(1/5) Nature of Niskinchan Vaishnavs

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme, Vijay Ekadasi
Translated into English from Bengali
19 February 2020, part 1

Every Gaudiya Vaishnav observes ekadasi-tithi. Some fast completely, without any water or food, and some take anukalpa. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur relaxed the rules and arranged for a provision that allows to take anukalpa. Seeing that most people did not fast on ekadasi because it was necessary to stay without food, which entailed various difficulties, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur made it permissible to take some fruit and other non-grain prasad.

Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally instructed His mother to fast on ekadasi, and she happily did so. Our guru-varga told us to follow ekadasi, so when devotees come to stay at our temples or householder devotees come to this line, they are first told that it is necessary to fast on ekadasi because if you take rice or any other grains on ekadasi, you are commiting a sin. There are many explanations, and there are many things written in the scriptures about the glory of ekadasi, but this is not the main point. When we come to do any service, we do not do it because we want to get some result. Similarly, we do not fast on ekadasi to get something.

Each of us must fast on ekadasi. You all know how ekadasi is observed, so there is no need to explain much. The main reason why we follow ekadasi is because it is Mahaprabhu's order for all devotees to fast on each ekadasi.

We do service every day, and ekadasi days are not different. We chant the Holy Name every day; we do our service eternally, every day; we chant kirtans every day; and we offer bhog to the Lord and take His prasad every day. On ekadasi days, we also offer rice and other grains to the Lord, but we do not take it on ekadasi because we do not have the right to do that on this day. We take whatever anukalpa prasad is there.

Mahaprabhu showed the proof that the Lord does not fast on ekadasi. When He was a little boy, He cried very much because there was no rice offered at His home on an ekadasi day. He cried and asked His parents to take Him to the house of Jagadish and Hiranya in Chakdaha, where the two brothers made a full offering. Only after He had taken prasad there did He stop crying. So, on ekadasi days, we offer rice to the Deities, but we do not take it ourselves. In our temples, there is a strict rule that we do not give rice to anyone on ekadasi days. Prasad containing grains can be given to cows or taken the next day.

Apart from these things, there is not much to say. Gurudev also did not say much about ekadasi. Our guru-varga says we must fast on ekadasi, and that is mostly why we do it.

In devotees' houses, there is kirtan and service continuing every day, eternally.

যে দিন গৃহে ভজন দেখি ।
গৃহেতে গোলোক ভায় ॥

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi
grhete goloka bhaya

"Any day there is devotional service at home, I see Goloka manifest itself in it."

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

The house where there is devotional service is Goloka.

Beyond this, there is nothing more to be said about ekadasi vrata. The main question is how far we can progress in our spiritual life, how much determination and sincerity (nistha) we have towards our Gurudev and how far can we stay chaste (keep anugatya) to our Gurudev. This is what we must always think about. There can be no Krishna consciousness, no pilgrimage to a holy place, no dham-parikrama without adherence and submission to Sri Guru. Everything must be done with submission to Sri Guru and Vaishnavs. All service must be done in adherence to the will of Sri Guru and Vaishnavs. If you practise Krishna consciousness without submission to Sri Guru, such practice is actually not Hari-bhajan (worship of the Lord) – it is Maya-bhajan (worship of Maya, illusory environment).

There are many gurus in this world, but if a guru cannot rescue his disciple from the jaws of death (from this material world), it is not a guru but a maya-guru (illusory guru). There are such maya-gurus in this world. They not only cheat the people in this world but also become cheated themselves. Some people are very eager to make many disciples and become gurus, but we sing: 'Sisya thakibo sarvada (শিষ্য থাকিব সর্ব্বদা) – I always want to be a disciple' (Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur). It is necessary to try to become a disciple – a genuine disciple. If somebody has a desire to become a guru in their mind, it is a very inauspicious desire – it can never bring any good result. If you cannot bring benefit to yourself, how will you give benefit to others? You cannot give your own mind and heart to the service of Sri Guru and Vaishnavs, then how can you use others in the service to Sri Guru and Vaishnavs? It is necessary to be extremely humble, to feel extremely poor. We must chant the Holy Name feeling extremely poor.

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি অহঙ্কার ॥

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi ahankara

"Give up ego and consider yourself lower than a blade of grass, poor, destitute and vile."

বৃক্ষসম ক্ষমাগুণ করবি সাধন ।
প্রতিহিংসা ত্যজি অন্যে করবি পালন ॥

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana
pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana

"Practise tolerance like that of a tree, stop ill-treating others and nurture everyone."

জীবন-নির্ব্বাহে আনে উদ্বেগ না দিবে ।
পর-উপকারে নিজ-সুখ পাসরিবে ॥

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe
para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

"Live without causing anxiety to others; do good unto others forsaking your own happiness."

(Gitavali, Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Niskinchan (নিষ্কিঞ্চন; materially impoverished, destitute) Vaishnavs leave material life and always think about satisfying Sri Hari and Sri Guru. 'What can please my Guru?' – they always think about this, leaving their material lives and all material desires. They abandon all their material happiness and only live to please the Lord and their Sri Guru. This is who a niskinchan Vaishnav is. They do not have any desires or attachment to the material world or anything in it. How many of us have become like this? You can examine yourself. It is not necessary to examine others. We must examine ourselves and rate how much on the scale of zero to ten we can do that. Once you do that, you can understand how much you can get (weather we can get 0, 1 or 10). Srila Prabhupad said that a hundred out of a hundred people only worship Maya. The number of people who worship the Lord is very limited. There are very few people who serve the Lord with attachment to the Lord and Sri Guru, who do not follow the whims of their minds, who do not listen to their minds.

When we always listen to Hari-katha and keep practising sravan and kirtan, when we become attracted and attached to the service of the Lord, when our soul runs to serve Lord Krishna, when our entire being always rushes to Krishna, we will always pray and plead humbly and pitifully, submitting ourselves. 'When will I get the darshan of Lord Krishna?' 'When can I stir myself from within to serve the Lord?' These thoughts must be always on our minds. But in this world, our minds, intelligence, ego and everything else steers us down the wrong path and keeps us away from Krishna consciousness. Our mind is always fickle, and it always pulls us in the direction of our material desires. That is why we must always listen to and speak Hari-katha.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Nature of Niskinchan Vaishnavs
2) Purifying Engagement
3) Be on Guard
4) Serve Attentively
5) Power of Association