(1/6) Keep Your Vision Straight

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, Gaura Purnima Day
21 March 2019, noon class, part 1
Translated from Bengali

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.
Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gaura Nityananda Prabhu ki jay.
Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay.
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay.
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay.
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay.
Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay.
Suddha-bhaktir-vighna-vinasa-kari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay.
Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar, Giriraj Govardhan ki jay.
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay.
Jay Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama ki jay.
Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay.
Jay tandiya avirbhav tithi-bara maha-mahotsav ki jay.
Bhagavan Sri Gaurahari ki jay.
All the assembled, all the worldwide devotees ki jay.
Jay Srila Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj ki jay.
Srila Bhakti Kusum Ashram Maharaj ki jay.
Sripad Bhakti Amrita Paramarthik Maharaj ki jay.
Sripad Bhakti Nandan Sadhu Maharaj ki jay.
Sripad Bhakti Tilak Niriha Maharaj ki jay.
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay.
Harinam sankirtan ki jay.
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Everybody is present here – all the maharajs and my guru-varga are present here. They know the conception of our Guru Maharaj and Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Hodge-podge devotion (panchmisali bhakti, পাঁচমিশালি ভক্তি) is very bad. Our vision must be pointed in one direction. Gurudev said, 'I am nobody's father, brother or uncle! I am a fanatic devotee of my Guru Maharaj.' So, it is necessary to always be sincere.

I always tell everybody that you must not criticise, comment or gossip about anything. Always control your gramya-katha (always stop it).

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

'Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself and give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236-237)

I still take many disciples, I do not stop doing it... I am actually worse than Gurudev in that sense. Gurudev told me, 'If somebody does something bad, they should not take initiation.' But when 190 people take initiation during Gaura Purima, some unscrupulous people can sneak in. That is why Gurudev's health became bad... I saw one of such people today, too. He sat in front of me to take initiation and said, 'I eat fish and meat.' He told it to my face. Such people should not take initiation...

You must always avoid criticising and disrespecting Vaishnavs. I have heard many people speak like that, and I have heard somebody say this today, too. It reminded me of one time when one of Gurudev's godbrothers came to Gurudev and complained about me. It was some small matter, but he came and said, 'Oh, Acharya has done this!' Guru Maharaj replied to that, 'He is not the acharya. I am the acharya here. He is Acharya Maharaj. If you do not say "Maharaj" when you talk to a sannyasi or when you talk about a sannyasi, you are making a vaishnav-aparadh. I have given him sannyas ‒ why you do not call him Maharaj?' I heard today also somebody say, 'Oh, give it to Paramarthik!' But Paramarthik is Maharaj – he is a sannyasi! You must call him Paramarthik Maharaj. Otherwise, it is an offence. You must understand this. When somebody disrespected any Vaishnav, Gurudev did not like it. Even if somebody was an extremely big offender and you spoke disrespectfully about that person in front of Gurudev, Gurudev could not tolerate it. Srila Prabhupad also said that if somebody is criticising you, you must tolerate it, but if somebody is saying something about your guru-varga, you must not tolerate it.

We must understand how one makes a vaishnav-aparadh, what kind of behaviour leads to a vaishnav-aparadh. I told you the other day that Jagai and Madhai had committed many crimes, but they had never criticised Vaishnavs. Those who do it will have no relief – nobody can save them. Mahaprabhu Himself said this.

ভক্তের হৃদয়ে সদা গোবিন্দ-বিশ্রাম ।
গোবিন্দ কহেন—মম বৈষ্ণব পরাণ ॥

bhaktera hrdaye sada govinda-visrama
govinda kahena—mama vaisnava parana

'Govinda always rests in your heart. Govinda says, "My devotees are My heart and soul."'

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

If we do not understand this, we will not even be able to chant the Holy Name. If we criticise sadhus and Vaishnavs, we will not be able to chant the Holy Name. Do you understand what I am saying? Always remember this. The first offence to the Holy Name is criticising sadhus and Vaishnavs. We do not want to hear this. Whoever it may be, they can discuss and criticise me – you do not need to come and tell me about it. I do not want to hear all this. If somebody wants to criticise and gossip about me, let them, what is it to me? It is not necessary to tell me all these things – I do not want to hear all this. My Gurudev would also get annoyed if somebody told him such things.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur also said:

বৈষ্ণব-চরিত্র, সর্ব্বদা পবিত্র,
যেই নিন্দে হিংসা করি’ ।
ভকতিবিনোদ না সম্ভাষে তাঁ’রে,
থাকে সদা মৌন ধরি’ ॥

vaisnava-charitra sarvada pavitra
yei ninde himsa kari'
bhaktivinoda na sambhase tan're
thake sada mauna dhari'

'The character of Vaishnavs is always pure. Bhaktivinod keeps quiet and does not associate with those who are envious of Vaishnavs and who criticise Vaishnavs.'

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru)

When Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur heard anybody criticise Vaishnavs, he would become silent and say nothing. He did not like it.

Therefore, do not discuss or criticise anybody. Who does what, who does (or does not do) what in which temple – what is the use discussing all this? This is not our problem! You have struggled so much for the past few days – you had to have a bath outside, eat on the ground ‒ but what is the problem? I made a prasadam hall there, with nice marbled floors, but what of that if you eat on the ground? You did not stay without food, did you? You still did the parikrama. What is the problem?

If you criticise others, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur does not appreciate it. Somebody is criticising others, and you must show them affection? No. When somebody does this, you must think, 'This person has a problem.' You should keep quiet and do not engage with the person. And if somebody is criticising me, let them do it, you do not need to come and tell me about it – I do not need to know all this. Your duty is to chant the Holy Name and to do kirtan. Why do you need to bother your brain with what others are doing? You have come to practise Krishna consciousness. Why do you need to know what is going on in other temples? Does that give anything to you?

Always remember these things. You must read what the ten offences of the Holy Name are. Chant the Holy Name avoiding offences. Now let us chant some kirtan from Saranagati.

[His Divine Grace chant 'Ki jani ki bale tomara dhamete' and then requests Srila Janardan Maharaj and Srila Ashram Maharaj to speak, resuming the speech after them.]

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Keep Your Vision Straight
2) My Happiness
3) My Hope
4) Birds of Feather Flock Together
5) Eagerness for Connection
6) Join Service Connection