(1/8) Spiritual Sincerity and Chastity

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Preaching in Basirhat, noon programme,
13 December 2020, part 1

What is the use living for one hundred years? We think that if we get only ten years, that is sufficient. If you live for seventy or a hundred years, but you have not been chanting the Lord's Name, have not being chanting the Holy Name – you just live and die – then what is the point? If you live only for ten years, but you chant the Holy Name, you serve the Lord (if you speak about the Lord, make garlands for the Lord, take the Lord's prasad, and so on), then even if you live for ten years, it is enough to come back to the Lord. And if you live for a hundred, for seventy, for a hundred and twenty years, what is the use? If you survive some problem and get one more year of life, what is the use? You will only sin for one more year. The longer one lives, the more they sin, the more wrong things they do. So, it is pointless to live a long life. Even if you get a short lifetime, it is what it is.

Another thing that Gurudev often spoke about is chastity and sincerity. Sincerity means, 'I am doing this service, so I will do it every day.' 'Today I do it, tomorrow I will not do it.' You cannot be like that. You must do your service with sincerity (nistha: steadfast determination). It is necessary to have this quality. The other important quality is chastity. You must always remember about these two qualities. Girls understand very well what chastity is. You know what it means in its material sense, in relation to the material world. But in the spiritual sense, it means being chaste to your gurudev, 'I know only my gurudev: whatever my gurudev says, this is what I will listen to. I will not go anywhere else. I do not need a certificate from anybody else: my gurudev has given me a certificate, and this is all I want.' Suppose a girl studies at Kolkata University and get a graduation certificate there. Does she need to go to Kalyani University or any other university after that (to get another certificate)? So, when I have got a certificate from gurudev, why will I go to any other place? What will I do at another place? What for do I need to wander anywhere else? My gurudev has arranged everything, has taken care of everything, there is no problem, then why must I go to all kinds of other places? In Mahaprabhu's time, there was a devotee called Mukunda who went to all places, so Mahaprabhu called him 'khar-jhathiya'. [খড়জাঠিয়া, lit. 'straw and an iron cudgel (ancient weapon mentioned in Puranas)'. His Divine Grace explained previously: sometimes you are humble – you put a blade of grass in your mouth and say, 'I am a cow', and sometimes you come to hit one with a club. In other words, you come to one place where somebody says, 'This conception is good', and you agree, 'Yes, yes'; then you come to another place where somebody says other things, and you again agree, 'Yes, that is also good!' It means you have no conception, you mix with everybody. Such mentality is not devotion.] We must make a promise, 'I will not go anywhere. I will not go to other places.'

Somebody comes to people's houses to do business. They come and get paid five thousand rupees or ten thousand rupees for performing some rites. I do not come to do business. I have got the news that a devotee had left her body and there was nobody to do last rites for her, so I came to do it. She had taken initiation from me, that is why I can do it. But if some neighbour comes and says, 'Oh, my mother has passed away too', then I say, 'Sorry, I cannot do it.' This is what my Gurudev taught me. He told me that if it was a devotee from our Math, then I could do the last rites if I could do it or I could teach somebody to do it, and they can come and do it. And I did that. I have taught some devotees to do it. I have a lot of duties – my phone constantly rings, and I have to do this, this, that. That is why I have taught some boys to do these things, and I have also compiled a book with all the mantras. Even when they do archan, how many people know or remember all the mantras? I wrote it all in a book (in Bengali), so they can recite the mantras from the book: what mantras are recited when offering water and Tulasi leaves, what mantras are recited to clean the asan. It is necessary to read it and do archan with those mantras.

So, I was saying that Mahaprabhu called Mukunda khar-jhathiya because Mukunda went to all places (to sraddha places and other programmes where you could get some kitchuri for free). Mukunda could sing kirtan very nicely, and he was a dear devotee of Mahaprabhu, but his fault was that he would go everywhere. Mahaprabhu told about him, 'He must learn chastity.' You must remember this. We do not need to go to all places to show our service. Radharani loved only Krishna, She did not love anybody else.

And if you hear about Mahaprabhu, you will be even more surprised. When Mahaprabhu left Vishnupriya Devi, she had Mahaprabhu's Deity made, and Mahaprabhu later personally came to her to see that Deity, 'Let Me come and see what I look like.' When Vishnupriya asked to make that Deity, she would come to the Deity maker again and again, saying, 'No, the eyes are not right', 'No, the nose is not right', 'No, the face expression is not right' – in this way, that Deity was made. She could not see anybody else or think about anybody else except Mahaprabhu. She only thought about Mahaprabhu.

My gurudev was also like that. He himself said, 'I left the temple and got married. Others criticise me, but I am not afraid to admit this. Yes, I got married, I fell into a hole. Many extended their hands to me trying to save me, but I did not take anybody's hand (when I was in Kolkata, many sannyasis came to me, but I did not accept their help). I got out of there holding onto my Guru Maharaj's hand. I knew him, I could recognise only him, so I got out clasping to his hand.' That is why Srila Sridhar Maharaj praised Gurudev in many ways. If somebody criticises Gurudev, I can say that I have a letter from Srila Sridhar Maharaj that shows what kind of things he said about Gurudev. Gurudev told me, 'Keep this letter. It is a brahmastra; use it when necessary.' I always keep it with me wherever I go.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Spiritual Sincerity and Chastity
2) Half-Hen Ill Logic
3) Purpose of Birth
4) Transform Your Life Inside and Outside
5) Run behind Krishna
6) Power of Kirtan
7) Become a Servant
8) Beg for Spiritual Life