Preach by Example

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Speaking to the devotees in Malaysia
19 November 2011, part 3

Gurudev said, "When one door closes, another three doors will open." It is not a problem. Some devotees do not preach so much, some devotees do not follow Gurudev's conception—they can do their job, it is not a problem, we have no anxiety. Gurudev told not to see bad things with your eyes, not to hear bad things with your ears and not to say bad things with your mouth. That is Gurudev's conception. We must understand it and continue our preaching movement in this way, we must do more and more, make more programmes.

When Sripad Aprakrita Prabhu was there, I told him, "I want to go to Malaysia not to just sit there—I do not want to go to some hill to see the hill area and eat some fruit. I want to go there and use every moment." My body has come into this world and I want to use it for the service to my Guru. If I cannot use my body for the service to my Guru, then this body is useless! If I cannot serve, if I cannot preach, I might as well die today.

I think the day when I cannot preach, when I cannot chant, cannot serve or think about service, that day is very bad for me. Gurudev, Krishna sent me to this body, and I have got this body to use it for service to the Lord and the Guru. If I do not use it in that way, then I must leave this body—it is not necessary to keep this human body, I can easily live in a cow's body, a dog's body or a cat's body then. By our fortune we have got this human body to serve our Guru and we must use it for service—we must use everybody, every jiva soul for the service to the Lord. Even if you plant a mango tree, you must go and give that mango to Baladev and Jagannath first, then you can take Their prasadam. "Nija achari' dharma jivake sikhaya (নিজে আচারি' ধর্ম্ম জীবকে শিখায়)": teach by your own example. Practise properly, then you will be perfect.

When Gurudev was going to leave this world, he said one thing, he gave a message for everybody and I am giving that message to everybody now. Gurudev said: wherever you live, in a jungle, in a forest, in a small house or in a rich house, whether you are poor or rich, it is not a problem—wherever you are, you must maintain your practising life, Krishna consciousness life. That is Gurudev's last message that he told to everybody. Wherever you live, it is not a problem—you must maintain your spiritual life, your practising life. Do not forget your practising life!

Chant the Holy Name, take prasadam, do some sankirtan. You can do that everywhere. That is main practice, there are nava-vidha-bhakti (nine kinds of devotion) and these five are main:

সাধুসঙ্গ, নামকীর্ত্তন, ভাগবতশ্রবণ ।
মথুরাবাস, শ্রীমূর্ত্তির শ্রদ্ধায় সেবন ॥

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana
mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

Sadhu-sanga means good association; you know that sravan and kirtan means hearing and chanting; Bhagavat-sravan means hearing Bhagavat-katha, Hari-katha, listening to Gurudev's lectures, reading Gurudev's books; Mathura-vasa means staying in Mathura. It is not necessary to come and stay in Mathura all the time. Mathura is where Krishna's seva, Krishna-katha is going on—such place is non-different from Mathura. Wherever there is Krishna-katha, wherever there is Krishna's service—even if there is Krishna-katha, Krishna's service going on in your house—that is Mathura, that is Vrindavan, and you must stay there. And last is sraddhaya sri-murtira sevana—it means you must serve your Deity with full faith.

...Do you have any questions? I want to hear some question from you, then I can understand whether you are practising or not. If I hear your question, I can understand it. I will be very happy if a good question comes—a question about Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Chaitanya-charitamrita, or Prapanna-jivanamrita, or so many other books—Search for Sri Krishna, Golden Volcano of Divine Love, etc. Gurudev gave us so many books not so that we keep them and so that rats eat them! We keep these books for reading. I am saying very heavy words that may make you sad, but you must understand that I have to say it.

— : • : —

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

• Download (1.6 Mb)