Power of Surrender—and Faith

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

Jay Srila Gurudev. Does anyone have any questions?

Question: If the Lord has decided on some lot for me, can I change this lot through kirtan?

Yes, of course. The Lord can change everything. Even if you did some karma previously, everything can change, everything is possible through chanting and through association. You may think that something will happen, but it may not happen—you think something is impossible, but nothing is impossible, anything can happen. But it all depends upon your faith, the strongest faith is necessary. There are four kinds of faith—kamala-sraddha (delicate faith), taranga-sraddha (fickle faith), drdha-sraddha (firm faith), and sudrdha-sraddha (the strongest faith). If you have the strongest faith and you surrender fully, then you will get a real benefit.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

If you have the strongest faith and devotion, then you will have no offence, you do not have to suffer atonement—by the mercy of the Lord, everything will be fulfilled.

I am remembering one sloka from Srimad Bhagavad-gita:

অনন্যাশ্চিন্তয়ন্তো মাং যে জনাঃ পর্য্যুপাসতে ।
তেষাং নিত্যাভিযুক্তানাং যোগক্ষেমং বহাম্যহম্ ॥

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

"I bear the responsibility of acquiring and protecting the necessities of My fully dependent devotees who are always absorbed in thought of Me, and who worship Me in every way."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

Krishna says in Gita, "If somebody does not think about anything else except Me (ananyas chintayanto)—if they only surrender to Me—then I personally carry their food to them."

There was once a brahman and brahmani, his wife. They lived together and served Radha Madhav, they did not have children. Every day they went begging. They did not go to so many houses—they would go to one house, and the householder would give them some rice, dal, subji, oil, salt, etc. They collected what was necessary and did not deposit anything for the next day. After collecting the bhog, they would cook and offer it to Radha Madhav and then take prasadam.

The brahman also read Srimad Bhagavad-gita every day. One day, he saw this sloka where Krishna says, "If you think about Me, I will carry your food to you," and thought, "This is not true! I go begging every day and I get my food. Krishna does not get it for me." So, he tore that sloka, wrote, "I am doing it myself," and he left for begging.

At that time, Narayan and Laksmi Devi were in Vaikuntha. Laksmi Devi was serving Narayan when suddenly Narayan cried, "Oh, how painful!" (In Gita, Krishna says, "Gita is My body"—so when the brahmin tore his Gita, Narayan felt pain in His back.) Narayan said, "My devotee is in trouble, I have to come to earth," and, taking Laksmi Devi's permission, He came to earth in a human body.

Narayan came to this planet as a small twelve-year-old boy and carried a big sack of rice, a big sack of dal and vegetables to the house of the brahman. The brahman was begging outside, so He called his wife,

"O brahmani! Please come, please come, it is very heavy! Please take this!"

The brahmani came out and asked the boy, "Who are You? Who gave You all this?"

"The brahman gave it to Me."

"But why are You carrying so much? Does the brahman not know You are a small boy?"

"I told I him it was too heavy and I could not carry it, but he gave Me a slap and told to carry it," said the boy and showed a mark on His back.

"But he is a brahman," said the brahmani, surprised, "he comes from a good family, and he is a Vaishnav, he is not an angry person. Why would he beat You?"

"You take these things first, then we can talk."

The brahmani went inside to keep the bhog, and the boy ran away.

In the meantime, the brahman was begging in the village. He came to the first house—they said, "Oh, my relative died, we are going to the cremation ghat. We are busy today and cannot give it to you today." He came to the second house—they said, "Oh, my mother is sick, we need to go to the hospital. We are busy today and cannot give you anything. Come another day." He came to the third house—the house was closed and nobody was at home. He came to the fourth house—a lady who was working and cooking there said, "I am busy today, come another day." In this way, he went house to house around the whole village, but nobody gave him anything.

It was getting late. The brahmani cooked and offered the bhog, but the brahman was not coming and she began to worry. Then, late in the afternoon, the brahman finally came home empty-handed.

"I have not got anything today! My Radha Madhav will fast today and we will fast today too," cried the brahman.

"What are you saying?" his wife was surprised. "You sent some boy with so many things and now you are saying you have not got anything?"

The brahmani told her husband what had happened. The brahman went to the temple of Radha Madhav and saw that Bhagavad-gita was lying open there. He asked his wife,

"Were you reading Bhagavad-gita today?"

"No, I did not read it," said the brahmani.

"Then why is Gita here? I read it in the morning and kept it on the shelf."

Then he noticed that the book was open on the same place where that same torn sloka was, and it was written there now, "You do not know anything—'vahamy aham' means I do everything." Krishna came and wrote it Himself.

Do you understand? Krishna does everything. Even Brahma said,

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

"Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the cause of all causes, He does everything." But we are "asatya satya kari mani"—because of our false ego we accept false things as truth. We think, "She is my wife," "He is my husband," "This is my house," etc., but all this is temporary. We are living in a rented house, and when rent term finishes neither your daughter, not your wife, husband, son or anyone else can bind you—you will have to leave this house.

— • :: • —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (2.1 Mb)