Symptoms of Disciple

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vrindavan Dham, evening class
31 October 2019, translated from Bengali, part 4

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

"Having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151)

If you plant a seed and water it, it will sprout, but if you pour too much water on the seed, the seed will rot. This is our position—our seed has become rotten! The sprout of our devotion has become spoilt and we are left with nothing now! The thing is that one must serve according to his or her capacity, but we overstep our capacity and as a result our devotion often becomes spoilt. Those who overstep their capacity and right lose their devotion. It is necessary to mind your rights—you must practise and serve according to your right, or capacity. Some have santa-rasa adhikar, some have dasya-rasa adhikar, some have sakhya-rasa adhikar, some have vatsalya-rasa adhikar, and madhura-rasa is a much higher matter—whatever your capacity and mood is, you must stay within it, do not overstep the mark.

Only exclusive and dear servitors can have the right for Gurudev's wealth and property. Gurudev's wealth and property is not some temple, a great building, etc.—Gurudev's property is Krishna-prema, his heart, his love. We must become real disciples. A real 'disciple' means one who is 'disciplined' (lives obediently following the order of Gurudev, who lives following rules and regulations—sasan mane, শাসন মানে, lit. obedient, disciplined). Gurudev said, "If I chastise (discipline) anyone, they will all leave and run away from the temple. There is only one person whom I can chastise and who I know will never run away." That is why Gurudev always said, "Have we truly taken initiation or do we pretend that we have taken initiation?" We become attracted by the temple and beautiful buildings of Gurudev and we become barred from the true wealth of Gurudev.

Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur says, "Many in this world open a temple and sit there, dressed as a Guru. There are many people who do guru business, but it is very difficult to find a real Guru in this world."

You always ask, "Give me mercy, give me mercy, give me your blessing, give me your blessing," but your heart is already full of material desires—how will Gurudev keep his mercy in your heart? Gurudev is always ready to give us his mercy, but we have no place to keep his mercy in our hearts. If you pour water into a glass that is already full, will that water stay in it? It will only overflow. We must always leave our ego, we must leave Vaishnav aparadh, and we must always practise Krishna consciousness.

Vaishnav scriptures also say, "Pratisthasa chhadi kara amani hrdaya. Give up the desire for prestige and make your heart prideless." We sing this in "Sri-krsna-kirtane yadi manasa tohara" kirtan to the third verse of Siksastakam—you must listen to the kirtans carefully.

দৈন্য, দয়া, অন্যে মান, প্রতিষ্ঠা বর্জ্জন ।
চারিগুণে গুণী হই করহ কীর্ত্তন ॥

dainya, daya, anye mana, pratistha-varjana
chari gune guni hai karaha kirtana

Humility, compassion, honouring others, and giving up prestige—become qualified with these four qualities and chant the Name.

Humility, being compassionate to others, giving honour to others, and giving up pratistha—if you have these four qualities, then you can get the right to chant the Holy Name.

Srila Prabhupad also says, "You can get a letter from your Guru, but you will not get a letter from the Lord. Gurudev can bring a letter from the Lord—Gurudev can convey you the message from the Lord. And you can also tell your message to Gurudev, and Gurudev will send it to the Lord." Everybody calls themselves disciples, but Srila Prabhupad says that it is not necessarily so—not everybody is actually a disciple because instead of becoming a disciple we pretend to be disciples—we cannot become real disciples. One does not become a disciple just by taking a mantra and initiation from a Guru—if you can serve your Guru, if you can please your Guru, then you can be recognised as a true disciple. There are so many gurus in this world, but the number of disciples in this world is very, very small. One does not become a real Guru without first becoming a real disciple. First it is necessary to be a disciple, then you can become a guru.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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