Vaishnav Dharma

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, India
24 July 2013

Question: Some people think that Vaishnav dharma is a branch of Hinduism...

No. Vaishnav dharma is jaiva dharma, sanatan dharma—it is your religion. It is your religion and it is everybody's religion and not only religion—it is everything. Even a chair also has some religion, and that religion is Vaishnav dharma, jaiva dharma—somebody makes a chair, a sadhu or a Vaishnav sits on it, gives a lecture, in this way it is used for the service of the Lord and the person who made it, the materials that were used to make it (some tree or whatever), everybody and everything is benefitted.

Vaishnav dharma is not Hindu dharma, Vaishnav dharma (jaiva dharma) is everybody's religion, and this is what we preach about. Jaiva dharma is the religion of everybody—even a tree, a bird, an ant, etc. Even a mosquito's religion is jaiva dharma, not Hindu dharma. Does a mosquito say that it is Hindu? How is its religion Hindu dharma?

When we use a tree, is that tree Hindu, Muslim or Christian? You can tell it to them. What kind of religion does a tree follow? We use it for the service of Lord, we do not think what religion it has. When we buy some things from a shop, we do not thinking if the shopkeeper is a Muslim, a Hindu or a Christian—we take some things from him, buy them, and give them to the Lord. We do not differentiate between Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist. Even if you speak about varnashrama—there are four varnas and four ashrams; if somebody follows the varnashrama system but does not worship the Lord, they will go to hell. It is dangerous.

We do not preach about Hindu religion, we are not dharma-dhvaji (ধর্মধ্বজী, pretenders). If somebody does Hindu dharma, we say, "I will not follow your instruction, I will not go with you." Even when there is some Hindu gathering going on—we will not go there. We can go there for preaching, for book distribution, that is another thing, but we will not go there to hear some katha from them. This is dharma-dhvaji—they show they follow Hindu religion, the flag is there, etc. but it is fake. Swami Vivekananda does that also, but what they preach is mayavadi conception. We do not preach that.

We use everything for the service to the Lord, that is called jaiva dharma, and this is what we mainly preach. It is everybody's religion—a tree's religion, a bird's religion, even a chair's religion, even an airplane's religion! When we go by airplane, somebody gets jealous, "Oh, a sadhu has no money, but he is going by an airplane!" Our reply is, "Yes, we go by an airplane because it is necessary for the service to the Lord, and those who make the airplane will be benefitted, but you are going on holiday for some enjoyment! We are not going anywhere for enjoyment. That is the difference." What a sadhu does is always different...

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