Disciple's Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Russia, 14 August 2003

ওঁ অজ্ঞানতিমিরান্ধস্য জ্ঞানাঞ্জনশলাকয়া ।
চক্ষুরুন্মিলিতং যেন তস্মৈ শ্রীগুরবে নমঃ ॥

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

'I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, applying the kajal of divine knowledge on my eyes.'

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am paying my dandavat pranams to my Divine Master and my dandavat pranams to all the devotees.

Actually, Krishna said,

ব্রহ্মাণ্ড ভ্রমিতে কোন ভাগ্যবান্ জীব ।
গুরু-কৃষ্ণ-প্রসাদে পায় ভক্তিলতা-বীজ ॥

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

"Having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151)

It means that not everybody gets that kind of sukriti, that is why not everybody can come to Krishna consciousness. Only the fortunate souls get this kind of seed. So, I am thinking that you are all fortunate souls for you have got good seeds of Krishna consciousness. The question now is how you will protect that seed. If you cannot protect it, the seed will dry and die. "Sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana (শ্রবণ-কীর্ত্তন-জলে করয়ে সেচন): you must water your plant of devotion with the water of hearing and chanting (Cc, 2.19.152)." If you plant a flower or a tree, it will grow, but if you do not give it any fertiliser, do not water it, then it will die.

Actually, not everybody lives in the temple, only some sannyasis and brahmacharis live in the temple, so now when the festival finishes we will go to our houses, but what will we do there? First we must understand who is a sisya, disciple. A disciple is the one who obeys the rules and regulations given by their Gurudev. We should make our house an ashram: we can have Gurudev's picture, Deities' picture on our altar, every day offer some flower, do mangal arati, chant kirtans. We can do it every day. We do not have so much time, but still we can chant some kirtan, we can plant Tulasi, offer some flowers, some water, we can pay our obeisance. We can do all this every day. This is actually our daily programme, and we should continue in this way, every day. It is said in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita (Antya-lila, 6.227)

জিহ্বার লালসে যেই ইতি-উতি ধায় ।
শিশ্নোদরপরায়ণ সে কৃষ্ণ নাহি পায় ॥

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya
sisnodara-parayana se krsna nahi paya

"Those who go here and there trying to satisfy their tongue, follow their genitals and belly and cannot attain Krishna."

We always go outside and see so many kinds of food there, and our tongue always wants something, always asks for some food, but we should take, we should honour maha-prasadam every day. We must give whatever we cook for ourselves to Krishna.

In Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Krishna said, "If you are eating something, or if you are taking something for yourself, without giving it to Me, it means you are stealing My things." For example, you can see that some outside people eat fish, meat, and we also clean and cut vegetables, kill some plants, but the difference is that we offer it to the Lord—we do not do it for ourselves, and the outside people do it for themselves. Krishna Himself says, "When you do something for Me, it is nirguna—I take all sin away, and you will have no sin." So, Krishna says, "Everything is for Me! Whatever you earn, whatever you cultivate, whatever you plant, whatever you get, you must give everything to Me."

অনন্যাশ্চিন্তয়ন্তো মাং যে জনাঃ পর্য্যুপাসতে ।
তেষাং নিত্যাভিযুক্তানাং যোগক্ষেমং বহাম্যহম্ ॥

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

"I bear the responsibility of acquiring and protecting the necessities of My fully dependent devotees who are always absorbed in thought of Me, and who worship Me in every way."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

"Ananyas chintayanto: think exclusively about Me." Krishna said, "If you think about Me, I will think about you." But we do not do that—we think we are the enjoyers.

কৃষ্ণ ভুলি' সেই জীব অনাদি-বহির্ম্মুখ ।
অতএব মায়া তারে দেয় সংসারাদি-দুঃখ ॥

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha
ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

Having forgotten Krishna, the soul wanders throughout the universe. Being thus covered by illusion, the soul goes through all kinds of material suffering.

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117)

We forget Krishna and suffer so much because we think we are the enjoyers, we are the proprietors, but Krishna says, "No, you are not the proprietor, I am the proprietor!"

জীবের 'স্বরূপ' হয়—কৃষ্ণের 'নিত্যদাস' ।
কৃষ্ণের 'তটস্থা-শক্তি', 'ভেদাভেদ-প্রকাশ' ॥

jivera 'svarupa' haya—krsnera 'nitya-dasa'
krsnera 'tatastha-sakti' 'bhedabheda-prakasa'

"By its intrinsic nature, the soul is an eternal servant of Krishna; souls come from the marginal energy of Krishna and are simultaneously one with and different from the Lord."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.108)

What is our svarup (true identity)? We are no the body, we are jiva souls, living entities. Just as we change our clothes every day, our living entity always changes its body. Today we got a human body, and in future we will get a goat's body or a cow's body, for example. You think that you are now twenty years old and tomorrow you will be twenty years and one day old, but no, actually it means that tomorrow your life will be reduced by one day (one day will be deducted from your life). So, you must chant the Holy Name at this moment, do not wait for tomorrow.

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