Meaning of Chastity

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Three
Evening class, 26 March 2021, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Those who take sannyas must do more service. If one becomes a sannyasi and worries too much about their health and asks for a nice comfortable chair, etc.—this is not right. Sannyasis are captains and they are given more right for service. Tridandi (thriple staff) sannyas means 'kaya-mana-vakya'—it means you must serve with your body, mind, and speech. Gurudev gave one more explanation—he said that tridandi sannyas means "being humble, tolerant, and giving honour to others."

তৃণাদপি সুনীচেন তরোরিব সহিষ্ণুনা ।
অমানিনা মানদেন কীর্ত্তনীয়ঃ সদা হরিঃ ॥

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.239)

Those who have these qualities will serve others.

This is what Mahaprabhu taught. It is necessary to distribute prasadam with your own hand, to do everything with your own hands. The problem is that we all want to be masters (prabhu), but none of us are actually masters. I have told you many times—

'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."

One time, some disciple phoned Gurudev saying, "Maharaj, this is so-and-so Prabhu speaking." Gurudev replied, "Oh, and this is your servant Gobe Das 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.'] I heard this from Gurudev. Many introduce themselves to their Guru saying, "I am so-and-so Prabhu speaking," but you are not a master (prabhu), you are a servant (das). Why do you call yourself prabhu? You are a servant (das)! We say, "This is your low servant (adham-das) speaking," and this is sufficient. You must tell the name your Guru gave you [so-and-so 'das'—not 'prabhu'; so-and-so 'dasi'—not 'didi' or 'devi dasi']. We must learn these things.

'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."

You have heard this kirtan. We do not sing kirtans just for the sake of tune. When we were on the parikrama today, I heard somebody was singing lila-kirtan behind our parikrama party. They sing fancy tunes to please the minds of the people—nobody listens to the meaning of the words in such kirtans. We never do this in our Math. Never do this. If Srila Sridhar Maharaj saw or heard anyone do this, he would tell them to get out of the temple. However, Gurudev did not kick anyone out, and I am also tolerating. One time, Srila Guru Maharaj (Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) kicked even Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj out of the temple because he had gone to hear melodious lila-kirtans. Some days later, he understood his mistake and came back, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj had kicked him out (although they were good friends).

I heard somebody was singing at the arati here today and yesterday also. I did not say anything yesterday, but I will say it today. They sang, "Gadadharer gatha mala." Never sing this. Have you ever heard me sing it? Guru Maharaj prohibited to sing this. This is sung by sahajiyas. You can ask me, "In some temples we hear that they sing 'Sri Advaita-Sita Bhagavad-gita' in the song 'Hari Haraye Nama Krsna.' Why do we not sing it in our Math? Everybody sings it, but why do we not sing it?" Srila Sridhar Maharaj's conception is not like everyone's conception. Because you will sing this and think that Sri Advaita Prabhu's spouse Sri Sita Devi is the same as your wife, you will mix it all together, that is why Srila Guru Maharaj prohibited to sing this and instead he told to sing, "Sri Advaita-chandra." Otherwise people will start thinking that all sadhus can keep a wife. Another thing is that Mahaprabhu shows the mood of Srimati Radharani, and He comes to this world to manifest His magnanimous pastimes (audarya-lila), but the divine love He manifests is niskama-prema (pure divine love devoid of any material desires). This is not the same love that your children show among themselves. Sahajiyas mix these things together—they say, "Oh, Krishna kissed so many ladies," and they start kissing many ladies. This is what sahajiyas (imitators) do. If you try to do this, people will beat you. So, no "Gadadharer gatha mala." It is "Bhakta-ganer ghata mala." We always chant, "Jaya Sachinandana Jaya Gaura Hari!" and what do sahajiyas chant? "Vishnupriya-prana-dhana Nadiya bihari." Do we ever sing this? We do not. We sing, "Bhakta-gana-prana-dhana Nadiya bihari." One time, when we came to Yogapith with the parikrama, we heard somebody started singing "Vishnupriya-prana-dhana Nadiya bihari," and Srila Yati Maharaj (President Acharya of Sri Chaitanya Math at that time) came and forcefully kicked them out.

It is necessary to understand that our conception and line is different from others and we do not mix with everyone—we do not go everywhere, we do not mix with everyone. Just recently some person came to me and said that he would not go anywhere now. I asked him, "Why do you mix with the opposition?" Wherever there is some party or programme, he goes there to speak, and gets pratistha from everybody. Gurudev is doing kirtan here, his parikrama is here, his Hari-katha is here, but he goes to whichever other party where there is some programme. I asked him, "Why do you go there?" He said, "Oh, I go there for guru-seva (for the service to my Gurudev)." "Guru-seva? Then why do those people never come here? You are wasting your time!" We are separate from other groups! That is why it is necessary to know what chastity is. We do not mix with everyone. We always stay separately from other groups.

When I saw that Gurudev's and Srila Guru Maharaj's conception had all become perverted, I left that place [Koladwip Temple]. They have destroyed all conception of Srila Sridhar Maharaj and Srila Gurudev, the entire conception and line of Sri Rupanuga Dhara. They have diverted that current! I left that place with so much pain in my heart. We are the current of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, Sri Rupanuga-dhara, Sri Rupa-Saraswati Dhara, Brahma-Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya. You cannot only say 'Gaudiya,' 'Gaudiya' with your mouth—everybody says it, everybody chants kirtans, but why do we keep away from sahajiyas and other parties? Why must we allow to mix these things in? We will never allow all these things to be mixed with our conception and line. We do not care about the tune. Jagad Guru Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur wanted to hear 'Sri Rupa-manjari-pada' kirtan from the holy mouth of Srila Sridhar Maharaj—there were other Vaishnavs present who could sing very well, but did he listen to this kirtan from their mouths? Why did he not listen to it from them? Because Srila Sridhar Maharaj was different from them. If you want to come to the current of pure conception (suddha-siddhanta-dhara), you must come to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. All these other things that are spread by sahajiyas and other parties will not live long.

You know, in my previous ashram, they held one-month-long kirtans. They hire people to chant kirtan for one month (240 prahar). There were women singing also from two o'clock at night—at that time, there would be a huge crowd, and when all the women left, the place would be empty. This is the kind of kirtan they did. People are paid well for such kirtans, they are fed well, they are given nice clothes, etc. I told them that until and unless they stop these kirtans, I will not go there. This is my final word. They told me, "We have made a temple for you here, please come at least once." I said I would not go there because they still had not stopped those kirtans. I left all that and came here, and I do not want to go there and mix with that. Srila Sridhar Maharaj's line is the current of pure conception (suddha-siddhanta-dhara). There is no place for sahajiyas in it, there is no place for mayavadis in it—there is no place for any other aul, baul, kartabhaja, neda, darvesh, sani, sahajiya, sakhibekhi, smarta, jata gosai, ativadi, churadhari, gauranga-nagari groups.

One devotee forced and forced me to allow him to stage a drama at our temple. I told him I did not like all that. He still made it once in Ekachakra, but I do not like it at all. If my Gurudev does not like something, I can never go against him. I cannot do anything against my Gurudev's desire.

Our line is separate. We do not mix with others. So many people come to hear those lila-kirtans, but how many people have they managed to bring to the pure line? How many of those people come to practise pure Krishna consciousness? How many of them become proper, real sadhus? That is why it is said that there is a matter of quality and there is a matter of quantity. If you go to buy eggplant at the market and somebody sells 1 maund (37.3 kg) eggplants for 10 rupees, you buy it very happily, but when you bring it home, you see that it is all rotten. Yet if you pay 10 rupees for 1 kg of eggplant, then you will get good quality. You must eat good things [your conception must be pure]. You can eat luchi, but Gurudev said, "You can eat luchi, but do not eat luchi fried in kerosine otherwise you will have a problem with your stomach and start vomiting." Gurudev always told me this, "Do not eat luchi fried in kerosine."

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