(11) Spiritual Life Is Not Fashion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhanjipur, 2 December 2019, noon, part 11
Translated from Bengali

If you take shelter of an ancestral guru or a false guru, then there is nobody who can save you from the hands of inauspiciousness. However, a bona fide guru gives a danger signal – he gives the right advice at the right time. If you listen to the advice or guidance of your guru, you will be benefitted. Those who do not listen to it fall down. Suppose lust, anger arise in your mind and you become disturbed – no matter how much you practise devotional activities, you will be falling down. You can see how many good qualities one has, how much service one does, but if they criticise others, they end up falling down. If you speak about another person’s hole, that fault will come to you and it will be a hundred times stronger. Be very careful. The more you look for faults in others, the more your own holes will grow. Never search for faults in others. Search for your own faults. You have so many faults yourself, so do not go to search for faults in others. Always remember this. Listen to what I am saying attentively and apply it in your lives!

Those who can accept chastisement attain benefit very fast. There is nobody in this world who wants your benefit more than your guru. When a father sees his son doing something wrong or going in a bad direction, he chastises him to save him from danger; similarly, a genuine guru chastises his disciples to save them from danger and falling down.

'Asat-sanga-tyaga—ei vaisnava-achara. Vaishnavs always give up all inauspicious association' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.87). It is necessary to leave the association of all people who do not practise devotion at all – even if they are close family, a son, or a near and dear one. If you associate with those who have no devotion for the Supreme Lord, your devotion will be obstructed – if you associate with them, you will waste your time, money, and your mind will become disturbed.

Just as it is very rare to find a bona fide guru in this world, it is also rare to find a genuine disciple. If somebody in this world wants to get spiritual benefit, they must come to a genuine guru. A genuine guru is very hard to be found in this world. When you find such a guru, you must follow his order, instruction and guidance. There are many gurus in this world who are busy taking everybody's money and worship. There are many gurus who will impose a tax on their disciples. A genuine guru never imposes any tax on his disciples.

There are many ancestral gurus and gurus who teach material knowledge in this world, but genuine spiritual gurus are very few. A genuine guru's mercy can bring you spiritual benefit. Given that it is very rare to find such a bona fide guru, it is virtually impossible to find a proper disciple. Those who only take mantra are not real disciples. It is definitely necessary to take initiation into the mantra to become a proper disciple because one cannot attain perfection as a disciple without accepting the mantra. However, taking mantra from a guru, calling him ‘paramahamsa’ and giving ‘jay’ to him, giving flowers, putting a garland on him, offering him bhoga – these are not symptoms of a disciple. A symptom of a disciple is love for the guru, fostering a loving relationship with the guru. 'Gurudev is my spiritual benefactor' – it is necessary to always think like this and keep gurudev in your hearts.

If you can serve the Lord with everything you have, you are certain to come to the Lord. It is necessary to serve your guru with everything you have. We sing in one of the kirtans:

সর্ব্বস্ব তোমার, চরণে সঁপিয়া,
পড়েছি তোমার ঘরে ।
তুমি ত’ ঠাকুর, তোমার কুকুর,
বলিয়া জানহ মোরে ॥

sarvasva tomara, charane sampiya,
padechhi tomara ghare
tumi ta’ thakura, tomara kukura,
baliya janaha more

‘Submitting everything at Your feet, I have come to Your home. You are my Master, so please consider me Your dog.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

তোমার সংসারে, করিব সেবন,
নহিব ফলের ভাগী ।

tomara samsare, kariba sevana,
nahiba phalera bhagi

'I will serve Your family and never claim any result for myself.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'I do not want any result. What result I will get by serving you, that I do not know. What result will I get by fasting on ekadasi? What result will I get by practising Krishna consciousness? I do not need to know all this. I only know that if I serve my gurudev, it will do me good, so I serve my gurudev.'

You go shopping and bring nice ingredients, but when you cook them, your cooking does not turn out good. You buy a beautiful plate for making offerings to the Lord, but you do not wash it properly. The kitchen must always be kept clean. The pujari does archan, recites mantras and rings the bell, and everybody comes to take his footdust. But those who have some spiritual acumen know that cooks are greater servants. Cooking for the Lord is much higher than simply reciting praise of the Lord. So, the cooks' service is much more valuable than that of pujaris. The golden crown of the Lordship glitters in all directions of the temple with its electric light, but nobody pays attention to the daily meals of the Lord. You can see this at many places – these are many mayavadi temples like that. People open big shining temples, but they do not feed their Deities properly. There are many such temples in South India, Kolkata, Haridwar, Risikesh. They decorate the temples lavishly, with so many shining ornaments, but they do not feed their gurus and Deities. When you go to such temples, you do not feel anything spiritual. There are so many beautiful temples in Haridwar, some temples are even built of glass, they look very beautiful, but those who run the temple do not offer any bhoga to the Deities there, they do not cook for the Lord, they do not even offer worship to the Lord. They are only concerned with creating a nice scenery and facilities for eye-exercise...

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