(2/13) Know Your Own Identity First

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sitalpur (Bagnan), West Bengal,
31 January 2021, part 2

There is a small book called In Search of the Original Source. I have translated it from English into Bengali and printed recently. Where should one look for that original source? The problem is that 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, and we perceive our bodies through our mundane intelligence. In other words, we cannot understand that I and this body are not the same thing. If I ask you, ‘Who are you?’ you will 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’, and so on. This is what we always say, but this is wrong. We do not know our own identities. This is ignorance – 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 point? Whatever knowledge this world gives us is actually ignorance.

জড়বিদ্যা যত, মায়ার বৈভব,
তোমার ভজনে বাধা ।
মোহ জনমিয়া, অনিত্য সংসারে,
জীবকে করয়ে 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, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

These are Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s words. Not knowing our own identities, we have become asses (donkeys). While I am within this body, everybody calls this body, ‘So-and-so Maharaj’, but when I leave this body, nobody will call it Maharaj anymore. Therefore, this body is temporary.

We must first know who we are – we must first understand our own identities. This body is not who I am. Identifying yourself with the body is ignorance. You must forget it. 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

‘Please be merciful, Vaishnav Thakur! May my ego go away by always worshipping you in full knowledge of the relationship.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

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 the main thing. It is necessary to know the knowledge of the relationship. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that you must offer obeisances even to a five-year-old boy or a five-year-old girl if they practise Krishna consciousness. You took initiation sixty years ago, but you cannot think that you are senior and they are junior. 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 guru, 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

‘Jiva souls forgot that they are eternal servants of Krishna. Because of this mistake, illusion threw its ropes around their necks.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.24)

What is our mistake? Our mistake is that we have forgotten that we are eternal servants of Krishna. We think, ‘I am this person’s husband/wife’ or, ‘I am this person’s son/daughter’, but we forget 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 as Maya Devi engages us in her service. The scriptures say, ‘Krsna-bahirmukha jivera nahi Krsna-smrti-jnana (কৃষ্ণবহির্ম্মুখ জীবের নাহি কৃষ্ণস্মৃতি-জ্ঞান). The souls that are averse to Krishna have no knowledge or remembrance of Krishna’ (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.20.123). Such souls forget Krishna. That is why we pray, ‘Krpa kara Vaisnava Thakura. O Vaishnav Thakur! Please be merciful to me!’

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

krpa kara vaisnava thakura
sambandha janiya, bhajite bhajite,
abhimana hau dura

‘Please be merciful, Vaishnav Thakur! May my ego go away by always worshipping you in full knowledge of the relationship.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You must serve the Lord knowing what is actually what. It is necessary to know what relationship you have with the world and with God. A man may think, ‘This is my son,’ but if he has any knowledge of the relationship, then, even though he is the father, he will pay obeisance to his child.

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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