Practice Secures Your Life

His Divine Grace
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj,
24 December 2010, part 5

Gurudev told me, "If you love me, first love my dog." Clear-cut and straight. Even Srila Guru Maharaj (Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) himself said, "If you love me, you must give honour to Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj." Clear-cut.

It is necessary to remember the words of Gurudev.

Come, always come. This Math is your Math, and Gurudev is always here. You can find his presence even in the kirtans that we sing in the morning and evening—Guru Maharaj often sang "Emona durmati samsara bhitare," and if you sing it every morning and evening, you will get association of Gurudev. The same is true for the arati of Gurudev, "Jaya jaya Gurudever arati ujjvala." It is chanted here three times, and they chant it one time a day in Bamunpara and Nadan Ghat. Chant the daily kirtans, you will find Gurudev and his shelter there.

You do not need to sing with a good tune, this is not necessary. Some do not have a mridanga, some do not have kartals, some do not know the tune, but nothing is necessary—you can just take the kirtan guide book and sing with the book; eventually you will learn them by heart. The Lord does not need your tune. The Lord and Gurudev know whom you are calling, they know you are calling them.

Always chant the Name of Krishna, chant kirtans, and you will see that you yourself will get energy and you will be able to stay in this line all your life until death. If you want to stay in this line, you must practise.

This is how you will get connection, this is how you will get association—and you can stay wherever you want. Always remember this. From now on you must understand that you have no time and from now on start practising. Otherwise it is taranga-sraddha—you come for the festival, stay here for two-five days and when you go home, you forget everything. Practising seven days a year and doing other things the rest of the days will not do...

When Sivananda Sen asked Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu we are householder people, we are going back our home, what is our duty?" Mahaprabhu said, "When you go home, serve Vaishnavs and engage in Nama sankirtan, then you will quickly get the wealth of Krishna-prema." Remember this. You must serve the Vaishnavs. What does "serve the Vaishnavs" mean? What is called Vaishnav-seva? What is called Guru-seva? Guru-seva means when Gurudev orders you to do something, you must follow his instruction. This is called Guru-seva. In the same way, what is Vaishnav-seva? It means following the Vaishnav's order.

How can you recognise a Vaishnav? Those who chant the Holy Name once are Vaishnavs, those who chant the Holy Name all the time are Vaishnavs and

যাঁহার দর্শনে মুখে আইসে কৃষ্ণনাম ।
তাঁহারে জানিহ তুমি 'বৈষ্ণব-প্রধান' ॥

yanhara darsane mukhe aise krsna-nama
tanhare janiha tumi 'vaisnava-pradhana'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.74)

Those by seeing whom Krishna Nama comes to one's mouth, are also considered Vaishnavs. So, Vaishnavs are those who constantly chant the Holy Name, who speak Hari-katha, who are always engaged in service of the Lord. You must serve to them.

Jaya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (1.4 Mb)