— { HARI-KATHA IN KULGACHIA } —
Devotional Qualities

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kulgachia Gram, Howrah District
6 May 2018, part 9

It is said that it is not necessary to practise all sixty-four devotional practices. If you practise just one of them, you will get the result. Somebody does puja, somebody cooks, somebody washes the temple floor, somebody cuts the vegetables, somebody makes garlands, somebody picks Tulasi leaves—everybody does some service. Nobody says that only those who worship the Deity get the Lord.

It is said in the scriptures that if you do Deity worship during one hundred lives, then the Holy Name will come to your mouth. It is necessary to do puja for one hundred lives for this! Otherwise the Holy Name cannot come to your mouth. So, those who chant the Holy Name are very fortunate.

যাঁহার দর্শনে মুখে আইসে কৃষ্ণনাম ।
তাঁহারে জানিহ তুমি 'বৈষ্ণব-প্রধান' ॥

yanhara darsane mukhe aise krsna-nama
tanhare janiha tumi 'vaisnava-pradhana'

"When you see somebody and the Name of Krishna comes to your mouth, then you should know them as a highest Vaishnav."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.74)

I saw when Gurudev went abroad, we were once going in a car and there was a lady sitting on the street—naked, she was smoking and drinking alcohol—but seeing us she said, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!" She does not know Bengali, she does not speak English, but she said, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!" seeing some Hare Krishna people were passing by. When somebody leaves aside gambling, cards, etc. and chants the Holy Name, we feel that is our credit.

So, if "Hare Krishna" comes even once to somebody's mouth, if seeing us somebody says Hare Krishna, they get some benefit. We also get sukriti through that.

It is said that if somebody chants the Name of Krishna once, they are a Vaishnav (kanistha-adhikari); if somebody constantly chants the Name of Krishna, they are also a Vaishnav (madhyam-adhikari); and if by seeing somebody people chant the Name of Krishna, they are the highest Vaishnavs (uttam-adhikari).

Gurudev is always uttam-adhikari, but he has to come down to the position of madhyam-adhikari to take disciples otherwise he cannot make a disciple because he sees Krishna everywhere. Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was like that: when a disciple would pay obeisance to him, he would say, "Daso 'smi. I am your servant." Coming down to the level of madhyam-adhikari, he would say, "I am your servant." He would pay obeisance to his disciples. He taught us in this way.

"Sakale sammana karite sakati" (সকলে সম্মান করিতে শকতি)—we must give honour to everybody. We pray to Gurudev so that we may be able to give honour to everybody; whether somebody beats me or does not beat me, so that I could give them sweets; so that if somebody chastises me I could give them some sweets, some prasadam. May the Lord give us such tolerance, patience. If we do not become like this, we will never be able to serve Guru and Vaishnavs.

So, we must realise that we do not have to go to Mathura, we do not have to go to Vrindavan if we can really, sincerely serve Guru and Vaishnavs, serve the Lord. Faith is everything. If we lose faith, we lose everything. Always remember this.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (1.5 Mb)