Disciples' Plight

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 12 July 2020, part 2

You must sacrifice your life. If you can save anybody with your life, that is good—but remember that you must give your blood for preaching. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "We have not come to this world to become carpenters." We are not building makers, we are not construction makers, we are not masons, we are not carpenters—we have come to this world only as postmen. Just as postmen distribute letters to every houses, we too must distribute Mahaprabhu's message, Guru Maharaj's message, Gurudev's message door to door. This is the main thing for our life.

Sometimes, we practise, we follow everything but we do not have particular enthusiasm for preaching. Preaching is the main thing. You cannot be eating alone—you must share with others also. If you eat alone, it is not good. You must distribute food to others—what kind of food is it? It is Mahaprabhu's message, Guru Maharaj's message, the message of Krishna consciousness. You must distribute all this to others. If you want to be a big scholar, if you want to be a big pandit, to be very wise, etc., that is another line—if you do not distribute what you have to others, what result will you get? You may be a big pandit, you may be great, but it is necessary to distribute what you have to others. This is what Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told everyone. "You must all together preach Mahaprabhu's message to everyone." This is our duty.

There are so many devotees all over the world—if each of us makes five new devotees a year (converts five new people to Krishna consciousness), then you can count how many more devotees there will be every year. We should promise that from today within one year we will preach to five people—we will change their minds and bring them to Krishna consciousness.

We have all forgotten,

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

"When the jiva soul makes the mistake of forgetting that it is an eternal servant of Krishna, Maya captures the soul by its neck."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.24)

We are eternal servants, but we have forgotten it. We must remind everyone only about that. We will tell others, "You are forgetting your position—your position is not that you are a human body, a dog's body, a cat's body or a buffalo's body. Your position is not that. Your position is that of an eternal servant of the Lord. You are a jiva soul!" This is what you must tell everybody. "You are not a man, not a woman, not a husband, not a wife, not a king, not a queen—your only position is that you are an eternal servant of the Lord." Tell this to others. Your first presentation will be like that. Then, tell them, "You are an eternal servant of the Lord, that is your position, but you have forgotten it because of Maya (illusory environment)..."

Krishna has given a job to Maya Devi, and Maya Devi does her job—she always removes us, takes us away from the service of the Lord. Maya always does her job, but we must do ours—we must fight against Maya. Fighting against Maya means you must fight against yourself—not against others. You have so many enemies inside you—kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (visual, gustatory, olfactory, auditory, tactile enjoyment), and kanak, kamini, pratistha (money, companions, position). You must fight against all these enemies, then only can you go to fight against others (to try to remove Maya from others). Fight against each and every bad element within you, one by one, and when you defeat them, when you conquer them, then you will become a proper disciple, a proper practitioner. This is very important for our spiritual life.

The problem is that we still have no proper attachment to service. We have taken initiation from Gurudev, but we do not know what the relation between a Guru and a disciple should be like. This guru-disciple relation is always very tight, very intimate, this is not a loose connection. You must understand this relationship between a guru and a disciple. You think you have taken initiation, you will practise something, you will give some pranami (donation), and everything is accomplished, it is sufficient. You will get many gurus like this in this world—you can go and see that many open their society, school, university, college, their mission, and when you go there, they will not let you go back, they will accept you. However, this Gaudiya Mission, Gaudiya Math, Chaitanya Saraswat Math are not like that. You have come here, but you must become a proper disciple. What is a disciple's duty? You think, "Oh, I met Gurudev, he talks very nice, I will take initiation!"—this is all emotion. You must think deeply and realise what kind of relation must come between a guru and a disciple. This is the main thing that we must understand. We know our father, mother, we know our sister, brother, we know our husband, wife, and we have a very vivid relationship with them, but our relation with our guru is much more important, much tighter than that. Disciples must have a proper relation with their guru.

I have told you just now—you must sacrifice your life for your Guru, for devotees, and for the Lord. You must give your life for your Gurudev, for your Gurudev's mission, and your Gurudev's devotees. This is the most crucial point in every disciple's life. If you can give your life for all this, then you can be considered a proper disciple of your Gurudev. We can make thousands of disciples, but how many of them are actual disciples? Gurudev also said during his last days—he asked me, "I have initiated so many people, but can you count who of them have actually become a proper disciple?" Gurudev says that there are very few proper disciples.

Four types of people come to the Mission or to the guru: arta (আর্ত, the distressed), artharthi (অর্থার্থী, the poor), jijnasu (জিজ্ঞাসু, the curious), jnani (জ্ঞানী, the knowledge-seekers). Somebody is poor, and they come to profit, somebody wants to be wise and comes to learn something, etc. When such people come, they do not come as devotees, but if they practise properly, then they can gradually become devotees. Not everybody comes to the Mission as a devotee, many come asking for other things, many come with their anyabhilasa (other desires). Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu said,

অন্যাভিলাষিতা-শূন্যং জ্ঞান-কর্ম্মাদ্যনাবৃতম্ ।
আনুকূল্যেন কৃষ্ণানুশীলনং ভক্তিরুত্তমা ॥

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which satisfies Lord Krsna, free from the coverings of any pursuits such as action, knowledge."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.1.11)

Proper devotees have no other thoughts—they do not think about anything, they only always think about service, they think the whole day and night how to please their Guru. "How to make Gurudev happy? I will chant, I will do service, and perhaps there are more ways? Which way? What more can I do to make him happy?" We must always think about this. Always think how you will make our Gurudev happy.

I was telling in Bengali yesterday in Takareshwar that sometimes people suffer so much in their family life—at that time they come to Gurudev and say, "Pleae give me some mercy," "Please, give your blessing." People say this all the time, but what do they ask these things for? Why do they pray to Gurudev? To reduce their austerity in the family life. They do not ask this for their own benefit. What is our benefit? Our benefit is the spiritual benefit. It is very rare to find a disciple who would ask Gurudev, "How can I improve my practising life? How can I improve my Krishna consciousness life? How can I improve my spiritual life? How can I pracise?" People do not say such things.

'সাধ্য' 'সাধন' তত্ত্ব পুছিতে না জানি ।
কৃপা করি’ সব তত্ত্ব কহ ত’ আপনি ॥

'sadhya'-'sadhana'-tattva puchhite na jani
krpa kari' saba tattva kaha ta' apani

"I do not know how to inquire about the goal of life and the process for obtaining it. Being merciful upon me, please explain all these truths."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.103)

"What is our main goal? How to practise?" Very few devotees ask such things. Most people come to Gurudev and ask something when their family condition is not good, or when they suffer much austerity, and they want to reduce their austerity. People pray to Gurudev for their own (material, selfish) benefit...

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