Can attachment to nature be an anartha?

Podcast by H.H. Śivarāma Swami

 Hare Krsna, a question from Shupakarani Devi Dasi,  from Serbia.

She says, can attachment to nature be an anartha?

It can. Anything can be an anartha if it becomes a condition for entering the devotional service. So the definition of pure devotional service is anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ. So we give up all types of attachments, be they for liberation, yoga practice, nature and so on. We're not attached to nature. We're not attached to nature as a condition for serving Krsna. On the other hand, nature as well as so many other things are part of Krsna's creation. Therefore, it's natural that there is some type of attachment for that. But it's not an attachment that becomes the foundation or the basis of my service. But rather it's an attachment because yo māṁ paśyati sarvatra sarvaṁ ca mayi paśyati, because of devotee is supposed to see Krsna and everything and everything in Krsna. We're supposed to see that everything is Krsna's property. Therefore, it's inevitable that there's some attachment there and certainly an appreciation of the beauty of nature which is Krsna's creation by comparison to the ugliness of cities and so on which are human being’s creation. So it shouldn't be nothing should be a condition. I'm only going to do service here. I'm only going to do this type of service. I don't like this. I do like that. So whatever instruction we see from Krsna, from Guru, therefore we render service there and we don't  anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ  jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam, we don't have any preconditions.

This is just like, for instance, Narada Muni. So Narada Muni became very attached to meditating in the forest as he was taught by the Bhaktivedantas. But he sort of equated his meditation with being in a solitary place, in a solitary natural place, in the forest. And that then was an attachment that Krsna didn't approve of. So when Krsna did actually appear in his meditation, he said: In this life, you're not going to see me anymore. Why not? Because those who are impure in heart. So in one sense, Narada was extremely advanced, even as a little boy. But still, the Lord said, but you have this attachment. That's not in the Bhāgavatam. I believe it's in the commentary by one of our ācāryas. So the attachment is that you're attached to this situation. Just like Yogis are attached to going for śānta rasa to go into some solitary, quiet place. No, any place where we serve Krsna that is satisfactory, svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ. So whether you go to heaven, or devotee will go to hell. For him everything is all the same. As long as he can actually, or she can actually serve Krsna. So anything can be an anartha if it actually obstructs us from purely serving Krsna, or as I mentioned, if it's a pre-condition.

Okay, thank you for that question. We'll answer another question tomorrow. Hare Krsna.

Passtimes are so intense...

We may question why realised devotees would choose to absorb themselves in seemingly mundane acts related to the maintenance of the dhāma, rather than cultivate their esoteric relationship with it. The ācāryas’ answer is wonderful: When set upon the background of the material energy, Kṛṣṇa’s prakaṭa pastimes are so intense that neither He nor the Vraja-vāsīs recall their eternal identities.

In Gopāla-campū (Pūrva-campū 1.1.35), Jīva Gosvāmī refers to Lord Brahmā’s comments on the nature of Kṛṣṇa’s earthly pastimes: “My dear master, although You have nothing to do with material existence, You come to this earth and imitate material life just to expand the varieties of ecstatic enjoyment for Your surrendered devotees.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.37) Śrī Jīva explains that this “imitation” generates an absorption in Kṛṣṇa and His associates that is unmatched, even by the Lord’s eternal activities. The BBT purport to that Bhāgavatam verse summarises Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s explanation why this is so: “[He] points out that just as a lamp does not seem to shine as brightly in sunlight as it does in the shade, or as a diamond does not seem as brilliant on a silver platter as it does on a plate of blue glass, the Lord’s pastimes as Govinda do not seem as amazing in the transcendental abode of Vaikuṇṭha as they do within the material realm of Māyā. Lord Kṛṣṇa comes to the earth and acts towards His pure devotees exactly like a devoted son, boyfriend, husband, father, friend, and so on, and within the darkness of material existence these brilliant, liberated pastimes give unlimited ecstasy to the surrendered devotees of the Lord.”

Guardians of dhāma.

The potency of the dhāma is easily felt, even by non-devotees. But for that potency to fully nurture one’s Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is essential that one hear from those saintly persons who reside in the dhāma. After all, such saints are direct manifestations of the dhāma’s potency. By their words, which are always connected to the Lord and His pastimes, they are able to purify the sincere pilgrim’s heart, thus preparing a place there for Kṛṣṇa and His dhāma to appear. Liberated souls who visit or reside in the dhāma are like housekeepers, maintaining the purity of Kṛṣṇa’s abode by clearing away the accumulated effect of those sins pilgrims leave behind. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, “Because it is said in the śāstra that ordinary men with sinful habits, they come to tīrtha, holy place, and actually they become purified. … But when such sinful garbage is accumulated, who will clear? It will be cleared by the saintly person, by their puṇya work. Tīrthī-kurvanti, tīrtha … Again they make it tīrtha.” (Lecture on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.5, Vṛndāvana, 7 December 1975) The importance of hearing from saints cannot be overstated, for the true value of either a pilgrimage to or residence in the dhāma is measured not in terms of the pastime places one visits, but in sādhu-saṅga. Although located in a geographical area, Vraja-dhāma is actually a state of consciousness. And one’s individual level of Kṛṣṇa consciousness — which is nurtured by and dependent upon sādhu-saṅga — determines his or her ability to substantially benefit from a pilgrimage to the dhāma; indeed, scripture condemns those who neglect the company of saints, referring to such persons as “cows and asses,” sa eva go-kharaḥ. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.84.13) One particular category of such animalistic persons are those who engage in the increasingly popular practice of making Vṛndāvana a tourist destination for materialists, who have no interest in saintly association and no faith in the dhāma. Business ventures of this sort yield little or no spiritual benefit. As Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “Sometimes materialistic people who have no spiritual understanding go to Vṛndāvana as tourists. One who goes to Vṛndāvana with such materialistic vision cannot derive any spiritual benefit. Such a person is not convinced that Kṛṣṇa and Vṛndāvana are identical.” (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 16.281, purport) It cannot be over-emphasised that purity of heart alone can enable us to enter into the mysteries of the dhāma. In Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura’s words, viṣaya chāḍiyā kabe śuddha habe mana / kabe hāma herabo śrī-vṛndāvana: “When the mind will be completely purified, uncontaminated from material contamination, at that time it will be possible for me to see what Vṛndāvana is.” (Prārthanā 1.3) Such purification is dependent upon the association of great devotees, a practice that is most effectively realised through hearing from them.