On Humility and Patience

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
speaking online to devotees in Colombia
22 September 2019, Kolkata, part 3

Another thing Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu says is that patience (dhairya, ধৈর্য) is very important in our spiritual life. Those who have this quality of patience are very peaceful, quiet (dhirah, ধীরঃ). The mind always becomes very fickle for the want of patience. Those who have no patience cannot be successful in any kind of life, spiritual or material. A practitioner of Krishna consciousness must have patience—through patience the person can control not only himself, but also the whole world, the whole universe.

Those who have too much attachment to their family and material life always think about theirselves—such people cannot get a great benefit; even in their sleep, they see many bad dreams or good dreams.

Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami Prabhu writes very nicely in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita:

guru-padasraya, diksa, gurura sevana
sad-dharma-siksa-prccha, sadhu-marganugamana

"On the path of regulative devotional service, one must observe the following items: (1) One must accept a bona fide spiritual master. (2) One must accept initiation from him. (3) One must serve him. (4) One must receive instructions from the spiritual master and make inquiries in order to learn devotional service. (5) One must follow in the footsteps of the previous acaryas and follow the directions given by the spiritual master."

krsna-pritye bhoga-tyaga, krsna-tirthe vasa
yavan-nirvaha-pratigraha, ekadasy-upavasa

"The next steps are as follows: (6) One should be prepared to give up everything for Krsna’s satisfaction, and one should also accept everything for Krsna’s satisfaction. (7) One must live in a place where Krsna is present—a city like Vrndavana or Mathura or a Krishna temple. (8) One should acquire a livelihood that is just sufficient to keep body and soul together. (9) One must fast on the Ekadasi day."

dhatry-asvattha-go-vipra-vaisnava-pujana
seva-namaparadhadi dure visarjana

"(10) One should worship dhatri trees, banyan trees, cows, brahmanas and devotees of Lord Vishnu. (11) One should avoid offenses against devotional service and the holy name."

avaisnava-sanga-tyaga, bahu-sisya na kariba
bahu-grantha-kalabhyasa-vyakhyana varjiba

"The twelfth item is to give up the company of nondevotees. (13) One should not accept an unlimited number of disciples. (14) One should not partially study many scriptures just to be able to give references and expand explanations."

hani-labhe sama, sokadira vasa na ha-iba
anya-deva, anya-sastra ninda na kariba

"(15) The devotee should treat loss and gain equally. (16) The devotee should not be overwhelmed by lamentation. (17) The devotee should not worship demigods, nor should he disrespect them. Similarly, the devotee should not study or criticise other scriptures."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.115-119)

You can read this in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, it is written very nicely here. Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj says that a bhajan-prayasi—one who wants to come to Krishna consciousness—must take shelter of a bona fide guru; without taking shelter of a guru you cannot get benefit in your spiritual life.

Also, Srila Kaviraj Das Kaviraj Goswami says, "O it is my bad luck! I am very unfortunate! I am very poor! I always use all my senses for my own benefit! I am always parched by material desires! I do not take any good association, I cannot hear proper Hari-katha, proper Krishna-katha. I am a very fallen soul!" Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami is very humble. We must learn from him. These words are spoken by that Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami who composed Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, who left his family having got a dream from Nityananda Prabhu (he left because his brother criticised Nityananda Prabhu and did not follow Nityananda Prabhu)—it is spoken by that Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami who left his family life, went alone to Vrindavan and passed the rest of his life, until his death, in Vrindavan...

Srila Haridas Thakur also said,

khanda khanda hai deha yaya yadi prana
tabu ami vadane na chadi harinama

"Even if my body is cut into pieces and I give up my life, I will never give up chanting the Holy Name."

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Adi-khanda, 16.94)

"You can kill me, you can cut my body into many pieces, it is not a problem, but I will not leave chanting the Holy Name with my mouth!" Not only that—he also prayed for everybody when they were beating him, "O Krishna! O Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! I am a very angry person, please do not take my offence, please give me some mercy."

"e-saba jivere, krsna! karaha prasada
mora drohe nahu e-sabara aparadha"

"O Krishna! Be merciful on these living entities! Forgive their offense of torturing me."

Srila Haridas Thakur says, "Please do not take their offence—they are beating me, it is not a problem."

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