Proper Positioning

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
12 May 2012

There are many examples from the preaching of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He taught the grihastha devotees too—taught how the householder people should live...

Once, a brahmachari got married, and somebody told about it to Prabhupad. Prabhupad replied, "OK. He got married, it is not a problem. One can serve in the householder life too: you work, your wife cooks, you offer the bhog, and after she has taken prasad, you take her prasad. You will also address each other as 'Prabhu' and 'Didi'." স্ত্রী ভোগের বস্তু নাই, stri bhoger vastu nai, you cannot use stri for yourself—a wife is for service, not for enjoyment. You can manage your life, think, and maintain your family life in harmony in this way.

Gurudev is very merciful to us—he always engages us. What did Gurudev keep us here for? He kept us here only to protect his temple, to preach—for his mission.

Gurudev left us here so that we can preach for him. When Srila Sridhar Maharaj left, Gurudev went everywhere, preaching for and about Srila Sridhar Maharaj, otherwise nobody would have known about Srila Sridhar Maharaj. So, you can understand what our preaching is for. It is for glorification of our Guru—Guru-katha, Govinda-katha. We do not speak about ourselves—what I have done and what I am doing. If we praise ourselves, it is a big problem. We must always praise our Guru. It is necessary—you must understand it.

Who is kanak (money or gold) for? Kanak is for Narayan, kamini (women) are for Krishna, and pratistha (name and fame) is for Gurudev. We must keep these three things in these three places, not to use it ourselves, otherwise you will become very heavy and your boat will sink.

Kanak is Laksmi Devi's property; kamini is Krishna's property, and pratistha is the Guru's property. It is not easy to take sannyas, but it is very easy to fall down: কনক-কামিনী প্রতিষ্ঠা-বাঘিনী ছাড়িয়াছে যারে সেই ত বৈষ্ণব, kanak, kamini, pratistha-baghini chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava (Vaishnav Ke? 11). Pratistha is compared to a tigress. Bhakti Vinod Thakur also wrote, "গোপীনাথ, হার যে মেনেছি আমি, Gopinath, hara ye menechhi ami! All the illusory environment—kam, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), and so on—has defeated me. I cannot defeat them—they defeat me." If you can avoid these three—kanak, kamini, pratistha—and give them to their proprietors, then you will have no problem and you will not fall down.

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