na tathāsya bhavet kleśo
bandhaś cānya-prasaṅgataḥ
yoṣit-saṅgād yathā puṁso
yathā tat-saṅgi-saṅgataḥ
(ŚB 11.14.30)
Of all kinds of suffering and bondage arising from various attachments, none is more dangerous than the suffering and bondage arising from attachment to yoṣit-saṅga and the intimate association of those are having yoṣit-saṅga.
This śloka we should keep as a locked around our neck. Yoṣit-saṅga can bring such a tide bondage in our life which is beyond our imagination. Yoṣit-saṅga is the topmost danger in the life of a sādhu. To avoid yoṣit-saṅga is the first and foremost etiquette in the life of a Vaiṣṇava. Somebody can claim that we are out of yoṣit-saṅga, but Śrīla Raghunātha das Gosvāmī going to teach us by the following śloka, that it is not so easy.
pratiṣṭhāśā dhṛṣṭa śvapaca-ramaṇī me hṛdi naṭet
kathaṁ sādhuḥ-premā spṛśati śucir etan nanu manaḥ
sadā tvaṁ sevasa prabhu-dayita-sāmantam atulaṁ
yathā tāṁ niṣkāśya tvaritam iha taṁ veśayati
(Śrī Manaḥ-śikṣā Text 7)
If the impudent untouchable woman of the desire for fame dances in my heart, why should pure love for Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa touch me? O mind, continuously serve my spiritual master, the leader of those who are dear to the Lord. Then my master will quickly kick out that outcast woman and allow that pure love to enter.
Somebody can somehow avoid woman association, money, but pratiṣṭhā can never be avoided because this is the most dangerous testing of Mayadevi. She like to kick out the sādhak even at the last moment of his life. As per Gaudiya-darśana yoṣit-saṅga has some deep inner meaning. All other sampradāyas can have their literal meaning of this word yoṣit-saṅga, but as per Gaudiya-darśana Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura and Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that yoṣit-saṅga means—The enjoying mood developing from any object or any men or woman. Any object of attraction for which we are having some enjoying mood (be it woman, wealth, name, fame etc.), that is called yoṣit-saṅga. Like the case of Chotta Haridas. Śrīman Mahāprabhu wanted to avoid him for yoṣit-saṅga abhasa to teach us the gravity of hari-bhajan.
None of our Gaudiya guru-varga wanted to make any compromise with maya. Only those sahajiyās can do like that. One day Śrīla Gaura Kishore das Babaji Maharaj came to Svananda Sukadakunja in front of Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura with a laughing mood and started speaking to Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura about the strange sahajiyā siddhanta vichar of those sahajiyā Babajis of Navadvīpa that—“How and why Śrīman Mahāprabhu wanted to avoid Chotta Haridas forever? That was not such a heavy issue based on which he wanted to give heavy punishment to him.” That was their siddhanta, but we are not sahajiyās. So very carefully we should always keep this in our mind to organize our bhajan properly and we can stick to those siddhanta vichars of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Whereas we can see same Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu going to approve the transcendental activities of Śrī Rāya Rāmānanda (Rāya Rāmānanda, who was busy giving training and teachings to young girls in a very solitary place). Śrīman Mahāprabhu told that— “Even I myself in renounced order cannot have that kind of right like Śrī Rāmānanda, so I know he is aprākṛta– “Ek Ramanada Rai hoya aiche adhikar”
Also we know one tribal lady wanted to climb on the shoulder of Śrīman Mahāprabhu inside Jagannātha temple to watch Jagannātha properly, but Govinda and Svarup Gosai was very annoyed with the fact, so naturally they wanted to arrange that lady to come down immediately. But Śrīman Mahāprabhu wanted to allow that lady to watch Jagannātha up to her full satisfaction. What can be the siddhanta behind it. Actually, that tribal lady was watching Jagannātha absorbingly, and she had no bodily information. So in this case the material conception of man or woman cannot arise. It is the natural function of the soul to serve Prabhu Jagannātha. For our teachings Śrīman Mahāprabhu even wanted to get that kind of tremendous love for Jagannātha.
Again we can remember once when Śrīman Mahāprabhu heard the song of Gīta Govinda coming from the direction of Chatak parvat then immediately Mahāprabhu started running like wind with absorbing mood to reach the spot to embrace the singer, but when he was warned by Sevak Govinda Prabhu repeatedly that— “Oh! Prabhu don’t run one woman singing that song,” then immediately Prabhu became a statue of stone by hearing the name of woman and started speaking to Govinda that— “Oh! Govinda today you have saved my life, I was almost going to die by touching the woman.” Now we can realize the reason for why Śrīman Mahāprabhu is so sensitive to avoid material enjoyment like money, woman, name, fame etc.
Gaura Hari Hari Bol