(1/6) Attachment to Sadhus

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar area, evening programme
13 February 2021, part 1
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

‘The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill – all it takes is mercy from gurudev.’

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the reddish soles of the lotus feet of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj begging him for his causeless mercy, aspiring to serve him. After that, I am offering my full obeisance to all assembled guru-varga, godbrothers, to all the listeners, to all the motherly lady devotees, and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet, praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

It is said in the scriptures that a bad day is not a cloudy day. What day is a bad day? A bad day is the day when we do not get to hear Hari-katha (when we cannot hear about the Lord). Material people never listen to discourses about the Lord – even if they have time, they do not listen about the Lord: they gossip and talk about all sorts of things, which creates an obstacle to devotion. Do not gossip, do not waste time telling each other stories. Do not waste time on nonsense.

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

‘Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour from others, give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

Serve Radha-Krishna in your minds; do not gossip or get involved in idle talks. To be able to do this, you need to keep good association (sadhu-sanga):

‘সাধুসঙ্গ’, ‘সাধুসঙ্গ’—সর্ব্বশাস্ত্রে কয় ।
লবমাত্র সাধুসঙ্গে সর্ব্বসিদ্ধি হয় ॥

‘sadhu-sanga’ ‘sadhu-sanga’—sarva sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

‘All scriptures keep saying: “Good association”, “Good association.” You can attain all perfection even just by a drop of good, saintly association.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.54)

What does associating with sadhus give? I will explain it to you using one example.

At Srivas Pandit’s house in Nabadwip, there lived a maid. Her name was Duhkhi. She did not have any children or family, neither did she have any education. There was always kirtan going on at Srivas Pandit’s house – whenver she heard it, she could not understand it, but she would still always come and just sit and listen. She washed the dishes, brought water from the pond and did other chores around the house (in olden days, there were no taps, so people would bring water for cooking and cleaning from a pond or a river). When it was the time of Mahaprabhu’s appearance and Srivas Pandit was arranging a festival, he told Duhkhi, ‘Duhkhi, you know, you bring water from the pond every day, but today you should bring more water – my Prabhu, Gauranga Mahaprabhu, will come today, and we will offer Him abhisek (bathe Him).’ Hearing this, Duhkhi became very happy and started to cry for joy, ‘I bring water every day, but today the Lord will bath with the water that I bring!’ When Mahaprabhu came, Duhkhi kept bringing more and more water, and as she carried water home, she was always crying.

Mahaprabhu noticed her and eventually asked her, ‘What is your name? Why are you crying? What is making you so sad?’

‘Prabhu, my name is Duhkhi [lit. “unhappy”],’ she answered.

‘No, your name is not Duhkhi anymore! From today, your name is Sukhi [lit. “happy”]!’

She received the Lord’s mercy that day. What did she do? She just washed the dishes. So many great personalities, so many rich people could not get Mahaprabhu’s mercy, but this Duhkhi, who only washed dishes, got Mahaprabhu’s mercy. There are many examples like this.

There was also a Muslim tailor at Srivas Pandit’s house. One day, he came to Srivas Pandit’s house and lamented, ‘Why was I not born in a Hindu family? Why was I born in a Muslim family? If I had been born in a Hindu family, I would be able to serve the Lord and get His mercy…’ Such was his heartfelt desire.

— : • : —

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Size: 28 Mb
Length: 58 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Attachment to Sadhus
2) Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
3) Jivan Chakravarti's Pastime (1)
4) Jivan Chakravarti's Pastime (2)
5) Result of Service Mood
6) Joining Lord's Pastimes