(3/3) Purity and Imitation

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
19 October 2019, Nrisingha Palli, evening, part 3
Translated from Bengali

His Divine Grace reads from Guidance 3, chapter '108 Questions and Answers':

46) Question: How can we be rescued from inauspiciousness, or spiritual damage?

Answer: The One who can steal (haran) our desire to enjoy is named 'Hari'. This desire to enjoy what belongs to the Lord that we suffer from is called anartha. If remembrance of Krishna comes to us in the association of the Lord's devotees, then we can be delivered from inauspiciousness, otherwise not.

47) Question: What does 'poor Narayan' ['Poor Narayan' refers to the poor (beggar class) conceived as God personified] mean?

Answer: It is a misconception. Narayan can never be poor. He is Laksmi Devi's husband, and He is the master of the whole universe. How can He be poor? And a poor person can never be Narayan. So, both ideas are wrong. A man is sitting on the street, begging – is he Narayan? Then why do people talk about serving 'poor' Narayan? It is all a misconception. Every jivatma is part and parcel of Lord Krishna, a jiva can never become God, so to call a poor man Narayan or to associate Narayan with something poor is atheistic.

You must remember this.

36) Question: Why do pure Vaishnavs do collection?

Answer: The reasons why Vaishnavs do collection are these:

a) to deliver the souls that are charmed by Maya and consider that everything that exists for the pleasure of Krishna is meant for their own enjoyment, and who are thus attached to eating sin;
b) to tell them about Krishna consciousness, to bring them to the bona fide path and the path of eternal spiritual benefit
c) materialists work very hard to earn their own food and clothes, and they think that they achieve material happiness in their life due to their own effort—due to their ignorance, they steal what is not theirs and enjoy sin. Therefore, pure Vaishnavs accept something from them to be merciful to these ignorant soul and help them unconsciously earn some sukriti. Pure Vaishnavs do collection to give mercy to the jiva souls, not to extort tax from them.

Service to Sri Hari, guru and Vaishnavs is service to Sri Gaura Hari and His associates. Remember this. Serving Gaura Hari along with His associates means service to the Lord, guru and Vaishnavs.

42) Question: Why cannot one chant pure kirtan?

Answer: Because of the insult and dishonour people show to the guru-varga, there has appeared a famine of kirtan in the world today. The kirtan of today is kirtan (glorification) of material world, kirtan for the sake of business, kirtan for the sake of amassing money, women and prestige, kirtan for the sake of mundane sense-gratification. Such kirtan is done not out of love for Krishna or for satisfying the Lord. However, when pure devotees do kirtan out of love for the Lord and for the spiritual benefit of the jiva souls, such kirtan is pure.

When I went to the market in Kolkata today, I saw they sell purple yam. Do you get it here?

Devotee: Sometimes they sell it at the big market.

I was thinking to serve it at vaishnav-seva in Hapaniya... We should get twenty-five or thirty kilograms.

[To another devotee] What? Are you tired? If you are tired here, how will you then do Vrindavan parikrama? You will have to run every day – every day kirtan, every day walking for five hours, eight hours. Can you do it? How old are you now? Oh, thirty-seven – you are becoming old [His Divine Grace chuckles].

There is one more beautiful thing written here:

55) Question: What happens if one hates a Vaishnav?

Answer: If one hates, or is hostile, towards a Vaishnav, they will fall down to a terrible hell.

nindam kurvanti ye mudha vaisnavanam mahatmanam
patanti pitrbhih sardham maha-raurava-samjnite

'One who derides a great devotee loses the results of his pious activities, his opulence, his reputation and his sons. Vaishnavs are all great souls. Whoever blasphemes them falls down to the hell known as maha-raurava, accompanied by his forefathers.'

There are many people in Bengal who dislike devotees. Although many people there are naturally disposed to devotional qualities, non-devotion is very strong there. Besides their animosity towards devotees, non-devotees are very enthusiastic to even prevent bhoga donations to devotees. Such ideas, such hatred to Vaishnavs must be stopped in this world. It is necessary to speak about this tyranny aimed at the religious world.

56) Question: Who are the visayi (materialists)?

Answer: Those who waste their time on service to their mundane wife, sons, etc. instead of seeking eternal spiritual benefit.

[To a devotee] What? Are you sleeping? You are always sleepy. Eating, sleeping, fearing and mating – the more you increase these, the more they will increase. I wake up early in the morning, but I do not feel sleepy. When we go somewhere in the car, many people fall asleep, but I am always wide awake. I look around and make sure we drive in the right direction. Even if we drive for ten, twelve or twenty-four hours, I will not be able to sleep in a car. Even if we drive for three days, I will not feel sleepy. Now we go for parikrama by trains, but when we used to go by buses, the journey would take a few days and I could not sleep during all that time. It is necessary to always decrease sleep.

61) Question: Can anyone be called a disciple?

Answer: One does not become a disciple just by taking initiation. If one does not accept punishment with a lowered head (with humility), they cannot be a disciple. Servants of the Lord live in a temple. If the residents of the temple (math) give up proper practice and do not follow the proper conception, they will become 'enjoyers of kamath'. If one gives up the interest of the Math and the service to the Math, such averse soul becomes a kamath resident. [Kamath is possibly a play of words: it means a 'turtle', and in Indian pronunciation, it can sound similar to 'commode', a toilet.]

70) Question: How can one live in Mathura?

Answer: If you want to enjoy and imitate living in Mathura, this this is not living in Mathura.

Some think that they can go to Mathura and live nicely – eat nice food, live in a nice room and enjoy. It is not necessary to work – you can just live freely and get your food served. This is not living in Mathura – it is only a pretence of living in Mathura. If you leave your service, everything in your life will be destroyed and lost.

82) Question: What do intimate devotees hanker for?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad said, "Intimate, or the highest, devotees have no other hankering except for servitude to rupanugas (followers of Sri Rupa)."

83) Question: What is the highest religion of the jiva soul?

Answer: Srila Prabhupad said, "Our highest religion is to serve the Vraja-vasis afflicted by the pain of separation from Krishna when He left for Mathura."

We must accept and worship the divine separation mood that Vraja-gopis felt when Krishna left Vrindavan and went to Mathura...

Let us chant kirtan now and finish.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Length: 28 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Power of Service
2) Spiritual Shield
3) Purity and Imitation