(8/8) Dedication without Offences

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, last evening class
18 February 2019, part 8
Translated from Bengali

I remember one time. It was 1994 or 1995. Gurudev was abroad. Before he left, he told me, 'You must anyhow finished the Centenary building. When I come back from the West, I want to see it finished.' At that time, only two floors had been completed, and Gurudev gave me only two lakh rupees to finish the rest. I thought, 'How can I do it with this money?!' I had to purchase all the materials (bricks, sand, cement, doors, everything), so I took a loan. A 'loan' means I purchased some things and told the shopkeepers that when Gurudev returned, he would pay them, so there was money due. When Gurudev came, he was very angry about it. When Gurudev returned, the construction works had been finished, and we had painted the side that was visible from the road by which Gurudev would arrive (the side overlooking Govinda Kunda), but on the other side, the works were still continuing in full swing, with many builders still working at the site. At first, when Gurudev just arrived, he saw the building had been finished and he was astonished, but when he found out that so much money was due, he was angry. When a shopkeeper came to ask for the money, Gurudev refused to pay him. I asked Gurudev, 'How shall I pay it back?' Gurudev said, 'Sell your kidney!' He was not joking. I said, 'All right, no problem.' After a while, Gurudev called me again and asked, 'How much is due? Whose shop do you owe money to?' I told him, and he gave more money.

Gurudev always manages everything. We are not managing anything. The manager is there, so what is your problem? Why are you taking so much burden on your shoulders? He is there, and He is the only manager. He will look after everything. You are thinking, 'What will be? What to do?' but why do you need to worry about this all? He is there, and He will think about everything. It is necessary to have this kind of faith.

So, sad-vrtti means to follow sadhus – to see what sadhus do and accept their teachings.

You know that during some time Gurudev lived outside the temple. He told me many things about that time – how much he served the temple and how much he helped Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. He told me many stories and many very nice things. He told me that he was in charge of the temple's printing press (he published our books), and when he managed to earn some money, he would give it to his Guru Maharaj. He would also organise tours. Sometimes, he did not even have money to buy milk for his daughter – instead, he would give her barley to drink. Srila Guru Maharaj would sometimes give him twenty rupees to go to the market and buy barley for his daughter. Although Gurudev was a householder, he served his Guru Maharaj with all his money. I remember Gurudev telling me about it. Everybody says that he left the temple, that he ran away and lived a family life, but it is not correct. Bodily, he may have been in Kolkata, but his heart, his soul, his everything was at the temple, at Srila Sridhar Maharaj's lotus feet. You can understand how much Gurudev served. When he told me about it, I was shocked to realise how much he cared about the temple...

So, I have told you what is favourable to devotion, and now hear what is unfavourable to devotion. We sing in one of the kirtans, 'Chhaya vega dami' chhaya dosa sodhi' (ছয় বেগ দমি' ছয় দোষ শোধি'). Please subjugate my six urges and rectify my six defects.' The six urges are the urges of speech, mind, anger, tongue, stomach and genitals. The urge of speech means talking too much, saying bad things or behaving in way that hurts others. The urge of the mind means your mind always goes here and there, it is always restless. We must always keep our minds under control. If bad things come out of our minds (if our minds are out of control), we will not be able to control it. The urge of the tongue means our tongues always want so many things. The urges of anger, mind and speech cause a lot of problem and disturbance in life. Lastly, the urges of the stomach and genitals means it is necessary to control your lust, control your sex desires. These are the main things in our lives.

There are also five diseases. Just as there are diseases in this external world, there are also diseases of the heart. These diseases must always be checked and avoided. And there are also ten offences to the Holy Name. You must know them by heart.

(1) The first offence is sadhu-ninda (criticism of saints). Those who criticise saints cannot chant the Holy Name. (2) The second offence is to compare various gods and demigods (Lord Siva, Kali, and so on) to Krishna. (3) The third offence is to ignore your guru (to consider him a mere mortal and to ignore his order). (4) The fourth offence is to criticise revealed scriptures (Srimad Bhagavatam, Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Srimad Bhagavad-gita and others). (5) The fifth offence is to try to explain the meanings of the Holy Name of Krishna. Hare Krishna means Radha-Krishna, there is no other meaning. (6) The sixth offence is to consider chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra to be just another practice. For example, people do many things in this world – they help the poor, give medicine to the sick – and they think that doing those good things and chanting the Holy Name are the same. It is an offence to think like that. (7) We say that the Hare Krishna maha-mantra comes from the transcendental abode of Goloka Vrindavan, but some people say that this is an imaginary idea. It is an offence. (8) The eighth offence is to sin relying on the purifying strength of the Holy Name. It means we can be committing so many sins the whole day and in the evening we chant on the beads thinking, 'I will just chant and all my sins will be removed.' (9) We should not give beads to those who have no attachment to the Holy Name and who have no faith in the Holy Name and the Lord. Do not give beads to people forcefully. Some missions do that, and if they hear me say this, they will be offended, but this is what they are doing – what I am saying is not a lie. Some of them say, 'Here are the beads, chant!' No. Do not give beads like that. You cannot give beads to those who have no faith. (10) The tenth offence is that we know about glories of the Holy Name, we hear about it, but we are still attached to our own things. That is also Nama-aparadh. These are the ten offences that must always be avoided. Remember this. If you can avoid all these things, you will get great benefit.

So, our festival is completed today. Please come again for Gaura Purnima, to do Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. I am inviting everybody. Here in Ekachakra, the place is quite small, but in Nabadwip, you will have an opportunity to do the parikrama of nine islands. I will arrange for you all a place to stay and prasadam. Please come, it may be austere, but do not worry about it. You will have an opportunity to circumabulate a holy land of the Lord, Sri Nabadwip Dham! This is not the same as going to Mayapur with a bus excursion when you go there and come back after a few hours. You can come to Nabadwip and stay there for a week. The parikrama will start on the ekadasi day, so come the day before that and come for the parikrama together with us. Please come, everybody.

I would like to finish here.

বাঞ্ছাকল্পতরুভ্যশ্চ কৃপাসিন্ধুভ্য এব চ ।
পতিতানাং পাবনেভ্যো বৈষ্ণবেভ্যো নমো নমঃ ॥

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha krpa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

'I offer my obeisances to the Supreme Lord’s devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy and wish-fulfilling trees.'

Jay Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay.
Jay Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay.

[His Divine Grace chants 'Hari Haraye Nama Krsna', recites Jaya Dhvani and concludes the evening class.]

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Length: 91 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Capture Nityananda Prabhu's Heart
2) Hope of the Hopeless
3) Purifying Shelter
4) Do Not Imitate
5) Live as a Devotee
6) Obstacles to Spiritual Life
7) Pillars of Spiritual Life
8) Dedication without Offences