(2/5) Devotional Clothes or Devotional Heart?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhagavanpur, 8 December 2020, noon, part 2
Translated from Bengali

[A devotee starts chanting arati loudly at the Deities' room. His Divine Grace stops the class and stays quiet.]

'Sakale samman karite sakati deha natha yatha-yatha (সকলে সম্মান করিতে শকতি দেহ' নাথ ! যথাযথ). O Master! Please give me the strength to give proper honour to everybody' (Saranagati). We pray to be able to give honour to everybody. This is what Mahaprabhu taught also. You think that you put tilaks and wear neckbeads, and you have become a sadhu.

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।

গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

"gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

'Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" will not do. Only when you follow Gora's practice and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.'

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।

গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

'You put on tilaks and show the whole world that you serve Gora, but secretly you do outrageous things. Gora will catch you, thief (hypocrite)!'

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6–7)

Srila Prabhupad said, 'One does not become a disciple just by taking the mantra.' Do you think that you have taken the mantra from a guru, so you have become a disciple? No. It does not work like this. A disciple is one who can digest disciplining, who can live following their guru's instruction. You think I have become angry and feel bad about it, but I need to show anger to teach you. It is not like I will get angry and leave. No. I have come here, so I will take the darshan of the Deities, and if necessary, I will do the arati again and offer bhog again. I do not mind it. Do you think I will leave out of anger? No, I can never do that, and I have never done this. You see, the problem is that we do not understand Mahaprabhu's teachings.

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

'One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

We must be humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree. When you fall on the ground offering a sastanga-dandavat, you do it to impress others, but do you know the meaning of a sastanga-dandavat? 'Gurudev, I have given up these hands and legs. I am your sacrificial goat, so you can cut my head or tail, do as you please.' This is the meaning of a sastanga-dandavat; a sastanga-dandavat means surrender. There are six limbs of surrender:

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥
ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভব—বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥
ষড়ঙ্গ শরণাগতি হইবে যাঁহার ।
তাঁহার প্রার্থনা শুনে শ্রীনন্দকুমার ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara
sad-anga saranagati ha-ibe yanhara
tanhara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara

'(1) Humility, (2) self-submission, (3) accepting the Lord as your maintainer, (4) keeping faith that "Krishna will certainly protect me", (5) engaging only in what is favourable to devotion, (6) rejecting what is unfavourable to devotion. Lord Krishna hears the prayers of those who surrender in these six ways.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Do you think that you only offer a full obeisance and this is it? It is not like that. You offer an obeisance, and Gurudev tells you, 'Go this way', but you go in the opposite direction. Gurudev tells you, 'Give me some fried karela', but you say, 'No, how can you come to my house and eat bitter things? Have some sweets!' Gurudev asks you for karela (butter gourd), but you give him what you want. Satisfying the whims of your mind is a show of service, it is not service (nijera manera kheyala khusi-mato bhajana abhinaya, bhajana bale na; নিজের মনের খেয়াল খুশিমতো ভজন অভিনয়, ভজন বলে না). These are Prabhupad's words. If you follow the whims of your mind, this is pretence, just like drama actors pretend and play in front of others. Service means serving your guru and Vaishnavs in strict adherence to your guru and Vaishnavs and pleasing their minds (guru-vaisnava anugatye guru-vaisnava seva kare tandera mana santusti kara nama-i hala bhajan; গুরু-বৈষ্ণব আনুগত্যে গুরু-বৈষ্ণব সেবা করে তাঁদের মন সন্তুষ্টি বিধান করা নামই হল ভজন).

It does not matter that your house is made of clay and mud, that the road is bad and unpaved. Sadhus and Vaishnavs have come to your house from the temple. You call me from morning until night inviting me to come. So, I have come. But when somebody comes, you must treat them with respect, you must show them affection. But you do not have this at your home. You must understand what you need to arrange. You must learn these things. Imagine that you come to a house where you have never been to.

You know, when Raghunath Das Goswami went to Puri Dham from Kolkata to meet with Mahaprabhu, he walked for twelve days and took rice only three times – sometimes he also stayed in some cowshed at night and took some milk.

When sadhus come, you must at least give them a glass of water. Think about it yourself. I explained it to Mednipore people also. They actually queued(!) to wash my feet to show their 'devotion to Maharaj'. I asked them, 'Can I have a glass of water? I have had a long journey, and I am very thirsty.' Half an hour passed, and no water came. But they come and stand in a queue to wash my feet. This is fake devotion (chhala-bhakti). This is not pure devotion (suddha-bhakti). Gurudev comes to your house and asks you for a glass of water, but you are busy washing his feet. It is necessary to learn these things. When you come to a house you have never been to, the people there will give you a glass of water. Even if you have nothing at home, at least you can give a glass of water to your guest. You must understand and learn these things. When people come, you must take care of them, you must ask, 'Have you taken prasad?' When devotees came to Mahaprabhu, He would always ask, 'Have you taken prasad? Have you got a place to stay?'

I have come here today because I know the devotees at this house have been coming to our temple, but they have not been able to come this year because of the lockdown. Gurudev's festival is coming soon, so I have come to invite them and speak some Hari-katha to devotees. Also, a few people want to take initiation at the Mednipore temple (nearby), so I will go there tomorrow.

Mahaprabhu's teachings is to be humble and tolerant. I sat in front of the microphone silently for a long time. I moved the microphone aside and sat quietly, tolerating. I listened to what they were singing. When they started singing things that are off, then I sent a devotee to stop them. I thought, 'I am nobody, so they will not listen to me.' Anyway, this is not the point. The point is that you must learn how you must behave when sadhus, gurus and Vaishnavs come to you all the way from Nabadwip. You must think how you will make an effort to serve them, how you will give prasad to them, how you will arrange everything for them. You must have a strong desire, eagerness to serve. You can give only rice and spinach, but you must give it with love. It is not necessary to make paneer rasa and big rasagullas – you can give the simplest things, rice and spinach, but give it with love. When Krishna went to Vidura's house, his wife was so overwhelmed that she did not realise that she was giving Krishna banana skin instead of bananas. Krishna thought, 'She is giving it to Me with love, so I will take it.' Krishna ate banana skin! You must understand it.

If you do not give me a glass of water or do not do something for me, I am not upset about it. If you take initiation from me, you are my child, so if you do not give me a glass of water, it is fine, but I will scold you later, 'You are foolish, you do not know anything.' But here, the devotees are senior people – they are people of the previous age, they must understand these things. 'Tridandi-pad-gan (sannyasis) have come to my house. They should be in charge today. I do not need to show them what I do or do not do.' You must let it go. When sannyasis come to your house, you must let them be in charge. If it is arati time, you must leave it to the sannyasi, 'Prabhu, you please do it.' When somebody new comes and wants to play the drum during the kirtan, do I tell them that they cannot play it? I do not, I never say this. If you can play the drum, it is good. Even if you make a mistake, what of that? When you make mistakes, you learn and improve. We have much to learn, too.

'Ahankare matta haiya, Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kari mani (অহঙ্কারে মত্ত হৈঞা নিতাই-পদ পাসরিয়া অসত্যেরে সত্য করি' মানি): becoming mad with pride, I forgot Nitai's feet and accept untruth as truth!' (Srila Narottam Das Thakur). We practise Krishna consciousness for a long time, but we cannot learn anything. We think that we are Vaishnavs. '"Ami ta vaisnava" e buddhi haile amani na ha'ba ami ('আমি ত বৈষ্ণব' এ বুদ্ধি হইলে অমানী না হ'ব আমি)'. If I think, 'I have become a Vaishnav,' then I will never become humble (I will never stop expecting honour from others).

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Length: 27 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Refine Your Destination
2) Devotional Clothes or Devotional Heart?
3) Inside and Outside
4) Beauty of Kirtan
5) Search for Your Original Home