(2/4) Good Qualities

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar, evening class,
12 April 2019, part 2
Translated from Bengali

'Chhaya vega dami' chhaya dosa sodhi' chhaya guna deha' dase (ছয় বেগ দমি' ছয় দোষ শোধি ছয় গুণ দেহ দাসে). Please subjugate my six urges, rectify my six defects and bestow the six good qualities upon this servant.' These six good qualities are the things that are favourable to devotion; we must know what they are.

I have mentioned enthusiasm (utsaha) earlier. For example, Srila Gurudev's festival is coming soon, so you should think what is necessary for the festival, what is necessary to arrange or supply. The Lordships will have a festival, so They need a nice outfit, nice bhoga must be offered, nice garlands should be made, flowers need to be bought, and so on. Always think about Them. Always think how to celebrate all these days gorgeously. That is called enthusiasm for devotional programmes. We must be eagerly awaiting, 'When is the festival? When will I be able to observe it? When will I be able to serve the Lord?' It is necessary to practise this with affection.

The next good quality is determination, or strong faith. Faith must not be fickle or deceitful. You have faith now, you do something, but after a while you start thinking, 'Oh, the Lord does not care.' 'Avaisya raksibe Krsna visvasa palana': it is necessary to believe that Krishna will protect you. That is called determination.

Patience. It means that even you do not see the aspired-after result right away, you do not give up. It is necessary to wait. You think, 'I took initiation and my guru's shelter a long time ago, I have been practising for so many years, but I am still not getting anything – I still have not seen the Lord!' It is necessary to have a strong desire, attraction for all that. It is not like you should ever stop your service and stop chanting the Holy Name. You think, 'Oh, the Lord is not giving me His mercy – He is only giving me suffering, pain and problems.' Even if you are struggling, it does not mean you must lose faith – these are all tests. The Lord is testing you to see how much you will be able to tolerate. That is why it is necessary to have patience. It is a very important quality.

The fourth good quality is engaging in activities that are favourable to devotion. These activities are sravan and kirtan: listening about the Lord and chanting the Lord's Names and glories. I have just chanted a few kirtans now – you must chant them, too, every morning and evening.

The fifth good quality is rejecting your own happiness and pleasure for Lord Krishna's sake. You must throw away (forget and give up) your own happiness for the service of the Lord and your gurudev. It also means rejecting bad association. Whose association should be rejected? The association of the unreligious, women, hen-pecked men and materialistic people who either do not believe in God or use religion for their own gain. There are people in this world who only stir problems in the name of religion.

The last, sixth, good quality is devotional mood: it means adopting the mood of sadhus and living following their example. I have told you many times about Srivas Pandit.

Srivas Pandit was a householder devotee, but he did not have so much wealth or property. He was not a rich man. Mahaprabhu told him, 'You must always chant kirtan, and I will come to your house.' Mahaprabhu said, 'Where do I stay? Wherever Sachi Mata is cooking, wherever Nityananda Prabhu is dancing, wherever Srivas Pandit is chanting, and at the house of Raghav Pandit. So, one day, Mahaprabhu told Srivas Pandit, 'Chant kirtan every day at your house, and when devotees and local people come to your house, give prasad to everybody.' Srivas Pandit was not rich, so he would go begging house to house. He would offer whatever he collected to the Deities and distribute that prasad to the devotees who came to chant the Holy Name in the evening. At the same time, there were also some naughty people who said, 'Oh, what is Srivas Pandit begging for? He is collecting things for his own enjoyment – he is begging and enjoying our nice things, living a nice life!' People made such offences, and Mahaprabhu wanted to put an end to it.

So, one day, Mahaprabhu again told Srivas Pandit,

'Srivas, from tomorrow, you will not go begging again.'

'What? You told me that people will come every day and I must give them prasadam. If I do not go begging, where will I get prasadam? I do not have any job. Where will the money come from?'

'I do not know these things,' Mahaprabhu replied. 'What you will do is your matter, but My order is that you are to never go begging again from tomorrow.'

'OK, eka-tali, du-tali, tin-tali,' Srivas Pandit said, clapping his hands three times.

'What language are you speaking? What is all this clapping?'

'It means this: I will fast one day, I will fast the next day, and on the third day I will not be able to fast any longer – if I cannot fast, I will jump into the Ganges and commit suicide.'

'Oh, all right. It is your matter,' Mahaprabhu joked. 'If you commit suicide, no problem!'

The next day, Srivas Pandit did not go begging, but so many people brought so many things to his house – rice, dal, vegetables, everything! After that, Srivas Pandit said, 'Yes, Prabhu, You were right.' That is called the strongest faith.

It is necessary to have strong faith and patience.

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

'Sraddha is a firm, determined faith that by serving Krishna all actions are accomplished.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.62)

Remember this.

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Heal Yourself
2) Good Qualities
3) Qualification for Chanting Holy Name
4) Read and Learn