(12/13) Unchaste Faith

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sitalpur (Bagnan), West Bengal,
31 January 2021, part 12

Faith can be of different types. For example, there is faith in Christianity. What does Christianity say? ‘Sin the whole week, come to church once a week, and all your sins will be removed.’ Those who do like that turn God into their menial servant. Hindus who worship various gods also do this. What do they say? ‘Dhanam dehi, vidyam dehi, rupam dehi, bharyam dehi. Make me rich, make me clever, make me beautiful, give me a good wife.’ ‘I want wealth’, ‘I want knowledge’, ‘I want beauty’, ‘I want money’, ‘I want my son to have a good job’, ‘I want my daughter to have good in-laws’ – people come to the Lord with all these requests and turn Him into their menial servant. ‘God, give me all this’, ‘God, give me that.’ Devotees of Lord Krishna never want anything. They know that it is not necessary to want anything. This is called jnana-sunya bhakti (devotion free from any pursuit of knowledge).

On the one hand, Krishna says, ‘People come to worship Me desiring material happiness (to settle their children’s marriage, to get a house, to get a car, to get money, to get a job, and so on), but I am not a fool – why will I give them material things? Instead, I will give them My feet and make them forget about all material things.’ On the other hand, it is also said that the Lord does not give Himself so easily. He gives material things instead:

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

‘If a devotee aspires for enjoyment or liberation, Krishna hides the knowledge about pure devotion and dismisses them, giving them enjoyment or liberation.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.18)

If you come and ask Krishna for something all the time, He will say, ‘All right. Here, take it!’ He will give you cars, houses, money (whatever you want) and gradually remove, or hide, devotion from you.

You know, one time, a disciple of Srila Sridhar Maharaj sent him a letter with a large sum of money for the Math, saying that he was running a restaurant beside a slaughterhouse (the restaurant served beef). Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, ‘It is very difficult to digest his money.’ Can you imagine that? A restaurant beside a slaughterhouse! What did that person learn from his guru? Does your guru ever tell you to have anything to do with cow’s meat? This is how people think that they can sin and then just chant the Holy Name in the evening (or go to church once a week), and all sins will go away…

What do the scriptures say?

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)

People have no chastity. I have seen some sannyasis from Rama Krishna Mission – they worship Durga, Kali, Dhatri, Annapurna, Bharat Mata and a host of other gods. They chant the Holy Name and say ‘Bharat Mata ki jay!’ [Bharat Mata is a deified personification of India; lit. ‘Mother India’] They have no chastity. This earth will be demolished one day – He who was, is and will be is the Supreme Lord:

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

‘Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes.’

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

You make the Supreme Lord your menial servant and turn Him into a bribe-taker. Sometimes, people bribe some officials to get a job, but the person who gives a bribe and the person who takes the bribe are both criminals. What do people do? They come to worship Durga Devi with some fruit or rice and say, ‘Here, Devi, take this! Please send me money in return.’ They turn Durga Devi into a bribe-taker. Remember this. Instead of serving the Lord, we turn the Lord into our menial servant. ‘Dhanam dehi, vidyam dehi, rupam dehi, bharyam dehi, yasam dehi. Make me rich, make me clever, make me beautiful, give me a good wife, make me famous’ – people like to ask all this, but what did Mahaprabhu say?

ন ধনং ন জনং ন সুন্দরীং কবিতাং বা জগদীশ কাময়ে ।
মম জন্মনি জন্মনীশ্বরে ভবতাদ্ভক্তিরহৈতুকী ত্বয়ি ॥

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

‘O Supreme Lord (Master of the Universe, Jagadiswar)! I do not desire any wealth (religion, money or material desires), any followers (wife, sons, servants or maidservants) or material knowledge (beautiful poetry). My only prayer is that I may birth after birth have pure devotion to You, devoid of seeking any result.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.20.29)

‘I do not want any wealth, I do not want any followers, I do not want a beautiful wife. All I want is to have causeless devotion to Your lotus feet, birth after birth.’

প্রভু ! তব পদযুগে মোর নিবেদন ।
নাহি মাগি দেহ-সুখ, বিদ্যা, ধন, জন ॥
নাহি মাগি স্বর্গ, আর মোক্ষ নাহি মাগি ।
না করি প্রার্থনা কোন বিভূতির লাগি’ ॥

prabhu! tava pada-yuge mora nivedana
nahi magi deha-sukha, vidya, dhana, jana
nahi magi svarga, ara moksa nahi magi
na kari prarthana kona vibhutira lagi’

‘O Lord! I am submitting this appeal at Your feet: I do not pray for any bodily pleasures, knowledge, wealth or companions. I do not pray for heaven or liberation, neither do I pray for any godly opulence or powers.’

(Sri Gitavali, Sri Siksastaka, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

This is Mahaprabhu’s conception. It is necessary to study His Siksastakam. ‘I want to have causeless devotion to You, O Lord, birth after birth. Even if I am born as an insect, may I be Your devotee. I do not want to become Brahma, I do not want to be the king of heaven, Indra. I do not mind being some insect, bug or a dog, as long as I am a dog at Your devotee’s house.’ Remember this.

‘Bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi’ means that all we want is causeless devotion to the Lord – we do not want any knowledge, wealth or followers.

— : • : —

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CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 57 Mb
Length: 119 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) In Search of Hidden Treasure
2) Know Your Own Identity First
3) Sambandha Jnana: Launching Pad
4) Utter Desperation
5) Path to Qualification
6) Sincere Devotion
7) Highest and Rarest
8) Rivet Yourself to Sadhu-Sanga
9) Genuine Benefit
10) Great Gift
11) Enter the Land of Faith
12) Unchaste Faith
13) A Test of Faith