(2/8) Watch What You Wish For

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, noon programme, 30 January 2020, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Why should we practise Krishna consciousness? The people of this world worship the Lord for three reasons. Remember what these reasons are. The first kind of people worship the Lord out of fear—they think, "Oh, if I do not worship the Lord, something can happen to me." Gurudev often said:

চারি বর্ণাশ্রমী যদি কৃষ্ণ নাহি ভজে ।
স্বকর্ম্ম করিলেও সে রৌরবে পড়ি মজে ॥

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje
svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

"Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager, or worker) or ashram (a celibate, householder, renouncer of the household life, or monk) you may belong to, if you do not worship Krishna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.26)

People hear this and think that if they do not worship Krishna, they will go to hell. They become afraid.

The second kind of people think, "I am worshipping the Lord, so I will get something in return." You can say that this is the same as karma-misra bhakti (devotion mixed with material pursuits). Such people hope to get some result, "If I worship the Lord, I will get something." They think, "I will have a car", "I will have a house" and so on.

The last, third, kind of people worship the Lord out of duty. "I was born in this world, Sri Krishna is my father and mother, so I must worship Sri Krishna." They hear, "Krsna mata, Krsna pita, Krsna dhana prana: Krishna is mother, Krishna is father, Krishna is the heart and soul," and they worship the Lord.

Is this is the main idea though? Are these the teachings of Srila Rupa Goswami? Gaudiya Vaishnavs who worship the Lord in the line of Sri Rupa-Raghunath and the genuine archarya of Sri Rupanuga Sampradaya (there are many people who chant kirtan in this world, but I mean those who genuinely belong to the line of Sri Rupanuga) worship the Lord out of love. They serve the Lord out of deep love. Why does a mother take care of her son? Because she wants to get something from him? Out of fear? No. She takes care of her son because she loves him. She cleans the child's stool and does everything for the child out of love—she feels attachment, she feels some internal, blood-deep attachment and pull towards the child.

There is one more thing also. In this world, there exists nectar that is higher and above everything else. For example, if you like rasagullas, you can eat one, you feel happy; you eat five more, you feel happy; you eat ten or twenty rasagullas, and you are happy; but then, if you are offered more, you will not like it anymore. But if you come in touch with the sweetness of the Lord, you will want to taste it more and more, again and again. So, this nectar of the love for the Lord, this nectar of the divine ecstatic relationships with the Lord, this nectar of the narratives about the Lord is described very beautifully in Yamunacharya's verse. Our Param Guru Maharaj Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj presented this verse in his Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam.

সকৃত্ত্বদাকারবিলোকনাশয়া
তৃণীকৃতানুত্তমভুক্তিমুক্তিভিঃ ।
মহাত্মভির্মামবলোক্যতাং নয়
ক্ষণেঽপি তে যদ্বিরহোঽতি দুঃসহঃ

sakrt tvad akara vilokanasaya
trni-krtan-uttama-bhukti-muktibhih
mahatmabhir mam avalokyatam naya
ksane 'pi te yad viraho 'ti duhsahah

"O my Lord, please lead me into the glance of those great devotees who, in their heart's aspiration to only once behold Your divine form, consider sense enjoyment and liberation to be like straw, and whose separation is unbearable for even You."

(Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 3.18)

You have all heard about Dhruva Maharaj. He was only a five-year-old boy, but to get the throne of his father, he went to a forest to perform austerities and meditate on Krishna. It says in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita:

কৃষ্ণ কহে,—আমা ভজে, মাগে বিষয়-সুখ ।
অমৃত ছাড়ি’ বিষ মাগে,—এই বড় মূর্খ ॥

krsna kahe,—ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha
amrta chhadi' visa mage,—ei bada murkha

"Krishna says, 'They worship Me desiring material happiness — leaving aside nectar, they ask for poison. They are big fools.'"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.38)

Those who ask for poison in lieu of nectar are great fools. And Krishna says, "I know better, I am not a fool. Why will I give them material things? Rather, I will give them My lotus feet and make them forget about material things! I will not give poison to those who ask Me for it—I will give them My feet, then they will forget about the poison of the material world." This is what happened to Dhruva Maharaj and Srila Raghunath Das Goswami.

At the same time, the scriptures say:

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If devotees aspire for enjoyment or liberation, Krishna hides the knowledge about pure devotion from them and lets them go, giving them enjoyment or liberation."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.18)

Both sayings are there in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. On the one hand, it is said that the Lord gives His feet and makes you forget about the material world; on the other hand, it is said that Krishna will not give you devotion so easily—He will give you whatever you want (money, wealth, cars, houses and so on), make you happy and make you forget Him. If you give a lollypop or a sandesh to a child, the child forgets everything and stops crying. We are just like such children. When children play outside, they can eat soil (even Krishna showed this pastime), but the mother will come and quickly take soil out of its mouth, worrying that the child will have an upset stomach. What will the child do then? The child will cry, "Mother does not let me eat!" We too come in this world and live like such children—just as when you tell children that it is wrong to eat soil, they do not understand it, we also do not understand that material desires are poisonous, so we keep asking the Lord for money, cars, wealth and other things. Just like children, we always want, want, want and want. When the mother gives her crying child a rasagulla, the child will say, "Oh, this is so nice—I will eat rasagulla now, I will not eat soil again!" So, when the Lord appears in front of you, when the Lord gives you His lotus feet, then you will say, "I do not need any material things now!" Until and unless you receive the darshan of the Lord, until and unless the Lord bestows His mercy on you, you will always keep thinking, "How will I live? What will I eat? How will I manage? Where will I find money? How can I buy a house? Where will I sleep? Where will I live?"

Have you understood what I said? Is it clear?

So, what did Dhruva Maharaj do? He went to the Lord to ask Him for a throne. The Lord heard his prayer and became merciful—He sent Narad Goswami to Dhruva Maharaj. (The Lord does not always come Himself, but He sends His associates, one of his own—this time, the Lord sent Narad Goswami.) Narad initiated Dhruva Maharaj and instructed him how to practise properly. Then, Krishna gave him his coveted throne in the end. Did I not just tell you? "If devotees aspire for enjoyment or liberation, Krishna hides the knowledge about pure devotion from them and lets them go, giving them enjoyment or liberation." So, first, the Lord gave Dhruva Maharaj the throne. But as Dhruva Maharaj took shelter at the lotus feet of his Guru (Narad Goswami) and practised properly, his mind changed. So, when Krishna came and said, "Here is your throne. Do you not want it anymore? Take it! Take it!" Dhruva Maharaj became shy, "O Lord, I have got You now, I do not need any throne." So, both sayings from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita can be harmonised in the example of Dhruva Maharaj. We must always remember and keep this in our hearts.

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Length: 53 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Repeated Prayer, Repeated Plight
2) Watch What You Wish For
3) Lord's Mercy
4) Pure Ego
5) Beautiful Pastimes (1)
6) Beautiful Pastimes (2)
7) Beautiful Pastimes (3)
8) Take Service Serious