24/05/2026
𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝟐
(Upadeśāmṛta by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda)
𝐚𝐭𝐲ā𝐡ā𝐫𝐚ḥ 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲ā𝐬𝐚ś 𝐜𝐡𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐣𝐚𝐥𝐩𝐨 𝐧𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐦ā𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚ḥ
𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐚-𝐬𝐚ṅ𝐠𝐚ś 𝐜𝐡𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐲𝐚𝐦 𝐜𝐡𝐚 ṣ𝐚ḍ𝐛𝐡𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐢𝐫 𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐚ś𝐲𝐚𝐭𝐢 [𝟐]
𝐁𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐢 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬: (𝟏) 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, (𝟐) 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫, (𝟑) 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤, (𝟒) 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬, (𝟓) 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 (𝟔) 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.
𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 Ś𝐫ī𝐥𝐚 𝐁𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐢 𝐑𝐚𝐤ṣ𝐚𝐤 Ś𝐫ī𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐯-𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐰ā𝐦ī 𝐌𝐚𝐡ā𝐫ā𝐣
Atyāhāra means to collect for ourselves whatever we come across. It means to feed ourselves more than necessary, but it also refers to the tendency to want or keep for ourselves some portion of whatever we collect.
Prayāsa means false errands, enthusiastic attempts for undesirable, false attainments. It refers to becoming too much adherent to any particular cause except, of course, that of devotion. When one engages oneself to attain something, one devotes one’s energy; one becomes mad. But we should not become so mad to go in any particular destination. Wait and see the wave. Try to read the divine wave: what is coming to us? How does it want us to adjust to the environment? We are to read that and go on. Once we have begun, having chosen a particular direction to start for, so many opposing currents will come. To only engage ourselves blindly in that will be a hindrance. So, we are to practise yukta-vairāgya. We have to read, “I will have to move to that side now, not this side.” There should be no blind madness for any particular action. We must read the environment, the circumstances, and act accordingly.
Prajalpa means indulgence in talking about ordinary things, slackness for entering into discussion of anything and everything. We should try to keep up our energy for service only and not allow ourselves to discuss ordinary things, mundane topics. We should avoid all unnecessary discussion about mundane affairs.
For example, one may have too much attraction for the newspaper, to read about various topics: current events, war, and other unimportant things that have happened in one’s area. Prajalpa means to unloose the rein of our self-control and allow ourselves to enter into discussion of anything and everything we find outside ourselves.
Sometimes, preachers should have some knowledge of the environment. So, for that purpose, they may read the newspaper: only to make their speech living and modern. They should keep some connection with modern things so that their speech is not antiquated and they can speak with men of modern education. Their speech, their preaching, will be living then, and otherwise, it will be somewhat dead. Preachers should be acquainted with the present waves within time, but they should not be voracious readers of newspapers or any other news. Their object should always be to take advantage of the situation and what is going on around them.
Niyamāgraha means both to make much of a particular law and to ignore a law altogether. Here, law means rulings that are given in the scriptures. For example, to be very firm about the rulings for the day of Ekādaśī, we must fast wholesale without taking even a drop of water. The general rule, however, is that we must keep our body fit for the service of the Lord. So, on the day of Ekādaśī, we take something: some water, sherbet, or anukalpa. We should not be so strict about a particular ruling that the general law will be hampered.
Rulings are always meant for a particular stage. After passing a particular stage, the rulings for that stage are no longer applicable to us, and we have to mark another set of rules. So, we should not give extra or abnormal attention to any particular rule or neglect rules entirely, saying, “I don’t care for any scriptural rules, any vidhi. I want rāga. I want everything to be spontaneous within me.” To hate vidhi is one form of niyamāgraha, and to make too much of the rules, accepting only vidhi and leaving no chance for the internal flow of the heart, is also niyamāgraha.
Jana-saṅga means to like the company of the ordinary public, to be very eager to have the company of any man without consideration of whether we should mix with him or not. If anyone comes up to us, we begin talking and giving association to him, but we should have eagerness to mix with the sādhus of the higher class. Instead of that, if we allow ourselves to mix with the ordinary public in the name of preaching or collection or any other thing, that will be detrimental to our cause. Jana-saṅga means to be very approachable to the public for politics, social work, feeding the poor, and this and that. So many conceptions of the ideal are all around us and to allow ourselves to be chased, captivated, or captured by them is jana-saṅga.
Laulya means softness of mind. Whatever we come across, we want to note that. When we go to the market, we find so many things, hundreds of things, and we feel as though anything and everything is coming to capture our attention. Whatever we find, we engage ourselves in that; whatever proposal comes, we accept without consideration. This is laulya, a weakness of the heart, a weakness of our promise and our object of life.
Laulya has other meanings also, that of softness towards the truth, amenability, and humility, but these are different. Also, “Tatra laulyam ekalam mūlyam”: our earnestness (laulya) is the only price to attain divine love. There in the Upadeśāmṛta, laulya means that we feel some weakness within ourselves for whatever is present before us. Without consideration, we accept anything and everything. This sort of attitude is laulya. Whatever comes, we participate in that without considering whether it will be beneficial or injurious. We take no time to think properly about this. This is laulya.
We must save ourselves from these natures. These six are detrimental to devotion proper.
