(11/17) Money Does Not Buy Devotion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bolpur, evening, 19 January 2019, part 11
Translated from Bengali

What is the use spending millions of rupees?

কোটি জন্ম যদি করে শ্রবণ কীর্ত্তন ।
তবু না পায় ব্রজেন্দ্রনন্দন ॥

koti janma yadi kare sravana kirtana
tabu na paya vrajendranandan

'Even if you practise hearing and chanting for millions of lives, you will not get Krishna, the Son of King of Vraja.'

You will not come to the Lord even if you practise for millions of lifetimes. Why? Because there are too many offences.

হেন কৃষ্ণনাম যদি লয় বহুবার ।
তবু যদি প্রেম নহে, নহে অশ্রুধার ॥
তবে জানি, অপরাধ তাহাতে প্রচুর ।
কৃষ্ণনাম-বীজ তাহে না করে অঙ্কুর ॥

hena krnsa-nama yadi laya bahu-bara
tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe asrudhara
tabe jani, aparadha tahate prachura
krsna-nama-bija tahe na kare ankura

'If you chant this Name of Krishna many times but still there is no love, no tears streaming from your eyes, then you can know that there are too many offences and the seed of Krishna’s Name does not sprout in you.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.29–30)

We must chant the Holy Name without offences. You know, at the house I come from (the house where I left my parents), they host 200- and 400-prahar kirtans (kirtan that last thirty days), from 1 Choitro to 30 Choitro (last month of spring and the year, from mid-March to mid-April). When the kirtan was over, all extended family gathered at our house and they would kill and eat ten goats. They eat vegetarian food for one month when the kirtan party comes, but what is the use? This is just as futile as an elephant's bathing. Not even two–three days later, they again eat meat. That is why it is said that 'you will not come to the Lord even if you practise for millions of lifetimes.' This is the kind of kirtans that have mushroomed now in this world. People become great singers – the more money you charge, the greater you are considered to be. Somebody charges 14,000 rupees, 50,000 rupees – some charge by hours, some charge by days. Paid people cannot chant kirtan, just as paid people cannot be servitors.

Say a wife is very busy with her chores and does not have time to serve the Lord at home, so she hires a brahman to do puja. Then, she tells her husband, 'Oh, you are earning well now, so please buy some cashew nuts.' The husband brings cashew, and she gives the nuts to the pujari. The pujari takes the nuts and goes to the salagram sila he worships. Suddenly, seeing the nuts, he feels like eating them, so he starts shelling the nuts with the salagram sila!

You know there was a man called Nigamananda Saraswati. He was a good devotee at first, but then he lost devotion. Srila Prabhupad explained why, you can read about it in Guidance 3. That man went to take darshan of Lingaraj Lord Siva in Bhuvaneshwar, near Puri, where the Deity of Lord Siva is bathed in milk. When he was at the temple, he saw some rats drinking milk and thought, 'Gosh, what is this?! The Lord Himself cannot protect Himself (cannot guard Himself against rats), then how will He protect people?' Seeing those rats, he lost his devotion and became an atheist – he began preaching that the Lord has no form, etc. This is what happens when you have little faith. When you try to build a house, if you do not make a strong foundation, the building will collapse; in the same way, before you cultivate devotion, you must prepare a proper foundation. Do not venture to go where you have no right to enter. Do not try to know too much. When I went to Ganga Sagar recently, one man asked me (he is an initiated devotee!), 'Who stays in the branches and the leaves of Tulasi?' I told him, 'Quiet. Stop transgressing your rights. You have just got enrolled – you have not even finished primary school, but you want to know the university subjects! What will you understand?'

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)

We get a seed of devotion, but how does the creeper of devotion grow? By watering the seed with the water of sravan and kirtan. You water the seed, the seed sprouts, and then you continue watering it, and the creeper will continue growing. But if you pour too much water, the plant will rot. Sahajiyas, the transgressors, pour too much water, so the creepers of their devotion rot and become destroyed. They dress themselves as Radharani, Govinda, they consider themselves devotees and want to engage others in their service. So, when you water your devotion, watch out that you do not pour too much water – do not enter where you have no right to go.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Self-Realisation
2) Seek Soul's Solace
3) 'Why Am I Suffering?'
4) Relief from Reaction
5) Escaping Life of Sin
6) Highest Attainment
7) Learn to Love Lord
8) From Hell to Heaven and Back
9) Sadhus' Clothes and Sadhus' Hearts
10) Genuine Gurus' Mission
11) Money Does Not Buy Devotion
12) Higher and Highest Devotion
13) Learn the Conception
14) Start Practising Sincerely
15) Make Effort
16) Cure from Material Misery
17) Live for the Lord