r opaniad, Mantra 1

Los Angeles, October 30, 1968

(incomplete lecture)
Prabhupda: Open the page. Read.
Devotee: Page eighteen. Page eighteen. "The root of sin is deliberate
disobedience to the laws of nature through not recognizing the proprietorship
of the Lord; disobedience to the laws of nature, or disobedience to the order of
the Lord of a human, to the human being. On the other hand, if one is sober
and knows the laws of nature, without being influenced by unnecessary
attachment or abhorrence, he is sure to be recognized again by the Lord and
thus become eligible for going back to Godhead, back to the eternal home." [o
mantra 1]
Prabhupda: Hmm. So the natural law, without being influenced by
unnecessary attachment, or abhorrence. There is no need of attachment for
this material world; neither there is need of abhorrence. That is vsyam
ida sarvam [o mantra 1]. Suppose we are sitting in this temple. So, of course,
for temple we should have attachment. Ordinary home, or ordinary house,
temple... We must explain. The temple is transcendental. According to Vedic
civilization, to live in the forest is residential quarter in goodness, to live in the
forest. Therefore, formerly, great sages and saintly persons, they used to go to
the forest and live there. And the government would give them protection.
The king's duty was to supply them food. What sort of food? The king used to
give them in charity cows, nice cows. So they would take little milk, and
whatever fruits are available in the forest, that was sufficient for them. And
the king would sometimes hunt ferocious animals so that they may not disturb.
But actually, they do not disturb saintly persons still. So to live in the forest is
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in the mode of goodness, and to live in the city, or town, is..., is in the mode of
passion, and to live in slaughterhouse and brothel and drunkards, these are the
residential quarter in ignorance. And to live in the temple is transcendental,
above goodness, pure goodness. In the material world goodness is sometimes
mixed up with ignorance and passion, but in the spiritual world there is pure
goodnessno contamination or tinges of passion and ignorance. Therefore it
is called uddha-sattva. uddha-sattva. abdam, sattva viuddha
vasudeva-abditam: "That pure goodness is called Vasudeva, and in that pure
goodness one can realize God." Therefore God's name is Vsudeva, "produced
from Vasudeva." Vasudeva is the father of Vsudeva.
So unless we come to the standard of pure goodness, without any tinge of
passion and ignorance, it is not possible, God realization. Therefore bhakti
means anybhilit-nya jna-karmdy-anvtam [Cc. Madhya 19.167],
jna-karmdy-anvtam [Brs. 1.1.11(1)]. Jna is the platform of goodness, and
karma is the platform of passion and ignorance. So bhakti means
anybhilit-nya [Cc. Madhya 19.167], without any material desires, devoid
of, freed from all kinds of material desire and uncovered by ignorance, passion
and goodness. Goodness also. To become very good man in this world, that
does not mean that he is freed from this material contamination. He's
contaminated by the goodness quality. Just like Arjuna. He wanted to be very
good man. Ka said, "Now fight." He said, "Oh, how can I fight? Oh, they are
my brothers, they are my grandfathers. No, no, no. Better I shall beg. I don't
want this kingdom." So this is material goodness. People appreciate very much:
"Oh, just see. Arjuna is giving up claim on the kingdom." But what Ka
replied? Ka said, "Wherefrom you got this foolish idea?" Kutas tv kamalam
ida viame samupasthitam, anrya-juam: "This is for non-Aryans, not for
Aryans." So this so-called goodness, so-called gentlemanliness, has no value in
the spiritual world. Spiritual worldcomplete love of God, without any
attachment for this... So Arjuna, this goodness, means attachment for his
family. That's all. He was becoming a good man. Why? Because there is
attachment for his family, for his grandfather, for his brother, nephews. So, so
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long there is attachment for this material world, either in the form of goodness
or passion or ignorance, they're all the same. In the transcendental platform...
Therefore Caitanya-caritmta says that in this material world, the divisions
that "This is good, and this is bad," they are simply mental concoction. The
same example: the stool dried up is good, and the wet is not good. Stool is stool.
That's all. For a devotee, this is stool. Either it may be dried up or moist, it
doesn't matter. So those who are in ignorance and passion, they're little moist,
and those who are in goodness, they're dried up. But after all, it is stool.
Therefore Ka says, sarva-dharmn parityajya mm eka araa vraja [Bg.
18.66]. There is no consideration of this goodness or badness. You have to give
up all material attachment. And abhorrence. Abhorrence is also another
negative attachment. "I don't like this." That means I have attachment for this
"don't like." You see? [break] A devotee is simply attached to the service of the
Lord and... (end)

Endnotes
1 (Popup - Popup)

anybhilit-nya
jna-karmdy-anvtam
nuklyena knulana bhaktir uttam
"One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Ka
favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive
activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service."
Bhakti-rasmta-sindhu 1.1.11