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Sanatan-Siksa:
The Path to the Supreme Goal

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
25 June 2015

 

[His Divine Grace is reading from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, chapter 23:]

jaya jaya gaurachandra jaya nityananda
jayadvaita-chandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrnda

"All glory to Gaurachandra! All glory to Nityananda! All glory to Advaita-chandra! All glory to Gaura's devotees!" [2]

ebe suna bhakti-phala 'prema' prayojana
yahara sravane haya bhakti-rasa-jnana

"Now hear about the fruit of devotion—prema, the ultimate goal of life. Anyone who hears about it, gets the knowledge of different devotional mellows (bhakti-rasa)." [3]

krsne rati gadha haile 'prema' abhidhana
krsna-bhakti-rasera sei 'sthayi-bhava' nama

"Deep attachment to Krishna grows into what is called love (prema). Various moods of such devotion to Krishna are called constant deep love (bhava)." [4]

As I told previously, not everybody has sraddha (faith)—first sukriti has to come. Sukriti means the result of some pious activities. For example, this jackfruit tree here—if its fruit is offered to the Deities, the tree gets some sukriti, and after that it can get a human body and some service.

kona bhagye kona jivera 'sraddha' yadi haya
tabe sei jiva 'sadhu-sanga' karaya

"If, by some fortune, a soul gets faith, they then begin to associate with devotees." [9]

So, first is sukriti. There is jnata sukriti (conscious spiritual merit) and ajnata sukriti (unconscious spiritual merit). Some people come here because they see a nice building, a guesthouse, and somebody comes for the sacred things, for the hidden treasure.

(What is the hidden treasure of this place? We must search for it. What did we come to the temple for? Why did we join the mission? Why did we come to Krishna consciousness? We should know it.)

If you want to know something, if you hanker for something, then sukriti comes. For example, you come to the temple, you do not know anything, but you pay obeisance to the Lord, to the Vaishnavs, you listen to some katha—in this way, some sukriti comes. This is called ajnata sukriti, some pious merit that you do not know about. If a tree has some fruit and a devotee takes the fruit to the Deities, the tree gets some sukriti although the tree does not know about that.

Then, from sukriti you get some faith. There are four types of faith—kamala sraddha, taranga sraddha, drdha sraddha, sudrdha sraddha. Your devotion depends on your faith: if you have the strongest faith, you will get the strongest devotion, and if you have little faith, you will get little devotion. As much you can give to the devotees, the Deities, and the Lord, that much you will get. If you give 25% you cannot think that you will get 75%; if you give 25% to the Lord, you will get 25%. That is the main thing.

Through sraddha (faith) you will get good association, sadhu-sanga. What does 'association' mean? Sleeping at the same place as the sadhu? Eating with the sadhu? Then even flies and mosquitos want to get some association, but the mosquito puts its your leg on you and bites. Does it mean that it is getting association? No, it is disturbing! Association means following what the Guru, the Vaishnavs, the sadhu tell you.

sadhu-sanga haite haya 'sravana-kirtana'
sadhana-bhaktye haya 'sarvanartha-nivartana'

"Having got good association, the soul then practises listening and chanting (sravan, kirtan), and, as a result of such daily practice, all unwanted elements (anarthas) disappear." [10]

What result comes through good association? Sravan, kirtan. Through sravan, kirtan, all offences, all sins you have in your heart will be destroyed. It is written here very beautifully: if you do sravan, it will keep maya far away.

You do everything—you eat regularly, you go to the toilet regularly—why not practise Krishna consciousness regularly? Why not do sravan and kirtan regularly? You should regularly chant, hear Hari-katha, come to the class—this is our life.

There are sixty-four types of bhaktyanga, sixty-four types of practising, and from all of them nine are very important,

sravana, kirtana, smarana, pujana, vandana
paricharya, dasya, sakhya, atma-nivedana

"Listening, chanting, remembering, worshipping, offering prayers, serving, becoming a servant, becoming a friend, full surrender." [22.117]

From these nine, five are the most important,

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith and veneration. [22.124]

And from these five, the main practice is sravan and kirtan.

By sravan and kirtan, your offences are removed, then comes sincerity. Sincerity means nistha (what service you do, you do it every day). Through nistha, you will get some taste. Through taste, you will get some attachment, you will not be able to leave your service. Through attachment, priti, love and affection will come; then ecstasy, paramour love—everything will come through that. This is how practice develops.

anartha-nivrtti haile bhaktye 'nistha' haya
nistha haite sravanadye 'ruchi' upajaya

"When the offences are removed, you become steady and firm (nistha) in your practice. From this steadiness and by hearing the words of sadhus, taste awakens within you." [11]

ruchi haite bhaktye haya 'asakti' prachura
asakti haite chitte janme krsne prity-ankura

"From this taste and by your devotion, strong attachment comes. From this attachment, the seed of love for Krishna sprouts in your heart." [12]

sei 'rati' gadha haile dhare 'prema' nama
sei prema—'prayojana' sarvananda dhama

"When this attachment becomes very deep, it grows into what is called 'prema' (divine ecstatic love). This prema is the goal of life, the abode of all possible joy and happiness." [13]

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido
bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah
taj-jonanad asv apavarga-vartmani
sraddha ratir bhaktir anukraminyati

"In devotees' association, the talks about the Lord are like nectar to one's heart and ears, they are endowed with special power. By constantly hearing about the Lord, very quickly the soul becomes liberated and established on the spiritual path—first comes faith, then attachment, and finally love awakens." [16]

If somebody hears these kinds of Hari-katha, Krishna-katha, their hair will stand on end...

ei nava prity-ankura yanra chitte haya
prakrta-ksobhe tanra ksobha nahi haya

Those in whose heart the sprout of divine love grows in these nine ways, the material miseries no longer bring them misery. [20]

krsna-sambandha vina kala vyartha nahi yaya
bhukti, siddhi, indriyartha tanre nahi bhaya

"They never pass time uselessly without connection with Krishna, and enjoyment, material perfections and objects of the senses do not appeal to them any more." [22]

They always think about Krishna, listen about Krishna, serve Krishna, then greed, liberation, etc. cannot attack them.

'sarvottama' apanake 'hina' kari' mane
'krsna krpa karibena'—drdha kari' jane

Although very high, they consider themselves very low; they know for sure, "Krishna will give us His mercy." [25]

Although they are very scholarly, they are always humble, dainya.

samutkantha haya sada lalasa-pradhana
nama-gane sada ruci, laya krsna-nama

"Their eagerness is characterised by constant enthusiasm—they take Krishna's Name, always feeling taste for chanting the Holy Name." [28]

krsna-gunakhyane haya sarvada asakti
krsna-lila-sthane kare sarvada vasati

"They feel constant attachment to hear about the qualities of Krishna, and they always reside where the Pastimes of Krishna are going on." [31]

krsne 'ratira' chihna ei kailun vivarana
'krsna-premera' chihna ebe suna sanatana

"Thus are described the signs of attachment to Krishna. Sanatan, now hear about the signs of love for Krishna." [34]

prema krame badi' haya—sneha, mana, pranaya
raga, anuraga, bhava, mahabhava haya

"Love (prema) grows gradually—first affection (sneha), then loving sulking (mana), love (pranaya), attachment (raga), strong attachment (anuraga), ecstasy (bhava), and ultimate ecstasy (mahabhava)." [38]

yaichhe bija, iksu, rasa, guda, khanda, sara
sarkara, sita-michhari, suddha-michhari ara

"This development of love is just like sugarcane: first a seed, then a sugarcane plant, then juice, molasses, crystals, sugar, sugar candy, and rock candy." [39]

These are very strong things...

 

 

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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

 


 

Cheating Yourself Out of Happiness
'There are so many religions in this world, but Srimad Bhagavatam says it is all cheating. Why is it cheating? ..Ultimately, it will depend upon your faith, if you have 20% faith, that is the kind of happiness you will get.'

 

Jaya jaya gurudever
'Your writings are wonderful, and your learning is profound. You always smile and speak sweet words. Your poetry is perfect.'
জয় জয় গুরুদেবের

If we practise, we will be able to believe, but our problem is that if we do not see
something we do not believe in it. That is the problem.

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