Effects of aparādha: pride

In a previous article, I listed the five effects of aparādha. Here I examine the fifth in the list: pride (bhakty-ādikṛtābhimānitvam)). Śrī Jīva Goswami discusses this effect in Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 159.2. He writes:

atha bhakty-ādi-kṛtābhimānatvaṁ cāparādha-kṛtam eva, vaiṣṇavāvamānādi-lakṣaṇāparādhāntara-janakatvāt |

Now we will discuss the fifth primary effect of aparādha, the pride derived from the execution of devotion (bhakty ādikṛtābhimānitvam). When one becomes proud of his devotional acts, it is the result of an offense, because pride gives rise to further offenses, such as disrespecting Vaiṣṇavas.

Notice the logic above. It is seen that pride gives rise to disrespect of Vaiṣṇavas. Disrespect is an offense. Since pride caused the offense of disrespect, we can infer that the pride itself was a result of a previous offense. That is, the outcome of the offense that caused pride is another offense inevitably.

Babaji’s commentary on this Anuccheda is very illuminating. Of all the five effects of aparādha, he identifies pride as the worst because it leads to other offenses. The other effects like bhakti-śaithilya (slackness in bhakti) or aśraddhā (faithlessness) may not necessarily lead to another offense; but pride is bound to cause offense. Pride gives to a paraṁparā of aparādha, which continues into future lives. To show this, Śrī Jīva Goswami gives the example of Dakṣa —

yathā dakṣasya prāktana-śrī-śivāparādhena prācetasatvāvasthāyāṁ śrī-nāradāparādha-janmāpi dṛśyate |

This was seen in the case of Dakṣa, who, because of an earlier offense to Śrī Śiva, became offensive to Śrī Nārada when he took birth again as the son of the Pracetas.

Dakṣa, proud of his status as Brahmā’s son and a great progenitor, expected honor from his son-in-law Śiva. When Śiva did not rise to greet him, Dakṣa insulted him, setting off a chain of events that led to Satī’s self-immolation, Dakṣa’s beheading by Vīrabhadra, and his later rebirth among the Pracetas. Even then his pride remained, and he offended Nārada.

In that life, Dakṣa sent his sons, the Haryaśvas and later the Śabalāśvas, to perform austerities before entering household life, but Nārada inspired them to become renunciates. Enraged, Dakṣa cursed Nārada to wander endlessly. This curse was the lingering effect of his earlier offense to Śiva. In this way, we see that pride is the worse among the five effects of aparādha.