Bhakti in three modes 1 – Bhakti in ignorance is self-righteous and hurtful
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
I talked about bhakti in three modes, which Kapildev is analysing over here. And he exhibits a significant level of self-criticality. Whereas religions are said to be self-righteous, the Bhagavatam shows how even religious teachers can be self-critical.
And practicing bhakti gives us the best ideological value. It's like a person who is lost in a broken car, they find an address by which they can go back home. But, just because our ideological value has become right, doesn't mean our functional value has become right.
The car is still polluting, noisy, jerky, so our body may still be conditioned by the mode of ignorance. So religious people, if they become self-righteous, then even the wrong actions they rationalize as right, based on their religious ideas, ideologies. So people may do violence in the name of religion, but actually they are doing violence simply because they are impelled by the mode of ignorance.
So generally, in the mode of passion, we want to be the controller. And if passion gets frustrated, we want to become destroyers. So, that can happen in the outside world where people want to kill those who think that they are opposed to, you know, boys may want to disfigure girls, that somebody who doesn't go along with our plans, thinking that we are protecting the tradition from this deviant person.
Actually, we are simply giving in to ignorance in the name of transcendence. So, everybody has a right to practice bhakti, but everybody needs the right place to practice. If somebody is sick with an infectious disease, they also have a right to be in the hospital.
But, the hospital cannot allow them to mix with everyone and infect everyone. So, if somebody is infected, so Prabhupada says that those who are infected, those who are a gate to hell, it is a sign of ignorance. So, how do we know whether my anger is in ignorance or in transcendence? It's very difficult to know whether it is coming from our ego or brain or whether it is coming from the intelligence of the Paramatma.
Better to see not where it is coming from, but where it is taking us. If the effect is going to be constructive, then express it. If it is going to be destructive, it is going to hurt, alienate people.
So, rather than thinking of ourselves as transcendental, so when we become self-aware, then we can also do, but our bhakti practice curves the modes within us by introspecting.