(5/6) "Please Forgive Me"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 14 February 2021, part 5

Actually, all Deities are non-different from each other. We give jay to many Deities: Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar, Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Madan-mohan, Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Damodar, Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Ramana-sundar, Radha-Gopinath and others. There are so many Deities, but They are all non-different from one another.

One time, a devotee asked Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, ‘Whom am I to worship, Gauranga Mahaprabhu or Lord Krishna?’ And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, ‘Do not differentiate between Them. They are non-different from one another.’ So, do not look who worships Lord Krishna and who worships Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu. You must not create such artificial rules and divisions. It is not good.

We always sing this song written by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur,

গোপীনাথ, মম নিবেদন শুন ।
বিষয়ী দুর্জ্জন, সদা কামরত,
কিছু নাহি মোর গুণ ॥

gopinath, mama nivedana suna
visayi durjana, sada kama-rata,
kichhu nahi mora guna

‘Gopinath! Please hear my humble petition. I am a gross materialist and a very bad person who always indulges his desires. There is nothing good in me.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

It is a very nice song, a prayer to Radha-Gopinath. You can sing it.

গোপীনাথ, মম নিবেদন শুন ।
বিষয়ী দুর্জ্জন, সদা কামরত,
কিছু নাহি মোর গুণ ॥

gopinath, mama nivedana suna
visayi durjana, sada kama-rata,
kichhu nahi mora guna

‘Gopinath! Please hear my humble petition. I am a gross materialist and a very bad person who always indulges his desires. There is nothing good in me.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur sings in this way; it is a very nice song. You can recite it regularly. The main point is that we always pray for mercy. Devotees do not ask for anything for their own interest – they always feel, ‘We are always making offences to the Deities. We do not give enough respect to the Deities.’ That is why they pray for mercy.

You must understand that Gaura-Nitai in Parama Karuna (Venezuela), Nitai-Gauranga here in Ekachakra, Gaura-Nitai in Nrisingha Palli, Nimai-Nitai in Malaysia and Nitai-Gaura Deities in Singapore are not separate – They are all non-different from each other. They are the same Deities. So, for example, Parama Karuna’s Deities are non-different from the Deities in Ekachakra.

Our main prayer is, ‘I have no devotion, I have no qualities or qualification to serve You! I am a fallen soul, I am always torturing You so much because I cannot serve You properly, but You can digest all my torturing… I always make offences to You, but I am begging You to please forgive me my offences.’ This is all you can ask the Deities for. You can ask gurudev and the Deities only this: ‘Please forgive my offences.’

From Guidance, Volume Four:

It is necessary to be very careful and very clean on the path of worshipping Deities. This cleanliness must be in the kitchen, in the storeroom and in the temple. If everything in the service of the Lord is not clean, it will be an offence (aparadha). If the servitor’s leg accidentally touches the offering plate, it is necessary to wash the plate immediately. Somebody may think to themselves, ‘Well, what to do? These things happen when one does service.’ This mood leads to offences. There should be much respect and reverence in Deity worship. Otherwise, those who commit such offences lose their service.

You do not become a brahman just by hanging a brahman thread on your body. When this sense of reverence, sense of cleanliness comes, then you can understand that some brahmanic qualities have come to you. Otherwise, if you still have the qualities of a meat-eater, what will wearing a brahman thread change? You must be careful even with the items you procure for the worship.

The Lord is happy when His devotees approach His service with care. Service is rewarded with more service – when this happens, you will no longer know any leisure. When the Lord accepts somebody’s service, He gives them even more service; and when He does not accept somebody’s service (when there are offences in the service), then the service goes away from them. The result of the offences committed in the course of service (seva-aparadha) is losing service. If the Lord does not accept somebody’s service, it means He does not like the person – service to the temple goes away from such people. He does not open His mouth and say anything, but He will awake such a mood in you that it will become impossible for you to stay at the temple. This is a very important point. When you are doing something that He does not want – if He does not accept your service – then material desires will come to you, your desire to enjoy material life will be growing – you will be doing fine, your name and fame will grow, wealth will grow, or such a mood will come to your mind that you will not be able to serve anymore or your health will go down – you will get such a disease that it will remove you from your service forever. These things are the results of offences.

On the other hand, when the Lord accepts your service, then your material desires will grow weaker and weaker. When He accepts your service, you will feel humility, detachment from the material world; you will feel that you are lowly and bereft, a beggar, a renunciate; you will float in divine love, tears will always fall from your eyes, and your heart will melt – you will feel enthusiasm for the service you are doing.

Those who have got some experience of the conscious (transcendental) domain can see all these things. However, if you commit offences when you do service, your heart will become hard – there will be unconsciousness and materialism within you. The Lord keeps away those whose minds and hearts do not get excited, who does not become overwhelmed with enthusiasm when doing their service. For example, if your foot touches some items used for the Lord’s service and you do not give it any importance (‘Oh, what to do?’), you do not feel any fear – this is a symptom of callousness, hardness. When your heart becomes very hard, you will not be afraid of your gurudev or the Lord. If you become daring, you are standing on the path leading to death, and even if you are born in a family of brahmans, you will become an atheist (stone-hearted). Those who have no humility, fear and sense of reverence have no right to worship Deities.

The Lord is antaryami: He is all-knowing, He is the Supersoul. He can understand everything, He can see everything – you cannot cheat Him. Those who have eyes can see it when Sri Gaurasundar indicates something to them secretly. If He accepts your service, you will be getting more service – after one service another service will keep coming. He will keep you submerged forever through such service, He will keep you by His side – He will hijack you.

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Holy Vasanta Panchami Day
2) Extraordinary Qualities of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami
3) Hanker and Aspire
4) Keep Your Head at Vaishnavs' Lotus Feet
5) "Please Forgive Me"
6) Renounce Pride, Not Practice