Become Pure

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, morning class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 25 February 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

One time, I went to Russia with Gurudev, and when we were returning back, we were sitting in the airport in Moscow and Gurudev spoke to the devotees. I think devotees in about 250 cars came to see Gurudev off. At that time, one foreign Guru from another mission asked one of our sannyasis, one Maharaj, "Your Gurudev tells to chant minimum four rounds, but we do not do like this. We say we must chant minimum sixteen rounds!" Then, Maharaj came to Gurudev and told him what that sannyasi had said. Hearing this, Gurudev gave a reply and told Maharaj to go and tell that sannyasi about it. What was Gurudev's reply? He said: we tell to chant four rounds, but what is the difference between chanting four rounds and chanting sixteen rounds? Do we chant the real Holy Name? If we chant sixteen rounds, then we will be making even more offences! So, we tell everyone to chant four rounds so that there would be less offence. This is what Gurudev said. We mostly chant with offences—the more you chant, the more offences you make. So, if you chant four rounds, there will be less offence. That sannyasi thought, "I chant more rounds, I am a great guru!" When you practise, do not tell anyone and everyone about your spiritual practice. "Apana bhajana-katha na kahibe yatha tatha (আপন ভজন-কথা, না কহিবে যথা তথা): Do not tell anyone and everyone about your own bhajan, service and practice." So, when it comes to doing mala, it is better if you do service and chant (sevon-mukhe). Do service and chant, "Krishna, Krishna"—this habit must come to you. Stir the subji, wash the dishes, clean vegetables, work in the rice field—whatever you do, only chant the Holy Name of Krishna, chant the Holy Name of Nitai ("Krishna, Krishna", "Nitai, Nitai").

Another thing is that when you chant the Holy Name, the Holy Name always judges whether you are making offences or not:

‘কৃষ্ণনাম’ করে অপরাধের বিচার ।
কৃষ্ণ বলিলে অপরাধীর না হয় বিকার ॥

'krsna-nama' kare aparadhera vichara
krsna balile aparadhira na haya vikara

"The Holy Name of Krishna always considers who is an offender. Even if an offender chants the Name of Krishna all the time, it produces no transformation within them."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8:24)

Because you are making offences when you are chanting the Holy Name, the Holy Name does not produce any transformation in you. That is why, when I tell everyone, "Say 'Hare Krishna!'", many sit with their mouths shut. I look at everyone's faces and see that. During kirtans, people can clap, but the Holy Name does not come to their mouths. Gurudev also said, "Somebody chants 100,000 Holy Names on their mala, but if you hit them in their belly, they will cry, 'Mother!', 'Father!'—you will not hear them chant the Holy Name at that time!" When you answer the phone, do not say, "Hello"—you must say, "Hare Krishna."

Some become unmindful and forget to even pay obeisance to their Guru. Do you know what kind of Vaishnavs some become? Many people phone Gurudev and say, "This is so-and-so Prabhu speaking." One time, Gurudev said in reply to that, "And this is your servant, Gobe, speaking." ['Gobe' is an extremely informal 'village' variation of the name 'Govinda'; Srila Gurudev sometimes used this name in the intimate relationship with his Srila Guru Maharaj, saying to Srila Guru Maharaj, 'I am your Gobe.'] Gurudev lamented, "They call themselves Prabhu [master]! They feel ashamed to say they are a servant, a slave."

'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."

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."

শৈশব-যৌবনে, জড়সুখ-সঙ্গে,
অভ্যাস হইল মন্দ ।
নিজকর্ম্ম-দোষে, এ দেহ হইল,
ভজনের প্রতিবন্ধ ॥

saisava-yauvane, jada-sukha-sange,
abhyasa ha-ila manda
nija-karma-dose, e deha ha-ila,
bhajanera pratibandha

In my childhood and youth, I always indulged in material happiness and I have become habituated to bad things. Because of my own sins, this body has become an impediment to spiritual practice.

We get mixed up with the material things and our habits become bad. You know, before, I would always bathe with cold water, even early in the morning in winter. After I went for an operation in 2005, doctors prohibited me to bathe in cold water. Since that time, I have got used to using hot water, even when it is hot. Today I did not get hot water. I had to wake up quickly, so I bathed in cold water. I woke up early, at 4 o'clock and did not want to disturb and ask anyone to give me hot water. So, what to do? I took bath with cold water. When I go for preaching, I also have to use cold water and tolerate.

Gurudev said, "Even if Brahma himself or Indra himself come and call you, you must say, 'I am sorry, I have my service to my Guru, I cannot come with you.'"

মানস, দেহ, গেহ, যো কিছু মোর ।
অর্পিলুঁ তুয়া পদে নন্দকিশোর ॥

manasa, deha, geha, yo kichhu mora
arpilun tuya pade nanda-kisora

"I have offered my mind, my body, my household, and whatever else may be mine at Your feet, O Nanda Kisor!"

It is said in this kirtan,

কীট জন্ম হউ যথা তুয়া দাস
বহির্ম্মুখ ব্রহ্মজন্মে নাহি আশ

kita janma hau yatha tuya dasa,
bahir-mukha brahma-janma nahi asa

"I do not want to be Brahma or Indra, I do not mind being born as an insect as long as I can be your servant, Prabhu."

I do not want to be Brahma, I do not want to be Indra—I do not mind becoming an insect as long as I can be your servant! This is a very beautiful kirtan, you must always sing it to yourself. "Kirtana prabhave smarana haibe (কীর্ত্তন-প্রভাবে স্মরণ হইবে): chanting (kirtan) arouses remembrance (smaran)." You are staying at home—do not waste time, you can chant kirtans; you can lie down and read the kirtan book, it will be also good. Engage yourself in the service of the Lord, in the kirtan of the Lord. You will not get any benefit by wasting your time on prajalpa (idle talks). You must understand it yourself, and you must prepare yourself so that the Lord could accept you. If you do not clean yourself, do not make yourself pure, then the Lord will not accept you. When we go to the Lord, He will take us when we are clean and pure. You do not become pure just by bathing in the Ganges. Your heart must become clean. Do you think your heart will become pure by dipping yourself into the Ganges? You must always speak and listen to Krishna-katha, Hari-katha, then your heart will become purified. Our hearts, our minds are contaminated...

All right, I will speak today about Nityananda Prabhu's mahimamrita (nectar of Sri Nityananda Prabhu's glories), and now I will chant one kirtan, after that I will read to you what Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says about the glories of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. The main thing is that we chant kirtan and speak Hari-katha with our mouth, but we do not practise what is written in the kirtans. We must understand this...

[His Divine Grace chants the kirtans 'E-ghora samsara padiya', 'Bhajahu re mana', Hare Krishna maha-mantra.]

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