No Place for Whimsies

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 27 January 2020, part 8
Translated from Bengali

Because we cannot give up trifle matters we always fall behind the great things (we never quite reach it). Why did you take initiation? What made you take it? To get something? If a guru gives initiation to a disciple hoping to get something from them, such a guru can never be a guru. Such a guru does not deserve to be called a guru—if a guru cannot rescue you from the jaws of death, such a guru can never be a guru. You must go to the person whom a bona fide Guru has selected and who has thus become a Guru on the order of his Guru. You must accept such a Guru as your very own, as your dearest person, and you must submit everything at his holy lotus feet—whatever you have or not have.

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥
ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভব—বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥
ষড়ঙ্গ শরণাগতি হইবে যাঁহার ।
তাঁহার প্রার্থনা শুনে শ্রীনন্দকুমার ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara
sad-anga saranagati ha-ibe yanhara
tanhara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara

"Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me', engaging only in activities that are favourable to devotion, rejecting everything unfavourable to devotion. These are the six types of saranagati, and if you can surrender in all the six ways, Krishna will hear you."

Always be humble, submissive, always embrace the Lord's care, have faith that the Lord will protect you, do only what is favourable to devotion, and reject all that is unfavourable to devotion. Lord Krishna hears the prayers of those who surrender in these six ways. The Lord hears the prayers of those who are surrendered, who have faith:

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

If your faith goes away, if you lose faith in your Guru, then your life will be futile—your life will be ruined. You think, "I offer some flower to Guru's feet," "I will offer some incense to Gurudev's photo," but I do not really care what Gurudev says. So, should we be offering flowers to Gurudev's photo or should we be following what Gurudev says? You must understand which is necessary. If we forget about this, we will fall into darkness. That is why we must always think about this.

You must become determined in your life and serve the Lord unswervingly, in one way or another: I have to serve the Lord, and I must cross the ocean of material existence. A very good boat has come to me to take me across, and I have also got the ticket for the boat, and I must take this ship! If I can stay in this ship, then I will get to the destination of that ship (that ship will take me to the place where it is going). If you can stay on the same train that Gurudev has boarded—if you can stay in the train or ship that Gurudev is driving, you will reach the destination of that train or ship. However, if we get off in the middle of the way, nothing good will happen—we will face inauspiciousness.

In this way, you must always give guidance to yourself. You must give advice to your own self.

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