Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca. Prayāsaḥ means things which are done with great endeavor. No. We shall accept things which are very easily done. Not to waste our energy unnecessarily.
Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaḥ, prajalpaḥ, talking all nonsense, sitting together and on the newspaper, "Oh, such politician said like this, such social worker..." All nonsense. Practically you try to avoid all this newspaper reading or talking of nonsense subject matter. That is called prajalpa.
Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ (NOI 2). Niyamāgrahaḥ means niyama, scheduled rules and regulation, not to accept. Niyama āgraha or niyama agraha. Āgraha means unnecessarily āgraha, but without any result. That is called niyamāgrahaḥ. You must follow the rules regulation so that you are benefitted. But if you are not benefitted simply by following the rules and regulation, that is āgraha, only for the rules and regulation, not for the result. We must see that there is result. Niyamāgrahaḥ.
Jana-saṅgaś ca, to associate with unwanted people. You must associate with devotees, not others. They are called.... laulya, jana-saṅgaś ca.
And laulyam, greediness, ṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati.
If you are a student of devotional service, you must avoid all these things. And just the opposite number,
- utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt
- tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt
- saṅga-tyāgāt sato vṛtteḥ
- ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati
- (Upadeśāmṛta 3)
Prasidhyati means you increase. What is that? Utsāha, endeavor. "In this life I must fulfill my mission of Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is called utsāha. Dhairya. Don't be agitated because it is not giving result immediately. Just patiently go on working.
Utsāhād dhairyān niścayāt. Niścayāt means to have full faith in the words of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati (BG 9.31). This is called full faith, that "Kṛṣṇa has said that if I am in devotional service, I will never be lost. Kṛṣṇa will give me protection. Kṛṣṇa says." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). To have faith, this is called surrender. Not that, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa says, but may not be able to protect me." No. Kṛṣṇa is able. He is all-powerful, omnipotent. He can give you protection. When He says that ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi, that is a fact. This is called niścayāt. "Certainly Kṛṣṇa will give me protection." Not that "Because I do not see Kṛṣṇa, I do not know whether Kṛṣṇa will give me protection." No. That word is sufficient. This is called niścayāt. Utsāhād dhairyān niścayād tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt.
But you must follow the rules and regulation as it is enjoined in the śāstra. Not that "Kṛṣṇa will give me protection and I may do whatever I like. I can eat anything I like, I can do anything I like." Just some rascal advises that "There is no such thing, restriction, in the self realization. You can eat anything, you can do anything." People like that program. And as soon as there is restriction, they do not like. Because we put so many restriction, I am called in the western world, "Swamiji, you are very conservative." So we have to become conservative, follow the rules. Not that we give liberty, that "Whatever you like, you do, and at the same time you make progress, spiritual life." That is not possible.
Because spiritual life means tapasya. Formerly great, great saintly persons, they underwent very, very severe tapasya for thousands of years, hundreds of years. Then they attained success. In the Kali-yuga it is not possible to undergo such severe tapasya. There is concession. The concession is that you live a pure life and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. This will make sufficient. A pure life: no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling. This is pure life. These boys and girls who have joined this movement, they have given up. They are not dying. Nobody will die if he lives a pure life. Anyone will make progress. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13). These are the injunction of the śāstra. If you want to be happy, this is the.... Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1).
Sattva means my existence. At the present moment my existence is not śuddha, purified. Just like if your health is contaminated, then you get some disease. So for the soul, the living entity, this disease, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9), this is a kind of disease.