(7/13) 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 ॥১॥

krpa kara vaisnava thakura
sambandha janiya, bhajite bhajite,
abhimana hau dura [1]

‘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)

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 a father, a mother, a friend, a relative, a husband or a wife are, but we do not know who gurudev is and who the Lord is. We do not understand them so much, neither do we want to know or understand them…

Where is **? Does he not like chanting 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 he is chanting kirtans from upstairs? There is one devotee in our mission, his name is Sachisuna Prabhu. He has never learnt to read or write, but he knows and can chant all Gaudiya Gitanjali by heart. He knows more kirtans than I. How did he learn them? He sang along with the devotees, and in this way he memorised all kirtans, even the long ones. So, it is necessary to chant together all the time. But I do not see devotees doing that… There was also one devotee at the temple who was completely blind, but he also knew all kirtans by heart and was a very good singer…

So, what does sambandha mean? You will not get any result unless you know your relationship with your guru. What is the relationship between the guru and the disciple, and what is our relationship with the devotees? Regardless of where each of us is staying, we are all sons of nectar, we are all relatives. We are eternal servants of Krishna. Knowing sambandha means understanding that the Lord is there within everyone. If the Lord resides in everyone and I am His servant, then what is the problem if I call another person ‘Prabhu’ (master) or ‘Didi’ (sister)? This is what relationship is about.

It is said here that if we worship the Lord understanding the relationship, then our ego will go away. How will it go away? Some say, ‘I took initiation ten years ago, and he took initiation just yesterday – why must I offer obeisances to him?’ Those who say this do not understand sambandha. You must offer obeisances even to those who received initiation into the Holy Name only yesterday. What did Srila Prabhupad (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur) say? He said, ‘All of you sitting here in front of me are my masters (prabhu). You think that somebody comes and takes 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 actually be like that. Still, if we speak and speak about it, then one day this quality can come to us. I am saying something now, but I am saying it for my own benefit, not for you. I am saying all these things to myself so that more and more Vaishnav qualities can 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 ॥২॥

‘ami ta vaisnava’, e buddhi haile,
amani na ha’ba ami
pratisthasa asi’, hrdaya dusibe,
haiba nirayagami [2]

‘If I think, “I am a Vaishnav”, I will never stop desiring honour – my heart will become polluted with the desire for prestige, and I will end up in hell.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

If I think that I have become a Vaishnav, then I will not be able to give honour to others, and then pratistha (desire for name and fame) will come to my heart and spoil it. 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 ॥৩॥

tomara kinkara, apane janiba,
‘guru’-abhimana tyaji’
tomara uchchhista, pada-jala-renu,
sada niskapate bhaji [3]

‘May I consider myself your servant and give up the ego of a guru. May I always earnestly worship the remnants of your food, your foot dust and the water that has washed your feet.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

‘I want to be a slave (a maidservant, a menial servant)’ – if everyone thought like this, there would be no disturbance, everything would come right. It is necessary to give up the ego that you are a guru or an acharya (a teacher). When one devotee who had taken Vaishnavs’ food remnants tried to drink the water that had washed Mahaprabhu’s holy feet, Mahaprabhu told others, ‘Do not stop him, he has the qualification to do it.’ That devotee would come to the place where Vaishnavs took prasad on festival days – he would stand outside, and when the Vaishnavs finished taking prasad and threw away their plates, he would come and lick those plates. He did not sit together with everyone. That devotees’s 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 generally prohibited for anyone to touch Mahaprabhu’s feet, but he became an exception. Therefore, we must pray, ‘I will always earnestly take Your remnants, Your foot dust, the water that has washed Your feet.’

নিজে শ্রষ্ঠ জানি’, উচ্ছিষ্টাদি দানে,
হবে অভিমান-ভার ।
তাই শিষ্য তব, থাকিয়া সর্ব্বদা,
না লইব পূজা কা’র ॥৪॥

nije srestha jani’, uchchhistadi dane,
habe abhimana-bhara
tai sisya tava, thakiya sarvada,
na laiba puja ka’ra [4]

‘If I believe, “I am the greatest”, I will start giving others my food remnants and other things, getting weighed down by ego. So, I pray to always remain your disciple and not accept worship from anyone.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

It is necessary to always be a disciple first. You must leave the ego that you are a teacher (guru). If you consider yourselves great and give others your prasad, it is not right.

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

অমানী মানদ, হইলে কীর্ত্তনে,
অধিকার দিবে তুমি ।
তোমার চরণে, নিষ্কপটে আমি,
কাঁদিয়া লুটিব ভূমি ॥৫॥

amani manada, haile kirtane,
adhikara dibe tumi
tomara charane, niskapate ami,
kandiya lutiba bhumi [5]

‘If I become free from the desire for honour and learn to give honour to others, you will give me the right to chant your kirtan. Rolling on the ground, I shall earnestly cry at your holy feet.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

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 myself, it will be only letters, 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 become able to give honour to others, you will give me the right to chant Your kirtan.’ Remember this.

[His Divine Grace continues chanting kirtans before resuming the class.]

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Length: 92 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Always Practise Devotion
2) Pure Devotional Life (1)
3) Pure Devotional Life (2)
4) Detach and Immerse Yourself
5) Earn Qualification
6) Humble Heartfelt Plea
7) Quality and Qualification
8) Devotional Depth
9) Surrender and Practise
10) Cut Off Material Attachment
11) Bogus Kirtan – Bogus Devotion
12) Embracing Controlled Life
13) Start From Tongue