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Faith Is Not Idle

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 11 January 2021, part 10
Translated from Bengali

 

After spiritual merit (sukriti) comes faith (sraddha). There are four types of faith: kamala-sraddha (soft, fragile faith), taranga-sraddha (flickering faith), drdha-sraddha (strong faith), sudrdha-sraddha (the strongest faith). One's devotion depends on the quality of faith (sraddha-anusari haya bhakti-adhikari, শ্রদ্ধা-অনুসারী ভক্তি-অধিকারী; Cc, 2.22.64).

You can see many who took initiation a long time ago, but their behaviour and practice are not right, but somebody may have taken initiation two-four days ago, and they can speak Hari-katha, they can preach, they can speak about Krishna. One may have taken initiation six-ten years ago, but they cannot do anything because they have not been studying. Just as you do not learn anything if you bunk off your studies, in spiritual life also, you will not learn anything if you bunk off your spiritual life—if you do not chant the Holy Name or chant too little, if you do not chant kirtans, etc. I tell everyone: you must chant the Holy Name on the beads, and you must also remember kirtans by heart. Chant five kirtans in the morning and five kirtans in the evening. I tell this to every single person. Chant the same kirtans every day; each of them has a little different tune. Pick two kirtans in glorification of Gurudev, Pancha Tattva, Vaishnav Thakur, Nityananda Prabhu, and Mahaprabhu.

You can take the kirtan guide books with you and chant from those books. We have printed pocket-size kirtan guides also, you can keep them in your pocket and always read it—you can read it when you get on the train, bus; sometimes, you go to some place on business and you have to wait and sit, you can read books at this time. You must set aside more time for the Lord.

You must ask yourself: How much time do I spend for the Lord? And how much time do I spend on eating, dressing, sleeping, earning money and thinking about enjoyment? How much time do I think about the Lord? You must answer this to yourself. There is a saying in Bengali: "There are two clerks who cry and write the diary (dui kande dui muhuri likhte achhe dairy; দুই কান্দে দুই মুহুরী লিখতে আছেন ডাইরী)." You do not have to write your own diary (account for your actions)! There is already Chitragupta who is writing accounts of all your days. He notes everything down: whether you chant the Holy Name, and how much Namabhas you do, how much Nama-aparadh you do.

It is said in the scriptures that the mouth that chants the Holy Name cannot make Vaishnav-aparadh. Therefore, if somebody makes Vaishnav-aparadh, their mouth can never chant the Holy Name. Moreover, if one's Gurudev criticises Vaishnavs, you must reject such a guru as bogus. This is written in the scriptures. If you read Gaudiya Kantha-hara, you will find it written there, in the part that describes the glory and nature of the Guru. Therefore, you must never criticise others or discuss others. For example, you see somebody steal prasadam—the person who steals is doing wrong, but if you tell others about it, you are doing wrong too, and your fault is even greater. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said this. I wrote about it in Guidance 4, you can get the book and read it. I have written there how you make offences and how you may not be able to progress even if you chant the Holy Name.

You chant the Holy Name so much, but why cannot you progress in your spiritual life? You must not look for faults in others—you must see your own fault. Why cannot you practise? What hinders you? There must be some shortcoming. Where is that shortcoming? You must search and find it yourself. You must find it within yourself: why cannot you progress in your spiritual life?

 

— : • : —

 

 

 

 

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Continue Your Service,
By Hook or By Crook
'I am always with you all, and I always want to serve Gurudev's mission together. This is my wish. I want us to run this mission together and want the preaching to go on happily everywhere.'

 

Ki-rupe paiba seva
'It is not possible to conquer maya by engaging in maya. I see no other way to get relief except for the mercy of sadhus.'
কিরূপে পাইব সেবা

The problem is that you want to leave the blanket, but the blanket does not leave you.

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