Our Disciplic Succession:
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj  Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj  Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj  Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad
"The Sun Never Sets on Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math":
Worldwide Affiliate Branches and Centres
 
ABOUT US GUIDANCE LIBRARY DAILY PRACTICE PHOTO CALENDAR CONTACT
 

Devotion: Transformation of Heart

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
27 April 2013

 

Does the Lord say to people, "I am the Lord!"? Those who pretend to be God say, "Be it in jungle or in a forest, I will protect you!" But Bhagavatam says,

anugrahaya bhaktanam manusam deham asritah
bhajate tadrsih krida yah srutva tat-paro bhavet [27]

"'To bestow mercy upon His devotees, Krishna assumes a human-like form and manifests His Pastimes. Those who hear about these Pastimes become devoted to Krishna.'

lampata papistha apanake krsna mani'
krsna-lila anukrti kare dharma-hani [28]

"Lewd sinners consider themselves Krishna, imitate Krishna's Pastimes, and desecrate dharma.

bhakta-saba prakrti ha-iya maje krsna-paya
purusa ekale krsna, dasa mahasaya" [33]

"All devotees are female and revel in Krishna's feet. Krishna is the only male, O Das Mahasay."

raghunatha dasa tabe vinita ha-iya
svarupere nivedana kare du'hata judiya [34]

Raghunath Das joined his palms and humbly spoke to Svarup.

tabe kena grhastha thakibe svadharmete
svadharma chhadiya bhakti pare ta' karite" [36]

"So why should householders remain engaged in their social duty when they can give it up and practise devotion?"

svarupa bale, "suna, bhai, ihate ye marma
baliba tomake ami suddha-bhakti dharma [37]

Svarup replied, "Brother, listen! I will explain to you the nature of pure devotion, which is the essence of this matter.

svadharme jivana-yatra sahaje ghataya
para-dharme kasta achhe, svabhavika naya [38]

"Your livelihood is easily maintained by following your own social duty; it is difficult to follow someone else's duty because it is unnatural.

svadharme bhaktira anukula yaha haya
tai bhaktiman jana grahana karaya [39]
yaha yakhana bhakti-pratikula hana yaya
taha tyaga karile ta' suddha-bhakti paya [40]

"When devotees, in the midst their social duty, accept everything that is favourable to devotion and avoid everything that is unfavourable to devotion, then they attain pure devotion.

ataeva svadharma-nistha chitta ha-ite tyaji'
bhakti-nistha karilei sadhu-dharma bhaji' [41]

"So, only if they remove attachment to their social duty from their heart and develop attachment to devotion do they follow the duty of a sadhu.

Even if you are a householder, you can practise—if you practise and maintain your svadharma (religion prescribed for a householder devotee) properly, without markata-vairagya (monkey renunciation), without phalgu-vairagya (false renunciation), if you do not look at or think about others' wives, then you can stay in your house and maintain your life properly, then such life is also good for you. You can live in this way and worship sadhu-dharma, or Krishna's dharma, religion of Krishna.

trividha vaisnavi bhakti karaha vichara
(1) 'aropa-siddha', (2) 'sanga-siddha', (3) 'svarupa-siddha' ara [56]

"You should know that there are three types of Vaisnava devotion: arop-siddha, sanga-siddha, and svarup-siddha.

There are three types of Vaishnav bhakti. We say kanistha adhikari, madhyam adhikari, uttam adhikari, and here they are called arop-siddha, sanga-siddha, and svarup-siddha.

aropa-siddhara katha baliba prathame
susthira ha-iya bujha chittera samyame [57]

"First, I will explain arop-siddha. Focus and understand it with a controlled mind.

baddha bahirmukha jiva visayi pradhana
jada-sanga-matra kari' kare avasthana [58]

"Conditioned souls who are averse to the Lord are mostly materialists and associate only with material things.

jada-sukha jada-duhkha niyata tahara
prakrta samsarga vina kichhu nahi ara [59]

"They are constantly engrossed in material happiness and sadness, and have no experience of anything other than matter.

aprakrta bali' kichhu nahi paya jnana
aprakrta-tattva mane nahi paya sthana [60]

"They know nothing about spirit, and there is no place for spiritual truth in their hearts.

nije aprakrta vastu tahao na jane
araksita sisu yena sadai ajnane [61]

"They do not even know that they are spiritual beings. Like uneducated children, they always remain in ignorance.

kona bhagye kona janme sukrtira phale
sraddhara udaya haya hrdaya-kamale [62]

"By some good fortune, in some birth, as a result of sukrti, faith arises in the lotus of their hearts.

prathama sandhane sune, 'ami krsna-dasa'
e samsara haite uddhare kare asa [63]

"At first, in the course of their search, they hear, 'I am a servant of Krishna', and then they aspire to be delivered from samsara.

First stage of devotion is arop-siddha. It means at first a person has very much attachment to their family but gradually they begin to think, "I am a servant of the Lord." This is arop-siddha.

guru bale, 'suna, vachha, kara krsnarchana'
krsnarchane tabe tara ichchha-sangathana [64]

"Their Guru says to them, 'Listen! My child, you should worship Krishna', and they then become eager to worship Krishna.

After that, the Guru tells them, "You can do seva, you can do kirtan, you can do puja," and slowly, slowly the person can start worshipping Krishna, engage in puja and archan. This is their first engagement, and this stage of devotion is called sanga-siddha, or madhyam adhukari. Sanga-siddha devotees have dainyata—they are humble, tolerant and give honour to others. They also give mercy everywhere—they do not consider who is higher, who is lower, who is good, who is bad, they give mercy to whoever they see, even to the ignorant and fools.

The third type of devotion is svarup-siddha, these are high standard Vaishnavs. Svarupa-siddha is 'Svaruper-upadesh', advice of Svarup Damodar, who possesses this svarup-siddha. His advice is a very high conception, and it is the final prayojana-tattva. Svarupa-siddha means to always, at every moment practise internal service of Radha-Krishna, it means attainment of service to the lotus feet of Radha-Krishna and to always stay within that service. Whether you eat, rest, sit, or walk, whatever you do, you always think about Krishna, and in the end, in your svarup form (discovering our real identity) you attain the joy of service to Radha-Krishna. This is the final destination. This destination is what is called svarup-siddha...

 

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

 

[His Divine Grace was reading from Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, chapter 17.]

 

· · • • • · ·

 

 

 

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

Download (2 Mb)

 


 

Sanatan-siksa: Spontaneous Loving Devotion
'Sanatan, I have described the practices of devotion guided by rules and regulations (vaidhi-bhakti) to you, now hear about the signs of devotion guided by spontaneous love and affection (raganuga-bhakti).'

 

Ki-rupe paiba seva
'Prabhu, you see no fault in others, you are the saviour of the fallen. Please deliver Narottam this time!'
কিরূপে পাইব সেবা

You are proud that you got initiation, got connection with Gurudev so many years ago, but actually you may not have got anything—otherwise why do you become tired? Why do you become hopeless?

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE | HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE