(3/5) Inside and Outside

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bhagavanpur, 8 December 2020, noon, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Who am I? You do not even realise your own identity.

জীবের 'স্বরূপ' হয়—কৃষ্ণের 'নিত্যদাস' ।
কৃষ্ণের 'তটস্থা-শক্তি', 'ভেদাভেদ-প্রকাশ' ॥

jivera 'svarupa' haya—krsnera 'nitya-dasa'
krsnera 'tatastha-sakti' 'bhedabheda-prakasa'

'By its intrinsic nature, the soul is an eternal servant of Krishna; souls come from the marginal energy of Krishna and are simultaneously one with and different from the Lord.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.108)

I am sitting here, speaking all this time, moving my hands and legs – how does it all happen? It is all possible only because there is a soul within this body. There is a soul even in a tree, in a plant, in a fish and an insect. There is a soul in every single living entity. Some soul is in the body of a bug, a mosquito or a dog, so we call it 'a bug', 'a mosquito' or 'a dog'. Just as our bodies are covered by clothes, our souls are also covered by different bodies. For example, trees do not wear clothes because their consciousness is more dormant. It is necessary to awaken your consciousness. Who am I? Why am I suffering? I am a servant of a servant of a servant's servant.

'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

'The jiva soul forgot that it is an eternal servant of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around the soul's neck.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

We have forgotten that our souls are eternal servants of Krishna; as the result, Maya has thrown her ropes around our necks.

So, whatever we are doing, wherever we may be, we must give honour to everybody. The other day, we had a programme where other sannyasis came. I told devotees to give them a nice chair and a place to sit, and I also asked those sannyasis to speak some Hari-katha. They came as guests, so I cannot ignore them – I asked them to speak. What is the problem? Everybody will listen, and I will also listen to what they say.

সকলে সম্মান করিতে শকতি
দেহ' নাথ ! যথাযথ ।
তবে ত' গাইব হরিনাম সুখে
অপরাধ হবে হত ॥

sakale sammana karite sakati,
deha natha! yatha yatha
tabe ta' gaiba hari-nama sukhe,
aparadha habe hata

'O Master! Please give me strength to give proper honour to everyone, then I will happily chant the Holy Name and all my offences will be destroyed.'

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

If I can give honour to everyone, then I will be able to chant Krishna-kirtan.

Who has the right to chant Krishna-kirtan (to chant the Holy Names and glories of the Lord)?

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি অহঙ্কার ॥

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi ahankara

'Give up ego and consider yourself lower than a blade of grass, poor, destitute and vile.'

বৃক্ষসম ক্ষমাগুণ করবি সাধন ।
প্রতিহিংসা ত্যজি অন্যে করবি পালন ॥

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana
pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana

'Practise tolerance like that of a tree, stop ill-treating others and nurture everyone.'

জীবন-নির্ব্বাহে আনে উদ্বেগ না দিবে ।
পর-উপকারে নিজ-সুখ পাসরিবে ॥

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe
para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

'Live without causing anxiety to others; do good unto others forsaking your own happiness.'

(Gitavali, Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

If somebody does something wrong, we must forgive them. What is the problem? We must not despise or envy anybody. 'They can do whatever they want, they will get the result and then will understand it. It is not my business.' At the same time, you are our temple's disciples – if you do something wrong and I do not scold you, how will you learn then? If you were from another place or from outside, I would not have said or done anything – I would put myself down and go away quietly. But you are our Math's disciples. You must realise, 'I have taken initiation from Guru Maharaj, and I must imbibe his qualities.'

One time, Srila Sridhar Maharaj was making a fence at the temple. In those days, there was no boundary wall, and the fence was made from some branches. Suddenly, a great scholar came from very far to meet with Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Coming to the temple, he asked Srila Sridhar Maharaj (he did not recognise him because he was doing some works wearing a gumcha like a menial worker), 'Where does Sridhar Maharaj stay? I have come to take his darshan.' 'Oh, you are looking for Sridhar Maharaj? Wait please, I will inform him.' Sridhar Maharaj went upstairs, took off his gumcha, put on his sannyasi clothes and sat in his chair. Then, he sent somebody downstairs, 'There is a man who has come to have the darshan of Sridhar Maharaj. Bring him here.' When the man came upstairs and realised that he had spoken to Sridhar Maharaj, he was astonished, 'He is such a great maharaj, but he was working with a crowbar in a gumcha!'

Param Guru Maharaj did not mind it. 'This is the Lord's family, the Lord's house, so I can wear a gumcha.' Some foreigners criticised me also, 'Oh, Maharaj is always wearing a gumcha!' Why did I wear it? Because I was doing construction, walking in heaps of sand, etc. And when Gurudev called me, I did not show off – I just came to him as I was. What is the problem? We do not worship Gora to impress others. That is why it is said:

মাতল হরিজন কীর্ত্তন-রঙ্গে ।
পূজল রাগপথ গৌরব-ভঙ্গে ॥

matala hari-jana kirtana-range
pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange

'From afar we shall worship the raga-patha, the path of spontaneous affectionate service, while we ourselves shall live within the Vedic guideline.'

(Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad)

In Kali-yuga, we must keep Radha-Krishna's divine lotus feet in our hearts; we must not show anything externally. You may have noticed that we do not have separate Radha-Krishna's Deities in our temples. But I have seen some temples where people worship Radha and Krishna as a Divine Couple and they do not even dress the Deities...

I see that you have Tulasi trees here and you do Tulasi parikrama, it is very good. But I have also seen in Mednipore that they make separate houses for Tulasi, and when one Tulasi dies, they just plant another one there. This is a big offence. When we go to Mayapur or other places, do you see any temples do that? All temples have Tulasi growing outside, not inside a room. People must understand that if you keep Tulasi inside a room, it will not survive. But they keep one Tulasi, it dies, they plant another one, and so on. It is an offence. It is necessary to understand these things.

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Size: 11 Mb
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