Sincere Spiritual Life

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

If I get admitted to a school, does it mean I have passed the final exam? No. When you get enrolled in a school, you must study. The spiritual life is the same. What does it mean to study? It means to engage in sravanam (listen to the holy talks of sadhus) and kirtanam (to chant the Holy Name and the glories of the Lord). Many people go to Nabadwip—they take a bus, go 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 place where offences are forgiven), and the our temple in Nrisingha Palli is in Godrumdwip. There is also Simantadwip above Mayapur, Rudradwip, there is Madhyadwip near Godrumdwip (they both form one area), and, finally, there is Rtudwip, Jahnudwip, and Modadrumdwip. These are the nine islands. 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, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

How many times have you been coming?

জলজা নবলক্ষাণি স্থাবরা লক্ষবিংশতি
কৃময়োরুদ্রসঙ্খকাঃ 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 species living in the water. There are also 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities, such as trees and plants. There are also 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and there are 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as quadrupeds are concerned, there are 3,000,000 varieties, and there are 400,000 human species."

(Padma Purana, Vishnu Purana)

You all know this sloka, it is written in Vishnu Purana. We have been born 900,000 times in water; we have been born 2,000,000 times as various trees, plants, hills, etc.; we have been born 1,100,000 times as various spiders, insects, worm, etc.; we have been flying as birds 1,000,000 times; we have been born 3,000,000 times as cows, goats, sheep, cats, pigs, etc.; 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 his birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of his birth and bring benefit to all other people."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 9.41)

That is why, the Vaishnava residents of the temple incessantly spread the nectar of the glories of the Lord (Vaishnavs mathera vaisnava-gana kare sada vitarana hari-guna-kathamrta bhave; মঠের বৈষ্ণবগণ করে সদা বিতরণ হরিগুণ-কথামৃত ভবে). What do they distribute? They distribute that getting which all our desires can be removed. We have so many desires—money, women, fame the tigress (kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini (কনক-কামিনী প্রতিষ্ঠা-বাঘিনী), etc. Yet Vaishnavs only distribute Hari-katha, Bhagavat-katha. This is what service to the jiva souls is.

What is bhajan? What is Krishna consciousness? You know a few kirtans, you know some Hari-katha, you have learn two slokas by heart, and you think you have become a Vaishnav and tell others, "Come, take my prasad." Vaishnavs never give their prasad to others.

You have heard that Srila Jagannath Das Babaji had actually eaten a banana lead plate(!)—have you not heard about it? Somebody invited him to Dhatrigram (a village near Kalna) to give him prasadam. On the way to that place, some man saw Srila Jagannath Das Babaji and saw that his uttariya was torn, he had no shoes, etc. The man gave Srila Jagannath Das Babaji some money. Srila Jagannath Das Babaji took the money, but having walked for three kilometres, he suddenly said to his servant Bihari Das, "Let us go back. Come, let us go to the house of that man." Bihari Das asked, "But why?" Srila Jagannath Das Babaji only said, "Come, come!" When the man saw Srila Jagannath Das Babaji coming, he thought, "Oh, I gave him some money; he must be coming to take some more." However, Srila Jagannath Das Babaji returned that money 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!" He gave that money back and left. He started walking again and finally reached that house in Dhatrigram. The lady who lived at that house said, "You are late—I have already finished cooking. Please offer the bhog." Then, the bhog was offered, and she served prasadam to Srila Jagannath Das Babaji. Srila Jagannath Das Babaji finished taking prasadam (he ate everything), 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 a little more, take a little more." Babaji Maharaj kept refusing, but she again said, "Please take a little more." Then, Babaji Maharaj understood why she was forcing him to eat, so he took some rice, dal again, and he again ate everything—this time, he not only ate everything, but 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 the plate! This is a Vaishnav aparadh!"

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