Improving Spiritual Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
15 October 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 2

We sometimes bargain with the Guru, we sometimes think about the material things of the sadhu. We do not think what is service to the sadhu, what is the sadhu's priority, what is necessary for the sadhu. We always make Vaishnav aparadh, sadhu aparadh, Guru aparadh, and it is very harmful. What for have we come to Krishna consciousness? What for have we joined the temple? We must first see to our spiritual life, we must not think about our material enjoyment, material interest—we must not think about it, we must follow Gurudev's instruction, Guru Maharaj's instruction.

Gurudev told that when he was a brahmachari, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told him, "Do not follow your mind. If I tell you something, if I give you an order, you must follow that. Follow my instruction, then you can easily understand everything." We must understand this properly.

Outside people cannot understand devotion, they cannot understand many things because they are covered by illusory environment, but if they get sadhu-sanga—if they get proper treatment from the sadhu—they can understand everything. If you go to a doctor to improve your health, to relieve your mundane disease, then you must take prescription from the doctor, go to a pharmacy with that prescription, take the medicine, and then you can get benefit. In the spiritual world, in the spiritual matters, it is also like that. Who is the doctor here? Your Guru and Vaishnavs. If you do not follow what Gurudev prescribes to you properly, you will not be able to improve your spiritual life; this is not the proper line. We must understand properly what is spiritual life.

The main thing you must understand is what is service and what is karma. This is what Gurudev told me: if your Gurudev tells you to read Bhagavatam, then it will be reading Bhagavatam, otherwise if you read Bhagavatam without his permission, it will be like reading a newspaper.

Mahaprabhu told Srila Raghunath Das Goswami,

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour for yourself, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna, and in your mind serve Radha-Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237)

Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also told in his lectures not to listen to gossips. He would also say, "Bahu grantha na paribe, bahu kalabhyasa na karibe (বহু গ্রন্থ না পড়িবে, বহু কলাভ্যাস না করিবে): it is not necessary to read so many books, it is not necessary to practise so many artificial things." In his lectures about Srila Prabhupad, Gurudev also told that it is not necessary to read so many volumes and volumes of books—the main thing that you must understand is what is service to Gurudev, what is Gurudev's necessity.

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