Perils of Karma

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham
15 December 2010

আপনে আচরে কেহ, না করে প্রচার ।
প্রচার করেন কেহ, না করেন আচার ॥
'আচার', 'প্রচার'—নামের করহ 'দুই' কার্য্য ।
তুমি—সর্ব্ব-গুরু, তুমি—জগতের আর্য্য ॥

apane achare keha, na kare prachara
prachara karena keha, na karena achara
'achara', 'prachara',—namera karaha 'dui' karya
tumi—sarva-guru, tumi—jagatera arya

"Some follow rules and regulations but do not preach Krishna consciousness; some preach Krishna consciousness but do not follow rules and regulation. You perform both duties in relation to the Holy Name by your personal behavior and by your preaching, therefore you are the spiritual master of the entire world, you are the most advanced person in the world."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.102-103)

Somebody follows rules and regulations, does everything perfectly but does not preach; and somebody does preaching but does not follow rules and regulations—both is not correct. Mahaprabhu says this. It is necessary to do both achar and prachar: you must follow the rules and regulations and you must preach also. And you think you will go and do bhajan, sitting under a banyan tree, chanting, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna"... You must follow the rules and regulations and you must tell something to others; in the same way, if you do not follow the rules and regulations but you preach, it will not work.

You can see many people chanting, some kirtaniya (professional kirtan singers) come and chant Hare Krishna for two-three hours with a harmonium, but it gives no benefit to anybody. Why? Because they do not follow the rules and regulations. If ten thousand people sit and listen to their chanting, there will be not even one person who will come to this line. Why? Yesterday also you heard some lady was singing in the evening—they are preaching but there is no worth. That kind of guru cannot rescue the whole world. Chaitanya-charitamrita said,

ধর্ম্মাচারী-মধ্যে হয় বহুত 'কর্ম্মনিষ্ঠ' ।
কোটি-কর্ম্মনিষ্ঠ-মধ্যে এক 'জ্ঞানী' শ্রেষ্ঠ ॥
কোটিজ্ঞানী-মধ্যে হয় একজন 'মুক্ত' ।
কোটিমুক্ত-মধ্যে 'দুর্ল্লভ' এক কৃষ্ণ-ভক্ত ॥

dharmachari-madhye haya bahuta 'karmanistha'
koti-karmanistha-madhye eka 'jnani' srestha
koti-jnani-madhye haya eka-jana 'mukta'
koti-mukta-madhye 'durlabha' eka krsna-bhakta

"Among those who follow the dharma there are many of those who practise karma. Among millions of such sincere karmis, there is only one truly wise person. Among millions of such wise people, there is only one liberated soul. Among millions of such liberated souls, there is hardly one devotee of Krishna."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.147-148

Can you understand it? On the other hand, just one devotee can rescue the chaudda bhuvan, the entire fourteen worlds. Chaitanya-charitamrita says it. Then you can understand it yourself...

People say they are followers of the Vedas but they do not follow the Vedas. There are many restrictions and prohibitions in the Vedas, and they do not follow it, they always do nonsense. There are millions of karmis, they say that karma (working, action) is the best. But what is karma and what is seva? It is difficult to tell the difference. Gurudev told me, "If it is an order coming from me to read Chaitanya-charitamrita, then it will be reading Chaitanya-charitamrita, but if I do not order you to read it, then your reading of Chaitanya-charitamrita or any other book will be the same as reading a newspaper. But if I tell you to read a newspaper, then it will be like reading Chaitanya-charitamrita."

There are three kinds of karma—sukarma (good action), akarma (inaction), vikarma (bad action). You may be doing something and think, "Oh, I am doing service!" but if it is not recommended to you by your Guru, whatever you are doing all goes to karma. What is the result of karma? Karma-bandhan, bondage of the karma. What is this bondage? It is called narak-yantrana: suffering in hell. This is a difficult matter, is it not?

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