(5/10) Essential Admonition

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching programme in Hooghly District, evening
Translated into English from Bengali
21 February 2020, part 5

[Having chanted kirtans, His Divine Grace resumes the class.]

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him; after that, I am offering my full obeisance to all the assembled guru-varga, all my godbrothers, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

As I have already told you, it is not every day that we get an opportunity to hear about the Lord. We often say that a cloudy day is a bad day, but actually a bad day is not a cloudy day: a bad day is a day without Hari-katha, a day when we cannot hear about the Lord. So, we are very fortunate today because we have got some sadhu-sanga today.

বৈষ্ণব সঙ্গেতে মন আনন্দিত অনুক্ষণ
সদা হয় কৃষ্ণ পরসঙ্গ ।

vaisnava sangete mana anandita anuksana
sada haya krsna para-sanga

"In the association of Vaishnavs, my mind is always joyful—in their association I always get the association of Krishna."

('Thakura Vaishnava pada', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

Please repeat after me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Please do not speak.

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krsna, and in your mind serve Radha-Krsna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236-237)

Do not talk about material things, do not talk idly. This is unfavourable to devotion. We chant the Holy Name a lot, but if you keep pouring water into a glass and see that it does not become full, it means there are some holes, and all the water is flowing out. We chant so much, we do so many things, but why is nothing happening to us? Because there is some fault, some offence within us. Because of our offences, the result of all our devotional practice is going out through these 'holes'. These holes are offences to the Holy Name, service, holy place and Vaishnavs. We must always be aware of offences to Vaishnavs.

When we take initiation, Gurudev tells us that we must read what the ten offences are, remember them and try to give them up. The very first offence is sadhu-ninda, or Vaishnav-ninda. There are two aspects of it: dosh-aropa and dosh-kirtan. For example, if somebody may or may not have some fault, but if you attribute this fault to the person, this is dosh-aropa (attribution of faults). And if you go and tell others about the faults of that other person, that is called dosh-kirtan (broadcasting others' faults); this is an even bigger offence.

The previous acharyas analysed and explained how sadhu-ninda (criticising devotees) and para-charcha (gossiping about others) are committed and what offence it bears. I also notice it observing my own mind: when you see some shortcoming or fault in somebody, the thoughts about this fault will always keep coming to your mind after that. This is called dosh-aropa (attribution of faults). And if you go and tell others about it, that is called dosh-kirtan (broadcasting others' faults).

That is why we may chant the Holy Name so much, we may do so much service, we may think that we have done so many things, but in reality we may not have done anything. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says:

aparadha-sunya haye laha krsna-nama
achirat tumi pabe krsna-prema-dhana

"Chant the Holy Name of Krishna without offence and you will quickly get the treasure of divine love to Krishna."

We must chant the Holy Name without offences. We must always give up offences.

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Detach Yourself from Illusion
2) Tenacious Tenants
3) Nurture Natural Devotion
4) Eternal Loving Worship
5) Essential Admonition
6) Where Is Substance?
7) How to Capture the Lord
8) Pillars of Spiritual Life
9) Undiluted Spiritual Life
10) Power of Sambandha-Jnana