Where Chaste Ones Never Tread

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Four
Evening class, 27 March 2021, part 10
Translated from Bengali

[An indistinct question related to reading Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita and Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata.]

First of all, it is important to understand the siddhanta. Not everybody understands the purport of Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami wrote about very high things. Moreover, even Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami himself always showed much respect for Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur—he always took his name with much respect ("chaitanya-lilara vyasa—vrndavana-dasa; Vrindavan Das is the Vyasa of Chaitanya-lila"). Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, composed by Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur, contains all pastimes of Mahaprabhu's childhood, youth, grihastha, he described everything in simple language, and if somebody cannot understand Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, then it is going to be very difficult for them to understand Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. I have heard many people, even some big pandits from Bangladesh, say that they could not understand anything in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. So, first read Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, then Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. Gurudev also said the same thing. I remember when I just came to the temple, Gurudev told me to read Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita in the evenings during the class, but I would also listen to Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata early every morning when another devotee read it.

Are there any other questions?

[A question about some popular mantra—why it is not chanted or recognised.]

People use this imaginary name, that is why Mahaprabhu did not tell to chant it. It is an offence of the Holy Name to chant it. It is not the Name proper. It is not necessary to even pronounce it. You can compare it to mixing with your brother-in-law. If you are to mix with anyone, it is your husband, not your brother-in-law. (For a wife, to mix with her brother-in-law is abominable.)

When Mahaprabhu left this world, then so many misconception people became prominent. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says, "There are thirteen apa-sampradaya (lines that teach misonception) in this world—aul, baul, kartabhaja, nera, darvesh, sani, sahajiya, sakhibekhi, smarta, jata gosai, atibari, churadhari, gauranga-nagari. One must never mix or associate with them." When Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur lived in this very holy abode, Sri Nabadwip Dham, he said, "I am a sweeper! So many rascals disguised as brothers-in-law are sitting at this market, so many fake mind-following shopkeepers have opened their shops at the market, but I will chase them all out with a broom!" Sri Nityananda Prabhu has opened Nama-hatta (the market of the Holy Name), but so many misconception people infested it, and Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur came and declared, "I will start this market from scratch! I myself will become a sweeper, and I will chase all these auls, bauls, etc. out of here."

[The same devotee is asking if they can go and give some prasad to those people belonging to some apa-sampradayas.]

Why do you need to go there? My Gurudev never went there. If Gurudev went there, I would go too. Gurudev did not tell you to go there, did not give you permission to go there. You know, if anyone invites Sripad Niriha Maharaj to any programme (even if it is somebody from Mayapur), he says, "Tell Gurudev—if he tells me to come, I will come." One time, they called me from Mayapur and asked, "Maharaj, there will be a Vaishnav-seva, can you or somebody from Nrisingha Palli come?" I asked, "Have you not told Niriha Maharaj?" The devotee replied, "I have, but he says I must tell you, and if you tell him to go, he will come." Then, I sent him to go there. If it is necessary, I will send you to go to that place, and if not, then I will not send you there. I do not send everyone to all places. We do not go to all temples of Mayapur also. Why will I enter the places of those who have beaten my Gurudev on his head? Never. You know, we have a big temple behind the old Nabadwip temple, but I never entered inside it—when there was a bamboo grove there, I used to go there to pass stool. After that, I never went there because they are offenders of Srila Sridhar Maharaj. When they were going to buy that land, I told Gurudev, "What if I buy that land first [to prevent them from settling there]?" Gurudev said, "Are you going to buy the whole world? If they make a temple nearby, what is the problem? You have good food in your pond, then all the fish from other ponds will come to your pond." We have Srila Guru Maharaj's books, Srila Sridhar Maharaj's Hari-katha, Gurudev's books, then everybody will come to us. One day people will understand their mistake and they will come to the real path. It is a matter of time only. You can see it now too—how many people come to our temple for the parikrama, and how many people they have (I saw when we were passing them on the street that they only have a handful of people). Anyway, we do not want to talk about all this. The main point is that we do not go to all places. Go along the straight road and do not change the line to any other place. I do not even want to hear the name you are mentioning—I want to put fingers in my ears. What to speak of going there, we should not even hear their name.

There is some temple where they never have any kirtans, preaching, arati, class, etc.—they only offer bhog at random times and take prasad at random times. Yet the very heart of a temple is kirtan. It is necessary to listen to Hari-katha and to chant Hari-kirtan. You cannot live following your mind. First, I must learn from my Gurudev what Gurudev says, what is Gurudev's line, then only can I try to say anything to others. It is not so easy.

You can see here sannyasis who are big preachers, but they never told me, "Can I speak please?" My disciples never say this either. When you are with your Guru, you must not even speak at all—sit quietly. If Gurudev says something, then you can speak. On his last Vyasa-puja Gurudev told me to speak for ten minutes, and I spoke for five minutes at the end of his speech, and that too was only five minutes. This is the only time I spoke together with Gurudev. It was Gurudev's last birthday, 4 December 2009. One must always keep quiet in front of their Gurudev, it is necessary to listen to what Gurudev says. If you have some questions, I have told just now that you can ask (I have given an order to ask), then you can ask.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (2.9 Mb, 7 min)