Parikrama: More Than Pilgrimage (5)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening class, Sri Nrisingha Palli
3 March 2020, part 6, translated from Bengali

You are going to do this Nabadwip Dham parikrama, and you should come with us wherever we go. Sometimes it may be difficult, but try to manage little by little. You know that we always go to different places during the parikrama, and soon the book 'Sri Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya Mukta Mala' (Bengali) is going to come out. You will get it tomorrow—it is already in Kolkata, and it will come here tomorrow in the evening. Take it with you home.

Our parikrama has never gone to Sridhar-angan, but this year we will go there. I have told Tyagi Maharaj to take a car and go there tomorrow to find the place. We will go there this year. Mahaprabhu went there—He would always take bananas from Sridhar Prabhu's house. Sridhar Prabhu would tell Mahaprabhu, "Are there no other shops here? Why do You always come here and take things from Me forcefully? What is this?"

ভক্তের জিনিষ প্রভু লুটিপুটি খায়
অভক্তের জিনিষ প্রভু উলটি নাহি খায়

bhakter jinish prabhu lutiputi khay
abhakter jinish prabhu ulti nahi khay

"The Lord eats anything and everything when a devotee offers it, but He does not take anything from a non-devotee."

The Lord takes things from His devotees. Always remember this.

You have also heard about aparadh-bhanjan-pat, Devananda Pandit's place where Mahaprabhu forgave his offence. There is also Jagai Madhai ghat, we went there last year, and we will try to go there this year also. In this way, we will try to do this Nabadwip Dham parikrama. We will try to go to every place. You will not have to walk much as we will go some of the way by bus, I have made the arrangement for you all, so you will not have to struggle much. You must try to listen to what maharajs say attentively—listen and keep what they say in your heart. Always hearing gramya-katha, speaking gramya-varta, gossiping and nonsense talking never bring devotion, they destroy it. It is necessary to reject what is unfavourable to devotion. Always throw away bad thoughts, all the nonsense talks, all the village talks, etc.

When you go to some place, you must think, "Why are we going there?" You must always realise why you visit a particular place. You could go and do a parikrama of Kolkata also, but what did you come to Nabadwip? Why do you do a parikrama of Puri or Vrindavan? There are so many places where you could go, there is no lack of places in this world for sightseeing. The difference is that we come to the places where devotees are,

গৌর আমার যে সব স্থানে
করল ভ্রমণ রঙ্গে ।
সে সব স্থান হেরিব আমি
প্রণয়ি-ভকত-সঙ্গে ॥

gaura amara ye saba sthane
karala bhramana range
se saba sthana heribo ami
pranayi-bhakata-sange

"In the company of loving devotees, I will behold all the places my Gaurasundar roamed during His ecstatic Pastimes."

('Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We will go to the places where Gauranga Mahaprabhu, where Nityananda Prabhu went; wherever there is Their feet dust, we will go there to take it on our heads. We want to do this Nabadwip Dham parikrama in a pure way. This is the place where Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj, Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur resided and served. They discovered so many places of Mahaprabhu, and we come to pay our obeisance at all those places.

You have all read Srimad Bhagavatam, you know or heard about Dhruva Maharaj (there was some karma-misra bhakti at first), about Chitraketu's story (who had some material desires), you can read how they got devotion; you can also read about Ambharish Maharaj, Prahlad Maharaj, and then about Uddhav Maharaj. Krishna told Uddhav Maharaj, "Uddhav, you are more dear to Me than even I Myself." That Uddhav Maharaj said, "I have no capacity to touch the feet dust of the gopis, but if I can be born as some blade of grass ('trnad api sunichena'...) in Vrindavan, where those gopis performed their pastimes, where those gopis walk (Vraja Mandal parikrama), then their feet dust will fall on my head." Uddhav Maharaj aspired for the feet dust of the Vraja gopis, he prayed to take it on his head.

I also pray to you all—I pray that your feet dust will always remain on my head. You must not come to grasp my feet; rather, I wish to do this Dham parikrama taking your feet dust on my head. Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

If I can take the feet dust of all those who come to do this parikrama, then I will consider myself fortunate. I always tell you that I did not come to this world to become an acharya—I always want to be a disciple. If I can become a real disciple of Gurudev, then I will consider myself fortunate. This is the greatest attainment for me.

We must always remember these things. We must always think how we can serve our Guru and Vaishnavs. You must always think, "How can I make sadhus, guru, Vaishnavs, and the Lord happy?" You always think, "I want this, I want this, this, this"—your mind always judges only the external world, but your atma knows what Paramatma wants. Your soul (atma) has a relation with the Supersoul (Paramatma), your body has no relation with the Supersoul or the Lord. Only your souls has a relation with the Lord. Always remember this. You must know who you are, what your position is. If you know it, then you will always be in the right place.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay. Jay Srila Gurudev. Hari bol. Nitai Gaura Haribol.

[His Divine Grace then concludes the class with 'Hari Haraye Nama Krsna' kirtan, and the Jaya Dhvani.]

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