(7) Botched and Bullheaded

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 1 April 2019, part 7
Translated from Bengali

Some always think just how to earn two rupees. This is 'debal thakur puja' ('paid service'). You want to worship Shani, Kali, Laksmi at home, so you get a brahman to do puja and he comes and asks you for ten or twenty rupees. He thinks about money, not about you: 'Oh, they will give me twenty rupees here. Let me do everything quickly and get out of here.' He does his 'puja' quickly, for two or five minutes, and runs away. He does it to earn money and to get something, 'Oh, they gave me a big gumcha this time, not a small one!' This is not worshipping God with heart and soul. If you get somebody to worship God in exchange for a salary, this is not sincere worship from one's heart. You must worship God with heart and soul – this worship must come from your heart. 'Sraddhaya sri-murtira sevana. Serve the Deity with faith.' A hired brahman will only think about his salary – he will do all his 'namah', 'namah' quickly and run away. Even when he offers bhoga, he does not worry if the cooking is done well or not ‒ instead, he thinks, 'What is my meal going to be like today?' He does not even offer bhoga to the Lord. He takes a plate to the Deity and, seeing that everything is arranged nicely, he thinks, 'Oh, I am going to eat so nicely today!'

[A devotee comes] Oh, ** has come? That is why I love him – he keeps his word. Even if he goes away, he always comes back.

There was a pujari in Nabadwip (he was a brahman and bore the title 'gosai'!). One day, he was taking a plate with the bhoga for the Deities upstairs. I was, perhaps, sitting on the second floor. Seeing me, he complained to me, 'How can they offer so little paneer to the Lord?'

I told him, 'Look, probably there was less milk, so they did not make so much paneer. I will check it.'

'No, they have been putting less paneer past few days.'

'It is winter now, cows give less milk in the winter. If you say that there is too little for the offering, I will ask the cooks. You can go now, take this bhoga to the Deities.'

'But how will I eat? There is so little paneer for me!'

'Oh, are you thinking about the Lord or about yourself? You are taking bhoga to the Deity but thinking that this paneer will not be enough for your stomach – your offering is void.'

This is a pujari, and this is the person who uses the title 'gosai'. Many sannyasis also like to use this title. Do you know the meaning of this word 'gosai', or 'goswami'? 'Go' means 'cow' and also 'senses'. There are ten senses: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin (chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak – চক্ষু, কর্ণ, নাসিকা, জিহ্বা, ত্বক্) and feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth (pada, pani, payu, upastha, vak – পদ, পাণি, পায়ু, উপস্থ, বাক); also there is mind, intelligence and ego (mana, buddhi, ahankar – মন, বুদ্ধি, অহঙ্কার). 'Swami' means 'master'. So, 'go-swami' means 'a master of his senses', it is applicable to those who have conquered their senses. Such souls have conquered their eyes, ears, mind, genitals (sex desire), and even intelligence and ego. Gurudev said, 'Everybody is using the title "goswami" these days.' There was one devotee in another mission who gave up sannyas. Gurudev said about him, 'If ** is using the title "goswami", then what title is my Guru Maharaj to use?' That devotee had ten wives but used the title 'goswami'! He is not a goswami. Gurudev continued, 'But, then, yes, he can say that he is a goswami – a bull (a master of cows)!'

They use big titles such as 'goswami', but our vision is that we have not even been able to become Vaishnavs!

'আমি ত' বৈষ্ণব', এ বুদ্ধি হইলে
অমানী না হ'ব আমি ।

‘ami ta vaisnava’, e buddhi haile,
amani na ha’ba ami

‘If I think, “I am a Vaishnav,” then I will never stop desiring honour.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

That is why we call everybody 'Prabhu' (master) and 'Didi' (sister), we offer obeisances to each other, we respect each other. We see ladies as younger sisters or mothers. It is necessary to be like this. Always remember this.

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