(7/12) Mahaprabhu's Conception

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vaishnav-seva programme in Begampur (Hooghly),
Early February 2019, part 7
Translated from Bengali

Anyhow, much has been said. The main problem is actually that we want to become Vaishnavs without serving Vaishnavs. Gurudev also said that people are eager to become a guru without first becoming disciples. You may ask, 'Who is called a disciple?' I wrote about it in Guidance 3, too. Srila Prabhupad says that genuine disciples are those who can accept their guru's chastisement (who can digest and mould themselves according to their guru's chastisement). It means they accept the chastisement of their guru, placing it on their heads and following it in their lives without any objection.

There is one more thing you should always remember. I thought it out and wrote about it carefully. Srila Prabhupad said, and I have also seen this, that instead of serving the Lord we must not turn the Lord into our menial servant. You know, we all come to this line, we practise Krishna consciousness, and we think that we are better than those who do not practise Krishna consciousness because we think that we are doing something good. Is this not pride? Tell me, who of us has been able to give up this pride? We think in our minds, 'I am serving Govinda, I offer bhog to Govinda, I take Govinda's prasad, I worship Govinda, so I must get a good result.' Can we give up this desire, or hope, for the result? But it is said that even that must be given up. Can you imagine it? We think that we serve Govinda, so we are doing something good and we will get a good result (we will go to the Lord's eternal abode, where we will serve the Lord happily), but even all this must be given up!

Devotee: 'Guru-mukha-padma-vakya chittete kariya aikya ara na kariha mane asa (গুরুমুখ-পদ্মবাক্য চিত্তেতে করিয়া ঐক্য আর না করিহ মনে আশা). Make the teachings coming from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart and do not keep any desires.'

[His Divine Grace chuckles.]

When I recently went to the bank of the Godavari, where the famous conversation between Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Ray took place, I realised something there. We all read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, but Mahaprabhu rejected its meaning. When Ramananda Ray mentioned it, He said, 'This is external, go further.' We always say that the ultimate message of Gita is:

সর্ব্বধর্ম্মান্ পরিত্যজ্য মামেকং শরণং ব্রজ ।
অহং ত্বাং সর্ব্বপাপেভ্যো মোক্ষয়িষ্যামি মা শুচঃ ॥

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

'Give up all kinds of religion and surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, do not despair.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

This is Gita's last word. 'Give up all religions and surrender to Me. I will look after you. Whatever you do – whatever meditation you practise, whatever sacrifices you make, whatever austerities you do – do everything as an offering to Me. Use everything in My service.' But Mahaprabhu said, 'Leave it, it is external. Go further.' Can you see how high Mahaprabhu's conception is?

You can see here a devotee seated at the back. He was a member of another mission before. In that mission, they preach, 'Become a devotee of Krishna!' This is not the line of our Guru Maharaj or Gaudiya Vaishnavs. Remember this. What does Krishna say? 'Those who say that they are My devotees are not My devotees.' So? How can they be devotees of Krishna then? How can they say, 'Become a devotee of Krishna'? We even sing it in one of the kirtans:

রাধা-ভজনে যদি মতি নাহি ভেলা ।
কৃষ্ণ-ভজন তব অকারণ গেলা ॥

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela
krsna-bhajana tava akarana gela

'If you did not become devoted to the worship of Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna was in vain.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

First you must become a devotee of Radharani, Mahaprabhu, then only can you think of becoming a devotee of Krishna! It is necessary to explain this. When they come to me, they become quiet and leave. You have not seen it, but before they had only Deities of Radha-Krishna and the asta-sakhis at their main temple. They did not have Mahaprabhu's Deity. They installed Pancha-tattva and Mahaprabhu only later after Gaudiya Math kept telling and telling them about it.

রাধা-ভজনে যদি মতি নাহি ভেলা ।
কৃষ্ণ-ভজন তব অকারণ গেলা ॥

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela
krsna-bhajana tava akarana gela

'If you did not become devoted to the worship of Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna was in vain.'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

রাধিকা দাসী যদি হোয় অভিমান ।
শীঘ্রই মিলই তব গোকুল কান ॥

radhika-dasi yadi haya abhimana
sighrai milai taba gokula kana

'Those who pride themselves on being maidservants of Radhika will quickly come to meet Gokula Kan (Krishna).'

(Sri Gitavali, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

What should be your pride? 'I am a maidservant of Radharani.' Whom does Krishna belong to? 'Radhara dasira Krsna sarva-vede bole (রাধার দাসীর কৃষ্ণ সর্ব্ব বেদে বলে). Krishna is the property of the maidservants of Srimati Radharani. All Vedas say this.' Krishna is the property of Radha's maidservants.

So, do not run to become a devotee of Krishna first. First become a devotee of devotees. What is our identity? We are not sannyasis, brahmacharis, ksatriyas, vaisyas, sudras. We are servants of the servants of the servants. First, you must become a devotee of Krishna's devotees. Krishna Himself says this.

You know, one time a devotee, who had been following the line of Krishna consciousness for many years, came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj to take sannyas. Srila Sridhar Maharaj told him, 'You have already become a devotee of Krishna. But you must first become a devotee of Radharani, then I can give you sannyas.'

This is the difference between our missions. When you talk to others, many think that we are all the same, we practise the same thing, but it is not so. They also do not read Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's Jaiva Dharma... Anyhow, there are many differences, but the main thing here is what I told you at first – we must not turn the Lord into our menial servant instead of serving Him. 'O Lord, I am worshipping You, and I will get something' – such desires should not be there. Do not turn God into your servant, expecting Him to serve you.

— : • : —

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Length: 109 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Your Sreyo Must Become Your Preyo
2) Joy in Sadness
3) Who Will Understand?
4) Vaishnavs' Dignity
5) Read and Absorb
6) Sincere Self-Realisation
7) Mahaprabhu's Conception
8) Gist of Spiritual Life
9) Prison of Misconception
10) Learn and Live the Ideal
11) Service Alertness
12) Be Attached and Detached