(8/15) Follow the Footsteps of Great Souls

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, preaching programme,
16 January 2021, part 8
Translated from Bengali

It is said in the scriptures:

পৃথিবীতে যত কথা ধর্ম্মনামে-চলে ।
ভাগবত কহে সব পরিপূর্ণ ছলে ॥

prthivite yata katha dharma-name-chale
bhagavata kahe taha paripurna chhale

’Bhagavatam says that whatever is going on in this world in the name of religion is complete cheating.’

(Based on Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.1.2)

Srimad Bhagavatam is a very exclusive scripture. For example, if you read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, you will find there bhakti-yoga, karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, sankya-yoga and many other teachings, but Srimad Bhagavatam is not like that.

কৃষ্ণ হৈতে চতুর্ম্মুখ, হন কৃষ্ণসেবোন্মুখ,
ব্রহ্মা হৈতে নারদের মতি ।

krsna haite chatur-mukha, hana krsna-sevonmukha,
brahma haite naradera mati

‘Through Lord Krishna, Lord Brahma became disposed towards Krishna’s service. Then, through Lord Brahma, Narad Goswami developed devotional mood.’

(Sri Guru-Parampara kirtan)

Brahma took initiation from Krishna and then created this world and everything that is within it, including various religions, concepts and ideas, on the order of Krishna. Brahma created this world based on what he had heard from Krishna, but somehow he did not hear well, so some discrepancies appeared. That is why we see now that some people worship Kali, some people worship Ganesh, some people worship Laksmi, some people worship Surya, some people worship Parvati, and so on. There are 330,000,000 demigods in this world, and people worship all kinds of demigods. But this is not what is prescribed by the scriptures, in particular, by Srimad Bhagavatam, which is the main scripture. Many ask, ‘Who wrote Bhagavatam?’ The truth is that nobody wrote it. Bhagavatam is printed now as a book, but it was not written by anyone.

Originally, Sri Sukadev Goswami received Srimad Bhagavatam aurally from Srila Vyasadev, and after that, he preached the teachings of Bhagavatam in this world.

One day, Srila Vyasadev met with Sri Narad Goswami, his gurudev, and told him, ‘Prabhu, I do not feel any peace at heart.’ By that time, Vyasadev had written so many scriptures – Agni Purana, Garuda Purana, the four Vedas, Vedanta, Mahabharata and Srimad Bhagavad-gita – but he felt no peace at heart. When Narad Goswami heard this, he said, ‘How can you be happy? When you cook, you cook various preparations (rice, dal, vegetables, chutney, sweet rice), but when you come to distribute what you have cooked, you mix everything together. Can one understand the taste of each preparation like this? You have created all this labra (hotchpotch) and distributed it like khichuri. How will you get the taste? You have made so many scriptures mixing together bhakti-yoga, karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, sankya-yoga and every other possible conception, but you must write a scripture where there will be only bhakti-yoga and through which one can come to the Lord.’

One can get the Lord only through devotion – not through karma (material activities), jnana (knowledge) or any yoga (mystic powers). It is possible to get the Lord only through bhakti (devotion). You can ask, ‘Where can one get devotion?’ You cannot get it at any market – you can buy many things (rice, dal, vegetables, and so on) at the market, but you cannot buy devotion there. You can get devotion only from the association of devotees: bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-sangena parijayate (ভক্তিস্তু ভগবদ্ভক্তসঙ্গেন পরিজায়তে, Brihan-naradiya Purana). If you associate with devotees and surrender to devotees, you will get devotion.

What does it mean to associate with devotees? It does not mean to sleep with them on one bed or to eat with them from the same plate. Mosquitos also sleep together with a sadhu, but do they associate with the sadhu? They do not. They only bite and disturb. Nobody can stand them – as soon as you feel that there are mosquitoes in the room, you immediately plug in Good Night or All Out (mosquito repellents). The same is true for bedbugs (chharpoka, ছারপোকা) – they sleep with you in the same bed, but they do not associate with you. Associating (sanga) with the guru or a devotee means listening to what is right (sat-patha) and following it. Associating with the guru means listening to what gurudev says and following it in your life. Similarly, sadhu-sanga means listening to the sadhu and following what he says. ‘Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah (মহাজনো যেন গতঃ স পন্থাঃ): follow the footsteps of great souls’ (Mahabharata). We must live in the same way that great personalities lived. This is how you take sadhu-sanga, holy association.

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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