Live Caitanya Caritamrta · CC Antya 6.285
Expectations Can Undermine Neutrality
“ ‘Here is a person coming near. He will give me something. This person gave me something last night. Now another person is coming near. He may give me something. The person who just passed did not give me anything, but another person will come, and he will give me something.’ Thus a person in the renounced order gives up his neutrality and depends on the charity of this person or that. Thinking in this way, he adopts the occupation of a prostitute.
What the purport teaches
- The mind repeatedly considers who has given before, who has not given, and who might give next.
- Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that a person in the renounced order thereby gives up neutrality and depends on particular people.
- He compares this calculating dependence to adopting the occupation of a prostitute.
Try this today
When you catch yourself calculating who may give you something, pause and let that calculation go.
Ask yourself
How do hopes of receiving something affect my attitude toward different people?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport; the practice and question are plain words for trying the verse today.