SB 4.3 Talks between Lord Siva and Sati

4.3. Talks between Lord Siva and Sati

 1-4: Dakña starts another sacrifice 

1. Why was Dakña’s neglect of Lord Siva in the sacrifice not fitting?
He was proud of his position and neglected Lord Siva and di not invite him in the sacrifice. He failed to see him as an exalted devotee of the Lord and a demigod , he saw him through the bodily conception of life as his son-in-law.
His neglect was not fitting as no sacrifice is complete unless all the demigods are invited and they give their blessings.

 5-14: Sati tries to convince Lord Çiva to go to the sacrifice with her

 2. What were the various arguments given by Saté to Lord Çiva to convince him to go to Dakña’s sacrifice? (BS p. 40)

1. She said she did not need invitation to go to her father's house for a sacrifice. 
2. She wanted to go and meet her mother, sisters,aunts, and relatives. She also wanted to decorate herself like her sisters and the wives of other demigods.
3. She wanted Lord Siva to show kindness to her and allow her to go for the sacrifice. 

 3. Explain the meaning of the words –
stré (9):cannot find this word in the text or purport
yoñit (11):one who is enjoyed, women
 abava (12):one who is never born

 15-25: Lord Çiva’s response 

4. Write the arguments given by Lord Siva to convince Sati that she shouldn’t go for Daksa’s sacrifice. Include VCT’s links (BS p. 41-42).


 5. Why did Dakña become angry with Lord Çiva in spite of all the six qualities? Explain based on 17P and 21P.

Quote 4.3.17 vidyä-tapo…

 6. WVT of 4.3.23 sattvaà viçuddhaà… and write the salient points from the purport about çuddhasattva, samädhi of a devotee and adhokñaja. 

Captivation due to illicit sex( husband or wife)

Also see 

Systematic Grhastha Life as enjoined in the Vedas is better than irresponsible sinful life

From Srila Prabhupada's Purport to 4.26.26:

Both man and woman desire one another; that is the basic principle of material existence. Women in general always keep themselves beautiful so that they can be attractive to their lusty husbands. When a lusty husband comes before his wife, the wife takes advantage of his aggressive activities and enjoys life. Generally when a woman is attacked by a man — whether her husband or some other man — she enjoys the attack, being too lusty. In other words, when one’s intelligence is properly utilized, both the intellect and the intelligent person enjoy one another with great satisfaction. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.9.45):

yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ
 kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham

The actual happiness of the karmīs is sex life. They work very hard outside the home, and to satiate themselves after their hard labor, they come home to enjoy sex life. King Purañjana went to the forest to hunt, and after his hard labor he returned home to enjoy sex life. If a man lives outside the home and spends a week in a city or somewhere else, at the end of the week he becomes very anxious to return home and enjoy sex with his wife. This is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham. Karmīs work very hard simply to enjoy sex. Modern human society has improved the materialistic way of life simply by inducing unrestricted sex life in many different ways. This is most prominently visible in the Western world.

From 4.26.23:

An effeminate husband, simply being attracted by the external beauty of his wife, tries to become her most obedient servant. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has therefore advised that we not become attracted by a lump of flesh and blood. The story is told that at one time a man, very much attracted to a beautiful woman, wooed the woman in such a way that she devised a plan to show him the ingredients of her beauty. The woman made a date to see him, and before seeing him she took a purgative, and that whole day and night she simply passed stool, and she preserved that stool in a pot. The next night, when the man came to see her, she appeared very ugly and emaciated. When the man inquired from her about the woman with whom he had an engagement, she replied, “I am that very woman.” The man refused to believe her, not knowing that she had lost all her beauty due to the violent purgative that caused her to pass stool day and night. When the man began to argue with her, the woman said that she was not looking beautiful because she was separated from the ingredients of her beauty. When the man asked how she could be so separated, the woman said, “Come on, and I will show you.” She then showed him the pot filled with liquid stool and vomit. Thus the man became aware that a beautiful woman is simply a lump of matter composed of blood, stool, urine and similar other disgusting ingredients. This is the actual fact, but in a state of illusion, man becomes attracted by illusory beauty and becomes a victim of māyā.

From 4.25.62:

1. Just to satisfy his desires, the King got the Queen, and thus he became cheated by material existence. Although he was not willing to do so, he remained a pet animal under the control of material intelligence.
2.  Just as a pet monkey dances according to the desires of its master, the King danced according to the desires of the Queen. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.5.2) it is said, mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ: if one associates with a saintly person, a devotee, one’s path of liberation becomes clear.
3.  But if one associates with a woman or with a person who is too much addicted to a woman, his path of bondage becomes completely clear.
4. On the whole, for spiritual advancement one must give up the company of women. This is what is meant by the order of sannyāsa, the renounced order.
5. Before taking sannyāsa, or completely renouncing the material world, one has to practice avoiding illicit sex. Sex life, licit or illicit, is practically the same, but through illicit sex one becomes more and more captivated.
6. By regulating one’s sex life there is a chance that one may eventually be able to renounce sex or renounce the association of women. If this can be done, advancement in spiritual life comes very easily.

How one becomes captivated by the association of one’s dear wife is explained in this chapter by Nārada Muni.

1.  Attraction for one’s wife means attraction for the material qualities.
2. One who is attracted by the material quality of darkness is in the lowest stage of life, whereas one who is attracted by the material quality of goodness is in a better position. 
3. Sometimes we see that when a person is on the platform of material goodness, he is attracted more or less by the cultivation of knowledge.
4. This is, of course, a better position, for knowledge gives one the preference to accept devotional service. Unless one comes to the platform of knowledge, the brahma-bhūta stage, one cannot advance in devotional service. 

Feelings of security derived from material things is illusion

From srila Prabhupada's purport to SB 4.25.55

When the living entity is encircled by wife, children and home, he acts on the mental plane. Sometimes he is very happy, sometimes he is very much satisfied, sometimes he is not satisfied, and sometimes he is bewildered. Bewilderment is called moha, illusion. Illusioned by society, friendship and love, the living entity thinks that his so-called society, friendship and love, nationality, community, etc., will give him protection. He does not know that after death he will be thrown into the hands of a very strong material nature that will force him to accept a certain type of body according to his present work. This body may not even be a human body. Thus the living entity’s feeling of security in this life in the midst of society, wife and friendship is nothing but illusion. All living entities encaged in various material bodies are illusioned by the present activities of material enjoyment. They forget their real business, which is to go back home, back to Godhead.

Everyone who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness must be considered to be in illusion. One’s so-called feelings of happiness and satisfaction resulting from material things are also illusions. Factually neither society, friendship, love nor anything else can save one from the onslaught of the external energy, which is symptomized by birth, death, old age and disease. To get even one living entity out of the illusory condition is very difficult; therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (7.14):

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
 mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
 māyām etāṁ taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” Therefore, unless one surrenders completely at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, he cannot get out of the entanglement of the three modes of material nature.

Analogies Saunaka Rsi uses to condemn those averse to devotional service

1.     Do the trees not live

1.    Saunaka Rsi compares the long lives that the materialists aspire for with the long lives the trees live. A prolonged life without any devotional service is useless as Sankaracarya lived for 32 years and Lord Caitanya was on this planet for 48 years, on the other hand a materialist may try everything to prolong his life but his life is useless as it is not used for devotional service.

2.    do the beasts not eat and discharge semen?

1.    Saunaka Rsi indicates that persons who are simply engaged in planning a better type of animal life consisting of eating, breathing and mating are also animals in the shape of human beings. A society of such polished animals cannot benefit suffering humanity, for an animal can easily harm another animal but rarely do good.

3.    Men who are like dogs, hogs, camels and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Sri Krsna, the deliverer from evils 

1.    As dogs are negligible animals and serve the master faithfully for bits of bread, a man serves a master faithfully without sufficient rewards. 

2.    Persons who have no discrimination in the matter of foodstuff and who eat all sorts of rubbish are compared to hogs. Hogs are very much attached to eating stools.

3.     The camel also sucks its own blood while chewing thorny twigs. The thorns the camel eats cut the tongue of the camel, and so blood begins to flow within the camel’s mouth. The thorns, mixed with fresh blood, create a taste for the foolish camel, and so he enjoys the thorn-eating business with false pleasure.

4.     Similarly, the great business magnates, industrialists who work very hard to earn money by different ways and questionable means, eat the thorny results of their actions mixed with their own blood.

5.     The central point of attraction for material enjoyment is sex life. To enjoy sex life is to suck one’s own blood. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself.* When the ass begs for sexual intercourse, he is kicked by the fair sex, yet he still follows the female for such sexual pleasure. 

6.    The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs. In other words, such godless leaders of dogs and hoglike men are bigger animals with the qualities of animals in greater proportion.

4.    earholes like the holes of snakes, tongue like the tongue of a frog.

1.    If the tongue is not engaged in chanting the glories of the Lord then it is considered like the croaking of the frog because such a tongue is just engaged in speaking nonsense which has no value in one’s spiritual advancement for the speaker and the receiver.

2.     If the ear is not engaged in hearing about the Lord then the ears are to be considered like the holes of the snakes. Rats and mice make holes in agricultural fields; however the snakes eat the rat and mouse and live in those holes. Similarly if the ear is not used to hear the message of the Lord, then they are not being utilized properly. the senses and the action of the senses are to be considered impure or materialistic as long as they are employed only in sense gratification.

5.    Head crowned with a heavy silk turban.

1.    The common man who is puffed up with his material position and does not bow down before the Deity of the Lord in the temple, or who defies temple worship without any knowledge of the science, must know that his so-called turban or crown will only succeed in further drowning him in the water of the ocean of material existence. A drowning man with a heavy weight on his head is sure to go down more swiftly than those who have no heavy weight. 

2.    A foolish, puffed-up man defies the science of God and says that God has no meaning for him, but when he is in the grip of God’s law and is caught by some disease like cerebral thrombosis, that godless man sinks into the ocean of nescience by the weight of his material acquisition. 

3.    Advancement of material science without God consciousness is a heavy load on the head of human society, and so one must take heed of this great warning.

The Lord's Darshan makes one aloof from sex attraction and one desires to see nothing else but the Lord

From the purport to SB 3.28.32:

A yogī should similarly meditate on the most benevolent smile of Lord Śrī Hari, a smile which, for all those who bow to Him, dries away the ocean of tears caused by intense grief. The yogī should also meditate on the Lord’s arched eyebrows, which are manifested by His internal potency in order to charm the sex-god for the good of the sages.

Purport:

It is stated in this verse that the charming eyebrows of the Lord are so fascinating that they cause one to forget the charms of sense attraction. The conditioned souls are shackled to material existence because they are captivated by the charms of sense gratification, especially sex life. The sex-god is called Makara-dhvaja. The charming brows of the Supreme Personality of Godhead protect the sages and devotees from being charmed by material lust and sex attraction. Yāmunācārya, a great ācārya, said that ever since he had seen the charming pastimes of the Lord, the charms of sex life had become abominable for him, and the mere thought of sex enjoyment would cause him to spit and turn his face. Thus if anyone wants to be aloof from sex attraction, he must see the charming smile and fascinating eyebrows of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

3.28.33
With devotion steeped in love and affection, the yogī should meditate within the core of his heart upon the laughter of Lord Viṣṇu. The laughter of Viṣṇu is so captivating that it can be easily meditated upon. When the Supreme Lord is laughing, one can see His small teeth, which resemble jasmine buds rendered rosy by the splendor of His lips. Once devoting his mind to this, the yogī should no longer desire to see anything else.

Purport:
If the yogī is able to place the beautiful face of the Lord in the core of his heart, he will be completely satisfied. In other words, when one is absorbed in seeing the beauty of the Lord within himself, the material attraction can no longer disturb him.

No material remedy to get out of distress, only devotional service is the solution

From 3.5.2
Vidura said: O great sage, everyone in this world engages in fruitive activities to attain happiness, but one finds neither satiation nor the mitigation of distress. On the contrary, one is only aggravated by such activities. Please, therefore, give us directions on how one should live for real happiness.

3.5.4: Therefore, O great sage, please give me instruction on the transcendental devotional service of the Lord, so that He who is situated in the heart of everyone can be pleased to impart, from within, knowledge of the Absolute Truth in terms of the ancient Vedic principles delivered only to those who are purified by the process of devotional service.

3.5.13: For one who is anxious to engage constantly in hearing such topics, kṛṣṇa-kathā gradually increases his indifference towards all other things. Such constant remembrance of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa by the devotee who has achieved transcendental bliss vanquishes all his miseries without delay.

These verses are similar in mood to Sri Prahalada Maharaja Prayers to Lord Narasimha Deva:

SB 7.9.17 — O great one, O Supreme Lord, because of combination with pleasing and displeasing circumstances and because of separation from them, one is placed in a most regrettable position, within heavenly or hellish planets, as if burning in a fire of lamentation. Although there are many remedies by which to get out of miserable life, any such remedies in the material world are more miserable than the miseries themselves. Therefore I think that the only remedy is to engage in Your service. Kindly instruct me in such service.

SB 7.9.18 — O my Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, by engaging in Your transcendental loving service in the association of devotees who are liberated souls [haṁsas], I shall become completely uncontaminated by the association of the three modes of material nature and be able to chant the glories of Your Lordship, who are so dear to me. I shall chant Your glories, following exactly in the footsteps of Lord Brahmā and his disciplic succession. In this way I shall undoubtedly be able to cross the ocean of nescience.

SB 7.9.19 — My Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, O Supreme, because of a bodily conception of life, embodied souls neglected and not cared for by You cannot do anything for their betterment. Whatever remedies they accept, although perhaps temporarily beneficial, are certainly impermanent. For example, a father and mother cannot protect their child, a physician and medicine cannot relieve a suffering patient, and a boat on the ocean cannot protect a drowning man.

SB 7.9.20 — My dear Lord, everyone in this material world is under the modes of material nature, being influenced by goodness, passion and ignorance. Everyone — from the greatest personality, Lord Brahmā, down to the small ant — works under the influence of these modes. Therefore everyone in this material world is influenced by Your energy. The cause for which they work, the place where they work, the time when they work, the matter due to which they work, the goal of life they have considered final, and the process for obtaining this goal — all are nothing but manifestations of Your energy. Indeed, since the energy and energetic are identical, all of them are but manifestations of You.

SB 7.9.21 — O Lord, O supreme eternal, by expanding Your plenary portion You have created the subtle bodies of the living entities through the agency of Your external energy, which is agitated by time. Thus the mind entraps the living entity in unlimited varieties of desires to be fulfilled by the Vedic directions of karma-kāṇḍa [fruitive activity] and the sixteen elements. Who can get free from this entanglement unless he takes shelter at Your lotus feet?

False ego is the cause of the material creation

From Srila Prabhupada's purport to SB 2.25.25

"The five elements, namely sky, air, fire, water and earth, are all but different qualities of the darkness of false ego. This means that the false ego in the sum total form of mahat-tattva is generated from the marginal potency of the Lord, and due to this false ego of lording it over the material creation, ingredients are generated for the false enjoyment of the living being. The living being is practically the dominating factor over the material elements as the enjoyer, though the background is the Supreme Lord. Factually, save and except the Lord, no one can be called the enjoyer, but the living entity falsely desires to become the enjoyer. This is the origin of false ego. When the bewildered living being desires this, the shadow elements are generated by the will of the Lord, and the living entities are allowed to run after them as after a phantasmagoria."

Thus:

• With the glance of Mahavishnu which comprises of the living entities, time and karma the agitation in the mahat tattva starts as we read in this post From Pradhana to Mahat Tattva - Characteristics, differences and Transformation.

• Further transformation occurs because of the presence of the false ego- As Srila Prabhupada explains in this purport that "This means that the false ego in the sum total form of mahat-tattva is generated from the marginal potency of the Lord, and due to this false ego of lording it over the material creation, ingredients are generated for the false enjoyment of the living being."

• Thus the false ego in the mahat tattva is that of the marginal potency - the jiva who has desired to enjoy separately from the Lord.
• Thus due to the agitation of the glance of Maha Vishnu false ego is produced(from UHLF -Page 352 Navakishori dd - but it has already with the living entity??) and manifests in the three modes, goodness, passion and ignorance.
• Gradually those forms of false ego transform further.
• From False Ego in the mode of ignorance(tamas- full display of material creation under the spell of darkness of ignorance.Verses 2.5.26-29)
• Sky (ether) is generated along with sense object sound
• From Sky the Air element is generated along with sense object touch
• From Air the Fire element is generated along with the sense object shape
• From Fire the Water element is generated along with the sense object taste
• From Water the Earth elements is generated along with the sense object taste
• Each element contains within it all the sense objects previously generated
• From False ego in the mode of goodness(Vaikarika- the neutral stage of creation) Verse 2.5.30:
• The mind is generated along with the 10 demigods who control the bodily movements.e.g controller of directions, air, sun-God, father of Daksha prajapati,the Asvini Kumars, the fire God,the King of heaven, the worshipable deity in heaven, the chief of the Adityas and Brahmaji, the Prajapati.All come into existence.
• Same is mentioned in verse 3.5.30:"The false ego is transformed into mind by interaction with the mode of goodness. All the demigods who control the phenomenal world are also products of the same principle, namely the interaction of false ego and the mode of goodness."
• From False Ego in the mode of passion(tejas - the initiative of creation) From 2.5.31:
• intelligence, prana(the life force)
• five knowledge acquiring senses- eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin
• five working senses - voice, legs, hands, genitals, anus
• Also mentioned in 3.5.31: "The senses are certainly products of the mode of passion in false ego, and therefore philosophical speculative knowledge and fruitive activities are predominantly products of the mode of passion."

Its interesting to note that Srimad Bhagavatam says that the false ego is the cause of this false material creation  and it also explains in the 12th canto that the death of the false ego is the Ultimate Annihilation of the material creation. See the link below for the post on this topic.

Death of the false ego - the Ultimate Annihilation

Having understood this how should we move about in this material world:

can be read here as explained by Suta goswami

Accumulation,Artificial needs take us away from Krishna

From Srila Prabhupada's purport to SB 2.5.24
Materialistic ego, or the sense of identification with matter, is grossly self-centered, devoid of clear knowledge of the existence of God. And this self-centered egoism of the materialistic living entities is the cause of their being conditioned by the other paraphernalia and continuing their bondage of material existence.

By the will of the Lord, therefore, the impersonalist, even after knowing the Brahman and Paramātmā features of the Lord, remains ignorant of His eternal personal feature as ever-existent Nārāyaṇa, transcendental to all material creation.

The cause of such gross ignorance is constant engagement by the materialistic man in the matter of artificially increasing material demands. To realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one has to purify the materialistic senses by devotional service. 

dravya sakti, kriya sakti and jnana sakti

The mode of goodness, or the brahminical culture recommended in the Vedic literatures, is helpful to such spiritual realization, and thus the jñāna-śakti stage of the conditioned soul is comparatively better than the other two stages, namely dravya-śakti and kriyā-śakti. 

 The whole material civilization is manifested by a huge accumulation of materials, or in other words, raw materials for industrial purposes, and the industrial enterprises (kriyā-śakti) are all due to gross ignorance of spiritual life.

 In order to rectify this great anomaly of materialistic civilization, based on the principles of dravya-śakti and kriyā-śakti, one has to adopt the process of devotional service of the Lord by adoption of the principles of karma-yoga, mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.27) as follows:

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
 yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
 tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

“O son of Kuntī, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me.”

From Srila Prabhupada's purport to SB 2.5.30

tamas is the full display of material creation under the spell of the darkness of ignorance. Manufacture of the “necessities of life” in factories and workshops, excessively prominent in the Age of Kali, or in the age of the machine, is the summit stage of the quality of darkness.

 Such manufacturing enterprises by human society are in the mode of darkness because factually there is no necessity for the commodities manufactured. Human society primarily requires food for subsistence, shelter for sleeping, defense for protection, and commodities for satisfaction of the senses.

Human civilization is meant for purifying the senses, and objects of sense satisfaction should be supplied as much as absolutely required, but not for aggravating artificial sensory needs. Food, shelter, defense and sense gratification are all needs in material existence. Otherwise, in his pure, uncontaminated state of original life, the living entity has no such needs.

The needs are therefore artificial, and in the pure state of life there are no such needs. As such, increasing the artificial needs, as is the standard of material civilization, or advancing the economic development of human society, is a sort of engagement in darkness, without knowledge. By such engagement, human energy is spoiled, because human energy is primarily meant for purifying the senses in order to engage them in satisfying the senses of the Supreme Lord
The Vedas instruct us to get out of the existence of darkness and go forward on the path of light (tamasi mā jyotir gama). The path of light is therefore to satisfy the senses of the Lord.

Sex Desire binds the conditioned soul in material existence

Copied from HDG Srila Prabhupada's purport to SB 2.1.12:

How Sex Desire binds?

• The grossest type of anartha which binds the conditioned soul in material existence is sex desire, and this sex desire gradually develops in the union of the male and female.
•  When the male and female are united, the sex desire is further aggravated by the accumulation of buildings, children, friends, relatives and wealth.When all these are acquired, the conditioned soul becomes overwhelmed by such entanglements, and the false sense of egoism, or the sense of “myself” and “mine,” becomes prominent, and the sex desire expands to various political, social, altruistic, philanthropic and many other unwanted engagements, resembling the foam of the sea waves, which becomes very prominent at one time and at the next moment vanishes as quickly as a cloud in the sky. 
• The conditioned soul is encircled by such products, as well as products of sex desire, and therefore bhakti-yoga leads to gradual evaporation of the sex desire, which is summarized in three headings, namely profit, adoration and distinction. 

How Bhakti Yoga helps one overcome sex desire?

• All conditioned souls are mad after these different forms of sex desire, and one shall see for himself how much he has been freed from such material hankerings based primarily on the sex desire. As a person feels his hunger satisfied after eating each morsel of foodstuff, he must similarly be able to see the degree to which he has been freed from sex desire. 
• The sex desire is diminished along with its various forms by the process of bhakti-yoga because bhakti-yoga automatically, by the grace of the Lord, effectively results in knowledge and renunciation, even if the devotee is not materially very well educated. 
• Knowledge means knowing things as they are, and if by deliberation it is found that there are things which are at all unnecessary, naturally the person who has acquired knowledge leaves aside such unwanted things.
•  When the conditioned soul finds by culture of knowledge that material necessities are unwanted things, he becomes detached from such unwanted things. This stage of knowledge is called vairāgya, or detachment from unwanted things. 
• So by the gradual process of devotional service under the guidance of a proper spiritual master, and following the principles of the Bhāgavatam, one must be able at least to control the gross sex desire before one accepts the renounced order of life factually.
• So purification means getting free gradually from sex desire, and this is attained by meditation on the person of the Lord as described herein, beginning from the feet. One should not try to go upwards artificially without seeing for himself how much he has been released from the sex desire. The smiling face of the Lord is the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and there are many upstarts who at once try to begin with the Tenth Canto, and especially with the five chapters which delineate the rāsa-līlā of the Lord. 

1.2.18 The Two Bhagavats that help a devotee overcome that which is troublesome

What occurs after we become eager to hear, which begins the clearing of material desires from the heart?

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu

nityaḿ bhāgavata-sevayā

bhagavaty uttama-śloke

bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī

By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.

Important Points

A fixed mind can focus

1. In 1.2.17 the anarthas that cause unsteadiness start getting cleared by the Lord's mercy owing to the devotee's increased urge to hear. In 1.2.18 the anarthas that cause unsteadiness are almost completely destroyed . Thus the mind is fixed and can focus. This is the stage of Nistha - almost anartha nivritti. 
2. Main Point: The impediments to bhakti can be removed by service to devotees(person Bhagavata) and Bhagavatam. Thus by hearing and doing service. 
1. The messages of the book Bhagavata have to be received from the devotee Bhagavata, and the combination of these two Bhagavatas will help the neophyte devotee to make progress on and on . (From Unveiling His Lotus Feet - Page 58)
3. Importance of Relationships with devotees(mentioned by Hg Radha Krishna Prabhu while explaining this verse)
1. We avoid association of devotees because we do not want to give up material nature
1. It is impossible to do pure devotional service in association of material nature(therefore do yukta vairagya)
2. Association is important because we hear from the devotees and thus unwanted things leave our heart. Also Krishna is present in their heart.
3. On our own it is hard to grow therefore we must help each other.
4. Good relationships encourages us in service
4. From anartha nivritti you must come to nishtha else something is wrong with your execution.- Hg Radha Krishna Prabhu

The six anarthas that cause unsteadiness

The 9 stages of Bhakti in ascending order are :

The nine stages of DEVOTION are:1. sraddha: faith
2. sadhu-sanga: association with devotees
3. bhajana-kriya: performance of devotional service
4. anartha nivrtti: decreasing of unwanted attachments
5. nishtha: steadiness
6. ruchi: taste
7. asakti: attachment
8. bhava: love
9. prema: pure love for Krsna

The six anarthas that cause unsteadiness in the initial stages of Bhakti

Unsteady performance of devotional activities is of six types (in sequential order):

1. false confidence (utsaha-mayi)
2. sporadic endeavour (ghana-tarala)
3. indecision (vyudha-vikalpa)
4. combat with maya (visaya-sagara)
5. inability to uphold vows (niyamaksama)
6. enjoying the waves (taranga-rangini). 

 In this way they characterize unsteady devotional service.
These can be very easily overcome by serving the pure devotees as by serving them we gain affinity  to hear the Lord's messages.

Once we gain that affinity then as SB 1.2.17 states:

śṛṇvatāḿ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām

Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.

The six anarthas are described below- excerpt from the second shower of the Madhurya Kadambini.

 1. utsahamayi- false confidence: just as a child, having just begun study of the scriptures, thinks he has immediately become a great scholar worthy of everyones praise, a person just beginning devotional service may develop the audacity to think that he has mastered everything. He is called utsaha-mayi, or filled (puffed-up) with enthusiasm.

2. ghana-tarala sporadic endeavor: a child sometimes is diligently engaged in his studies and yet at other times, because of inability to understand the scriptures and because of lack of real taste, becomes totally negligent. In the same way, a new devotee sometimes practices the different activities of devotional service and sometimes neglects them. Being somtimes assiduous and at other times negligent, his sporadic endeavour is called ghana-tarala (condensed-dilute,thick-thin).

3. vyudha-vikalpa indecision: "Shall I just spend my life happily in family life, making my wife and children Krsna conscious, and worshipping the Lord; or should I give them all up and go and sit in Vrndavana, place of meditation, and become a real success by engaging full time in hearing and chanting with no distractions? Shall I wait until the last stage,after enjoying all sorts of pleasures, when I have understood that the
whole material world is simply a forest fire of affliction, or should I renounce right now? Should I regard this family life as death, a deep well concealed by grass, and give up unreliable family life while young? Or shall I wait until the death of my old parents before renouncing? If I give up family life in an unsurfeited state I will think of family life after renouncing. If I should die in that condition I will go to hell. From that type of renunciation I won't get any strength. Therefore for the time being, I will just work to keep my body alive, and later, after satisfying all my desires, I will enter Vrndavana and engage in worship of the Lord 24 hours a day."

"Renunciation may be condemned as useless, if one depends on it to produce bhakti, but it is acceptable if one realizes it as being generated from bhakti, and dependent on bhakti." Justifying renunciation in this way, and understanding that there will be no worry for food if he should become a renunciate, since it is well known that the asramas are full of food, he sometimes favors a life of renunciation. But at other times, using the dictum that household life is a prison only for those who are attached, he favors household life.

"Shall I engage in chanting or rather in hearing, or shall I engage in service? Let me rather engage in many angas of bhakti like Ambarisa Maharaja."

When one imagines in this way all types of options of devotional service without deciding anything, it is called vyudha-vikalpa, or extensive indecision.

4. visaya-sagara combat with Maya:

            visayavista cittanam visnavesah suduratah
            varuni dig-gatam vastu vrajnanaindrim kim apnuyat

One whose heart is lot in materialism is far from obtaiing devotion to Visnu. Can a man going east catch something which is going in the opposite direction? The devotee, with this understanding - that he cannot attain steadiness in serving Krsna without renunciation or detachment from material enjoyment - esolves to renounce his addictions. But though he attempts to renounce his enjoyment he ends by indulging in it, taking
solace from the example of a devotee given in the Bhagavatam:

            jusamanas ca tan kaman parityago 'py anisvara

The inexperienced devotee, in spite of his attempts to give up his material desires, is unable to do so completely, and is allowed to indulge in satisfying his desires to some degree.This on-going battle with his previously acquired desires for sense pleasure, in which he sometimes meets with victory and sometimes with defeat, is called visaya-sagara or war with sense pleasure.

5. niyama-aksama inability to uphold the vows:

Then the devotee will resolve: "From today I will chant such and such number of rounds of japa and will pay so many obeisances. And I will perform services for the devotees. I will not talk on any subject except the Lord and I will give up all association with people who talk on material matters." Though he makes such resolutions every day, he is always unable to execute them. This is called niyama-aksama or inability to follow rules. Visaya-sagara is the inability to give up material activities whereas niyama-aksama is the inability to improve his devotional activities.

6. taranga-rangini- enjoying the waves:

Finally, it is well-known that the very nature of bhakti is that all people become attracted to the person possessing it. And as the popular saying goes: "By the attraction of the populace one becomes wealthy." Bhakti produces much opportunity for material gain, worship and position. These are weeds around the creeper of bhakti. Performing activities, or seeking ones pleasure (ranga) amidst these weed-like
facilities, which are but small waves (taranga) in the ocean of bhakti, is called taranga-rangini, delighting in material facilities.