All glories Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga
— Śrī Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura
An Overview : Dear devotees this is the foolish conception of those common so-called devotees that by practicing nine-folds of bhakti (or any fold of bhakti out of the 64 limbs) fancifully can yield desired result without even paying any attention to the fact of not committing any offense unto the lotus feet of Śrī Bhakti Devī. So, Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura out of his endless causeless mercy wanted to clarify all those secret negative points so that we can avoid committing any offense unto the lotus feet of Śrī Bhakti Devī to ensure the nonstop improvement of our bhajana. ‘Bhaktira prati aparādha (Offences unto Bhakti-devi) by Śrīla Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura was first published in Sajjana Toṣaṇī, Vol. 8. Issue 10 in 1896.
This is really a surprising fact. We are following different folds of bhakti. We are taking mantra from a sāmpradāyika brāhmaṇa-guru. Everyday we are doing tilakas on twelve different parts of our body to worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Following Ekādaśi, etc. According to our capacity we remember Harināma (nāma-smaraṇa). Travelling places such as Vṛndāvana, etc. But really this is a matter of bad luck that we never try to take care of avoiding offenses unto the lotus feet of Bhakti Devī. There have been many people nowadays, who don’t fear committing these types of offences. The symptoms of offense unto the lotus feet of Śrī Bhakti Devī already shown by Śrīman Mahāprabhu to all devotees (all of His followers) by keeping Mukunda in front of us, which we can find in Śrī Caitanya-Bhāgavata —
kṣaṇe dante tṛṇa laya, kṣaṇe jāṭhi māre
o ‘khaḍa’-’jāṭhiyā beṭā nā dekhibe more
(“Sometimes he takes a straw in his teeth to show humbleness and sometimes beating Me with a stick. This brat who holds both a straw and a stick ( I mean who is having both the contradictory moods like serving mood & beating mood together) cannot see Me.” — Caitanya-Bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.185)
prabhu bale, – o beṭā yakhana yathā yāya
sei mata kathā kahi’ tathāi miśāya (188)
(“Prabhu says – ‘Wherever this brat goes, he mixes freely with the people there and moulds his own speech in favor the opinion of those people (whomever he mixes with).
vāśiṣṭha paḍaye yabe advaitera saṅge
bhakti-kori (yoge) nāce gāya tṛṇa kari’ dante (189)
When he goes in the association of advaitins, he reads the yoga-vāśiṣṭha. On the other hand, when he goes to the association of devotees, then there also he sings and dances out of bhakti in bhakti-yoga, taking a straw between his teeth (signifying humility).
anya sampradāye giyā yakhana sāmbhāya
nāhi māne bhakti, jāṭhi māraye sadāya (190)
When he enters another sampradāya [the māyāvādi- sampradāya], he without accepting bhakti to be eternal, attacks the devotees in a war of dry arguments (as if beating those devotees with a stick)!”. (explanation by Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda in his commentary— Gauḍīya-bhāṣya)
— Caitanya-Bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.188–190)
bhakti-sthāne uhāra haila aparādha
eteke uhāra haila daraśana-bādha
“So, he has committed an offence unto Śrī Bhakti-devī, therefore his offence has obstructed & deprived him of My daraśana.”
—Caitanya-Bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.192)
Śrī Mukunda Datta is an intimate associate of Bhagavān (Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu). Therefore these words spoken by Prabhu (the Lord) in relation to him are all mysterious (surely having some inner meaning). Though we know that the heart of Mahāprabhu is extremely deep (fathomless). Time to time whatever He has spoken, there is an instruction hidden in that. The instruction is this,– it is not that by simply accepting dīkśā and practicing the limbs of bhakti, Kṛṣṇa gets satisfied. Prabhu can only be satisfied with someone who has ananya-śraddhā (one-pointed faith) in ananya-bhakti (one-pointed bhakti). Anyone in whose heart this type of śraddhā has taken birth, such a person can have a rigid inclination towards śuddha-bhakti. Such personalities do not go or reside at such a place which is devoid of the topics of śuddha-bhakti. Wherever śuddha-bhakti is the subject of discussion, those personalities— they with full taste (or interest) can reside at such places. The nature of a pure devotee consists of simplicity (saralatā), rigidity (dṛḍhatā) and one-pointedness (ekāntatā). They never like to discuss such topics as are averse to śuddha-bhakti just for the satisfaction of the public-masses. Pure devotees are always nirāpekṣa (absolutely neutral & not at all related to any mundane object— exclusively inclined towards Bhagavān).
By watching any ‘devotee,’ tears coming out of their eyes, sometimes they also feeling ecstasy when discussing ‘kathā’ (topics of Bhagavān). Even they are supporting those spiritual (ādhyātmika) beliefs while attending spiritual sabhās (assemblies). However, again, they become overwhelmed by mundane sense-objects and exhibiting insane behaviour in trying to attain those things. O readers! What kind of niṣṭhā (strong faith) lying with them– all those types of people? So we think, that simply for the sake of gaining some material pratiṣṭhā (recognition and fame), they display symptoms of devotional bhāva in front of the devotees. Sometimes it can be driven by the greed for pratiṣṭhā, and sometimes it is greed for other mundane things, and to attain them they behave in various ways. It is a matter of great regret that— they teach this type of conduct to the world, and not only do they commit offences against śuddha–bhakti, but also they create a means for the complete destruction of all the jīvas of this world.
O readers! Come on – let us all be careful and act in such a way that we never make an offence unto Bhakti Devī. At the very beginning, let us take a vow of practicing Bhakti by becoming nirāpekṣa. Being influenced by any particular party or side, We will neither speak nor do anything against bhakti. In all activities we will remain simple and straightforward. Our external behaviour should not be different from how we are inside. We will not make any endeavour to gain pratiṣṭhā by making a show of artificial symptoms to those people – who are averse or unfavorable to bhakti. We will only favour śuddha-bhakti. Other than that, we will never support the side of any other type of siddhānta against bhakti. Let our hearts and external behaviour be the same!