(11/15) We Are Neither Enjoyers, Nor Renouncers

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, preaching programme,
16 January 2021, part 11
Translated from Bengali

How will attachment and love for service to the Lord come to us? If we do not associate with sadhus, if we do not practise sravan and kirtan, then this attachment and love will never come. You can never serve the Lord without good association. Therefore, we must always remember what Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said in His conversation with Srivas Pandit and what He told Srila Raghunath Das Goswami also.

You can remember what happened at Panihati (the northern suburb of Kolkata). Srila Raghunath Das Goswami had tried to come to Mahaprabhu again and again, but he did not get His mercy. Only after Sriman Nityananda Prabhu gave His blessing (Nityananda Prabhu is guru-tattva, non-different from the guru) and told him, ‘Now you can go to Mahaprabhu, you will get His mercy’ was Srila Raghunath Das Goswami finally able to come to Mahaprabhu.

Srila Raghunath Das Goswami was not interested in family life. His parents had him married to a girl who was as beautiful as an angel, hoping to tie him to the family, but he was always aloof. He had no attachment to the material world.

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?’, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad)

We must have no attachment to the material world, and we must only know the relationship (sambandha): everything that is created in this world is meant for the service of the Lord.

You can see that Tulasi grows everywhere, but it is not everywhere that Tulasi leaves are offered to the Lord. In the same way, not all flowers are offered to the Lord – for example, some flowers are put on dead bodies that are going to be taken to the crematorium. Everyone’s fortune is not the same. But everything in this world is His, and everything is meant for His service (tad vastu tadiya sevaya, তদ বস্তু তদীয় সেবায়: ‘His things – for His service’). It is necessary to have sukriti to serve the Lord.

There is jnata-sukriti (conscious spiritual merit) and ajnata-sukriti (unconscious spiritual merit). Those who know something can get benefit, and those who do not know anything can be used for service without them realising it. For example, if you take some flowers, make garlands and offer those garlands to a devotee or the Lord, the flower tree does not know anything about this – it does not know that its flowers are being offered at the lotus feet of Govinda – but this is how ajnata-sukriti comes (the flower tree gets some benefit if its flowers are used for service).

Therefore, everything is His, and everything exists for His service. Everything that is created in this world is created for the pleasure of the Lord, not for our pleasure. Because we have much ego, we think, ‘This is my house, I will enjoy it’, ‘This is my car, I will enjoy it’, ‘This my money, I will enjoy with it.’ That is why it is said, ‘Ahankare matta haina, Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kari mani (অহঙ্কারে মত্ত হৈঞা, নিতাইপদ পাসরিয়া, অসত্যেরে সত্য করি মানি ।). Maddened with pride and forgetting Nitai’s feet, I take untruth for truth.’

We always think how we can enjoy, what we can do to enjoy, but the truth is that we are neither enjoyers nor renunciates: we want to neither enjoy anything nor renounce anything. What does this mean? It means that we will use everything in Govinda’s service. Many look at me and think, ‘Oh, Maharaj has a nice car’, but this car is not for my enjoyment – I do not use it to go for car rides. You know, I have been staying in Kolkata for many years now, over forty years, but to this day I have never seen the zoo or any museum there. When I go out in the car, I go out for service. I use the car only for service. If I had to go everywhere by train or bus, it would take me much longer to reach the places (I would not be able to go to so many places). That is why, if it is possible to use a car for service, it is good. It is like this with everything that is created in this world. For example, when we sometimes go abroad for preaching, we use planes.

Our duty is to serve the Lord. Devotees do not know anything except service to the Lord. We must submit everything for the Lord’s service, and we must know nothing except service to the Lord. Just as it is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita: devotees do not know or understand anything except the Lord. This is our highest aspiration.

সর্ব্বস্ব তোমার, চরণে সঁপিয়া,
পড়েছি তোমার ঘরে ।
তুমি ত’ ঠাকুর, তোমার কুকুর,
বলিয়া জানহ মোরে ॥

sarvasva tomara, charane sampiya,
padechhi tomara ghare
tumi ta’ thakura, tomara kukura,
baliya janaha more

‘Submitting everything at Your feet, I have come to Your home. You are my Master, so please consider me Your dog.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

‘You are my Lord, and I am Your dog.’ You must remember this.

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Length: 120 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Where Does the Lord Stay?
2) Mahaprabhu's Advent and Gift
3) Coming Out of Maya
4) Make Yourself Qualified
5) Six Limbs of Surrender
6) Sincere and Deep Prayer
7) Lend Me Your Heart
8) Follow the Footsteps of Great Souls
9) Suspicion Leads to Suspension
10) Only One Question
11) We Are Neither Enjoyers, Nor Renouncers
12) False Ego's Folly
13) Be Sincere and Studious
14) Remembering Mahaprabhu's Sannyas
15) Way Out