(13/14) Love for Lord and Love for Yourself

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Ishwarpur, 19 January 2019, part 13
Translated from Bengali

A Vaishnav will never say, 'You must give me a samadhi.' Neither my Gurupadpadma nor Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ever said this. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, 'If you have money, then burn my body, and if you do not have money, then just throw it into the Ganges.' Guru Maharaj said the same, 'What will become with this body? I could not serve Lord Govinda with it, so just throw it into the Ganges.' I told him, 'Guru Maharaj, will everyone agree to do that? Your devotees will want to make you samadhi and worship you...' It is not like if you give one a samadhi, then the person goes to the Lord, and if you burn their body, they will not. Genuine Vaishnavs never say, 'Worship me!' but disciples do not allow their gurudev's body to be burnt – they place their guru in a samadhi, install a Deity of their guru there and worship him every day. This is disciples' behaviour, but a guru will never ask anybody to do that. I told you before, '"Ami ta vaisnava" e buddhi haile amani na ha'ba ami ('আমি ত বৈষ্ণব' এ বুদ্ধি হইলে অমানী না হ'ব আমি). If I think, "I am a Vaishnav," then I will never stop expecting honour from others.' We will always feel, 'I am not a Vaishnav, so just burn my body.' Burning the body is the general rite – all householder devotees' bodies are burnt. If somebody says, 'Oh, give me a samadhi!' this is wrong – it means the person has too much ego ('I am a Vaishnav!'). I know that it is a common thing in Midnapore and Bangladesh to give Vaishnavs samadhi. But this is not right.

Question: In one lady's house, they put their father-in-law's and mother-in-law's photographs in the altar room and offer incense, etc. to them. Is that right?

They can hang those photographs on a wall and offer obeisance, give some flowers or incense to them. Never keep anybody (any relatives, etc.) next to gurudev.

Question: When we cultivate the land and plant something, we sometimes have to kill insects to save the crops... Is that also killing?

No, there is no offence in doing that.

শ্রীহরি সেবায় যাহা অনুকূল ।
বিষয় বলিয়া ত্যাগে হয় ভূল ॥

sri-hari sevaya yaha anukula
visaya baliya tyage haya bhula

'If something is favourable to the service of the Lord, it is wrong to reject it considering it material or mundane.'

(Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's translation of verse 1.2.256 from Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu)

You plant wheat, rice, etc. for Govinda's service. When you live in Krishna's family, you use everything in His service, so whatever you do, you do it for the Lord. Did Arjuna not kill all his relatives? Krishna Himself says, 'Arjuna, I have already killed them.' Krishna says He has already killed them, but we see that actually Arjuna did that – it was done through him. So, if you love the Lord, you must be ready to do anything for Him.

You can see that the bathrooms are outside here. If you go to the bathroom to pass stool, will you ever go back to the house wearing the clothes you wore when passing stool? Never. You take a bath and change your clothes. This is the rule. Vaishnavs stay clean. But if a child starts crying when you are in the bathroom and falls off the bed, will the mother first take a bath and then go to save the child? Of course she will not. She will cross common rules and go to the child in the same clothes, without bathing. Then you can understand this yourself.

One time, in Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's time, bhog was offered a little late. Srila Sridhar Maharaj asked the cook, 'Why has bhog not been offered yet? It is past the offering time.' The cook replied, 'Oh, they have not done the archan yet.' At that time, old Aranya Maharaj was doing puja. Param Guru Maharaj came to the altar and told him, 'Move!' Then, he picked up a handful of flowers, said, 'Om Vishnu' and offered those flowers to the Deities. 'All right, the archan is done, now offer the bhog!' This is the point. If gurudev says, 'I am hungry,' you cannot say, 'No, we have not washed your feet yet, we have not offered you a garland a sandalwood paste yet.' Will gurudev eat your garland? In Mahaprabhu's time, the rule was such that garlands and sandalwood were offered after taking prasad, but nobody is following this now. Everybody runs to give garlands and sandalwood first, and the gurus are also like that now – they think, 'Oh, if I am not wearing a garland, what kind of guru am I then?' Some gurus say, 'No, no, do not give "jay" to me!' but Srila Prabhupad said, 'This is not the actual truth. Those who say this are actually saying, "Give me more 'jay'!"' When I read these things in Srila Prabhupad's books, I become excited to read more and more...

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Dearth of Hari-katha
2) Follow without Imitation
3) Higher Conceptions
4) Pursuit-Free Devotion
5) Dasya-Abhiman, not Prapya-Abhiman
6) Servant's Stance
7) Internal and External Mood of Servants
8) Highest Vaishnavs and Pseudo Vaishnavs
9) Example of Vaishnav Quality
10) Action and Reaction
11) In Search of Reality
12) Cutting Illusory Bondage
13) Love for Lord, Love for Yourself
14) Come to Serve Devotees