(3/7) Wealth of Nanda Maharaj's Yard

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 31 January 2021, part 3

It is very nice to sing kirtan in the morning. You must worship the Lord through sankirtana-yajna. Practise singing devotional songs, it is good for you. Try to understand it. Always remember the Lord and His devotees. Sing five songs in the morning, five songs in the evening – practise in this way, and it will be very good for you, it will give you much energy for service. You must understand this. Practice gives energy. For example, we sing every morning:

শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য প্রভু জীবে দয়া করি’ ।
স্বপার্ষদ স্বীয় ধাম সহ অবতরি ॥

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu jive daya kari’
svaparsada sviya dhama saha avatari

‘Bestowing mercy on jiva souls, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descends with His associates and abode.’

অত্যন্ত দুর্ল্লভ প্রম করিবারে দান ।
শিখায় শরণাগতি ভকতের প্রাণ ॥

atyanta durlabha prema karibare dana
sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana

‘To distribute the rarest form of divine love, He teaches surrender, which is the life and soul of devotees.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

That love and ecstasy, that paramour love that even Lord Brahma and Lord Siva always aspire for but cannot get – that very love and paramour love are found in the yard of Nanda Maharaj, in the yard of Sachi Mata and Jagannath Misra; and the Lord comes personally to distribute that kind of Krishna-prema. It is very rarely attainable, it is not so easy to get it, but Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu distributes this Krishna-prema to everybody, going door to door. He comes and teaches us saranagati – He teaches us what surrendered mood is:

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ।
‘অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ’—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥
ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভাব-বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
‘avasya raksibe krsna’—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

‘(1) Humility, (2) self-submission, (3) accepting that the Lord is your maintainer, (4) keeping faith that “Krishna will certainly protect”, (5) engaging only in what is favourable to devotion, (6) rejecting what is unfavourable to devotion.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

It is necessary to have the strongest faith. ‘Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari (শ্রদ্ধা-অনুসারী ভক্তি-অধিকারী) – the quality, or degree, of your devotion depends on your faith’ (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.64). If you have much faith, then your devotion is high, and if you have no faith, then you have no devotion. Somebody may be a very young or junior devotee, but if they have a very strong faith, then they have more devotion than even those who may be externally senior to them by age or position.

There are three main types of devotion (bhakti): karma-misra bhakti (devotion mixed with material pursuits), jnana-misra bhakti (devotion mixed with intellectual pursuits) and jnana-sunya bhakti (devotion free from intellectual pursuits). Accordingly, there are also three kinds of devotees: kanistha-adhikaris (those who have little faith), madhyam-adhikaris (those who have more faith) and uttam-adhikaris (those who have the greatest faith). So, your devotion does not depend on your seniority or juniority.

Somebody may be senior – somebody may have got initiation fifty or sixty years ago – but if they do not practise properly, if they do not have proper faith, then they actually have no proper devotion, and one day they will lose their faith and devotion. Srila Gurudev always tells about it.

Here in India, people sometimes like to boast, ‘Oh, my father lived 120 years!’, ‘Oh, my father lived 130 years!’ but what for were they alive for 120 or 130 years?! You can live just ten years, and that can be sufficient – if you chant the Holy Name for just ten years, then even ten years is sufficient. Somebody lives 120 years, but their life is like hell, then what is the benefit of such a life? What is the use getting this human body then? It is useless! You may live only ten years – you can even be a small girl or a small boy – but if you chant the Holy Name, if you worship the Lord, if you practise Krishna consciousness, it is good. If you live for ninety or a hundred years but do not practise, what is the use living in this world for a hundred years? There is no value. It is very easy to understand this.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

‘sraddha’-sabde visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

‘Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita also says:

চারি বর্ণাশ্রমী যদি কৃষ্ণ নাহি ভজে ।
স্বকর্ম্ম করিলেও সে রৌরবে পড়ি মজে ॥

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje
svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

‘Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager or worker) or ashram (a celibate, householder, renouncer of the household life or monk) you belong to, if you do not worship Krishna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.26)

It does not matter to which formal order of life you belong to – you can be a brahmachari, a grihastha, a vanaprastha or even a sannyasi (there are many mayavadi-sannyasis in this world) – if you do not worship the Lord, then you are simply paving your way to hell! This is said very strictly in the scriptures.

চারি বর্ণাশ্রমী যদি কৃষ্ণ নাহি ভজে ।
স্বকর্ম্ম করিলেও সে রৌরবে পড়ি মজে ॥

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje
svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

‘Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager or worker) or ashram (a celibate, householder, renouncer of the household life or monk) you belong to, if you do not worship Krishna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.26)

Raurav is a kind of hell. There are many types of hell; raurav is one of them. I have written about it in the third volume of Guidance (Sri Upadesh).

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) "I Want to Surrender"
2) Our Plight and Plea
3) Wealth of Nanda Maharaj's Yard
4) Pure Sambandha
5) Blessing In Disguise
6) Unconditional Life
7) Jewel of Sincerity