(3) Worship of Great Vaishnav

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, festive morning programme,
6 March 2019, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Sivji Maharaj is a great Vaishnav (vaisnavanam yatha sambhu). You must have heard us chant during his arati, 'Ohe vaisnava thakura, dayara sagara, e dase karuna kari’. O Vaishnav Thakur! You are an ocean of mercy; please be merciful to this servant.' In our Nabadwip Math, we have Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar. We also made a temple of Lord Siva in Midnapore. There are many temples of Lord Siva everywhere. In Nabadwip, there is also Buroraj Siva.

I will tell you one story that happened in Bardhaman (in Purba Bardhaman, in a village called Mankar; it is not far from here, in the direction of Durgapur). In Bardhaman, there is a temple of 108 silas (the temple secretary is my disciple); and in Mankar, there is a temple with twelve silas of Lord Siva, and they were worshipped by one brahman called Jivan Chakravarti. He served Lord Siva in a very sincere and regulated way. He was not like the brahmans of our days: you have to give them ten rupees to offer puja, but such worship is not worship or devotion (they offer puja only to earn money).

You can see here that when they offer sweets at dawn (at four or five o'clock), when they offer bhoga to Gaura-Nitai now, in the morning, this bhoga (prasad) will then be taken to Lord Siva and offered to him. In Bhuvaneshwar, after they offer bhoga to Lord Ananta Vasudev, that prasad is then taken to Lingaraj (Lord Siva). Gopeshwar Mahadev in Vrindavan is also given the prasad of Lord Krishna. The same is here: when Gaura-Nitai are offered bhoga, that bhoga is then placed on another plate and offered to Sivji Maharaj. He is waiting, 'When my Lord takes bhoga, I will get His prasad.' And after Lord Siva takes the Lord's prasad, we will take his prasad. This is how bhoga is offered here every day.

When you offer the Deities muri with some subji, or whatever you offer, in the morning, that prasad must be first offered to Lord Siva. In the afternoon also, when you cook rice and all the other dishes (vegetables, sweets, sweet rice, anything), it is first offered to the Deities and then given to Lord Siva. The same should be done in the afternoon and in the evening. Always offer bhoga, archan and abhisek. Every day. We take a shower every day, and in the same way the Lord must be bathed every day, too. You may wonder, 'The Deities are so big, how can we bathe Them?' By reciting the mantras. Otherwise, to undress the Deities, the wash Them, etc. every day is very hard. Those who have more time actually change the Deities' clothes every day. This is ideal. These are the rules. We must serve in a regulated way, every single day without fail. Just as we take a shower, dress and eat every day, we must serve the Lord in the same way every day. If you buy a set of clothes for yourselves, you must also buy clothes for the Lord. This is what devotion is. For example, if you go to the market to buy a new sari for yourself, you should get a new sari for Srimati Radharani as well.

So, one time, a brahman called Jivan Chakravarti worshipped Lord Siva (he had twelve Deities of Lord Siva) in his Mankar village. You know, in Nepal there is a temple of Lord Pasupathinath. Lord Siva got a weapon called Pasupath and used it to fight against Lord Krishna (Lord Krishna used His Sudarshan Chakra and won the battle). Anyhow, one time Lord Siva appeared to Jivan Chakravarti in a dream, saying, 'Jivan, you have been worshipping me for a long time now. What would you like to get from me? What boon can I give you?' What did Jivan Chakravarti ask for? He could have said, 'I want you, O Lord!' but he did not. He asked for something else. Krishna says,

কৃষ্ণ কহে,—“আমা ভজে, মাগে বিষয়-সুখ ।
অমৃত ছাড়ি’ বিষ মাগে,—এই বড় মূর্খ ॥
আমি—বিজ্ঞ, এই মূর্খে ‘বিষয়’ কেনে দিব ?
স্বচরণামৃত দিয়া ‘বিষয়’ ভুলাইব” ॥

krsna kahe,—“ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha
amrta chhadi’ visa mage,—ei bada murkha
ami—vijna, ei murkhe ‘visaya’ kene diba?
sva-charanamrta diya ‘visaya’ bhulaiba”

‘Krishna says, “They worship Me desiring material happiness – leaving aside nectar, they ask Me for poison. They are big fools, but I am intelligent: Why will I give these fools material things? Instead, I will give them the nectar of My lotus feet and make them forget the material world.”’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.38–39)

So, Jivan Chakravarti said, 'Prabhu, my daughter has grown up, but I cannot arrange her marriage because I have no money. So, I would like to get money...' What did Sivji Maharaj reply? He said, 'Jivan, I have no wealth myself, but you can find it in Vrindavan. Go to Sanatan Goswami, he can give it to you.' In those days, there were no planes, trains or buses, so Jivan Chakravarti walked all the way to Vrindavan....

[To be continued]

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