(5/22) Fortune, Faith and Frauds

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bolpur, noon, 20 January 2019, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Please sit closer to the front so that those who come later can sit as well. [To the host] Have you invited everybody to take prasad or to hear the lecture?

Devotee: To hear the lecture. When we went on a parikrama, I prayed to everybody with folded palms, asking them to come.

Does everybody have the fortune though? Do you think that everybody can hear these things? Everybody thinks, 'Oh, they have loudspeakers, I can listen to the class at home.' Not everybody has the sukriti to come and listen about the Lord.

Sukriti (spiritual merit) and punya (piety) are not the same. As the result of punya, people go to heaven, but as the result of sukriti, people become qualified to serve the Lord. Sukriti means 'everything is His, and everything is for His service' (tad vastu tadiya sevaya; তদ বস্তু তদীয় সেবায়). For example, you have brought these flowers here today. These flowers come from some tree – somebody planted the tree, somebody sold the flowers, somebody bought them, and somebody put them on Lord Govinda's neck. These flowers are fortunate. But some flowers go to a sraddha-bari (a place where last rites for the departed are observed), some flowers go to a crematorium to decorate dead bodies, some flowers go to a wedding house, but the flowers that get to be used in Lord Govinda's service earn sukriti.

Sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs use everything for service to the Lord. A devotee can be a householder – it is not that you cannot be a devotee if you are a householder or that only a brahman can be a devotee. The scriptures do not say this. Mahaprabhu says:

কিবা বিপ্র, কিবা ন্যাসী, শূদ্র কেনে নয় ।
যেই কৃষ্ণতত্ত্ববেত্তা, সেই ‘গুরু’ হয় ॥

kiba vipra, kiba nyasi, sudra kene naya
yei krsna-tattva-vetta, sei 'guru' haya

'It does not matter whether one is a brahman, sannyasi or sudra – whoever knows who Krishna is can become a spiritual master.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.128)

Mahaprabhu did not say that only a brahman can be a guru. Why cannot a sudra become a guru?

I have been to South India for the first time recently (if you come with me to Puri this year, I will take you to South India, too). When we were there, we visited the bank of the Godavari – it is a very beautiful place where Mahaprabhu sat and spoke with Ramananda Ray. The environment at that place is very nice. You know, people come to bath in the river there, and they have even kept a very nice mirror there so that people can see it when they put on their clothes and tilaks. But if you keep a mirror on the bank of the Ganges here in West Bengal, it will be gone the next day; this is the mood of the people here... Anyway, before Mahaprabhu went to South India, He had a conversation with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, who used to be a great mayavadi...

There are many mayavadis now, too, especially here in Shantiniketan (Bolpur area): such people believe in Brahman and think that God has no form (of course, among them, there are some few people who believe in the personal conception of Godhead, but most of them do not). Rabi Tagore and his followers are all brahmavadis, although Rabi Tagore himself did write a few nice things that showed some faith in the personal conception. For example, he wrote, 'I am bowing at Your holy feet and begging You for a drop of that sort of wealth having got which a jewel loses all its value (যে ধনে হইয়া ধনী মণিরে মান না মণি তাহারি খানিক মাগি আমি নতশিরে)' (Rabindranath Tagore). He said, 'I am praying for Your holy feet.' If he thought that God was formless, then how would he think of His feet? It means that God has feet, head, nose and everything else. Still, although he wrote such things, he was a mayavadi – he believed in Brahman, impersonal aspect of the Lord. God has given us arms, legs, eyes, nose, ears and everything else, but they say that God Himself has no form. Suppose I come and borrow one lakh rupees from you – if you can lend me one lakh rupees, it means that you can lend ten lakh rupees as well; in the same way, the Lord possesses all opulences and qualities, so He can give us many things, but they say that He has no form. It is not so, God has everything. It is only because people have no faith in God that they can say such things.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

'Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

Faith is the main thing. If you have no faith, you will not achieve anything. There are different kinds of faith: 'Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari (শ্রদ্ধা-অনুসারী ভক্তি-অধিকারী); the quality of your devotion depends on your faith' (Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.64). There is kamala-sraddha (soft, fragile faith), taranga-sraddha (fickle, wave-like faith), drdha-sraddha (strong faith) and sudrdha-sraddha (the strongest faith).

Those who have fragile faith get swayed very easily – if somebody says anything to them, or if they put on tilaks and wear neckbeads and somebody says something bad to them, they give up everything. This is not right. We wear Tulasi on our necks because she is dear to the Lord. Even scientists speak about benefits of Tulasi. So, what is the problem if you wear Tulasi on your necks instead of gold chains? If you have Tulasi neckbeads on your neck, Yamadutas will not touch you – only Vishnudutas can touch you then. Both scriptures and common science say that it is good to wear Tulasi neckbeads.

There are many kinds of gurus in this world: kaulik-guru, laukik-gurus, karmi-gurus, jnani-gurus, yogi-gurus, and so on. Sivji Maharaj told Parvati Devi, 'O Devi! There are many vitta-harankari gurus in this world (those who steal your wealth, money, etc.), but there are very few santap-harankari gurus (spiritual teachers who will rob you of your material agony).' There are many doctors in Kali-yuga who only think about money. You know, when a terminal patient is admitted to a nursing home for a few days, the home starts fighting over bills, demanding lakhs of rupees. You can see so many stories like this in the newspapers. There are such doctors in this world. They pay money to get a degree and then make a profit using their patients. They will happily prescribe medication, but they will not tell you, 'Oh, you have diabetes, so you must not eat sweets and potato.' And when a doctor does say this, many patients object, 'But I like sweets very much, I cannot live without sweets.' What will the doctor do then? He will say, 'Well, if you cannot live without sweets, then eat sweet.' The doctor must earn his money after all. But a real doctor who genuinely wants to cure your disease will never allow this – he will say, 'Do not come to me again. If you cannot give up the cravings of your tongue, your diabetes will never come right, no matter how much medication you take.'

In the same way, a genuine guru will never encourage you to do what is bad for you. A genuine guru will guide you down the right path: he will show and explain to you nicely how you can come to the Lord, which path you must take. There is nothing astonishing about this (it is common sense). You heard us chanting just now, 'Grhe thako, vane thako, sada Hari bole dako (গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক সদা 'হরি' বলে ডাক). Whether you stay in a house or in a forest, always call out the Holy Name.' Whatever your situation is, chant the Holy Name. There are no rules and regulations concerning the time and place when to chant the Holy Name.

When somebody dies, many people stop watering Tulasi – their children will carry on eating as before, but Tulasi has to fast. I told you yesterday also. You have a bathroom outside here. Suppose you are sitting in the bathroom, passing stool. Will you go back to the house wearing the same clothes you wore while passing stool? You will not. You take your clothes off, take a shower, put on fresh clothes and then only go back into the house. But if your little grandchild is lying on the bed and suddenly falls on the floor and starts crying, what will you do? You will come running to pick the child up. You will not even worry to wash your backside. No rules apply then.

Many people say, 'I do not know any mantras, how will I offer bhog to the Lord?' I tell them, 'This is your mantra!' 'O Lord, I do not know anything, I do not understand anything. I am giving this food to You, please eat it. I have got only some herbs and salt, so I am giving that to You with a Tulasi leaf and a drop of Ganges water.' The Lord says in Bhagavad-gita, 'If somebody offers Me whatever they have with a Tulasi leaf and a drop of Ganges water, I can never repay My debt to them. The only way I can repay it is by giving Myself to them.' The Lord personally gives Himself to the hands of His devotees. Can you imagine this? How merciful the Lord is! We must always remember these things.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 83.1 Mb
Length: 168 min
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