Know Your Own Identity First

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vaishnav Seva Programme, Bangaon,
31 January 2021, part 2

There is a small book called In Search of the Original Source. I have translated it into Bengali from English. You can buy this book from Sripad Sajjan Maharaj from Venezuela, he is over there. Where should one look for the original source? We do not even know who we are. We are stricken with the disease of ignorance. Ignorance means material knowledge—it means we have no knowledge of the self. It means we see this body with mundane perception. This is what ignorance is. We cannot understand that I and this body is not the same thing. If I ask you, "Who are you?" You say, "I am so-and-so Sarkar," "I am so-and-so Biswas," "I am his mother," "I am her father," "I am their aunt," etc. This is what we always say, but this is wrong. We do not know our own identity. It is ignorance, and it is a disease. If we do not remove this ignorance—if you do not learn the true knowledge, but instead call ignorance knowledge, then what is the use? All the knowledge that this world gives is ignorance.

জড়বিদ্যা যয়, মায়ার বৈভব,
তোমার ভজনে বাধা ।
মোহ জনমিয়া অনিত্য সংসারে,
জীবকে করিয়ে গাধা ॥

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,
tomara bhajane badha
moha janamiya, anitya samsare,
jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is a manifestation of illusion (maya) and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation with the temporary world and turns the soul into an ass."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

These are Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's words. We have become asses (donkeys) because we do not know our own identity. While I am within this body, everybody will call this body, "Such-and-such Maharaj." Yet when I leave this body, nobody will call it Maharaj anymore. Therefore, this body is temporary. Yet we must first know who we are—we must first understand our own identity. That which is "I" is not this body. Identifying yourself with the body is ignorance. You must forget it. That is why we sing in one of the kirtans:

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."

Many of us think, "Oh, I am a disciple of Srila Sridhar Maharaj," "I am a disciple of Srila Govinda Maharaj," "I am senior, you are junior," but those who say this do not understand this. It is necessary to know the knowledge of the relationship. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that even if it is a five-year-old boy or a five-year-old girl—if they practise Krishna consciousness, you must pay obeisance to them. You took initiation sixty years ago, but you cannot think that you are senior to them and they are junior to you. If you think like that, it means you have not got the knowledge of the relationship. What did Srila Prabhupad say? He said, "All you who are sitting here are my gurus. Everyone is my disciples, and I am your servant."

'কৃষ্ণ-নিত্যদাস'—জীব তাহা ভুলি' গেল ।
এই দোষে মায়া তার গলায় বান্ধিল ॥

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela
ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

"When the jiva soul makes the mistake of forgetting that it is an eternal servant of Krishna, Maya captures the soul by its neck."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.24)

What is our mistake? Our mistake is that we have forgotten that we are eternal servants of Krishna. We thinking, "I am this person's husband," or, "I am this person's wife," or, "I am this person's son/daughter," but we have forgotten that we are actually all eternal servants of Krishna. As a result of this forgetfulness, Maya (illusion) attacked us and pulled us into her family; this is how we end up floundering in this material world—Maya Devi engages us in her own service. That is why it is said, "Krsna-bahirmukha jivera nahi Krsna smrti-jnana—souls that are averse to Krishna have no knowledge or remembrance of Krishna." Such souls forget Krishna. That is why we pray, "Krpa kara Vaisnava Thakura. O Vaishnav Thakur! Please be merciful!"

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."

You must serve the Lord know about the relationship. It is necessary to know what the nature of the relationship is. You think, "Oh, he is my father," but if you have this knowledge of the relationship, then even a father will pay obeisance to his child.

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