Festival of the Lord—for the Lord

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi, part 8
2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham
Translated into English from Bengali

One time when I went to Kolkata with some books, I was sitting in the car and watching people around. I saw how as soon as people got off the bus, they began to run, and I thought to myself, amused, "How much people are running around, how much they are hurrying..." They hurry so much to do some work and errands. What for? Just to have some nice food and nice clothes... Is it not so, tell me? The whole world is busy with these things, but how many people are busy with the Lord? Nobody thinks about the Lord...

You have all come here to observe this festival tomorrow, the festival of Lord Nrisinghadev's appearance. Amidst so many things you have come here thinking about the Lord. For so many days you have been thinking, "When will I come for the festival of Lord Nrisinghadev?" You have been planning it, you have been thinking about it. This is how we must always think.

Tomorrow is a fasting day. It is a very difficult day, but it is necessary to do it. Even if it is hard for you, still you must do it. The other day a man from Colombia died—he had been fed with saline and oxygen for a month before he died; he had not taken any food for a whole month. Think about it. When you are sick and hospitalised, when you have fever or you are operated, you do not get food for a few days. Is it not so? And here you must think, "I am doing this for the Lord. I am fasting tomorrow for the Lord."

So, tomorrow the fast is from morning till the evening. If somebody cannot do it, if they have some problem with their stomach, they can take something at noon. This is allowed by the scriptures. Those who cannot do full fast can take some fruit, something to drink, but not rice, dal—no muri, no singara (samosa) and tea from the shop [His Divine Grace laughs]. Some say, "Oh, I am fasting," and go have a cup of tea at the tea shop, or take muri, roti. This is not fasting.

We do not worship the Lord using the Lord. People worship Kali, Durga, Laksmi, etc. What do they say? "Vidyam dehi, rupam dehi, bharyam dehi, kavitam dehi, sundarim dehi: give me knowledge, give me a nice body, give me a nice wife, make me a poet, make me beautiful," and so on. They say, "Lord, give me this. Serve me. I will give You some nice rice and banana (=I am giving You a bribe) and in exchange You will give me money, knowledge, etc." Is it not so? They want the Lord to serve them.

A pujari cooks so many nice things and brings the bhog to the Lord, and in his mind he is thinking, "Today I will eat so nicely!" Before giving it to the Lord, he is eyeing the offering. Is this an offering to the Lord?

Think about this...

Jay Srila Guru Mahraj ki jay!
Harinam sankirtan ki jay!

— : • : —

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