Sincere Devotion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vaishnav Seva Programme, Bangaon,
31 January 2021, part 6

It is necessary to become a sadhu, not just dress as one. You know, when people pay obeisances in Mednipore, they tweak your feet—one time, they tweaked my feet so hard that blood started coming! Can you imagine how they 'practise' spiritual life like that? It is necessary to practise sincerely, without any duplicity. You fall flat on the ground in a sastanga-dandavat, but when Gurudev tells you to bring something, you say, "I cannot, I have no time." This is their 'sincerity'. This is what insincerity is. Some people grab and squeeze your feet so hard one day, but if you come there another day, they do not even pay obeisance. What kind of rules they do have? Yet when you have a programme at their house, they grab your feet and cry. It is a show. Have you heard of 'crocodile tears'? Crocodiles always live in water, so sometimes you can see some water glitter in their eyes and you think it is crying, but it is not tears—it is just water. Have you ever seen crocodiles? So, some people shed gallons of tears, but this is not real. It is deceit. Such devotion is deceiful (kapata-bhakti). I have written about it in Upadesh 4 (Guidance, Volume 4).

suddha bhakta-palana suska-jnana-tadana,
chhala-bhakti-dusana-rama

[Gauranga Mahaprabhu] is the maintainer of the pure devotees and the dispeller of dry knowledge. He is the eradicator of pseudo-devotion and the reservoir of all pleasure.

We sing this in the morning. Do you remember this song? What does "dry knowledge" (suska-jnana) mean? Those who are mayavadis have dry knowledge. Their knowledge has dried up. They want to become one with Brahman—they want to become Gods. They think everything comes from Brahman and they consider themselves Brahman. You may have seen this—when sahajiyas pay obeisance, they say, "Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara (Guru is Brahma the Creator, Guru is Vishnu the Maintainer, Guru is Maheswar the Destroyer)." Do we ever say this? We do not. We say:

ওঁ অজ্ঞানতিমিরান্ধস্য জ্ঞানাঞ্জনশলাকয়া ।
চক্ষুরুন্মিলিতং যেন তস্মৈ শ্রীগুরবে নমঃ ॥

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

'I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, applying the kajal of divine knowledge on my eyes.'

This a very beautiful prayer. Guru applies the salve of divine knowledge to remove the darkness of ignorance from my eyes. If somebody understands the meaning of this sloka, their mind can never go in any other direction. We must always think in this direction. It is said in the scriptures that those who have sincerity, who have chaste and firm devotion to Sri Gurupadpadma, they have the power to rescue the entire universe. It is necessary to have sincere devotion to Sri Gurupadpadma.

Srila Lochan Das Thakur composed a very beautiful kirtan about Sriman Nityananda Prabhu. We mostly sing Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur's and Srila Narottam Das Thakur's kirtans (Nitai-pada-kamala, Akrodha-paramananda, Parama-karuna pahu dui jana Nitai Gaurachandra, etc.), there are also beautiful kirtans composed by Srila Lochan Das Thakur: Nitai-guna-mani amara, Nitai-guna-mani, etc..

[His Divine Grace then continues to chant kirtans: 'Nitai mora jivana dhana', 'Yadi Gaura na haita'.]

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