Why is it an offense to maintain material attachments?

The 10th offense is "To not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter". What does it mean?

The tenth offense on the chanting of the holy names is "To not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter". It can sound quite threatening. It sounds like we are supposed to have complete faith in the chanting, but also be free from all material attachments, right from the start! However, it's not as difficult as it may sound.

In reality, faith is something natural. We depend on faith to perform even the most basic tasks. When we need to take a plane, for example, we pay upfront for a ticket under the belief that the company will honor its word and bring us to the destination on the day of the trip. When we buy any product, we have faith that the company is honest and the product will perform as promised, and so on, and these are just ordinary examples. Important decisions, like marriage and getting a child, require even more faith. Without some form of faith, one can't take a single step in life.

When it comes to chanting the holy names, one may chant a little bit for fun, like when people repeat the mantra on a harinama, but for one to accept chanting a certain number of rounds every day, it requires a good amount of faith in the process. We are all chanting regularly, therefore we can't say that we have no faith. The quality of our faith can always be improved, but some faith is already there. It's up to us to maintain and increase this faith through proper association. The holy names start to act from the beginning, but as one's faith grows, the effects increase. One who has full faith can benefit from the full potency of the holy names, but some benefit is always there, even in the lower stages.

What about maintaining material attachments even after receiving instructions about the chanting? This is a little more complicated. On one side, it's not expected that we will become instantly free of all attachments right from the beginning, but on the other, we are not supposed to cling to our attachments more than necessary.

There are four asramas, and the grihastha asrama is specifically the asrama that helps us to deal with our attachments and gradually reduce them. One is not supposed to become free from attachments right from the beginning, but we should desire to become free of them and understand we are following a process with this goal. We should always understand that attachments must eventually be given up and not cling to them more than necessary. It's a gradual process, and Krsna will always help us, but we should be ready to let things go when the time comes. There are moments when we will have to make choices and if we cling to our attachments at these crucial moments, it can push us away from devotional service.

One example I can offer is of one pious lady who I once met who came in contact with devotees. Even before meeting devotees, she was already almost following the four principles. She was already an elderly lady, therefore there was no question of illicit sex. She was not gambling or using intoxicants, and she was almost vegetarian. The only three problems she had was that she was smoking, eating fish occasionally, and drinking coffee. Apart from that she was quite close.

As she started associating with devotees, she heard about the four principles. No one was fanatical with her, but she felt that to be a devotee she had to stop with these three things. She was attracted to Krsna, but at the same time, she liked to smoke her cigarettes and drink her coffee. Of course, she could continue associating with devotees even if she was not willing to stop, but she made her decision: smoking and drinking coffee were more important for her than Krsna. As soon as that decision was made, she gradually lost interest in Krsna Consciousness.

We also come to many similar points in our lives, where we may choose between something that will help us to advance to higher stages of spiritual life, or keeping some old attachment that is holding us back. Every time we choose the uplifting option, we make advancements and every time we go with the lower option, our progress stalls. Devotees who consistently make the right choices can easily go back to Godhead at the end of this life, but the ones who cling to their material attachments may have to take another birth. It's up to us to choose where we want to be.

The question is thus not to abandon all attachments from the start, but to be introspective and be able to let it go when the right time comes.

There is a great difference between having attachments but praying to Krsna to gradually make us free from them, and voluntarily maintaining attachments, considering that these things are more important than Krsna. In the first case, Krsna creates a path for us and helps us to gradually get there. In the second case, however, Krsna respects our free will and allows us to continue our journey in the material world. Since the mercy of Mahāprabhu is unlimited, everything is possible in devotional life, provided there is a desire to improve. However, when there is not even a desire to improve, things become a lot more uncertain. No one will force us to get out of this material world, this is a decision that we ourselves have to make.