Neglecting God - The Cause of Spiritual Fall Down
The human form of life is an exceedingly rare opportunity meant exclusively for understanding the Absolute Truth. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that attempting to navigate this world or pursue spiritual elevation while neglecting the Supreme Personality of Godhead leads only to frustration, failure, and a return to the miseries of material existence.
The Fall of the Impersonalists and Yogīs
Austerity and philosophical speculation are insufficient for ultimate liberation. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that transcendentalists who achieve the impersonal Brahman platform through severe penance inevitably fall back down to the material world if they neglect the loving worship of the Lord's lotus feet.
- In actuality the Mayavadi philosophers very strictly follow the austerities and penances of spiritual life and in this way are elevated to the impersonal Brahman platform, but due to their negligence of the lotus feet of the Lord they again fall down.
- Although one may be accepted as a jnani, or one advanced in knowledge, his knowledge is considered impure because he has no information of devotional service and thus neglects the direct worship of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- Due to neglecting the lotus feet of the Lord, these yogis (the followers of the Patanjali system) again fall down into the material existence (patanty adhah). Consequently this path of yoga is more abominable than the impersonalists' path.
- Srimad-Bhagavatam says that even after so much endeavor, if the impersonalist enters into the spiritual world and acquires an impersonal form, he returns again into the material world because of neglecting to serve the Supreme Lord in love and devotion.
Rejecting the Lord's Form and Instructions
The Supreme Lord personally descends to guide humanity, yet conditioned souls constantly ignore Him. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that foolishly neglecting the Lord's beautiful personal form and rejecting His direct instructions guarantees failure on every path of life.
- Those who are attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in love always see the Lord's lotus eyes and lotus feet, whereas others cannot see the Lord's beauty and are therefore classified as anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah, or neglectful of the Lord's personal form.
- Those who neglect the Lord's form are surely failures on every path in life, but if one develops even a little love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one is liberated without difficulty - svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat.
- When the Personality of Godhead comes before us, we neglect Him. Such foolish negligence is condemned by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gita.
- Unfortunately the living entity neglects the Supreme Person's instructions.
Offending the Devotees and the Spiritual Master
God is inseparable from His pure devotees. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that neglecting the order of the spiritual master or disrespecting an exalted Vaiṣṇava is technically identical to neglecting and offending the Supreme Lord Himself.
- No one should neglect the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or the order of the spiritual master who is the representative of God.
- The word atikramam used herein indicates that in offending a devotee one neglects the Supreme Lord Himself.
- In the Padma Purana, it is stated that the best mode of worship is to offer oblations to Visnu, but better than that is to worship the devotees of Krsna. Thus Daksa's determination to neglect Lord Siva in the sacrifices was not fitting.
- The branches or descendants of Advaita Acarya who considered Advaita Acarya the original cause of the devotional creeper, and who thus neglected or disobeyed the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
The Consequences of Negligence
Neglecting the worship of God yields disastrous results. Śrīla Prabhupāda observes that whether it results in an immediate curse, swift divine retribution, or the widespread societal degradation seen in the age of Kali, the price of ignoring the Lord is unfathomable suffering.
- Narottama dasa Thakura, a great devotee and acarya of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sect, has sung: "My Lord, I have simply wasted my life. Having obtained the human body, I have neglected to worship Your Lordship, and therefore I have willingly drunk poison."
- Millions and millions of years ago, when Narada Muni was a Gandharva, he neglected the order to glorify the Lord, and being mad in the association of women, he began to chant otherwise. Thus he was cursed to become a sudra.
- He (Balarama) immediately wanted to scratch the land near the river with His plowshare (because Yamuna neglected His order).
- They will abandon bathing three times daily and worshiping the Lord. Abandoning cleanliness and neglecting the Supreme Lord, they will accept nonsensical principles.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda makes it abundantly clear that neglecting the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the root cause of all failure, both materially and spiritually. Even those who perform monumental austerities, such as the Māyāvādī philosophers and mystic yogīs, are ultimately defeated by the laws of nature because they stubbornly neglect to worship the personal, lotus feet of the Lord. The Bhagavad-gītā severely condemns those foolish individuals who ignore Kṛṣṇa when He personally descends to offer His divine instructions. Furthermore, this negligence extends to the Lord's representatives; to neglect the orders of the bona fide spiritual master or to offend a pure devotee is to directly neglect God Himself, an offense that halts all spiritual progress. As lamented by great ācāryas like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, receiving the rare human form of life and failing to worship the Lord is equivalent to willingly drinking poison. To escape the degradation and nonsensical principles of the current age, one must abandon all negligence and urgently take full, submissive shelter of the Supreme Lord and His pure devotees.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Neglecting God. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.