“At every moment the illusory energy leads us toward the kingdom of aversion to God. The moment we have no protector, everything around us will turn into an enemy and attack us. The moment we refuse to hear hari-katha from a genuine sadhu, we will have failed to serve that sadhu with our sincerity. Then Maya will take advantage and devour us.”
“A person may have once had good intentions, but after some time he again turns to sinful life. Why? It is because he did not spare time to hear the transcendental topics of Hari, or perhaps he became inattentive, only pretending to hear. He did not at all try to stay aloof from his endeavors for apparent happiness; rather, he became busy looking for sensory happiness on the advice of crooked people. If we take shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet, whether we are educated or uneducated, whether we have strength or no strength, there will be no problem. Actually, the living entity is transcendental. It is only when he thinks himself bound by the qualities of material nature that he becomes attached to the material world.”
“The servants of the Supreme Lord appear in this world for the welfare of human beings. They have no material duty to fulfill. The only duty these most merciful personalities have is to divert the adverse, material tastes of the living entities toward Krishna. To give food to the hungry and other such acts of mundane charity are useless wastes of labor if we forget the real goal of life.”
“The living entities are captivated at every moment within the kingdom of sense enjoyment. Maya constantly captures us by offering us different types of bait. Just as a wild male elephant is captured by tempting it with a she elephant, so the illusory energy, Mayadevi, traps us in the world of birth and death by tempting us with women and other forms of sense enjoyment. Thinking the illusory objects real, the living entities run after them. Just to deceive human beings, Maya keeps different types of happiness on her hook. Whatever appears good and beautiful when seen with the eyes of material enjoyment is just another of Maya’s hooks. Those who indulge in sense gratification will be hooked. Eat, sleep, and be merry – and then go to hell: this thinking has ruined human society. What can be more shameful than this!”
Sri Gaurasundara made arrangements to protect human beings from such thinking, just as a doctor administers quinine with a sugar coating. The material sound from the material sky constantly allures human beings to grasp material objects. It is this sound that is causing all the problems. Being attracted by it, human beings are shot with Maya’s arrows, just as a deceptive hunter lures a deer and then shoots it. This is why Gaurasundara arranged for hari-katha accompanied by musical instruments and melody.
This is like coating the bitter quinine with gelatin. Normally, dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments lead people to commit sin, and are therefore engaged in by only the most sinful people. If these people are not engaged in the service of Kamadeva Krishna, they will surely have to vomit poison in the end.”
“So many people rush to drink deadly poison – they accept pots of poison as nectar! Will the loud shout of the acarya not enter their ears even once? An experienced physician tries his best to cure the disease of the afflicted without charging a consultation fee, and yet the sick try their best to be rid of that physician! They are digging their own graves. They are cutting off the branch on which they are sitting.”
“Duplicity is one thing and weakness is another. One who is nonduplicitous achieves his fortune. “I will cheat my spiritual master,” “I will lie to my physician,” – I nourish the black cobra of my sinful propensity by feeding it with milk and bananas, which I hide in the hole of duplicity. I will not let people know about my sins. Instead, I will collect from people name and fame as a great devotee.” These mentalities are not just weakness of the heart but a dangerous type of duplicity. People who suffer from it will never find benefit. Those who have obstructed their path to auspiciousness will not achieve auspiciousness. One gradually achieves auspiciousness in life by sincerely associating with devotees and submissively hearing spiritual discussions from their mouths. If we make only a show of sadhu-saṅga, then our hellish mentality will increase day by day.” AVERSION AND DUPLICITY — Śrīla Bhaktisiddhant Saraswati Thakur