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(9/9) Remember Great Souls His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Those who take initiation often ask, 'How can we protect the seed of our devotional creeper?' Through sravan (hearing about the Lord), kirtan (chanting the Lord's Names and glories) and smaran (remembering the Lord). Remember that if you want a seed to grow, you must water it, but if you pour too much water, it will rot. So, do not cross the line. Do not go to do things that you have no right to do. It means that we must not go to hear about or discuss such high-level things as Radha-Krishna's pastimes, Vidyapati's works, Jayadev and Padmavati's pastimes. Srila Jayadev Goswami wrote, 'Dehi pada pallavam udaram (দেহি পদপল্লবমুদারম্). Place Your tender feet on My head.' But when he was going to write it, he could not, so the Lord Himself came and wrote it. These are very high things. Krishna personally comes to serve Radharani. If you have been to our temple in Vrindavan, you must have seen Seva-Kunja nearby. This is the place where Krishna is serving Radharani. These are all very high things... 'We can see in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta that if you do not water it, the seed of the devotional creeper (bhakti-lata bij) will dry and be destroyed. In general, if you plant some seeds and do not water them after that, they will dry up, and if you water them too much, the seeds will rot. It is the same here, too – sravan and kirtan (hearing and chanting) is the way to protect the seed of the devotional creeper, but if unqualified people listen to or discuss the highest topics found in the works by Chandi Das, Vidyapati, chapters about rasa-lila, etc. on pretext of sravan, then the tiny seed of their devotional creeper will not sprout, it will die very quickly.' I have also written here (in Guidance, Volume 3) about Vaishnavs and brahmans. What is the difference between a Vaishnav and a brahman? Who is called a Vaishnav and who is called a brahman? 'A Vaishnav is a devotee of Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and a brahman is a devotee of nirguna Brahman (impersonal aspect of the Lord situated beyond the influence of the material modes of nature). The knower of the impersonal aspect of the Supreme Lord is called a brahman, and the knower of the personal aspect of the Lord is called a Vaishnav. If a brahman practises Krishna consciousness in the realisation of sambandha-jnana, he can become a Vaishnav – by the mercy of Vishnu, he can be saved from the hands of impersonalists and become an "unadulterated brahman", or a Vaishnav. Sri jiva Goswami writes in his book Bhakti-sandarbha (177), referring to Sri Vyasadev's Garuda Purana, that one priest performing sacrifices is higher than a thousand ordinary brahmans, one person learned in the Vedas and all the other scriptures is higher than a thousand such priests, a Vaishnav is higher than millions of such learned experts, and just one exclusive devotee is higher than thousands of Vaishnavs. All Vaishnavs are brahmans, but brahmanism stands on the lowest steps of the ladder of Vaishnavism. Vaishnavs' qualities are much greater than the qualities of brahmans. A brahman is a servant of Vaishnavs: just as when a man has a lakh of rupees, he also has a thousand rupees, the same is true here too – if someone is a Vaishnav, they are automatically a brahman as well. The qualities of a brahman are included within the qualities of a Vaishnav.' This is what the scriptures say about the distinction between Vaishnavs and brahmans. Why do pure Vaishnavs do collection? 'To deliver the souls that are charmed by Maya and consider that everything that exists for the pleasure of Krishna is meant for their own enjoyment, and who are thus attached to eating sin. To tell them about Krishna consciousness, to bring them to the bona fide path and the path of eternal spiritual benefit. Materialists work very hard to earn their own food and clothes, and they think that they achieve material happiness in their life due to their own effort – due to their ignorance, they steal what is not theirs and enjoy sin (Bhagavad-gita also says this). Therefore, pure Vaishnavs accept something from them to be merciful to these ignorant soul and help them unconsciously earn some sukriti. Pure Vaishnavs do collection to give mercy to the jiva souls, not to extort tax from them.' There are many gurus who say, 'Take initiation! After that, you must keep aside some money for me.' They impose a tax on their 'disciples'. Pure Vaishnavs do collection to give mercy to the jiva souls, not to extort tax from them. What is the meaning of a Math? What is called a Math? 'A Math is a centre for practising glorification of the Lord (Hari-kirtan). Hari-kirtan is its life and soul. A Math is where laziness, unrighteous behaviour, "village" thoughts, "village" talks or base material desires have no place whatsoever. That is why when you go door to door for collection, you will generally go through examination.' When children go to school, they have to take exams at the end of the term; at this time, it can be understood if they have been studying or not. In the same way, when you go door to door, you will have to go through Hari-kirtan examination. 'Common people will criticise you saying that they are donors and you are beggars, i.e. they hold a higher position than you, that you are the recipients of their mercy (outside people often say that sadhus are alive only by their mercy, because they provide everything for sadhus); some will be ready to chastise you – as the result, your tolerance can grow, you will have an opportunity to be humble and give honour to others. Just by seeing your qualities of being humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree and respectful to others, common jiva souls will be benefited.' Somebody can tell you, 'I cannot give you anything! Go away!' What is it to you? The person's fortune is like that, that is why they say this, so we will not backchat or say anything – we will just leave with folded palms. I went to a very large mill the day before yesterday. The owner told me, 'We are not able to sell our rice! They are importing cheaper rice from Bangladesh, so we are losing money!' He came out with his stories. I was annoyed to hear it, but he carried on speaking. In the end, he said, 'I will give you fifteen kg rice.' Then, he added five more kg, so it came to twenty kg. When they started taking the rice out, they decided not to give the five extra kg. I told them, 'If you want to give something with a happy mind, then give it. If you are giving it to me with an unhappy mind, then I will not take a grain of rice from you.' They got upset and gave twenty kg. The mill manager told a worker to carry the rice to our car. At the car, I told the manager, 'Your owner is in great danger. He is suffering so much.' The manager asked, 'Why?!' I explained, 'He thinks that he is the master. He has forgotten that there is a master (the Lord) above him. Because of this forgetfulness, he is suffering so much now.' That owner is full of worries, 'What will happen now?', 'I will have to close the mill!', 'I have so many debts!', 'I have taken a hundred-million-rupee bank loan', 'The bank will take the mill away!' He took out a loan, bought a land and built a big house with that money, but if the mill closes down, it will just become the government's property (and the house will still be his)... So, 'people will be ready to chastise you – as the result, your tolerance can grow, you will have an opportunity to be humble and give honour to others. Just by seeing your qualities of being humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree and respectful to others, common jiva souls will be benefited.' They will think, 'I have scolded this man, but he has not said anything. He left with folded palms.' Seeing your mood, others will be benefitted – eventually they will think, 'This man is a sadhu.' If I practise Hari-kirtan, why should I strive to do anything else? Srila Prabhupad said, 'If someone tells something to you personally, you must not get angry.' If somebody says anything to you (if somebody scolds you or says anything out of anger), you must not get angry. 'But there is no fault in your guru-varga, scriptures, great souls, who are supremely liberated, eternal associates of the Lord. So, if somebody says something about them out of ignorance, if you practise real kirtan, you must rectify the mistake of such critics – in this way you can give great benefit to these ignorant people.' If somebody criticises your guru-varga, you must not fight with them, but you must explain it to them and correct their mistake. 'If you indulge your laziness and want to practise in seclusion to get a break from the criticism, then you will not have to rectify your character, but neither will you have a proper practising life.' Many people think like this and want to live and practise alone. This is not spiritual life. 'Because you want to get pratistha, you cannot tolerate it when others abuse you; you try to please others and to please yourself by pleasing others – as the result, you will be harmed spiritually, and I know you will leave the path of true spiritual benefit and take up an inauspicious path. Because you are my closest friends, I cannot do this to you.' These are Srila Prabhupad's words. There are many more things written here. You can get the books soon and read them. Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay. Practise Krishna consciousness. Serve the Lord. Today is the appearance day of Sri Vishnupriya Devi, you have heard about her today. Today is also the appearance day of Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami and Srila Raghunandan Thakur and Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur's disappearance day. You must remember what was told today. This is the history. 'Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah (মহাজন যেন গত স পন্থা): follow the footsteps of great personalities.' They are great souls, our great friends, great Vaishnavs. If you remember them, you will remember everything. Remember everything. Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur's commentary to Srimad Bhagavatam is very beautiful. His bhajan-kutir and samadhi-mandir are in Vrindavan. It is a very nice place. If you go to Vrindavan, you can get the darshan of that place. Do parikrama in sadhu-sanga. If you want to go to Puri this year, we will be going to South India, up to Tirupati, after Ratha-yatra. Let me know if you want to come because it will not be possible to get the tickets later. I will take one hundred people with me (we will go by A/C buses). When we go to Puri, I will take three–five hundred people. Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay. [His Divine Grace chants evening kirtans and concludes the class.]
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