sit or stand during the worship.

One should endeavor to learn about Krishna, one should therefore not keep silent in front of guru, with no questions or Hari-katha, nor should one neglect to respond to the guru's inquiries, nor fail to offer appreciations and praise.

One should not fail to observe Krishna's festivals and holidays.

Lack of Faith

One should not neglect to understand the scriptures that extol and explain Krishna-bhakti. Nor should one develop faith in scriptures that do not do so.

One should not slander the gods, thinking them mythological or impotent. Nor should one smoke marijuana, or take opium or similar drugs.

Nama-Aparadha

Like seva-aparadha, the nama-aparadha (aparadha in the course of chanting God's name) are symptoms of an unloving state of mind. The Padma Purana lists ten such aparadha. Again, the exact items on the list are not as important as their essence. The essence is that one must avoid behavior symptomatic of non-devotion. Exactly what such behavior might be is somewhat different from person to person, era to era, place to place.

Nama-aparadha has more serious repercussions than seva-aparadha. Vishnu forgives mistakes one makes in serving him, but if one offends Vishnu himself, who is non-different from his name, to whom can one go for forgiveness? The answer is only Vishnu himself. But the difficulty is that Vishnu will forgive only one who sincerely desires it and demonstrates that sincere desire by finally approaching him and his name without aparadha. Thus one must eventually rid oneself of aparadha towards Vishnu and his name before one can be deeply forgiven for one's past aparadha. This is the gravity of nama-aparadha.

We can organize Padma Purana's list of ten nama-aparadha as follows:

Lack of Respect

Lack of respect for a Vaishnava. This is symptomatic of a lack of love for Hari's Name because a Vaishnava instructs and helps one meditate on Hari's name.

Lack of respect for Vishnu or his name. This causes one to consider Vishnu's name to be different from Vishnu himself, or to consider Vishnu equivalent to the lesser gods like Shiva and Brahma.

Lack of respect for Guru. This is related to lack of love for Hari's name, because the Guru is the person who gives one Hari's name in the dikSha-mantra.

Lack of respect for scripture. This is also related to a lack of love for Hari's name because scripture is the source from which Guru and the VaiSNavas learn and teach one about Hari's name.

Lack of Endeavor

It is an aparadha to Hari's name if one does not endeavor sincerely to free himself from sin, but instead uses Hari's name like a mop to clean up the sins and offenses one knowingly, willingly commits.

Lack of Purity

One's attitude towards Hari's name suffers from an impurity if one approaches him for the fruit of karma or jnana. Therefore, it is an aparadha to interpret or utilize Hari's name as a means to a goal other than bhakti. Likewise, it is an aparadha to consider meditation on Hari's name to be a mundane pursuit that bestows mundane fruit.

Lack of Faith

Lack of love for Hari's name will result when one thinks that what the scripture, the Guru, and the VaiSNavas say about Hari's name is just an exaggeration or a fairy-tale.

Also, one lacks faith in the delicate, sublime, and personal nature of Hari's name if one carelessly tosses it to those who have no inclination to develop love for Hari.

Lack faith ultimately manifests in a lack of love for and attachment to Hari's name.

Conclusion

One who is trying to manifest love for Hari in one's heart must naturally desist from activities that indicate and nourish an unloving attitude towards him. Jiva Goswami has prepared an extensive list of such things. By constantly endeavoring to express and internalize a loving attitude to Hari and Hari's name, one will automatically be free from all these aparadha and will manifest Bhava Bhakti.

© CHAKRA 28-May-2000

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