(5) Dasya-Abhiman

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class,
16 February 2019, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Even when it came to such sinners as Jagai and Madhai, Mahaprabhu rejected them, but Nityananda Prabhu embraced them and placed them at Mahaprabhu's feet. So, Nityananda Prabhu can do what even Mahaprabhu cannot – in the same way, gurudev can do what even the Lord Himself cannot.

I told you yesterday that you will not get a letter from the Lord, but if you submit your letter to the Lord's associates, they will deliver it to the Lord. Therefore, we must surrender to them, we must serve their devotees. We must never be proud and think that we are devotees. You must always leave the ego of a devotee (bhakta-abhiman). Always remember that ours is the ego of a servant (dasya-abhiman).

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

'The jiva soul forgot that it is an eternal servant of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around the soul's neck.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

Maya attacks us because we forget that we are eternal servants of the Lord. This is not something that we say only with our mouth – we must always serve the Lord with heart and soul.

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।
গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara laile phala phale

'Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

Only when you follow Gora's teachings and practices can you get the proper result.

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।
গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

'You put on tilaks and show the whole world that you serve Gora, but secretly you do outrageous things. Gora will catch you, thief (hypocrite)!'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7)

Do not worship Gora just to impress others. What did Mahaprabhu tell Raghunath Das Goswami?

মর্কট-বৈরাগ্য না কর লোক দেখাঞা ।
যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা ॥

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana
yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana

'Do not show your false renunciation to impress people. Use whatever material things you require, but without attachment.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.16.238)

Mahaprabhu said to him, 'It is not necessary to show "monkey" renunciation. Go home. Do not be crazy.'

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

'Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself and give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236-237)

You cannot do this! 'Do not eat fancy stuff, do not wear fancy stuff.'

Many of us do not know these things. We say that we have taken initiation from our gurudev, but our initiation is just a show. That is why we cannot become genuine servitors of our gurudev and cannot serve our gurudev properly. Instead of serving our guru, we become guru-bhogi (exploiters of the guru) and guru-tyagi (rejectors of the guru).

Serving the Lord (Hari-seva) and exploiting the Lord (Hari-bhoga) is not the same thing. Srila Prabhupad gave the example of a brahman who, coming to worship Narayan (salagram-sila), used the sila to shell nuts. The brahman was going to worship the Deity, but when he came to the Deity, he saw that there were some cashew nuts (he usually offered peanuts, but that day he got some cashew) – seeing the cashews, he could not control himself (his tongue became greedy). So, he took the sila he worshipped and started bang the nuts with the sila to shell them! He shelled the nuts and ate them. The meaning of this story is that exploiting the Lord (using the Lord for your own enjoyment) is not service to the Lord. We must not use our gurudev. I told you yesterday that instead of serving the Lord, we like to turn Him into our menial servant. Do not come to tell the Lord, 'O Lord, give me this', 'Give me that', 'Give me a car', 'Give me a house', 'Give me some money.' Do you expect the Lord to serve and worship you and become your servant? You turn the Lord into a servant and make Him take bribes.

If you want to practise Krishna consciousness, you must take shelter at the holy feet of a bona fide guru and serve in complete submission to your guru and Vaishnavs, then it will be spiritual life; otherwise, whatever you do will be Maya consciousness, not Krishna consciousness – and the result you will get will be only offences.

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