You Must Repeat the Same Thing Again and Again
Article, Sreela Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj
We are uttering the sixty-four qualities, and we are still experiencing these miseries. This means that these transcendental qualities are not descending into us. We have not touched them, even though we may think that we have.
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In our Maṭh, you will find that, every day, the devotees repeat the same thing. Every morning and every evening there are āratika and kīrtana. Is there anything new? They have already heard all this! But our Gurumahārāja and our Paramgurumahārāja instructed us that we must repeatedly hear these things, daily.
There is āratika in the morning, āratika at midday and āratika in the evening—the same program every day. We hear the glorification of the Vaiṣṇavas, the glories of the Guru—all is the same every day. Even Krishna-nāma is the same. Nārada Gosvāmī has been uttering Krishna-nāma from time immemorial. But still, he cannot completely taste Krishna-nāma. When speaking of the glories of the utterance of the names of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Krishna, Chaitanya Mahāprabhu said, “pratipadaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ.” At every step, you experience the taste of full, complete, transcendental ambrosia. It will never become stale. God is transcendental and the worshipper of God is also transcendental. God is infinite and the worshipper of God, the Vaiṣṇava, is also infinite. Their qualities are infinite. If you say, “I have finished it—it has become stale! Find something new for me,” then you have not understood anything. Chaitanya Mahāprabhu did not hear about the lives of Dhruva and Prahlāda once only. “We have not yet heard the full story,” He would say. We might say that we have heard the biographies of Dhruva and Prahlāda, but Chaitanya Mahāprabhu wished to hear the full biographies not one time, but one hundred times. “Again!” He would say, “Please tell Me again.” If, after hearing, you have the desire to hear again, then you have entered into the spiritual, devotional realm. Otherwise, you are outside and have learned nothing about spiritual life—nothing.
When our Maṭh was on Rashbihari Avenue in Calcutta, there was a person who used to attend regularly to hear religious discourses, even in inclement weather. Other persons might not show up, but he would always come. We would praise him, “You have a good taste for spiritual things.” After hearing discourses continuously for eight or nine months, that person suddenly stopped coming to the Maṭh. We asked some of the other people who attended the discourses, “Where is he? What is the matter?” They said, “We have seen him, but we do not know his address.” We thought that perhaps he had left Kolkata, or perhaps he was ill or otherwise indisposed. We had no way to contact him.
But, one day, by the Lord’s desire, while I was going through the streets of Kolkata, I met him.
“Oh,” I said, “We have been deprived of your company for a long time. Were you not here in Kolkata?”
“No,” he said, “I have always been here.”
“Then, why have you not been coming? Have you been ill?”
“No,” he said. “I have been to your place. I have heard everything. Your only advice is ‘worship Krishna, worship Krishna, and perform Harināma’. If there is some new thing, then I shall come again. I’ve already heard it all.”
So, there is no new thing. You have to do Harināma. This person attended the meetings for intellectual stimulation, not for bhajan. If he had come to the temple with the desire to perform worship, then God’s grace would have come to him and at every step he would have found a new taste of ambrosia—a taste of the transcendental. No aspect of transcendental things can become stale. Prasādam cannot become stale. The glories of the transcendental cannot become stale.
Nothing of this can become stale. Perhaps, upon hearing about Vraja-maṇḍala, the place of twelve vanas (forests), you say, “I have already heard about the twelve vanas several times. It has become stale. Let me hear about another, new vana!”
No! No! Then, you have not heard anything. If you can get merely a glimpse of just one of these vanas, your whole life will be changed and you will be rescued from rebirth. It is written in Chaitanya Charitāmṛta that Krishna possesses infinite qualities, and sixty-four of these are His principal qualities. If you get even a glimpse of just one of these transcendental qualities, then your life will be successful and you will be rescued. All your afflictions and miseries will be destroyed. But, we are uttering the sixty-four qualities, and we are still experiencing these miseries. This means that these transcendental qualities are not descending into us. We have not touched them, even though we may think that we have.
“Phalena phala-kāraṇam anumīyate” (from the doctrines of Nyāya, or logic). By the fruit, we can understand whether or not we have come in contact with Krishna. You may perform worship daily, but you cannot say, “I have worshipped for two years. Now I am giving it up to do other things.” When you perform any kind of bhajan, if it comes from the core of the heart, you will never be able to give up the worship of your most beloved. When you get a spontaneous glimpse of contact with Krishna, you will experience a thrilling sensation of ecstasy.
How could you give that up? You will not wish to give up any form of devotion.
When there is the thought in your mind to give up worship, then it means that you have not come in contact with Bhagavān and the transcendental qualities of Bhagavān. Only outside, externally, by intellect and mental capacity, are you trying to imagine Bhagavān. Worship cannot be given up. You must repeat the same thing again and again.
Excerpt from the book ‘Taste of Transcendence’ by Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirth Goswami Maharaj.
Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya
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