“Çré Uddhava
said: My dear Lord Kåñëa, O chastiser of the enemies, please tell me how many
types of disciplinary regulations and regular daily duties there are. Also, my
Lord, tell me what is mental equilibrium, what is self-control, and what is the
actual meaning of tolerance and steadfastness. What are charity, austerity and
heroism, and how are reality and truth to he described? What is renunciation,
and what is wealth? What is desirable, what is sacrifice, and what is religious
remuneration? My dear Keçava, O most fortunate one, how am I to understand the
strength, opulence and profit of a particular person? What is the best
education, what is actual humility, and what is real beauty? What are happiness
and unhappiness? Who is learned, and who is a fool? What are the true and the
false paths in life, and what are heaven and hell? Who is indeed a true friend,
and what is one's real home? Who is a rich man, and who is a poor man? Who is
wretched, and who is an actual controller? O Lord of the devotees, kindly
explain these matters to me, along with their opposites.”
“The Supreme
Personality of Godhead said: Nonviolence, truthfulness, not coveting or
stealing the property of others, detachment, humility, freedom from
possessiveness, trust in the principles of religion, celibacy, silence,
steadiness, forgiveness and fearlessness are the twelve primary disciplinary
principles. Internal cleanliness, external cleanliness, chanting the holy names
of the Lord, austerity, sacrifice, faith, hospitality, worship of Me, visiting
holy places, acting and desiring only for the supreme interest, satisfaction,
and service to the spiritual master are the twelve elements of regular
prescribed duties. These twenty-four elements bestow all desired benedictions
upon those persons who devotedly cultivate them. Absorbing
the intelligence in Me constitutes mental equilibrium, and complete discipline
of the senses is self-control. Tolerance means patiently enduring unhappiness,
and steadfastness occurs when one conquers the tongue and genitals. The
greatest charity is to give up all aggression toward others, and renunciation
of lust is understood to be real austerity. Real heroism is to conquer one's
natural tendency to enjoy material life, and reality is seeing the Supreme
Personality of Godhead everywhere. Truthfulness means to speak the truth in a
pleasing way, as declared by great sages. Cleanliness is detachment in fruitive
activities, whereas renunciation is the sannyäsa order of life. The true
desirable wealth for human beings is religiousness, and I, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, am sacrifice. Religious remuneration is devotion to the
äcärya with the purpose of acquiring spiritual instruction, and the greatest
strength is the präëäyäma system of breath control.” Çréla Viçvanätha
Cakravärté Öhäkura elaborates:
Åtam means pleasant and truthful speech, not
just speaking truthfully. Merely speaking truth includes announcing the faults
of person who has faults. In doing that, one criticizes a person. But that criticism is not agreeable to the
devotee listeners. That criticism lacks
a pleasing presentation of truth. But
previous teachers have defined satyam as proper conduct and åtam
as truthful words. Cleanliness means
detachment from material actions, not just physical cleanliness… Respectable wealth is possession of dharma,
not possessing cows and horses. I, the highest form of Bhagavän, the son of
Vasudeva, am sacrifice. Therefore one should celebrate my appearance while
thinking it is real sacrifice. One
should not think that horse sacrifices which give temporary results are
sacrifice. Giving donations means that, after a festival, one reveals to one’s
dear friends one’s experience of bliss during kértana. It does not meaning giving money or jewels.
Strength or balam means to control what is difficult to control. Thus präëäyäma is strength because it
controls the mind which is most difficult to control.
Çré Kåñëa continued:
“Actual opulence is My own nature as the Personality of Godhead, through
which I exhibit the six unlimited opulences. The supreme gain in life is
devotional service to Me, and actual education is nullifying the false
perception of duality within the soul. Real modesty is to be disgusted with
improper activities, and beauty is to possess good qualities such as
detachment. Real happiness is to transcend material happiness and unhappiness,
and real misery is to be implicated in searching for sex pleasure. A wise man
is one who knows the process of freedom from bondage, and a fool is one who
identifies with his material body and mind. The real path in life is that which
leads to Me, and the wrong path is sense gratification, by which consciousness
is bewildered. Actual heaven is the predominance of the mode of goodness,
whereas hell is the predominance of ignorance. I am everyone's true friend,
acting as the spiritual master of the entire universe, and one's home is the
human body. My dear friend Uddhava, one who is enriched with good qualities is
actually said to be rich, and one who is unsatisfied in life is actually poor.
A wretched person is one who cannot control his senses, whereas one who is not
attached to sense gratification is a real controller. One who attaches himself
to sense gratification is the opposite, a slave. Thus, Uddhava, I have
elucidated all of the matters about which you inquired. There is no need for a
more elaborate description of these good and bad qualities, since to constantly
see good and bad is itself a bad quality. The best quality is to transcend
material good and evil.” Çréla Viçvanätha Cakravärté Öhäkura elaborates:
Ornamentation means good qualities such as detachment, not having
a crown or jewels. Happiness is
overcoming suffering and happiness, becoming indifferent to them. Happiness
does not mean enjoying sense objects. Suffering is expecting enjoyment of
objects, not suffering from burns. A learned person is he who knows how to
become liberated from bondage, not he who lectures on scriptures… Sädhu here means “suitable for
liberation.” You have asked Me to discern good and bad qualities. I will speak
of their qualities in brief. Please listen: what is the use of describing them
elaborately? This much should be described only, since it is a fault to see
good and bad qualities. The real quality is having a nature devoid of seeing
good and bad qualities. This will be explained at the end of the next chapter.
