(5/5) Faith Is Not Idleness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Midnapore, 8 December 2020, evening, part 5
Translated from Bengali

Search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful, and you will get everything: the transcendental world will manifest itself to you, and you can get one of the five kinds of relationship with the Lord. You will not find such relationships in any other religion (not in Christianity, Buddhism, etc.). These five kinds of relationship are santa-, dasya-, sakhya-, vatsalya- and madhura-rasa (neutrality, servitude, friendship, parenthood and consorthood). You will not find all of these devotional mellows (rasa) even in Lord Ramachandra's pastimes. Is there consorthood in Rama-lila? There is not. Rama sent Sita Devi to live in the forest. There is also hardly any parenthood: because his father Dasarath promised Kaikeyi to fulfil her wish, he sent his son Ramachandra to live in exile in the forest. Lord Rama is a very righteous man, so he followed all rules and regulations very strictly, but in Sri Krishna's pastimes, rules and regulations have no weight. When Lord Rama's subjects and ministers said that Sita Devi was unchaste because she had been kidnapped by Ravana, so she had to be tested by fire. Lord Rama did that. Even after Sita Devi passed the test of fire, they were still not satisfied, so they told Rama to send her to the forest, to the ashram of Valmiki. But what do we find in Krishna's pastimes?

Many people wonder what is the proof that Mahaprabhu or Lord Krishna are the Supreme Personalities of Godhead. When Sri Krishna was born, He appeared fully clad, with neckbeads, tilaks, a brahman thread and so on. Are your children born like that? But Krishna did. He appeared like that from His mother's womb in Mathura, assuming the form of Lord Narayan and holding a conch, a disk, a club and a lotus flower in His four hands. After that, He assumed His human, two-armed form. Dasarath sent his son to live in the forest, but here, in Krishna-lila, Vasudev took his son Krishna and carried Him away despite a very heavy storm. When Vasudev was crossing the Yamuna, Anantadev sheltered him, spreading his hoods like an umbrella over Vasudev and baby Krishna. Such is the glory of Krishna's pastimes. Krishna also played with Vraja-vadhus, the newly married girls (gopis) of Vraja...

That is why it is said that our only misfortune is that we do not have faith in the Lord. We cannot have faith in the Lord...

Krishna said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (2.14),

মাত্রাস্পর্শাস্তু কৌন্তেয় শীতোষ্ণসুখদুঃখদাঃ ।
আগমাপায়িনোঽনিত্যাস্তাংস্তিতিক্ষস্ব ভারত ॥১৪॥

matra-sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino 'nityas tams titiksasva bharata

'O son of Kunti, the engagement of the senses with their objects produces the sensations of cold, heat, pleasure and pain. But these effects are temporary—they come and go. Therefore, O Bharata, you must endure them.'

'You have happiness, sadness, disease, and beauty. You have everything, but it is not eternal; only for the time being it will be with you. The sun is rising and then setting. Night is coming and then passing. Again the sun is rising. This is the nature of the material world... What does Lord Jesus want for us? He wants us to submit to our Lord. That is his only expectation of us. "You are all the sons of God; give your obeisance, give your faith, give your love, give everything to Him." He has shown us how to deal with each other. It is very near to Vaishnavism. Christianity is very near to what we are practising.

'I read Solomon's Songs, and I was surprised by what I found there. I read the Bible also, but Solomon's Songs are very attractive. They attracted me because in our Vaishnava religion there are five kinds of relationship with the Lord and a similar idea is presented in Solomon's Songs. This is not expressed so much in the Bible, but Srimad Bhagavatam, the other Puranas, the Vedanta, the Upanisads— all the Vedic scriptures—declare that the Lord has a sach-chid-ananda vigraha.

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

'Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes.'

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

'Many religions have manifested in this material world, but having seen our position, having seen how much we can conceive and how much we can digest, the religious teachers have preached accordingly. From five thousand years ago the research scholars told us that the Lord has form; He has a sach-chid-ananda vigraha. He is the creator of all creation. He has a brain. He has a face. He has everything. His form is like our human form, but it is not human. He is Krishna, He is always attracting our mind. We can join His eternal Pastimes. We can have a relationship with Krishna as our friend rather than as our God. There are five kinds of relationships we can have with the Lord: santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhura. We can play with the Lord through our love. If my Lord will play football with me, what sweet feelings will come to me? Such sweet feelings will come.'

You must think about that abode. Even Mahaprabhu also taught us:

চেতোদর্পণ-মার্জ্জনং ভব-মহাদাবাগ্নি-নির্ব্বাপণং
শ্রেয়ঃকৈরব-চন্দ্রিকা-বিতরণং বিদ্যাবধূ-জীবনম্ ।
আনন্দাম্বুধি-বর্দ্ধনং প্রতিপদং পূর্ণামৃতাস্বাদনং
সর্ব্বাত্ম-স্নপনং পরং বিজয়তে শ্রীকৃষ্ণসঙ্কীর্ত্তনম্ ॥

cheto-darpana-marjanam bhava-mahadavagni-nirvapanam
sreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam

'Sri Krishna-sankirtan cleanses the mirror of consciousness, extinguishes the raging forest fire of material existence, shines moonlight on the evening lotus of good fortune, is the life of the divine knowledge – the life of souls enlightened with paramour love for the Lord, expands the ocean of ecstasy, is the taste of full nectar at every moment, and soothes the entire self. May Sri Krishna-sankirtan be supremely victorious!'

It is necessary to have humility, tolerance and give honour to others. It is necessary to treat others with respect and love others...

This is what my Guru Maharaj has given me. If you know the address of the Lord, you will always search, 'Where must I go to come to the Lord?' We must always think about this.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.
Harinam sankirtan ki jay.

When is the programme tomorrow?

Devotee: People will come in the evening.

What for?

Devotee: To take initiation...

And how many people will come to take prasad at noon?

Devotee: Many...

But you have no groceries! Go to the market! Do you think the Lord will send it to you? You told me one or two hundred people will come, and when I checked the kitchen, I saw that there was nothing there.

Devotee: Well, actually the Lord brings everything...

Yes, this is so. The Lord arranges everything. Mahaprabhu told Srivas Pandit, 'Srivas! From tomorrow, you are not to go begging again!'

'Prabhu, when devotees come to my house for the class and kirtan, how will I give them prasad?' Srivas Pandit replied.

'I do not know all these things. I do not care what you will do, but you are not to go begging again.'

Why? Because when Srivas Pandit went begging, people criticised him, 'He is a householder, and he goes begging to support his family.' People made offences to a devotee of the Lord. That is why Mahaprabhu prohibited him to go begging.

'All right,' Srivas Pandit said finally. 'One – clap, two – clap, three – clap!'

'What does that mean?' Mahaprabhu asked.

'I will see one day, two days, and on the third day I will jump into the Ganges – I will fast as long as I can, and when I cannot starve any longer, I will commit suicide.'

'Srivas, I see that you have so much faith...' Mahaprabhu replied.

After that, many devotees started bringing so many things that Srivas Pandit never had to beg again.

Devotee: See? The Lord will arrange everything, I do not know anything.

It is necessary to serve the Lord, the guru and Vaishnavs...

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Road to Home Is Paved with Hari-Kirtan
2) 'Wake Up!'
3) Appeal of Spiritual World
4) Search for Reality the Beautiful
5) Faith Is Not Idleness