Pure Principles

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
27 October 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 3

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?"

The problem is that our eyes are full of dust. We do parikrama, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that we must not do eye exercise.

তীর্থযাত্রা পরিশ্রম কেবল মনের ভ্রম,
সর্ব্বসিদ্ধি গোবিন্দচরণ

tirtha-yatra parisrama kevala manera bhrama
sarva-siddhi govinda-charana

"The trouble of visiting holy places is simply a mental delusion—all possible perfection is the feet of Govinda."

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur, "Anya-abhilasa chhadi...")

You are going to a parikrama, you are visiting holy places, but do you have the proper eyes to see the Deities, to see, to observe the Dham? This is the main thing. "Ki labha hantiya dura-desa (কি লাভ হাঁটিয়া দূরদেশ)? What is the use walking so far?"

যে তী থে বৈষ্ণব নাই, সে তীর্থেতে নাহি যাই
কি লাভ হাঁটিয়া দূরদেশ ।
যথায় বৈষ্ণবগণ, সেই স্থান বৃন্দাবন,
সেই স্থানে আনন্দ অশেষ ॥

ye tirthe vaisnava nai, se tirthete nahi yai
ki labha hantiya dura-desa
yathaya vaisnava-gana, sei sthana vrndavana
sei sthane ananda asesa

"I never go to a place of pilgrimage if there are no Vaishnavs in that place. What is the use walking so far? Vrindavan is where Vaishnavs are, in such a place there is no end of joy."

(Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

If you are visiting a holy place but not doing it under the guidance of your Guru or Vaishnavs, if you travel around as it pleases your mind—you may be staying in Vrindavan, you may be staying in Puri, or any other holy place—but without Gurudev's permission, without Gurudev's instruction, it is not visiting a holy place, it is not a parikrama—it is all nothing.

You may be a Guru, you may be an acharya, this is not a question, but you must understand it yourself: you must ask your heart, your chaitya-guru—have you got permission from your Guru? Have you got an inspiration from your Guru? You may become a sannyasi, but what did Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur say? Sannyas means you will be the captain, the leader. Sannyas is for preaching—preaching proper Krishna consciousness. That is the main thing. Sannyas is not for getting service from others. "Oh, if I become a sannyasi, everybody will give me respect, everybody will pay dandavat to me, everybody will give me good prasadam and the highest chair"—is this what you become a sannyasi for? If so, then you will have to go to hell... If you are a sannyasi, you must serve more and more. Even after Mahaprabhu took sannyas and went to Puri, He Himself served devotees. He is the Lord Himself, but He served others and practised Krishna consciousness, and practised it strictly—He preached very strictly and followed all rules and regulations very strictly. We should learn from our Gurudev, we should learn from our Guru-varga, we should learn from what Srila Raghunath Das Goswami told, what Srila Rupa Goswami told, what Srila Jiva Goswami.

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes."

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

Do not listen to bad things. We can read even in some material book: "অন্যায় যে করে আর অন্যায় যে সহে তব ঘৃণা যেন তারে তৃণসম দহে (anyaya ye kore ar anyaya ye sahya taba ghrina yena tare trnasama dohe)—lit. when somebody does wrong and when somebody tolerates it, Your repugnance burns both like straw.” Suppose somebody is making an offence; if you tolerate it, then you are also making an offence. You are both offenders. Remember this. Both who is doing wrong and who is tolerating it are offenders. If somebody cannot understand something, or somebody may not know something, you must tell them, you must explain it to them. Teach them, give them a chance. This is very important for our spiritual life. If you can practise in this way, it will be good for you. Do not make Guru-ninda and do not listen to Guru-ninda. Both who say something bad about the Guru and who listen to it are offenders. Remember this.

"Gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe." Both those who talk gramya-katha and those who listen to it are offenders, both are harmed, that is why neither talk nor listen to gramya-katha. Do not listen to nonsense talks and do not talk nonsense talks yourself. Nonsense talks is not what our spiritual life is for; it is not good, it is very bad for the spiritual life. You have ears, you have to hear something—what will you listen to? Listen to good things, Krishna-katha. You have eyes, and you have to look at something, but see good things, do not look at bad things. That is the main things in our spiritual life.

"Bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe, Radha-Krsna seva manase karibe." Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. This is what Mahaprabhu told Srila Raghunath Das Goswami.

You heard that when Srila Raghunath Das Goswami got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, when Nityananda Prabhu gave him permission to go to Mahaprabhu, only then did he get service. Before that, without the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, he had come to Mahaprabhu many times, but he did not get service—Mahaprabhu did not accept him. He told him, "Go back to your home! Do not show your false renunciation. Yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana (যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা): you can go to your home and show your father that you are protecting his land, his property, his visaya (material things), etc., but do it without any interest—you must be totally of disinterested nature." This is what Mahaprabhu told Raghunath Das Goswami. After that, Raghunath Das Goswami came to Panihati, he got some service to make Vaishnav seva, and then he got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu: Nityananda Prabhu put His legs on his head and told him to go to Mahaprabhu. When he came to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu accepted him as a servitor of Svarup Damodar. How did he come to Mahaprabhu? He left his house in Adisaptagram here in Bengal and went to Puri—he walked for twelve days and only drank some milk three times during those twelve days; he was always thinking about Mahaprabhu.

When you go for parikrama, I know you struggle, but if you chant the Holy Name properly, then it is not necessary to take any rikshaw, it is not necessary to take any transport—chanting Hare Krishna will take you. Otherwise, you think, "I cannot do it, I cannot go"—if you always think about yourself, you will not be able to do a proper parikrama. I am telling everybody: you must get ready for the parikrama. We are leaving on 30 October for Vrindavan, Govardhan. Two hundred devotees are going with us this year, and if we get the mercy of Srimati Radharani, the mercy of Gurudev, and all the Vaishnavs, all the Vraja-basis, then we will be able to enter Sri Dham Vrindavan and Govardhan. If Giriraj Govardhan allows us, we will be able to serve Him. That is our hope.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.

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