How and When?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, morning class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 25 February 2021, part 8
Translated from Bengali

Today is a very happy day. Why? Because today is the appearance day of the worshippable Lord of all Gaudiya devotees, of Him who intoxicated the world with the transcendental love for Gaura, of Him who distributed Sri Gaurasundar to all the jiva souls.

Sri Thakur Mahasay (Srila Narottam Das Thakur) said,

গৌরাঙ্গ বলিতে হবে পুলক শরীর ।
হরি হরি বলিতে নয়নে ব'বে নীর ॥
আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥
বিষয় ছাড়িয়া কবে শুদ্ধ হ'বে মন ।
কবে হাম হেরব শ্রীবৃন্দাবন ॥

'gauranga' balite habe pulaka sarira
'hari hari' balite nayane ba'be nira
ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will my body thrill chanting the Name of Gauranga? When will tears flow from my eyes chanting the Name of Lord Hari? When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become nothing? When will my mind, leaving the material world, become clean? When will I see Sri Vrindavan?"

Srila Guru Maharaj always chanted this, many of you have tapes at home; you can hear it in those tapes.

When will my mind become pure and I behold Sri Dham Vrindavan? When will I retire? What must we retire from? From this material world. When will my heart become gripped and enchanted by taking the Name of Gauranga? In this world, the name and the named are two different things, and whatever we may see, smell, hear, taste, touch, think, etc. in this world remains on the outer, worldly level; when the transcendental Holy Name, belonging to Vaikuntha, is uttered, it produces transformations (feeling stunned, etc.) that pertain to the land of supramundane knowledge and transcendental love—when will this state come to me? There is meditation, knowledge, etc. in this world, but when will I leave all material things, when will my mind become pure and when will I be able to feel, see, know, etc. the wealth of Vaikuntha world?

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

When will material desires leave me? We always think about material things... Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami says in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita,

কৃষ্ণ যদি ছুটে ভক্তে ভুক্তি মুক্তি দিয়া ।
কভু ভক্তি না দেন রাখেন লুকাইয়া ॥

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya
kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

If you ask the Lord for enjoyment instead of devotion—if you want to fulfil your desire for enjoyment, the Lord will give us all that and make us forget everything taking devotion from us. You cannot get the Lord by any material activities, any mystic powers, or knowledge. You can get the Lord through devotion to the Lord.

When will this day come to me when I get relief from the material bondage of this world? I keep coming to this world time and time again. The Lord is our eternal shelter—this judgement does not come to us. Until and unless this judgement comes to us, we will have to remain engaged in temporary relationships. You can never attain pure conception without the mercy of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. We find ourselves in such a deplorable position amidst worldly suffering and agonising misery, then, truly, why cannot we even once think about the Lord? Even though we suffer so much in this world, we still forget the Lord, we do not remember or think about the Lord. Srila Narottam Das Thakur wrote,

নিতাইয়ের চরণ সত্য তাঁহার সেবক নিত্য,
নিতাই-পদ সদা কর আশ,

nitaiyer charana satya tahara sevaka nitya
nitai-pada sada kara asa

"The lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu are the truth, and His servitor is eternal. Always pray for His lotus feet."

Our only hope is the holy lotus feet of Sri Guru Nityananda. Quoting Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur,

আমার প্রভুর প্রভু শ্রীগৌরসুন্দর ।
এ বড় ভরসা চিত্তে ধরি নিরন্তর ॥

amara prabhura prabhu sri-gaurasundar
e bada bharasa chitte dhari nirantara

"My Prabhu's Prabhu is Sri Gaurasundar. I always keep this great hope in my heart."

(Chaitanya-bhagavat, 1.17.153)

আর কবে নিতাইচাঁদ করুণা করিবে ।
সংসার-বাসনা মোর কবে তুচ্ছ হ'বে ॥
বিষয় ছাড়িয়া কবে শুদ্ধ হ'বে মন ।
কবে হাম হেরব শ্রীবৃন্দাবন ॥

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become nothing? When will my mind, leaving the material world, become clean? When will I see Sri Vrindavan?"

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

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