(1/5) Do Not Become Sahajiya

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 18 January 2019, evening, part 1
Translated from Bengali

We must be careful not to become sahajiyas. That is the problem. 'Sahajiyas' means turning the Lord into our servant. We tell the Lord, 'Give me this', Give me that' and expect the Lord to comply, so the Lord becomes our menial servant. This is what outside people also do. When they worship Durga, Kali or Ganesh, they always say, 'I want to be rich, please give me wealth (dhanam dehi)', 'I want to be clever, please give me knowledge (vidyam dehi)', 'I want to be beautiful, please give me beauty (rupam dehi).' In lieu of their desires, people give some money, some rice, bananas or sweets to the Deity. This is their worshippable God(!), but they come to that God with a bribe and want to get something in return (people ask for a job for their son or daughter, for a good husband for their daughter, or for some cure if they are sick). This is how they turn Gods into bribe-takers. It is the same as when you want to get some government job – you give a million-rupee bribe to some minister and then get a job. What does it mean then? It means the minister is a bribe-taker and you are briber. So, when you worship Kali, you come to Kali, give her something and ask her for something in return – what does it mean then? It means that when you come to 'worship' Kali, you turn Kali into a bribe-taker and your menial servant. That is the main problem. People do not think, 'I want to worship Krishna', 'I want to serve Krishna,' but this mood must be there. We must serve the Lord out of love.

রাধা-ভজনে যদি মতি নাহি ভেলা ।
কৃষ্ণ-ভজন তব অকারণ গেলা ॥

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela
krsna-bhajana tava akarana gela

'If you did not become devoted to the worship of Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna was in vain.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

রাধিকা দাসী যদি হোয় অভিমান ।
শীঘ্রই মিলই তব গোকুল কান ॥

radhika-dasi yadi haya abhimana
sighrai milai taba gokula kana

'Those who pride themselves on being maidservants of Radhika will quickly come to meet Gokula Kan (Krishna).'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

If you become a maidservant of Radharani, you can quickly come to Krishna. Whom does Krishna belong to? '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.'

[To a Western devotee] Do you understand my preaching?

Devotee: Something.

I am explaining the difference between what other missions preach and what Srila Prabhupad, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj or our Gurudev preach. Other missions preach, 'We are Krishna-bhaktas!', 'Become a devotee of Krishna!' But Krishna Himself told, 'If somebody says they are My devotee, they are not My devotee; but if somebody is a devotee of My devotee, they are My devotee.' They say, 'Become a devotee of Krishna.' But we say, 'Become a devotee of Radha's maidservant. A servant of a servant of Radharani' – it means becoming a servant of a servant of gurudev or a servant of a servant of Nityananda Prabhu. This is a simple conception. This is the conception that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told, but what some others are preaching is the opposite (they spread misconception).

How do you become Krishna-bhakta? This is Mirabai's style. She said, 'I have got Krishna! I have got Krishna-prema!' But even Mahaprabhu, who is the Lord Himself, said, 'I have not got anything! I am only a servant of a servant of devotees. I have not got even a speck of Krishna-prema!' And here you have Mirabai saying, 'I have got Krishna-prema!' This is a sahajiya conception.

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. Becoming gardeners, they plant that seed and nurture it with the water of hearing and chanting.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151–152)

When you put a seed into soil, you must water it, then the seed will sprout. In our spiritual life, that water is sravan (listening about the Lord) and kirtan (chanting the Lord's Names and practising). But if you plant a seed but then pour too much water on it, the seed will rot and the sprout will die. This is what sahajiyaism is. They say that they have got Krishna-prema and already go to do rasa-lila. Once one becomes a sahajiya, all their devotion is gone. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that if there is too much water, the sprout of the devotional creeper dies, so when people say that they have got Krishna-prema, it means that their devotion is gone – such people are not devotees. That is why when Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur came back from Vrindavan, he said, 'I have not seen a single devotee there! There are many sadhus there, but I have not seen a single devotee!'

This is the main thing we must understand and preach...

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Do Not Become Sahajiya
2) Sincere and Selfless Service
3) Think What You Are Doing
4) Sprout of Deviation
5) Love Others