(4/10) Worship Is Not Business

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sriman Nityananda Prabhu's appearance day
Sri Ekachakra Dham, noon class after parikrama
17 February 2019, part 4

Many of you hold asta-prahar kirtans (24-hour kirtan). I have written what Srila Prabhupad told about the astakaliya-lila in my book Guidance 3. It explains the mood of those pastimes and what pastimes take place during each part of the day (prahar). But we must be careful with this.

If you plant a seed, you must water it, then the seed will sprout and grow. If you do not water it, the seed will dry up; and if you pour too much water on it, the seed will rot. Pouring too much water means going where you have no right to go. We have not even been able to enter the kingdom of devotion yet, but we think that we have become great Vaishnavs. People learn some poems by heart, put on big, fat tilaks, dress as Vaishnavs and come to sing lila-kirtans, but in the meantime they continue living a vile life.

Learning some poems by heart and going then to sing kirtans – this is not devotion. This is business in the name of devotion; people use the Lord in the name of devotion to earn money. I told you yesterday that somebody can come to you saying, 'Jay Nitai!' but they come to rob you. Have you heard about what happened in Barishal, Bangladesh? Some dacoits came to a man's house – they cried, 'Jay Nitai! Jay Nitai!' and when the man opened the door, they robbed him. No genuine sadhu, no Gaudiya devotee will come to a devotee's house saying 'Jay Nitai' to rob. Both Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila Prabhupad explain this.

I also told you yesterday the story of a brahman who shelled nuts with a salagram-sila. This is how we use the Lord, we use Gurudev, we use the Lord's service – we tarnish His Name by making business for our own interest and profit. This is what we do in this world. But is this what we come to this world for? That is why I am telling you what Srila Prabhupad said: in lieu of serving God, do not turn God into your menial servant. 'O God, give me!', 'Give me a house!', 'Give me a car!' We come to the Deity, offer our obeisance and give whatever we can (one rupee, ten rupees, fifty rupees, etc.) and in exchange we bargain in exactly the same way as we bargain at the market, 'Oh, give me a hundred grams of mustard oil for one hundred rupees.' We come to the Lord and ask, 'Give me health', 'Help my son get a job', 'Help my daughter get married.' We always want something, we always ask God for something. This is how we turn God into our servant.

You may feel bad hearing what I am saying. You all know that 100% people in this world behave like that in this world, but when you hear about it, you do not like it. I know very well that you do not like to hear this, but I am telling you the truth – I am telling you what Srila Prabhupad said. I am not afraid of anybody. I am not afraid of dying – I will not stop telling the truth about what people are doing in this world. I am also writing books to let the whole world know about it. Buy and read these books, then you will see. I do not care if somebody reads those books and chastises me – the more they chastise me, the more pleasure it will give me. I will not stop saying these things. People bribe God. They come to worship Kali, Durga – instead, they bribe their gods with some money and rice and accept to get something from them in return. It is same as when you want to get a government job, you must bribe some politician or minister. For example, to become a primary school teacher, you must give a million-rupee bribe. What do we call the person who takes bribes? A bribe-taker. In the same way, we come to worshippable deities (Kali, Durga and others), give some money, rice, banana, fruit and say, 'Prabhu! Make me rich (dhanam dehi)', 'Make me clever (vidyam dehi)', 'Make me beautiful (rupam dehi)', 'Give me a good wife (bharyam dehi)'. Is this not the mantra the brahmans chant during their puja?

নমঃ আয়ুর্দ্দেহি যশোদেহি ভাগ্যং ভগবতী দেহি মে ।
ধনং দেহি পুত্রান্ দেহি সর্ব কামাংশ্চ দেহি মে ॥

namah ayur dehi yaso-dehi bhagyam bhagavati dehi me
dhanam dehi putran dehi sarva kamascha dehi me

'Obeisances to You. Give me a long live. Give me fame. Make me fortunate. Give me a beautiful wife. Give me wealth. Give me a son. Please fulfil all my desires.'

(Populist Durga Puja mantra)

During Durga Puja, you can go deaf with microphones roaring this everywhere. They cry, 'Give me wealth! Give me knowledge! Make me beautiful! Give me a beautiful wife! Give me! Give me! Give me!' Hearing this, the Lord will say, 'Oh My! How much they want! I am out of here!' The Lord will flee from there – He will not stay there! Where does Lord Govinda stay? 'Bhaktera hrdaye sada govinda-visrama (ভক্তের হৃদয়ে সদা গোবিন্দ-বিশ্রাম). Govinda always rests in the heart of His devotees.' Why does Govinda stay there? Because devotees always serve Him. They do service selflessly, thinking, 'Whether the Lord accepts this service or not is up to Him.' They do not turn God into a bribe-taker. But when we worship God, we turn Him into a bribe-taker, into our servant. That is our 'devotion' in this world. But Srila Prabhupad did not teach this kind of devotion!

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Length: 100 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Live in Nityananda Prabhu's Shelter
2) Cry, Pray and Remember
3) Genuine Devotion Comes from Heart
4) Worship Is Not Business
5) Nitai Consciousness
6) Sad and Foolish
7) Practise Devotion, Not Emotion
8) Live in Eternal Shelter
9) Our Hope and Solace
10) Effulgent and Munificent Lord Nityananda Prabhu