(7/8) Selfless Devotion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme, 18 April 2019, part 7
Translated from Bengali

Always practise Krishna consciousness, always chant the Holy Name of the Lord. Chant the Lord's Names and glories and remember that Vaishnavs will never call themselves Vaishnavs. '"Ami ta vaisnava" e buddhi haile amani na ha'ba ami ('আমি ত বৈষ্ণব' এ বুদ্ধি হইলে অমানী না হ'ব আমি). If I think, "I am a Vaishnav," then I will never stop expecting honour from others.' Always offer obeisances to each others (sakale samman karite sakati deha natha yatha-yatha; সকলে সম্মান করিতে শকতি দেহ' নাথ যথাযথ).

Who can chant kirtan? Who has the right to do it?

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি অহঙ্কার ॥

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi ahankara

'Give up ego and consider yourself lower than a blade of grass, poor, destitute and vile.'

বৃক্ষসম ক্ষমাগুণ করবি সাধন ।
প্রতিহিংসা ত্যজি অন্যে করবি পালন ॥

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana
pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana

'Practise tolerance like that of a tree, stop ill-treating others and nurture everyone.'

(Gitavali, Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We must be humbler than a blade of grass; we must be more tolerant than a tree. It is necessary to have patience, but the problem is that we have very little patience: we get angry at the smallest matters. Do not be like that. Be humbler than a blade of grass, be more tolerant than a tree and give honour to others. These are our rules, these are Mahaprabhu's teachings.

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

'One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

When outside people do puja (for example, Durga Puja), they pray: 'Dhanam dehi, vidyam dehi, rupam dehi, bharyam dehi, kavitam sundarim dehi – make me rich, make me clever, make me beautiful, give me a good wife, make me a poet.' They always pray, 'Give me', 'Give me', 'Give me.' When it comes to Saraswati Puja, they also pray:

ওঁ সরস্বতি মহাভাগে বিদ্যে কমললোচনে ।
বিদ্যারূপে বিশালাক্ষি বিদ্যাং দেহি নমোহস্তু তে ॥

om sarasvati mahabhage vidye kamalalochane
visvarupe visalaksi vidyam dehi namostute

'O great Goddess Saraswati, the personified knowledge possessing large lotus eyes! I offer obeisance to you, please give me knowledge.'

'Give me knowledge. O Devi! I am worshipping you – I am giving you this money and food (some rice, bananas, fruit, etc.) – please give me knowledge.' We turn Saraswati Devi, a worshippable goddess, into our servant and a bribe taker: 'Here is my bribe for you, please do me a favour.' We must not do this. Do not turn God into a bribe-taker! Do not ask the Lord for anything in lieu of any service you may do.

That is why Vraja gopis said, 'We do not have the kind of devotion that Prahlad Maharaj has.' Do you know what Prahlad Maharaj asked the Lord for? What boon did he take from Lord Nrisinghadev?

At first he said, 'Please rescue my father.' His father had done so many wrong things – Prahlad Maharaj had actually denounced his father – but in the end he prayed to the Lord for him. His father had tried to poison him, he had thrown him from a mountain, he had tied him to an elephant's leg, he had thrown him into a fire, he had tied him to a huge stone and thrown him into the ocean! When Prahlad Maharaj was tied to a stone and thrown into the ocean, he floated in the ocean and played with the stone. When he was thrown into a fire, he was seen playing in it, too. One day, Hiranyakasipu asked him, 'What is this? Thrown into a fire, everybody gets burnt and dies, but you were playing in it!' Prahlad Maharaj replied, 'Be it fire, water or anything else, everybody is a servant of the Lord. When you threw me into that fire, I thought about Supreme Lord Hari, and the Lord came and told the fire that He was taking all its power away, so when I was in the fire, I actually felt cold!' Hiranyakasipu was enraged, 'Where did you get so much power from?!' Prahlad Maharaj replied, 'I have got my power from the same place as you!'

Hiranyakasipu got a boon from Lord Brahma that no living entity created by Brahma could kill him, that he could die neither at night nor at daytime, that he could die neither on the ground nor in the sky, but the Lord is always one step ahead. Hiranyakasipu could not be killed indoors or outdoors, so the Lord attacked him at the veranda (neither indoors nor outdoors) and put him on His lap (neither on the ground nor in the sky). Hiranyakasipu could not be killed by any weapon, so the Lord tore his chest apart with His own claws (no weapon was needed). And it all happened at sunset (when it is neither day nor night yet).

After the Lord defeated Hiranyakasipu, and when his body was lying lifeless on the ground, Prahlad Maharaj prayed to the Lord to liberate his father and allow him to go to the Lord's abode. The Lord replied, 'It has already happened. You can see him lying here, but this is only his body – his soul has already left for My abode. If somebody takes My Name or if somebody touches Me, they automatically get liberation, and your father has hit Me – he has touched My body – so he immediately went back to Godhead.' Then, the Lord told Prahlad Maharaj to ask Him for something else, and Prahlad Maharaj replied, 'O Lord, please give me such a boon by which I will never want to get anything from You. Please remove all asking mood and desire from my heart. May I never ever want anything from You.' That was Prahlad Maharaj's prayer to Lord Nrisinghadev.

Even Vraja gopis say, 'We do not have the kind of devotion that Prahlad Maharaj has!' Only casually saying, 'Krishna! Krishna!' will not do. You must call Gaura-Krishna. Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu comes in this Age of Kali as a combined form of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna. Krishna Himself says, 'Those who say they are My devotees are not My devotees. But those who serve My devotees – those who are devotees of My devotees – are My actual devotees.' That is why the worship of Krishna's devotees is higher than even the worship of Krishna Himself, and even the worship of His Name is higher than His own worship. That is why we must always chant the Lord's Names.

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Length: 42 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Life in Hari-Kirtan
2) Busy Lives
3) Your Responsibility
4) No Shortcuts
5) Sacrifice to Thrive
6) No Double Standards
7) Selfless Devotion
8) Serve with Heart and Soul