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Tag: Sincerity
Slow and Steady
Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj discusses the tṛṇād api principles in depth.
amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ
We should take resort to kīrtan always, but Mahāprabhu recommends that our attitude should be such: tṛṇād api sunīcha, taror api sahiṣṇu, amānī mānada. It is generally upwards, all towards high. Our attitude will be humble, and if we think that we are being done wrong still also we shall take to patience. Amānī, under no circumstances shall we work for our own position and prestige. That should not be our aim.
Amāninā mānadena, and we shall try to respect everybody. It is all mostly connected towards the upper world, towards the Vaiṣṇava world. Tṛṇād api sunīcha, taror api sahiṣṇu, amānī mānada. Our conduct will be always like that, and then only can we thrive well in our campaign.
Slow and steady wins the race: it is a long journey, not a journey to finish within a few hours, or few days, or few years. It is a continued appointment. It is to go on a long way, so we are to adjust accordingly. It is not that we shall run quickly and then we shall stop and sleep, it is not a matter of that type. But it is a long way: we shall have to walk on, and so our attitude will be such, then we will be successful.
Tṛṇād api sunīcha, we should not extend any cause for resistance, which will create resistance. We won’t create such circumstance that invite resistance. Taror api sahiṣṇu: still, if any resistance unexpectedly approaches me, I shall try my best to forbear, being conscious that my guardian’s eye is over me. He is also eager to help me in my campaign. I am not alone; I may go on confident that there is a person above to redress any wrong that can be shown to me. So I may not take initiative in the beginning.
Amāninā, and I won’t allow any other object to come and pollute my aim, the pure purpose of my life. I will have such purity of purpose. The pratiṣṭhā will come, or any other temptation will come, and induce me to go ahead—I won’t, I should never allow anything other than the satisfaction of Guru, Gaurāṅga, Vaiṣṇava, etc. No other element can enter there on my path. The purity of purpose will always be maintained very scrupulously.
Mānadena, and I won’t shrink to give proper conduct, to show proper conduct to my environment. That is, I won’t expect that they will come and help me. Amāninā mānadena, I won’t think, “Why are they not coming to help me?” No: “They are engaged in their own business. It is my own, alone I shall go on with my duty, I won’t be always searching that someone must come and help me.” Mānadena, “They are doing, let them do their own duty; this is mine, I shall go alone with this.”
amāninā mānadena kīrtaniya sadā hariḥ
With this attitude we shall go on. Only with this sort of adjustment may my concentration be more and more intense; my confidence in Kṛṣṇa will be more and more increased and my duty will be purer if I couch myself in such a way. Kīrtaniya sadā Hari. Hari kīrtan.
This will also make us conscious that such sorts of hindrances, obstacles, are almost sure to come to attack us. So you are already given this instruction, that whenever you begin, all these things will come to attack you. But you are already being given this instruction that if they come on your way, and it is almost sure that they will come, you are to deal with them in such a way.
Gaura Haribol, Gaura Haribol, Gaura Haribol.
Source
Spoken 17 February 1982
Avoid Imitation
Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj explains the necessity of sincerity.
Imitation should always be avoided. We must be sincere. Without sincerity, everything is bogus. Sincerity must be there, whatever.
sarala hale gorāra śikṣā bujhiyā la-ibe
(Śrī Prema-vivarta: 8.3)“When you are sincere, you will understand Gorā’s teachings.”
yadi bhajibe gorā sarala kara nija mana
(Śrī Prema-vivarta: 8.2)[“If you want to serve Gorā, make your heart sincere.”]
Be simple, be unassuming, be sincere. Otherwise, everything will be bogus. If you imitate that you are a sādhu, it is gone. Don’t try to imitate, to copy, but really try to be so. Don’t try to copy the external movements of a sādhu, but the inherent thing, the inner thing, try to hit that. Try to acquire the innermost thing. Try to enter into the heart of a Vaiṣṇava and not his figure nor dress. It is difficult, of course, to enter into the heart of a Vaiṣṇava because there is the Temple of the Lord. Still, try to connect and get even a spec, a drop, of the nectar that is within the heart of the Vaiṣṇava, that rasa, a drop of that rasa, is of the highest quality and divinity.
Source
31 August 1981
Pure Risk
Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj explains how one bears the responsibility for one’s own intentions and actions.
Student: If someone is not pure, and they perform an activity like drug smuggling for Kṛṣṇa, couldn’t that possibly increase their material attachments?
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: It is only imitating. If a certain portion of their act is for Kṛṣṇa, they will get the benefit of that, and they will have to suffer for the part that is non-Kṛṣṇa. If they have a mixed attitude, then the result will also be divided. Whatever little tinge is there for Kṛṣṇa, that much will be good, and whatever is for a selfish purpose or any other adverse purpose, one will have to pay for that.
Student: Are there any examples of this?
Student: Why don’t you take the example of those who built a temple by stealing?
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: If a smuggler has their own selfish object, then they will have to suffer. For that purpose, that āchārya who utilised thieves to built the Raṅganāth Temple, took them to the Kāverī River and drowned them after finishing the Temple. He did this so that they would not utilise such behaviour for their own purpose. He utilised it for the service of Raṅganāth, but so that they would not go on with that sort of dacoity, their lives were put to an end. “Don’t do it for yourself. I have done it through you; I have utilised you for the Lord. I am the guaranteer there. But afterwards, you will do it for your own purpose. So, I am making the arrangement to end your life.” This dreadful step was taken by the āchārya. To go on exploiting for yourself in the name of Kṛṣṇa will take you to hell. So, it is a very difficult thing.
Student: If the attitude is mixed, is it better to wait until the person is pure before they perform the activity?
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: Yes. One should not venture until and unless he is certain that his attitude is pure. But it is difficult to understand and judge one’s own purity. So, general common sense should be applied:
na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaśchid durgatiṁ tāta gachchhati
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 6.40)To the best of our sincerity, we shall think and go on, taking the risk. To the best of our sincerity, consulting some bona fide sādhu (saintly person), and at our own risk, we shall do, and the Lord is there to help us if we are sincere.
na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaśchid durgatiṁ tāta gachchhati
“If you are sincere in your attempt but there is some defect within it, I am there to correct that. It is My responsibility to save you.”
What is dharma? In Manu-saṁhitā, the definition has been given as a recommendation.
vidvadbhiḥ sevitaḥ sadbhir nityam adveṣa-rāgibhiḥ
hṛdayenābhyanujñāto yo dharmas taṁ nibodhata
(Manu-saṁhitā: 2.1)Vidvadbhiḥ means Vedavidbhiḥ, those who are expert in revealed scriptures. Sevitaḥ sadbhiḥ means what is practiced by the real saints. And who are they? Nityām adveṣa-rāgibhiḥ: those who are indifferent to the loss and the gain of the mundane world. So, what is religion proper? What such saints accept and practise in their life. Hṛdayenābhyanujñātaḥ: your inner heart will also come to approve it with sincerity. With these signs, we shall approach religious realisation: inner approval, approval of the inner heart, that is, sincerity, what is found in the practices of the saints who are indifferent to the loss and gain of this mundane world, and the third thing, or the first thing, is what is accepted by those who are expert, well-versed, in the revealed scriptures. These three things can give us assurance that we are marching in a right way.
Student: Some people hesitate to accept that the end justifies the means because in Kali-yuga there are so many cheaters, so many false and fallen souls who may misuse this philosophy. Some one may say, “If I kill someone for Kṛṣṇa, then such killing is justified because I am doing it for Kṛṣṇa.” People are afraid to accept this and to accept that such a person is factually representing Kṛṣṇa’s interest.
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: Yes. One’s justification will come as much as one is concerned with the real truth and not with hallucination. The difficulty is always there, between our relative position and the absolute position. What is our progress from the relative towards the absolute? In the absolute consideration, there are higher relative things. That is arranged by Yogamāyā, and that is high above. But at present, how much is our misunderstanding and how much is truth? That we must conceive. The whole thing may be discussed in this way. What is done must have its basis in the revealed scriptures, it must have backing in the practices of the sādhus, and it must have my heart’s approval. After considering these things, the whole risk is in the approval of the heart. How have you come here? Leaving Christianity, your own creed, you were attracted by Swāmī Mahārāj’s lectures and advice. The responsibility for this is where? The responsibility is with the person who makes the choice. Leaving Christianity or Buddhism, or this, or that, you have come to Swāmī Mahārāj. Why? Who has taken this risk of leaving their own association? The heart of he who is enlightened with the advice of the revealed scriptures and practices of the sādhus, he himself is really responsible, he who comes and accepts. Anyone who wants to be a gainer must take risk. I am dissatisfied with my circumstances, and I want some special gain. As much as I feel this, then I shall grade and accept, at my own risk.
That is on the surface, and we are told that our sukṛti guides us underneath.
brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya-līlā, 19.151)[“While wandering throughout the world, a fortunate soul receives the seed of the creeper of devotion by the mercy of Guru and Kṛṣṇa.”]
What is the constituent part of such fortune? Below śraddhā is sukṛti, as ajñāta-sukṛti and jñāta-sukṛti. This means that unconsciously my energy has been utilised by some sādhu, and in exchange for that, I have received some sukṛti, that is, I find some good elements in me. That develops into śraddhā on the surface.
sat-saṅga prāpyate pumbhiḥ sukṛtaiḥ pūrva-sañchitaiḥ
(Bṛhan-Nāradīya-purāṇa)[“The soul attains the association of devotees through his previously acquired sukṛti.”]
Sukṛti guides me to select the company of a sādhu, and with that we come to the sādhu. There, I find something very hopeful, very promising, and that is accepted by my own inner approval. We take the risk of leaving our society, our religion, our country, and attain the end, realise the end, the highest end of our life.
Reference
Spoken 23 December 1982.
Wholesale Captured
Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj explains the attitude needed to put the Rāmānanda Saṁvād into practice.
Student: In the talks between Rāmānanda Rāy and Śrīman Mahāprabhu, so many levels of devotion are discussed, and varṇāśram-dharma is one of the first presented.
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: Yes. Beginning from varṇāśram-dharma, they go to higher and higher levels of realisation.
Student: Would this necessarily take lifetimes for someone to realise?
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: That depends upon the particular case. It is not a general thing. Someone may finish a long course in a few weeks or a few years, and someone else may take a long, long time. It depends upon the particular person.
Student: What is that cause of someone advancing quickly and someone else advancing slowly?
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: You are asking the same question a thousand times.
Student: Oh, I see.
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: Try to realise things. Then, you yourself will be able to answer this question. There is no value in mere repetition of any one question in different colours a hundred times. Try to realise deeply what is told. Try to understand deeply. Think. More than a thousand times, the same thing, the same question, is coming in different ways: “How to?” Only with the help of the sādhu and the śāstra. We are told that to create change within us only these two things have been recommended always. Passive and active higher association. This is the cause. We must submit to them, and they must engage us to obey them. Then change will come. Then the anarthas will clear, and we will be able to know things. Only service can change us, that is, association with the sādhus, obeying them.
A patient can improve only with the help of the advice of a good doctor. The diet and medicine given by a bona fide doctor can help the patient get free from a disease. Similarly, we are patients, and our disease is bhava-roga, mortality. We are in the midst of mortality. Mortality has attacked us in and out. How are we to get free from this disease of mortality? This is the general question. So, according to the real doctor’s advice, we are to deal with it: we are to take medicine, follow a proper diet, and obey his instructions. Thereby, we can get free from the disease of mortality. The influence of the mortal environment has captured us in and out. To get out of that, and to have a clear atmosphere, to have pure consciousness, to have Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to go towards Vaikuṇṭha and then Goloka, that atmosphere, that consciousness, through renunciation of this mortal zone, we are associate with the saints of that realm. In this way, we can come out of this unholy environment that has absorbed us within it. We are to get out of it with the help of the saints and the scriptures. Sometimes the scriptures and whenever available, the saints, by their association, their influence, we are to improve our condition.
At every second, every moment, we are to think: what am I about? Why have I come here? What is the real principle that I am looking towards? And am I going towards my aim? We must always make ourselves intensively busy for this. Even during sleep, we should be able to trace that influence. It must pierce into our innermost heart. It must capture our whole existence, including our dreams. Every aspect of our life must be coloured with this religious feeling of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Talking, moving, eating, even passing stools, everything must be connected with it. The paramahaṁsa always has wholesale connection with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Every aspect of his life is connected with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even his passing stool and passing urine. That also can be connected with Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the paramahaṁsa stage. We are to become Kṛṣṇamaya, wholesale captured by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I will keep my health ready and proper for service, but day and night, I shall always aspire and hanker how my consciousness may be purified, how it may be acceptable by Gurudev, and through Gurudev by Kṛṣṇa.
Not a tinge of selfish viewing of an object should be present in any sort of activity. Every step forward must be for Kṛṣṇa’s cause, not for my comfort. But to keep up my health for the service of Kṛṣṇa, I shall make also arrangements. I will not abruptly jump only to fall and die. Yukta-vairāgya is practisable in my stage, and I shall be very much eager to try to transform myself wholesale for the utilisation of every part of my existence—mental and physical, everything—for Kṛṣṇa’s satisfaction. That will be help us get out of this mundane environment very quickly and proceed towards the eternal blissfulness. We must be very much earnest about our conversion, our transformation.
Gauraharibol. Nitāi Gauraharibol.
Reference
Spoken 23 December 1982.
The Jewel in Your Heart
Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj explains the importance of remaining true to the teachings one receives from Śrī Guru.
Full captioning is available inside the Youtube player.
To Be Blessed
Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj describes the result of chastity and sincere service to Śrī Guru.
Newcomers and old devotees will both give attention to being faithful and chaste in their life of service to Śrī Guru and Śrī Gaurāṅga. Everyone has joined Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but we need progress, and progress will come through chastity and sincerity. By any way, we should not will lose these two qualities and qualifications. No doubt, everyone cannot do so much service. According to their capacity, they will do sevā, but Kṛṣṇa will accept everything if they are sincere and enriched with full faith. So, sincerity is very important for everybody.
Enthusiastically many new devotees join, but they must be faithful to their Guru. Here, Guru is so important. Actually, you are thinking I am Guru, but I am thinking of my Guru. In this way our preceptorial line goes up to Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī Prabhu. You must think about my desires, what I need, and I must think about my Guru’s desires. This is our procedure to go to the Queen—Rādhārāṇī. She is the chief commander, and Rūpa Goswāmī Prabhu is under Her guidance. She (Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī) is controlled by Lalitā Devī, but she also receives some direct guidance from Rādhārāṇī that Lalitā Devī does not know about. That is her position.
Everyone may not have special qualities or qualifications, but if they are sincere and faithful, Kṛṣṇa must bestow His mercy upon them. That is our only hope.
If we think we are all qualified, that is wrong. It is not true. We are all unqualified. This is the truth. But if there is sincerity in our mood of service, then the result will come to us. You are all very happily giving your service to the Divine Master, and your expectation must be fulfilled. This is my prayer to my Guru Mahārāj that he will give his blessings to you all. And I am always with you all. I have nothing hidden, only this prayer to Guru Mahārāj that he will give you strength for your practising life.
Reference
Spoken on 17 May 1996 in Soquel, Californina.