12.195
hena tomara sange mora ekatre bhojana
na jani, tomara sange kaiche haya mana
SYNONYMS
hena—thus; tomara—Your; sange—in association; mora—My; ekatre—together; bhojana—eating; na jani—I do not know; tomara sange—by Your association; kaiche—how; haya mana—My mind will turn.
Nityananda Prabhu continued: “You are such a monist! And now I am eating beside You.
I do not know how My mind will be affected in this way.”
PURPORT
Sangat sanjayate kamah (Bg.2.62).
One develops his consciousness according to society and association.
As Srila Nityananda Prabhu admits, a devotee should be very careful when associating with those who are not devotees.
When asked by a householder devotee what the behavior of a devotee should be, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu immediately replied:
asat-sanga-tyaga,--ei vaisnava-acara
’stri-sangi’--eka asadhu, ’krsnabhakta’ ara (Cc.Madhya 22.87) A Vaisnava, a devotee, should simply discard intimate association with nondevotees.
In his Upadesamrta, Srila Rupa Gosvami has described the symptoms of intimate relationships in this way:
dadati pratigrhnati
guhyam akhyati prcchati
bhunkte bhojayate caiva
sad-vidham priti-laksanam The words bhunkte bhojayate indicate that one should eat with devotees.
One should carefully avoid eating food offered by nondevotees.
Indeed, a devotee should be very strict in not accepting food from a nondevotee, especially food prepared in restaurants or hotels or on airplanes.
Srila Nityananda Prabhu’s reference in this connection is meant to emphasize that one should avoid eating with Mayavadis and covert Mayavadis like the sahajiya Vaisnavas, who are materially affected.