(11/22) Deepest Faith

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bolpur, noon, 20 January 2019, part 11
Translated from Bengali

গর্দ্দভের মত আমি করি পরিশ্রম ।
কার লাগি' এত করি না ঘুচিল ভ্রম ॥

gardabhera mata ami kari parisrama
kara lagi' eta kari, na ghuchila bhrama

'I toil laboriously like a donkey. For whom am I doing this? Still my illusion has not been dispelled.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We are doing so much, but who are we doing it for? You must have seen donkeys – they can carry sacks of sugar, but do they get any taste of that sugar? Just live just like such donkeys. We work so hard only to provide food for ourselves. Sis! We eat in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening – in the morning, we pass stool and then start eating again. We do not think about our souls' benefit! How can we come to God? How can we come to our Supreme Father and get a place in His abode? We do not think about it at all. Please think about it at least a little. Think about how to bring benefit to your soul.

It is first necessary to have faith. Faith comes as the result of sukriti (not everybody has the fortune of coming in touch with sadhus and getting faith). It is said in the scriptures:

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)

First and foremost it is necessary to have sukriti (spiritual merit). Many people do not understand it, they think, 'Oh, Maharaj has kept deer at the temple, what is this?' We kept deer at our temple in Nabadwip, and devotees also kept an elephant in Mayapur. What for? Because at the pretext of going to see those deer or that elephant, people will come to the temple and also take the darshan of the Deities and sadhus – they will come to the temple, offer their obeisance. As the result, people will get some sukriti. People come to the temple to spend their holidays, but on pretext of travelling and sightseeing, they come to take darshan of sadhus, Deities, they can get to hear something about the Lord. This is how people can get some benefit, that is why all those things are kept at the temple. Why do we expand the temple and provide all facilities at the temple? To earn money? No. So that devotees can come and stay there. I could just make one twelve-storey building instead, but would people come there? They would see a big building and not want to stay there. But if people come, they can hear Hari-katha.

What is sukriti? Sukriti means 'tad vastu tadiya sevaya' (তদ বস্তু তদীয় সেবায়): everything is His, everything is for His service. It means using everything in the Lord's service. You can see Tulasi tree born at this house, and you can also see many Tulasi trees growing on the street. At this house, Tulasi leaves are offered at the holy feet of Lord Govinda and when offering bhog to the Lord. 'Chhappanna bhoga, chhatrisa vyanjana vina tulasi prabhu eka nahi mani (ছাপ্পান্ন ভোগ, ছত্রিশ ব্যঞ্জন বিনা তুলসী প্রভু এক নাহি মানি). The Lord does not accept even one of fifty-six grain offerings or thirty-six vegetable offerings without Tulasi leaves.' They offer bhog to the Lord with Tulasi leaves at this house, so the tree growing at this house is also fortunate to be able to serve the Lord.

There is jnata-sukriti (conscious spiritual merit) and ajnata-sukriti (unconscious spiritual merit). For example, you have some flower trees, some mango trees, you get some rice and vegetables – you cook for the Lord and offer bhog to the Lord, so all those plants and trees are also fortunate because they get to be used in the Lord's service. This is what ajnata-sukriti is.

Once sufficient sukriti is accumulated, faith comes. There are four kinds of faith: kamala-sraddha (soft, fragile faith), taranga-sraddha (flickering faith), drdha-sraddha (strong faith), sudrdha-sraddha (the strongest faith). Kamala-sraddha is as fragile as a lotus – touch it, and it is gone. You put tilaks, you wear neckbeads and chant the Holy Name, but if somebody says anything to you, you leave everything. Vaishnavs explain that when you wear Tulasi neckbeads, it means that you belong to somebody (you live in adherence to somebody): you are a servant, or a slave, of the Lord; it means you do not think, 'Oh, I am doing everything!' – you realise, 'The Lord does everything.' You can see many stray dogs wandering on the street, and you can also see dogs with a collar. If you see a collar on a dog, you understand, 'This dog has an owner.' In the same way, when we wear Tulasi neckbeads, we can understand, 'I have a master above me. The Lord is my master.' That is why we must wear Tulasi neckbeads. If people laugh at you, you can always say, 'You are not wearing Tulasi neckbeads and you are telling me not to wear it either, but are you going to feed me? I have Tulasi on my neck, and she will feed me – the Lord will feed me through her. Then why must I listen to what you say?' It is necessary to have this kind of strong faith. It is not good to have a fickle faith. The second type of faith is taranga-sraddha. When there is a festival in Nabadwip, everybody comes like a tide, and when the tide goes away, all water is gone – when the festival is over, everybody is gone. Such faith is also not good. The third type of faith is drdha-sraddha: it means that by hook by crook, anyhow, by any means, we will always stay in this line and will not leave it.

জীবন হইল শেষ, না ভজিলে হৃষীকেশ ।
ভক্তিবিনোদ-উপদেশ, একবার নামরসে মাত রে

jivana ha-ila sesa na bhajile hrsikesa
bhaktivinod-upadesa ek-bar nam-rase mata re

'Your life is finished, but you have not served Lord Hrishikesh (the Lord of the senses). Bhaktivinod instructs: Become mad with the Name's nectar just once.'

(Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Your life is finishing! You think that your age is increasing, but actually it is decreasing, not increasing! With each passing day, your life is decreasing by one day. For example, it is 20 January 2019 today, and once this day passes, it will never come back – in the same way, our days are passing one by one, decreasing our life.

উঠরে উঠরে ভাই আর ত সময় নাই
'কৃষ্ণ ভজ' বলে উচ্চৈঃস্বরে

uthare uthare bhai ara ta samaya nai
'krsna bhaja' bale uchchaihsvare

'Wake up, wake up, brother! There is no time! "Worship Krishna!" they call out loudly.'

(Acharya Vandana)

'Loudly chant the Holy Name of Lord Krishna!'

The last type of faith is sudrdha-sraddha. This is the kind of faith that Srila Haridas Thakur had. He was beaten at twenty-two marketplaces! They told him, 'Do not chant Hare Krishna!' and he would chant even more forcefully, 'Hare Krishna!' You all know that we have visited Russia and preached there. There are our disciples in that country. Before, it used to be a communist country (they are starting fighting again now, returning to that regime), and one lady was arrested because she was chanting the Holy Name. She was pregnant at that time. When she gave birth to the child in jail, some jail officer put his foot on the baby and told her, 'Stop chanting Hare Krishna!' She said, 'I will not.' The man replied, 'Then I will kill your child.' She said, 'Fine. I will chant even louder, and the child will hear me chant, it will get benefit.' Her faith was so strong. No matter what, she did not leave the Holy Name. This is the kind of faith we must have. If you make one step towards the Lord, the Lord will make ten steps towards you. Always remember this. Always try to understand these things...

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Course of Life
2) Special Arrangement for Kali-Yuga
3) Beyond Religious Bigotry
4) Innermost Desires
5) Fortune, Faith and Frauds
6) Think about Your Real Self
7) Come to Krishna's Family
8) Seek Out Eternal Shelter
9) Proper Surrender
10) Misdirected Worship
11) Deepest Faith
12) Beyond Illusory World
13) Turn Home
14) Gross and Subtle Cheating
15) Watch for Milestones
16) Come Home with Me
17) All That Glitters Is Not Gold
18) Do Not Cheat Yourself
19) Soul's Plight
20) Eternal Transformations
21) Origin of Hinduism
22) Pig's Life, God's Life, Devotee's Life