Fundamentals of Krishna Consciousness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Addressing students and youths,
5 December 2011, part 2

Gurudev told one thing: wherever you live, it is not necessary to reject your family life, you can maintain your family life but you must make your family Krishna's family. It is not necessary to become a sannyasi or brahmachari—if you like householder life, if you already have a family, wife, house, etc. you can maintain your life. Wherever you live or stay, you should maintain your practising life, maintain your spiritual life there. Wherever you live, you can chant the Holy Name; wherever you live, you can cook for Krishna—you should not cook and eat, you should take prasadam. This is what being a devotee means.

Whatever you do, it can be either karma or service. Karma means some reaction. Every action has equal and opposite reaction—so if you do karma, it means you will suffer from the bondage of that karma. Service has no bondage. For example, you cook for Krishna and somebody cooks for their family, children, etc.—they cook the same thing, the action looks the same, but the meaning is different. Suppose two people go to the market—one person is shopping for their family and the other person is shopping for the Deities in their house (they offer the bhog and take prasadam).

প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয়
সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়

prasada-seva karite haya,
sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

If you take prasad, all kinds of bad elements will be removed. If you chant the Holy Name, all bad elements will be removed from your heart. It is necessary to clean your heart. How is it possible? Sadhu-sanga (good association) and chanting the Holy Name clean your heart, then Bhakti Devi, the devotional seed, will come. It is not enough to only take initiation, take a Guru. For example, if you plant a flower plant and do not water it, the flower plant will die. In the same way, if you take initiation, you receive the Holy Name but do not practise properly, devotion will not come. Practice makes perfect. You must practise properly.

So, I am telling to everybody: practise, keep good association, and maintain your family life. Family life is not a problem, but it must be Krishna's family. "Kariya Krishnera samsara" (করিয়া কৃষ্ণের সংসার)—make your family a family of Krishna; and "chhadi' anachara" (ছাড়ি' অনাচার)—avoid bad habits.

We have four regulative principles—dyuta, pana, striya, suna. Dyuta means gambling. Pana means whiskey, drinking, smoking, etc. Striya means illegal sex. And suna means killing other souls. You must avoid all these.

Do not kill anybody, do not kill any jiva souls—do not eat fish, meat, etc. Somebody can say, "Do you not kill? A sadhu also kills plants and trees!" The truth is they do not eat—they do not kill anything for themselves; they 'kill' for their Lord, for Krishna. Krishna said, "When My devotee does something, they do it for Me. If they do something wrong by misfortune or unconsciously, I do not take their offence." Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told Srila Sridhar Maharaj also, "Saranagatera kakhano aparadha haya na (শরণাগতের কখনো অপরাধ হয় না)." No offence ever comes to those who are a surrendered soul.

So, this is my message to everybody—wherever you stay, maintain your practising life, maintain your spiritual life, that will be good for you.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!
Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!
All the devotees ki jay!
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol!

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