Exclusive Mood

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
23 October 2018, Kolkata, part 2

Those who serve Maya, who serve mundane things, who serve or always accumulate jada-vidya (mundane knowledge, mundane education) will go to a dark place. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur also says,

জড়বিদ্যা যয়, মায়ার বৈভব,
তোমার ভজনে বাধা ।
মোহ জনমিয়া অনিত্য সংসারে,
জীবকে করিয়ে গাধা ॥

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,
tomara bhajane badha
moha janamiya, anitya samsare,
jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is a manifestation of illusion (maya) and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation with the temporary world and turns the soul into an ass."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

What we need is para-vidya (transcendental knowledge), whereas jada-vidya always takes us to a dark place. We can get education or some knowledge, but you must use that knowledge for the service of the Lord. This is the main thing. You have got everything you have from your Guru, from the Lord, and you must understand that you must use everything for the service of the Lord. Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita also says that only those who have got the mercy of the Lord can understand this—only they can understand the Lord. It is necessary to have mercy.

ঈশ্বরের কৃপা-লেশ হয় ত' যাহারে ।
সেই ত' ঈশ্বর-তত্ত্ব জানিবারে পারে ॥

isvarera krpa-lesa haya ta' yahare
sei ta' isvara-tattva janibare pare

"Only those who receive at least a trace of the Lord's mercy, can understand the Lord."

(Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 6.83)

Those who can understand this will never be enjoyers, exploiters, or even renunciates—they will always be servitors. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also says the same thing: we have not come to this world to be renunciates or enjoyers, our mood is that we will always be servitors. It is necessary to have a servitor's mood. Srimad Bhagavad-gita supports this too. Krishna Himself says, "If someone serves Me with devotion, with love and affection, I give them pure devotion, and they will be getting pleasure and happiness from their service."

tesam satata-yuktanam, bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam, yena mam upayanti te

To those devotees who are always lovingly engaged in My service, I give the divine inspiration by which they can come to Me.

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 10.10)

"I give pure devotion to those who serve Me with eternal devotion, with love and affection, and they will feel a great pleasure (paramananda)."

Who is a devotee? What is the character of a devotee?

mach-chitta mad-gata-prana, bodhayantah parasparam
kathayantas cha mam nityam, tusyanti cha ramanti cha

"Always thinking of Me, those surrendered souls converse about Me, enlightening one another with the nectar of their devotional realisations, ever content and ecstatic in their divine natures."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 10.9)

Devotees' heart, their life, mind, everything is surrendered to the Lord, and they always listen to Hari-katha, Hari-kirtan—they always spend their life in sravanam, kirtanam, and they always derive pleasure from it.

yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam

"O Kaunteya, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give and whatever vow you may keep-do everything as an offering unto Me."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.27)

Sri Krishna says to Arjuna, "Whatever duty you have, whatever you do, whatever you want to enjoy or steal, whatever donation or sacrifice you want to make, do everything for Me. You must do everything for My pleasure!" This is possible for those who have a great devotion. What is the highest devotion (uttam bhakti)? Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu told,

অন্যাভিলাষিতা-শূন্যং জ্ঞান-কর্ম্মাদ্যনাবৃতম্ ।
আনুকূল্যেন কৃষ্ণানুশীলনং ভক্তিরুত্তমা ॥

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which satisfies Lord Krishna, free from the coverings of any pursuits such as action, knowledge."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.1.11)

If you practise what is favourable to devotion, that is uttam bhakti, the highest devotion, and there should be no other desires, no other wishes except the desire to serve Krishna, serve the Lord,serve the Absolute. What do such devotees do every day? They do everything for the Lord—they do arati, mangal arati, Tulasi parikrama, temple parikrama, chant bhajans, kirtans, they cook, etc.—they do everything for the Lord. That is called 'anyabhilasita sunyam' (being free from any other desires). Srimad Bhagavatam says the same thing, and Sri Prahlad Maharaj also says the same thing:

sravanam kirtanam visnoh
smaranam pada-sevanam
arccanam vandanam dasyam
sakhyam atma-nivedanam

iti pumsarpita visnau
bhaktis cen nava-laksana
kriyeta bhagavaty addha
tan manye 'dhitam uttamam

Prahlad Maharaj said: "Hearing and chanting about the transcendental Holy Name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Visnu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Krishna through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for such a person has acquired complete knowledge."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.5.23-24)

Leave everything (jnana, karma, yoga, etc.) and only surrender to the Supreme Lord Vishnu. Practise properly sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, etc. There are nine kinds of devotion. When we do Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, we visit the nine islands of Nabadwip, and all these nine kinds of devotion exist within the nine islands of Sri Nabadwip. When we go there, we always speak about it.

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