Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has listed ten offenses against the holy dhama that we must carefully avoid in orderto be fully benefitted from our visit to or residence in the holy dhama.
- To disrespect one’s spiritual master who reveals the dhama to the disciple
- To think that the holy dhama is temporary.
- To commit violence towards any of the residents of the holy dhama or to any of the pilgrims who come there, or to think that they are ordinary people. Srila Prabhupada writes: “All the inhabitants of Vrindavana are Vaisnavas. They are all auspicious because somehow or other they always chant the holy name of Krishna” (C.C.Adi 5.232, purport).
- To perform mundane activities while living in the holy dhama.
- To utilize the dhama for personal economic development by commercializing deity worship and sankirtana in the holy dhama.
- To think that the holy dhama belongs to a mundane country or province, such as Bengal; to think that the Lord’s dhama is equal to a place connected with some demigod, or to attempt to measure the area of the holy dhama.
- To commit sinful acts while residing in the holy dhama
- To consider Vrindavana-dhama as different from Navadvipa-dhama.
- To blaspheme the sastras that assert the glorious position of the holy dhama.
- To be faithless and think that the glories of the dhama are imaginary.
Srila Prabhupada explained that the results of all devotional activities performed in the holy dhama are magnified a thousand times. Therefore, one can make rapid advancement if one lives offenselessly in the holy dhama. But if we commit offenses, the results of those offenses are also magnified one thousand times. Therefore, one is advised to carefully avoid committing any offenses in the holy dhama.
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