Family Foundation (2):
Behaviour

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj,
speaking online to devotees in Caracas
1 July 2012

We are all family members, but we are not giving honour to each other. Be humble, be tolerant, and give honour to each others, these are the qualities that Gurudev said everybody must have. But we are not doing that, and that is why we are fighting with each other. We do not pay dandavat to each other and we become more and more disturbed—but if you fight one day, the next day you must pay dandavat to each other. We do not do that, that is why more disturbance is coming, and the communication gap is increasing. We must give honour to each other, must always be humble, but we always have ego, "I want to be big," "I want to be more senior than them," "I am bigger than them"—that is why the problems come in our spiritual life.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur paid dandavat even to his disciples, and he would say, "Prabhu, I am your servant, daso 'smi." This is what you must teach others. We think we know everything, that we are big preachers, big singers, but when this kind of ego comes we cannot proceed and cannot increase our spiritual life because of that.

You sing every morning,

thakura vaisnava-gana, kari ei nivedana
mo bada adhama durachara

If everybody tells you, "You are bad," if they criticise you, tell them, "Yes, you are right, I am bad, and I am even worse than that!"

thakura vaisnava-gana, kari ei nivedana
mo bada adhama durachara

"I am durachar, I am the lowest. I am unqualified, I have no qualification. I am a rascal!" Sing this song every morning and explain its meaning, then this kind of humility, vaishnavata will come to you. And even more that that: we must not only say, "I am durachar," we must behave like we feel we are durachar—humbly. If somebody says, "You are bad," we must say, "Yes, I am bad, and even worse than that; I have no qualification."

In this way you must learn yourself and teach others also. "Nija achari' dharma jivake sikhaya (নিজে আচারি' ধর্ম্ম জীবকে শিখায়)"—if you show it yourself, then others will learn from you. Young boys, young girls will learn from you. This is how you must teach your family. If you yourself have the proper attitude and the proper behaviour, then your son, your daughter will learn good behaviour from you...

— • :: • —

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

• Download (1.1 Mb)