(7/13) Path of Devotion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 23 February 2021, part 7
Translated from Bengali

জলজা নবলক্ষাণি স্থাবরা লক্ষবিংশতি
কৃময়োরুদ্রসঙ্খ্যকাঃ পক্ষিণাং দশলক্ষনম্
ত্রিংশললক্ষাণি পশবঃ চতুরলক্ষাণি মানুষাঃ

jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati
krmayo rudra-sankhyakah paksinam dasa-laksanam
trimsal-laksani pasavah chatur-laksani manusah

‘There are 900,000 aquatic species; 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities (trees, plants, etc.); 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles; 1,000,000 species of birds; 3,000,000 species of beasts; and 400,000 species of humans.’

(Sri Padma Purana, Sri Vishnu Purana)

Having travelled through these 8,400,000 species, we have finally got human births. We have gone through 400,000 human species, taking birth in many various places, but this time we are very fortunate:

ভারত-ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য-জন্ম যার ।
জন্ম সার্থক করি' কর পর-উপকার ॥

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara
janma sarthaka kari’ kara para-upakara

‘One who has taken birth as a human being in the land of India should take advantage of this birth by bringing benefit to others.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.9.41)

What does it mean to bring benefit to others (kara para-upakara)? It means bringing to this path the souls who are averse to Lord Sri Krishna. You can see so many people gathered here – I have been going house to house, roaming everywhere and preaching in many different places to bring them all here. Many think that I come for some potato, dal and money. This is not so. It is not a problem to get rice, potato or dal, I can buy everything. But if I had not come to your houses, you would not have come here today. You would not have got a chance to listen to these holy talks. You would not have been able to get Lord Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy. That is why I roam this land, going house to house. ‘Krsna bala, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai (কৃষ্ণ বল, সঙ্গে চল, এই মাত্র ভিক্ষা চাই). I am begging you only for one thing: come with us and chant “Krishna”!’ This is all I say to everyone: practise Krishna consciousness.

Nityananda Prabhu says, ‘Amare kiniya bhaja Gaura-Hari (আমারে কিনিয়া লহ ভজ গৌরহরি)! You can buy Me – just worship Gauranga, and I will be sold to you! You cannot buy Me with any amount of money, but if you worship Gauranga, I will be sold to you easily.’ How can we make Nityananda Prabhu happy? By worshipping Gaura Hari. ‘Gora pahu na bhajiya mainu prema ratana-dhana helaya harainu (গোরা পহুঁ না ভজিয়া মৈনু প্রম রতন-ধন হেলায় হারাইনু). I did not worship Gora’s feet, I did not care for the jewel treasure of divine love! I have lost my chance!’

We will now chant the ekadasi kirtan written by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. [His Divine Grace chants ‘Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu.’]

You have all taken so much trouble to come here today. You have come from very far despite the problems with the trains, and today is also an ekadasi tithi. ‘Madhava-tithi bhakti janani, yatane palana kari (মাধব-তিথি ভক্তি জননী, যতনে পালন করি). I carefully observe all holy days related to Lord Madhav – such days are mothers of devotion’ (Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur).

Mahaprabhu started the tradition of observing ekadasi from His own mother. He begged this tithi from her. One day, He asked her,

‘Mother, I want to beg something from you. Will you give it to Me?’

‘I will,’ Sachi Devi replied.

‘No, saying it once will not do. Say it three times.’

‘All right. I will, I will, I will.’

‘You must not eat rice on ekadasi,’ the Lord asked.

Mahaprabhu told this to His mother, showing that you cannot teach others if you have not taught your own mother first (charity begins at home). This is how Mahaprabhu started preaching the necessity of observing ekadasi – from His own mother.

Many fast without taking any food or water on this day (they observe what is called nirjala ekadasi), but Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur relaxed the rules. Our Param Guru Maharaj, Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, wrote Srila Prabhupad’s pranam-mantra:

নিখিল-ভুবন-মায়া-ছিন্নবিচ্ছিন্নকর্ত্রী
বিবুধবহুল-মৃগ্যা-মুক্তি-মোহান্ত-দাত্রী ।
শিথিলিত-বিধি-রাগারাধ্য-রাধেশ-ধানী
বিলসতু হৃদি নিত্যং ভক্তিসিদ্ধান্ত-বাণী ॥

nikhila-bhuvana-maya-chhinnavichchhinna-kartri
vibudhabahula-mrgya-mukti-mohanta-datri
sithilita-vidhi-raga-radhya-radhesa-dhani
vilasatu hrdi nityam bhakti-siddhanta-vani

‘He slashed to shreds the illusion of the whole material universe, putting a stop to scholarly speculations and conceptions of liberation; he eased the strict rules and regulations, bestowing the conception of natural loving worship of the Divine Couple – may the devotional teachings of this Sri Bhaktisiddhanta play eternally in our hearts.’

(Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)

Srila Prabhupad declared a totalitarian war against maya and relaxed strict rules and regulations. Many fast on the full moon (purnima), new moon (amavasya) and many other days, but Srila Prabhupad said that it was not necessary to do all that. We must only fast until twelve o’clock (midday) on ekadasi days. If you cannot fast until midday for some reason (for example, many go out to work in the morning), you can take some potato, fruit or other anukalpa in the morning.

You know the rules. You know that there are five things that are prohibited on fasting days: rice, wheat, barley, pulses, mustard/sesame oil. On ekadasi days, sin stays in these kinds of food, so if you eat these things on ekadasi, you will be committing a sin. That is why these five groups of food are prohibited. On ekadasi, we use peanut oil or sunflower oil to make subji. We boil or fry nuts, take sago, potato, fruit, milk, curd. You cannot take sweets from a shop on this day because you can never be sure how they make them and what they add in them. You can take some home-made sweets.

These are the rules of observing ekadasi.

On the one hand, Mahaprabhu Himself told us to follow ekadasi. On the other hand, He Himself also one day went to the house of Hiranya and Jagadish in Chakdah and ate a full offering, including grains, showing that there is no ekadasi for the Lord. So, the Lord, as well as Deities, is always offered full bhoga, but devotees take only anukalpa on this day.

Today is Sri Bhaimi Ekadasi. You know that there are many ekadasis, and people like to explain what each ekadasi means and what benefit fasting on a particular ekadasi brings, but you should not fast on ekadasi in the hope of getting something. Mahaprabhu told us to observe ekadasi, Gurudev told us to observe it, all our guru-varga told us to observe it, and they all observed ekadasi themselves (they taught others by their examples), that is why we observe ekadasi. It is no use thinking what benefit you can get by fasting on this ekadasi or that ekadasi. ‘I will only do service, and I will not think about the result or desire to have any share of the result (‘tomara samsare kariba sevana, nahiba phalera bhagi’ – তোমার সংসারে, করিব সেবন, নহিব ফলের ভাগী; Saranagati). You have read Srimad Bhagavad-gita. It is said there that we must be active (perform actions; in other words, do service), but we must not enjoy the result. The difference between karma and seva is this: if you do whatever pleases your minds (follow the whims of your minds), that is karma; and if you do what your guru orders you to do, that is seva. Other than this, karma and seva externally look the same.

Therefore, ‘Madhava-tithi bhakti janani, yatane palana kari (মাধব-তিথি ভক্তি জননী, যতনে পালন করি). I carefully observe all holy days related to Lord Madhav – such days are mothers of devotion’ (Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur). Ekadasi is Madhava-tithi, the Lord’s day – we must try to observe this day with care. There are sixty-four types of devotional activities. These five are the main ones:

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

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

‘Associate with sadhus, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, listen to Srimad Bhagavatam, reside in Mathura and worship holy Deities with faith.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.124)

Fasting on ekadasi is also one of those sixty-four practices. Fasting on ekadasi, doing arati, doing parikrama, chanting kirtans, and so on are all limbs of devotion.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) This Is Not a Playground
2) Wrong Worries
3) Pure Identity
4) Worshipful Devotion
5) Meaning of Discipleship
6) Free Mercy, Exclusive Rights
7) Path of Devotion
8) Krishna Conscious Life
9) Sri Nityananda Prabhu's Glory (1)
10) Sri Nityananda Prabhu's Glory (2)
11) Sri Nityananda Prabhu's Glory (3)
12) Sri Nityananda Prabhu's Glory (4)
13) Clean Mood