(2/7) Gist of Fire Sacrifice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 19 December 2020, noon, part 2
Translated from Bengali

It is our great fortune to be here. Nityananda Prabhu chants the Holy Name, does service and practises Krishna consciousness: as the result of his spiritual practise, his father's last rites are performed according to the Vaishnav tradition, according to Sri Hari-bhakti-vilas. I have compiled a scripture called Sad-kriya Sad-dipika where I described how to hold such rites in a short, simple way. Brahmans will not like it because they ask people for many gifts and items (land, cows, umbrella, bed, pillows, and so on), but we do not believe in all this. They print their books to impress people – after I had seen those books, I decided to compose a book that would describe everything nicely so that all devotees who come to this line could do it. I know that many will read this book and will not like it. They will say, 'Oh, Maharaj has prohibited to bring umbrellas.' I only wrote that it is necessary to bring a sari if a lady has passed away or a set of clothes if a man has passed away. You can just bring two gumchas (towels), too, that is sufficient. Because they have a large space for the rites, they brought more gumchas today. This is all unnecessary. Just make some offering for the twelve mahajans (poita, pan, supari, some prasad), that is sufficient. That is the rule, so we do it in a simple way. This is what is called vaishnava-hom. There are also weddings among Vaishnavs, there are ceremonies when brahman threads are given and other occasions when a fire sacrifice is made. I have described everything nicely in the book. The only difference is that the name of the fire (agni) is different in different ceremonies. In essence, everything is the same. When you do a fire sacrifice for a wedding or other functions, it is not necessary to offer bhog to the twelve (or eleven) mahajans.

বৈষ্ণবের গুণ-গান করিলে জীবের ত্রাণ
শুনিয়াছি সাধুগুরুমুখে

vaisnavera guna-gana karile jivera trana
suniyachhi sadhu-guru-mukhe

'Singing the glories of the Vaishnavs rescues and protects the jiva soul—I heard this from the mouth of sadhus and my guru.'

(Acharya-vandana)

If you chant the glories of Vaishnavs, it gives happiness and peace to your soul.

I told you many days ago (my Guru Maharaj often said it – something is said in the scriptures, and Guru Maharaj told more than that). It is said in the scriptures (e.g. Sri Hari-bhakti-vilas) that if a son leaves his family and becomes a brahmachari or a sannyasi, his fourteen generations, wherever they may be, become liberated and come to the abode of the Lord. Whatever actions they may have performed, they become relieved of all their karma. If a son who takes birth in their family becomes a sannyasi and practises Krishna consciousness properly, then his fourteen generations become liberated, and Guru Maharaj said more than that – he said that twenty-one generations become liberated. This is what is said in the scriptures.

Anyhow, Nityananda Prabhu's father is fortunate. Lord Sri Krishna and Sachinandan Gaurahari also appear in the womb of Their mothers, They appear from Their father and mother. In the same way, Vaishnavs and the Lord appear in this world to bring benefit to this world. They always live thinking about the benefit of the world. Because they think about the benefit of the world, the previous generations of the family where they appear also reap the result of this goodwill and reach a good destination (sad-gati).

Our main thing is that we chant the Holy Name during the class and during the fire sacrifice. When brahmans do a fire sacrifice, they say at the end, 'Whatever sins are committed during the fire sacrifice, all sins are removed and all results of doing the fire sacrifice are achieved by chanting the Holy Name.' We say this with our mouths. You can see that when a fire sacrifice starts, the rule is that there must be four readers to read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata and Srimad Bhagavatam, and all sons of the diseased should come to them, offer them respect, make solicitations, and so on. There are many things that can be done if there is time and place. If not, it is not a problem too. I have done today the main work, which is the most important work: wherever Hari, guru and Vaishnavs are present, everything is automatically auspicious. Fire sacrifices and other things are external, they are here only for general people. The main thing is that sadhus and Vaishnavs come to speak some Hari-katha, to do Hari-kirtan. This is what we must always remember.

When Haridas Thakur left this world, Mahaprabhu made his samadhi with His own hands and then arranged vaishnav-seva. Is there any mention of a fire sacrifice? If you have any proof, show it to me. There is no mention of any fire sacrifice. Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami composed Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita where he described everything that happened – he did not write about what did not happen. So, there is actually no mention of fire sacrifice, but nowadays village people do not feel at peace unless there is a fire sacrifice. That is why we made a short book and I have taught our sannyasis to do fire sacrifices in a simple way. How much longer can I do everything myself? I did fire sacrifices with them one‒two times, and now they have remembered the mantras nicely and can do it themselves.

— : • : —

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Last Rites
2) Gist of Fire Sacrifice
3) Remembering Departure of Haridas Thakur
4) Seek Devotion
5) Nought in a Knot
6) Knowledge of Relationship
7) Worshipful Mood