Hear with faith 10th offense to holy name rather than fear

The tenth offense to the holyname is recited everyday in morning in  our devotional centers as

" To MAINTAIN material ATTACHMENTS even after understanding so many instructions on this subject matter"

In my beginning years in practice of sadhana bhakti, whenever I heard the statement of this offense it used to create lot of fear as well as shame in my heart. I used to think that this statement means that I have to cut down any affection for my parents, siblings as well as relatives and till the time I possess any affection for them , I am doing this offense to the holyname. I used to think that unless I take to sanyas ashram leaving behind my family members, I will never be able to avoid this offense. I used to feel ashamed of myself and felt insulted and mocked by other advanced devotees who were reciting this statement of offense with shradha. I used to feel as if Prabhupad is making fun of my low level of  spiritual status and asking me to become heartless and artificially numb all my emotions connected to my family members. These fears and these thoughts used to create drift of my emotions from the process of holyname as well as my own sadhana. Such trains of thoughts used to make me feel disconnected from my sadhana. 

However, I was relieved from such stress and pressure in my mind when I took to hearing from Gurus in bonafide disciplic succession preaching the process of holyname. This hearing shattered my misconceptions and made me feel connected to my sadhana of chanting the holyname and dissipated my fears which came from hearing this statement every morning. Firstly, I came to know that this statement of offense doesn't demands a person to give up his family life because there had been numerous examples in Gaudiya Vaishanava history where the sadhaka stayed within family life and yet were reciting shudha Nama. Few of the examples are Srivas Thakur, Advaita Acharya and many more. Secondly, feelings of gratitude for our parents and all those who have took care of us is very natural and healthy. This is the entire spirit of Shradha ceremony. This shradha ceremony has always been considered very important limb of vedic culture and helps to reinforce one's sadhana towards the service of lotus feet of Krishna rather than take one away from it. Thirdly, the feeling of gratitude and humility goes hand in hand and these two qualities are the essence of Trnad api Sunichena verse which is considered as foundation of the chanting of holyname and therefore anything which reinforce our spirit of gratitude is always encouraged by our acharyas. 

Also, if we carefully read the statement of 10th offense , it states two important words- MAINTAIN and MATERIAL ATTACHMENT.

Now  we will carefully analyze these two words. First is ATTACHMENT. Many a times popular connotation of the word ATTACHMENT in people living in family life is affection, care and concern. However, the meaning referred by the word ATTACHMENT here is different and it refers to Over-possessiveness which is also referred as Moha in Sanskrit. This is unrestrained craving for personal enjoyment through that object of attachment. Like the Moha of Ajamila for the prostitute that he gave up everything else just to fulfil his cravings for enjoying with her. The moha of Dhritrashtra for his son Duryodhana that he became the cause of the Mahabharat war. Moha of Yudhistra towards gambling that he lost everything and became the cause of Draupadi undergoing a very painful experience. Moha of a person of this world for the money and success in the career that he neglects everything like his family, his health and his spiritual needs. So such kind of Moha is referred by the word ATTACHMENT in this verse. Second  word is MAINTAIN. Nature of everything in this world is of constant change. So unless one is working to increase something one already has, the tendency is that it will deteriorate with time. Therefore to maintain something, one needs to constantly nurture it from time to time and if one fails to do that, the same thing will deteriorate with time. Therefore, MAINTAIN something demands one to nurture that thing time to time. If one doesn't nurture it, slowly it will deteriorate with time. To not nurture our moha, we need to take right choices which are based on Guru, sadhu and shastra. This means that to gradually purify our relationships by bringing the pleasure of Krishna as the governing principle of our relationships over our personal selfish interests.  Dhritrashtra was given many opportunities time to time to exercise right choice by Vidura and take strict action against Duryodhana but he everytime neglected the good advice and acted out of his moha which further entangled him more. The pleasure of Krishna also lies in following the scriptural guidelines governing the prescribed behaviors for different different relationships according to varna and ashramas.

In nutshell it can be stated that this verse encourages us to purify our desires, to purify the relationships from self centered to Krishna centered and strive for a life of lotus petal in the water of material world.
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