The Price of Devotion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham
11 November 2010

You must not have a gossiping consciousness, it is not necessary—you should practise and serve and have Krishna consciousness. Do some service, serve the devotees, and the devotees will get nourishment through that. Giving nourishment means not just talking about something that is not related to Krishna consciousness, or talking nonsense.

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krsna, and in your mind serve Radha-Krsna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237)

Without Krishna-katha it is all gramya-katha—that which has no connection with your Guru, no connection with your service, will not give you any proper result or benefit. This is what Mahaprabhu told Raghunath Das Goswami.

Mahaprabhu was teaching Raghunath Das Goswami: at first Raghunath Das Goswami wanted to come to Mahaprabhu emotionally, and Mahaprabhu told him, "Go back to your house. Give up your monkey renunciation and do not become crazy." Mahaprabhu sent him back to his home. He said, "Yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana (যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা): you can stay in your house, but be anasakta, stay there without any attachment." (Cc, 2.16.238)

আসক্তিরহিত সম্বন্ধসহিত ।
বিষয়সমূহ সকলি মাধব ॥

'asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'
visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

Question: What is the meaning of the word "bhunja" in the sloka "Yatha-yogya visaya bhunja..."?

"Yatha-yogya visaya bhunja" means protect, maintain your property. For the Lord, for service to the Lord. We also maintain our temple—who do we do this for? For the service to our Guru, for the service to the devotees. What is this big, big building for? During the construction when I was making it I went there nearly every day, but after it has been finished, I never go there...

...Actually, very few are devotees... Sanatan Goswami said, "Prabhu, how merciful You are! You have picked me up from the visaya-vistha-garta (a hole filled with the stool of material enjoyment)!" When Rupa Goswami came to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu first sent him back to his own village. Why? He said to him, "Distribute first all your property, all your money, then come back."

কবে নিত্যানন্দ মোরে করি' দয়া ।
ছাড়াইবে মোর বিষয়ের মায়া ॥

kabe nityananda more kari' daya
chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Do you understand the meaning? It is very difficult to come out from this kind of environment, it takes so much fortune,

অল্প ভাগ্যে সেবা নাহি হয়
কোটি জন্ম থাকলে ভাগ্য
বিষয় ছেড়ে হয় বৈরাগ্য

alpa-bhagye seva nahi haya
koti janma thakle bhagya
visaya chhede haya vairagya

"Service does not come by just a little fortune. Only after ten million births of good fortune, can you leave this material world behind."

To come out of there you must practise. Only Krishna-katha can give you the love to Gaura Hari...

শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য-দয়া করহ বিচার ।
বিচার করিলে চিত্তে পাবে চমৎকার ॥

sri-krsna-chaitanya-daya karaha vichara
vichara karile chitte pabe chamatkara

"If you consider the mercy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, you will be wonder-struck to realise it."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.15)

Mahaprabhu would sing,

কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হে
কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হে
কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ রক্ষ মাম
কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ পাহি মাম
রাম রাঘব রাম রাঘব রাম রাঘব রক্ষ মাম
কৃষ্ণ কেশব কৃষ্ণ কেশব কৃষ্ণ কেশব পাহি মাম

krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna he
krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna he
krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna raksa mam
krsna krsna krsna krsna krsna pahi mam
rama raghava rama raghava rama raghava raksa mam
krsna kesavo krsna kesavo krsna kesavo pahi mam

How can you get Krishna-bhakti?

কৃষ্ণভক্তিরসভাবিতা মতিঃ
ক্রীয়তাং যদি কুতোঽপি লভ্যতে ।
তত্র লৌল্যমপি মূল্যমেকলং
জন্মকোটিসুকৃতৈর্ন লভ্যতে ॥

krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita-matih
kriyatam yadi kuto 'pi labhyate
tatra laulyam api mulyam ekalam
janma-koti-sukrtair na labhyate

"If you accumulate sukriti for millions of lifetimes, you cannot get real devotion to Krishna through that, but if you suddenly feel an intense greed to get it, that is the only price you can purchase it with."

(Quoted in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.70)

You cannot buy Krishna-bhakti even with millions of lifetimes of sukriti—you will not get it; but if you think right now, "I need it!" then you must immediately buy it with lobha, greed. When you feel that kind of greed is coming through hearing Krishna-katha, you must immediately purchase it—such greed is the price for Krishna-bhakti, and this is what you must buy it with.

— · ~ · —

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