Quality and Qualification

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, 10 February 2021, part 7

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

krpa kara vaisnava thakura
sambandha janiya bhajite bhajite
abhimana hau dura

"O Vaishnav Thakur! Please be merciful! Knowing the true relationship I will worship You and my ego will go far away."

It is said here: O Vaishnav Thakur, please be merciful to me. This song mentions sambandha, relationship. What relationship is that? It is the relationship with the Lord, Hari. We know very well who is a father, mother, friend, relative, husband, wife, but we do not know Gurudev and the Lord. We do not understand them so much; neither do we want to know or understand them.

Where is ***? Does he not like to chant kirtans?

Devotees: He is in the room.

In the room? It is necessary to chant kirtans!

Devotees: He is chanting from upstairs. He is with the worker there.

How can you say that you are chanting kirtans from upstairs? There is one devotee in our mission, his name is Sachisuna. He never studied to read or write, but he knows all this Kirtan Guide by heart. He knows more kirtans than me. He can chant all kirtans by heart. He chanted with devotees, singing with them, and in this way he remembered all kirtans, even the long ones. Therefore, it is necessary to sing all the time. But I do not see that... You know, there was also one devotee at the temple. He was completely blind, but he also knew all kirtans by heart. He was a very good singer...

So, what sambandha is mentioned in the kirtan we started singing? You cannot get any result unless you know your relationship with your Guru. What is the relationship between the Guru and the disciple and what is the relationship with the devotees? No matter where each of us is staying, we are all sons of nectar, we are all relatives. We are eternal servants of Krishna. It means that there is Lord inside everyone. If the Lord resides in everyone and I am a servant of the Lord, then what is the problem if I call another person 'Prabhu' or 'Didi'? This is the relationship.

It is said here that if we worship the Lord knowing the relationship, our ego will go away. How will the ego go away? Some say, "I took initiation ten years ago, and he took initiation just yesterday—why must I offer him obeisances?" It means the person does not understand sambandha. Even if somebody received initiation into the Holy Name yesterday, you must offer obeisance to that person. What did Srila Prabhupad (Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur) say? He said, "All those who are sitting here in front of me are my masters (Prabhu)." You think somebody took initiation from me, but it is not so—they actually come to me to give me mercy. It is easy to say these things, but it is very difficult to be like that (to do that). Yet if we speak and speak about it, then one day this quality can come to us. I am speaking something now, but I am speaking it for my own benefit—not for you. I am saying all these things to myself so that more and more qualities of a Vaishnav come to me. This is why we must chant kirtans—so that more devotion, more Vaishnav qualities come to us.

'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 (I will never become void of the desire for honour)—my heart will become polluted by the desire for fame and I will end up in hell."

If I think I have become a Vaishnav, then I will not be able to give honour to others—pratistha (desire for name and fame) will come to your heart and spoil your heart. In this way, I will clear my own road to hell. I will have to go to hell...

তোমার কিঙ্কর আপনে জানিব
'গুরু'-অভিমান ত্যজি' ।
তোমার উচ্ছিষ্ট পদজলরেণু
সদা নিষ্কপটে ভজি ॥

tomara kinkara apane janiba
'guru'-abhimana tyaji'
tomara uchchhista pada-jala-renu
sada niskapate bhaji

"I will consider myself Your servant and give up the ego of a guru. I will always earnestly take Your remnants, Your foot dust, the water that has washed Your feet."

"I will become your servant, your maidservant, your menial servant." If everyone thought like this, you would see there would be no disturbance—everything would come right then. It is necessary to give up the ego that you are the guru or you are the acharya (teacher). When one devotee, who took remnants of Vaishnavs, tried to drink the water that had washed Mahaprabhu's holy feet, Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him, he has the qualification." That devotee would come to the place where Vaishnavs took prasadam on some festival day, and he would stand outside—when Vaishnavs finished taking prasadam and threw away their plates, he would come and lick those plates. He did not sit together with everyone. His name is Kalidas. Because he took everyone's remnants, Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him, he has become a jhanu vaishnav' ('a seasoned, or crafty, Vaishnav')." It was prohibited for everyone to touch Mahaprabhu's feet, but it was not prohibited for him. Therefore, we must pray, "I will always earnestly take Your remnants, Your foot dust, the water that has washed Your feet."

নিজে শ্রেষ্ঠ জানি' উচ্ছিষ্টাদি দানে
হবে অভিমান-ভার ।
তাই শিষ্য তব থাকিয়া সর্ব্বদা
না লইব পূজা কা'র ॥

nije srestha jani' uchchhistadi dane
habe abhimana-bhara
tai sisya tava thakiya sarvada
na laiba puja ka'ra

"If I, loving myself more than anyone else, bestow my remnants, etc. on others, then I will become filled with ego. Therefore, I will always remain Your disciple, I will not take worship from anyone."

It is necessary to always be a disciple first. You must leave the ego that you are a teacher (guru). You think yourself great and give others your prasad—this is not right.

When I go to people's houses, it is actually a problem. They give me sweets—I do not eat it and then give to others. If I do not take it, they become upset, and if I eat some and give the rest to others, then it is even a bigger mistake (even if I take a pinch, they start saying, "Oh, we have got remnants!"). It is such a difficult problem...

অমানী মানদ হইলে কীর্ত্তনে
অধিকার দিবে তুমি ।
তোমার চরণে নিষ্কপটে আমি
কাঁদিয়া লুটিব ভূমি ॥

amani manada haile kirtane
adhikara dibe tumi
tomara charane niskapate ami
kandiya lutiba bhumi

"When I become free from the desire for honour and be able to give honour to others, you will give me the right to chant Your kirtan. I will earnestly roll on the ground and cry at Your holy feet."

It is said here that if I cannot give honour to others, then the Lord, the Vaishnav will not give me the right (the qualification) to chant kirtan—if I try to chant, it will be only alphabet, it will not be kirtan proper. Those who cannot give honour to others chant only a tune; they do not chant kirtan. Remember this. "When I become free from the desire for honour and be able to give honour to others, you will give me the right to chant Your kirtan." Remember this.

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