20241018 Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta 2.5. Āhnika

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Second Shower — Consideration of secondary rules

Fifth Stream — Āhnika

(Performing religious ceremony at a fixed hour)

After waking up at the brāhma-muhūrta, think of and decide on both spiritual and physical the work that has to be done during the night and day. During daybreak, after passing stool in specific places that are not against physical rules, clean all the senses, such as the face, arms, etc. Bathing in clear clean water wear clothes etc. that are proper. Later, by using one’s own caste (varṇa) one should collect the money. Considering the condition of the body, bathing at midday should worship the Lord and tarpaṇa etc. When food and so on is ready, keep a little for all living entities and some for the fallen and unworthy and stand in the premise of the house desiring to receive the guests.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is detailing the activities performed in the morning. One gets up at brāhma-muhūrta, passes stool and takes a bath. It reminds me, when we were living in the grass hut. We had dug a hole with some rings and built an outhouse to answer nature’s call. And the white worms would fight with each other to rise up and then they will up for a minute, the king of the pile! They will be the winner, the king of the winners and then they would be pulled down and someone else would go up! One time some devotee drank too much date rasa and he got diarrhea. He passed and then he went into Śrīla Prabhupāda’s bathroom. I got called to clean it up. So we had someone clean it up. Now of course we have big buildings and luxurious āśramas. When I first was living here, we only had the grass hut. So, we used to take bath from a bucket and pour water on our head. Still in the gurukula, they have like 17 hand pumps and they take some water from the hand pump and take their bath. So, this is how we were living in 1972.

If you have a guest, feed him carefully. People of one’s own village are not to be treated as guests. A guest should be made from another country, unrelated, poor and desirous of eating. Do not explore the caste of the guest. If an innocent brāhmaṇa appears, feed him. Later, after feeding the pregnant women, dependents, old people and children then one should eat oneself. Eat food facing east or north. Eat food in a clean pot that is wholesome, pure, untouched by sinners. Do not eat untimely. Think about God after eating. Abandoning laziness, should engage in activities that are not much troublesome. While discussing the bona fide scriptures, spend the last part of the day. In the evening, worship the evening with a buried heart. In the evening perform sandhyā-vandana. In the evening also, just like in the noon, eat the food after feeding the cooked food to the guests. Provide space and bed to the guest for sleeping at night. Sleep in a clean and insect-free bed with the head facing east or south. If one sleeps facing the west or the north, diseases are born. Do not have illicit relationship with woman. In brief, it is necessary to say that by following in best way all the rules of body and mind well, with a pure heart, by earning money with special efforts, the householder should feed his dependents, children, elders, guests and destitute people and maintain his body as much as necessary.

Jayapatākā Swami: So here we see that there are a lot of rules for the gṛhastha-āśrama. And by this if everybody practices this then we don’t need the welfare of the government. The government pays salary to welfare workers. That means the government has to raise the taxes. By doing this, if everyone does this, then the government will charge lower taxes, and they don’t have to pay the welfare workers. Seems that this book by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in one place shows what the different āśramas do.

The lift is not working. So tomorrow I am supposed to give class. I will go by the stairway, some disciples will lift me and somehow, we will go down. My secretary told me that in 10 to 15 minutes we can get down. Apparently, rats, they ate the wires! That has created a short circuit and burnt out the mother board of the lift! Any advice?

Should do daily duties to be performed without disturbance

The rules which are observed in the āhnika-tattva cannot be completely followed in the society today. The way the foreign politics and customs have prevailed, it is difficult to observe the old rules. In the present national, work is usually done in the middle of the day, and therefore it is necessary to eat first and then to do activities such as earning money. In particular, health policies in India have also changed over time. Therefore, to eat more after long time, taking bath three times a day and to be awake at night cannot be done. The main purport of the mahaṛṣis is that the bodily activities such as eating, dealings, bathing, sleeping, etc., are to be performed smoothly without sin and without disturbance. Therefore, the residents of āśramas should consider their own situation and continue to perform the āhnika work with due faith on the path of decreasing attachment (nivṛtti-parā).

Note:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.15.47–49

pravṛttaṁ ca nivṛttaṁ ca
dvi-vidhaṁ karma vaidikam
āvartate pravṛttena
nivṛttenāśnute ’mṛtam

hiṁsraṁ dravyamayaṁ kāmyam
agni-hotrādy-aśāntidam
darśaś ca pūrṇamāsaś ca
cāturmāsyaṁ paśuḥ sutaḥ

etad iṣṭaṁ pravṛttākhyaṁ
hutaṁ prahutam eva ca
pūrtaṁ surālayārāma-
kūpājīvyādi-lakṣaṇam

According to the Vedas, there are two kinds of activities — pravṛtti and nivṛtti. Pravṛtti activities involve raising oneself from a lower to a higher condition of materialistic life, whereas nivṛtti means the cessation of material desire. Through pravṛtti activities one suffers from material entanglement, but by nivṛtti activities one is purified and becomes fit to enjoy eternal, blissful life. The ritualistic ceremonies and sacrifices known as agni-hotra-yajña, darśa-yajña, pūrṇamāsa-yajña, cāturmāsya-yajña, paśu-yajña and soma-yajña are all symptomized by the killing of animals and the burning of many valuables, especially food grains, all for the fulfillment of material desires and the creation of anxiety. Performing such sacrifices, worshiping Vaiśvadeva, and performing the ceremony of Baliharaṇa, which all supposedly constitute the goal of life, as well as constructing temples for demigods, building resting houses and gardens, digging wells for the distribution of water, establishing booths for the distribution of food, and performing activities for public welfare — these are all symptomized by attachment to material desires.

Jayapatākā Swami: So some of these things are done, if they are done for Kṛṣṇa then they are nivṛtti-mārga. If they are done for fulfilment of material desires, then they are pravṛtti-mārga. I went 6 km from our Ekacakra temple, where there is a famous place of Kālī worship. That is called, I forget what is called. But I went there one day because I understand all the devas or demigods are actually Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. I went and there was a sādhu there, who is no longer here, but he originally established the temple, and he was a sādhu who was a worshiper of Kālī. So in the temple there was a heavy vibration. I bowed down to the goddess from my right side, and I could relate with her even though she was a bit ghastly. But the other devotees, new devotees, for them it looked very bad. In Kolkata they have a place called Kālī Ghāṭa. That is a special śakti-pīṭha, where the thumb of Kālī dropped. And, in the temple they have Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa Deities on the side, and the main Deity of the temple is Kālī. So they would give Kāī the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa prasāda. But they would also kill goats and offer the goat meat to Kālī. But Lord Śiva is vegetarian. She only eats the prasāda of Lord Śiva because he is her husband. So all these ghosts and associates of Kāli, they would eat the meat. If anyone eats that meat, it is actually ghost prasāda! But Vaiṣṇavas only do their activity for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa.

Various daily activities

All the 1) rules for the body, 2) rules for the mind, 3) social rules and 4) rules for the next life shall be observed in the āhnika work.

Jayapatākā Swami: Ahnika rule means we do the ahnika, for the twice initiated we do Gāyatrī, morning, noon and evening.

1)        It is always obligatory to observe bodily rules such as getting up early in the morning, doing work befitting the reforms of the body, bathing, eating at the proper time, eating healthy and nutritious food giving strength, drinking clean water, travelling, wearing clean clothes and not sleeping for more than nine hours (three prahara, prahara—a duration of time comprising three hours).

Jayapatākā Swami: So prahara is where they have kīrtana yajñas. They say, aṣṭama-prahara is one day. So sometimes they used to have 72 hours kīrtana. How many praharas is that? Prahara is 3 hours, 8 praharas is one day. So three days.

2)        Should always observe the rules of the mind, as much as necessary through various subjects of education such as thoughts of the daily activities, studies of meditation, learning the consideration of a subject, science, geography, astronomy, history, geometry, mathematics, literature, zoology, chemistry, medicine, physics and the movement tattva of the living entities.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the education of the mind with various subjects. So we have education for the human beings and then they can use this knowledge to engage in occupational duties.

3)        By the activities of earning wealth righteously, maintaining the family as best as possible, doing social activities as necessary and taking care as much as possible in the development of the world, etc., should perform āhnika activities every day.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, if we are Kṛṣṇa conscious, we can still preach and help our society to advance.

4)        By performing the activities meant for the next world such as sandhyā-vandana and so on, should be perform āhnika work for the next world.

Most of the work is āhnika (performing daily activities at fixed hour). Some works are fortnightly, some are monthly, some are semi-annual, some are annual, and some are irregular. Nitya-karma (everyday daily constant obligatory activities) itself is āhinka. Some of the naimittika (occasional ritualistic activities) are regular and some are irregular.

The householder's life should always be pious and sinless. So far the system of pious life has been discussed and shown. Let us now discuss the main cardinal sins with a intention of teaching sinlessness.*

Jayapatākā Swami: It is not that if one is in the gṛhastha-āśrama, they don’t have to do anything. Actually, there are more activities, more rules for the gṛhasthas so that their life is pure and sinless. The gṛhastha is allowed to have procreation. And all their activities they do is regular, like fortnightly we have Ekādaśī vratas.

Note:

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.23.18–19

steyaṁ hiṁsānṛtaṁ dambhaḥ
kāmaḥ krodhaḥ smayo madaḥ
bhedo vairam aviśvāsaḥ
saṁspardhā vyasanāni ca

ete pañcadaśānarthā
hy artha-mūlā matā nṛṇām
tasmād anartham arthākhyaṁ
śreyo-’rthī dūratas tyajet

Theft, violence, speaking lies, duplicity, lust, anger, perplexity, pride, quarreling, enmity, faithlessness, envy and the dangers caused by women, gambling and intoxication are the fifteen undesirable qualities that contaminate men because of greed for wealth. Although these qualities are undesirable, men falsely ascribe value to them. One desiring to achieve the real benefit of life should therefore remain aloof from undesirable material wealth.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, these are things we should not do. No illicit sex, gambling and intoxication, we devotees also don’t eat meat, fish and eggs. Some people, they spread lies, duplicitous and have lust and anger. So all these things are to be avoided. All these things we can stop by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Tomorrow there will be class in the temple hall.

Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga! Gaurāṅga!