Exclusive Devotional Vision

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 19 July 2020, part 6

Question: We chant the Holy Name every day, we chant about Gurudev—how can we understand if Gurudev receives it or not?

How can you understand it? You can understand it when you are able to 'enjoy' with the Holy Name because Krishna's Name, beauty, pastimes are non-different from Krishna.

The main thing is that you must chant the Holy Name of Krishna; you chant, you do some service, you offer bhog and take prasadam—practise in this way. Do service, and whether Krishna will accept it or will not accept it, that is His matter. You must serve Gurudev, and whether he will accept it or not accept, this is his matter—it is not necessary for you to understand whether he receives it or not. Do your service, that is the main thing.

Question: In Guidance 2, you say that devotees should have short hair, but we can see some pictures of Sri Advaita Prabhu wearing long hair...

Ladies can have long hair, it is not a problem. As for Advaita Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu is Advaita Prabhu—he is Maha-Vishnu's avatar, an incarnation of Maha-Vishnu—so he can do whatever he likes. In our own devotional life, we must follow our guru-varga—we must follow the instruction of Srila Prabhupad, Srila Gurudev, Srila Guru Maharaj. You cannot compare ordinary devotees with Advaita Prabhu, it is not good. Advaita Prabhu is Maha-Vishnu's avatar. I have told recently also that there are many thousands of Siva-bhaktas in India, and they want to be Lord Siva (they try to imitate him)—Lord Siva can take poison, but if a Siva-bhakta tries to take poison, what will be their position? They will die. So, we cannot imitate—we must follow our guru-varga. Lady devotees can have long hair, it is not a problem, but gents (whether it is a householder, a brahmachari, or a sannyasi) must follow rules and regulations—they must shave their head every purnima (full moon). That is good for us. Sri Advaita Prabhu is an incarnation of Maha-Vishnu, so he can do whatever he likes—yes, he can have a beard, long hair, etc. he can do everything, but our householder devotees (gents) will shave their heads. Gurudev and Guru Maharaj told that we must shave our head every purnima, and we follow their instruction. Sometimes, Gurudev gives some leeway if you work in an office, if there is some problem if you shave your head, etc. Gurudev relaxes the rule in such cases, but those who live in the temple should follow everything. Our householder devotees also follow it—they shave their heads, they apply tilaks, they recite gayatri with tilaks on, etc. This is a part of our practising life. You should understand it. It is not necessary to keep attachment with your hair and looks—"do not wear fancy clothes, do not eat fancy food."

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 Krishna, and in your mind serve Radha-Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237)

Mahaprabhu gives this advice to us, and we should follow His advice.

Nityananda Prabhu can do whatever He likes, Advaita Prabhu can do whatever he likes, but we must follow the instruction and ideal that our Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Srila Gurudev have given us. We must follow their instruction. The main thing for us is that we must make our Gurudev happy, so we will not come to pass judgement about what Gurudev has told, we must follow whatever Gurudev says. We will not try to clarify and judge it. This is our line.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (1.8 Mb, 5 min)