ARE ALL VAISNAVA'S THE SAME?

anya-abhilāsa chāḍi jñāna karma parihari
kāya mane kariba bhajana
sādhu-saṅge kṛṣṇa-sevā nā pūjiba devī-devā
ei bhakti parama-kāraṇa
The topmost method of attaining pure devotion is to perform bhajana of the Lord through the endeavors of one’s body and mind, leaving aside all desires other than the desire to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa. One should give up reward-seeking activities and knowledge aimed at impersonal liberation. One should serve Kṛṣṇa in the association of saintly devotees without worshipping any demigods.
“Rejecting all other desires, and abandoning philosophical speculation and fruitive work, in the company of the devotees I will worship and serve Lord Kṛṣṇa with my body and mind. I will not worship the demigods and demigoddesses. Devotional service is reason for my life.”
Karmīs and jñānīs have no bhakti. They do not serve Kṛṣṇa or do anything for His happiness. Everything they do is for their own happiness. They may also perform the limbs of devotion such as śravaṇa and kīrtana, but this does not give them any good result because they do everything for themselves.
They say, “Āmi haile nārāyaṇa kare kari nivedana? I am Lord Nārāyaṇa, who else should I offer anything to? Paramātmā is within me. Anything I place in my mouth is worship of Lord Nārāyaṇa, the service of God.”
One person worshipped Gopāla for forty or fifty years daily, but his material desires were not fulfilled. Then he said, “This Gopāla is useless,” and he threw the Deity in the Gaṅgā. Did he worship Gopāla or himself? He never worshipped Gopāla. For forty years he only worshipped himself. If he liked to eat one parantha, he would give one parantha to Gopāla and then eat it after offering. If he was sick or not hungry, then he would not cook for Gopāla. And when he cooked and offered, if Gopāla would have taken everything and given the prasāda to other people, then he would have said, “From now on I won’t give You anything. Why did You distribute my property? You are mine. I will control You.”
If one offers God rice, dahl, fruits, halava, and pakoras, and God says, “All is Mine, I will distribute this to everyone and not give you any,” then one would never worship God. Therefore, one is not the worshipper of Gopāla, he worships his own mundane body and nature. He is the servant of māyā, not Kṛṣṇa.
Without sādhu-saṅga, one will not truly serve Kṛṣṇa. One will only serve himself, thinking, “I am worshipable, all should serve me.” This is being a follower of Hiraṇyakaśipu, not Kṛṣṇa. These are bhogīs, enjoyers. They think of their bodies as a garden and want everyone to water them.
If one meets with a mundane karmī or jñānī, they are diseased and this is infectious. By meeting with karmīs, you will think after sometime, “I will work and acquire wealth. I will enjoy my senses; only doing bhakti, bhakti, bhakti, and taking prasāda, prasāda, prasāda, is not good enough. Sometimes recreation is good as well, and playing games or gambling is good.” One then goes very far away from bhakti.
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, “Have no ulterior desire, and don’t mix your devotion with materialism. Don’t think it is necessary to collect extraneous knowledge, brahma-jñāna, this and that. Follow svarūpa- siddha-bhakti. Śravaṇa and kīrtana is beneficial for svarūpa-siddha-bhakti. Karma and jñāna are not bhakti and bhajana. God’s service is not karma, mundane work.
īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate
Nāradīya Purāṇa
One who engages his body, mind, and words in Śrī Hari’s service, though living in this world, is already a liberated soul.
Bhakti increases by association with pure sādhus, and sat-saṅga is achieved from lives of sukṛti.
bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta saṅgena parijāyate
sat-saṅga prāpyate puṁbhiḥ sukṛtaiḥ pūrva sañcitaiḥ
Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa 4.33
Pure devotion is attained by the association of the pure devotees of the Lord. One attains sādhu-saṅga by the accumulated sukṛti of previous lives.
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura explained how it is necessary to follow the footsteps of the sages, sādhus, Vaiṣṇavas, and Guru-varga. However, one who does not teach navadhā-bhakti, is not fit to be called a sādhu or Vaiṣṇava.
If someone is a sahajiyā, sakhī-beki, smārta, jāti-gosai, gauraṅga-nāgari, or from a similar apasampradāya; if he teaches only the śravaṇa and kīrtana of Devī, Durgā, Kālī, and other demigods; or if he is a follower of karma and jñāna—then he is not a Vaiṣṇava or mahājana. Following the footsteps of such a person can yield no benefit. One’s mundane nature will simply increase more and more.
There are many, many Vaiṣṇavas, with many, many desires and many realizations. They are not all the same. One devotee may focus on chanting harināma, while another focuses on parikramā. Some may like sevā, bhajana, or pāda-sevanam—but despite these different preferences in their performance of bhakti, if they never feel jealousy or anger for each other for any reason, then they are called Vaiṣṇavas.
Otherwise if they follow one of bhakti’s limbs and tell others, “You follow this one. Don’t follow any other one,” it means they have jealousy. They are called kaniṣṭha.
The kaniṣṭha has deep desire and faith in arcana, dressing Śrī Mūrti and offering bhoga, but they don’t give respect to the Vaiṣṇava.
According to personal realization, a devotee has extra taste for a particular limb of navadhā-bhakti and says it is good. There is no benefit made from arguing.
One devotee will say, “Read the Gosvāmīs’ granthas. This is helpful.”
But then another devotee says, “How can you read the Gosvāmīs’ granthas? You cannot understand them. You should chant harināma.”
Then another devotee says, “You have insufficient taste in harināma. It is better that you do practical sevā.”
Still another will say, “Your sevā will be only karma. Chant harināma.”
This is not truthful. The truth is that if any sādhaka chants harināma, then the desire for service will come to him. If he serves, then the desire for harināma will come—along with increase in desire for all aspects of bhakti. If he hears hari-kathā, then all desire to perform bhakti will come.
Srila Narottama das Thakur ki Jaya! (Excepted from the Bhaktabandhav book publication, "Sri Sri Prema Bhakti Candrika". Available from: rasik@bhaktabandhav.org )