Yamaduts and Ego: How to Survive?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
16 June 2010

Question: When we leave our body, Yamaduts come to take us. How can we avoid being taken by them?

If you are a surrendered soul, if you do service and follow Krishna consciousness, Yamaduts will never come to you. Only Vishnuduts will come to you.

If you practise well, follow Gurudev's instruction—that is good...

Where are your neck beads? You must always wear the neck beads. If you wear Tulasi neck beads, Yamaduts cannot touch you.

In India also some are afraid to wear Tulasi beads, and they do not wear it. I tell them forcefully,

"Who is telling you not to wear Tulasi beads?"

"Oh, my friends are teasing me, they are telling some bad things to me..."

"Who is feeding you?! Tulasi or your friend? Tell me."

They are silent.

"Tulasi feeds you, the Lord feeds you!"

In India some also make Tulasi very long, and they wear it hidingly. They button up their shirt's collar so that nobody can see their Tulasi beads. It is very offensive. They are wearing Tulasi in a wrong way. They do not know Tulasi feeds us—why are we afraid to wear Tulasi beads? She protects us in our devotional activities...

Question: How can a grihastha be totally surrendered? How is it possible?

It is possible. Everything is possible because you will do everything for the Lord. You are doing some job, you are doing it for the Lord; your wife is cooking, that cooking is for the Lord. And everything is like this—for the Lord. That is called surrender. You have to surrender, then there will be no problem. A grihastha may think, "A sannyasi is so much surrendered," but that is not so. A sannyasi may have another desire inside, then how can he be surrendered? A grihastha can do what even a sannyasi cannot do.

Question: You were explaining yesterday that sometimes when we do a lot of service, our ego can increase, our ego can become an obstacle, and we start retarding in our service. How can we avoid it?

It is necessary to avoid it through practising. Actually, when somebody, through some mercy of Gurudev and devotional activities, does a lot of service, he may think, "Oh, I am not doing anything." And somebody does a little and thinks, "Oh, I have done so many things! I am doing this, I am doing that..." This depends on their qualities. When you get good association, you can understand, "I am doing wrong."

I told yesterday about Daruk. Daruk is Krishna's devotee. He was fanning Krishna with a chamar [yak tail fan] and suddenly thought, "Oh, I am getting some sambhoga-vada, pleasure!" He at once stopped fanning. He could not move, thinking, "I am doing such a great service!" He was enjoying himself more than doing service.

When we do some service and increase our own enjoyment, it is not good. Through that enjoyment ego can come. This is what I told yesterday.

And as for avoiding it, it actually comes automatically. If somebody does not avoid it, it becomes a big problem for them—they eventually fall down.

If there is a very heavy load in a boat, the boat will sink. "Oh, I am doing so much, I am doing this, I am doing that. I have done this"—so much ego comes, and you become very, very heavy, and in the end you sink with the boat. That is a big problem.

You have to know what is bad and avoid it. That is called bhakti-pratikul: avoiding what is not in favour of devotion. You can do it easily—just keep trying to avoid and you will be able to do it.

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