Trade Secrets of Krishna Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bengali/English lecture on Sri Vyasa Puja Day
29 September 2019, Tarakeswar, part 11

There is one trade secret of Krishna consciousness. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote about it in his Bhajana-rahasya book. People say, "I will not live in the Guru's family. Why must I take anything from my Guru?" You get so much from your Guru, but unless you serve your Guru's family, you will not get any result. So, come, enter the family of Gurudev. Gurudev performs maha-sankirtan (grand sankirtan), maha-archan (grand worship), maha-parikrama (grand circumambulation of the holy places). Connection with him removes all unwanted elements within your heart (anarthas). If you can, by hook or by crook, give your mind and heart to the service of your Guru, you will get supreme benefit.

Great Gurus come door to door recruiting for their service factory. Guru can give you employment. Unless you take part in that service, unless you serve the house of the Guru, you will not get any particular benefit. Sri Gaurasundar told us this, and following His desire, following His inspiration, I am speaking now about this sacred mystery of the service to the Guru. Engage yourself fully in service—with your body, mind, speech, intelligence, and accept whatever benefit comes. When you proceed down the spiritual path, all problems can go away within a second and you can get perfection.

You must listen to these things attentively. I will tell you a few words about a high level conception now, about the madhurya-lila of Krishna.

What is the highest service line? The highest worship is the worship of the form of Lord Sri Krishna in which He performs His pastimes in Goloka. Krishna's pastimes in Goloka are His highest pastimes. Sriman Mahaprabhu encouraged to practise such type of worship, He never told to practise spiritual life to get some enjoyment (bhukti), liberation (mukti) or perfection (siddhi) that karmis, jnanis, and yogis aspire after. If one aspires to enter the loving pastimes of Radha-Krishna, one must accept such mood, such garb, and such worship. Karmis and jnanis do not have any knowledge about these things, their knowledge is of a different type, therefore they are deprived of the right to enter those pastimes. One worships demigods and demigoddesses according to their mood, and they get a corresponding result. Somebody worships Kali, somebody worships Durga, somebody worships Ganesh, somebody worships Nrisinghadev—depending on one's inclination they get a corresponding guru and get a corresponding result. Somebody gets a karmi-guru, somebody gets a jnani-guru, somebody gets a yogi-guru, somebody gets a laukik-guru (ancestral), and some get a paramarthik-guru (spiritual)

যে যথা মাং প্রপদ্যন্তে তাংস্তথৈব ভজাম্যহম্ ।
মম বর্ত্মানুবর্ত্তন্তে মনুষ্যাঃ পার্থ সর্ব্বশঃ ॥

ye yatha mam prapadyante, tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
mama vartmanuvartante, manusyah partha sarvasah

Howsoever people surrender to Me, I accordingly reward them. Being the ultimate goal of all paths, I am the objective to be attained by all. O Partha, all men follow My various paths.

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.11

If one is to come to Vraja Krishna, one must imbibe the mood of Vraja. Going to Vraja Krishna and going to any other destination is not the same thing. Suppose you go to your father and you go to your uncle—is that the same?

Jnanis and mayavadis are intellectualists, pandits, they study at university, and they also worship Krishna, but how do they worship Krishna? They worship Him with their mayik buddhi (illusory understanding, illusory intelligence). Such people preach about knowledge, but Sriman Mahaprabhu preached about devotion. Moreover, Sriman Mahaprabhu also defeated and rescued such great intellectuals as Prakasananda Saraswati and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. When Mahaprabhu was talking to Brahmananda Puri, He spoke to Him about devotion. Mahaprabhu said that when one practises devotion through transcendental knowledge (para-vidya), one gets devotion, one gets divine love, and except for this method one can never get Krishna or reach Krishna. This transcendental knowledge is not the knowledge of this world, it is knowledge of devotion, it comes from above into one's heart; and the knowledge you get in this world is called jada-vidya (mundane knowledge). Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says,

জড়বিদ্যা যয়, মায়ার বৈভব,
তোমার ভজনে বাধা ।
মোহ জনমিয়া অনিত্য সংসারে,
জীবকে করিয়ে গাধা ॥

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,
tomara bhajane badha
moha janamiya, anitya samsare,
jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is a manifestation of illusion (maya) and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation with the temporary world and turns the soul into an ass."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

Prabhupad always gave much importance to the service to devotees. Do you remember what I told you yesterday? Many people teach mynah birds to chant Hare Krishna, but when a cat comes and catches such a bird, it never chants Hare Krishna—it makes birds' cries. Guru Maharaj also said that you chant Hare Krishna on your beads, but if somebody comes and punches you, you will cry, "Ma! Ma! Baba! [Mother! Father!]" It is no use chanting Hare Krishna like this. You must chant with your heart. What did Srila Haridas Thakur say?

খণ্ড খণ্ড হই দেহ যায় যদি প্রাণ ।
তবু আমি বদনে না ছাড়ি হরিনাম ॥

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)

Many sing kirtans with a nice tune, but the Lord does not want to hear your tune—kirtan must be sung with one's heart. Some cannot sing kirtan with a beautiful tune, but they sing with their heart, and this is extremely valuable. When you chant kirtan with your heart rather than a beautiful tune or staged pretence, then your kirtan can reach the Lord. Remember this.

তোমার সেবায় দুঃখ হয় যত,
সেও ত' পরম সুখ ।

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,
seo ta' parama sukha

All the distress I encounter in Your service is also my greatest happiness.

(Saranagati 16.4)

If you want to leave giving up the service of your Guru, then you are very unfortunate—for such people who do not have faith in their Guru, the door of devotion will remain closed. If Gurudev is unhappy with you, Gaurasundar will never forgive you. When Jagai and Madhai attacked Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Gaurasundar came there with His Sudarshan chakra, but Nityananda Prabhu forgave them and took them to Gaurasundar.

When you chant kirtan, it pleases Nitaichand. Kirtan is not a pleasure for your senses—when Nitaichand hears your kirtan and feels happy, then only will it be real kirtan. It is necessary to get the qualification to chant such kind of kirtan for the pleasure of Nitaichand. Kirtan is not a song, it is not some tune. If you can attract and give joy to Nitaichand with your kirtan, then you will feel taste and joy chanting kirtan—then you can get Radha-Krishna.

Devotee: How can we understand if Nityananda Prabhu is pleased?

You will be able to tell it from your heart. You can understand it in your heart whether this happened or not, whether He is pleased or not.

What does it mean to get the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu? It means to get the qualification for the taste for kirtan.

কবে নিত্যানন্দ মোরে করি' দয়া
ছাড়াইবে মোর বিষয়ের মায়া ।
দিয়া মোরে নিজ- চরণের ছায়া,
নামের হাটেতে দিবে অধিকার ॥

kabe nityananda, more kari' daya,
chhadaibe mora visayera maya
diya more nija- charanera chhaya,
namera hatete dibe adhikara

"When will Nityananda be merciful to me and cause me to abandon my attachment to mundanity? When will He give me the shade of His feet and grant me a place in the marketplace of the Name?"

To have the right to enter the marketplace of Nitai means to have the right to feel taste for kirtan.

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