(3/11) Watered Down Conception

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sundarpur, 18 January 2019, noon, part 3
Translated from Bengali

You have read in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita:

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

'Having travelled throughout the universe, some fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper by the mercy of Sri Guru, who is non-different from Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151)

Other missions also always tell this, but what they preach and what we preach is not the same, and there is a reason why. Other missions preach mostly about Krishna, telling everyone, 'Become a devotee of Krishna!' but before we become devotees of Krishna, we must become devotees of Gaura and Radharani, then only can we become devotees of Krishna. How can you first become devotee of Krishna without becoming a devotee of your guru, of Radharani and of Mahaprabhu? I have told you just now, 'Radhara dasira Krsna sarva-vede bole (রাধার দাসীর কৃষ্ণ সর্ব্ব বেদে বলে). Krishna is the property of the maidservants of Srimati Radharani; all the Vedas say this.' You must always remember this. These are words from Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's kirtan. So, what to speak of getting 'the treasure of Krishna-prema' – we have not been able to become maidservants of Radhika and gopis, then how can we say that we have got 'the treasure of Krishna-prema'?

One time a devotee from another mission came to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to ask him for sannyas. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told him, 'First become a devotee of Radharani, then you can take sannyas.'

This is the conception that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad gave us.

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥
মালী হঞা করে সেই বীজ আরোপণ ।
শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন-জলে করয়ে সেচন ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
mali hana kare sei bija aropana
sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

'Having travelled throughout the universe, some fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper by the mercy of Sri Guru, who is non-different from Krishna. As gardeners, they plant this seed and water it with sravan (hearing) and kirtan (chanting, practising).'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151-152)

We must nurture the seed of our devotional creeper with the water of sravan and kirtan. In a few days, it will be the time for planting – you will prepare the ground, put seeds and then water the seeds, is that not so? What happens if you pour too much water on the seed? The sprouts will be destroyed. In the same way, if you pour too much water on your devotional seed, the sprout of the creeper will be destroyed. We have no right to read about the highest, hidden matters, but if we read those things, we will become sahajiyas (imitators). So, do not rush to speak about Krishna. Nityananda Prabhu did not preach about Krishna – He preached about Gauranga. Mahaprabhu ordered Him to preach about Krishan, but Nityananda Prabhu did not do it; instead, He preached about Gauranga. You must know the conception.

If you do not know the conception, you will not get anything. These are all basic matters, but if you cannot follow these basic things, then you will not be able to practise Krishna consciousness properly.

We always differentiate, thinking, 'He is a grihastha', 'He is a brahmachari', 'He is a vanaprastha' – we fight over who is higher, who is who, but this is not right. This is not our business. Our business is to practise Krishna consciousness in chaste submission to our gurudev. If we can please our gurudev, then the Lord will be pleased – that is why we must serve and worship our gurudev. This is our duty.

Outside people cannot understand all these things, but there are many people among us also who do not understand anything about practising Krishna consciousness. Who must we worship? You sometimes worship Kali, sometimes Durga, sometimes Laksmi. They are all worshippable gods, that is right, but when we come to worship, for example, Durga, we do it because we want to get something in return: 'Make me rich (dhanam dehi)', 'Make me clever (vidyam dehi)', 'Make me beautiful (rupam dehi)', and so on. When you do this, you turn your worshippable deity into your menial servant, expecting them to serve you. If instead of serving the Lord, you want to get something from the Lord, it means that you are turning God into your menial servant. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also said (you must read what he says carefully) that you turn God into a bribe-taker. Suppose you want to get a job at a public school – you can give one–two million rupees and get the job. What is it called? Bribery. And the person whom you give the bribe is called a bribe-taker. You give a bribe to the person and get a job in return. So, when you worship Kali, Durga or any other deity, you give the deities some money, some food, and in lieu of that you are asking them for something – this is how you are turning gods into bribe-takers. This is how people practise so-called spiritual life. But Mahaprabhu never taught this! Mahaprabhu's teachings are very high and very beautiful.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Basis of Mahaprabhu's Conception
2) Learn the Ropes
3) Watered Down Conception
4) Become a Good Practitioner
5) Spiritual Selfishness
6) Do Not Overstep
7) Internal and External Devotion
8) Step Forward
9) We Are Servants, Not Devotees
10) Learn Proper Meaning
11) Come to Nirguna Plane