(8/12) Gift of Sankirtan

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhanjipur, 1 December 2019, evening, part 8
Translated from Bengali

Nama-sankirtan is the highest practice. Sri Gaurasundar squandered that highest divine love everywhere. To bestow divine love among the general public, to all souls high and low, Sri Gaurasundar started Nama-sankirtan. Everybody can practise this Nama-sankirtan. It is necessary to give the highest thing and it is necessary to give it to everybody, therefore He introduced Nama-sankirtan to spread the gift of Krishna-prema. Even brahmans, sudras, low-borns and dog-eaters can easily receive this greatest wealth – Sri Gaurasundar has introduced a suitable arrangement for that. A non-brahman cannot worship a Deity, so if Sri Gaurasundar had instructed jiva souls to worship Deities, then His generosity would have been restricted. That is why He has given sankirtan and along with that He said, 'There is no other path in Kali-yuga. Such highest attainment is not possible to get through meditation, worship, austerity or various sacrifices.' The Lord has vested all power within His Holy Name. The entire power of magnanimity is vested inside the Holy Name of Lord Sri Krishna ('nam-namakari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis-tatrarpita...').

Jiva souls sin. Jiva souls are hen-pecked, they always hanker for money, their minds always swarm with various material desires. Jiva souls want name and fame, knowledge, there is no end of their hopes and desires. All such people can take the Holy Name and chant it. 'There is no consideration whether one is qualified or not – whoever falls in front of Me, I embrace them. I have taken the result of all the karma you have accumulated in all your births. As soon as you join the chanting of the Holy Name and dance, divine love will at once spring within you.'

Mahaprabhu said, 'Whoever you meet, tell them to chant the Holy Name of the Lord.'

যারে দেখ, তারে কহ ‘কৃষ্ণ’ উপদেশ ।
আমার আজ্ঞায় গুরু হঞা তার’ এই দেশ ॥

yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa

'Whover you see tell them about the teachings of Lord Krishna. On My order, become a Guru and rescue this land.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 7.128)

We must chant the Holy Name. There is no other path except chanting the Holy Name. If we can always remember this, we will get supreme benefit.

Sankirtan cleanses the mirror of the heart. There is a fire raging within our hearts, and if you chant the Holy Name, it will extinguish this fire and make your hearts cool – you can attain divine love for the Lord.

চেতোদর্পণমার্জ্জনং ভবমহাদাবাগ্নিনির্ব্বাপণং
শ্রেয়ঃকৈরবচন্দ্রিকাবিতরণং বিদ্যাবধূজীবনম্ ।
আনন্দাম্বুধিবর্দ্ধনং প্রতিপদং পূর্ণামৃতাস্বাদনং
সর্ব্বাত্মস্নপনং পরং বিজয়তে শ্রীকৃষ্ণসঙ্কীর্ত্তনম্ ॥

cheto-darpana-marjanam bhava-mahadavagni-nirvapanam
sreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam

'Sri Krishna-sankirtan cleanses the mirror of the consciousness and extinguishes the forest fire of material existence; it is a white-lotus moon emanating rays of mercy and preparing one for the life in paramour love for the Lord; it expands the ocean of ecstasy, allows to taste the highest nectar at every moment and purifies the entire self. May this Sri Krishna-sankirtan be supremely victorious!'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.20.12)

Sankirtan destroys all sins and material life – your hearts can become clean and you can attain all perfection. It must be genuine sankirtan. There are many people who sing kirtan, but they actually live vile lives. You can often see this. One can wear tilaks and neckbeads and then go to drink tea and smoke bidi at a tea stall...

Sankirtan means chanting together with others. 'I will sit in one place and practise on my own' – this is bhajan. But Nama-kirtan and Nama-sankirtan are not one and the same, there are certain distinctions between the two. If you chant the Holy Name alone or with five other people, this is kirtan – some chant the Holy Name with this idea. However, sankirtan is performed together with many people. 'Bahubhi-militva yat kirtanam, tad eva sankirtanam. When many people come together and glorify the Supreme Lord Krishna, it is known as sankirtan.” Somebody is singing kirtan (tries to puff a hookah), but the ‘hookah does not start’: the rhythm, tempo, tune is there, they give elaborate eloquent lectures and sounds just like mendicant actors in an open-air drama performance; this kind of function performed together with the ungodly, faithless, given to enjoyment people is not sankirtan. Sankirtan must take place only among those who are relishing divine mellows of devotion, whose hearts are pure, who have got taste for the Lord and attachment to the Lord, who are at least serious and have faith in the scriptures, otherwise those who at least have faith in devotees, devotion and the Lord. Sankirtan must take place when participants at least have some faith for God awakened inside them. Sankirtan can take place when the participants have faith, are fixed in their spiritual life and who have taste for it. Chanting kirtan among outside people (faithless, offensive people) is useless.

Read these things [Guidance 4] carefully!

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Size: 33 Mb
Length: 69 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) A Life of Imperfection
2) Open Your Door to Mercy
3) Eternal Focus
4) Harinam: Devotees' Heartbeat
5) Humans' Advantage
6) Call Out to Gaura-Nitai
7) Repent and Revolt
8) Gift of Sankirtan
9) Seat Sankirtan In Your Hearts
10) Survive and Thrive
11) Service Life—Joyful Life
12) All Walk, No Talk