(2/4) What Is Good Association?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
6 January 2019, morning, part 2

How can you get good association? In other words, who should you associate with? If what somebody is saying is in favour of devotion, you must accept this person's advice; and if somebody is saying something that is not in favour of devotion, you should not accept it – even if it is your own relative (your wife, parents, father, mother), you must always avoid their association. Srimad Bhagavatam told:

গুরুর্ন স স্যাৎ স্বজনো ন স স্যাৎ,
পিতা ন স স্যাজ্জননী ন সা স্যাৎ ।
দৈবং ন তৎ স্যান্ন পতিশ্চ স স্যান্ন,
মোচয়েদ্ যঃ সমুপেতমৃত্যুম্ ॥

gurur na sa syat svajano na sa syat
pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syan na patis cha sa syan
na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyam

'It is not your guru, it is not your family, it is not your father, it is not your mother, it is not your god, it is not your husband if that person cannot save you from the world of birth and death.'

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.18)

If somebody cannot rescue you from death (from coming and going in this material world), you must not accept this person. It is not your parent if they cannot give proper spiritual education to you, who cannot teach you the proper line. It is not your wife if she cannot help you progress down the right path and you should not even take water from her hand. This is what Srimad Bhagavatam says, these are not my words. Do you understand what I am saying? This is the main conception.

When I first came to the temple, there were many kinds of people living at the temple – not everybody was good association. Gurudev told that four kinds of people come to the temple – arta (আর্ত, the distressed), artharthi (অর্থার্থী, the poor), jijnasu (জিজ্ঞাসু, the curious), jnani (জ্ঞানী, the knowledge-seekers) – and if they practise properly, they can become devotees. When I first came, somebody told me what was unfavourable to devotion, and I thought, 'Why is he staying at the temple?' and I always avoided him after that – even if he called me, I would run away from him. That man was staying at the temple, and he would give me good food, he would give me sweets, clothes, soap and other things, and he would sometimes speak sweetly to me, but I thought at first, 'That man is good,' but it was actually not so because what he told me was bad for my spiritual life. So, even when he came to give me some clothes, I thought it was Maya.

It is like a child and his parents. The father can give so many toys and other nice things to the child, and the child is very happy. But the mother always scolds the child, 'Hey, study!', 'Read properly!', 'Do not do this!' and the child thinks that his mother is not good ('My father is good, but my mother is not good'). We are also like this. Sometimes, some mission will give you many things, money, medicine and you think, 'Oh, this mission is good!' but that is Maya! Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told also that if a sannyasi gives you good food, good clothes, shoes, and so on, you think, 'Oh, that sannyasi is very nice.' And if a sannyasi always gives you work – whenever you come to him, he tells, 'Do this', 'Do this' – you think, 'That sannyasi is not good! I will not go to him!' These are not my words – Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said this. I read his books, and I see how many examples he gives us...

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Path to Purification
2) What Is Good Association?
3) Stay Engaged in Service, Not Maya
4) Escape Ratty Life