(9/14) Vaishnavs' Qualities

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, evening class,
16 February 2019, part 9
Translated from Bengali

Many people want to become Vaishnavs without serving Vaishnavs, but it is not possible to become a Vaishnav without service to Vaishnavs, just as it is not possible to become a devotee without service to devotees. When you serve devotees or Vaishnavs, you become a devotee or a Vaishnav yourself. I aslo told you yesterday that if you want to become a guru, you must first become a disciple. Until and unless you become a proper disciple yourself, you cannot serve your guru and you cannot become a guru. You must always think about this.

'"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 you start thinking, 'I have become a Vaishnav,' then you will not be able to give honour to others.

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি অহঙ্কার ॥

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi ahankara

'Give up ego and consider yourself lower than a blade of grass, poor, destitute and vile.'

বৃক্ষসম ক্ষমাগুণ করবি সাধন ।
প্রতিহিংসা ত্যজি অন্যে করবি পালন ॥

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana
pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana

'Practise tolerance like that of a tree, stop ill-treating others and nurture everyone.'

জীবন-নির্ব্বাহে আনে উদ্বেগ না দিবে ।
পর-উপকারে নিজ-সুখ পাসরিবে ॥

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe
para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

'Live without causing anxiety to others; do good unto others forsaking your own happiness.'

(Gitavali, Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When a genuine Vaishnav comes to your houses, many of you think, 'Oh, we must wash his feet and drink that water.' We also sing in kirtans about Vaishnavs' pada-jala (water that washed Vaishanvs's feet) and pada-renu (Vaishnavs' foot dust). But geunine Vaishnavs think, 'I still have not been able to become a Vaishnav.' Even Srila Prabhupad also said, 'How can such a heretic as myself ever become a Vaishnav?' We think that we are men and become attracted by women or we think that we are women and feel attracted to men – how can such worst offenders in the world as us ever become Vaishnavs?

There are many among us who, like sahajiyas and other followers of wrong conceptions, stretch out their feet and welcome others to come and wash them. But we do not even allow anybody to touch our feet, feeling, 'Why will you touch the feet of such a sinner as myself?' This is what Mahaprabhu also taught. He also did not allow anybody to touch His feet. There is only one person whom He allowed to do it – it was Kalidas. How did Kalidas earn this right? You will be surprised to know it.

We sing in one of the kirtans:

সর্ব্বস্ব তোমার চরণে সঁপিয়া
পড়েছি তোমার ঘরে ।
তুমি ত' ঠাকুর, তোমার কুকুর
বলিয়া জানহ মোরে ॥

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,
padechhi tomara ghare
tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukura,
baliya janaha more

'I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog.'

তব নিজ-জন প্রসাদ সেবিয়া
উচ্ছিষ্ট রাখিবে যাহা ।
আমার ভোজন পরম-আনন্দে
প্রতিদিন হবে তাহা ॥

taba nija-jana prasada seviya
uchchhistha rakhibe yaha
amara bhojana parama-anande
pratidina habe taha

'Every day I will with great joy have whatever remnants Your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasad.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We must be taking devotees' remnants happily, but when somebody distributes prasad, they worry that if they take prasad last, they will not get nice things, so they hide paneer for ourselves.

So, what did Vaishnav Thakur Kalidas do? He did not sit together with all the Vaishnavs to take prasad – he would hide a little afar and wait for all the Vaishnavs to finish taking prasad and throw away their plates; then, he would take those plates and lick them. He felt, 'Devotees do not finish prasad, so if I take their remnants, it is enough for me to fill my belly.' You can see how much faith he had in Vaishnavs and how much devotion he had to Vaishnavs. So, when this Kalidas one day came to Mahaprabhu and touched His feet, devotees rushed to stop him, 'Do not touch Prabhu's feet! Do not touch Prabhu's feet!' Mahaprabhu told them, 'Do not stop him. He has taken food remnants of Vaishnavs and become a jhanu vaishnav (a seasoned, or crafty, Vaishnav).'

When we serve prasad to gurudev, we do not think what gurudev likes or not likes, whether gurudev is struggling in any way or not. When we distribute prasad to Vaishnavs also, we do not think whether Vaishnavs need anything. whether there is anything wrong, whether they can sit and take prasad nicely or not, whether they have any problem or not – instead, we sit next to them and say, 'Give me prasad!' There are also gurus who happily give their prasad to others, but Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj was not like that. One time, he was invited by one lady to Dhatrigram, a place near Kalna. Bihari Das, Babaji Maharaj's servitor, accepted the invitation. When they came to her house, the cooking had already been done, so the lady told them to sit down to take prasad. Srila Babaji Maharaj and Bihari Das sat down, and the lady started serving them prasad. Srila Babaji Maharaj finished whatever she had put on his plate, but the lady thought, 'It was so hard to invite Babaji Maharaj, but he has not left any prasad!' So, she forcefully put more on his plate. Srila Babaji Maharaj tried to refuse, saying he was full and did not want to take more, but she still forcefully put more on his plate. Then, Srila Babaji Maharaj became grave – he understood why she was giving more despite his refusal, 'She wants me to leave something on the plate,' but Srila Babaji Maharaj did not do that. He again took everything that was on his plate, and not only that – that time he also ate the banana-leaf plate! This is what a genuine Vaishnav is like.

One day, when Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj walking from Nabadwip (he was walking in old, torn clothes and barefoot), some man saw him from his house and thought, 'If I give some money to this poor Vaishnav, he can buy some good clothes for himself and shoes.' So, he gave Srila Babaji Maharaj some money. Srila Babaji Maharaj took the money and continued his way. Having walked quite far from the place where he met that man, Srila Babaji Maharaj suddenly told Bihari Das, 'Let us go back!' They came to the house of that man. When the man saw who had come, he thought, 'Oh, he must have come to get more money!' But Srila Babaji Maharaj was not like that. When the man came out, he asked Srila Babaji Maharaj, 'What has happened?'

'Sir, please take back the money you have given me,' Srila Babaji Maharaj said.

'Why?!' the man replied, taken aback. 'First you take it and now you are giving it back. What is going on?'

'Yes, I took your money, but after I took it, my mind was not the same. I started thinking what I would buy with that money. I became so burdened that I could not chant the Holy Name – I could not serve the Lord thinking about that money. Please take it back. I cannot tolerate its burden.'

'But I have so much money and I do not feel anything.'

'Well, your head is big, so you can tolerate the heavy burden of your money, but my head is not so big as yours. I cannot do it.'

Such was Srila Babaji Maharaj's renunciation and devotional qualities.

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Length: 144 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Students' Chastity
2) Parikrama Outline
3) We Cannot Ignore Nityananda Prabhu
4) Reaching Out to Nityananda Prabhu
5) Dasya-Abhiman
6) Be Sincere and Serious
7) Worship Nitai!
8) Illusion of Devotion
9) Vaishnavs' Qualities
10) Who Are You Serving?
11) Learn to Appreciate Service
12) Lesson for Householder Devotees
13) Covering Up Prejudices
14) Devotion to Devotion