(8/13) Karma-Misra Bhakti

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's Vyasa Puja Adhivas
Nrisingha Palli, 31 December 2020, evening, part 8

I want to tell you about devotion today. There are three kinds of devotion. Karma-misra bhakti (devotion mixed with selfish pursuits), jnana-misra bhakti (devotion mixed with intellectual pursuits) and jnana-sunya suddha-bhakti (pure devotion devoid of intellectual pursuits). Where does this division come from? From Mahaprabhu. Who did Mahaprabhu discuss this point with? With Sri Raya Ramananda.

What is karma-misra bhakti? 'O Lord, I will serve You, but I want this and this in return.' I told you yesterday that many people come to Nrisingha Palli with such thoughts. Many people offer worship to their cars so that they do not meet an accident. When people do not have a son, they do some puja to get a son. But our Guru Maharaj said once to a devotee, 'You have brought a Nrisinghadev kavacha for your own protection. You are using Nrisinghadev for your own purpose! You are playing with Him. You must serve Nrisinghadev, then you will understand it.' Gurudev said that we must serve Lord Nrisinghadev, and now Lord Nrisinghadev has personally appeared here by Gurudev's mercy. People come to Nrisinghadev and pray, 'O Nrisinghadev, please protect me', 'Please remove all obstacles in my life', 'Please destroy everything inauspicious.' No. You must serve Him – you must not want anything from Him. Those who want something are called karma-misra bhaktas (devotees who have selfish desires): 'I will serve the Lord, and I will get something from Him in lieu of that.' This is their hope. Many of us also think that if we serve the Lord, we will go to Goloka Vrindavan. Even this is also not necessary. Even this should be given up. 'Bhog tyag, tyag tyag': renounce enjoyment and renounce renunciation. Even renunciation should be given up, or renounced.

Many people do nirjala ekadasi: fast without eating or even drinking anything the whole day. They say to everyone, 'Oh, I am fasting without drinking any water! I am fasting so much! I chant 300,000 Names the whole day!' Gurudev would often say, 'When I chant just four rounds, I sweat so much, but you are chanting 100,000 Names! How do you do this!' One time, a sannyasi from another mission said about our Gurudev to one of our sannyasis, 'Oh, your gurudev says that instead of sixteen rounds, you can chant four rounds!' When we give initiation, we say that if you are busy any day, you can chant minimum four rounds. But other missions complain about it. Our Math's sannyasi could not say anything in reply to that, so he told about it to Gurudev. Gurudev told him to go back to that sannyasi from another mission and tell him, 'Do you know why he tells us to chant four rounds? Because the more we chant, the more offences we make. That is why our gurudev tells us to chant only four rounds.' Very rarely, one or two persons can chant some nama-abhasa (shadow of the Holy Name, taking the Name negligently) and get liberation. What to speak of chanting the real Holy Name, if you chant at least nama-abhasa just once, you will get liberation.

One time, Mahaprabhu asked Srila Haridas Thakur, 'Haridas, how will yavanas become rescued in this Kali-yuga?' Srila Haridas Thakur replied: 'Prabhu, namabhase mukti paibe: they can get liberation through nama-abhasa.' What is nama-abhasa? For example, you have seen Chad Kazi's samadhi in Mayapur. When He was talking to Mahaprabhu, he said, 'Haram [abominable]!' When we want to tell somebody that they must not say or see something, we can say, 'Ram, Ram, Ram!' [meaning, 'Oh no, no, no, do not say this!'], but Muslim people say, 'Haram! Haram!' For example, if they see a pig, they say, 'Haram! Haram!' In an indirect way, they are also saying 'Ha Ram! O Lord Rama!' Chad Kazi said, 'They are all saying, "Ram, Ram! Krishna, Krishna!" I cannot say all this!' Mahaprabhu became happy, 'But you have already said it just now!' Chad Kazi exclaimed, 'Haram! Haram!' And Mahaprabhu laughed, 'Yes, when you say, "Haram!" you are saying "Ha Ram! O Rama"! You have got liberation by your shadow chanting (nama-abhasa)!'

One can get liberation just by chanting the shadow of the Holy Name (nama-abhasa), but we are mostly chanting offences (nama-aparadha). If you do not learn the ten offences by heart and check yourself, you will see that you are committing offences at every moment. You say, 'Hare Krishna' and the next moment you are scolding others or criticising others with that same mouth. What does that mean? It means that what you chanted is not Hare Krishna. It is all nama-aparadha. All you chant is nama-aparadha then. So, Gurudev told that time, 'Because you are always making offences (aparadha) to the Holy Name, I tell you all to chant four rounds instead of sixteen rounds, then you will not be making so many offences.' This the answer Gurudev gave to that sannyasi. It happened when he went to Russia. We must learn from this. Our situation is also like that.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Spiritual Conscience
2) Trust the Lord
3) Service Is Not a Chore
4) May You Live Clean Life
5) Four Biggest Hurdles
6) Internal Meaning of Initiation
7) Amidst What Are You Sitting?
8) Karma-Misra Bhakti
9) Beyond Jnana-Misra Bhakti
10) Indomitable Power of Mercy
11) Learn to Behave as Sadhu
12) Preparing for Festival
13) External and Internal Opulence