Why does the Bhagavatam 11.28.1 ask us to not praise others?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So why does the verse say that we should not glorify anyone because if their devotee is doing wonderful services shouldn’t they be glorified? The Bhagavatam at different levels speaks according to the level at which it is speaking So this chapter is called Jnana Yoga and in Jnana the primary process for sadhana is unemotionality so there are material emotions which we consider the negative axis there is zero that is the Brahman realization or that is the path of Jnana and there is the positive spiritual emotions which is the path of Bhakti So Jnana takes us from material emotions to neutrality and Bhakti takes us to positive emotions So here Krishna is instructing primarily at the level of Jnana and that’s why he says na prashamsena don’t get involved in liking things too much don’t get involved in disliking things too much So if we see in the Bhagavad Gita also Krishna repeatedly talks about being equipoised na praharshet priyam prapya no dvijet that don’t be delighted when you get something which you like and don’t be dejected when you don’t get what you like or when you get something that you don’t like So the idea is that for most of us spiritual emotions are not easily accessible So material emotions make us go up and down a lot and this was what had primarily happened to Arjuna material emotions had overwhelmed him because of which he was about to give up fighting the war and Krishna’s consistent message was avoid material emotionality So here also Krishna is talking in those terms at the Jnani level avoid material emotionality but if you see other sections of the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna focuses on Bhakti we do see a culture where the devotees are glorified profusely in fact we see Bhakti culture is a culture of mutual glorification we have Suta Goswami he is speaking to the sages of Naimisharan and the sages are in one sense like his students and Suta Goswami is the instructor but when he is speaking to them at that time Suta Goswami says So therefore means best among the brahmanas so now he is not considering that I am the teacher so I am the best among the brahmanas he is referring to somebody who is a student as the best among the brahmanas so that itself indicates that it is a culture of appreciation mutual appreciation so certainly if devotees are doing services we should appreciate them and at the Jnani level when Krishna speaks don’t praise, don’t criticize but while while glorifying devotees also we have to do it in such a way that others don’t feel minimized glorification doesn’t have to be by comparison with others if somebody is doing something well they can be appreciated sometimes some people deliberately do it in such a way that there are 2-3 people over here they glorify someone but the purpose is to criticize someone else you know so we have to be careful in how we glorify others so that it is not intended or implied or inferred criticism of others if somebody is doing a good service that’s wonderful we don’t have to compare them with others just how wonderful they are doing the service so that way we can definitely glorify in bhakti actually by glorifying devotees we encourage them in their bhakti by glorifying devotees we appreciate Krishna who is manifesting through their laudable activities and that way we glorifying devotees is also a limb of bhakti so in Jnana because there is a focus on negation of emotions that’s why both glorification and criticism are to be avoided that’s what is recommended now in our case usually speaking we live in a very we have critical minds and we live in a critical age so often for us to criticize is relatively easier and more natural than to glorify that’s why we focused in this class more on the aspect of not judging and criticizing because that is the tendency which we have more and more does it address the question? thank you, any other questions or comments?