Vital Force of Devotion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Caracas, Venezuela
20 September 2009, evening

We are very fortunate that we together have this kind of good experience, good sabha, conference, here. A sannyasi of Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said once that sometimes devotees become tired and at that time it is necessary to charge them—just as you were using a camera just now: when the battery goes down, it is necessary to charge it. In the same way, it is necessary for the devotees to have Krishna kirtan, Hari kirtan, sadhu-sanga from time to time. It is necessary for the devotees; that is why Gurudev always tells us about the importance of good association. In Narada Pancharatra there is a very good example that Gurudev always gives to us.

There were once two brothers who lived with their parents. When their parents died, the brothers decided to live separately and they moved each to his own house not very far from each others. In the family, there were also two birds, two parrots, and when the brothers separated, they each took one bird to his house.

One day, a sannyasi went to collect for Gaura Nitai, and he came to the house of one of the brothers. As soon as he came there, the bird (it could speak) shouted at him, "Do not come here! Get out! Get out! Get out!" The sannyasi was surprised, "Who is taking? Oh, that bird is telling me to get out?!" He went to another house. At the other house, he saw that there was the same bird there too, but that bird said, "Anyone home? Please, a sannyasi has come, give him an asan, a seat!"

Puzzled, the sannyasi decided to go to Narad Goswami. He asked him, "What has happened? The two birds look the same, but why is their character different?" Narad Muni explained, "These two birds actually came from the same place, they used to live together, but when they began to live in different places, their character also became different. One of the brother's character was like that, and the bird also got the same character; and the character of the other bird's master was good, he was a devotee, so the bird got a devotee's character."

This is called association: if your association is good, then your character will also be good. The more you rub sandalwood the more smell comes, and in the same way when you get the association of a good sadhu, when you ask them questions, associate and serve them, you get a great benefit from them.

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