A True Servant—A True Master
by Swami Bhaktivedanta Madhava Maharaja | 2021 | 174,865 words
This page relates ‘importance of Paurnamasi-devi,...� of book�"A True Servant, A True Master" which offers a collection of 128 handwritten letters by Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami Maharaja—a revered figure in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. This book showcases the profound spiritual insights and practical guidance on executing devotional service and addresses both Sadhakas (male practitioners) and Sadhikas (female practitioners) with equal respect.
Letter 25 - The importance of Paurṇamāsī-ī,...
The importance of Paurṇamāsī-ī � Service is the life of the servant � Christ and ṛṣṇa are not one, as the father is not the son � The definition of śī vigraha � Those who help us advance in bhajana are our real friends and relatives � The generosity of the devotees � The perils of considering demigods to be equal to
श्री श्री गुरु-गौराङ्गौ जयतः
śī śī guru-gaurāṅgau jayata�
Śī ī峦 Ҳḍīy Ѳṻ Gourbatsahi, Swargadwar (ʳܰī) Orissa 24/6/1975
Ա貹�
Mā—�! Since I have not replied to your letter for many days, perhaps you are dissatisfied with me and have stopped sending me letters for what, today, is a month and a half. I am truly very embarrassed and sorry that I could not respond to your letter. Anyway, do not be angry about this. Send letters like before. The test of your patience is finished, and since you have passed, I too have sat down [as one sits for an exam] to write you a letter.
Śī can attract any sinful person to His śī 峾, but He never shows mercy to an 貹ī-ī (a soul who commits grave offences). Therefore, we have to be careful of 峾-貹, 峾-aparādha, and -貹, otherwise, there is no real chance of us advancing in bhajana-Բ.
ūṇi, or Paurṇamāsī, is Ҳܰī; she can approve us and assist us in the worship of Śī Gaura-ṛṣṇa. Without her, it is not possible to advance in bhajana-Բ in any manner, much the way that none of Śī ’s ī are stimulated without the potency of ۴Dz, who is ī-ṇ� (she who expands the pastimes). I give thanks to Śī for fulfilling your long-held aspiration, or ambition. But in the spiritual world, there is no such male enjoying ego. It is compulsory to be well aware of this. Hence, the mundane ego of male or female is an affair distinctly of this mundane world alone.
You have conveyed to me a request that I take rest for a good few days. is the life of a -bhakta; is rest. The servant’s to the Lord is his life (īna), vows (vrata), chanting (japa), austerity (tapa)–everything. For a servant to be separate from his means there is a lack of sincerity in him. It creates impediments in his bhajana. is the fountain of the servant’s life and the hub of his life airs. Bhakti and –these two are one. Those who conceive of and bhakti separately are mistaken. It is certainly not proper to use the word here and there. There is only no contradiction of tattva if it is used appropriately. You are all praying to Śī for my good health, but will this not cause Him trouble? Only the desire for His pleasure is called or bhakti. If this prayer is for the purpose of service, then there is no fault.
I understood that your mind was disturbed when you went to the ṻ at the time of Գṣṭī and were not able to see me. I have been right here all along. Why were you not able to see me? If you had made a proper effort to see, you would have seen me everywhere. You were all delighted by taking 岹. It is to distribute this 岹 that Bimalā-ī lives in Śī Kṣetra near Śī Բٳ-deva. Persons of little piety do not have faith or belief in this -岹. The arousal of faith in śī -岹, the vigraha of Govinda, śī 峾, and the ղṣṇ comes by the effect of many, many lifetimes of ܰṛt.
You have earned that ܰṛt and become blessed.
खृष्टे आर कृष्टे किछु भिन्� ना� रे भा�
Khṛṣṭe āra kṛṣṭe kichu bhinna nāi re bhāi
“Christ and ṛṣṇa are not different, brother.�
These are Anthony Firingee’s words. This is not the tattva or Գٲ of any śٰ. The verdict or conclusions of śٰ are called universal truth or axiomatic truth. That is the real truth; it never changes or stretches. In the Christian religion, the doctrine of the �Fatherhood of Godhead� has been accepted. The son will one day be a father, but to believe there will be no difference between father and son–all there is in this sort of doctrine is an improper oneness, plus chaos and arbitrariness. The śī ūپ or śī vigraha is not some figment of our illusory imagination. If we paint it with our imagination, it becomes earthen. That is called a doll. That can never be worshipful. The transcendental sweetness of Śī ’s form that the devotee sees with spiritual eyes is what is manifest or reflected in śī vigraha. That is what is called the śī ūپ, and He is the object of worship.
In the future, you will be able to proceed along the path of your life with patience, enthusiasm, and tolerance; there is no doubt about this. People who enable one to progress on the path of spiritual life or lend their assistance in this regard are very rare in this world. There is no value to a life that has made its all-in-all material knowledge, which is bereft of bhagavat-Գٲ (truths pertaining to the Lord). Only those who can propel us on the path of dharma, who can give us indication of the real truth, are our real friends and relatives, our own. We will have to stay forever surrendered to them. The debt we owe them can never be repaid. Those who are engaged in bhagavad-bhajana are never trapped by any sort of debt. Only by performing hari-bhajana is one freed from all manner of debts. If Śī shows His mercy, then all darkness of ignorance will be dispelled, and one will be able to be illuminated by the light of knowledge. This is no problem at all. Man, with his limited knowledge, cannot remove any difficulty by Գ (contemplation or worry). If he is totally reliant on
Śī , who is Գmaṇi (a wish-fulfilling gem), then he becomes supremely worry-free. Your last inland letter showed some envy towards various devotees in Barddhman. The fortune of the devotees is always wide open. If you all can become devotee ٲ첹 birds, then surely, one day, the water of mercy will be showered upon you. This is the natural function of devotees who are like rain clouds. They empty out their hearts and ungrudgingly distribute their every last resource. Those who think “how will I survive?� and seek out their own self-interest can never become Բⲹ (magnanimous). Śīman Ѳ’s devotees are supremely generous. They are --Բⲹ. Their gift is incomparable. There is no gift in this world that can equal its value. Giving food to the starving, giving clothes to those who have none, giving medicine and treatment, giving knowledge–none of it can equal that. It has been accepted, via the statements of , śٰ, and , that enlightening one person in the matter of ٳ-dharma is a duty millions of times greater than [opening] millions of hospitals in the world. An intelligent seer of the truth realizes this by his perception of the soul.
Śī Nārāyaṇa and Ѳ𱹲 are, respectively, the whole and a part. According to the considerations of tattva, the whole can never be the part, and the part can never be the whole. The king and the citizen, the boss and the employee, the master and the servant are not one. On the path of vidhi, or , differences in authority will always be there. The foundation and what it supports cannot be one. Each and every thing will always have its unique speciality. Śī loves the devotee, and the devotee is devoted to . Hence, the devotee does not become the conductor of cosmic creation, existence, and annihilation, and ’s omnipotence is not hampered by His affection for the devotee. To lump the God of all gods, Śī , together with the presiding gods and goddesses or, in other words, His employees, is to commit an offence at His feet. Philosophical consideration dictates this is a fatal sort of offence. It is one thing to accept , Ś, and other demigods as ղṣṇ, and something very different to imagine that any one of them is independently the Supreme Controller. Should the ī’s good fortune arise, all of these tattvas manifest in his heart and he gets a sense of the real truth.
This world of is full of impurities. It is beyond comprehension just how many types of prisoners and defendants there are in this jail of Mahā ٳܰ-ī. As long as the ī fails to mold his life in correlation with the conclusions of scripture, he will always end up following the wrong path. Only the supremely merciful omniscient Śī can, as caitya-guru [one’s inner guru, or conscience], turn him around.
If you all stay well, I can be without worry. Please, all of you, accept my affectionate blessings. If there is time, try to come to Ratha. I hope everyone else is well. Iti�
Your eternal well-wisher,
Śī Bhaktivedānta 峾Բ