śrī śrī guru gaurāṅga jayataḥ!
Year 8, Issue 3 Dedicated to Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Posted: 9 April 2015
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Inspired by and under the guidance of
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
May your mind be fixed on Śrī Kṛṣṇa
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
What Śrī Caitanyadeva has told us in a special manner is simply this: the straight path – the path that one can follow and be delivered from all sensuous desires – is to accept the protection of service to Godhead. He said, “For one who is free from all sensuous desires, who is anxious to serve Godhead and desires to cross the ocean of this material world, the contemplation of or association with worldly or sensual people is, alas, worse even than swallowing poison.
It is better to commit suicide by swallowing poison than to associate with people who desire things other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa, or seek to enjoy of such things. Having begun to serve Śrī Hari, if such a person becomes attached to things other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa, he is thereby utterly ruined.
Bharata became king of Bhāratavarṣa (India). He had formerly practised a great variety of endeavours for spiritual progress, including asceticism, and had made actual progress on the path of the service to Śrī Hari. But he had to be reborn as a deer calf because he had accommodated a very slight desire for an object other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He had wished to perform what is ordinarily known in the world as an act of kindness. It was nothing more serious than a slight desire to serve a helpless animal. But even for this reason, Bharata had to be born as a deer. Therefore, the lotus feet of our śrī gurudeva command us to have no duty other than service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. “May you have your mind fixed on Śrī Kṛṣṇa,” is the only proper benediction.
* * *
At one point, Advaitācārya indulged in tirelessly preaching the doctrine of undifferentiated union with brahma. Śrī Gaurasundara desired to put an end to his activities, so He set out from Śrī Māyāura in the company of Lord Nityānanda and proceeded toward Śāntipura by way of Lalitapura. At Lalitapura they met a sannyāsī who kept the company of a woman. The two Lords, full of divine fervour, sought the hospitality of that shameless sannyāsī. The sannyāsī blessed Mahāprabhu, considering Him to be an ordinary boy, with the following benediction: “May You have riches, descendants, a good wife and learning.”
On hearing this sannyāsī’s benediction, Mahāprabhu said that it was not a blessing at all, but a curse. The only real benediction is that one may obtain the favour of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Upon hearing these words, the adulterous sannyāsī said to Mahāprabhu:
“I have, today, direct experience of what I have heard before. Nowadays, if anybody desires well of another and says so, that person returns the favour by belabouring his well-wisher with the cudgel. I find the behaviour of this brāhmaṇa boy to be exactly like that. I most gladly blessed Him that He may gain riches, followers and good fortune. I had no other object than his well-being. This boy thinks that it is not a wish for His benefit but an rather an attempt to do him harm. He is ready to blame me for this.”
Thereupon, Lord Nityānanda looked wise and, displaying the gravity of “the boy’s” guardian, said to that shameless sannyāsī, “It is not up to you to argue with this boy. I have understood how great you really are. Do not be offended with this boy, for My sake.”
Adapted from The Gaudiya, Volume 45, Number 7
by the Rays of The Harmonist team
