(1/8) "Guru-mukha-padma-vakya chitete kariya aikya"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 7 February 2021, part 1

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.
Jay Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa-kula-churamani Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundar jiu ki jay.
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay.
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay.
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay.
Vrinda Devi, Tulasi Devi, Sri Bhakti Devi ki jay.
Sri Shyama Kunda, Radha Kunda, Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay.
Sri Mayapur Dham, Sri Nabadwip Dham, Sri Vrindavan, Mathura ki jay.
Sri Purusottam Ksetra ki jay.
Baladev Subhadra Jagannath jiu ki jay.
Akar Math-raj Chaitanya Math ki jay.
Mayapur Yogapith ki jay.
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay.
Tadiya sakha math-samuha ki jay.
Sri Mather sevak vrinda, bhakta-vrinda ki jay.
Ananta-koti Vaishnav-vrinda ki jay.
Sri Gaudiya acharya-vrinda ki jay.
Tridandi-pad-gan ki jay.
Saparsada Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay.
Saparsada Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay.
Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay.
Suddha bhaktir vighna vinasa-kari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay.
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay.
All the assembled devotees ki jay.
All the worldwide devotees ki jay.
Harinam sankirtan ki jay.
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol.

I am giving my full obeisance to all the devotees, all the sannyasi- and brahmachari-bhakta-vrinda as well as all of my well-wishers and friends. I am very happy to see you all today. I see that so many devotees are joining this programme from their homes – they connect to this Zoom programme through the internet. I know the situation in some countries is still bad (some countries are still in lockdown), so devotees cannot go to the temples. I have also heard the news from London that devotees there cannot go to the temple so much, and those who live in the temple only do the daily programmes and puja. It is necessary to continue regular programmes and worship the Deities properly.

Scriptures tell us about what is sadhu-sanga (good, saintly association) and what is asadhu-sanga (bad, unholy association).

There are six main practices, and sadhu-sanga is listed as the first among them:

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

‘Associate with sadhus, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, listen to Srimad Bhagavatam, reside in Mathura and worship holy Deities with faith.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.124)

I was at a programme the day before yesterday, and I was telling everybody about a lecture of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur that I had read. Somebody asked, ‘What is good association? What is not good association?’ Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave the following answer. There are nine kinds of devotion (nava-vidha bhakti). As you know, when we go on Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, we always speak about nava-vidha bhakti – we describe what kind of devotion exists at each of the nine islands. So, if you practise at least one of these nine kinds of devotion, it means you are in good association (you are getting sadhu-sanga), and if you do not practise any of these kinds of devotion (not even one of them), it means that you are in bad association (you are getting asadhu-sanga).

That is why it is necessary to practise at the very least one kind of devotion every day. The nine kinds of devotion are sravanam (listening about the Lord), kirtanam (chanting the Lord’s Name and glories), smaranam (remembering the Lord), pada-sevanam (serving the Lord’s lotus feet), archanam (worshipping the Lord’s Deity), vandanam (offering obeisances and prayers to the Lord), dasyam (serving the Lord as a servant), sakhyam (serving the Lord as a friend), atma-nivedanam (submitting yourself to the Lord).

We go to work every day early in the morning and sometimes do not get time to do much, but at least practise smaranam (remember the Lord), vandanam (pray to the Lord) or sravanam-kirtanam (listen about the Lord and chant the Lord’s Name and glories). Listen to lectures in the morning. Sometimes, devotees do not get time to do archan (worship the Deities), they do not get time to do vandanam (recite prayers) or chant all rounds properly – understanding this situation, Gurudev always said that you must chant minimum four rounds every day, but only that is not enough – even sravan and kirtan must be practised every day. If you work the whole day and get time to listen to a lecture only once a week, it will not do. You must practise minimum one kind of devotion every single day. You may not get time to cook every day, but you must practise minimum one kind of devotion every day, that will bring great benefit and great association in your spiritual lives. It is very important.

There is smaranam, kirtanam, arati, archan, puja, all kinds of Deity worship – there are sixty-four types of devotion in total, but you must practise minimum one bhaktyanga (limb of devotion) every day. It is very important for your spiritual life.

— : • : —

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Length: 49 min
Language: English

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) "Guru-mukha-padma-vakya chitete kariya aikya"
2) Internal and Eternal
3) Clearing the Path
4) Cause of All Causes
5) Do Not Be Disheartened
6) Forthcoming Festivals
7) On Importance of Chastity
8) Study and Learn