(3/10) Master's Property

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Midnapore, 24 April 2019, evening, part 3
Translated from Bengali

We must live in strict adherence and submission to our guru – we must listen carefully and follow what gurudev says. I have written about this at the beginning of our kirtan books.

[To a child] Sit here and listen carefully. Do not be naughty, otherwise everybody will scold you. Is it a boy or a girl? [A devotee says it is a boy. Noticing a dot on the child's forehead, His Divine Grace recollects a pastime.] You know, when Guru Maharaj was born, his mother or some other relative put a black cow-dung dot on his forehead [to prevent any ill wishes or bad luck]. That day, his father went with him to the temple of Lord Siva in Jamalpur – when his father offered his obeisance to Lord Siva, Lord Siva suddenly said to him, 'This is my son! You offered him to me, then why did you put this cow-dung dot on his forehead? You must put a sandalwood dot on his forehead! Once you have submitted him to me, I am the one to protect him. Why do you take on the role of his protector then?'

We sing in one of the kirtans:

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

'Humility, self-submission, accepting the Lord as your maintainer, keeping faith that "Krishna will certainly protect."'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Humility means that we must stay very low. 'I am a big person', 'I am a big Vaishnav', 'I have much money', 'I am very beautiful', 'I am a big scholar, I know much' – many people are very proud in their own ways. This is not Mahaprabhu's teachings. We must be humble and consider ourselves lowly. We must also be more tolerant than a tree...

The second part of surrender is atma-nivedana – surrendering, or submitting, yourself to the Lord, 'O Lord, I am Yours, and You are mine. I am submitting everything at Your feet.' Then, goptrtve-varan: Krishna is the maintainer, none of us are. If Krishna does not protect us, nobody can protect or save us. Remember this.

There was one story. When a child was born in one family, the astrologer came and, looking at the boy's palm, said that he would die from a snake bite in two years. Determined to prevent this by any means, the boy's parents built a cage and kept the boy inside – they would only take him out to feed him and then keep him back in there. One time, it was the end of winter (in the Magh month), there was some kul fruit (কুল, jujube) growing on a nearby tree, and the child's grandmother picked some and gave it to the boy. The boy ate kul and died. When they rushed to a doctor, the doctor said that the boy had died from snake venom. That venom came from the kul (a snake must have bitten it and some venom stayed inside the fruit). So, the master is the Lord, everything is in His hands. Nobody can save you if He does not want it, just as nobody can kill You if He does not want it.

— : • : —

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Length: 77 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Prodigal's Favourite, Miser's Pensioner
2) Material Diseases
3) Master's Property
4) 'I Am My Gurudev's'
5) Disciple Lives in Guru's Shelter
6) Day for Service, Life for Service
7) Foundation of Knowledge
8) Pitfalls and Benefits
9) Temple Life
10) Keep Well