Why don’t we get the benefit of Dhama-parikrama and harinama?

Once every three years, Sri Chaitanya Gauḍiya Matha organises Vraja-manḍala parikrama of 84 krosas. (1 krosa ~ 3 km) It runs for the whole month of Karttika. During the last days of the Vraja-manḍala parikrama in 1987, in Gokula-Mahavana, our most revered Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvami Maharaja raised a question to himself in order to instruct us: “As we increase our endeavour for devotion, our attachment to this world increases rather than our attachment to the Supreme Lord. Why is this so?”

Here follows the divine & sublime words of Guru Maharaja to purify our heart and to please the devotees who have affection for Sri Guru, Gauraṅga & Sri Sri Radha-Krishna.

You have all performed Vraja-manḍala parikrama for so many days. You have heard the glories of parikrama. By performing parikrama, our love and attachment to the Supreme Lord increases and we lose interest in any matter not related to the Supreme Lord. We have had the opportunity to practice the five most important processes of bhakti: sadhu-saṅga (association of devotees), nama-saṅkirtana (chanting the Holy Name), bhagavata-sravana (hearing about the Lord), mathura-vasa (residing in Mathura) and sraddhaye-sri-murti-seva (worship of the Deities with faith and affection). Of all these processes, harinama-saṅkirtana is the best, and although we have also performed saṅkirtana, the dirt of my inner self has not been removed. I know that my heart is full of the tendency for enjoyment and to accept whatever is unfavourable to the Supreme Lord (bhagavad-itar-pravritti). One can know the cause for something by seeing the results. All sadhus say that one gets liberation from this world by performing parikrama. One’s tendency for sensual enjoyment vanishes and one gets love and affection for the Supreme Lord. But my love and affection for this world have increased and my material worries have increased. I have done so much sadhu-saṅga, followed the sadhus, and performed saṅkirtana. Why have I not got the benefit of performing parikrama?

Once in Jalandhar, one mataji asked a similar question to our Guru Maharaja. “I have been coming to the temple for the past fifty years and performing circumambulation of the temple. I have also been hearing hari-katha from sadhus. I have been doing this for the past fifty years; yet if I look inside, I have fallen more. My affection for the world has increased. Why?”

I also have the same question. I am saying this for myself. I have full confidence that our Gurudeva, Paramgurudeva, and Mahaprabhuji never deceive us. Vaishnavas never speak falsehoods. When a sadhu speaks falsely, he is not to be considered a sadhu. A sadhu is never a cheater; he cannot cheat anybody. Whatever he says is for our benefit.

So why are we not getting benefited? Mahaprabhu teaches us. Mahaprabhu’s associates teach us. There cannot be any cheating in their instructions. We have seen the face of our Gurudeva externally. He does not look like a cheater. We have heard that just by going close to him, one’s head would bow down by itself. Many people used to come to our Paramgurudeva with the thought that they would argue with him on the scriptures and defeat him in argument. But nobody was able to speak after coming in front of him. Such was his divine aura that heads used to bow down by themselves. His words cannot be false. So it is correct that it is beneficial to do Vraja-manḍala parikrama. Worldly attachments will be destroyed and devotion will increase. But why is the opposite effect happening?

In my opinion, the reason is that we are not doing it as it should be done. Surrender (saranagati) is necessary for devotional practice. Three things are required: the Bhagavatam says that one should hear and perform saṅkirtana about Cakrapani Sri Krishna (Sri Krishna, the holder of the disc weapon); hear the divine pastimes of the Lord’s birth and other activities; and perform kirtana of the Lord’s Name, which reveals the pastimes of the Lord, while remaining free from attachments and bad association. When we truly do this, we will get eternal peace. Bhakti, detachment, and knowledge of the Supreme Lord all come together. This can be explained by one example. Suppose I can eat one kg. If I eat ¼ kg, ¼ of my hunger will be relieved, and I will get satisfaction and nourishment in similar proportion. If I eat halfway, I will be half satisfied; if I eat ¾ kg, I will be ¾ satisfied. When we eat fully, our hunger will be fully relieved and we will get full satisfaction and nourishment. With every morsel that we eat, we experience relief from hunger, satisfaction, and nourishment in the same proportion.

Along with bhakti, a saranagata-bhakta (surrendered devotee) will get God realisation and detachment or reduction in attachment to this world. He will lose interest in whatever is not favourable to Krishna; he will get vairagya, complete detachment. All three will come. We performed Vraja-manḍala parikrama, engaged in sravana and kirtana and did everything, but still we have not got attachment to Bhagavan. Then we should understand that we are lacking in surrender to the Supreme Lord. Whatever bhakti a surrendered soul does, he gets equal detachment from the things that are unfavourable to the Supreme Lord. If my attachment to this material world is increasing, then I should understand that there is some fault in my surrender. First of all, I am not performing enough bhajana, and whatever little I am doing is not according to the prescribed rules. Therefore, I am not getting the desired result. The scriptures are not giving false information; Srila Vedavyasa is not deceiving us. There is a deficiency in our conduct; the fault is in our practice.

There are six symptoms of saranagati:

1. Ānukulyasya saṅkalpah: Accepting whatever is favourable to Bhagavan. But we do not accept favourable things all the time. Definitely, this is our fault.

2. Pratikulyasya varjanam: Rejecting whatever is unfavourable. We do not reject whatever is unfavourable to Bhagavan. When surrender becomes pure, then bhakti will come, God realisation will come, and detachment from unfavourable things will come. Scriptural statements cannot be false.

3. Rakshishyatiti visvasa: Only the Lord can rescue me from all external problems (such as difficulty or hardship) and internal problems (such as lust, anger, greed, illusion, malice, etc.)—but I do not have this faith. That is my mistake or fault.

4. Goptritve varanam: I have not accepted the Supreme Lord as the maintainer in the fullest sense. My bodily needs, mental needs, and spiritual needs are being satisfied by the Supreme Lord only and no one else. I do not have faith in the Supreme Lord and have not accepted Him as the only maintainer.

5. Karpanye: I am proud of my birth, wealth, education, etc. Therefore, I am lacking in humility.

6. Ātma-nikshepa: Self-surrender. “I do not belong to this world. I belong to the Supreme Lord”—I am lacking in this consciousness. I am committing mistakes in saranagati. This is one of my faults.

We do not have any interest in serving Sri Vigraha (the Deites of the Supreme Lord) and commit offences to Them. We externally claim to have taken shelter at the feet of sad-guru and suddha-bhakta but do not have faith in the Deities manifested by the suddha-bhakta, the object of worship of the suddha-bhakta. Therefore, we do not have faith in honouring prasada but instead possess “rice and dahl” mentality in honouring prasada. By honouring prasada, attachment to the material world is destroyed. However, even after so much prasada-seva, why have the worldly attachments not been destroyed? Are the scriptures false?

maha-prasade govinde
nama-brahmani vaishnave
sv-alpa-punya-vatam
rajan visvaso naiva jayate
(Mahabharata)

“One who possesses a limited amount of pious deeds does not see the Lord’s remnants as maha-prasada and does not see the Deities of Govinda as the Supreme Lord Himself.” The mentality that “this is a metal deity” or “this is a stone deity” remains. If the president of India were to come here, what would happen? Everyone would start welcoming him and honouring him out of fear. But the grandfather of the grandfather of the grandfather of the president, the master of the uncountable universes is present here; do we have this realisation about Him? This is also a fault. Vedavyasa Muni describes that it is an offence to view the Deities as stone or idols. Our heart becomes impure by this. Whatever is being offered to the Deities should not be considered as simply dahl, rice, and vegetables. It is said that by honouring prasada, one can get full control over the senses.

(bhai-re) sarira avidya-jal, joḍendriya tahe kal jive phele vishaya-sagore
ta’ra madhye jihva ati-, lobhamoy sudurmati
ta’ke jeta kathina samsare
krishna baro doyamoy, koribare jihva jay
sva-prasad-anna dilo bhai
sei annamrita pao, radha-krishna-guna gao
preme ḍako caitanya-nitai
(Prasad-Sevaya, Song 1, Gitavali)

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhakura has given the essence of the scriptures. Has he written something false? Do we have a proper understanding of prasada as the remnants of the Supreme Lord? We do not see the Deities as non-different from the Supreme Lord Himself, so what can we understand about prasada? We will leave the prasada. I have heard about our Gurudeva that before coming to the matha, he used to eat only once a day, and that too only boiled vegetables. He performed many austerities in the Himalayas and remained without food for three days. But after taking shelter of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada, he started taking prasada. While we were living with Guru Maharaja, we did not see him taking anything other than prasada. Occasionally, when he was ill, if we tried to give him something after consulting with the doctor, he would say, “No! Taking only prasada is good; otherwise, my disciples will also imitate me.” We used to say, “We shall cook something separately for you and give it to you in the morning. Otherwise you may fall ill.” However, Gurudeva always refused, lest everybody else start doing the same. By practicing oneself, one teaches others. Gurudeva did this by taking all the trouble himself. He used to say, “Never mind, it may be 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock; I will take the prasada whenever it comes from the temple.” Why did he do this? His Gurudeva established the Deities. They are the Supreme Lord. By honouring Their remnants, all troubles will be over. That was his philosophy.

Whatever a Vaishnava gives is also prasada. I am seeing that I lack all these qualities; therefore, all the unwanted things are coming. I do not have proper intelligence to see Sri Vigraha as non-different from the Supreme Lord Himself. There must be some reason for this. The worst is this tongue. It is most difficult to control the tongue. Of all the senses, the tongue is the most voracious. Whoever can control the tongue can control everything. Whoever cannot control the tongue cannot control the senses. What is the meaning of getting control over the tongue? Does it mean to remain without eating? If that were so, our Guru Maharaja would have performed many austerities. Why did he start honouring prasada after leaving his tapasya (austerities)? If we honour prasada with proper respect, our non-eternal propensities will go away. It is very difficult to control the tongue. By not eating, eating only once a day, eating vegetables or living on air, one will not be able to remove the lasciviousness of the tongue.

Not eating one day causes overeating the next day in similar proportion. We eat more on Dvadasi day after not eating on Ekadasi. The tendency to eat does not go away. Our previous acarya Ṭhakura Bhaktivinoda has given us the remedy that by honouring prasada one can get control over the tongue. If you want to control the tongue, honour prasada: the remnants of food which have been offered to the Lord. Our tendency to revolt against the Supreme Lord will vanish by honouring prasada.

Why am I not accepting the things that are favourable to devotional service? Why do I not give proper respect to bhagavat-prasada? We have to analyse this. Gurudeva and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhakura are not speaking falsely. What am I lacking inside? We have to look closely. Honour the Lord’s prasada. Such a simple path to follow. Take the remnants of the Lord. All your propensities to revolt against the Supreme Lord will vanish.

Furthermore, viewing the Lord’s Deity as stone and considering Sri Guru to be an ordinary human being are the two biggest mistakes. That is why we find faults in Gurudeva. One will go to hell by considering Sri Guru to be an ordinary human being. I must have this fault. I must have committed some offence against Gurudeva. Otherwise, why am I not getting the result even after doing so much service? The reasons are because of considering Gurudeva to be human and also considering a Vaishnava as belonging to a particular caste. What family does the Vaishnava belong to? Is he a brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya, sudra, or canḍala (outcaste)? A Vaishnava is pure regardless of whatever family he takes birth in. Haridasa Ṭhakura took birth in a Muslim family. Seeing the Vaishnava on the basis of caste pollutes our heart; we have to go to hell for that. A Vaishnava is dear to the Supreme Lord. He can take birth in any family. The pure devotee is always nirguna (transcendental) irrespective of the family of his birth. I am telling you about the true devotee, not the pretender devotee. We might possess this fault in us which is preventing the cleansing of our heart.

We should not see the water of Vishnupadi Gaṅga and Yamuna as ordinary water. Similarly, the water that has been used to wash the Vaishnava’s feet is not ordinary water. Ordinary water only cleans the dirt of the body, but the water that has washed the feet of a Vaishnava destroys the ill effects of Kali-yuga. The water that has washed the Lotus Feet of Lord Vishnu destroys the ill effects of Kali-yuga. Yamuna water is not ordinary water. It destroys the ill effects of Kali-yuga and gives bhakti. By considering the water of Gaṅga or Yamuna to be ordinary water, one goes to hell. The foot-wash water and the dust of the feet of devotees are the strength of devotional practice. They give the benediction of devotion to Sri Krishna. Our Gurudeva, by his causeless mercy on us, established the Deities of the Supreme Lord here. The prasada of the Lord, after being honoured by a Vaishnava, becomes maha-maha-prasada. One should not leave such prasada. Otherwise we will always consider the Deities to be stone and prasada to be rice, dal, etc. This is not good. Thus, our Gurudeva conducted himself and performed his devotional practice with great care because we are the followers of exemplary acts. Whoever we see as the best, we follow.

Sri Bhagavan and His Name can destroy all the ill effects of Kali-yuga and give us love of Godhead. One should not consider such Names to be ordinary words. What will happen by doing so? By considering the mundane names of this world to be equal to the Name of the Supreme Lord and considering the Lord’s Name to be ordinary, one goes to hell. Why is our heart not getting cleansed of dirt? There is a reason for this. There must be some fault; we will have to remove it.

Considering the demigods to be equal to or independent of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna causes one to attain hell. The Supreme Lord is complete; therefore He is One. The Supreme Lord cannot be three, four, or thousands, but He may have infinite pastimes. All demigods are under Him; Brahma, Rudra and others are all His devotees and subordinates. One who considers Brahma, Rudra and other demigods to be equal to Narayana is an atheist. This is the opinion of the scriptures. We have got such false ideas and that is the reason we are not able to get any benefit even after doing so much.

There is no saranagati. Offences are being committed at the feet of Guru, Vaishnava and the Holy Name. It is the most horrible offence to criticise the Name, Guru and Vaishnava. One will not achieve the Supreme Lord by chanting the Holy Name if he is criticising sadhus and guru. He will go to hell. Even while chanting the Holy Name, one will go to hell. A small amount of nama-aparadha (offence to the Holy Name) gives the boons of dharma, artha and kama. If we are not careful about this, our heart will remain polluted by all of these offences.

Here I have done my self-examination. So many days have been spent doing parikrama, following Vaishnavas, and loudly chanting the Lord’s Name. You might be thinking that I am doing a lot of kirtana and dancing. But what is the result? The heart is still as polluted as before. Certainly there is a lack of saranagati. There is some fault in my surrender, and nama-aparadha is being committed. Dhama-aparadha (offence to the holy place) is being committed; that is why we are not getting the desired results. Therefore, in this holy dhama, to bestow mercy on us, our Gurudeva, who is the dearmost of the Supreme Lord, gave us shelter and installed his object of worship at different places for our eternal benefit. Gurudeva is always present here. Just as the Lord is eternally present everywhere, His manifestation of Gurudeva is also eternally present. Therefore, we pray at the lotus feet of Gurudeva. I am in such a miserable condition. How can we be saved from committing offences? Pure saranagati can only be achieved by the mercy of the Vaishnava. If we don’t have faith in the Vaishnava, all our deeds are useless. How will we get spiritual benefit (paramartha) by which we may get faith in the Vaishnava? I want to stay under the guidance of the Vaishnava for the remaining days of my life. I want to remove all of my anarthas (defects) by devotional practice. This is my prayer at the lotus feet of Srila Gurudeva. Our siksha-guru Param Pujyapada Puri Gosvami Maharaja is present here. He feels compassion for us; that is why he comes here after taking so much trouble. How much affection he has! He thinks, “Because their Gurudeva is not present, if I don’t go to the parikrama then they will be discouraged.” So he comes and gives his blessings. Although he already has affection for me, I pray to him to give me mercy and to remove all the bad desires from my heart. You are all sincere; that is why you have come here. You have come to the dhama because you have got the mercy of guru and Bhagavan. You all please bless me; then I will get spiritual benefit.

vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca
kripa-sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namah