(4/22) Innermost Desires

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bolpur, noon, 20 January 2019, part 4
Translated from Bengali

In this world, there are so-called griha-gurus. You can understand yourself how this works. Suppose you are an attorney – does it mean that if you have a son, your son also becomes an attorney? No, your son must first study law. Suppose you have passed MBS [Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences] and work as a doctor – if your son wants to join you, he must first study and get MBS himself, then he can become a doctor. So, you have these griha-gurus here, and you think that the son of a griha-guru automatically becomes a guru, too, without doing or knowing anything. How can that be?

So, when that guru came to our house and ate all the big fish, I declared that I would not eat from anybody's hand! I saw that when my mother cooked something, that guru came and ate it himself (taking out all the big pieces of fish) without offering it to the Deities, so everybody after that had to take his prasad. I told you yesterday how Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj ate even the dry-banana-leaf plate because he did not want to give his prasad to anybody. This is what a Vaishnav is like. The old lady who had invited him started to force him to eat more, thinking that she would get his prasad then, but Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj understood why she was forcing him to eat. So, he not only ate two times more but also ate the dry-banana-leaf plate. He thought, 'I am not a Vaishnav, why must I give you my prasad?' This is a real Vaishnav, and those who say, 'I have become a Vaishnav,' can never be Vaishnavs. I have told you before that we are not Vaishnavs – we are only aspiring servants of Vaishnavs. 'Dusta mana! Tumi kisera Vaisnava? (দুষ্ঠ মন ! তুমি কিসের বৈষ্ণব ) O wicked mind, what kind of Vaishnav do you think you are?' '"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.' If I think that I have become a Vaishnav, I will not be able to respect others. This is the teachings of Srila Prabhupad and Mahaprabhu, and this is the teachings we must learn.

What did Mahaprabhu teach? If people accepted His teachings, there would not be any problems, any fighting or any disturbances in this world.

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

'One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

We must become humbler than a blade of grass, we must have more tolerance than a tree, and we must respect others. This is what Mahaprabhu taught, but can we do it? Can we be humble, tolerant and give honour to others? If somebody scolds us, we start fighting, but we must tolerate it. Guru Maharaj always said, 'Wait and see. Do not do anything on the spur of the moment (sahasa vidadhita na kriyam, সহসা বিদধীত ন ক্রিয়াম্).' Wait and you will see that everything will come right; it is not necessary to worry so much about anything. The problem is that Mahaprabhu told us to be humbler than grass, more tolerant than trees and respect others, but we are always busy thinking about ourselves. Mahaprabhu also says in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita:

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

'If devotees aspire for enjoyment or liberation, Krishna hides the knowledge about pure devotion from them and dismisses them, giving them enjoyment or liberation.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.18)

You want money, a car, a house from the Lord? You will ask Him again and again for it, and He will give it to you, but when He gives it to you, He will take devotion away from you: 'You worship Me and keep asking for these things, I will give you what you want.'

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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