"Guru-mukha-padma-vakya chitete kariya aikya"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 7 February 2021, part 1

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Jay Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa-kula-churamani Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay
Vrinda Devi, Tulasi Devi, Sri Bhakti Devi ki jay
Sri Shyama Kunda, Radha Kunda, Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay
Sri Mayapur Dham, Sri Nabadwip Dham, Sri Vrindavan, Mathura ki jay
Sri Purusottam Ksetra ki jay
Baladev Subhadra Jagannathjiu ki jay
Akar Math-raj Chaitanya Math ki jay
Mayapur Yogapith ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
Tandiya sakha Math samuha ki jay
Sri Mather sevak vrinda, bhakta-vrinda ki jay
Ananta-koti Vaishnav vrinda ki jay
Sri Gaudiya Acharya vrinda ki jay
Tridandi-pad-gan ki jay
Saparsada Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay
Saparsada Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay
Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay
Suddha-bhaktir-vighnar vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay
All the assembled devotees ki jay
All the worldwide devotees ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

I am giving my full obeisance to all the devotees, all the sannyasi-, all the brahmachari-bhakta-vrinda, as well as all of my well-wishers and friends. I am very happy to see you all today. I see that so many devotees are joining this programme from their homes—they connect to this Zoom programme through the internet. I know the situation in some countries is still bad and some countries still have lockdown, so devotees cannot go to the temple; I have also heard the news from London—devotees there cannot go to the temple so much, and those who live in the temple, they only do some daily programmes and puja. It is necessary to continue regular programmes and worship the Deities properly.

Scriptures tell what is sadhu-sanga and what is asadhu-sanga (good association and not good association).

There are six main practices, and among them sadhu-sanga is listed first:

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the holy name of the Lord, hear Srimad Bhagavatam, reside in Mathura and worship Deities with faith and veneration."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

I was at a programme the day before yesterday, and I was telling them that I had read a lecture of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur where somebody asked a question, "What is good association? What is not good association?" Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave the following answer to that question. There is nava-vidha bhakti (you know that when we go on Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, we always tell about nava-vidha bhakti—we describe what kind of devotion exists at each of the nine islands), and if you practise at least one of these nine kinds of devotion, it means you are doing good association (sadhu-sanga), and if somebody does not practise any of these kinds of devotion (not even one), they are doing bad association (taking asadhu-sanga).

That is why, it is necessary to practise minimum one kind of devotion every day. The nine kinds of devotion are sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, pada-sevanam, archanam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam (hearing, chanting, remembering the Lord, serving the Lord's lotus feet, worshipping the Deity of the Lord, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission).

We go to work every day early in the morning, we sometimes do not get time to do much, but at least practise smaranam (remembering), vandanam (praying), or sravanam-kirtanam (hearing and chanting). Listen to some lectures in the morning. Sometimes, devotees do not get time to do archan (worship the Deities), they do not get time to do vandanam (recite prayers), or chant all rounds properly—understanding this situation, Gurudev always said that you must chant minimum four rounds every day. But only this is not enough—even sravan and kirtan must be practised every day. We work the whole day and get time to hear a lecture only once a week—not like that. You must practise minimum one kind of devotion every day. You may not get time to cook every day, but you must practise minimum one kind of devotion every day, that will bring a great benefit and a great association in your spiritual life. It is very important.

There is smaranam, kirtanam, doing arati, doing archan, puja, doing all kinds of Deity worship—there are sixty-four types of devotion in total, but you must practise minimum one bhaktyanga every day. It is very important for your spiritual life.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (2.2 Mb, 5 min)