Greed

All glories to HDG Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Mhj

All Glories  to HDG Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada

    Greed is one of the six enemies of the mind also known as the  second type of  absorption. The living entity  being befuddled by the hallucination of the material energy becomes under the influence of lust. Just as when lust becomes thwarted it leads anger, in the same way as on lust on arising ,this greed too naturally  is awakened. The natural impetus of the senses is the tendency to run after the sense objects in spite of the difficulties to obtain any enjoyment. This  attempt is due to the natural attraction of the mind to the objects of the senses. Just as anger is an obstruction, so greed too is a thorn in the pursuit of spiritual knowledge. Just as the deer in relishing the sound of the flute music dashes forward and eventually falls down in the pool of water being trapped by the hunter ,in the same way the living entity  bewildered by the temptation offered to  the senses rushes forward only to fall and be trapped by the material energy. Then by attempting to enjoy the senses, he is forced by the onslaught of innumerable desires to take birth repeatedly and wander a long time in fulfilling such desires finding no respite but to be inevitably confined and trapped  in the material whirlpool. In that respect Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur has sung  to warn us: tumi ati tuccha bhoga ase bhandi maya pase. This greed does not only confine one in the bonded state but in that bonded state one takes to  many other sinful actions as stealing and having illicit affairs with the opposite sex. It is with the intention to mitigate such activities that many fruitive actions are recommended  in the scriptures with the lure of benefits in this life  and in the next. Logically, we can understand that this is not actually the ultimate goal of human life .To indulge in fruitive activities for  material enjoyment   because of the lack of spiritual knowledge will not mean that one will become free from greed because some portion of it will definitely  remain in the role of the fruitive worker. In contrast, there is the  other group of people who resort to giving up the household life in preference of the ochre robes by renouncing all their material ambitions completely to escape the lures of greed but due to the lack of surrender to the Supreme Lord ,they are again entranced back by greed. Ravana, the demon king being enamoured by the beauty of Sita Devi attempted to capture her but ended up capturing the illusory form of Sita Devi and in the end was destroyed  together with his dynasty. At one time ,Brahma in suspicion tried to thwart  with some greed the eternal pastimes of the Supreme Lord Krishna by stealing the cowherd boys and calves. But in the end ,he became agitated in seeing the opulence of the Supreme Personality that he began to glorify the Supreme Lord and also composed a manual called the Brahma Samhita in that mood. The knowledge seekers and the fruitive workers in spite of their relentless efforts to overcome greed  are never successful in their efforts. The devotees of the Lord by engaging their greed in hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord in the association of the devotees are able to overcome that greedy tendency. The devotees understand that to renounce greed in a negative way will never be successful as all endeavors beneficial lead to Vishnu. The secret is that all who strive for service  in that  fashion will never be diminished or lost. However the ignorant person bereft of spiritual knowledge thinks his real benefit is to engage in sense gratification for oneself. As Prahlad Maharaj says na te vidur svarthah gatim hi vishnum .At the present moment devotional service in the form of hearing and chanting is becoming ignored without compunction. It is for this reason that many individuals beset by desires for women and money  together with prestige  busily engage in maintaining their wife and children  whilst immersed  in material enjoyment make it out  like they are practicing devotional service. If it was fact that they were practicing devotional service  as hearing and chanting in the association of devotees then by the mercy of guru, they would be attracted to Lord Krishna. However instead of doing that ,they busy themselves in false association where actual  renunciation  is a far cry because they  neglect real spiritual duties instead make monetary gain by extracting  service from that which is worship able as the Holy Bhagavat ,the Holy Name and the deity form of the Lord(bartering).Their being born in a aristocratic family helps them in such endeavors to extract service from these divine articles for monetary gain. One day one jackal accidently entered into a bucket of paint such that his whole body took on  a bluish hue .He began wondering what will his fellow jackals think of him now ?Incidentally, wandering further the jackal came to the edge of the forest and then on the path lions ,owls and  tigers in observing his strange color took to flight in fear. This started the jackal thinking now this is not actually a bad situation as it can be an advantage. So he told them,' don't worry, the Lord has sent me  here and there should be no cause for fear from any of you. The chaos here is because of the absence of a leader .So that is why I have come ,just follow all my instructions and all will be well.' The foolish beasts not understanding his actual identity began ideally to serve him with devotion. Notwithstanding ,truth does not remain hidden for a long span of time .The fact is when something becomes uncovered surpassing all the layers of  coverings than all becomes  completely revealed in toto to everybody. Incidentally, one early evening, the jackal was sitting with his assembly when he heard the mass crying of jackals nearby .Forgetting himself ,he inadvertently joined in unison in that commotion which at once revealed his true identity to the other beasts present and without further ado  kicked him out from the forest .In this way ,many sense enjoyers or conditioned souls are wandering in the material world and after being confined to some designation and becoming stagnant become very remorseful in the start. In Bharatha now the chanting has become more in the mood of sense gratification. Nowadays, the sense enjoyer prefers tilak anointed on the forehead instead of hair styled in the latest fashion. Neck beads adorn his neck instead of a  costly necklace. His whole body is marked with the holy gopi sandalwood and instead of being subservient to his wife. he is engaged in worshipping the holy deity of the Lord .There is no time to hear scandalous streets other than the strict injunction to read the holy Bhagavata. Hence engaging the mind ,words and body in the service of the Lord he gets the opportunity to take on the exalted renounced order. Now ,those  members of  his original group of sense enjoyers ,what will they think? We  all know something of the plight of the renunciant of Avanti mentioned in the Bhagavata. On arriving in the midst of the social assembly ,the big fruitive workers compared to lions and tigers and the small time businessmen compared to jackals  on seeing that renunciant will  starts running away in fear thinking , 'this associate of ours is coming as a renunciant and we will soon lose all  our existing sense gratification .However the renunciant consoles them saying, 'do not fear comrades ,the Lord has sent me to save and deliver all of you.' Hearing this, his former associates respectfully give him a seat of honor as an Acarya. The Acarya  now being honored and  seated with adoration began to speak ,'I dont understand why you claim that  for mahaprasada ,there is no question of preference of caste in honouring it ,further why should not there be distinction in the Vaishnavas because of caste? Why you all preaching in this manner? Now understand the differences as that ,this Vaishnava is of Chandal origin ,that  of the Saha  denomination and then there is of course the brahmana Vaishnava! Why do you fear speaking directly in this manner? Secondly ,you are all fearing that on taking my shelter, you have to stop worship of the Goddesses like Shasti,MaKali. Don't worry, all is ok just do  the needful as you desire, there is no problem at all. Of course, some say that Nityananda Prabhu came to establish truth after experiencing  painful opposition from others  but we are ultimately the servants of moneyed people and are never in that group. You were also thinking that in taking my shelter, you will have to begin excruciating practices to attain the goal. No worry my friends , On the contrary,I have the most simplified approach to all of that in quick attainment. This is the method of siddha pranali meaning the  method of perfection where you have to keep listening to the esoteric pastimes of the SupremeLord. You say there are eighteen impediments to the attainment of this perfection but that is not at all true. Where does it say Krishna has a birth? You say that Putana came to Vraja but when you go deeper in knowledge, you will understand that there is no such thing as Putana or Phutana. The name of our exalted path is known by all as prakrta sahajiya .There is no impediment to this path with all the regulations and rules understood by our knowledgeable people. Just follow .We are naturally  humble people according to the verse  trnad api sunichena but it is not that if people  were to prevent us from our aims (in gratification) ,we will do nothing ,we will set upon them  in defiance with all the arms at our disposal. Comrade, we all human beings ,and  can relate with each other in friendship. Where ever you can help me in my material gratification ,please do the needful and I too will do the same for you in friendship, that  is the rule of the world  in order to live in harmony. Depending on some unsure testimony in the search for transcendence will be like giving three steps of land to the Dwarf Vishnu and ending up in the lowest hells. Nevertheless, the pure devotees are always compassionate to these classes of people completely bereft of proper association and knowledge. Sometimes the blissful chanting of the stalwart devotees is able to invoke the proper reception in  the minds of  these ignorant people so much so they understand that they lacking somewhat and then they take up to also singing this song ,O mana ,tumi kis se Vaishnava -O mind ,what kind of  Vaishnava are you?