Nurturing Spiritual Life

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
21 August 2011, part 5

Question: Our natural tendency is towards materialistic life, we are actually inclined to these things, but how can we convert our mind?

It comes gradually through good association and practice.

Suppose you are walking down the road, and suddenly your leg gets into a hole—you cry, "O mother!", "O father!", "O mummy!"—you call your parents' name. If you practise Krishna consciousness—if you always chant the Holy Name, think about Gurudev—then when you fall, "Jay!", "O Gurudev!", "O Krishna!" will come to your mouth. Because in your previous lives (when you were in a dog's body, cat's body, etc.) you always first called your mom, father, daddy, mummy, then even now when you walk and hit your leg, you will cry, "O mom!" "O dad!" This habit comes from all the previous lives. If you beat a dog, the dog also cries, "O mother!" but you cannot understand its language. So, when you chant the Holy Name, "Krishna, Krishna, Krishna" then "Krishna, Krishna" will always come to your mouth—when you practise properly, then you will automatically think, "Oh, I am about to eat something, I must offer it to my Guru." It comes through practice. Practice makes perfect (gaite gaite gayen, bajate bajate bayen, গাইতে গাইতে গায়েন, বাজাতে বাজাতে বায়েন—a Bengali proverb, "you cannot learn to play mridanga or learn to sing without practising"). When we are born, we do not know anything, but we are practising now. We are all students, we are not masters, so we must practise properly.

Question: But I am a student of materialistic science...

I was also a student of mathematics, physics, chemistry, vector analysis, Newton's law, quasi-geometry, linear algebra, etc. I used to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, and everything else, so what is the problem? If Krishna gives His mercy to you, He will bring you—you do not know how, but you will come to this line.

You have come to this line, you are asking me questions about what this life is for, etc., and you do not understand that Krishna is changing you—you have some good sukriti, and as a result you have got some good association. This Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are a three-day holiday—people go to Darjeeling, people go to Digha, they are enjoying with women, girls, but you are going to attend Lord Krishna's festival. Think about it, why have you come to the temple instead? Krishna has brought you there. Because you have some previous good sukriti, you have got a little faith, it is not the strongest faith yet but you have got some little faith and through that faith you are now listening to some Krishna-katha, some good advice, and you must know that you are getting some benefit through that.

Do you understand what I am saying? I am telling it clearly, as it is. People have got three days of holidays for Janmastami, but they go to enjoy—they drink whiskey, go to bars and dance—people do not use this time for Krishna, for Janmastami; but you have got these holidays and you are using this time for Krishna. That is your benefit, it means you have got something real.

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