Humility—Not To Misconceptions

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, 13 December 2020, part 3

Question: You were talking about criticism and I am wondering what is the character of a Vaishnav like?

কনক-কামিনী প্রতিষ্ঠা-বাঘিনী
ছাড়িয়াছে যারে সেই ত বৈষ্ণব

kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini,
chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava

"Those who have given up money, women, and fame, are the true Vaishnavs."

(Vaishnav Ke? 11)

It means having no attachment. Param Gurudev always sang—

বিষয় ছাড়িয়া কবে শুদ্ধ হ'বে মন ।
কবে হাম হেরব শ্রীবৃন্দাবন ॥

visaya chhadiya kabe suddha habe mana,
kabe hama heraba sri-vrindavan

"When will my mind, leaving the material world, become clean? When will I see Sri Vrindavan?"

Materialists are very much attached to their family, but it is necessary to come out from these attachments—

আসক্তিরহিত সম্বন্ধসহিত ।
বিষয়সমূহ সকলি মাধব ॥

'asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'
visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

We are always attached to kanak (money, property, wealth), kamini (ladies), and pratistha (we always run behind name and fame). Somebody thinks, "Oh, they have not said 'jay' to me!", we get excited, "Oh, they have given me a garland!", "Oh, they must do arati for me." These are all wrong thoughts. Vaishnavs are always humble, they do not take worship from anybody. They always feel, "I do not want any puja, I do not want any glorification for myself. I am a servant of a servant of a servant." This is called humility. The higher one's quality is, the more and more and more humble and tolerant one is. Deep humility is a Vaishnav's main quality. You should understand Vaishnavs' qualities in this way.

Vaishnavs have so many qualities, and everybody's qualities are not the same, but through practising, if you follow the rules and regulations, everybody can become a greatest Vaishnav. Gurudev always gives a signal that some danger is coming, and you must follow it, it is necessary. We must be always alert and aware that any time a signal can come. I have just told you about criticisms and what the bad qualities are—you must always watch out for this.

This is how you can realise all these things.

Question: The expression we heard today about criticism was so nice, but at the same time also we see some acharyas criticise others' conceptions—for example, Sri Madhva Acharya wrote a book on Mayavad-sata-dusani (a hundred defects of mayavad) and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur wrote a book Prakrita-rasa-sata-dusani (a hundred defects of the sahajiya conception). If the preacher sometimes sees the fault and speak about it, how do we harmonise that?

At that time there were so many apa-sampradaya (aul, baul, kartabhaja, neda, darvesh, sani, sahajiya, sakhibekhi, smarta, jata gosai, ativadi, churadhari, gauranga-nagari). Apa—sampradaya means misconception movements. If Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur had not told about them, if Srila Madhva Acharya had not told about them, then everyone will think their conception is right. It is true, they speak about humility, tolerance and giving honour to others, but these sampradayas spread misconception. How can I not tell people not to take initiation from dishonest gurus and from some business-making gurus? I have to say this. If you can understand these things, you can harmonise it.

For example, I always mention Rama Krishna Mission—I do that because they always tell misconception and if I do not say that what they are saying is wrong, how will people understand that it is all misconception? Rama Krishna Mission urges to make hospitals, they say that it is better to play football instead of reading Bhagavad-gita, and everybody says their conception is right. They say, "As many faiths, so many paths", "Love God by loving others," they say that jiva souls are only men, and all others are not jiva souls. They say so many things and I am bound to say that this is all misconception. This is not criticising, and they are actually not Vaishnavs also.

When I told you not to criticise, I mean not to criticise Vaishnavs and not to gossip so much about others or discuss others—when we read or hear something, we do not discuss it so much, we read what we read, it is not necessary to discuss or gossip about it. We should not discuss others' faults or see others' faults. I have told you the example Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur set—when two brahmacharis fought, he would call them and order both of them to glorify each other for ten minutes.

So, it is necessary to harmonise and understand these things. If we do not expose other conceptions' faults, how will we prove the superiority of our consciousness, how will we present our proper conception to the public? You too attend some science conferences, and if scientists say wrong things, you must tell that what their science says is all false, there is no truth in it.

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