In a previous article, I listed the five effects of aparādha. Here I examine the first in the list: Kauṭilya (crookedness). Śrī Jīva Goswami discusses kauṭilya in Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 153.2.
kauṭilya or crookedness is dishonest behavior, in which there is a difference between external behavior and internal intention. Bhagavān does not accept offerings rooted in hypocrisy. Śrī Jīva Goswami writes:
ata eva kuṭilātmanām uttamam api nānopacārādikaṁ nāṅgīkaroti bhagavān, yathā dūtya-gato duryodhanasya
Consequently, Bhagavān does not accept even the most valuable offerings of those who are hypocritical in nature. An example of this is Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa’s refusal to accept the luxurious offerings of Duryodhana when He went to the latter’s capital as a messenger on behalf of the Pāṇḍavas
Duryodhana hoped to impress Kṛṣṇa so that He would favor him and abandon the side of the Pāṇḍavas. He was not sincerely devoted to Kṛṣṇa. His hospitality was externally lavish, but internally strategic. Consequently, Kṛṣṇa did not go to his palace but went instead to Vidura’s simple hut to take lunch.
Śrī Jīva then speaks to sādhakas directly:
ādhunikānāṁ ca śruta-śāstrāṇām aparādha-doṣeṇa śrī-bhagavati śrī-gurau tad-bhaktādiṣu cāntarānādarādāv api sati bahis tad-arcanādy-ārambhaḥ kauṭilyam
In spite of having heard the scriptural conclusions, contemporary practitioners also exhibit hypocrisy (kauṭilya) when, due to their offenses, they make a show of devotion toward Bhagavān, their guru, and other devotees while remaining internally disrespectful.
I am often asked about the definition of uttamā bhakti. Its essence is ānukūlyatā – a favorable attitude toward Bhagavān and one’s guru. This is an inner disposition. If one is internally disrespectful, while accepting the guru externally, then one is afflicted by aparādha which is the cause of crookedness. Crookedness prevents bhakti from yielding its result. Śrī Jīva cites a verse from the Skanda Purāṇa to support this point —
na hy apuṇyavatāṁ loke mūḍhānāṁ kuṭilātmanām bhaktir bhavati govinde kīrtanaṁ smaraṇaṁ tathā
In this world, bhakti to Bhagavān Govinda as well as the glorification and remembrance of Him certainly do not become manifest to people who are impious, foolish, and hypocritical. (Skanda Purāṇa)
Those who are not kuṭila (crooked) are blessed by devotees, while those who are crooked are avoided, being unreceptive to grace. Śrī Jīva Goswami cites Śrīdhara swami’s comment on SB11.5.4-5 in Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 154:
ṭīka ca — tatra ye’jñās te bhavad-vidhānām anugrāhyā ity āha—dūra iti | jñāna-lava-durvidagdhās tv acikitsyatvād upekṣyā ity āśayenāha—vipra iti
Śrīdhara Svāmī also comments: “In the first of these two verses, sage Camasa declares that out of the various divisions of human beings mentioned in the two preceding verses [sb 11.5.2–3, Anuccheda 64], those who are devoid of knowledge (ajña) should be favored by devotees like King Nimi. But by the second verse, he intends to say that those who are consumed with pride due to their petty knowledge ( jñāna-lava-durvidagdha) are to be avoided, because they are incurable.
Babaji’s commentary on this Anuccheda is illuminating, and I reproduce part of it below:
“Although erudite (vijña), those who are pretentious (kuṭila) will not accept the blessings of devotees. Rather, they may mock such blessings, if not explicitly, then at least within their minds. This is because they consider themselves very clever. Śrīdhara Svāmī calls them incurable (acikitsya), because they have fallen prey to the fatal disease known as the pride of petty knowledge, jñāna-lava-durvidagdha. In reference to them, King Bhartṛhari makes the following statement:
ajñaḥ sukham āradhyaḥ sukhataram āradhyate viśeṣajñaḥ jñāna-lava-durvidagdhaṁ brahmāpi taṁ naraṁ na rañjayati
A simpleton is easily pleased, and a person of exceptional wisdom is pleased even more easily. But a person who is consumed with pride due to their petty knowledge ( jñāna-lava-durvidagdha) cannot be satisfied even by Brahmā himself. (Nīti-śataka 3).
This is a very common disease in modern times. Even among those who take to the spiritual path, many are plagued with this disease. This is largely due to the fact that knowledge is now freely available through cyber media. There is nothing wrong with this in principle except that people tend to read selectively. They accept whatever agrees with their concept of truth and reject or misinterpret the rest. The readers, however, are unaware of this unconscious bias and think that they are situated in knowledge.
Such knowledge, however, induces a sense of smugness. As a result, people no longer feel the need to study under a teacher by submitting to him or her in humility. Even those people who accept a guru do not necessarily have much faith in him. Cyber media is the real guru for them. They acquire half-baked knowledge and then argue relentlessly. “
Summary
Kauṭilya (crookedness) is dishonest behavior, in which there is a difference between external behavior and internal intention.
Kauṭilya or crookedness impedes the reception of grace.
Crookedness is common in the modern age.
For one whose heart has become deeply crooked due to severe aparādha, even the ability to recognize these symptoms—whether learned through śāstra or sādhu-saṅga—often brings no real benefit. Instead of leading to rectification, such knowledge can be misused to further manipulate scripture for personal justification, thereby deepening self-deception rather than dissolving it.
The easiest person to fool is us. Babaji made this point recently in his Brhad Bhagavatamrta lecture.
Others can push back – but if we want to cheat our own selves, who is going to push back?
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool “ — attributed to Richard Feynman