Clearing the Path

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 7 February 2021, part 3

'আমি ত' বৈষ্ণব', এ বুদ্ধি হইলে
অমানী না হ'ব আমি ।

"ami ta' vaisnava," e-buddhi ha-ile,
amani na ha'ba ami

"If I think, 'I am a Vaishnav,' then I will never stop expecting honour from others (I will never become void of the desire for honour)."

If I think that I have become a Vaishnav, then I will not be able to give respect to others, and the result will be "haiba nirayagami"—I will clear for myself the road to hell.

'আমি ত বৈষ্ণব' এ বুদ্ধি হইলে
অমানী না হ'ব আমি ।
প্রতিষ্ঠাশা আসি' হৃদয় দূষিবে
হইব নিরয়গামী ॥

'ami ta vaisnava' e buddhi haile
amani na ha'ba ami
pratisthasa asi' hrdaya dusibe
haiba nirayagami

"If I think, 'I am a Vaishnav,' then I will never stop expecting honour from others—my heart will become polluted by the desire for fame and I will end up in hell."

It means the road to hell will become cleared for me. If somebody thinks, "I have become (or I am becoming) a great Vaishnav!" "I have become a sannyasi!", "I am a brahmachari!", "I am a grihastha (householder)!", or even, "I am a devotee!" This is all wrong. Our only identification is, "I am a servant of devotees."

সম্বন্ধ জানিয়া ভজিতে ভজিতে
অভিমান হউ দূর ॥

sambandha janiya bhajite bhajite
abhimana hau dura

"Knowing the true relationship I will worship You and my ego will go far away."

It is crucial to understand this. Ego always creates problems. We say that we have six enemies (sad-ripu) inside us—kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (desire, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), and ego is also there, it is number five—mada.

Matsaryata (envy) is also a big problem. We must think about others' good, about others' benefit. We must always think, "How can I help him/her come to Krishna consciousness?" Even Sriman Mahaprabhu's teachings are like that. "Pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana: stop ill-treating others, nurture everyone." It means that if somebody says anything bad to you, you must not talk back. If somebody does any harm to you, you must not do harm to them—you must not become the judge because there is already somebody there above you who gives judgement, and that somebody is the Lord, so you cannot take the law in your own hands. We must control ourselves.

We must not see anyone's faults. This is very important. We must always see our own faults. "Vaishnav habe adosa-darasi—a Vaishnav will not see others' faults, he will see his own faults." Gurudev also says that we must not be drain inspectors. If you go to a drain, you will always get a bad smell, and the more you dig in the drain, the more stench will come. Do not think about anyone's faults. Do not waste your time on this.

When I am saying all this to you, I am not giving advice to you—I am actually giving advice to myself to make myself clean. If I tell, tell, tell, then one day I too will become clean. I am not saying I am perfect, so when I say something to you, I am giving advice to myself. I know that all these things are easier said than done—it is easy to say it, but to follow it is very hard. So, I am saying all this for my own benefit.

It is necessary to have all these good qualities...

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