— Chapter Four —

Criticizing Saintly Persons

All glories to Lord Sri Gauranga, the life of Sri Gadadhara Pandit; all glories to Lord Nityananda, the heart of Srimati Jahnavadevi; all glories to Sri Advaita Acarya, the Lord of Mother Sita; all glories to Srila Srivas Pandit, and to all the devotees of Lord Caitanya.

The ten offenses against the holy name

LORD CAITANYA SAID, "Haridasa, now describe in detail the offenses against the holy name." Srila Haridasa replied, "O Lord, whatever I say will be on Your prompting alone. I am a mere puppet.

---

Each body has a multitude of different labels and characteristics. This in itself isn't bad; just like it is not bad for people to wear different-colored clothes. What is bad is that due to identifying the body as the self, we wrongly consider the person to be the labels that are on his body.
Science of Identity Foundation | Jagad Guru Speaks

---

"The scriptures enumerate ten offenses against the holy name, and I am very fearful of these of these offenses. I will list them one by one; please give me strength to avoid these offenses, my Lord.

"1) To criticize saintly persons.
"2) To consider the demigods to be independent of the Su- preme Lord, or that Lord Krsna's name, form, qualities and pastimes are separate from the Lord.
"3) To disobey the spiritual master who reveals the truth about the holy name.
"4) To criticize the scriptures that describe the glories of the holy name.
"5) To consider the excellences and divine qualities of the holy name, as delineated in the scriptures, to be imaginary.
"6) To commit sinful activities on the strength of chanting the holy name.

Prev - Next >>