(6/11) Become Pure

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, morning class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 25 February 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

One time, I went to Russia with Gurudev. We were returning back, and when we were already sitting in the airport in Moscow, Gurudev spoke to the devotees. I think devotees must have come to see Gurudev off in about 250 cars. At that time, one foreign guru from another mission saw us and asked one of our sannyasis, ‘Maharaj, your Gurudev tells you to chant minimum four rounds, but we do not do like this. We say that we must chant minimum sixteen rounds!’ Then, our sannyasi came to Gurudev and told him what that other sannyasi had said to him. Hearing it, Gurudev gave a reply and told Maharaj to go and tell that sannyasi what he had said. What was Gurudev’s reply? He said: we tell everyone to chant four rounds, but what is the difference between chanting four rounds and chanting sixteen rounds? Do we chant the real Holy Name? If we chant sixteen rounds, we will be making even more offences! So, we tell everyone to chant four rounds so that there would be less offence. This is what Gurudev said.

We mostly chant with offences. So, the more you chant, the more offences you will be making. And if you chant four rounds, there will be less offence.

That sannyasi thought, ‘I chant more rounds, so I am a greater guru!’ When you practise, you must not tell anyone and everyone about your spiritual practice. ‘Apana bhajana-katha na kahibe yatha tatha (আপন ভজন-কথা, না কহিবে যথা তথা). Do not tell anyone and everyone about your bhajan, service and practice. Keep it private.’ So, when it comes to doing mala, it is better if you do service and chant while doing service (sevonmukhe). Do service and chant, ‘Krishna, Krishna’ – you must get into this habit. For example, you can stir the subji, wash the dishes, clean vegetables, work in the rice field, whatever you do, only chant the Holy Name of Krishna, chant the Holy Name of Nitai (‘Krishna, Krishna’, ‘Nitai, Nitai’).

Another thing is that when you chant the Holy Name, the Holy Name always sees whether you are making any offence or not:

‘কৃষ্ণনাম’ করে অপরাধের বিচার ।
কৃষ্ণ বলিলে অপরাধীর না হয় বিকার ॥

‘krsna-nama’ kare aparadhera vichara
krsna balile aparadhira na haya vikara

‘The Holy Name of Krishna considers offences: when one who commits ten offences of the Holy Name takes the Name of Krishna, it produces no transformation in them.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.8.24)

Because you make offences while chanting the Holy Name, the Holy Name does not produce any transformation in you. That is why when I tell everyone, ‘Say “Hare Krishna”!’, many remain sitting with their mouths shut. I look at everyone’s faces and see that. During kirtans, some people can be clapping, but the Holy Name will not come to their mouths. Gurudev also said that somebody can be chanting 100,000 Holy Names on their mala, but if you hit them in the belly, they will cry, ‘O ma!’, ‘Mother!’, ’Father!’ You will not hear them chant the Holy Name at that time. When you answer the phone, do not say ‘hello’ – you must say ‘Hare Krishna’.

Some become unmindful and forget to even pay obeisances to their guru. Do you know what kind of Vaishnavs some become? Many people phone Gurudev and say, ‘This is so-and-so Prabhu speaking.’ One time, when somebody said this to Gurudev, Gurudev replied, ‘Oh, and this is your servant, Gobe, speaking.’ [‘Gobe’ is an extremely informal variant of the name ‘Govinda’; Srila Gurudev sometimes used this name in his intimate relationship with Srila Guru Maharaj, saying, ‘I am your Gobe.’] Gurudev was exasperated, ‘They call themselves prabhu (master)! They feel ashamed to say they are servants or slaves (das).’

‘আমি ত বৈষ্ণব’, এ বুদ্ধি হইলে,
অমানী না হ’ব আমি ।
প্রতিষ্ঠাশা আসি’, হৃদয় দূষিবে,
হইব নিরয়গামী ॥

‘ami ta vaisnava’, e buddhi haile,
amani na ha’ba ami
pratisthasa asi’, hrdaya dusibe,
haiba nirayagami

‘If I think, “I am a Vaishnav”, I will never stop desiring honour – my heart will become polluted with the desire for prestige, and I will end up in hell.’

সম্বন্ধ জানিয়া, ভজিতে ভজিতে,
অভিমান হউ দূর ॥

sambandha janiya, bhajite bhajite,
abhimana hau dura

‘May my ego go away by always worshipping you in full knowledge of the relationship.’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

শৈশব-যৌবনে, জড়সুখ-সঙ্গে,
অভ্যাস হইল মন্দ ।
নিজকর্ম্ম-দোষে, এ দেহ হইল,
ভজনের প্রতিবন্ধ ॥

saisava-yauvane, jada-sukha-sange,
abhyasa haila manda
nija-karma-dose, e deha haila,
bhajanera pratibandha

‘Having enjoyed in my childhood and youth, I have developed bad habits. Because of my previous actions, this body has now become an obstacle to practising spiritual life.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We get mixed up with material things, and our habits become bad. You know, before, I would always bath using cold water, even on early winter mornings, but after I went for an operation in 2005, doctors prohibited me to bath in cold water. Since that time, I have got used to using hot water, even when it is hot. But today I did not have hot water. I had to wake up quickly, so I bathed in cold water. I woke up early, at four o’clock, and did not want to disturb or ask anyone to give me hot water. So, what to do? I took bath using cold water. When I go for preaching, I also have to tolerate it and use cold water.

Gurudev said, ‘Even if Brahma or Indra personally come and call you, you must say, “I am sorry, I have my service to my guru. I cannot come with you.”’

মানস, দেহ, গেহ, যো কিছু মোর ।
অর্পিলুঁ তুয়া পদে, নন্দকিশোর !॥

manasa, deha, geha, yo kichhu mora
arpilu tuya pade, nanda-kisora!

‘I have offered my mind, body, home, whatever I have, at Your feet, Nanda Kishor.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

It is said in this kirtan:

কীটজন্ম হউ যথা তুয়া দাস ।
বহির্ম্মুখ ব্রহ্মজন্মে নাহি আশ ॥

kita-janma hau yatha tuya dasa
bahir-mukha brahma-janme nahi asa

‘I do not mind being born even as a worm as long as I remain Your servant: I do not want to be born as Brahma, averse to You.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

‘I do not want to be Brahma, I do not want to be Indra – I do not mind becoming an insect as long as I can be your servant!’ This is a very beautiful kirtan. You must always sing it to yourself. ‘Kirtana prabhave smarana haibe (কীর্ত্তন-প্রভাবে স্মরণ হইবে). Chanting (kirtan) arouses remembrance (smaran).’

When you live at home, do not waste time. Chant kirtans. You can lie down and read the kirtan book – it is also good. Engage yourselves in the service of the Lord, in the kirtan of the Lord. You will not get any benefit if you waste your time on prajalpa (idle talks). You must understand this yourselves.

Make yourselves fit for the Lord to accept you. If you do not clean yourselves, do not make yourselves pure, the Lord will not accept you. When we come to the Lord, He will take us only when we are clean and pure. One does not become pure just by bathing in the Ganges. Your hearts must become clean. Do you think your hearts will become pure just by dunking yourselves into the Ganges? You must always speak and listen to Krishna-katha, Hari-katha, then your heart will become purified. Our hearts, our minds are contaminated…

Anyhow, I want to speak about Nityananda Prabhu’s mahimamrita (nectar of Sri Nityananda Prabhu’s glories) today. I will chant one kirtan now. After that, I will read to you what Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says about Sri Nityananda Prabhu’s glories. The main problem is that we chant kirtans and speak Hari-katha with our mouths, but we do not practise what is written in kirtans. We must understand this…

[His Divine Grace then chants ‘E-ghora samsara padiya’, ‘Bhajahu re mana’ and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.]

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Length: 67 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Supremely Worshippable Day
2) Do Not Pass Your Life in Vain
3) Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness
4) Meaning of Discipleship
5) Ask Yourself, "Am I Practising?"
6) Become Pure
7) Who Is Nityananda Prabhu?
8) How and When?
9) Scattered Heart
10) Learn the Truth
11) What Do You Need?