Perfect Mood

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Begampur, 7 March 2021, part 1

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."

I told this today in the morning. Sambandha, or relationship, means realising that we are always eternal servants of the Lord, servants of the devotees. Yet we always want to be masters—we do not want to be servants.

Suppose somebody takes sannyas—if their father is a householder or even a non-devotee, he must still pay obeisance to his son because his son has taken sannyas. This is Mahaprabhu's teachings, and we should follow it. Even if a ten-year-old boy takes initiation and practises Krishna consciousness, you must address him as 'Prabhu'. This is the rule. Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur often said, "Everybody is my guru, and I am only a disciple. I want to always remain a disciple." "Sambandha janiya bhajite bhajite abhimana hau dura: if we practise Krishna consciousness understanding this proper relation, then our ego will be removed." Sometimes we like to say, "Oh, we are disciples of Srila Sridhar Maharaj!", "We are disciples of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj!"—some people have this ego, thinking they are disciples of a bona fide guru, and somebody else is a disciple of a smaller guru. People discriminate others based on who their guru is, and this is not right. Whoever comes to Krishna consciousness, you must give them an opportunity to come.

kiniba lutiba, hari-nama-rasa,
nama-rase mati' ha-iba vivasa

"When will I buy and festively scatter the rasa of the Lord's Name? When will I become intoxicated and overwhelmed with that rasa?"

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

You will 'buy' and then you will distribute what you have received. After you have received initiation from your guru, you must distribute what you have got to others. This is very important. If each devotee preaches to at least one other person and brings at least one more devotee per year, then there will be so many devotees in Sri Chaitanya Saraswat math. But the problem is that we do not even know how to practise. It is necessary to practise properly. "Sambandha janiya bhajite bhajite abhimana hau dura." Ego always creates problems. We think, "I am a sannyasi, and he is a householder (or a brahmachari)—I am senior, and he is junior!" This is not the right behaviour. If somebody takes initiation and serves their Guru, then even if it is a ten year old boy, you must address them as 'Prabhu' (master)—"You are the master, and I am your servant."

In this way, Sri Vaishnav Thakur says,

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."

'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 am a Vaishnav—if this feeling comes to me—then I will not be able to give respect to others. Mahaprabhu's conception is humility, tolerance, giving honour to others. Sometimes, I give somebody initiation and then sannyas, and they start thinking, "I am a sannyasi now, and my Guru is also a sannyasi. We are equal, our position is the same." This is pratistha. We are always running behind name and fame. Most people in this world pray, "Dhanam dehi, vidyam dehi, rupam dehi, bharyam dehi, yasam dehi: make me rich, make me clever, make me beautiful, give me a good wife, make me famous." This is kanak, kamini, pratistha—we always want gold, women, and fame.

কনক-কামিনী প্রতিষ্ঠা-বাঘিনী
ছাড়িয়াছে যারে সেই ত বৈষ্ণব

kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini,
chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava

"Those who have given up money, women, and fame, are the true Vaishnavs."

(Vaishnav Ke? 11)

Who is a Vaishnav? A Vaishnav is somebody who can avoid kanak, kamini, pratistha. If I think I have become a Vaishnav, then I will not be able to give honour to others. Somebody thinks, "I know everything!"—I was reading Srimad Bhagavatam today and saw there one sloka that says: Who can be a guru? Having a lot of knowledge, being a great scholar or pandit, knowing the conception very well does not make one a guru. Srimad Bhagavatam says that first one must become a proper disciple, then only can one become a guru. You cannot be a proper guru without being a proper disciple. That is why, we pray to Vaishnav Thakur, "I will always be a disciple." Otherwise, "pratisthasa asi' hrdaya dusibe"—when pratistha (desire for fame and prestige) comes, our heart will become dirty and we will 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."

We must worship the feet dust of Vaishnavs. You know, in Bengal people sometimes try to wash your feet, but we always stop them because I do not consider myself a Vaishnav—why will they wash my feet? I am a servant of servants of Vaishnavs. Why must they wash my feet? Why will they touch my feet? I never think I am a Vaishnav. It is also a tradition in Bengal to touch one's feet when offering an obeisance, but we do not accept this. We always consider ourselves servants (tomara kinkara). We must always avoid and reject the ego that "I am a guru!", "I am an acharya!" (guru-abhiman). It is necessary to give it up. "Tomara uchchhista pada-jala-renu"—we always worship our masters' remnants, and we do it without any deceit (niskapate).

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."

We like to think that we belong to a very high class, that we have the greatest position (srestha)—if I take prasadam and then distribute my remnants to others, then my ego will grow ("I take prasadam, and you take my remnants!"). That is why we do not distribute our prasad (remnants)—this is not the proper etiquette for a guru. If somebody distributes their remnants, they are not a proper guru. We always consider ourselves fallen souls, we are servants of servants. Even Mahaprabhu Himself said,

নাহং বিপ্রো ন চ নরপতির্নাপি বৈশ্যো ন শূদ্রো
নাহং বর্ণী ন চ গৃহপতির্নো বনস্থো যতির্বা ।
কিন্তু প্রোদ্যন্নিখিলপরমানন্দপূর্ণামৃতাব্ধে-
র্গোপীভর্ত্তুঃ পদকমলয়োর্দাসদাসানুদাসঃ ॥

naham vipro na cha nara-patir napi vaisyo na sudro
naham varni na cha grha-patir no vanastho yatir va
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramananda-purnamrtabdher
gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah

"I am not a brahman, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaisya or a sudra. Nor am I a brahmachari, a householder, a vanaprastha or a sannyasi. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna, the maintainer of the gopis. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 13.80)

"I am not a brahman, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vasya, I am not a sudra. I am a servant of devotees' servants."

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."

I will always be a disciple. I will not take worship from anyone. Sometimes somebody becomes a guru and says, "You must do arati for me every day!", "You must give me 'jay'!", "You must give me a garland!" Whatever I take, whatever I accept, even if it is a simple garland, I must give 'jay' to Gurudev—I place that garland or whatever else I get at Gurudev's lotus feet.

Who is the proprietor of kanak (money)? Narayan. Who is the proprietor of kamini (women)? The only proprietor of kamini is Krishna—all kama-sakti (power of lust) is for Krishna. As for pratistha, all pratistha belongs to Gurudev. Therefore, we pray, "I will always be a disciple." Gurudev always says, "If you are thinking of becoming a guru, then first you must be a proper disciple, then only can you be a guru." We do not want to be gurus—we always want to be disciples. We are servants of devotees. This is the best position. Therefore, we will not accept worship from anybody—we do not want anyone to worship us.

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."

Who is qualified to sing kirtan? Those who have a good voice, tune, etc.? No. Those who follow the rules and regulations properly. What are the rules and regulations? Humility, tolerance, and giving honour to others. Mahaprabhu said, "Who is qualified (who has the right) to chant the Holy Name?"

তৃণাধিক হীন দীন অকিঞ্চন ছার ।
আপনে মানবি সদা ছাড়ি অহঙ্কার ॥

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara
apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

"Give up your false ego, and always consider yourself lower than grass, poor, needy, and mean."

বৃক্ষসম ক্ষমাগুণ করবি সাধন ।
প্রতিহিংসা ত্যজি অন্যে করবি পালন ॥

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana
pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana

Practise tolerance like a tree. Stop ill-treating others, instead nurture them.

জীবন-নির্ব্বাহে আনে উদ্বেগ না দিবে ।
পর-উপকারে নিজ-সুখ পাসরিবে ॥

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe
para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

Do not trouble others for your own upkeep, and forget your own happiness in the course of helping others.

(Sri Siksastakam Giti)

"Amani manada haile kirtane adhikara dibe tumi: you will give me the right to chant kirtan if I give honour to others." "Tomara charane niskapate ami kandiya lutiba bhumi." What is devotion? Devotion must be without deceit.

দীক্ষাকালে ভক্ত করে আত্মসমর্পণ ।
সেইকালে কৃষ্ণ তারে করে আত্মসম ॥

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana
sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

"At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Krishna accepts them as His very own."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192)

We pay obeisance to Gurudev, but our devotion is deceitful. It is very rare to come across devotion that would be without deceit. Our devotion is such that outside, or externally, we do or say one thing, and we have something else inside, in our heart. This is called kapata-bhakti, or chhala-bhakti (deceitful, or pretending, fake devotion):

suddha bhakta-palana suska-jnana-tadana,
chhala-bhakti-dusana-rama

"He is the maintainer of the pure devotees and the dispeller of dry knowledge. He is the eradicator of pseudo-devotion and the reservoir of all pleasure."

We sing this every morning during the mangala-arati,

kali-kukkura-kadana yadi chao he
kali-yuga-pavana kali-bhaya-nasana,
sri-sachi-nandana gao he

If you want to tame the dog Kali, then chant 'Sri Sachi Nandan!' He is the saviour and destroyer of fear in Kali-yuga.

Mayavadis have suska-jnana, and chhala-bhakti means kapata-bhakti—it means you say one thing with your mouth, and you have something else in your heart. Such devotion is not good. Vaishnavs must be always simple.

suddha bhakta-palana suska-jnana-tadana,
chhala-bhakti-dusana-rama

"He is the maintainer of the pure devotees and the dispeller of dry knowledge. He is the eradicator of pseudo-devotion and the reservoir of all pleasure."

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