Sharing, Shunning, and Shirking

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj,
Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 3
22 July 2012

Question: Why is it said that the sloka "Sri-gauranumatam svarupa-viditam..." from Srimad Bhakti Vinodaviraha Dasakam is the most important sloka for the Gaudiya Vaishnavs?

You can see the meaning of this sloka:

What Rupa Goswami said, it is al correct and it is coming from above. Everything descends from Mahaprabhu to Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami, Jiva Goswami, Raghunath Das Goswami, and it descends further through Bhaktivinod Thakur to our Guru Maharaj. Srila Sridhar Maharaj is explaining who Bhaktivinod Thakur is, what he gave to us.

Mahaprabhu gave all His power to Rupa Goswami, and Rupa Goswami, together with his older brother Sanatan Goswami, distributed it all together, along with Jiva Goswami and Raghunath Das Goswami. Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami made the food and Jiva Goswami and Raghunath Das Goswami distributed it. Finally, Bhaktivinod Thakur is giving these things to us.

In this way, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj explains everything in this sloka—what Mahaprabhu gave, what Bhaktivinod Thakur gave. That is why this sloka is so important for us.

[sri-gauranumatam svarupa-viditam rupagrajenadrtam
rupadyaih parivesitam raghu-ganair asvaditam sevitam
jivadyair abhiraksitam suka-siva-brahmadi-sammanitam
sri-radha-pada-sevanamrtam aho tad datum iso bhavan

"The internal purport is known to Sri Svarupa Damodara by the sanction of Sri Gaurachandra, of that which is adored by Sri Sanatana Goswami and distributed by the preceptors realized in transcendental mellows, headed by Sri Rupa Goswami; that which is tasted and enhanced by Sri Raghunatha Dasa Goswami and followers and carefully protected by the votaries headed by Sri Jiva Prabhu; and that which (from a respectful distance) is venerated by great personalities such as Sri Suka, Lord Siva, the chief of the demigods, and Lord Brahma, the grandfather of all beings—wonder of wonders! the nectarine rapture of servitude unto Sri Radhika—that, too, you can give us."]

Question: What is the real meaning of detachment?

Our line is,

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)

We must have no attachment, but have relation [with the Lord]—this is our line; and detachment is another thing, it is not fully our line. We have no attachment but with relation, that is our line. I told the other day, "Bhog tyag, tyag tyag"—we must renounce enjoyment and renounce renunciation. This is enjoyment and renunciation, it is a different matter. We do not actually follow detachment, but we follow no attachment and with relation.

I cannot present it to you all properly, but my feelings are coming in this way, we should try to understand it.

Question: One time you said that when somebody wants to go to the bathroom in the middle of a programme, it means maya wants to take us out of the programme. Could you speak about the importance of being at the programme, at the class?

I remember when I said it. What I meant was this. When we are children, we were naughty and used to play truant (Beng. phankibaj, ফাঁকিবাজ, shirking)—we did not really need to go to the bathroom, but we did not want to attend the class, so we would hide and sit in the bathroom instead. This is maya. If somebody actually needs to go to the bathroom, they can go to the bathroom, this is not a problem—we did not need to go to bathroom, but we would sit there to avoid the class. [His Divine Grace laughs.]

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