(3/9) Sincere Spiritual Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vaishnav Seva Programme, Kolkata,
29 January 2021, part 3

If I am admitted to a school, does it mean that I have passed the final exams? No. When we get enrolled in a school, we must study. The spiritual life is the same. What does it mean to study? It means to engage yourself in sravanam (listening to the Hari-katha of sadhus) and kirtanam (chanting the Holy Name and the glories of the Lord). Many people go to Nabadwip – they take a bus, come to see Mayapur and return. What did Srila Sridhar Maharaj call it? Eye-exercise. When people say, ‘I have been to Nabadwip,’ they mostly mean Mayapur, but Mayapur is just one island, Antardwip. There are nine islands, with Antardwip in the middle. We have a book, Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala, it is written very beautifully and there are pictures also in it. [His Divine Grace shows the cover of the book, featuring the lotus of the nine islands of Nabadwip.] You can see here: there are eight islands all around, and there is Antardwip in the middle. Our Chaitanya Saraswat Math (‘jal mandir’) temple is in Koladwip, in the ‘aparadha-bhanjanera pat’ (‘the holy place where offences are forgiven’), and our temple in Nrisingha Palli is in Godrumdwip. There is also Simantadwip and Rudradwip above Mayapur; there is Madhyadwip near Godrumdwip (they both form one area); finally, there is Ritudwip, Jahnudwip and Modadrumdwip. These are the nine islands, but when you ask someone if they have been to Nabadwip, they say, ‘Yes, I have been to Mayapur many times.’ That is why it is said:

কয় বার এলি কয় বার গেলি
তবু তত্ত্ব না শিখিলি ।
নিজের মাথা নিজে খাইলি
এ দোষ দিবি কারে ভাই ?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli
tabu tattva na sikhili
nijer matha nije khaili
e dosa dibe kare bhai?

‘Coming and going, coming and going, you never learnt anything! You have been eating your own brain – who will you blame for this, brother?’

How many times have we been coming and going to this world?

জলজা নবলক্ষাণি স্থাবরা লক্ষবিংশতি
কৃময়োরুদ্রসঙ্খ্যকাঃ পক্ষিণাং দশলক্ষনম্
ত্রিংশললক্ষাণি পশবঃ চতুরলক্ষাণি মানুষাঃ

jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam
trimsal-laksani pasavah chatur-laksani manusah

‘There are 900,000 aquatic species; 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities (trees, plants, etc.); 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles; 1,000,000 species of birds; 3,000,000 species of beasts; and 400,000 species of humans.’

(Sri Padma Purana, Sri Vishnu Purana)

You all know this sloka from Vishnu Purana. We have been born 900,000 times in water; we have been born 2,000,000 times as various trees, plants, hills and other nonmoving species; we have been born 1,100,000 times as various spiders, insects and worms; we have been flying as birds 1,000,000 times; we have been born 3,000,000 times as cows, goats, sheep, cats, pigs and other animals; and we have been born 400,000 times as humans. Having wandered through all these 8,400,000 species, we have finally got this human birth here in Bharata-bhumi (India):

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari’ kara para-upakara

‘One who has taken birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of this birth by bringing benefit to others.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.9.41)

That is why the Vaishnav residents of temples incessantly spread the nectar of the glories of the Lord (mathera vaisnava-gana kare sada vitarana Hari-guna-kathamrta bhave). What do they distribute? They distribute that getting which all our desires can be removed. We have so many desires – we hanker for money, women and fame the tigress (kanaka, kamini, pratistha-baghini) – but Vaishnavs distribute only Hari-katha, Bhagavat-katha. This is what service to jiva souls is.

What is bhajan (spiritual life)? What is Krishna consciousness? You know a few kirtans, you know some Hari-katha, you have learn a couple of slokas by heart, and you think that you have become a Vaishnav, so you tell others, ‘Come, take my prasad!’ Vaishnavs never give their prasad to others.

You must have heard that Srila Jagannath Das Babaji not only did not give his prasad to anyone, but he actually once ate all prasad along with the banana-leaf plate! Somebody invited him to Dhatrigram (a village near Kalna) for prasad. On the way to that place, some man saw Srila Jagannath Das Babaji walking down the street. Seeing that Babaji Maharaj’s uttariya was torn and he had no shoes, the man gave him some money. Srila Jagannath Das Babaji took the money, but having walked three kilometres, he suddenly told his servant, Bihari Das, ‘Let us go back to the house of that man.’ Bihari Das asked, ‘But why?’ Srila Jagannath Das Babaji did not explain anything, he only said, ‘Come, let us go back!’ When the man saw Srila Jagannath Das Babaji coming, he thought, ‘Oh, I gave him some money earlier today, so he must be coming again to ask for more.’ However, Srila Jagannath Das Babaji gave that money back to the man, saying, ‘Please, take this money back. I cannot tolerate the burden of this money! I cannot chant the Holy Name! This burden is too much for me!’ He gave that money back and left. They started walking again and finally reached that house in Dhatrigram.

The lady who lived at that house said, ‘You have come late, so I have already finished cooking. Please offer the bhoga.’ Then, the bhoga was offered, and she served prasad to Srila Jagannath Das Babaji and Bihari Das. Srila Jagannath Das Babaji finished taking prasad (he ate everything that was on his plate), but the woman thought, ‘It was so hard to invite Babaji Maharaj, but he has not left any prasad for me…’ So, she started pushing Babaji Maharaj, ‘Please take some more, have some more.’ Babaji Maharaj refused, but she kept insisting, ‘Please take some more.’ Then, Babaji Maharaj understood why she was forcing him to eat. He took some rice and dal again, but this time he not only ate everything on the plate, he also ate the banana-leaf plate! Bihari Das thought then, ‘I will never accept such invitations again! I have made an offence. I have given so much trouble to Babaji Maharaj – because of me, he had to eat a plate! This is a vaishnav-aparadha!’

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Vaishnav Rites
2) Disciple's Life
3) Sincere Spiritual Life
4) Eternal Servants
5) The Answer Is One
6) "Give Me These Alms"
7) Remembering Haridas Thakur
8) Poverty of Mind
9) "Come, Dear Mind, Come"