Eternal Priorities

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Guru Purnima day, Kolkata-Worldwide
5 July 2020, part 4

Question: I heard that devotees do not make offences by mistake and that devotees do not go to hell. Could you please comment on it?

Yes, if devotees do not make offences, why will they go to hell? If it is a proper devotee, then they always stay with the Lord, with their Guru. Why will a proper devotee go to hell? Devotees always chant the Holy Name. Everybody can make a mistake—to err is human—but our Gurudev is there, our guru-varga is there, and they can correct us. What is the problem?

Also, we always think that we are offenders, that we always make offences. Consciously or unconsciously, but we make so many offences. How do offences come? There are thirty-two kinds of offences to service (seva-aparadh), ten kinds of Vaishnav-aparadh, Dham-aparadh, Nama-aparadh. There are so many offences (aparadh). We inevitably make offences, but at the same time, offences can be removed through service.

Question: Could you please explain the importance of the books Sri Brahma-samhita and Sri Krishna-karnamrita for our sampradaya?

Yes, Brahma-samhita is one of the main books of our sampradaya. Mahaprabhu found this book in South India, He read it Himself also. Brahma-samhita is a record of Lord Brahma's words. It is necessary and important to read this book, to read all the slokas and understand their meaning.

Mahaprabhu brought two books, Sri Krishna-karnamrita and Brahma-samhita. He found them and brought to Puri, but those who are offenders (ninduk) say that Mahaprabhu had written them Himself. It is not true. Brahma-samhita is what Brahma told, it contains Brahma's prayers and realisations.

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

This and other famous and fundamental slokas are found there. Sometimes, when we write books, we also quote different verses from Brahma-samhita. When you read Chaitanya-charitamrita, you will find there a description of how Mahaprabhu brought these two books, there is no elaborate big description—He found these books, brought them to Puri and distributed among devotees. There is no big history about it.

Are there any other questions?

Question: Chaturmasya starts today, could you please explain to us how to observe these four months of Chaturmasya?

Actually, Gurudev said that we cannot follow Chaturmasya properly. The rules of Chaturmasya or niyom-seva month are very strict—you cannot take some kinds of vegetables, cannot take this, cannot take that. So many things are written about it in Hari-bhakti-vilas. Gurudev did not give much importance to Chaturmasya—he always took prasadam.

One time, Sripad Damodar Maharaj was in Kaikhali and one of Gurudev's disciples gave Sripad Damodar Maharaj some patal [a type of vegetable prohibited during Chaturmasya] during Chaturmasya. Damodar Maharaj got very angry—he jumped up and ran to Gurudev's room. It was twelve o'clock, Gurudev was resting, so he sat by his door and waited, waited. When Gurudev woke up at 2:30 p.m., he came to Gurudev and said, "I am going to do a hunger strike if you do not kick this man out! He has given me patal!" And Gurudev replied, "Maharaj, you always see patal, but I do not think that I am taking patal—I think I am taking prasadam."

Do you understand? There are so many restrictions—you cannot take tomatoes, cannot take patal, these things, those things, etc. There are many rules and regulations. During the niyom-seva month also, there are many things necessary to follow, but Gurudev gave some relief for foreign devotees because they cannot follow all these things properly and cannot follow all the very strict rules that the six goswamis followed properly when they stayed in Vrindavan. That is the main thing.

So, whatever vegetable you get at the market, buy it, cook it and give an offering to the Deities, and take that prasadam. That is sufficient for you. It is not necessary to think too much about Chaturmasya, Damodar month, Kartik vrata, Urja vrata, etc. (there are so many vratas). Do not think so much about it; think only about doing your service properly, about practising properly, about avoiding bad association properly—give much importance to all this, these are the main things for your spiritual life.

...The other day, six devotees came to take initiation from me in the morning. The last one was a lady who has her own hotel and restaurant. She told me that they cooked meat and fish in that restaurant and asked me how she should practise. I told her, "You must chant the Holy Name and do not take that meat, fish, etc. They can cook meat, etc. in the restaurant because it is your business, but you must not eat it." She said she had not been eating meat, fish, etc. for many years, but she worried about the smell of the meat, etc. I said, "What can you do? If you can get a better business, do another business, but until you have not got another business, continue running your hotel." In the meantime, I was thinking, "The lady has a hotel, so many customers come to her restaurant, and now she has come to take initiation—maybe she is giving corona virus to me!" [His Divine Grace laughs.]

Question (from a devotee in Colombia): At this time at present that we are all confined in our homes, what is your recommendation for us?

Everybody is at home, but there is a centre there in Paipa and Bogota (Colombia), why cannot you go to the centre? If your house is the centre, then you can call everybody, hold preaching programmes. Start preaching programmes and practise properly. Offer bhoga every day. If there are no lockdown restrictions, devotees can come and join the sankirtan, you can give class, do sankirtan every day. You must do all this. It is necessary to continue the preaching programme. Actually, one day we all will die, and that day is coming, then why are we losing our time? We must practise. We must give lectures, we must preach. It is necessary. I am also doing that.

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