Pure Sambandha

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 31 January 2021, part 4

Devotional life does not depend on whether one is senior or junior.

কৃপা কর বৈষ্ণব ঠাকুর ।
সম্বন্ধ জানিয়া ভজিতে ভজিতে
অভিমান হউ দূর ॥

krpa kara vaisnava thakura
sambandha janiya bhajite bhajite
abhimana hau dura

"O Vaishnav Thakur! Please be merciful! Knowing the true relationship I will worship You and my ego will go far away."

Somebody thinks, "Oh, he is junior, and I am senior," "I am Srila Sridhar Maharaj's disciple!", "I am Srila Prabhupad's disciple!", "Why will I pay obeisance to him?" Such people do not know the relationship (sambandha). What is the relation? Even a father must give obeisance to his son! Even a father will pay dandavat, will pay respect to his son because he must see that his son has the qualities that he himself does not have. A father should respect his son. This is sambandha. Sambandha means, "I give you full respect—you are my master, and I am your servant." This is very important to understand, but we forget it,

কৃপা কর বৈষ্ণব ঠাকুর ।
সম্বন্ধ জানিয়া ভজিতে ভজিতে
অভিমান হউ দূর ॥

krpa kara vaisnava thakura
sambandha janiya bhajite bhajite
abhimana hau dura

"O Vaishnav Thakur! Please be merciful! Knowing the true relationship I will worship You and my ego will go far away."

If I pay obeisances to junior devotees, then my ego will be removed, otherwise ego will not go. That is why, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Everybody is my guru. Nobody is my disciple. I am your servant." It is necessary to understand this, otherwise your ego will not go away. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also says that when you see each other first thing in the morning, you must pay dandavat to each other, you must greet each other, "Dandavat, Prabhu." In this way, "Bhajite bhajite abhimana hau dura. By worshipping you, my ego will go away." This is a nice song, a very nice prayer to Vaishnav Thakur. I always recite this song "Krpa kara Vaisnava Thakura."

কৃপা কর বৈষ্ণব ঠাকুর ।
সম্বন্ধ জানিয়া ভজিতে ভজিতে
অভিমান হউ দূর ॥

krpa kara vaisnava thakura
sambandha janiya bhajite bhajite
abhimana hau dura

"O Vaishnav Thakur! Please be merciful! Knowing the true relationship I will worship You and my ego will go far away."

It is necessary to be established in the proper relationship. What is sambandha? We know the relationship that "Oh, I am Srila Sridhar Maharaj's disciple (I am Prabhupad Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj's disciple), and you are a disciple of Srila Govinda Maharaj—you are junior!" This is the relation that we know, but this is not the actual sambandha. The true sambandha is, "You are my master, I am your servant." When we realise this sambandha, then our ego will go away. But the problem is that we hold onto our ego—we think, "I am Srila Sridhar Maharaj's disciple, you are Srila Govinda Maharaj's disciple (or: you are Srila Acharya Maharaj's disciple, or: you are Srila Ashram Maharaj's disciple, etc.)"—we discriminate and make such division. We cannot see, "He is my master, and I am his servant" because we do not have this kind of eyes—our eyes are full of dust, full of ego, full of all kinds of illusion, illusory dust; we think we are Vaishnavs.

'আমি ত' বৈষ্ণব', এ বুদ্ধি হইলে
অমানী না হ'ব আমি ।

"ami ta' vaisnava," e-buddhi ha-ile,
amani na ha'ba ami

"If I think, 'I am a Vaishnav,' then I will never stop expecting honour from others (I will never become void of the desire for honour)."

(Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

If I think that I have become a Vaishnav, then I cannot respect others.

'আমি ত বৈষ্ণব' এ বুদ্ধি হইলে
অমানী না হ'ব আমি ।
প্রতিষ্ঠাশা আসি' হৃদয় দূষিবে
হইব নিরয়গামী ॥

'ami ta vaisnava' e buddhi haile
amani na ha'ba ami
pratisthasa asi' hrdaya dusibe
haiba nirayagami

"If I think, 'I am a Vaishnav,' then I will never stop expecting honour from others (I will never become void of the desire for honour)—my heart will become polluted by the desire for fame and I will end up in hell."

Then, pratistha will come to me and I will go to hell.

তোমার কিঙ্কর আপনে জানিব
'গুরু'-অভিমান ত্যজি' ।

tomara kinkara apane janiba
'guru'-abhimana tyaji'

"I will consider myself Your servant and give up the ego of a guru."

You must renounce, you must reject all guru-abhiman, acharya-abhiman (ego of a guru, ego of an acharya). "I am your servant!"

তোমার উচ্ছিষ্ট পদজলরেণু
সদা নিষ্কপটে ভজি ॥

tomara uchchhista pada-jala-renu
sada niskapate bhaji

"I will always earnestly take Your remnants, Your foot dust, the water that has washed Your feet."

We cannot take others' remnants, it is very difficult for us, but Kalidas did that!

You know that there is a washing place in front of Jagannath Temple where all devotees, and even Mahaprabhu Himself, would first wash their feet and then enter the temple. So, one day, when Mahaprabhu went to Jagannath Temple and was washing His feet, suddenly Kalidas came and touched Mahaprabhu's feet, trying to wash them. Everybody jumped at him, "No, no, no! Do not touch Mahaprabhu's feet!" But Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him." Mahaprabhu knew the story of Kalidas and Jhadu Thakur—He knew Kalidas was a perfect Vaishnav because Kalidas had taken everybody's remnants at Vaishnav festivals. He would never sit with everyone in one line to take prasadam; instead, he would hide in some place and after everyone finished taking prasadam, he would go to the place where everybody threw their plates and take everybody's remnants. This is Kalidas's example.

নিজে শ্রেষ্ঠ জানি' উচ্ছিষ্টাদি দানে
হবে অভিমান-ভার ।
তাই শিষ্য তব থাকিয়া সর্ব্বদা
না লইব পূজা কা'র ॥

nije srestha jani' uchchhistadi dane
habe abhimana-bhara
tai sisya tava thakiya sarvada
na laiba puja ka'ra

"If I, loving myself more than anyone else, bestow my remnants, etc. on others, then I will become filled with ego. Therefore, I will always remain Your disciple, I will not take worship from anyone."

If we start distributing our remnants, etc., then so much ego will come to us. Sometimes, people become gurus and say, "Oh, you must worship me every day! You must do an arati for me every morning and evening! You must give me a garland every day!" What for is this all necessary? We will not take puja (worship) from others.

অমানী মানদ হইলে কীর্ত্তনে
অধিকার দিবে তুমি ।
তোমার চরণে নিষ্কপটে আমি
কাঁদিয়া লুটিব ভূমি ॥

amani manada haile kirtane
adhikara dibe tumi
tomara charane niskapate ami
kandiya lutiba bhumi

"When I become free from the desire for honour and be able to give honour to others, you will give me the right to chant Your kirtan. I will earnestly roll on the ground and cry at Your holy feet."

When we become humble and tolerant, then Vaishnav Thakur will give us the right to chant the Holy Name. Do you understand what it says? This is a very nice song. If you sing such songs every day, you will understand perfect things. All right?

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