Do Not Be Misled

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking to the devotees in London
7 August, 2011, part 2

How merciful Gurudev is! He engages us in this line, that is the main, most important thing, but people in this world, the jiva souls cannot understand it. This life is very short, you want enjoyment, but you heard that even Indra, the king of heaven, got a pig's body despite all his enjoyment; he again had to come down, and when he was in the pig's body he forgot that he was Indra. But people are engrossed in material life, they cannot understand it—you can see how powerful the illusory environment is.

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

"My alluring, 'trimodal,' illusory potency is practically insurmountable. However, those who take shelter in Me can overcome this powerful obstacle."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

How is this possible?

তদ্­বিদ্ধি প্রণিপাতেন পরিপ্রশ্নেন সেবয়া ।
উপদেক্ষ্যন্তি তে জ্ঞানং জ্ঞানিনস্তত্ত্বদর্শিনঃ ॥

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

"You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

Through full surrender (pranipat), honest enquiry (pariprasna), and service temper (sevaya). These three are necessary.

It is necessary to take good advice from a bona fide Guru, from bona fide Vaishnavs, but the problem is that we are not practising properly, that is why we are not getting the result quickly. We lack proper practice.

We must practise properly, and practice does not depend on where you live. Gurudev said that you can live anywhere—in a forest, jungle, small house, big house, that is not the question—wherever you are, you must maintain your spiritual life, your Krishna consciousness life. You can live in a jungle but still maintain your spiritual life yourself. Somebody has a big family, somebody is a rich man, and somebody is poor, but it does not matter. When people buy tickets and travel by an aeroplane, somebody travels in the first class, somebody in the second class, somebody in the economy class, somebody in the business class, this is not the question—the plane's destination is one, so whatever class you are travelling in, you will reach that place. Our Gurudev is the captain of the boat and if you stay in his boat, you can reach the place where Gurudev is taking this boat to, you can reach the same destination.

It is necessary to take the right boat. You think that some other boat is going very quickly and smoothly, but that boat may not be going to the right place—it may not be going to Goloka Vrindavan, it may be on the way to Kashi or Benares! It can be karma, jnana, yoga. You must understand that a boat can look very nice, but that boat can have a hole and sink. You may think that Gurudev's boat is running slowly but if you can take his boat, then you will reach the place where Gurudev is taking that boat to—you will reach your goal, your main destination.

Karmis, jnanis, yogis always look very nice, but they cannot fulfil your life. Devotional activities may not look so good, but if you take to this devotional path, you can get super benefit. In this Kali-yuga, mayavadi conceptions are everywhere and very powerful—everybody is attracted to them, but actually illusory environment attacks them and they cannot understand what is what. When they cannot fulfil their own selves, how will they fulfil others?

There are many kinds of gurus in this world—yogi gurus, karmi gurus, jnani gurus, kaulik gurus, laukik gurus; but it is very rare to get a paramarthik guru (a Spiritual Master) in this world. You think that other gurus are powerful and you are attracted to what they are doing, but you will not get super benefit in this way, you will not prosper in your life. You may get something for a few moments, a few hours, a few years or a few lives, but ultimately it cannot fulfil your life. You have got this human body now, so go to Reality the Beautiful, you need real things—Search for Reality the Beautiful!

Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur had many disciples, why did he order, or request, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to sing the "Sri Rupa Manjari pada" kirtan? He had many disciples, many, many scholars, many, many educated, good-looking devotees, good disciples, good sannyasis, good brahmacharis—why did he choose Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to sing that song? Also, why did Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj bring our Gurudev, why did he give this position to him? What is the reason? It is necessary to understand this, and it is not a difficult matter. Gurudev also had many big speakers, why did he make his choice in a certain way? It is called power transmission. Srila Sridhar Maharaj chose Gurudev for this Rupanuga sampradaya because he knew Gurudev could preach, could send something, could give something to the jiva souls.

Mahaprabhu also had many followers, but why did He choose Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu? You can understand this easily. Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu had the main thing, the nirmal (pure) devotion. This is the power that Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj got, this is the power that Gurudev also got for preaching and giving benefit to others, giving benefit to us.

You must think about these things. I am telling you what our line, our preaching movement is. If you engage yourself, if you chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra yourself, you must also allow others to chant the Holy Name. I told you the other day that even if nobody can hear it, the pillars can hear it, the birds, the trees can hear it. This is necessary for the service to our Guru...

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