(3/6) Jivan Chakravarti's Pastime (1)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar area, evening programme
13 February 2021, part 3
Translated from Bengali

In my life I have been in many very dangerous situations, but amidst all and any danger I always surrendered and left everything up to Gurudev and the Lord… We must always remember our guru, Vaishnavs and the Lord. We must always serve them.

I have been called to a place called Mankar; I will go there one of the days. Have you heard about this place? It is near Panagar in Bardhaman. I will go to a place where there used to be one special house. It is no longer there now because everyone from that house became devotees and came to the Lord, but do you know who lived in that house before? A brahman family, and the name of the head of the family was Jivananda Das. His previous name is Jivan Chakravarti.

When Jivan Chakravarti lived in Mankar, he had twelve silas of Lord Siva. He worshipped them religiously every day, and eventually Lord Siva became pleased with his worship and one night came to him in a dream. Lord Siva asked Jivan Chakravarti, ‘Tell me, what do you want?’

There are four kinds of devotion: karma-misra bhakti (devotion mixed with material pursuits), jnana-misra bhakti (devotion mixed with knowledge-seeking), jnana-sunya bhakti (devotion devoid of knowledge-seeking) and suddha-bhakti (pure devotion). Somebody worships the Lord and prays, ‘O God, give me this.’ You must have seen it when people worship Durga. Brahmans recite mantras, ‘Dhanam dehi, vidyam dehi, rupam dehi, bharyam dehi. Give me wealth, give me knowledge, make me beautiful, give me a good wife.’ It is Saraswati Puja on Monday, and all children will be reciting:

ওঁ সরস্বতি মহাভাগে বিদ্যে কমললোচনে ।
বিদ্যারূপে বিশালাক্ষি বিদ্যাং দেহি নমোহস্তু তে ॥

om sarasvati mahabhage vidye kamalalochane
visvarupe visalaksi vidyam dehi namostute

‘O great Goddess Saraswati, the personified knowledge possessing large lotus eyes! I offer obeisance to you, please give me knowledge.’

People ask Saraswati for knowledge. This is how everybody turns God into their menial servant (‘God, give me this’, ‘God, give me that’). They give some fruit, money or things to a Deity and ask the Deity to give them something in lieu of that – they bribe the Lord and turn Him into their servant. For example, you give ten rupees and expect to get something in return: ‘God, give me knowledge’, ‘God, give me wealth’, and so on. This is karma-misra bhakti (devotion mixed with material pursuits).

Jnana-misra bhakti means that people have knowledge (there are many scholarly missions and highly educated people in this world) and consider themselves Brahma. In other words, they consider themselves Gods. They chant, ‘Vande Purushottam! I am God!’ [Lit. ‘Glory to supreme humankind!’] Mahaprabhu was the Lord Himself, but whenever anyone called Him God, He would say, ‘What?! No, no!’ He did not want to hear it and prohibited others to say this. Vaishnavs also never think that they have become Vaishnavs, ’“Ami ta vaisnava” e buddhi haile amani na ha’ba ami. If I think, “I am a Vaishnav”, I will never stop expecting honour from others.’ There are many tilak-wearing people roaming around. I will not mention any names, but many like to walk around wearing tilaks, considering themselves great sadhus. People come, get initiation in Nabadwip and think they have become great Vaishnavs!

‘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”, 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)

“গোরার আমি, গোরার আমি” মুখে বলিলে নাহি চলে ।
গোরার আচার, গোরার বিচার লইলে ফল ফলে ॥

‘gorara ami, gorara ami’ mukhe balile nahi chale
gorara achara, gorara vichara laile phala phale

‘Just saying, “I am Gora’s! I am Gora’s!” will not do. Only when you follow Gora’s practice and Gora’s conception will you get the proper result.’

লোক দেখান গোরা ভজা তিলক মাত্র ধরি ।
গোপনেতে অত্যাচার গোরা ধরে চুরি ॥

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari’
gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

‘You put on tilaks and show the whole world that you serve Gora, but secretly you do outrageous things. Gora will catch you out, thief (hypocrite)!’

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6–7, Sri Jagadananda Pandit)

Gora knows what you are doing! He can understand everything, and He will catch you out. Always remember these things.

So, initially, Jivan Chakravarti’s devotion was karma-misra bhakti. When Siva Thakur came to Jivan Chakravarti and asked him what he wanted, Jivan Chakravarti said, ‘I want some money to get my daughter married. She has grown up now, but I have no money to arrange her marriage.’ Then, Siva Thakur said to him in that dream, ‘I do not have wealth, but you can go to Vrindavan. There is a sadhu, Sanatan Goswami, there – He has extremely valuable wealth…’

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Length: 58 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Attachment to Sadhus
2) Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
3) Jivan Chakravarti's Pastime (1)
4) Jivan Chakravarti's Pastime (2)
5) Result of Service Mood
6) Joining Lord's Pastimes