(7/15) Beyond Karma-Misra Bhakti

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kalarait (Kolkata), 4 December 2020, part 7
Translated from Bengali

I told you that there are different kinds of devotion. There is karma-misra bhakti, jnana-misra bhakti, jnana-sunya bhakti and jnana-sunya suddha-bhakti. What is karma-misra bhakti like?

People pray to the Lord for material happiness, and the Lord gives them much happiness. You can see many examples of this in Mahabharata and Bhagavatam; it would take a lot of time to go into detail now. People worship Krishna, but when they come to Him, they say, 'Please let my daughter get married into a good family', 'Please let my son find a good job', 'My other son is sick, please keep him healthy.' In some cases, the Lord grants their wishes, and sometimes, He says:

কৃষ্ণ কহে,—আমা ভজে, মাগে বিষয়-সুখ ।
অমৃত ছাড়ি’ বিষ মাগে,—এই বড় মূর্খ ॥
আমি-বিজ্ঞ, এই মূর্খে ‘বিষয়’ কেনে দিব ?
স্ব-চরণামৃত দিয়া ‘বিষয়’ ভুলাইব ॥

krsna kahe,—"ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha
amrta chhadi' visa mage,—ei bada murkha
ami—vijna, ei murkhe 'visaya' kene diba?
sva-charanamrta diya 'visaya' bhulaiba"

'Krishna says, "They worship Me desiring material happiness — leaving aside nectar, they ask for poison. They are big fools, but I am intelligent: Why will I give these fools material things? Instead, I will give them the nectar of My lotus feet and make them forget the material world."'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.38-39)

'I know better, I am not a fool. Why must I give him material things? Rather, I will give him My lotus feet and make him forget all about material world.' At the same time, in other cases, Krishna says:

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

'If devotees aspire for enjoyment or liberation, Krishna hides the knowledge about pure devotion from them and dismisses them, giving them enjoyment or liberation.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.18)

If you ask Krishna for enjoyment ('Give me money', 'Give me a house', 'Give me a car') or liberation instead of devotion, the Lord will give you everything, but He will not give you devotion – He says, 'I will hide it from you. You have wanted for your material happiness all your life, so I am giving you that. You can live now happily. Go.' What kind of happiness is it though? Those who want devotion feel it is nothing. Mahaprabhu also said, 'Who is the richest person? Those whose wealth is Krishna are the richest people. What is the saddest thing of all sad things? I see no other sadness except for separation from Krishna and His devotees.' If my mother or father dies, it is not a sad thing. The only pain is when a devotee leave this world. You must always remember these things.

[Starting the main part of the class, His Divine Grace recites Sri Guru-vandana.]

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.

Hari bol.

There is one small but beautiful book of Gurudev (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) printed in English. I have translated it into Bengali recently. It is called In Search of the Original Source. You can get this book and all the other books (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Chaitanya-bhagavata, Srimad Bhagavad-gita with our Param Guru Maharaj's commentary, Kirtan books and others), at the book table over there. The most important thing is that we must search for our own home. 'Search of the original source' means searching for the place where we all have come from.

You have all heard about Srimad Bhagavatam. I want to tell you about it today, please listen carefully. Keep your phones switched off. We have a little time now, and I want to say a few things. Do not listen to other things, try to listen carefully. Sukadev Goswami told Pariksit Maharaj, 'Maharaj, you are a good searcher. You are searching for the right thing.' After that, Sukadev Goswami told the entire Srimad Bhagavatam to Pariksit Maharaj.

Srimad Bhagavatam was not originally written by anybody. It is the gift from the Lord Himself. We know that Vyasadev wrote it, that Sukadev spoke it, but they only recited the verses. When Vyasadev wrote many great scriptures, he felt disturbed at heart. He kept thinking, 'I have given so many things, but I do not feel happy at heart. Even after writing Mahabharata and Bhagavad-gita, I do not feel happy.' He went to Badarikasram to see his guru, Narad Goswami. He told him, 'Gurudev, I feel disturbed.' Narad Goswami told him, 'How will you feel happy? You have made a hodgepodge!' Just as you are cooking here now, you cook rice, dal, subji, chutney and some sweet rice, but when you come to serve this prasad to others, if somebody mixes everything together and eats like that, you will feel upset, 'You did not even taste it – you have just mixed everything together!' So, Narad Goswami said, 'You are taking everything mixed up together! How can you feel happy with that?' You can see in Gita that there is karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, sankhya-yoga and after all that, there is bhakti-yoga. Is it not so? 'So, when you try to tell about bhakti-yoga, you come out with all other kinds of yogas, then how will you feel happy?' Finally, Narad Goswami told Vyasadev, 'Give such a scripture to this world where there would be only devotion to Lord Krishna.' Then, Narad Goswami pronounced four key verses from which the whole Srimad Bhagavatam sprang up from.

— : • : —

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Demolish Wall of Ego
2) Live in Hari-Katha
3) Do Not Waste Time
4) Waiting—Not Wanting
5) Focus on the Lord
6) Stepping over Liberation
7) Beyond Karma-Misra Bhakti
8) Evading Maya's World
9) Descend of Scriptures
10) Please Come Home!
11) Do Not Live Like Outside People
12) Fruits of faith
13) Pure Sankirtan in Pure Association
14) Covet All, Lose All
15) Kali-Yuga Brahmans