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Rupa-Siksa:
The Ultimate Gardening Guide

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, Samadhi-mandir class
14 June 2015

 

[His Divine Grace is reading from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, chapter 19:]

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

"Having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper. [151]

The souls come and go, come and go, come and go in this cyclic order, and the fortunate souls get, by the mercy of Guru and Krishna, a seed of devotion—a seed of pure devotional activities, bhakti-lata-bija. Having got that seed, the soul starts taking care of it:

mali hana kare sei bija aropana
sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

"The soul then becomes the gardener—plants the seed and then waters it with sravan and kirtan (hearing and chanting). [152]

The soul becomes a mali, gardener. When you make a garden and plant some seeds, you must then take care of those seeds. Gurudev puts the seed in your heart, but you are the one who must take care of that seed—Guru will not take care of it for you.

What will you do? Will you go to bad association? Will you do what is favourable to devotion or what is unfavourable to devotion? Will you follow what you mind tells you or will you follow your Gurudev's instruction? It is up to you.

Suppose you are sick. You go to a doctor and the doctor (Gurudev) gives you a prescription, but if you do not follow the prescription, if you do not take the medicine, how will you get relief from the disease? So, Gurudev has given you the seed, but you must take care of it properly.

So, suppose you have a flower garden. If you do not water and give nourishment to the trees, the trees will soon die. Trees need water. What is the water for the jiva soul and the devotional seed? Sravanam and kirtanam—hearing and doing kirtan. That is your water! Just as a tree needs real water, your devotional seed also needs real water—sravan and kirtan are necessary.

upajiya bade lata 'brahmanda' bhedi' yaya
'viraja', 'brahma-loka' bhedi' 'para-vyoma' paya

"As the creeper of devotion is nourished, it penetrates the whole universe, going past Viraja, Brahma-loka and entering the spiritual world. [153]

Then that bhakti-lata-bij, the seed of devotional creeper, sprouts and eventually becomes a tree that grows very tall.

For example, you can see this jackfruit tree here. For the tree to grow tall you must cut the branches—if you do not trim it, the tree will not grow very tall. In the same way, you have so many bad material desires, they are like the branches that prevent the tree from growing. If you do not cut these branches, they become obstacles in your spiritual life.

What are these branches?

kintu yadi latara sange uthe 'upasakha'
bhukti-mukti-vancha, yata asankhya tara lekha

"There will, however, appear some unwanted branches on your tree. They are desires for material enjoyment, desire for liberation, and so on (they are too numerous to write all here). [158]

'nisiddhachara', 'kutinati', 'jiva-himsana'
'labha', 'puja', 'pratisthadi' yata upasakha-gana

"Among those unwanted branches are improper practices, deceit, violence towards other souls; desire for gain, worship, prestige, and so on. [159]

Bhukti (material desires), mukti (desire for liberation), vancha (any other desires), as well as nisiddha achar (unnecessary things), jiva-himsa (killing chickens, goats, cows, eating eggs), kutinati (deceit), labh (always thinking, "I want some gain"), puja (desiring that others worship you), pratistha (you want name and fame, you want to be a very big personality)—these all are unwanted branches, upasakha, the main obstacles in your spiritual life. Because of these bad desires in your heart your devotional activities will not increase.

seka-jala pana upasakha badi' yaya
stabdha hana mula-sakha badite na paya

"If you water and nourish these branches, they will grow stronger, and, interfering with the main branches of your tree, will not let them grow. [160]

It says here what happens if you do not get rid of all those material desires. For example, you are hungry today and think, "Oh, I am so hungry but the prasadam is not so good today. I will eat out today—I have some money, I can go to a hotel and get something there." Another day you think, "I want a little more..." another day again, "A little more," and you end up thinking, "What is the big deal? Nobody sees me, I can have some eggs in the hotel!" (But He who has to see it, will see it—He knows you sneak out to a hotel.)

Seka-jala means that if you cut a branch and put some medicine there, another branch will come. I saw in a newspaper once that a hundred kinds of mangoes grew on one tree (they cut a branch and put there a branch from another mango tree, joining it with some medicine). So, if some bad desire comes to your mind, you must finish it there, finish it at the root and throw it away. If, however, you give shelter to that desire, it will grow and grow—the branch will grow bigger and bigger—and one day your devotional activities will be finished.

prathamei upasakhara karaye chhedana
tabe mula-sakha badi' yaya vrndavana

"Only if you cut these unwanted branches at their very beginning, can the main branches of your tree grow and reach Vrindavan. [161]

When some desire just comes to you, you must finish it there. If you finish it at the root, your tree will grow on to Vrindavan.

This is written here, and who is saying it? Mahaprabhu is saying this to Srila Rupa Goswami.

'prema-phala' paki' pade, mali asvadaya
lata avalambi' mali 'kalpa-vrksa' paya

When the ripe fruit of the tree, prema, falls from the tree, the gardener comes to taste it—his tree then becomes a kalpa-vrksa, a transcendental wish-fulfilling tree. [162]

Then the mali, the gardener, gets a benedictine tree!

tahan sei kalpa-vrksera karaye sevana
sukhe prema-phala-rasa kare asvadana

"He then serves that wish-fulfilling tree and with so much joy comes to taste the nectar of its fruit—the divine love. [163]

eita parama-phala 'parama-purusartha'
yanra age trna-tulya chari purusartha

"This supreme fruit is the ultimate meaning of human life, next to it the four goals of material life (religion, wealth, enjoyment, liberation) are merely trifle. [164]

 

 

 

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Rupa and Sanatan
First Encounter
Running Away
On the way to
Mahaprabhu

Finishing Visaya

Rupa-siksa:
Meeting Mahaprabhu
Empowering Srila Rupa Goswami
Rare, Rarer, the Rarest
The Ultimate Gardening Guide
Pure Devotion

Santan-sikha:
Sambandha:
Supreme Personality of Godhead
The Three Worlds
Brahmas' Realm
Krishna's Beauty
Abhidheya:
Maya's Family
The Cry of a Surrendered Soul
Breaking Free
Delusion of Liberation
Leaving Ulterior Motive
When Krishna Gives Mercy
Awakening Taste for Service
Full Faith
Power Transmission
Surrender in Good Association
Six Limbs of Surrender
Sixty-Four Devotional Practices
Spontaneous Loving Devotion
Prayojan:
The Path to the Supreme Goal
Hero and Heroine
"You Are Mine!"
The All-Attractive Lord

 


 

Service Encouragement
'If you have even a little desire to serve the Guru, the Guru will come and take service from you—Krishna will come and take service from you. The Lord always searches, always hankers and desires to take service from the devotees.'

 

Mayura-mukuta
'All glory to the beloved of the gopis, to He who enjoys playing His vamsi flute. Glory to He who holds the flute and lifts the Govardhan Hill!'
ময়ূর-মুকুট

You must come one step towards the Lord, and Krishna will come ten steps
towards you, but you must make the first step.

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