(7/10) Hari-Kirtan Adhikar

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, preaching programme,
20 February 2019, evening, part 7
Translated from Bengali

It is necessary to serve the Lord from your heart (service must come from heart). Srila Prabhupad says that you cannot serve the Lord – do what is called debal thakurer puja (দেবল ঠাকুরের পূজা; deity worship performed by hired brahmans) – for ten rupees; just as you cannot get contract singers to do kirtan for fifty rupees.

Devotee: What does 'debal thakur' mean?

People keep a Deity of Lord Narayan, or other Deities, and invite some bamun (brahman) to worship the Deity for three–five hundred rupees. This is what is called 'debal thakurer puja' (Deity worship done by a hired brahman).

You can see also in many shops that bamuns come, do some offering to the picture of a Deity (Kali, Durga, Laksmi, Ganesh, Kartik, Hanuman, and so on) in the shop, chant, 'Namah, namah!' and take money. They used to charge thirty rupees some time ago, but it must be more now. This is how they worship God. They throw some Ganges water, offer some flowers, and that is it – they get their monthly wage. This is not devotion. What devotion can that be? Ringing the bell and offering some incense is not devotion!

What is Hari-kirtan? You must know Hari, you must understand who is Hari, and you must serve Hari, then only can it be Hari-kirtan. Everything else is not Hari-kirtan (glorification of the Lord, following the path of devotion to the Lord). Only if you serve Hari, worship Hari and love Hari with your heart can you engage in what is called Hari-kirtan. What everybody else is doing is not Hari-kirtan – they have no right to do it (they have not attained this right). You must remember this.

So, in some places, people arrange lila-kirtans, pala-kirtans, other kinds of kirtans; in some place, they sign a contract to get somebody to do kirtan – we should not listen to any of this, we must never go there. Our speciality is such that we will not go to see such parties, we will not associate with them; rather, we will always keep distance and stay far away from them. You must always remember this. I have printed a few small books – Upadesh, volume one, two and three. You must read them carefully; read them all the time. If you read it one or two times only, what is written in them will not stay in your mind. Read one time, two times, three times, ten times, fifteen times. If you try to read Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, you will not be able to understand much. You can read Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata though. I am not saying that you cannot read Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, no; it is the highest scripture – you can read it, but when you read it, you must understand what you are reading.

For example, you will find this sloka from Srimad Bhagavatam cited and elaborated in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita:

অয়ি দীনদয়ার্দ্র নাথ হে
মথুরানাথ কদাবলোক্যসে ।
হৃদয়ং ত্বদলোককাতরং
দয়িত ভ্রাম্যতি কিং করোম্যহম্ ॥

ayi dina-dayardra natha he
mathura-natha kadavalokyase
hrdayam tvad-aloka-kataram
dayita bhramyati kim karomy aham

'O gentle-hearted Lord, ever-gracious upon the destitute, O Lord of Mathura! When shall I see You again? In Your absence, my broken heart trembles. Beloved! What shall I do now?'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.4.197)

This is a description of the separation mood: the highest mood of devotees afflicted by separation from Lord Krishna when He left for Mathura. We must feel this pain. Devotees always hanker for Krishna's association. Somebody hankers for Him in santa-rasa (neutral mood); somebody in dasya-rasa (servitude); somebody in sakhya-rasa (friendship); somebody in vatsalya-rasa (parenthood); and somebody in madhura-rasa (consorthood). For example, Srila Jayadev Goswami, Vidyapati, Chandidas wrote about the highest subject matters in the mood of madhura-rasa. In their writings and lamenting songs, they revealed the highest form of separation from the Lord. We do not want to imitate them, that is why we do not sing those kirtans. Those who chant this in their lila-kirtans and pala-kirtans are worshippers of Maya. This is not Krishna consciousness – it is Maya consciousness. If you go somewhere where you have no right (adhikara) to go, it is called transgression of rights (anadhikara-charcha; অনাধিকার চর্চা; lit. 'unauthorised, incompetent interference'). They do not have the right to chant those kirtans, but because they still do it, it destroys the seed of their devotional creeper.

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

'Having travelled throughout the universe, some fortunate souls receive the seed of the devotional creeper by the mercy of Sri Guru, who is non-different from Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.19.151)

You have a seed planted in the soil of your heart, and if you want it to grow, you must water it (that 'water' is sravan and kirtan: hearing about the Lord and practising spiritual life); but if you pour too much water on it (if you go to sing all those high kirtans), your seed will rot and die. So, to ensure that your seed does not die, you must know where you have no right to enter and you must always avoid that area. We must always approach the Lord through the medium of our guru, Vaishnavs and through submissive adherence to their orders.

— : • : —

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Length: 60 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Sadhus' Approach
2) Help Yourself and Others
3) Wasteful Living, Low Thinking
4) Immerse Yourself in Service
5) Clear-Cut and One-Pointed
6) Sincere Devotion
7) Hari-Kirtan Adhikar
8) Devotion to Gopis
9) Student Means Studying
10) Read and Learn