Mala means

Expressions researched:
"Mala means"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

So long we are materially attached, it is mala. Mala means dirty things. But when we are purified of the dirty things, we can understand.

Lecture on BG 13.14 -- Bombay, October 7, 1973:

Nirmalam, this is liberation. So long we are materially attached, it is mala. Mala means dirty things. But when we are purified of the dirty things, we can understand. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was in the beginning thinking that "My hand, my leg, it is meant for my family." Therefore he was hesitating to kill, that "This hand, it belongs to my family, to my kinsmen, to my country, to my nation, to my society. How I can use these hands and legs against them. Kṛṣṇa, I'll not fight." This is ignorance. He did not know that his hands and legs belong to Kṛṣṇa. And when he understood... After reading, after hearing Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṇa, he understood, "Well I was thinking the hands and legs belong to my family, to me. No. It belongs to Kṛṣṇa. It must be used for Kṛṣṇa." Then he decided, "Kṛṣṇa," kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73), "now You want me... Because this is Your hand, Your leg, so you want to use these hands and legs for fighting. I must use it." This is knowledge. This is knowledge.