Inactive (CC and Other books)

Expressions researched:
"inactive" |"inactivity" |"no activity" |"not active"

CC Preface and Introduction

CC Preface:

The intelligent man situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not try to forcibly stop his senses from acting. Rather, he engages his senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa. No one can stop a child from playing by leaving him inactive; rather, the child can be stopped from engaging in nonsense by being engaged in superior activities. Similarly, the forceful restraint of sense activities by the eight principles of yoga is recommended for inferior men; superior men, being engaged in the superior activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, naturally retire from the inferior activities of material existence.

CC Introduction:

The word caitanya means "living force," carita means "character," and amṛta means "immortal." As living entities we can move, but a table cannot because it does not possess living force. Movement and activity may be considered signs or symptoms of the living force. Indeed, it may be said that there can be no activity without the living force. Although the living force is present in the material condition, this condition is not amṛta, immortal. The words Caitanya-caritāmṛta, then, may be translated as "the character of the living force in immortality."

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 4.62, Purport:

When not manifested, the modes of material nature are said to be in goodness. When they are externally manifested and active in producing the varieties of material existence, they are said to be in passion. And when there is a lack of activity and variegatedness, they are said to be in ignorance. In other words, the pensive mood is goodness, activity is passion, and inactivity is ignorance. Above all these mundane qualitative manifestations is viśuddha-sattva. When it is predominated by the sandhinī potency, it is perceivable as the existence of all that be.

CC Adi 5.41, Purport:

When the cosmic creation is annihilated, the living entities, who are indestructible by nature, rest in the body of Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa is therefore sometimes called the total jīva. As spiritual sparks, the living entities have the tendency to be inactive in the association of the material energy, just as sparks of a fire have the tendency to be extinguished as soon as they leave the fire. The spiritual nature of the living being can be rekindled, however, in association with the Supreme Being. Because the living being can appear either in matter or in spirit, the jīva is called the marginal potency.

CC Adi 6.14-15, Purport:

The puruṣa, the enjoyer, is inactive and without material qualities, although at the same time He is the master, existing separately in each and every body as the emblem of knowledge. By understanding the material cause, one can guess that the puruṣa, the enjoyer, being without activity, is aloof from all kinds of enjoyment or superintendence. Sāṅkhya philosophy, after describing the nature of prakṛti (material nature) and puruṣa (the enjoyer), asserts that the creation is only a product of their unification or proximity to one another.

CC Adi 7.27, Purport:

To enjoy such material facilities is to be afflicted with the three material miseries. However, when by nature's law there is a flood, the seeds within the earth become inactive. Similarly, as the inundation of love of Godhead spreads all over the world, the seeds of material enjoyment become impotent. Thus the more the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spreads, the more the desire for material enjoyment decreases. The seed of material enjoyment automatically becomes impotent with the increase of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

CC Adi 8.19, Purport:

An individual soul cannot live in the Brahman effulgence in a state of inactivity; after some time, he must desire to be active. However, since he is not aware of his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and therefore has no spiritual activity, he must come down for further activities in this material world.

CC Adi 17.275, Purport:

Servitude, friendship, parental affection and conjugal love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead are the basis of the four kinds of devotional activities. In śānta, the marginal stage of devotional service, there is no activity. But above the śānta humor are servitude, friendship, parental affection and conjugal love, which represent the gradual growth of devotional service to higher and higher platforms.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 2.35, Purport:

In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, the word dainya (humility) is explained as follows: "When unhappiness, fearfulness and the sense of having offended combine, one feels condemned. This sense of condemnation is described as dīnatā, humility. When one is subjected to such humility, he feels physically inactive, he apologizes, and his consciousness is disturbed. His mind is also restless, and many other symptoms are visible." The word nirveda is also explained in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: “One may feel unhappiness and separation, as well as jealousy and lamentation, due to not discharging one's duties. The despondency that results is called nirveda.

CC Madhya 2.72, Purport:

When life becomes almost inactive, it is called "stunned." The emotions resulting from this condition are joy, fear, astonishment, moroseness and anger. In this condition, the power of speech is lost and there is no movement in the hands and legs. Otherwise, being stunned is a mental condition. Many other symptoms are visible on the entire body in the beginning. These are very subtle, but gradually they become very apparent. When one cannot speak, naturally one's active senses are arrested, and the knowledge-acquiring senses are rendered inoperative.

CC Madhya 6.171, Purport:

High-thinking philosophers and scientists can tackle the material energy, but not being able to understand the spiritual energy, they can simply imagine an inactive state, such as the impersonal Brahman. This is simply the negative side of material life. By such imperfect knowledge, the Māyāvādī philosophers conclude that the cosmic manifestation is a transformation of the Supreme. Thus they must necessarily also accept the theory of the illusion of the Supreme (vivarta-vāda). However, if we accept the inconceivable potencies of the Lord, we can understand how the Supreme Personality of Godhead can appear within this material world without being touched or contaminated by the three modes of material nature.

CC Madhya 13.56, Translation:

King Pratāparudra was also astonished to see the saṅkīrtana. He became inactive and was converted to ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Preface:

The intelligent man who is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not try to forcibly stop his senses from acting. Rather, he engages his senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa. No one can stop a child from playing by leaving him inactive. A child can be stopped from engaging in nonsense by being engaged in superior activities. The forceful restraint of sense activities by the eight principles of yoga is recommended for inferior men. Being engaged in the superior activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, superior men naturally retire from the inferior activities of material existence.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter Intoduction:

The word caitanya means living force. As living entities, we can move, but a table cannot because it does not possess living force. Movement and activity may be considered to be signs or symptoms of the living force. Indeed, it may be said that there can be no activity without the living force. Although the living force is present in the material condition, it is not amṛta, immortal. The words caitanya-caritāmṛta, then, may be translated as "the character of the living force in immortality."

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

Had there been no infinitesimal living entities, the Supreme Lord would have been inactive, and there would not be variegatedness in spiritual life. There is no meaning to a king if there are no subjects, and there is no meaning to the Supreme God if there are no infinitesimal living entities. How can there be meaning to the word "lord" if there is no one to overlord? The conclusion is that the living entities are considered to be expansions of the energy of the Supreme Lord, and the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the energetic.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion Introduction:

This devotional service is a sort of cultivation. It is not simply inaction for people who like to be inactive or devote their time to silent meditation. There are many different methods for people who want this, but cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is different. The particular word used by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in this connection is anuśīlana, or cultivation by following the predecessor teachers (ācāryas). As soon as we say "cultivation," we must refer to activity.

Nectar of Devotion 29:

A sense of weakness caused by distress, fear or offensiveness is called humility. In such a humble condition one becomes talkative, small in heart, dirty in mind, full of anxiety and inactive.

Nectar of Devotion 29:

One feels fatigue after walking a long distance, after dancing and after sexual activity. In this kind of fatigue there is dizziness, perspiration, inactivity of the limbs, yawning and very heavy breathing.

Nectar of Devotion 38:

The proof of Prahlāda's natural devotion is that even when he was a small child he did not play with his playmates, but was always eager to preach the glories of the Lord. Instead of joining in their sportive acrobatic feats, he remained an inactive child because he was always in trance, meditating on Kṛṣṇa. As such, there was no possibility of his being touched by the external world.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book Introduction:

Liberated souls have no interest in materialistic activities. The impersonalist theory that after liberation one becomes inactive and need not hear anything does not prove that a liberated person is actually inactive. A living soul cannot be inactive. He is active either in the conditioned state or in the liberated state. A diseased person, for example, is also active, but his activities are all painful. The same person, when freed from the diseased condition, is still active, but in the healthy condition the activities are full of pleasure.

Krsna Book 58:

Receiving Kṛṣṇa, the Pāṇḍavas were enlivened, just as if awakened from unconsciousness or loss of life. When a man is lying unconscious, his senses and the different parts of his body are inactive, but when he regains his consciousness the senses immediately become active. Similarly, the Pāṇḍavas received Kṛṣṇa as if they had just regained their consciousness, and so they were very much enlivened.

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

The modern sage Śrī Aurobindo has explained that in the third stage of yoga practice, the yogī sees God everywhere. In the process of jñāna-yoga, or the cultivation of empirical knowledge, when the yogī attains impersonal Brahman realization he sees Brahman as all-pervasive and inactive. This realization is bereft of any understanding of the Lord's name, form, qualities, pastimes, or paraphernalia. But if these transcendental topics arrest our attention, one very soon begins following the path of bhakti-yoga—the path enunciated in the Vedas, Upaniṣads, and Bhagavad-gītā.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1:

Those who are not enthusiastic to execute the Supreme Lord's transcendental orders will automatically be forced by the mode of passion to perform useless action, which is really the state of inactivity. Arjuna asked Lord Kṛṣṇa about the symptoms and behavior of one who has transcended the material modes.

Light of the Bhagavata

Light of the Bhagavata 37, Purport:

The result of self-realization is cessation of the storms of desire and lust, which are products of the modes of ignorance and passion. This cessation of the storm does not mean that the sea becomes inactive. When the storm subsides, the work of navigation can take place smoothly. According to the Indian system of navigation, there is a ceremony on the seashore known as the coconut day. On the coconut day the sea is offered a coconut because she has become peaceful, and from that day on the seagoing vessels sail to foreign countries.