Perfect Attitude to Nrisinghadev

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha chaturdasi class
20 May 2016, Sri Nabadwip Dham
Translated from Bengali

Today is a very auspicious day. Today is the appearance day of Lord Nrisinghadev.

On this day, in Satya-yuga, Nrisinghadev appeared at twilight to protect Prahlad Maharaj and to remove the obstacles to pure devotion. Many of you have been to Nrisingha Palli. After Nrisinghadev defeated Hiranyakasipu and washed His hands in a pond nearby, He took rest at that place. Later (in Satya-yuga), a Deity was installed, and that Deity worship has been running since then. We come to that place every year (during Nabadwip Dham parikrama).

You must always remember that the Lord cannot tolerate insult, humiliation or any trouble of His devotee. So, to protect His devotee, the Lord assumed the form of Nara-simha (half-man, half-lion). There is one more thing everybody must always remember. I heard it directly from the lotus mouth of Gurudev, and these are very important and confidential words. You must listen to it with your heart because you cannot understand it with your common intelligence, with your material intelligence, or intelligence full of material attachments, full of bhukti (desire for enjoyment), mukti (desire for liberation), siddhi (desire for perfections), full of dharma (desire for religion), artha (desire for wealth), kama (desire for material things), moksa (desire for liberation). You cannot understand Nrisinghadev teachings with this kind of intelligence (buddhi). If you have desire for dharma (religion), artha (wealth), kama (material benefit), moksa (liberation), if you have material attachment, you will not be able to understand this. It is necessary to have exclusive pure devotion, to be fully dedicated.

So, this is what Guru Maharaj (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) said. Once, a devotee had got a kavach (amulet) with a Nrisinghadev sloka on it. He wore it on his neck and came to Gurudev. Noticing the kavach, Gurudev asked him, "What is this?" The devotee answered, "This is Nrisinghadev kavach." Gurudev said, "It is not the perfect way. You cannot use Nrisinghadev for yourself. You must serve Nrisinghadev, not use Him for your own self."

People pray, "O Nrisinghadev, please remove obstacles from my life!", "Please do this!", "Please do that!" When you come to Nrisinghadev, you must come to do service, to offer obeisance—not to use Nrisinghadev for other things. This is Gurudev's teachings, and it is very important teachings. You cannot use Nrisinghadev for your self, to remove your obstacles—you can serve Nrisinghadev. These words of Guru Maharaj are so beautiful.

When I go to Nrisingha Palli, I always first come close to the Deity and offer my obeisance. Even if I pass the place and have no time, still I offer obeisance from the car. It is necessary to show respect to the Deity, to have faith in the Deity. We do not have the eyes to have the darshan of Lord Nrisinghadev, but when I come there, Nrisinghadev knows it well—when I come there, Nrisinghadev can see me, and that is enough. I do not have the eyes to see Him,

অন্ধীভূত চক্ষু যার বিষয ধূলিতে ।
কিরূপে সে পরতত্ত্ব পাইবে দেখিতে ॥

andhibhuta chaksu yara visaya dhulite
ki rupe se para-tattva paibe dekhite

"Our eyes have become blind by the dust of visaya, the material world—how can we see the transcendental world?"

We must serve Nrisinghadev, not use Nrisinghadev. If you wear a Nrisinghadev kavach, you are using Nrisinghadev. You can see that many people sell Nrisinghadev kavach, they do it to get money—they use Nrisinghadev to do business. This is not our line. The only reason why we go to Nrisinghadev's place is to serve Nrisinghadev. We come and give some sweet rice, we give some milk, sugar, some other bhog—this is service of Nrisinghadev. You must always have this mentality, this attitude to Nrisinghadev.

We will speak about the main pastime a little later, you can also read about it in Bhagavatam, it is written there about it elaborately. (The appearance of Lord Nrisinghadev is in the evening—He appears at the twilight, then we must make an offering and sing "Bhaja bhakata vatsala".) We do not have time to read all of it now, but what we can say now is that Prahlad Maharaj learned about devotion from the mouth of Narad Goswami. When Narad Goswami spoke and read about devotion, Prahlad Maharaj's mother listened to it and Prahlad Maharaj, being in the womb of his mother, heard it too. These teachings are described in Bhagavatam too.

Everything that exists comes from the Lord,

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

Dharma, artha, kama, moksa (religiousness, wealth, material benefit, liberation) are all temporary, but devotion that can give your the Lord is not, it is permanent and eternal. Avoiding dharma, artha, kama, moksa, we must practise devotion. There are different moods of devotion—there are santa-, dasya-, sakhya-, vatsalya-, and madhura-rasa. Prahlad Maharaj is a santa-rasa devotee—he got the Lord by worshipping Him in the mood of neutrality. He was a little boy, only five years old, but he got the Lord.

For the Lord, he had to give up his father. In the same way, Bali Maharaj gave up his guru—when Bali Maharaj's guru gave him some bad advice and obstructed the service of the Lord, Bali Maharaj could not follow that and gave up his guru. Bharath Maharaj gave up his mother for the Lord. And here too, Prahlad Maharaj gave up his father, although later he prayed to the Lord for his father. Do you see? This is called nirmatsara, non-enviousness. Prahlad Maharaj's devotion was non-envious (nirmatsar) and selfless (niskam), he was not selfish (sakam).

You can see when people come to Nrisingha Palli, they tie some note to the tree there, they make some wish, etc. but devotion must be selfless, not driven by some material desires. Devotion can be of two types, sakam and niskam. Sakam-bhakti means I want something from the Lord in exchange of service. Prahlad Maharaj's devotion was niskam-bhakti, he prayed, "Lord, I want to serve You, I do not want anything in return. Please remove this asking mood from me." This is the main lesson of Prahlad Maharaj. Sakam-bhakti means you want dharma, artha, kama, or moksa, but these things are temporary. What is eternal? If you practise devotion, if you practise Krishna consciousness, you can get the Lord. This is eternal.

Prahlad Maharaj is a santa-bhakta, and I will tell you something about this devotion again, listen carefully. I always remember what Guru Maharaj said, and you too should always remember and think about it. When one devotee came to Guru Maharaj (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) wearing a Nrisinghadev kavach, Guru Maharaj asked, "What is this?" The devotee said, "This is Nrisinghadev kavach." (He had bought it somewhere and wore on his neck). Then, Guru Maharaj asked him, "Do you want to use Nrisinghadev, or do you want to serve Nrisinghadev? What do you want?" It was a senior devotee, and Guru Maharaj asked him this question. I was surprised and sat there quietly, waiting to hear what Guru Maharaj would say.

Nrisinghadev destroys the obstacles of pure devotion—Nrisinghadev is not for destroying your obstacles. Why do you keep Nrisinghadev for your own purpose? Do not use Nrisinghadev, serve Nrisinghadev. When you are going to do some service, you can remember Nrisinghadev, you can remember Gurudev, this is all right, but do not use Nrisinghadev for your health, for your body, for your mind. These are Guru Maharaj's words. This what Guru Maharaj taught the person who wanted to use Nrisinghadev.

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